Liu Bingxian hurried slowly, and finally entered Sichuan High School on the evening of the 27th of January. county, seeing the well-equipped soldiers of Wang Jian's Fourth Division marching south, Liu Bing, who was shocked, rushed into Gao. As soon as the county enemy headquarters entered the courtyard, he asked to meet with the division commander Wang Jian, who knew that Wang Jian had already rushed to the beachhead town 30 kilometers west half a day ago, and personally led the 11th Brigade to attack Yanjin from the west.

He Qiwu, chief of staff of the Fourth Division, respected Liu Bingxian, the sworn brother of the commander-in-chief Xiao Yimin, very much, and he welcomed the anxious Liu Bingxian into the headquarters, personally brought tea to Liu Bingxian, and then explained in detail:

"Brother Zicheng, brother, I really can't order the troops to stop moving, storming Yanjin and occupying Zhaotong is a dead order issued by the headquarters, and the task must be completed within three days Because there are too many things to prepare, our rear army has actually been delayed for half a day to set off, it is estimated that at this time, the 11th Brigade under the personal command of Division Commander Wang has been in the south of Tantou Town and Liu Yunfeng's department across the river to exchange fire

"If Liu Yunfeng had woken up earlier, he might have been able to make a judgment on the battlefield situation in time, immediately lead his troops to retreat, and preserve his strength, if he resists regardless of reality, he will be cut off by the 10th Brigade that we are interspersed with before dawn tomorrow! And once Yanjin is lost, Zhaotong, which is empty of troops, will also lose its barrier

"Speaking of the Yunnan army, it is too arrogant, since Cai Songpo and the following generals, I always think that we will only passively defend and dare not take the initiative to attack, in fact, Liu Yunfeng's left wing army is only 5,000 men, which is inferior to our brigade, under the rapid combined attack of our two brigades, except for choosing to escape, he has no second way to go."

"It's over, it's over, what's going to happen now?"

Liu Bingxian rubbed his head in pain, and after a while, he asked sadly, "After you take Zhaotong, where is the next target of the attack?" ”

"There is no next step, the order of the headquarters is to occupy Zhaotong on the spot for three days after taking it, and then withdraw decisively." He Qiwu said with a smile.

Liu Bingxian was stunned, rubbed his eyes that were blown red by the cold wind along the way, thought about it slightly, and immediately understood Xiao Yimin's purpose, and couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly:

"What a fucking cunning the Commander-in-Chief! As long as your fourth division captures Zhaotong, the Dian army will be shaken on the whole line, and the whole province will be shaken, and as long as the main forces of the middle road under the command of General Cai Songpo make a slight move, I am afraid that they will be attacked by the superior forces under the command of General Sun Zhaoluan. ”

He Qiwu smiled: "That's right, the subordinates and others are also very impressed by the commander-in-chief's strategy!" ”

"No, I have to meet the commander-in-chief as soon as possible, if this battle continues like this, we and the Dian army will form an endless pattern, and the general trend of the world will not necessarily change because of this." Liu Bing stood up first and left.

He Qiwu hurriedly stopped him: "Brother Zicheng, wait...... General Dai Xijiu died, died in the crossfire on the battlefield, and just two days ago, if Liu Cunhou hadn't been clever enough to throw down his troops and flee first, it is estimated that he would not have escaped death. ”

Liu Bingxian froze in place, then sat down weakly, shook his head again and again and sighed: "Disaster is coming, disaster is coming...... This is a big feud......"

He Qiwu added tea to Liu Bingxian, sat opposite him and explained: "Brother Zicheng, don't be sad, it's normal to die in battle, and Dai Xijiu died on the battlefield, which can be regarded as benevolence." ”

"You know the! Do you know what it means for Dai Rong to die? Since then, the revolutionaries of all China have turned against our Sichuan army, and we have become the target of public criticism! Liu Bingxian roared loudly in excitement.

He Qiwu was quite annoyed when he heard this, pursed his mouth, and looked sideways at the angry Liu Bingxian:

"So what? Who let Dai Huan lead his troops to invade the border first? If he is good in Guizhou, we will go to him for trouble? Can we only be beaten passively and not fight back? Where in the world is there such a thing!

"Humph! If the revolutionary party has the ability, let them come, whoever dares to touch our Sichuan, who dares to oppose our Commander-in-Chief Xiao, will be the enemy of our 150,000 Sichuan army brothers! As long as the revolutionary party dares to come, Lao Tzu will fucking come and slaughter one by one, and two will slaughter a pair, even if Sun Cannon comes in person, Lao Tzu will kill him! ”

"You-"

Liu Bingxian took the case first, trembling with anger, glared at He Qiwu viciously, turned around and left, but he quickly turned back and yelled at He Qiwu: "He Qiwu, why the hell are you gathering so many people outside?" Robbery going? ”

He Qiwuzheng regretted that he had spoken a little heavier, and when he saw Liu Bingxian running back in anger, he immediately stepped forward, and explained with a smile:

"Brother Zicheng, don't worry, the younger brother is ready, so I will send a car to send Brother Zicheng to the Syrian Mansion to meet with Commander Xiao, as for the eight thousand people outside...... Let's be honest, Zhaotong is the largest military station of the Yunnan army in northeast Yunnan, and it is also Yunnan. The provincial political axe and the material transfer station of the major merchants in Yunnan, so, as long as we occupy Zhaotong, everything will become our spoils, and we can't fight a battle with hard work, and there is no compensation at all, right? Don't forget how the Dian army looted in southern Sichuan a few years ago. ”

Liu Bingxian looked up to the sky and sighed:

"Good! Very good...... Xiao Yimin, no wonder the Yunnan army scolded you as a sanctimonious hypocrite, you are really fucking ruthless! actually came up with such a vicious trick Lao Tzu was played by you from beginning to end, since you have already made up your mind, what are you asking Lao Tzu to go to Yunnan to mediate? You're a fucking hypocrite, hypocrite! ”

He Qiwu was taken aback, and he slandered Liu Bingxian's position in his heart, but he couldn't say anything, so he hurriedly winked at his guard. The chief of the guard immediately walked up to Liu Bingxian, who was weak and full of sorrow, and respectfully asked Liu Bingxian to take the car.

