At 11 o'clock in the evening, Yuan Chongxi's teaching regiment of the Sichuan army, which had used sharp soldiers to solve the Baishazhou ferry in the east of the city, was just about to cross the river when he heard a burst of gunfire from the direction of Wuli County in the west, which frightened Yuan Chongxi and the officers and men of the whole regiment into panic.

"All be silent, lie down on the spot!"

"Stop crossing the river and prepare to fight back ......"

Orders were given one after another, accompanied by the sound of the river flowing "whoosh," and the reconnaissance company that had taken the lead in crossing the river had already calmed down and set up a defensive formation, and the officers and men of the whole regiment quickly found their firing positions, breathing heavily while aiming their guns at the direction from which the gunfire came.

However, at this time, the gunfire in the west city suddenly stopped, and there were bursts of chaotic shouting and scolding from the old city with only a few lights flickering five miles away, I don't know whether it was the defenders in the city who lit the bonfire or the many torches, the gray old city gradually brightened at night, and the towering outline of the temple in the south of the city and the seven-story stupa were in a trance in the bright light, looming, like a distant and ethereal illusion.

The regiment deputy He Yuxin and several battalion commanders gathered around Yuan Chongxi one after another, and they wanted to ask the regiment commander what Yuan Chongxi should do? Whether to attack as planned or retreat temporarily, you have to give a sentence as soon as possible, but Yuan Chongxi was still holding a telescope to observe carefully, ignoring the rapid breathing of the people around him.

"It's weird, it's quiet again, just a few gunshots, it's not like an internal fight, could it be that the grandson who defends the city has drunk too much......"

Yuan Chongxi seemed to be talking to himself, and the telescope was still held steadily.

He Yuxuan, who was soaked in dew, was a little out of breath, and the Mid-Autumn Festival season by the Liuyang River was very wet and cold, which made him feel that his cheeks were slightly stiff:

"Anything can happen, and as it stands, the defenders don't seem to have spotted us, but if we keep moving before twelve o'clock, the enemy's sentinels will arrive."

Yuan Chongxi put down the binoculars, wiped the snot that flowed on his dirty beard at some point, inhaled the tall hooked nose heavily, and glanced at the brothers with disdain by the starlight reflected on the surface of the river:

"What's the panic? Since the enemy has not discovered us, let's continue to wait here, what are the sentinels afraid of when they change their guards? Is the reconnaissance company of the old bolt of the river Li eating? Wouldn't it be better to change into the clothes of an enemy sentry and wait for the rabbit...... Second battalion commander! ”

"Here!"

The commander of the second battalion, who graduated from the first phase of the Sichuan Military Academy, jumped forward and waited for the order on his knees.

Yuan Chongxi pointed to the dark and gloomy direction to the west: "Take your second battalion and mortar company, quietly touch along the riverbank, and then ambush near the mouth of the fork river opposite the ferry in the south of the city, don't alarm the enemy troops on the wharf, and wait for the gunfire on our side, take the ferry and all the boats for Lao Tzu, the second battalion will cross the river and launch an attack, the artillery company will set up mortars at the fastest speed, aim at the main road in the north of the city, Sheephorn Bay, and open artillery at a uniform speed, and use the deterrence of artillery fire to cut off the enemy's escape route in the city, and buy time for the combined attack of other battalions." ”

"Yes!"

The tall and lanky commander of the second battalion disappeared from the smoke.

Yuan Chongxi turned to everyone: "What are you still doing?" Act as planned. ”

A group of battalion commanders left quickly, He Yuxuan looked around, and finally looked at the other side: "Old Yuan, will you be in a hurry...... Stop! Put away the cigarettes! ”

Yuan Chongxi reluctantly put away his cigarette, clicked his mouth a few times, and said lazily: "Since you think that the enemy has not discovered us, what are you worried about?" With the speed of our march, and the tight vigilance and blockade along the way, how can the enemy detect us?

