There are many things in this world that you can never predict.

For example, what was said in the War Department's emergency telegram!

After Hu Chuyuan finished reading the telegram, he immediately crumpled it angrily, threw it on the ground, and couldn't help but scold the "rice bucket".

Seeing that the matter was very serious, Li Jingfang did not dare to linger any longer, and hurriedly got up to say goodbye.

There were only two people left in the room, Hu Chuyuan and Li Cunyi, and after a while, Sun Zongyuan hurried over, and as soon as he entered the room and saw Hu Chuyuan's face pale, he went to pick up the secret electricity on the ground.

The telegram was sent to the special train, and Sun Zongyuan was personally responsible for sealing and sealing, so he naturally knew what kind of news it was.

He sighed and said to Hu Chuyuan: "My lord, since the matter has happened, we can only find a way to deal with it first." ”

Hu Chuyuan sneered and said: "Duan Qirui is a rice bucket, the main force of the Jianghuai Corps is in Pyongyang, well-equipped and abundant, if he can't hold Pyongyang, you will let him cut off his head and send it to Yanjing." ”

Sun Zongyuan sighed again and said: "As the main general, he failed to perceive the signs of rebellion of the Korean army, failed to notice the French army moving south, and let himself fall into a situation of defending one and three, Duan Qirui is indeed guilty of it. However, the situation in Pyongyang is still very important, and you still have to find a way to save it quickly. ”

"Alas......!"

Hu Chuyuan could only sigh.

Now at this juncture, where is he going to draw troops?

Of the 1.37 million regular army establishments with a total of 47 divisions and 1.37 million troops, only three divisions, less than 100,000 troops, remain in the country.

Duan Qirui has five divisions of the Jianghuai Corps in the DPRK, all of which are old integrated divisions, with a total strength of 186,000 troops, well-equipped and well-trained, and almost all front-line officers have graduated from military academies at home and abroad.

The Jianghuai Corps does not have mechanized troops, and the equipment of the five divisions has already reached the predetermined operational standards, with an average of 37,000 men in each division, and each division has a brigade and an additional artillery regiment under its jurisdiction outside the normal division system, and the second and fourth divisions, the oldest divisions, also have artillery brigades of increased size.

In terms of the size of the artillery unit, the sum of the seven divisions of the army is not as good as half of the five divisions.

There were still three divisions of the Jianghuai Corps that were not in Korea, the Eighth Division had been deployed in Shanghai and Suzhou and had not moved, the Fourteenth Division was in Shandong and Jeju Island, and the last new 44th Division was in Tianjin.

Even if Hu Chuyuan wanted to increase Duan Qirui's troops, he couldn't pull it.

Sun Zongyuan was very familiar with these situations, and seeing that Hu Chuyuan was quite embarrassed, he could only persuade him: "My lord, Pyongyang can't lose it, our arsenal in Anzhou has just entered the stage of large-scale production, and the Anzhou coal mine can mine 600,000 tons of coal every month, and the Jiechuan iron ore is of extremely high grade, and it also produces 300,000 tons of iron ore every month." The Pyongyang Coal Mine and the nearby Jaeyong-yeumli Iron Mine have all entered a period of high production, the four major gold mines in North Pyongan Province are still running at an accelerated pace, producing pounds and dollars, and the scale of the Anju Iron and Steel Machinery Factory, the Arsenal, the Pyongyang Machinery Factory, and the Nampo Shipyard should not be underestimated. It may not be a big deal to keep it in our hands, but if it is taken away by Yu himself, it will be troublesome. ”

"yes!"

In the final analysis, Hu Chuyuan personally ordered the investment and construction of these enterprises, and what is the specific scale, how much investment, what is the production capacity, and what is the quality of local minerals...... He knew it all too well.

In 1897, in order to make large-scale investments in the Anju Coal Mine and the Nampo Shipyard, he also re-signed a new concession treaty with the Kingdom of Korea, and both Anju and Nampo were assigned to the Qing Concession.

