Seeing that the large army had begun to evacuate, Xu Fang, who was commanding on a wagon full of grain, said to a staff officer beside him: "Tell the deputy regiment commander to let him speed up the evacuation, and order the second battalion to start retreating in twenty minutes." ”

The staff officer immediately commanded a communications soldier to stand on the carriage and give orders to Li Zhe in flags.

"Regiment Commander, Deng Baoshan's large army is up." A staff officer with a telescope shouted.

Xu Fang raised his binoculars and observed Yuan Village. I saw that the soldiers of the Fifth Route Army had rushed out at the entrance of the village, although the number was not large, and they did not rush directly over, but they were already beginning to occupy favorable terrain and establish fire points. Xu Fang knew that this was the vanguard of Deng Baoshan's troops, and the large army would soon come up.

"Tell the train to pull back immediately." Xu Fang observed the situation and gave an order.

Although Xu Fang is a brave general who is excited when he sees a battle, he is not reckless, on the contrary, he is delicate and thoughtful. Since Deng Baoshan's large army has come up, the train he is on should retreat, this is a train, not an ironclad train. According to the investigation, although Deng Baoshan did not have mountain artillery, there were still a few 60mm mortars, and his train could not withstand even one shell, even if a shell fell on the train, it would also cause his soldiers to suffer great casualties, and he must avoid the casualties, even more so for his own safety. Their commanders repeatedly emphasized to them the position of the commander on the battlefield.

The reason why the train he was on could suddenly hit the regiment just now was that no one would have thought that he would use the train as a tool for assault and penetration in such a short distance; The second is that the regiment did not have mortars, and even if there were, they did not have time to deal with him, because several of his battalions soon attacked them on three sides. That's why he dared to stop there in peace.

But once Deng Baoshan's large army comes up, it will be difficult to say. The location of his train was still within the range of mortars, and such an obvious target would definitely be the first target of the other side.

As soon as the train started, Xu Fang, who was observing, saw that more than 1,000 troops rushed out of the village of Biyuan, it seemed that Deng Baoshan did not believe that his regiment would be wiped out in such a short time, and wanted to meet his regiment as soon as possible, so he hurriedly began to organize an attack.

A few screams came, and the two guards beside Xu Fang pounced on Xu Fang one left and one right, and threw Xu Fang under the sack and pressed on him. "Boom, boom, boom" A few shells fell on both sides of the train, and the debris even flew to the car, listening to the sound of a 60mm mortar.

As the explosions continued to sound, the train accelerated northward. At this time, mortar shells from the village of Biyuan continued to explode on the left and right of the roadbed, but the train drove faster and faster, and all the shelling fell behind the train. Xu Fang pushed away the two guards and asked loudly the commander of the cannon company on the other carriage if anyone was injured. The commander of the cannon company reported that only one ammunition hand was injured by the rubble. Hearing that there were basically no casualties, and then seeing a few carriages in good condition, Xu Fang was relieved. Although the 60 mortar was not very powerful, it was still lethal enough for personnel, and if a shell fell into the compartment, it would cause huge casualties.

Xu Fang calculated the distance, the train was out of the range of the mortar, and immediately ordered the guard to give the order to stop, he could not return to the garden entrance now, the second battalion had not withdrawn, and the machine gun company had to provide fire cover when the second battalion withdrew.

At this time, the mortars of the second battalion had already begun to shoot, and the first to suffer were the mortars that shelled the train at the entrance of the village, and the commander of the second battalion saw that the regimental commander's train was being chased and blown up by Deng Baoshan's troops, and he couldn't help but start a fire, and ordered the machine gun company of the second battalion to immediately put an end to the opponent's mortar position. With the concentrated firing of twelve 82 mortars, the positions of Deng Baoshan's only few baby mortars were immediately shrouded in smoke and fire, and only two salvos were used, and Deng Baoshan's mortar positions could no longer be found alive, and several mortars were blown up and deformed.

Having destroyed the mortar positions of the opposing side, the 82 mortars of the machine gun company immediately shifted their firing targets, and the 60 mortars of each company bombarded the 1,000 or so people who attacked them. Shells from dozens of mortars kept falling into the crowd, and because of Deng Baoshan's eagerness to rescue, the strength of this regiment was not fully deployed at all, and the formation was very dense, and the explosion of each shell killed and injured more than a dozen people.