"No matter what happens to the enemies in the city, as long as we are not discovered, there will be no problems! What's more, the enemy in the city only has a so-called infantry regiment of less than 1,200 people, and there is a rabble of more than 200 militia regiments left, so there is no need to think about it, even if the enemy finds out about us, what can we do? All it takes is a charge to solve the problem. ”

He Yuxin looked at Yuan Chongxi, who was coaxing, and thought about it, but it was indeed the case.

From the analysis of the results of repeated verification by the captured and detained businessmen and reconnaissance companies, the defenders of Liuyang did not know the situation of the occupation of Shangli by the headquarters at all, and they were not capable of posing a threat to the headquarters, and they originally thought that the 39th Regiment under the command of Zhang Jingyao was also a regular army in Beiyang, and it was somewhat combative, but who would have thought that the infantry regiment, which was fully composed of 1,600 people, would have a one-third of the vacancies.

This is not counting, a company of the defenders has been deployed for a long time at Qilinpo, a key crossing in the west of the city, to guard the direction of Changsha occupied by Tan Yanmin's Hunan army, and the city is full of less than 1,500 people, even if it has been prepared to resist stubbornly, at most it will hold out for dozens of minutes.

After weighing it again and again, He Yuxin no longer had any hesitation, looking at Yuan Chongxi, the head of the regiment who walked to the river with two guards, He Yuxin couldn't help but feel a little appreciative and ashamed in his heart. Only then did He Yuxin realize that although he was deeply loved by officers and soldiers, and was praised for his resourcefulness among the younger generation of officers in the Sichuan Army, he still lost a lot to his old classmate Yuan Chongxi in terms of courage and tenacity and decisiveness.

An hour passed quickly, and the four enemy sentries who came to change the guard were put down before they had time to say hello, and the three battalions of the teaching regiment were quickly launched under the command of the regiment commander Yuan Chongxi.

The two battalion reserves led by He Yuxin slowly followed, and more than 3,000 people marched forward quickly, without making much sound, let alone the slightest call and shouting, and the strict military discipline and agile actions shown by each department made He Yuxing, who was walking behind, very comforted and proud, and he knew that his teaching team had finally been honed and formed.

With Yuan Chongxi's three gunshots, the shouts of more than 3,000 people suddenly broke out, and the officers and soldiers of the black pressure rushed into Liuyang County, which had no city walls.

The continuous firing of pistols and light machine guns, the explosion of mortars immediately sounded, and a series of intense fires lit up in the north of the city, and before the two battalions led by He Yuxuan drove to the east of the city, the whole battle was over, and Liuyang City fell into the hands of the teaching regiment without any suspense.

The two battalion commanders who failed to participate in the battle ran to He Yuxing, pointed to the group of prisoners in the city with blazing torches, and complained loudly to He Yuxing, He Yuxuan comforted a few words, and saw that the two battalion commanders were still verbose, and couldn't help but shout: "What is the trouble? It's worth your eyes to fight this kind of battle? Haven't seen the world! ”

After He Yuxin finished venting, he called the commander of the communications company, carried the radio station and drove away, through the narrow stone streets, and soon entered the heavily guarded county office, and passed through the courtyard without looking at the Beiyang Army captured officers squatting in a large pile, so he loudly ordered the antenna to be erected, and the radio station was turned on to prepare to send a message.

Twenty minutes later, Yuan Chongxi, who had been patrolling the city, came back in a hurry, and almost collided with He Yuxin at the door of the lobby. ”

He Yuxuan laughed, and suddenly threw a punch and hit Yuan Chongxi's strong chest: "That's right, Master Yuan!" Hahaha-"

Yuan Chongxi was stunned for a while, and suddenly grabbed He Yuxuan's arms, his lips trembled, and he couldn't speak: "Yuheng, you mean, command him...... Are we heavily rewarded? ”

He Yuxuan smiled so much that his eyes couldn't see:

"It's finally time to get out! Our new name is the direct reading division, and the commander's commendation telegram said that our division is organized into three regiments and four battalions, and orders us to stick to Liuyang, reorganize in situ, and closely monitor the direction of Pingjiang and the direction of Jiangxi in the east, and our friendly army, the Hunan Army Headquarters, will soon send liaison officers from Changsha, and bring an infantry regiment and a health team recruited by our army from western Hubei to supplement the formation of our division As for the next action plan, wait for orders. ”

Yuan Chongxi was excited, clenched his fist and waved it vigorously, and several battalion commanders and staff officers behind him had already jumped up and cheered loudly, and the whole hall was full of joy, and many officers and soldiers hugged each other excitedly and laughed and jumped, making the prisoners squatting in the courtyard stunned

September 29, Yanjing, Xuanwumen Beiyang Army Headquarters.

