After ordering his subordinates to gather their troops and speed up the march, Wu Changchun began to think about whether he should break away from the large army first and run back to Zhengzhou with the people of the guard cavalry company first. The internal military law of the Beiyang Army is strict, and the responsibility for escaping the crime of escape in battle is unforgivable, but it is aimed at middle and lower-ranking officers and soldiers, and the upper echelons are less constrained by military law.

Military law, laws, and rules are all set up for the ruler to maintain the ruling order, how can they be imposed on the ruler himself? So Wu Changchun also thought so, and he escaped the harem at most to reprimand him, or because of this stain, it was not good for his future. However, the future is nothing compared to the net worth, and self-preservation is the way to live in the world.

As a result, Liu Jinbiao, deputy commander of the 20th Division of the Third Army, was embarrassed to receive an order from the army commander, and when the deputy commander of the Third Army and other high-ranking officials were in Zhengzhou, and Cao Kun, the commander of the 20th Division, went to Zhengzhou one step ahead of schedule, except for Wu Changchun, Liu Jinbiao had the highest official position and was the best candidate for topping.

"Jin Biao, I'm afraid we will be caught up by the Chinese army if we go this way, there is still a division of the Chinese army on the Xinyang side, if we go north at the same time, our road ahead is blocked, then we will never be able to escape, do you have a way to deal with this?" Wu Changchun did not directly state his meaning, but first hypocritically tried it.

"The artillery regiment marched too slowly, but the brothers did their best, and several mules and horses were foaming at the mouth and could not advance, and they were considered useless. It's just that it's still too slow compared to the infantry, and there's no good way to do it. Liu Jinbiao didn't notice it, wiped a handful of sweat, and said to Wu Changchun helplessly.

"Mmmmmm, artillery is our lifeblood, and we must not throw it away, even if we throw it away. We are also sleepy and tired, and the Chinese army unit in the south is chasing faster. It's better to take the cavalry regiment to the south to harass that army, I can buy a little time to count a little, you lead people to hurry up, and we will finally meet at Luohe. ”

If it is someone who does not know Wu Changchun. Maybe you will really be moved by his sincere and resolute posture, and easily believe in your military commander, and maybe there will be a touching parting request. However, Liu Jinbiao is also an old man in the Beiyang Army, who has a few white hairs on his head is clear, and he knows Wu Changchun's personality even better.

When it comes to military training, tactical use, and leading troops to fight, there are a lot of people in Beiyang who are stronger than Wu Changchun, but in the three armies of Beiyang, only Wu Changchun, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang serve as extremely important army commanders, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang. In addition, Wang Shizhen, who served as the director of the training department, is known as the "******" three masters, and he has real skills, only Wu Changchun relies on study, opportunism, gangs and stumbling blocks. In the Third Army, if it weren't for the help of Deputy Army Commander Xiao Anguo and two army commanders Zhang Zuolin and Cao Kun, Wu Changchun would have turned the army into a miasma.

Therefore, as soon as Wu Changchun raised his buttocks, Liu Jinbiao knew what he meant, and he was afraid of death. I want to run away early! It's just that even if he knows Liu Jinbiao, there is no way, he is not like Wu Changchun, who has extensive connections and followed Yuan Shikai at the earliest. Liu Jinbiao's foundation is much shallower than that, and if he escapes from the battle, he will definitely be beheaded by Yuan Shikai! Therefore, Liu Jinbiao must be indifferent to Wu Changchun's escape, and in order to stabilize the morale of the army, for the sake of his own life and future, he must maintain the stability of the army.

"Commander. I won't say much else, Lord Gongbao united Britain, Japan and Russia, and the army pressed the border, regardless of right or wrong for the time being, once the Chinese country was defeated. Don't give up the southern region, let's use the current factories of Huaguo, and soon we will have everything that Huaguo has now, and then all the powers will not dare to do anything to us. This is what Liu Jinbiao wants to say the most, and I ask the military commander to tell the palace guard. ”

Wu Changchun frowned, he was very thick-skinned, he was ready to meet Liu Jinbiao's scolding, but he didn't expect to get such a puzzling sentence. Thinking about it carefully, it really makes sense, when did this old man Liu Jinbiao have such an opinion? It's a pity, if there is no such thing, maybe it will make a name for itself in Beiyang.

"Okay, Jin Biao is far-sighted, and when the Luohe River converges, let's propose to Lord Gongbao together, then I'll go first!" Wu Changchun didn't even make a gesture to the south, and directly led the cavalry regiment to the northeast.

There was a commotion in the troops, and Liu Jinbiao immediately issued an order to calm the commotion: "The commander went to the south to delay the pursuit of the Chinese army and buy time for us." ”

The soldiers didn't think so much, what they saw with their eyes was different from what they heard with their ears, it wasn't a problem who to believe, it didn't matter if it was true or not, it was the last word to run quickly.

