The battle of Wanxian ended with the overwhelming victory of the Sichuan allied forces, and Cao Kun's various units successively killed more than 2,700 people and wounded more than 4,000, of which more than 1,300 were seriously wounded and humanely "sent to the end" in accordance with battlefield practice, and the remaining 5,200 prisoners and more than 2,000 wounded were imprisoned in two military camps inside and outside Wanxian.

At noon, under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, two 300-ton cargo ships carrying Cao Kun and more than 600 officers above the company commander level slowly left the main wharf in Wanxian County, joined the troop transport fleet of the Fourth Division of the Sichuan Army, composed of hundreds of engines, steamers and wooden boats, and sailed upstream, heading for Yucheng, which had been surrounded on all sides and cut off from foreign relations.

The fleet sailed to the Jiangxin Channel, and the officers and men of the Sichuan Army escorted by the ships quickly carried out buckets of fragrant rice and meat dishes, and loaded each frustrated surrendered officer with food in clean iron bowls.

Cao Kun and more than 600 officers under his command were treated politely by Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji from beginning to end, and the officers and men of the Sichuan army did not beat or abuse any of the captured officers and soldiers who laid down their arms, and all the captured officers were still allowed to retain the swords and swords that symbolized their status and glory in addition to the guns and ammunition confiscated, and the battle flags abandoned by the surrendered divisions and brigades were also recovered by Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji on the orders of the Sichuan army, and they were neatly folded and handed over to the commanders of the subordinate departments.

This hand of the Sichuan army was played extremely beautifully, so that the more than 600 surrendered officers slowly found that there was not much resentment in their hearts, and in addition to remorse and melancholy, all that was left was deep concern for their own future.

After this battle, the most excited were the commanders of the Third Division, Sun Zhaoluan, Yang Sen and Liu Xiang, and the captured more than 600 war horses were all distributed to Sun Zhaoluan's Third Division, so that the unit could rush back to Yucheng by land to prepare for the war; Yang Sen and Liu Xiang were both commended by Bao Jiqing and other generals for their resolute obedience and outstanding performance in leading the charge, and they were immediately appointed by Wang Lingji as the commanders of the second and third brigades of the reorganized Sichuan Army's First Division, and the more than 6,000 guns, weapons and ammunition, and 17 infantry guns that were seized were all allocated to the two newly promoted brigade commanders to expand their strength, and the thousands of long and short guns and more than 30 artillery pieces destroyed were handed over to the three main regiments of the border army led by Bao Jiqing to collect them and transport them to Chengdu for repair or refurnace.

Yang Sen and Liu Xiang happily led their troops to stay in the camp of Wanxian County, shouldered the important task of defense of Wanxian County and eastern Sichuan, and escorted more than 5,000 prisoners to clean up the battlefield and bury their bodies.

On the afternoon of 26 May, the Sichuan army units led by Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji smoothly returned to Yucheng and began to launch an oppressive encirclement of Yucheng.

Chen Eun, who received an urgent report, led dozens of generals and colonels to the dock to greet them, and when they saw Cao Kun and others who were scarred and lonely, Hu Jingyi's legs were weak and he almost fell to the ground.

Chen Eun, who was exquisite, quickly cleaned up his mood, welcomed Cao Kun and his entourage into the camp in the city, and instructed his adjutant staff officers to immediately prepare a dinner party and invite foreign doctors from various pharmacies, clinics, and cathedrals in Chongqing to treat the wounded officers.

It wasn't until the fall of the West Mountain, Cao Kun and other five generals who had washed and changed their clothes were refreshed before they sat down at the banquet, and before Chen Eun raised his glass, Cao Kun told him in detail about the battle of Wanxian three days ago, and finally said something heartbroken:

"No one expected that the Sichuan army had united, that the Sichuan army would dare to take the lead in the war, and that the Sichuan army was so well equipped that our army was ambushed without preparation, and ended up with a tragic ending in which the whole army was exhausted. Although Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji were very polite to us and helped us collect the remnants and treat the wounded after the war, they betrayed the central political axe and betrayed the marshal, which is an unchangeable fact, and the situation in Sichuan is very grim.

"Brother Er'an, colleagues, now Yucheng has been surrounded by the Sichuan army, can only enter but not exit, like a lonely city, all contact with the outside world has been interrupted, it is estimated that the marshal has not yet learned the news of the defeat of our army, Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji entrusted me to bring a message to Brother Wenlan and you, they only gave us three days to consider, whether to fight or peace, let the princes decide for themselves."