Anju Coal Mine and Pyongyang Coal Mine are high-quality anthracite coal with low sulfur content, which is most suitable for coking iron, as well as coal burning for ship power boilers, and the total reserves of Jiechuan Iron Mine are not only as high as hundreds of millions of tons, the average iron content of ore is more than 50%, and the total sulfur and phosphorus content is also very low.

The Yellow Sea South Daode Jaeyong Yinli Iron Mine is the largest iron ore base found in the Kingdom of Korea at present, with a total reserve of about 1 billion tons and an average iron content of 35%-42%, which is also a very valuable iron ore area.

It was precisely because the return on investment in the north of North Korea, especially in the Pyongyang and Anju regions, was so obvious that Hu Chuyuan finally decided to make a large-scale investment here.

After the outbreak of the war, these factories and industrial and mining enterprises he invested in North Korea also became more important, producing firearms, ammunition and small-caliber mortars on the spot, which were very important supply places for the Jianghuai Corps and the North Korean army.

Pyongyang must be saved!

After a short period of thought, Hu Chuyuan finally let out a long sigh and said to Sun Zongyuan: "The Qingxu Corps and the Jianghuai Corps will urgently increase the establishment of two divisions, and the 14th Jianghuai Division and the 23rd Fujian and Zhejiang Divisions will be transferred to Pyongyang, the 30th Division of the Southwest Corps will supplement Shanghai, and the 8th Division of the Jianghuai Corps will supplement Shandong...... It should be included in the establishment of a mechanized corps, speed up its deployment, and strive to enter Pyongyang before the beginning of spring next year. ”

"Understood, sir!"

Sun Zongyuan quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and temporarily replenishing more than 60,000 elite troops into Pyongyang should play a very crucial role, but he knew very well that this was already the limit of what Hu Chuyuan could transfer.

Hu Chuyuan understood better in his heart, and after a pause, he said to Sun Zongyuan: "Send an urgent telegram to Lu Guangquan and Lu Han." First, the War Department continued to expand its strength on the basis of its existing strength, and the old 31 divisions were comprehensively increased into integrated divisions, with five main regiments, one attached brigade, and two attached regiments in wartime, with each regiment having a maximum of seven columns and seven companies per column...... First expanded from the Jianghuai Corps; Second, the scale of training for new recruits in the reserve divisions of the Corps of the Ministry of the Army has been expanded again, and the total establishment of the Army has been increased to 54 divisions. Third, the naval divisions and land battalions attached to the fleets of the Admiralty were formally reorganized into marine divisions, with the 101st Division being set up in the Pacific Fleet, the Beiyang and Nanyang fleets temporarily setting up one marine division, and the Pacific and Headquarters fleets having three marine divisions. ”

Sun Zongyuan was slightly surprised, the scale of this expansion is really large.

Relying on the long-term policy of "the army is a military academy" and the original establishment of the naval divisions and land battalions, it is completely feasible to expand the size of the army to 54 divisions and the marine division to 8 divisions.

However, after the completion of the new round of expansion, the total strength of the army has approached 2 million, and the total strength of the marine division is about 250,000.

Sun Zongyuan couldn't help but ask Hu Chuyuan: "I'm afraid the military budget can't stop the car." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "I know. ”

If there is more, he will not say it, and there is no need to say it, because he has already decided that if the new war national debt cannot be raised, he will sell his own property to support this war.

As for how these treasury bonds will be returned, and at the same time, it will not affect the construction of the national economy...... This can only be said by waiting, and taking one step is one step.

Sun Zongyuan hurriedly returned to the train station to send a telegram, while Hu Chuyuan continued to think in his heart.

After a while, Wu Shuzhen entered the room, and after a quick glance, she knew that Hu Chuyuan had something particularly troublesome in her heart, she didn't ask more, just asked the chef to prepare supper.

She knew that Hu Chuyuan would sleep late this night.

......!!! in Pyongyang

With China's training and support, the Korean army now has seven divisions and a large number of Qinwang rebels, with a total strength of about 200,000.

