"The Sichuan army captures Pingjiang City!"

"Feng Huanzhang's back road was cut off, and the east road of the Beiyang Army collapsed."

"Tens of thousands of Sichuan troops suddenly appeared on the battlefield, and the situation in Xiaoxiang took a sharp turn!"

"Hunan Supervisor Tan Yanmin and other twelve generals jointly sent a telegram: The Sichuan-Hunan coalition forces share the same hatred of the enemy, and strive to unify Hunan within a month and end the war."

A telegram from the Sichuan Army's Reading Division, which occupied Pingjiang City in one fell swoop after more than three hours of fierce fighting, and the echo of the telegram from the 12 generals of Hunan, immediately caused a shock from all walks of life at home and abroad who were closely concerned about the Chinese civil war.

The vast majority of the people who are concerned about the changes in the current situation are deeply worried about the intensifying civil war between the two lakes, and they are incredulous about the elusive, heroic and good fighting of the Sichuan army, and they are all afraid of the growing and spreading civil war in their hearts.

The major forces in the country and the European and American powers, who have been closely following the battlefield situation from beginning to end, have reacted in a different way.

The two public telegrams sent in succession were shocking and incredible, just a small change of control of Pingjiang City, but it had a huge impact on the entire Xiaoxiang war situation and the national political situation, which was enough to change the political and military pattern of China.

From a strategic point of view, the most shocking thing about the Pingjiang electrification is the great political significance it contains, as the Sichuan military and political clique, China's third largest force, has finally torn off the mask of hypocrisy, brazenly raised its sword, and brazenly announced its political stance and ambitions to the world.

From a tactical point of view, the fall of Pingjiang City caused the Beiyang Army to lose all the supplies and troop support on the eastern route, and Pingjiang City, which was originally inconspicuous and not valued by Chinese and foreign military strategists, suddenly became an important fulcrum to lock the retreat of the Beiyang Army, and the heavy troops of the Sichuan Army arranged on the Jingxiang front line could calmly wave their divisions to northern Hunan and mercilessly cut off all the roads for the Beiyang Army to return northward, and the six divisions of the Beiyang Army lost the initiative and opportunity on the battlefield, even if it was too late to retreat immediately after leaving the battlefield.

At this point, all the troops of the Beiyang Army, including the Zhao Hengti Division of the Hunan Army, which had an ambiguous attitude, were inevitably attacked by the Sichuan-Hunan coalition forces from the north and south, and nearly 80,000 officers and men of the Beiyang Army lost their support from the Hubei direction, and also lost the initiative and material conditions to continue the war.

Sure enough, on the morning of the second day after the Pingjiang was electrified, only ten hours after the Sichuan Army's Reading Division completely occupied Pingjiang, Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, publicly telegraphed in Yichang:

Based on the increasingly hostile and military persecution of the Beiyang Army stationed in Xiaogan, Wuhan, Xianning and other places in Hubei Province against the Sichuan Army, the First Army and the Seventh Army of the Sichuan Army were forced to carry out targeted transfers, among them, the Fourth Division, the Tenth Division, the Twelfth Division, and the Nineteenth Division of the Sichuan Army will, with the cooperation of friendly forces in Hunan, advance to the direction of Jiayu, Xiantao, Puqi, and Xianning, so as to end the civil war as soon as possible and save the people of the two lakes from the fire of the water!

Xiao Yimin's telegram once again confirmed the predictions of people from all walks of life at home and abroad, and countless politicians and military strategists immediately issued the same exclamation: The Beiyang Army in the Hunan battlefield has completely lost the initiative, and has no choice but to surrender and break through to the east.

Yanjing, Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, who were concerned about the progress of the battle at night, were at a loss, and they were helpless in the face of Wu Peifu's repeated telegrams asking for help. A series of actions of the Sichuan army completely crushed the fragile expectations of Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, and even if reinforcements were drawn from Zhili and Shandong, they could not save the fate of defeat on the battlefield in Hunan.