Liu Bingxian let out a long breath, raised his hand and pointed at He Qiwu viciously, but finally closed his mouth and turned away with a lonely expression

At five o'clock in the morning of the next day, Liu Yunfeng, the general of the Yunnan Army, who was hesitant and failed to make a judgment in time, paid a heavy price and retreated to Yanjin under the fierce blows of 14,000 soldiers of the 10th and 11th Brigades of the Sichuan Army. More than 5,000 Yunnan officers and men in the county town suffered heavy casualties, nearly half of the entire county was bombarded by mortar artillery, and the raging flames devoured more than 300 houses and the lives of nearly 1,000 soldiers and civilians; in addition to the hundreds of routs who fled into the mountains during the breakdown, 2,200 Yunnan officers and men were disarmed and captured, nearly 3,000 officers and men died in artillery fire and the Sichuan army's charge, Liu Yunfeng, who was sworn to resist, was shot in the shoulder, and more than 10 generals and colonels, including Bai Xianming, chief of staff, and a company of elite guards were slaughtered, and the entire left wing army was completely annihilated.

At the end of the battle, Wang Jian left the brothers of the engineer battalion who served as infantry to guard the prisoners, clean up the battlefield, and ordered the two brigades under his command to divide the soldiers into two roads, and quickly move south non-stop, and rushed to Zhaotong under the guidance of the reconnaissance company soldiers sent in advance. I didn't know that the Fourth Division of the Sichuan Army had already defeated Liu Yunfeng's Left Route Army, attacking at full speed like a wolf.

At seven o'clock in the evening, more than 100 officers and men of the special service company of the Fourth Division changed into the blue-gray military uniforms of the Yunnan Army and smoothly entered the 58-kilometer mark north of Zhaotong. In the county seat, they occupied the barracks of the county government and the garrison in one fell swoop, and one of the platoons broke into the home of the county magistrate and the garrison captain, controlled dozens of family members, and threatened them in every possible way.

Under the coercion of more than a dozen guns, the county magistrate and the garrison captain could only order all the soldiers and civilians to lay down their arms, in exchange for the promise that the Sichuan army would not embarrass the ordinary people.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the 10th Brigade successfully drove into the pass. The county seat rested, and the 11th Brigade led by the division commander Wang Jian ignored fatigue and went straight to Yiliang in the southeast. In the county seat, a battalion of the Yunnan army stationed in Yiliang came to its senses and found that the entire county had been surrounded by countless Sichuan regiments.

The 11th Brigade of the Sichuan Army encountered almost no decent resistance and successfully occupied the county seat for rest, and Zhaotong, more than 50 kilometers to the south, was exposed to 13,000 officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Army like a woman without clothes.

At noon the next day, the two brigades of the Sichuan Army, which had finished resting and had lunch, all went south and surrounded Zhaotong at 3 o'clock in the morning.

At 6:30 a.m., two mortar companies of the Sichuan army launched a five-minute artillery attack on the defenders of Zhaotong, and the dense shells successfully destroyed the peripheral positions and firing points of the Yunnan army, and the various units of the Sichuan army launched a charge with regiments as units, and a group of soldiers who were not afraid of death crossed the ruined city wall, and launched a fierce blow against the 2,000 soldiers of the Yunnan army who swore to die from all directions, and after an hour and a half of fierce street fighting, the Sichuan army paid the price of more than 2,000 casualties, and finally completely occupied Zhaotong.

Wang Jian, the division commander with a face full of gunpowder, did not bother to drink saliva, and immediately ordered the whole city to be searched, and the quartermasters and staff officers at all levels rushed to the money houses, yamen, warehouses, inns, and mansions of the rich that were strictly controlled, and began to "confiscate illegal armed forces" and "severely crack down on hostile forces and punish good militants."

Immediately afterwards, each regiment sent 15 companies of officers and soldiers to the surrounding villages and towns to severely punish the "local tyrants and inferior gentry", and the slightest resistance of the rich merchants and landlords in various places would be brutally suppressed, not only all the family property was plundered, but the eldest son or family patriarch would also be escorted to Zhaotong. County.

Ransom sums of money were squeezed out, and all the granaries were opened by the Sichuan officers and soldiers who "robbed the rich and helped the poor"; regardless of whether the people needed food or not, they had to carry bags of grain home under the guns of the Sichuan officers and soldiers, and the horses, cattle, and carts of the village chief, town mayor, and all the rich families were looted, and even the big iron pot for cooking rice was not spared.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the baggage battalion and 8,000 migrant workers led by He Qiwu, chief of staff of the Fourth Division, came to Zhaotong with their bare hands, took a short rest, and immediately began to work.

(To be continued)