Song Biao has always planned to confront the third town of the Beiyang Army head-on, in order to confirm how much the real combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army is, military warfare is like this, equipment and training are only one aspect of combat effectiveness, and the opponent cannot be evaluated by speculation, many times only after the real battle can we know the actual level of the opponent, and then we can formulate different operational plans according to the actual level of the opponent.

The result disappointed Song Biao.

After the Northeast Revolutionary Army occupied Kaiping County, it occupied a railway hub, one leading to Beijing and the other to Tianjin, and the whole army officially established its command headquarters in Kaiping County.

The speed of soldiers is the first trick in employing soldiers, and the biggest characteristic of the Northeast New Army is "fast" and "fierce."

The uprising of the twentieth town and the escape of the third town gave Song Biao a new space for rapid use of troops, and after the readjustment, he adopted a preparatory battle plan, directly arranged for Zhao Tingzhu and Fu Liangzuo's first infantry division to insert into Langfang, and the first cavalry division of Cai Yi and Sun Shulin penetrated deep into Zhuozhou County, completely cutting off the six towns of the Beiyang Army, and at the same time controlling the choke point of the Beijing-Tianjin and Jinghan railways, cutting off the escape route of the Manchu political axe, and then using the third infantry division to insert the rapid march into Tongzhou County, and controlling the Beijing-Feng railway along the road. The Second Artillery Brigade arrived at Tongzhou, Dachang, and Xianghe in three days along the railway, and fought a decisive battle with the Manchu Janissary Army, the first and sixth towns of the Beiyang Army in Tongzhou.

Two days after the reorganization of the Twentieth Town Revolutionary Army, with Jiang Yanxing's Fifth Infantry Division, which arrived two days later, going south to attack the remnants of the Fourth and Third Towns of the Beiyang Army, Song Biao will continue to retain Wu Luzhen's Fifth Cavalry Brigade as a reserve force, and Xu Baoying's First Artillery Brigade will also join the battle in the shortest possible time, but the specific direction to which it will be sent depends on the transportation capacity of the railway and which battlefield is more anxious.

Xu Baoying's 1st Artillery Brigade is a heavy artillery brigade, equipped with 48 M1908 122mm howitzers, 22 M1902 Krupp 150mm heavy howitzers, 24 M1904 Krupp 12 cm long-barreled cannons, and 8 M1902 15 centi-barreled cannons.

This is the real trump card in Song Biao's hands, if this brigade is sent to the battlefield of Beijing, it can basically collapse half of the city wall of Yanjing City.

Before large-scale mechanization, "fast" and "fierce" were a difficult contradiction for any army, and the only way was to increase the number of troops and increase the total combat strength of the troops by evenly apportioning the volume of unit transportation, so the size of each division of the Northeast New Army was larger than that of the German, Russian, and Chinese armies.

The regular establishment of a division of the Northeast New Army is 23,000 people, and the second infantry division is equipped with a heavy artillery regiment and manages four railway heavy artillery battalions at the same time, and its total strength is 24,500 people, and the horsepower of heavy artillery is twice as large as that of light artillery.

The second and third artillery brigades belong to the light artillery brigade, mainly equipped with M1898\1909 105mm Krupp light howitzer, the gun weighs 1225 kg, which is different from the German system. The 12.5kg artillery shells taken by the Northeast New Army have a maximum range of 7000m, plus artillery shells, each light howitzer needs an average of 56 horsepower, 6 horse-drawn artillery carts on the Don River, 2 horse-drawn horses are responsible for rotation, 32 Mongolian horses are responsible for pulling shells, and the towing set of two-horse-drawn four-wheeled vehicles is adopted, and the standard carrying force of a single vehicle is 1050kg, and the four vehicles are a horse team, and each gun must ensure the supply of shells for four horse teams, and two horse teams are required to ensure the supply of manpower and horsepower feed.

This baggage weight can basically maintain the regular supply of 1,200 shells per gun, and it can usually only maintain the number of shells for a week in a fierce battle situation.

If it is an M1908 122mm howitzer, this is a Russian-made gun made in French technology, with a weight of 1460 kg, a shell weight of 21.8kg, a maximum range of 8700 meters, and the horsepower required is directly doubled compared to the 105mm light howitzer.