Deng Baoshan's troops were the old troops of the Northwest Army, and although there were constantly mortars killing and wounding, they still charged forward fiercely, leaving two or three hundred dead and wounded soldiers on the road of several hundred meters. Approaching 100 meters to the front of the 2nd Battalion's position, the mortars, which had terrified them, finally stopped firing.

Deng Baoshan, who was observing the battle situation on the roof of the village of Biyuan, finally breathed a sigh of relief, he was very surprised by the fierce artillery fire of the Fourth Route Army, and the regiment that had been surrounded so far had not moved at all, which made him understand that the regiment was gone. In such a short period of time, a regiment is gone, and the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Route Army is too terrifying, looking at the dead and wounded in one place, Deng Baoshan now regrets sending the regiment in front of him to rescue in a hurry. However, if he can defeat the Fourth Route Army in front of him, he can still find some face in front of Tang Shengzhi, so that Tang Shengzhi can give himself some supplements, thinking of this, he immediately ordered the follow-up troops to prepare and rushed to the position of the Fourth Route Army, and immediately followed up to expand the results.

Deng Baoshan, who was a little absent-minded, was awakened by a sudden burst of dense gunfire, and hurriedly raised her binoculars to observe the situation on the battlefield.

In his field of vision, the mortar position of the Fourth Route Army could be observed except for a few kilometers away, but now a large number of machine gun positions suddenly appeared in the fields, spewing out tongues of fire, and a large number of people who rushed in front fell down.

Deng Baoshan looked carefully for a while, and he found that the color of the military uniform of the Fourth Route Army was very good, and the grass green military uniform was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding environment in the field. He was about to give the order to stop the attack, but he didn't expect that the troops he charged would pluck up the courage to charge again after a short adjustment, and the people in front had already rushed to a place thirty or forty meters away from the position of the Fourth Route Army. Deng Baoshan couldn't help but feel excited, if his troops could rush forward, he would have a chance to defeat them, and he might even capture the other party's machine gun mortars that he coveted.

Before the word "good" in Deng Baoshan's mouth was called, he saw from the telescope that a group of dense black and swarthy things suddenly flew out of the opponent's position, and then a burst of smoke burst out in the queue he charged, Deng Baoshan knew that this was a grenade thrown by the other party, and after the smoke, the formation of his attacking troops was even more sparse. Deng Baoshan knew that even if these people rushed forward, it would not have any effect, so he sighed and said to the staff officers beside him: "Blow the trumpet and retreat." Then he went down the ladder and down the house.

Because Deng Baoshan saw that the herald on horseback had arrived in front of the courtyard where he was. The herald who came came to convey Tang Shengzhi's order, and once again ordered him to hold back the troops of the Fourth Route Army at Huayuankou, and told him that 'Li Pinxian's Eighth Army will arrive soon'.

After the herald left, Deng Baoshan walked around the courtyard a few times with her head down, and she couldn't make up her mind for a while. The firepower of the Fourth Route Army in front of him is too fierce, and the troops of the Fourth Route Army blocking him should have a regiment, but there are nearly 100 light and heavy machine guns and dozens of mortars, in his opinion, such equipment is not up to this level even for the Northeast Army, and it is not impossible to drag them down, but if he really fights with the Fourth Route Army, this will definitely make him pay a great price, he has already lost nearly two regiments, and his troops of more than 10,000 people can not have any more losses.

However, if the Fourth Route Army was let go so easily, if Tang Shengzhi blamed him, it would be difficult for him to explain, and if he had known that this was the case, it would have been better to be in the Central Army, at least under the care of Yu Youren, a veteran of the Kuomintang, former commander-in-chief of the army stationed in Shaanxi, and now a member of the Standing Committee of the Military Committee of the National Political Axe, and director of the Audit Bureau. When Yu Youren was the commander-in-chief of the army stationed in Shaanxi, Deng Baoshan was the deputy commander-in-chief, and they jointly issued an inaugural declaration, proposing 12 plans to abolish the old political system and unify the province's finances to sort out Shaanxi's military and political affairs, and called on the people to "stand together!" Build a happy new life!" In February 1927, the two also rebuilt Northwest University into Xi'an Zhongshan College, and also founded the Xi'an Zhongshan Military School to train talents for the revolution. Prior to this, the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in Shaanxi issued many decrees abolishing excesses and miscellaneous taxes and reducing peasant land rents. The two get along well and have a good personal relationship.

