With the arrival of more than 30,000 officers and men of Cao Kun, Zhang Jingyao, and other units, the number of officers and men in the area from the front of the middle road battlefield to the depth of 50 kilometers has reached more than 50,000 people.

Wang Ruxian's Eighth Division, the main force in the middle of the route, was no better, and when he saw the tens of thousands of friendly troops fleeing like mud figures, he soon knew that the battlefield on the western route had been lost, and all kinds of rumors spread uncontrollably and rapidly, and the officers and men of the Eighth Division, who had already suffered heavy losses and had low morale, began to panic in a large area.

The remaining two infantry brigades, which were not equipped with artillery and heavy machine guns, had already lost nearly half of them in the nearly 10-day battle, and now they saw the main force of the western route fleeing in embarrassment, and heard the bad news that a large number of pursuers were coming, and several elite divisions of the Sichuan army were heading south in an attempt to encircle and annihilate themselves, and more than 1,000 people immediately threw down their weapons and fled the battlefield.

If it weren't for Wang Ruxian's supervisory team reacting quickly and chopping off the heads of more than a dozen fleeing officers and soldiers in a row, Cao Kun decisively sent his guard brigade to rush to suppress it, and then entered the position without fear to strengthen the defense, I am afraid that without the Sichuan-Hunan coalition army to launch an attack, tens of thousands of troops would have collapsed.

Chen Lanting, who was on the blocking position of the Sichuan-Hunan coalition army, had been silently observing the restless enemy positions and deep areas, and was immediately excited when he saw the chaos of the enemy army, but before he could give the order to "prepare to charge", the confusion on the enemy's position had subsided, and thousands of agile and well-equipped elites of the Beiyang Army quickly entered the defensive position.

In this case, Chen Lanting could only sigh and order his subordinates to figure out as soon as possible which enemy was the one who had just entered the position?

In the headquarters at the rear of the Beiyang Army's position, Cao Kun, who was worried, had just breathed a sigh of relief when he received the last telegram from the logistics baggage regiment that had not had time to evacuate Yueyang:

Following Linxiang, the junction, Yunxi, Chenglingji and other important places fell into the hands of the Sichuan army, the Huarong defenders were forced to surrender to the Sichuan-Hunan coalition army, Yuezhou fell into a heavy siege, the Sichuan-Hunan coalition army came in a steady stream, Zhao Hengti was persecuted by the people, and ordered all departments to lay down their arms...... Cao Kun was in great pain, handed over the telegram in his hand to the generals for circulation, discussed it slightly, and quickly made a decision: the front position was immovable, and the main forces immediately sorted out their bags, made a detour to the north, and quickly marched eastward!

At noon, two gunboats slowly approached the heavily guarded Puqi pier.

Wang Jian, deputy commander of the Seventh Army, and more than a dozen other generals and colonels hurriedly greeted them, and after entering the warehouse above the dock to greet them, Wang Jian immediately reported the progress of the battle:

"Report to the commander, our army has completely controlled the railway line from Linxiang in the east to the south of Xianning in the west, along the Tingsi Bridge, the Fourth Division and the 10th Brigade and Wu Peifu's new 1st Brigade confronted the north and south of the Tingsi Bridge, He Qiwu Department three hours ago at the request of the two generals, Cheng and Tan, personally led two regiments south to encircle Yueyang with friendly troops, Yueyang Zhao Hengti has ordered the defenders to lay down their arms."

Xiao Yimin was very satisfied, inspected the two radio stations installed in the large warehouse, returned the salute to the staff officers who put down their work and saluted solemnly as he walked, instructed the generals and colonels around him to be free, and finally walked to the window, pointed to the more than ten pieces of equipment that were being loaded on the dock and said:

"I heard that the scale of the Puqi Machinery Repair Institute is not small, but I didn't expect that there is only this little machine."

Wang Jian said with a wry smile: "I have interrogated in detail, and it is not comparable to our military factory at all, just these half-new and old things, the best is two fifty kilowatt British diesel generators, together with the imitation of more than two hundred Hanyang rifles, more than fifty tons of American carbon steel and a bullet production line, which have been loaded into the big cargo ship in front of them in advance, right there...... Covered with a tarp, you may not have noticed. ”

"What about the people in the factory?" Xiao Yimin values skilled workers more.

Wang Jian was stunned: "Not long after the dismissal, the quartermaster department reported that several masters were sent by the Hanyang factory, and most of the remaining more than 300 workers were locals, and each of them sent ten oceans to let them go back. ”

Xiao Yimin explained: "These equipment need to be placed in the Yichang camp, and now Yichang has become an important training base and logistics supply base for our army. Now the industrial development of Bashu is very fast, and the supply of skilled workers exceeds the demand, and even the graduates of the three major engineering colleges in Chengdu, Ya'an, and Yucheng are not enough to distribute, not to mention skilled teachers and technicians?

"Again, we can also promote military-civilian relations by hiring local talents with high salaries, using our technological advantages and a large number of parts subcontractors from all over Bashu, and adding a few new sets of equipment, isn't it another medium-sized arsenal? Maybe in a year, the Yichang Repair Institute will be able to feed the entire Yichang base. ”

Wang Jian immediately understood: "I will immediately notify the Political Science Department to do it." ”

Xiao Yimin nodded, and waited for Wang Jian to call the chief of the political section and the chief of the quartermaster to finish the instructions, and motioned for Wang Jian to go out for a walk with him, and the chief of the guard, Wu San and the others, followed silently.