Chen Eun's hand trembled slightly, he slowly put down the wine glass, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed faintly:

"Four days ago, when Yucheng was unable to send telegrams to the outside world, I had a premonition that a big war was imminent, but I never expected that Xiao Yimin was so insidious and cunning, and even resorted to the despicable act of pretending to besiege Yucheng and mobilizing the main force to attack your reinforcements......"

The thoughtful Xiong Bingqi saw that Chen Eun was still complaining, and couldn't help but remind in a low voice:

"Second brother, now is not the time to sigh, the top priority is how to face the current predicament! There is one more thing, the second brother needs to consider, where is the Feng Huanzhang brigade who went south from Hanzhong to threaten Chengdu? If Feng Huanzhang is still as hard as before, and the troops are walking to see Guangyuan, which has not yet reached northern Sichuan, everything is still possible to be saved, if Guangyuan is passed, I am afraid that it will also end up with the result of the whole army! ”

"Ahh......h Huanzhang's last call was from Guangyuan......"

Chen Eun stood up and muttered in a gaffe, his face was full of horror, Cao Kun and the others looked at each other, and finally shook their heads helplessly, knowing that Feng Yuxiang's department was more auspicious

North Sichuan, eighteen kilometers south of Jianmen Pass, Longtan Village.

Longtan Village, which has more than 300 households, is located in a river valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the five-zhang wide Longtan Creek passes through the village from north to south.

Feng Yuxiang and more than 2,200 officers and men under his command had been trapped in Longtan Village, which was more than 1,800 meters long from north to south and more than 700 meters wide from east to west, for three days.

The 5,000 officers and men of the two regiments led by Xiao Yimin's fierce general Zong Yi had sneaked into place long before the arrival of Feng Yuxiang's troops, and now they had set up more than 100 light and heavy machine guns and two 60 mortar firing positions at the north and south ends of the long and narrow village, and on the first day of Feng Yuxiang's attempt to lead his troops to break through the encirclement, they fired more than 100 shells in unison, completely destroying the idea of Feng Yuxiang leading his troops to forcibly break through the encirclement.

Feng Yuxiang, who had an ominous premonition, was unwilling to lead his troops south, but Chen Eun urged him to send a telegram a day, and Yuan Dashuai, who was sitting in Yanjing, finally sent a harshly worded telegram to Feng Yuxiang, who was entrenched in Hanzhong, and Feng Yuxiang had no choice but to lead a regiment into Sichuan slowly ten days ago, leaving the remaining 4,000 officers and soldiers in Hanzhong, and all the 12 artillery pieces allocated by Yuan Dashuai were also left in Hanzhong, and all the 24 Makqin heavy machine guns and 300,000 rounds of ammunition were carried south with healthy horses.

Feng Yuxiang, who successfully passed through Guangyuan, Jiange and Jianmen Xiongguan, never thought that Xiao Yimin's army would set a trap in Longtan Village, which was eighteen kilometers away from Jianmen Pass, this distance and location were very fatal, Feng Yuxiang's more than 2,000 officers and soldiers left Jianmen Pass early in the morning, and when they walked to Longtan Village in seven hours, they were already at the end of the crossbow, and they thought that they could rest and eat well when they arrived in Longtan, but who knew that the people of Longtan Village had all withdrawn, All the food and things that could satisfy hunger in the village were moved to Lijiaba, five kilometers to the south, leaving Feng Yuxiang and his more than 2,000 officers and soldiers with nothing but an empty village.

After three days of confrontation and negotiation, Feng Yuxiang's troops, who were unwilling to surrender their weapons, did not receive any food supplies, and the military rations they carried had been exhausted.

Some of the impatient subordinates advocated forcibly breaking through the siege, and some advocated that they should return to Hanzhong through negotiations to preserve their vitality as much as possible, but Feng Yuxiang did not say a word from beginning to end.

In the midst of the anxious debate, the general of the Sichuan army, Zong Yi, sent a letter again, which was also an ultimatum.

The burly Feng Yuxiang read the letter very carefully, and told the envoy without humility or arrogance: "Before ten o'clock tomorrow morning, a clear answer will be given whether it is a battle or a surrender, please go back!" ”

The envoy wearing the combat uniform of the Sichuan border army saluted Feng Yuxiang with a standard military salute, rode on a horse and ran towards the Niuwang Temple in the north of the village, and quickly told Feng Yuxiang's words to Zongyi.