(Although the German DWM company actively recommended the M1905 Krupp 120mm light howitzer with a self-weight of 1120kg, that is, the 38-year 120mm field gun, on the one hand, out of balancing the relationship between Russia and Germany, on the other hand, it is also considering the advantages of French technology, the Northeast New Army adopted the Russian M1908 122mm howitzer.) The "fast" of the Northeast New Army mainly depends on the number of baggage troops, as well as the rapid march of the light armed forces, in the case of carrying only 60 \ 77mm caliber mortars, each infantry regiment must have the ability to march 100 kilometers a day, which is a training indicator, the usual requirements in the battle are 12 hours 55 kilometers, 24 hours 70 kilometers, and have the ability to maintain 7 days of combat operations, for this reason, the supply and supply of the entire Northeast New Army have distinctive characteristics, and the equipment of guns and ammunition is also very specialMortar shells are carried by one round per person, while the number of grenades is reduced to 3 per person, the requirements for machine gun shells are the same as rifle shells, and each soldier needs to carry an extra light machine gun magazine.

The horses of each infantry regiment were also equipped with standard canvas bags and panniers, and the hurried marches abandoned the carts and all were equipped with panniers, and the standard load was reduced by 50%.

On this basis, the Northeast New Army also relies on a large number of troops to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, by organizing small-scale elite troops to solve the ability of key surprise attacks and breakthroughs, and by massively installing Zeiss precision rifles to reduce the consumption rate of ammunition.

In short, the new army in the northeast relied on equal apportionment and special equipment adjustments to improve its "speed," and through an increase in its numbers, the specialization of light weapons and equipment, and the improvement of its "fierceness" through the increase in its number of small elite troops.

The characteristics of the Beiyang Army's scattered arrangement of the six towns adopted by Liangbi happened to provide a very good stage for the Northeast New Army; after the military headquarters adopted a reserve battle plan, the divisions and headquarters quickly adjusted their equipment and logistical arrangements, and marched rapidly in a rapid light and mobile manner.

The 1st Cavalry Division directly cut the supply of shells for the light cavalry guns at the division headquarters in half, and on the basis of ensuring mortar shells and light machine gun shells, quickly advanced at a speed of 180 kilometers in 24 hours, and demanded that the Jinghan railway line be cut off within 36 hours.

The whole army took 36 hours as the total movement time, and before 4 o'clock in the morning on July 26, 1910, all units were to be deployed in place, cut all the six towns of the Beiyang Army, and concentrate the main force to attack the first and sixth towns of the Beijing Division.

Considering the possibility of a relatively long-term confrontation with the Beiyang Army's division in Beijing, the Fifth Infantry Division and the First Artillery Brigade urgently quickened the pace of entering the Guannai and arrived at Kaiping County as a priority, demanding that preparations for the reinforcement of the Second and Third Infantry Divisions be completed after 72 hours.

After seizing Kaiping County, the Northeast New Army was like a high-speed spinning chainsaw, cutting at the Beiyang Army with the posture of cutting through everything, and it was only at this time that Shang Shuliangbi of the War Department in the Beijing Division seemed to suddenly wake up and demanded that all the trains of the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Feng railways be withdrawn back to the Beijing Division, and ordered the Beiyang Army of the Second Town, the Fourth Town, and the Fifth Town to be transferred back to the Beijing Division.

The transfer of trains is of little significance, and it cannot stop the advance of the Northeast New Army, because the Northeast New Army has more trains drawn from Guannai, and it also controls a certain number of trains in Kaiping County, not to mention that the Northeast New Army has sufficient manpower and horsepower, and is not completely dependent on the railway.

It is necessary for the six towns of the Beiyang Army to withdraw from the Beijing Division, the fifth town is stationed in Jinan, it is simply too late, the second town is in Baoding, and the remnants of the fourth and third towns are in Tianjin.

The main disadvantage of the Beiyang Army is that the number of baggage troops cannot keep up, it is a new army imitating the German divisions and regiments, and at the same time reducing the baggage troops, in the history of Yin Chang leading the Beiyang Army to the south to suppress the revolutionary army, the lack of baggage and transportation capacity is one of the main factors leading to the large-scale chaos of the Beiyang Army.

However, all the towns of the Beiyang Army are stationed in the section where there is a railway, and they can quickly maneuver through the railway, which depends on whether they are willing to return to Beijing quickly, if they are willing to give up their baggage, jump on the railway and run, then of course they can return to Beijing before the Northeast New Army. On the other hand, if they still carry ammunition and artillery to the railway, they are likely to be intercepted by the Northeast New Army in the middle of the road.

Both sides are fighting for speed.