In Guangzhou, Sun Yat-sen, Xu Chongzhi, Li Liejun and all the leaders of the revolutionary political axe were all dumbfounded, no one expected that there would be such a rapid and tremendous change in the Hunan battlefield, except for bursts of amazement, no one could change the situation in Hunan that was reversed in an instant.

Facing Sun Yat-sen, who was in a heavy mood, and all the revolutionary colleagues who were either not angry or felt incredible, Xu Chongzhi, who was called the only military strategist of the revolutionary army, sighed from the bottom of his heart:

"No matter what you think now, I have to say what I think in my heart, the Sichuan army's occupation of Pingjiang City and the immediate electrification of the whole country are completely a grandiose conspiracy, not a conspiracy and deceit as some comrades think, and the Sichuan army has far surpassed any army in the country in terms of army size and combat effectiveness, and Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan army, and his military group have fully matured. I can predict now that the Sichuan military and political clique has officially replaced the Beiyang political axe and the army as our biggest enemy in the future! ”

In the north school field of Guangzhou, Liu Bingxian, who had been promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the first division of the revolutionary army, and Chiang Kai-shek, deputy chief of staff of the base camp, conducted a war chess exercise on the just-concluded Hunan battlefield.

After a long time, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly looked up to the sky and sighed: "The momentum of the Sichuan army is unstoppable, and it will be difficult for the Hunan revolution to do anything from now on, and even the two lakes region will have to change the world!" ”

Liu Bingxian lowered his head and sighed: "What I am most worried about is that the situation in China has changed as a result, the alliance between Hunan and Sichuan has become an established fact, I believe that Hubei will soon fall into the hands of the Sichuan army, as long as the two lakes calm down, the powerful Sichuan army will have the conditions for exponential expansion, with Yiming's political position and means, I am afraid that there will be no room for our revolutionaries in the two lakes region anymore!" I know Yiming's temper very well, and now that he will not continue to pursue the strategy of taoguang and obscurity, he will raise the butcher's knife mercilessly no matter who stands in his way......"

Yichang, Hubei, Sichuan Army Headquarters.

Xiao Yimin, his two deputies, and more than 100 staff officers of the headquarters did not celebrate, nor did they have any blind optimism.

Battle reports came from the front line one after another, and seven or eight operational staff officers, on the basis of the information sent back in a stream, were busy marking on the huge military map of the two lakes on the wall and on the large sand table in the center, and one telegram after another was jointly examined by Bao Jiqing, chief of the general staff, and Wang Lingji, deputy commander-in-chief, and sent to all front-line units as quickly as possible.

The soldiers of Yang Sen's 1st Division stationed in Xiangyang were divided into two routes, slowly advancing eastward, and had successfully arrived at the line of Xinglong Temple and Junchuan Town, 15 kilometers west of Suizhou City.

Liu Xiang's 10th Division had already crossed the Qianjiang River at this time, and with the cooperation of a brigade of the Shixing Sichuan Division, it successfully completed the encirclement of Xiantao, and the 12th Division of the Sichuan Army, which was formed on the basis of two regiments of the Guard Brigade of the Sichuan Army General Headquarters, continued to advance 15 kilometers eastward, relying on Tanjiashan to build a defensive position with all its might, and one of them quickly went south, completely cutting off the waterway from Xiantao to Wuhan.

Four hours before Xiao Yimin was electrified, the two main divisions led by Wang Jian, deputy commander of the Seventh Army of the Sichuan Army, and He Qiwu, chief of staff, had already taken more than 30 cargo ships and troop carriers from Yichang and sailed down the river, and suddenly appeared outside Puqi City at dawn.

Wang Jian, who was known throughout the country for his bravery and speed, gave the order to attack without waiting for the artillery to be unloaded from the ship, and the two divisions, totaling more than 270 60 and 82 caliber mortars, took the lead in launching the shelling, and before the five-minute artillery bombardment was over, the five regiments of the two divisions, with a total of 13,000 soldiers, had already launched a charge.