Deng Baoshan, who was thinking wildly, was suddenly awakened by the shouts of a staff officer who was still observing the battlefield on the rooftop, and the staff officer reported to Deng Baoshan: "The blocking troops of the Fourth Route Army should begin to withdraw from their positions. ”

Deng Baoshan came to the bottom of the house in a few steps, climbed onto the roof neatly, and took the telescope handed over by the staff officer to observe. Sure enough, the mortars on the artillery positions of the Fourth Route Army in the distance had begun to disintegrate, and the barrels of some 82 mortars had been tied to horses, and groups of Fourth Route Corps came out of the fields behind the positions and began to retreat north along the main road. Deng Baoshan roughly estimated that there were about 1,000 people in the Fourth Route Army blocking his way, which couldn't help but surprise him, and said in surprise: "More than 1,000 people have such strong firepower?" The equipment of the Fourth Route Army is also too good, even the Northeast Army cannot afford it! ”

The chief of staff who followed Deng Baoshan said with some disbelief: "Maybe in order to block the attack, Song Zhewu concentrated his firepower and temporarily strengthened it to this regiment, so many guns are enough to equip an army." ”

Seeing that Deng Baoshan did not react, the chief of staff suggested: "Commander, just now they were on the position because the firepower was too fierce, and we suffered a loss, and now they broke away from the position and retreated, but it is an opportunity, so let's order the pursuit." He also reminded Deng Baoshan and said: "Li Pinxian's Eighth Army is about to come up." ”

"Good. Order all units to pursue, but as long as they bite them and don't let them retreat across the Yellow River, don't follow too closely, and deal with the Fourth Route Army, let Li Pinxian do it. ”

Xu Fang, who was on the train, saw that Deng Baoshan's troops really chased after him, and ordered the commander of the machine gun company: "I'm telling them to taste our 82 mortars, don't tell them to follow too closely." ”

Xu put it through the binoculars and saw that there were less than 10,000 troops chasing out of Yuanyuan Village, and at the forefront was Deng Baoshan's troops of about a battalion, which had already stepped on the blocking position of the second battalion just now. With the sound of the cannon being discharged, the soldiers of the battalion could be seen quickly lying down and taking cover, and then the smoke and dust from a dozen explosions rose in the position, and after the explosion, the battalion retreated at a faster speed than during the attack.

Seeing that Deng Baoshan's troops had withdrawn again, Xu Fang ordered the train to slowly retreat.

Xu Fang returned to the bridgehead, and the troops of the first regiment had begun to retreat to the opposite bank under the command of Chief of Staff Wang Xiaotian, and the one, three, and two battalions had already passed. The machine gun company of the 4th battalion was reorganized to guard the bridgehead position and cover the rest of the troops crossing the bridge. The second battalion that fought the blockade also quickly withdrew, and Xu Fang directly let them cross the bridge.

The terrain of the bridgehead is higher, the terrain here is very flat, you can see far away, the pursuing Deng Baoshan's troops have caught up, if all the troops cross the river at this time, it is bound to be occupied by Deng Baoshan's department, and may even use firepower to pursue his troops, you must know that the Yellow River iron bridge is more than 3000 meters. It seems that the fourth battalion only waited until the evening to cross the river, Xu Fang found the deputy regiment commander Li Zhe and the chief of staff Wang Xiaotian, and said their ideas, both of them agreed, but Li Zhe insisted that Xu Fang and Wang Xiaotian both cross the river, and he himself stayed to command the fourth battalion to fight and block.

Xu Fang understood that Li Zhe, a militant who was no less than himself, just wanted to have a good time. However, it was really unnecessary for him, Li Zhe and Wang Xiaotian to stay on the south bank, so he had to tell Li Zhe to only be allowed to guard the bridgehead, and after dark, he was withdrawn to the north of the bridge, and he was absolutely not allowed to take the initiative to attack, so he and Wang Xiaotian withdrew from the bridgehead.