Duan Qirui stared at the emotional generals blankly, finally raised his hand, kept rubbing his temples, Feng Guozhang, who was sitting on the side, unbuttoned the wind and discipline button, slowly took off his white gloves, and threw them on the coffee table on the side.

"Zhiquan, Liuyang has fallen, and Pingjiang is difficult to protect! It seems that the two divisions of our army rushed south to aid Hunan, which really provoked Xiao Yimin and us to tear their faces, and the situation in the two lakes is getting out of control, at least in Hunan we no longer have an advantage at all, if the five divisions of the Sichuan Army entrenched in Jingxiang advance eastward, Ziyu's hands will not be able to stop the new troops of the two divisions at all! If this is the case, the situation in Hunan will be completely eroded, and if a major war breaks out, I am afraid that we will no longer be able to have the two lakes. Feng Guozhang sighed worriedly.

Duan Qirui raised his head, saw the expectation flashing in Feng Guozhang's eyes, and knew Feng Guozhang's intention to come in a hurry, hesitated for a moment, and finally shook his head:

Although Xiao Yimin called back, he did not mention the matter of Liuyang, nor did he answer my question, and the meaning expressed in the call back was almost exactly the same as what he said to the outside world in the past few days, calling on our army to withdraw from Hunan and hold negotiations with the Hunan army and representatives from all walks of life in Hunan as soon as possible. Brother Huafu, I've been wondering for the past two days, is our decision to rush to Hunan still lack some consideration? ”

Feng Guozhang's eyebrows fluttered, staring at Duan Qirui's eyes in surprise, seeing Duan Qirui's calm expression and the heavy color in his eyes, the questioning that was about to be exported turned into a long sigh:

"How can this ....... Zhiquan, I've never seen you so depressed!"

Duan Qirui nodded: "What I said is, what I think about the most in the past few days is the long telegram from Brother Yiming half a month ago, what he was worried about has now become a reality one by one, the Hunan side did not compromise because of our heavy troops, but let them unite unprecedentedly and unite with the outside world, even Chen Quzhen, a veteran of the border army who has been entrenched in Xiangxi and a corner of the country all the year round, also handed over the two divisions he had exhausted his family wealth to Cheng Qian and Tan Yanmin with full command.

"Under such circumstances, even if the Sichuan army does not intervene in the Lianghu battlefield, it will be difficult for us to defeat the Hunan army, which has grown to seven divisions in a short period of time, even if it wins in the end, it will be a miserable victory.

Feng Guozhang stood up slowly, quickly put away the disappointment in his heart, and asked a question that Duan Qirui couldn't answer:

"So far, even if you and my brother are willing to armistice and peace talks, but Cao Kun, Wu Ziyu and the 100,000 Beiyang athletes on the battlefield of the Two Lakes are willing? Zhiquan, I can understand your feelings, and I also know the brotherhood between Brother Yiming and you, but don't forget, no matter how good and powerful Yiming is, he is not from our Beiyang, who can guarantee that he does not have the ambition of you and me?

"Now that the matter has come to this, let's not rush to make a decision, but wait until the brothers in front of us are unanimous. In addition, if it is convenient, you should continue to call and persuade Brother Yiming, is it not possible that our big brothers in Beiyang, who have a deep friendship with him, are not as good as the rabble of Sun Wen in Guangdong? What exactly does he want? Does he really want to emulate Uncle Liu Huang of Shu Han and go on a northern expedition to the Central Plains? ”

Duan Qirui's heart was shocked, he looked at Feng Guozhang's slightly stiff back and disappeared outside the door, and then looked at a group of frightened generals, and suddenly waved his hand, signaling everyone to go out.

(To be continued)