Although Zhang Jingyao's 4th Brigade stubbornly resisted based on the ruins and temporary positions, it only lasted half an hour before the whole army was defeated.

The Seventh Army took Puqi at the cost of more than 400 dead and wounded, destroyed more than 900 enemies, captured more than 1,400 enemies, seized a large amount of ammunition, winter clothes, clothing and other materials, occupied the Puqi Ordnance Factory, the largest weapons production and maintenance base in Hunan, intercepted three wagons and two locomotives, and completely occupied the railway junction, the only railway line connecting the two lakes and the Yangtze River waterway, and then fell under the control of the Sichuan army.

At the same time, the veteran Chen Quzhen personally led the first division of the Xiangxi garrison to attack Huarong County, which is separated by a river in Yuezhou, and the artillery regiment of the department took the lead in launching a fierce artillery bombardment of Zhang Jingyao's 3rd Brigade which was stubbornly defending inside and outside the county.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the fierce offensive and defensive battle between the main forces of the Beiyang Army and the Hunan Army continued.

Due to the strict blockade of Cao Kun, Zhang Jingyao, and other high-level generals, the 60,000 Beiyang officers and men still do not know that the back road has been cut off by the Sichuan army, nor do they know that the two ace divisions of the Sichuan army have occupied Puqi, and that the fourth division of the Sichuan army, which is in all directions, is attacking Linxiang along the railway line, and still less does they know that one division and one artillery regiment after another of the Hunan army has posed a huge threat to Yueyang, where their headquarters is located, and tens of thousands of officers and men who have been fighting hard for a week are still attacking the various blocking positions of the Hunan army

At 6:30 p.m., Yueyang, Hunan, Beiyang Army Headquarters.

After consulting with Zhang Jingyao, chief of staff Xiong Bingqi, and other generals who had just returned from inspecting the Huarong battlefield, Cao Kun finally realized that the general trend had turned, and he had to consider how to withdraw from the battlefield in order to save the several regular divisions that the Beiyang Department had worked so hard to build up and had rich combat experience.

At this moment, the callbacks of Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui came one after another, and Feng Guozhang gave an extremely discouraging vague opinion: act cheaply!

Duan Qirui's telegram showed the level that this Beiyang leader and excellent military general should have, Duan Qirui unmistakably told Cao Kun and Zhang Jingyao: reinforcements cannot be expected, Beiyang's troops located in various parts of Hubei are already under strong pressure from the five divisions of the Sichuan Army, and there is no progress in the secret negotiations between the high-level and the Sichuan army, and it is recommended that all departments leave the battlefield at all costs, and use the fully formed Feng Huanzhang Brigade to storm Liuyang to attract the enemy's main force, and the rest of the troops will go all out to break through to the east and enter Jiangxi!

In the face of the two telegrams, Cao Kun could no longer control his excitement and scolded loudly:

"What does Feng Huafu mean? Acting cheaply? Now in this situation, how can his grandmother let Lao Tzu act cheaply? Although Duan Zhiquan was more realistic, he didn't give specific measures, and he didn't even give the order for the friendly troops in Jiangxi to come out to meet us, so how much price do we have to pay? ”

"Alas! Brother Zhiquan didn't give clear instructions is understandable, anyway, he can't understand the specific situation we are facing in Yanjing, if you and I are in his current position, it would be good to be able to do this step, better than Feng Huafu, right?

"Feng Huafu is a delicate person, you also know, in his opinion, I am afraid that everything except money is empty, and it is enough for him to let us act cheaply and decide our own future." Xiong Bingqi said helplessly.

Seeing that Linxiang was about to be captured by the Fourth Division of the Sichuan Army, a brigade of Huarong and two reinforced regiments could be dumpled at any time, Zhang Jingyao was so anxious that he turned around, and finally remembered Zhao Hengti, who was hiding in the barracks and did not return and resist, and was determined to take out this guy at both ends of the first rat as a substitute for the dead.

(To be continued)