After walking dozens of steps, Wang Jian asked worriedly: "I heard that you are going to Wuhan to meet Wu Peifu?" ”

"It's not that I heard about it, but I'm going to go soon, otherwise what do you say I'm doing here?" Xiao Yimin said with a smile.

Wang Jian became nervous: "No! Wu Peifu is scheming, extremely conceited, judging from his strict military management methods of beheading at every turn, this person's surname is ruthless, and the means are tough As the commander of the first army, and at this very moment, what if there is a good one? ”

Xiao Yimin patted Wang Jian's arm: "Senior brother, don't worry, although Wu Ziyu is unruly, but he does have the ability to be arrogant and conceited, judging from his twenty years of experience and unremitting efforts step by step to today, this person is full of wisdom and bravery, vigorous and resolute and far-sighted, by no means the legendary kind of unscrupulous person, especially Wu Ziyu's loyalty to the country and the nation that goes deep into the bones, is by no means under you and me, looking at the generals of all armies across the country, only this Wu Ziyu makes me admire." ”

Wang Jian was surprised, he had never heard Xiao Yimin praise a general so much: "Is this the reason why you have delayed fighting Wuhan?" ”

"Not exactly, although there are such considerations, the main reason for not fighting Wuhan is that I don't want to have too deep a grudge with Beiyang."

Xiao Yimin then explained in detail: "Although Wu Ziyu is a rising star in the Beiyang Army, he far surpasses Duan Zhiquan and Cao Kun in terms of military talent and ability to lead troops. I'm afraid he can't even be the Wuhan town guard. ”

"Huh!? Do you think so highly of this person? Wang Jian was taken aback.

Xiao Yimin nodded: "It can be said that Wu Ziyu is a rare general in a century, the reason why he has today's achievements and status is completely the result of his own efforts, not the gift of those bosses in Beiyang to him, such a talent, such a character, why can't he become our friend?"

"If we don't fight hard, he and we will never get to know each other, and the misunderstanding that is currently forming will get deeper and deeper, and he will probably become our enemy, a serious enemy."

Wang Jian was puzzled, and after carefully weighing it, he did not continue to dissuade Xiao Yimin from going to Wuhan.

Although Wang Jian could not fully understand Xiao Yimin's purpose, it did not prevent him from having the kind of firm confidence and almost blind loyalty that Xiao Yimin had.

After chatting for a while about the current war situation in Europe and the situation of Zeng Chaoran, Wang Qian and others who had been serving in the German army, as well as the next tasks and arrangements for the withdrawal of troops from various departments in Hunan Province, they returned to the large warehouse as a temporary headquarters.

Xiao Yimin listened to the reports of the various units of the Seventh Army, then sent several telegrams, and after a simple dinner, he boarded the ship again and rushed to Wuhan downstream overnight.

In the evening, in the west of Wuchang City, the former new army commanded the yamen.

Wu Peifu, who was eating and talking with the four generals under his command, heard the report, picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, took the telegram, and waved his hand to signal the communications staff officer to retreat.

After reading the message, Wu Peifu was so shocked that Huo Ran stood up, and his carefully trimmed mustache trembled: "His grandmother's ...... How dare he come! ”

"Who?"

Chief of Staff Zhang Qiqi was startled when he saw Wu Peifu's appearance, hurriedly put down his chopsticks, took the telegram and looked at it, and couldn't help but ponder after being shocked.

Wu Peifu had already sat down, staring at Zhang Qiqi, whose face was constantly changing, and asked, "What do you think of Ziwu?" ”

Zhang Qiqi, who was born in civil and military affairs, hesitated for a moment, and said with a wry smile: "I can't see a famous hall for a while!" Originally, I thought this was just an excuse for Xiao Yiming to respond to the central political axe, but I didn't expect him to really come, and he came so quickly, it was really unexpected! ”

Wu Peifu nodded in agreement: "I'm afraid it's not good!" Just imagine, the end of Hunan is imminent, but how can there still be 50,000 soldiers under Cao Zhongshan, right? Could it be that Xiao Yiming let Cao Zhongshan go so generously? They are old enemies who have met twice in battle. ”

Zhang Qiqi suddenly understood, and suddenly said: "That's right, I'm afraid he dared to do this because he wanted to let Cao Zhongshan go, maybe he had this intention before the war, otherwise why did his three elite divisions arrange it like this?" With the astonishing marching speed of the Sichuan army and the powerful firepower several times that of our Beiyang army, as long as he wants to block the way of Cao Zhongshan's tens of thousands of people, can Cao Zhongshan, who has been firmly pinned down by the Hunan army, easily get out of the battlefield? It can be seen that Xiao Yiming not only gave an explanation to the central political axe, Duan Zhiquan and Feng Huafu by doing this, but also earned himself a great favor! ”

Wu Peifu suddenly realized, stood up and sighed faintly: "More than that, more than that!" Then all the pressure will be transferred to me! This Xiao Yiming is really as you said, he is scheming and full of strategy, and if he doesn't pay attention to it, he will be plotted by him, and he is really a hero! ”

Zhang Qiqi also sighed again and again, and suddenly turned to Wu Peifu: "He is going to the meeting alone!" Anyway, as long as you see him tomorrow, he'll win! Ziyu, I have a headache! ”

Wu Peifu shook his head helplessly, thought about it and turned around and left, and soon entered the study, lifted the brush but slowly put it down, and fell into deep thought for a long time.

(To be continued)