Zheng Yi laughed: "Sure enough, as the commander expected, Feng Yuxiang is really cunning enough, he refused to surrender after receiving the news that Cao Kun's troops were annihilated by our army, and gave us a delaying plan, didn't he just want to escape and save face?" If my estimation is right, they'll probably take advantage of the darkness tonight. ”

"Sir, do you want to fight?" Li Shaoji, commander of the Fifth Regiment of the Border Army stationed in Mianyang, asked.

"I'm going to beat him, and I'm going to hurt him! Staff Officer Zhang——" The resolute and resolute Zheng Yi immediately made a decision.

"Here!" Staff Officer Zhang came to Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi ordered: "Inform the 2nd Guard Regiment in the south, pay close attention to the movement of the enemy troops in the village, if the enemy breaks through to the west, fire flares at Lao Tzu, and then bombard him with mortars, let the sniper squadron aim at the officer's blow, and never let the enemy escape westward over the Niubei Mountain Pass!" ”

"Yes...... Sir, it's getting dark, what if the enemy breaks through from under the northwest cliff to the north? There were only a dozen mines planted on that mountain road, and the machine guns and mortars of the Second Guard Regiment could not block that dead end, and the enemy had sent small teams to reconnoiter the path many times in the past two days, and his subordinates were worried about ......" Staff Officer Zhang reminded Zong Yi with concern.

Zheng Yi reluctantly explained: "If the commander hadn't ordered me to let Feng Yuxiang go as much as possible, so that we could meet and talk in the future, I would have ordered an attack a long time ago, would I have wasted time in this barren mountain and wilderness?" The mountain road under the northwest cliff is the only dangerous road that can escape, you can only walk people can not go horses, it is better to walk after the cliff, if Feng Yuxiang is brave enough, let him escape, as long as the enemy moves, the mortar company and machine gun company of the fifth regiment can move in place within ten minutes, block the road with artillery fire and machine guns, if Feng Yuxiang is unlucky, he can only retreat to the village and wait for us to disarm. ”

"Got it!" Staff Officer Zhang stood on his legs and turned to leave.

Li Shaoji, the commander of the Fifth Regiment, who graduated from the Sichuan Army Crash Course in the same class as Zheng Yi, was very puzzled by Xiao Yimin's decision, and did not dare to question Xiao Yimin's order in public, so he could only ask Zheng Yi in a low voice: "Where is this Feng Huanzhang sacred?" Is it worth being treated like this by the commander? ”

Zheng Yi smiled bitterly: "How do I know? Feng Yuxiang's 16th Mixed Brigade had a total strength of more than 6,500 men, well-equipped and strong horses, but this time he only brought one regiment and one heavy machine gun battalion, leaving the baggage battalion, artillery battalion and another infantry regiment in Hanzhong, which greatly exceeded our expectations. ”

Li Shaoji nodded thoughtfully:

"It is estimated that this is the case, another reason is that the road in northern Sichuan is rugged, which is not conducive to the march of baggage and artillery, from the north of Mianyang to the Guangyuan line, there are battlefields that can be ambushed everywhere, Feng Yuxiang is very wise to be cautious, if we don't persuade Guangyuan's Zhang Yuan's predecessors not to get involved, Feng Yuxiang will not continue to go south, I am afraid that he will flee back to Hanzhong as soon as he is hit by the Guangyuan militia."

"That's right! That's it. ”

Zheng Yi echoed loudly: "As for why the commander ordered us to let Feng Yuxiang go, we don't have to think about it for the time being, but we must leave the enemy's horses, equipment and most of the officers and soldiers behind, otherwise we won't come in vain?" I'm going to be laughed at by the other brothers when I go back! ”

"Boom, boom—"

There was an earth-shattering explosion in the northwest of the village, and Zong Yi and Li Shaoji jumped up suddenly, looked at each other and immediately rushed out of the Niuwang Temple, ran to the high post and held up the telescope to observe nervously.

Under the cliff more than 500 meters northwest of the village, the smoke was filled, and the figures of many officers and soldiers of Feng Yuxiang's department loomed in the firelight and smoke - the enemy was really about to break through!

(To be continued)