The rebels had no trouble, but the three main Korean divisions arranged at Wonsan suddenly mutinied to welcome the French landing at Wonsan Port, causing 140,000 French troops the size of a group army to rush into the Korean battlefield.

At the same time, the army divided its troops into three routes to attack the three gaps in the Ahufeiling Mountains on the scale of eight divisions and regiments, especially concentrated in the area of Xinxiling, where four first-class divisions were concentrated.

At this time, Duan Qirui was stationed in Xiangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, North Korea, and used this place as his command center, and all the main forces in his hands were concentrated in the Ahufeiling Mountain Range, while the North Korean army was half in Wonsan and half in Pyongyang.

He also knew that the Korean army and the rebel army were not worth relying on, so he tried his best to leave them in the rear and do some easy things such as supplying the rear and building fortifications.

Doesn't that work?

Duan Qirui had a feeling of despair, he really couldn't figure it out, this was fighting North Korea, are North Koreans all national scum? Or do they have too much hope for themselves?

In short, Duan Qirui was a little puzzled.

He didn't seem to care anymore.

His biggest problem now is that he must send people to defend Xialan Mountain, which is the area where the Beidafeng Mountain Range and the Ahufeiling Mountain Range meet, and it is also a gathering place in a mountainous area, which is relatively easy to defend.

On the other hand, he was worried that the Korean rebels guarding the area of the Kitapobong Mountains would also surrender on a large scale, allowing the French army to bypass the Hailan Mountain defense area and attack Pyongyang directly.

Suppose the North Korean troops stationed in Pyongyang also surrender...... The Jianghuai Corps was miserable, and was directly outflanked by the French army.

Guard...... Fucking is certainly not the way.

He decided to take a risk and concentrate the main division on Mount Xialan to give the French Fourth Army a blow to the head of the French Fourth Army, which was trying to advance, and the French did not know the actual combat strength of the new army, especially the lack of sufficient knowledge of the reorganized Second Division in his hands.

Not only did he think so, he did it.

The second division in his hand had already been assembled, and he began to march to Xinping at night, and the large army marched lightly and at night, marching 130 kilometers in three days, and meeting up with the fourth division stationed at Xialan Mountain, and using the strength of 70,000 men of two divisions to fight once.

After it got dark, Duan Qirui personally took an off-road vehicle and led the second division to secretly leave the headquarters.

He himself brought his own division, he himself knows.

A three-day march of 130 kilometers is definitely not a difficult task.

On the night of October 17, Duan Qirui had led the Second Division to secretly cross the Danan River and came to the southern part of the Xialan Mountains, only 12 kilometers away from Lu Hongtao's Fourth Division.

The army is secretly assembled and reorganized in the mountains, and the military supplies temporarily transported by the naval transport fleet through the Danan River are being redistributed.

After the off-road vehicle drove to Nanping, the mountain road in front of it was even more rugged, and Duan Qirui himself relied on walking.

Here, he could already hear the sound of artillery on Mount Xialan, the artillery brigade of the 4th Division returning fire, and the French troops returning fire in the vicinity.

Time always flies quickly, and the young officer who suddenly joined the Battle of Longchuan ten years ago has now been promoted to major general by Hu Chuyuan, commanding the entire Korean battlefield, and Li Kaiye, Ye Bojun, and Yang Zongli are called the four marshals.

Duan Qirui is thirty-six years old, and finally cut off the braid he hated in his heart, and shaved a big bald head.

To tell the truth, his head shape is not good-looking at all, the forehead bone is particularly high, the sides of the back of the head are particularly wide, the person is lean, the cheekbones are high, and he has a bad temper, many people laugh at him for being a triangular donkey.

He didn't care, because he knew that except for Hu Chuyuan and Li Kaiye, there was no one in the army who was not afraid of him.

Even Lu Guangquan had to give him three points.

Duan Qirui has always regarded himself as the descendant of Hu Chuyuan's lineage, and he is a dead eye, Lu Guangquan said that he was not afraid that he was fake.