Approaching about six o'clock in the evening, the 20th Division led by Liu Jinbiao had not yet entered Wugang, less than three kilometers away, but Liu Jinbiao did not dare to order to continue to advance, because the scouts sent back the news that the Chinese army's pursuit force was about a thousand meters behind him, even with the naked eye, Liu Jinbiao could see the cavalry troops located at the forefront of the Chinese army, and I heard the scouts say that there were large groups of troops riding bicycles behind, no wonder the pursuit was so fast!

I can't run into Wugang Earth City! Liu Jinbiao immediately made a decision and ordered the troops to enter a small village on the right and immediately launch a defense. The excellent qualities of the Beiyang Army were manifested at this time, after nearly 50 kilometers of forced march, it was able to maintain its formation even when it was exhausted, and it was carried out immediately after receiving orders, and it was orderly. Engineers and infantry dug improvised fortifications around the village, and the baggage soldiers placed ammunition, food, and grass to support the front line, and in the center of the village was a large threshing floor, set up as an artillery position, with 54 guns placed one by one.

If there was no Chinese army, the artillery of the Beiyang Army was relatively advanced compared with the foreign powers, and the artillery battalion of the Beiyang Standing Army adopted the establishment of six guns per company of three companies, and the artillery battalion of 18 guns was more ferocious than the 12 artillery battalions commonly used by various countries at that time, and the fire response speed was twice as fast as that of the 12 artillery battalions, especially the Japanese Army, which used three companies and four artillery at that time. Because the most basic tactical artillery position at this time is the artillery company-level position, when the artillery position composed of six guns needs to be adjusted horizontally, most of them only need to move in place to adjust the firing angle of the artillery itself, especially after the tube is withdrawn and equipped with a large number of Beiyang Army, the effect is more prominent.

Judging from the artillery itself, the Beiyang Army is equipped with a large number of relatively advanced Krupp 75 mm tube withdrawal guns, and the mountain guns are Krupp 14 times 75 mm rear-loading tube withdrawal series. After Britain provided a huge loan, the Beiyang Army increased its procurement of advanced weapons, and because it had adapted to the Krupp artillery, the British did not force the Beiyang Army to re-choose British-made artillery, but ordered from Germany again.

The 54 guns were so crowded on the threshing floor that Liu had to have a dozen houses near the threshing floor bulldozed to accommodate all the artillery. Of course, the small village was already crowded with more than 10,000 soldiers, so Liu Jinbiao ordered a three-layer defensive ring to be set up, from the first layer of 500 meters outside the village, the second layer of 200 meters, to the third layer at the entrance of the village. Under the dust, a relatively solid fortification took shape in a short time.

As long as he does not encounter the heavy artillery of the Chinese army, Liu Jinbiao is confident that he will block the attack of the Chinese army, he can play a lot of cards in his hand, and the night is approaching, which is not conducive to the attacking side; The artillery is complete, the firepower is strong, and there are sufficient shells, bullets and other materials; There is a well in the village, and there is no danger of the water being cut off; The forces are concentrated, the defense is intensive, and the defensive positions are difficult to break through by the enemy; Of course, most of these are imported from Germany, and some of them are air-cooled heavy machine guns from France, because they are different from Makqin water-cooled, so the 20th Division is only equipped with Makqin. One for each infantry company, plus 12 for each brigade with a machine-gun battalion, the number of heavy machine-guns in the Twentieth Division reached 72.

For that reason, the loan from the British made Yuan Shikai rich, and the equipment of the Beiyang Army was no less than that of the Japanese and Russian armies, and even exceeded. This loan made the arms factories of Britain, France and Germany make a lot of profits, from bullets to shells, from rifles to artillery, most of them had to be imported from the West. However, the British slandered Beiyang for purchasing a large number of German weapons, but now the most important thing is to deal with China, which can only be endured temporarily.

The village was called Houhuzhuang, and the heavy group of the 20th Division turned it into a big hedgehog, and when the reinforced regiment of the 2nd Division, which had set out from Qinyang to pursue here, arrived here, it found that there was nowhere to speak. Moreover, it was already dark, and it was not wise to rush into an attack without knowing the details of the enemy's defenses. Seeing that the Beiyang Army had no intention of leaving, the reinforced regiment surrounded the small village far away and waited for the dawn to come.

At about eleven o'clock in the evening, the main force of the 1st Division of the Chinese Army from Xinyang also arrived in Houhuzhuang. The Chinese army was exhausted from the long march, and after meeting and briefly discussing with the commanders of the two armies, he ordered the troops to be stationed on the spot, rest for the night, and then make plans tomorrow. As for Liu Jinbiao in Houhu Village, of course, he found reinforcements from the Chinese army, but now there are more lice and no itching, and dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water, just come on! (To be continued.) )