At least Liangbi was fighting with Song Biao, and he and Zaifeng, who suddenly woke up, suddenly understood that their so-called concessions and co-optation, as well as the conditions they offered that seemed to be very valuable, could not convince Song Biao at all.

Jingshili was already in chaos.

It is impossible to block the kind of shouts of the Northeast Army one after another, Prince Alcohol has not returned home for the past two days, he has been living in the military aircraft, and the whole person seems to have suddenly aged for dozens of years, and even has a sense of mental trance.

There were so many officials coming and going in the yamen, everyone wanted to say something to him, but he didn't seem to be able to think of a word, he couldn't listen to a word, he looked for Liangbi to find him, and the two of them stayed in the flower hall to discuss countermeasures.

Liangbi found a military map, and said a lot of things in a panic, but Zaifeng didn't understand a few words at all, he was already in a messy mind, until the day before yesterday, he was still worried that the rebel army in the south would defeat Wuchang and follow the Jinghan Railway all the way to Beijing.

He pinned his hopes on the Northeast Army, and did not hesitate to divide Song Biao as the king, and wanted to use the Northeast Army to suppress the rebellion, but he did not expect that the news of the king had not yet been sent to the governor's mansion of the three eastern provinces, and the Northeast Army also rebelled against the imperial court.

All should be killed, all should be killed, they must be cut with a thousand knives, and Ling Chi will be executed.

He gritted his teeth and was ruthless, he hated to death this group of shameless people who didn't know the way of loyalty, he had long known that these Han people were all shameless lowly beasts, he had already been benevolent to these Han people, and he had left enough way to live, and these people dared to rebel.

They all have to be put to death by Ling Chi, and even the nine clans.

Don't they know that the rebellion is all about the Nine Tribes?

Zaifeng's mind was swollen, and he didn't listen to Liangbi's persuasion just now, he just looked at the map and looked at the northeast army marked by Liangbi, and he couldn't think of a way at all.

Liangbi looked at the panicked Zaifeng, and after talking for a long time, he found that Zaifeng didn't listen at all, so he could only ask again: "Lord Wang, what are you going to do?" ”

Zaifeng asked blindly, "What should I do?" ”

Liangbi couldn't wait, and said: "It's all here, prince, let's hurry up and run with the emperor, the new army in the south will definitely not be able to count on it, as soon as the Northeast Army rebels, we will only have the Beiyang Army in our hands, and the only way at the moment is two roads, one is to run to Zhangjiakou and make a detour to Xi'an, and the other road is to go south from the Jinghan Railway to Shijiazhuang, and transfer to the Shanxi Railway to Taiyuan." ”

Zaifeng was suddenly at a loss, but he was extremely angry, and asked, "Is there only these two ways?" ”

Liangbi could only kneel on the ground and pleaded: "Lord, the slaves are incompetent, the matter has come to this, only by protecting the emperor and the prince first, the court can have a chance to rise. It doesn't matter if our minions die, the emperor and the prince can't die, if the emperor and the prince die, our Qing Kingdom and our Manchurian country will really be gone! ”

Zaifeng was speechless for a while, his heart was full of sadness, he only felt that he wanted to cry without tears, ten days ago, he was still the regent above 10,000 people, commanding all [***] political affairs, but now he can only flee west.

He thought about it hard, and suddenly the more he thought about it, the more sad he became, and said, "Now that things are happening, where can there be a way out?" ”

Liangbi said: "Go west to Xinjiang Province, or enter Tibet, go to Outer Mongolia to the north, this is a place to go, as long as the royal family is preserved, there will be Dongshan in the future, I want my dynasty to have a strong foundation, to govern the country with benevolence, the people and the new army are just a moment of deception, he said that he will regret it, and my dynasty can return to the Central Plains, into the Jiuding." ”

Zaifeng couldn't tell how credible Liangbi's words were, he only felt that the Han people were all beasts, none of them were trustworthy, since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the emperors of all dynasties Yanjing were virtuous kings, but the Han people didn't understand the goodness of their Manchu emperors, and they wanted to oppose them.

He didn't think that if he fled into Outer Mongolia, he would have a chance to come back.

But what can be done if you don't escape?

After thinking about it, he still decided to go to Xinjiang Province, but he could still enter Tibet, and no matter how bad he was, he could enter India and Yunnan and Guizhou through Tibet Province, there was still a way to go, and if he went to Outer Mongolia, he could only escape in the Great Gobi, and once the Mongolians also turned their faces, they would have nowhere to go.