After listening to Xu Fang's report, Song Zhewu, Tao Rong, and Zhang Yafei made a calculation, and for the sake of insurance, a semicircular blocking position was set up at the bridgehead south of the bridge, just to prevent Tang Shengzhi from crossing the bridge to retaliate if he was in a hurry. Then he sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek to report, "Tang Shengzhi's Fifth Route Army arrived in Zhengzhou last night, in order to avoid conflict with the Tang Army, the Department retreated to the north of the Yellow River overnight, the Tang Department pursued our army closely, and our Department was forced to meet near the village of Yuanyuan, both sides suffered thousands of casualties, and now our Department except for a battalion is still stranded at the bridgehead on the south bank, and the rest are withdrawn to the north of the Yellow River, and now a battalion in Henan is fighting fiercely with the Tang Department. Our department has repeatedly endured, and the Tang department is pressing forward step by step, if the Tang department attacks again, the post will resolutely fight back and will not be tolerated. ”

After the staff officer went out with the telegram, Tao Rong saw that only he, Song Zhewu, and Zhang Yafei were left in the headquarters, and said with a smile: "Commander-in-chief, I have really convinced you, Chiang Kai-shek will definitely be anxious like a fire when he receives this telegram, and if we really want to fight back, he will definitely be afraid that we will eat Tang Shengzhi's Fifth Route Army." ”

Although Xiao Guodong has warned Zhang Yafei to pay attention to his words and deeds in front of Song Zhewu, Zhang Yafei is not a person who can endure loneliness by nature, and when he saw Tao Rong say this, he couldn't help but say: "Obviously, we first accepted Tang Shengzhi's deserters, and then we had the generals who killed Tang Shengzhi, although Tang Shengzhi sent troops to chase after this time, but we also took the initiative to attack, and ate almost two of them in Yuan Village, but the commander said that he was forced to attack, and the commander's telegram seemed to have suffered a great grievance. If Tang Shengzhi saw this telegram, he would be dizzy. ”

Song Zhewu said with a smile: "Only we and Tang Shengzhi can explain the war in Zhengzhou, and others don't have to listen to us, just to make Chiang Kai-shek understand that if we don't let us return to Laiyuan, we are very likely to have a fight with Tang Shengzhi, which is the last thing he wants to see." ”

Chiang Kai-shek, who had already returned to Nanjing, received a telegram from Song Zhewu sent by Lin Wei, and with a gloomy face, he ordered someone to call He Yingqin and Yang Yongtai, and then pushed a telegram just sent by Tang Shengzhi to Lin Wei, and sat there silently.

Tang Shengzhi's telegram said, 'His troops were ambushed by Song Zhewu's Fourth Route Army in Biyuan Village, with more than 5,000 dead and wounded, and Song Zhewu must hand over Hu Yisan's murderer, and Song Zhewu must compensate for the losses of the Fifth Route Army, otherwise the army will be uncomfortable, and he can only withdraw to Hebei. ’

Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's expression, Lin Wei knew that Chiang Kai-shek was very dissatisfied with Song Zhewu and Tang Shengzhi in his heart, and he couldn't help complaining in his heart about Song Zhewu, a little brother, why did he have to rush back to Laiyuan? Although the Northwest Army headed by Song Zheyuan and remaining in Shaanxi has agreed to accept the dispatch of the central authorities, this needs to be backed up by military pressure, and the Central Army is not yet in place, and it is precisely when he and Tang Shengzhi are needed to deter Song Zheyuan and others in Henan. Isn't this causing confusion for the chairman? But he couldn't watch his little brother suffer, and wanted to explain to Song Zhewu, but when he saw Chiang Kai-shek's expression, he stopped when the words came to his mouth, he wanted to wait for He Yingqin and Yang Yongtai to come, and see the situation to help Song Zhewu speak. He could see that He Yingqin also had a good impression of Song Zhewu, and believed that He Yingqin would also help Song Zhewu.

Yang Yongtai and He Yingqin arrived soon, and after reading the telegrams of Song Zhewu and Tang Shengzhi, Yang Yongtai did not make a sound, about Song Zhewu's plot against Shanxi, except for Chiang Kai-shek, only Yang Yongtai knew. He Yingqin has always had no good impression of Tang Shengzhi, not to mention that Song Zhewu is now his little brother, although he is the number two person in the Whampoa department, but few of those people must dare not listen to Chiang Kai-shek's orders, now Hu Zongnan and Chen Cheng in the Whampoa department are both trying to organize their own forces, he is now only a few close people such as Lin Zheng, too weak, not conducive to fighting with Chen Cheng, he has no strength, and sooner or later he will be replaced by Chen Cheng.

(To be continued)