Wu Peifu arrived at Heshengqiao on the 27th, and before he got off the bus, he received the news of the disastrous defeat at Tingsi Bridge, and he decided to stay at Heshengqiao to supervise the battle. Although he has been defeated in successive battles, Wu Peifu is still full of confidence, and it is not accidental that he has such confidence, except for the defeat in the second Zhifeng War due to Feng Yuxiang's betrayal, Wu Peifu has not lost a battle. However, for the decisive battle at Hesheng Bridge, there were many opponents among Wu Peifu's staff.

"Yushuai, it's better not to fight a decisive battle here and retreat to Wuchang. Relying on Wuchang Jiancheng to resist, the decisive battle will be held after the main force is assembled. After returning to Wuhan from Henan, he heard that Wu Peifu was going to fight a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army at Hesheng Bridge, so he hurried to dissuade him.

"Ziwu, don't worry, this time I personally supervised the battle, coupled with the favorable terrain here, I have an eighty percent chance of winning; In the past, it was said that the Tingsi Bridge was determined by the first battle of Hubei, and now it is said that the Hesheng Bridge is the first battle of the world. Wu Peifu pretended to be relaxed.

"Wu Ziyu, can you be sober." Zhang Qihuang pointed at Wu Peifu's nose and shouted: "Although the terrain here is good, but the soldiers have no fighting spirit and will have no fighting spirit, how can you win?" ”

Zhang Qihuang was really anxious, he couldn't take care of etiquette anymore, in his opinion, the current situation was completely caused by Wu Peifu's decision-making mistakes. At the beginning of the civil strife in Hunan, he advised Wu Peifu to listen to nature and admit that Tang Shengzhi was in charge of Hunan, but Wu Peifu felt the "kindness" of Zhao Hengti and coveted Hunan's financial endowment, regardless of his weak strength since his comeback, and risked fighting on two fronts, intervening in Hunan, which turned into a war between the North and the South, and even the situation that is out of control today.

Zhang Qihuang's faux pas, Wu Peifu was not angry, but a kind of apology, his staff has worked hard for him since they met, exhausted their efforts, and today's predicament is also because of his own obstinate behavior, living up to his good intentions.

Wu Peifu smiled and smiled: "Ziwu, I know this, but if you are born after the death of the system, I will make them to the place of death, and you have to fight if you don't fight." ”

"You see, I have set up three lines of defense, the first line of defense is located in Taolinpu, Yanglintang, and Wang Liben; The second line of defense is at Indoushan; The third line of defense is located at Hesheng Bridge. Wu Peifu led Zhang Qihuang to the map to introduce his arrangement.

"This is not a dead land, it is a living land." Zhang Qihuang said sarcastically.

"Don't worry," Wu Peifu showed rare patience: "I have analyzed the past few battles, the Southern Army is good at outflanking and sneak attacks, so I have built ring fortifications on each hill, and each fortification has a large amount of ammunition in reserve, which can be read and fought, so that even if the back road is cut off, each position can still continue to fight." All officers and soldiers are not allowed to retreat, those who retreat are killed, the second line is killed by the first line, and the third line is killed by the second line. I don't believe it, with this natural risk, plus 50,000 dead soldiers, it is not easy for them to gnaw down the Hesheng Bridge, and at worst, they can cover the main force to assemble in Wuhan. ”

"Well, you can do it yourself." Zhang Qihuang saw that Wu Peifu had made up his mind, so he could only sigh, went back to Wuhan, and suggested to Wu Peifu again before leaving: "The key to victory or defeat is no longer ours, but in Sun Chuanfang, Sun Chuanfang sends troops to win, and if we don't out, our army will be defeated." ”

"If we don't have a good fight, he'll be there." Wu Peifu said gloomily that as early as when he was in Nankou, he sent a telegram to Sun Chuanfang, asking him to send troops to help Hunan, but it was too late until now, and the coalition forces of the five provinces did not send a single soldier.

"Although Sun Xinyuan is high-spirited, he will not tolerate the occupation of the three towns of Wuhan by the Southern Army, I asked you to retreat to Wuhan, and another purpose is to tell Sun Xinyuan that if you don't send troops, we will give up Wuhan and retreat to Henan, so that he can face the Southern Army alone." Zhang Qihuang was very discouraged, Sun Chuanfang's purpose was to replace Wu Peifu, so when Wu Peifu still had the strength to spare, he would not save Wu Peifu, but Sun Chuanfang also had ambitions for the two lakes, so if the Northern Expeditionary Army occupied Wuhan, Sun Chuanfang would inevitably send troops to fight.

"I, Wu Peifu, am not old enough to ask that kid to make a move," although Wu Peifu was looking forward to Sun Chuanfang's troops, he was not discouraged, not only to cheer himself up, but also to cheer up his subordinates.