Thinking of this, Zaifeng lamented: "Let's go south, let's go to Shanxi, and then go to Xi'an, and inform Chang Geng, the governor of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, and Zhao Erfeng, the governor of Sichuan, that they must ensure the stability of the new army in the two places, and let Chang Geng prepare to send troops to Shanxi to meet them." ”

Liangbi agreed with a "yes", and said: "The slave thinks that now I should transfer the Praetorian Guard to the south to protect the emperor with the prince, and I will stay in the Beijing Division, and dispatch other armies to contend with the Northeast Army. ”

Liangbi's words really reminded Zaifeng, and Zaifeng immediately said: "Yes, yes, we must delay time and strive for the intervention of various countries, just say that these revolutionary armies are all mutinous people, just like the boxers and bandits in the past, they must be enemies of foreigners, and if all countries sit idly by, they will be in trouble in the future." ”

Hearing this, Liangbi was silent.

Zaifeng swore an oath, as if he had found a glimmer of hope, and suddenly discovered that the Northeast Army had close relations with various foreign countries, and they must have ties with foreign countries, and they would never let foreigners believe such rumors.

He thought about it, knowing that no foreigner would believe him if he said this, but he still instructed Liangbi: "Go and prepare a telegram, just inform all countries like this, even if there is the slightest possibility, we can't give up." ”

Liangbi could only say: "What the prince said is yes, the slave will go out to do errands." ”

Zaifeng said: "Don't go, quickly transfer the Beiyang Army to the Beijing Division to support it, let Prince Qing go to find the foreigners, and let the Ministry of Internal Affairs keep the matter of moving west...... I personally went to the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. ”

After saying this, Zaifeng got up and left a little depressed, and he had to go to the Empress Dowager Longyu.

The queen mother is his sister-in-law and trusts him, and they have always had a very special relationship between them, especially in the stormy moments, the two have a feeling of dependence on each other.

He felt sorry for the Queen Mother, but he didn't know where the crisis in the imperial court began, everything seemed to be a sudden crisis, without any warning in advance, but overnight, the new army all over the country began to rebel.

He said that the new army should not have been formed a long time ago.

Who said that a new army must be established in the first place?

Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai had to be killed, it was they who harmed the Qing Dynasty.

He staggered to Cining Palace, his heart was broken without a trace, he only felt that everyone in the world should be killed, everyone in the world was so stupid, so ungrateful, and ashamed of the ancestors and wise emperors of the Great Qing Dynasty.

He always thought that the Northeast Army had rebelled, he had the Beiyang Army in his hands and the new army from all walks of life in the south, as long as he temporarily moved the Beijing Division to Wuchang and mobilized various armies to encircle and suppress the Northeast, he could finally pacify the Northeast.

A few months ago, he also discussed this matter with Liangbi, at that time, they were very optimistic that in the past three or five years, the imperial court would have the ability to clear the Northeast Army, and at that time, they could force Song Biao to death for any reason.

is the so-called soldiers who surrender without a fight, and when they are really strong, he and Liangbi estimate that they can force Song Biao to enter Beijing without fighting and take away the military power of the Northeast Army.

Outcome...... It always makes him feel unacceptable.

He never expected that it was the new armies in the south that rebelled first, giving the Northeast Army and Song Biao an opportunity.

He thought, this is really not as good as heaven.

The situation was obviously several times more sinister than Zaifeng and Liangbi knew, and their fate, the fate of China, was maintained at this time on the body of the First Cavalry Division of the Northeast New Army, and on the body of Cai Ye and Sun Shulin.

If the First Cavalry Division cuts off the choke point of the Jinghan Railway, the Manchurians can only go from the mountain road if they want to flee to Xi'an, and they can't go no matter how they go, because the Second Cavalry Division and the Fourth Cavalry Brigade of the Northeast New Army are also rapidly advancing southward, and they will be able to launch a surprise attack on Zhangjiakou in the early morning of tomorrow, and after capturing Zhangjiakou, the Second Cavalry Division will move further south and cut off the roads leading from Beijing to Shanxi.

The worst thing is that Ma Longbiao, the commander of the second town, has no intention of participating in the revolution, but he does not intend to go to Beijing to die, the surrender of the twentieth town and the sixth mixed association, and the rout of the fifth mixed association all the way made Ma Longbiao frightened, Kailuan has been lost, and it is inevitable that hundreds of thousands of troops of the Northeast New Army will continue to pour into the pass.