Wu Peifu chose Heshengqiao as the decisive battle site from time to time is unreasonable, the Heshengqiao area is hilly and undulating, the mountains are stacked and green, the rivers are staggered, the ditches are vertical and horizontal, and they stretch for dozens of miles.

After conquering the Tingsi Bridge, the morale of the Northern Expeditionary Army became higher and higher, the 27th said to conquer the Tingsi Bridge, the 28th said that the fourth was on the left, and the seventh was on the right, the two armies marched together, Chiang Kai-shek knew that the battle was important, and he no longer retained his strength, and sent Liu Zhi to serve as a general reserve, and two regiments of the first division were stationed in Tongcheng, but the first division and one regiment remained in Yueyang.

On the night of the 29th, the Northern Expeditionary Army approached the front line of the Wu army, the Wu army panicked and immediately burst into fire, and in the dark night it was impossible to see the target clearly, shooting indiscriminately, but exposing the target, in the early morning of the 30th, Chen Keyu gave an order, and the Fourth Army launched an attack on the west side of the railway.

The 35th Regiment of the 12th Division was the vanguard, and the Reading Regiment followed up and launched an attack on Yanglintang; The Seventh Army, with the Eighth Brigade as the vanguard, launched an attack on Wang Benli.

The front of the Hesheng Bridge was too narrow for both armies to be fully deployed, with the Fourth Army leaving the 10th Division in reserve and the Seventh Army leaving two brigades in reserve.

The 35th Regiment had long been lurking in an area only 100 meters away from the enemy's reinforcement, and they imitated the Battle of Tingsi Bridge, charging without firing a single shot, braving the enemy's artillery fire, rushing forward and rushing into the enemy's position to engage in white-knuckle combat.

The battle of Tingsi Bridge made the Wu army exhausted, and as soon as the 35th Regiment rushed into the position, the Wu soldiers turned around and ran, and the first-line position of Taolinpu fell into the hands of the Northern Expeditionary Army in just one hour. Ye Ting led the Reading Force Regiment to surpass the 35th Regiment and launched an attack north of Taolinpu.

Wu Peifu was shocked and hurriedly ordered Liu Yuchun to lead the Eighth Division to carry out a counteroffensive, and ordered Zhao Ronghua to personally lead his own guards to block the intersection.

Liu Yuchun led the 8th Division to launch a counterattack on the Reading Regiment, the Reading Regiment was caught off guard, Xu Jishen's second battalion was surrounded on several hills, Xu Jishen was shot in the abdomen, and lay in the ring fortifications of the Wu army to command the battle.

The Eighth Division came down from the northern battlefield, and it is considered a relatively complete unit, and the veterans of it have also fought a lot of vicious battles, the near one has the Nankou Battle, and the far one has the Nine Gates Battle during the Second Zhifeng War, and I have never seen such a fatal unit, and the third attack finally approached the ring fortifications, and an officer in the fortifications stood up with his stomach and shouted: "Beat them down", and immediately a group of people who did not want to die came out of the ring fortifications, and pounced down with bright bayonets, and once engaged, they did not die, When a wounded man with a severed leg raised a smoking grenade and rolled into their crowd, their spirits collapsed.

The news of the siege of the second battalion reached Ye Ting, but Ye Ting couldn't do anything at the moment, the attack speed of the Reading Regiment was too fast, and the 35th Regiment failed to keep up in time, and the 8th Division cut off the contact between the Reading Regiment and the 35th Regiment. "Commander of the first battalion, rush forward, only by rushing over will you have a chance." Ye Ting shouted at Cao Yuan, but Cao Yuan didn't look back and yelled: "Capture He Sheng Bridge and capture Wu Peifu alive!" Come on! ", led a company into the enemy group.

The white-edged tactics of the first battalion were the same as those of the seventh company, the squad fought as a whole, three or five fighters formed a small group, this small group was both offensive and defensive, and in just a moment, more than a dozen enemies fell under their bayonets, and the remaining enemies retreated in panic, opening a way for them, and watched Cao Yuan lead a company to roar past.

The ring fortifications helped the second battalion a lot, and the units of the second battalion relied on these fortifications to deal with the eighth division, Liu Yuchun commanded the troops, the strong attack could not be overcome, and the morale was suddenly frustrated. Seeing that Xu Jishen was injured, "Does it matter?" Ye Ting asked rudely, Xu Jishen nodded with a pale face: "I can't die." "Well, leave two squads here to hold on." The others followed me to attack Indosan. ”

Ye Ting knew in his heart that the 35th Regiment on the periphery must also be fighting fiercely, and the three battalions were also scattered everywhere, relying on the ring fortifications to block the enemy, and then attacking Yin Dou Mountain, you Liu Yuchun didn't care, no matter what, I would take Yin Dou Mountain; If it is managed, the armies on the periphery will be able to quickly break through the Eighth Division.