At this time, he was transferred north to Beijing, that is, to lead the soldiers of the town to die.

A soldier who surrenders without fighting.

The focus is usually not on "non-war", but on "yielding".

Before engaging in a direct battle, as far as possible, the opponent's will to resist should be broken by other means, weakening the opponent's military equipment, slowing down the opponent's military speed, reducing the opponent's military strength, and paralyzing the opponent's combat preparations.

The Intelligence Department of the Northeast Revolutionary Army is actively contacting Ma Longbiao through Sun Chuanfang to inform the Northeast Army of its preparedness, equipment level, and the strength of the revolutionary army in other southern provinces, and some places have lost no time in exaggerating and falsely claiming that the First Artillery Brigade, the ace unit of the Northeast New Army, has arrived in Kaiping, and that 48 M1908 122mm howitzers and 22 M1902 Krupp 150mm heavy howitzers are definitely not something that the Beiyang Army can withstand. The 2nd Artillery Brigade and the 3rd Artillery Brigade each equipped 48 M1898\1909 105mm Krupp light howitzers, 24 M1908 122mm howitzers, 8 M1904 Krupp 105mm cannons, and 16 other 9 \15 cm bronze mortars.

These two artillery brigades also arrived in Jinzhou and Luanzhou at this time, that is, they will besiege the Beijing Division and the Beiyang Army, and the main divisions of the Northeast New Army are equipped with 54 three-inch Lucia field guns, M1908 75mm mountain guns, and M1909 105mm Krupp light howitzers, these three types of artillery are all produced by the four major arsenals in Northeast China, and the large-scale Madsen machine guns are installed in the platoon, and the M1906\1910 Maxim wheeled heavy machine guns are also installed in the company.

This information was suddenly released to all departments of the Beiyang Army when necessary, and in fact, it was also the reason why Cao Kun fled in panic with the Third Town, Cao Kun really thought that the First Artillery Brigade had been killed, and he didn't dare to fight with this cargo even if he had eight guts, it was really fatal.

From machine guns to artillery, both in terms of quantity and quality, there is a huge gap between the two sides.

Just like Cao Kun's fear, Ma Longbiao was also cowering in Baoding at this time and did not dare to move, and after receiving the order from Liangbi, he chose to reorganize the army quickly, and slowly delayed on the grounds of too much baggage, and did not want to be transferred to the Beijing Division and the Northeast Army to fight hard.

He had already thought about it, if the Northeast Army defeated the Praetorian Guards of the Beijing Division and the first and sixth towns, he would declare an uprising, if it was not defeated, and the two sides unanimously delayed and did not decide the victory, he could still ask for the middle price, and ask for a price that was most favorable to him.

Therefore, if you are not afraid of a god-like opponent, you are afraid of a god-like teammate.

I am not afraid that the enemy army is strong, but I am afraid that my own army has a ghost in my heart, and there is no problem with Liangbi's decision-making, the problem is that the towns of the Beiyang Army may not obey his command, and everyone really doesn't want to fight with the Northeast Army, it is too tragic, and it can't be fought at all, so it rushes up to die in vain.

In terms of equipment level and number of soldiers, one division of others can fight two of them, while others have six infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, plus three artillery brigades, which is equivalent to the military strength level of 22 towns of the Beiyang Army.

How can this battle be fought, not to mention that the opponent is a famous general of Song Biao's level.

Ma Longbiao and Cao Kun are conceited and have a bit of the ability to lead the army to fight, but compared with Song Biao, they really dare not compare, I heard that Song Biao has already commanded the Northeast Army in Kaiping to fight, not to mention that they sincerely want to kneel, from top to bottom they are sincerely begging to kneel.

This kind of mood is like a [***] regiment commander from the security regiment who suddenly heard that the troops in front of him were Siye, or that Mr. Lin was sitting there in person, not to mention how sad it felt.

The worst thing is that the whole army is in such a mood, and it is not even that Ma Longbiao alone does not want to go to Beijing to rescue the driver, but the whole town has spread the news that Song Biao has arrived in Kaiping. The Beiyang Army usually doesn't seem to be afraid of Song Biao, as soon as they heard that Song Biao arrived in Kaiping, the whole army was weak-legged, no one wanted to leave, the sick were sick, the diarrhea was diarrhea, all kinds of sick numbers and begging for family leave, and even the deserters came out, and they ran a platoon without paying attention.

(To be continued)