"If you want to go together, I can't die." Xu Jishen struggled to stand up.

"Nonsense, what are you going to do if you are injured like this," Ye Ting didn't have the demeanor of a Confucian general: "Besides, leave you here to contain the enemy and cover our back!" You stay here honestly, you can't lose your ground! ”

After speaking, he waved his hand and took the lead in rushing in the direction of Yin Dou Mountain.

Liu Yuchun's counteroffensive was beyond the expectations of the Northern Expeditionary Army, relying on the desperate and bloody battles of the various departments, the battle line was not cut, the battle line was stable at dawn, the Northern Expeditionary Army launched an attack on the Eighth Division, Liu Yuchun turned the attack to defend, but there was a reading force regiment inside, and there were four or seven armies outside, Liu Yuchun could not stand on his feet, and led the eighth division to retreat, and the reading force group took the opportunity to conquer Yin Dou Mountain. The 35th Regiment conquered Yanglintang, and the Seventh Army also conquered Wang Benli. The three lines of defense that Wu Peifu painstakingly managed were lost after half a day of bloody battles.

Ye Ting did not stop, with a company as the vanguard to attack the Hesheng Bridge Iron Bridge, Wu Peifu's train stopped not far behind the iron bridge, General Fu Wei's flag fluttered at the front of the train, and there was a flagpole next to the train, on which nine heads were hung.

At the railway bridgehead, the crowd was rolling, and Zhao Ronghua commanded the broadsword team to desperately slash and kill in the defeated soldiers, trying to prevent them from escaping. Liu Yuchun knelt in front of Wu Peifu, he was covered in blood and burst into tears.

"Dashuai, no, more than half of my people are dead, I can't stop it, you kill me."

There was a loud gunfire in the south of the bridge, a scream, and a shell exploded not far away, and the rout soldiers were even more panicked, and many people abandoned their guns and jumped into the river from the bridge.

Wu Peifu's face turned pale, he didn't expect to lose so quickly, so miserable, he said to Liu Yuchun in a snort: "It's not your fault, it's not your fault." ”

Wu Peifu's body swayed, he raised his head with difficulty, looked at the south with cloudy eyes, and muttered in his mouth: "Children are rampant, children are rampant." ”

At this time, Wu Peifu was already in his fifties, Chiang Kai-shek was only thirty-nine years old, less than forty, and Tang Shengzhi, Li Zongren and others were younger, that is, these people led a group of younger people to overthrow the once prominent Wu Dashuai.

A blue sky and white sky jumped out of the mountains, and between breaths, "Capture Wu Peifu alive!" The shout was 100 meters closer, and the defeated soldiers on the bridge deck gathered more and more, becoming more and more chaotic, Zhao Ronghua cried and ran: "Dashuai, let's go, they are completely chaotic and can't hold it." ”

Suddenly there was a loud gunfire in the chaotic soldiers, and the rout soldiers shot at the supervising team with a grudge, and even worse, they began to shoot at Wu Peifu's side, Wu Peifu's two guards blocked in front of Wu Peifu, and Liu Yuchun jumped up from the ground: "Marshal, Wuchang still has tens of thousands of horses of Deputy Commander Jin, there is still hope for holding Wuchang." Seeing that Wu Peifu was still unmoved, Liu Yuchun was so anxious that he stomped his feet and shouted at the guards: "Take the handsome man away, I'll stop them." ”

After speaking, he pulled out a big knife and rushed to the bridgehead, Zhao Ronghua stepped forward and commanded the guards to set up Wu Peifu and run, Wu Peifu shouted: "Let go of me, let go of me, I would rather die in battle than run away!" Let me go. The train had already started, and as soon as Wu Peifu was put into the carriage, he immediately started, crashed into the rout on the railway, and sped towards Wuhan.

Ignoring the troops kneeling on the ground along the way, the Reading Force Regiment rushed across the iron bridge and chased along the railway line, Liu Yuchun tried to organize resistance, but no one was willing to fight at all.

Tingsi Bridge, Hesheng Bridge two fierce battles, corpses all over the field, blood flowed like a river, the Northern Expeditionary Army bravely broke Wu Peifu, the sound shocked the whole country.

He Shengqiao fell in a battle, to the surprise of Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Shengzhi, excited, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Fourth Army to continue to pursue Wuchang, one part of the Seventh Army cooperated with the Fourth Army, the other captured Echeng, the Second Division of the First Army went to Heshengqiao, two regiments of the First Division of the First Army went to Xianning, and one regiment stayed in Yueyang.

When the Northern Expeditionary Army besieged Wuchang, Zhuang Jihua became the commander of Yueyang City Defense and lingered in the lakes and mountains of Dongting Lake.

(To be continued)