After setting up camp in the mountains, Duan Qirui couldn't wait to take a few of his staff officers to hurriedly climb the highest mountain nearby, and used high-powered binoculars to observe the positions of the French and Korean rebels more than 20 kilometers away.

In the distance, three divisions and two brigades of the French army were deployed together, and they had formed a situation of encircling the garrison of Xialanshan, and the artillery positions were relatively lagging behind.

Duan Qirui looked at it at a glance and understood in his heart that the French army's heavy weapons were insufficient, after all, it had been less than seven days since it landed in a hurry, and now it had just rushed over, wanting to take advantage of the army's big offensive to get a vote.

The artillery units stationed behind the French army are all the second division of the North Korean army trained by them, and the artillery equipment is also the 122mm caliber howitzer provided by them.

The sky was getting dark, and Duan Qirui's heart was bright.

At this moment, he already knew very well that his adventurous strategy was right, and the French did not know the combat effectiveness of China's elite army at all.

"You deserve to be beaten by the Germans into that kind of German surname!"

Duan Qirui sneered in his heart, in fact, he hated the Germans from the bottom of his heart, but until now, each division of the Jianghuai Corps has retained the chief instructor of the German army with excellent quality and strict iron discipline, and has been strictly implementing Germanization in accordance with his requirements over the years.

He knew that when it came to fighting, he was indeed inferior to Li Kaiye, and that was really fucking incomparable.

He has always felt that people like Li Kaiye are really a general who has only produced one in hundreds of years, just like Xu Da and Chang Yuchun in the Ming Dynasty, and he really has to fucking meet one or two in troubled times.

But he also has his own advantages.

He should be the first army general to develop Germanization to the extreme, and on the basis of Germanization, he also has a set of his own ideas and methods, first, he played the military academy policy very well, and he personally served as the chief teacher; Second, he was careful and tried his best, and every time a new set of equipment appeared, he personally wrote a manual to guide all the staff; Third, his training can be called cruel and particularly hard, in order to ensure the morale and effect of the army, even he trained with everyone; Fourth, he himself is a thorn in the head, relying on being the descendant of Hu Chuyuan's lineage, and he needs equipment, materials, food, and treatment all day long.

Eventually, he was the first in the country to install three submachine guns on a large scale, with three assault rifles in each squad, as well as Browning rifles, wheeled grenade launchers, and a large number of mortars.

Walking down the mountain quickly, Duan Qirui was like a bison, his eyes were shining, his steps were big and fast, and he seemed to be able to kill.

He knew in his heart that he would fight this battle very beautifully.

The dog said, he will go into battle in person.

Therefore, he called Wang Zhanyuan, the deputy general and commander of the 204th Brigade and his old classmate, over, and the two walked and talked all the way.

Hearing that Duan Qirui was going to go into battle in person, Wang Zhanyuan was furious, looked at Duan Qirui and said, "Don't you believe me?" ”

Duan Qirui ignored him fiercely, but said: "You are an artillery brigade, what are you doing rushing up, if I die, you will take over my position." I fucking personally commanded three regiments from behind. ”

Saying this, Duan Qirui had already put on a non-negotiable posture, and did not give Wang Zhanyuan any room at all.

Wang Zhanyuan was very helpless, and the dog said...... Duan Qirui does not talk about the spirit of cooking, and he is the supreme commander of the Jianghuai Corps and the Korean battlefield, and his military rank is major general.

The dog said.

Wang Zhanyuan is a colonel, and there is a brigadier general in the middle.

Duan Qirui was fierce, and he looked particularly ruthless and walked back to the barracks quickly, although everyone was used to it, seeing that he was so cold and solemn today, they were still a little apprehensive in their hearts.

All steps had to be quickened, and the telegraph line on the Nanping side could not be connected, so for the time being it could only be contacted by radio devices.

The navy's supplies have been sent to Nanpingkou, and a special regiment has been sent to meet and deliver them.

All staff are reorganized and prepared for war on the spot.

Obviously, Duan Qirui will attack tonight, or tomorrow morning.

It is really risky for two divisions to fight one of the other people's army group plus a division of the Korean rebels, and it is very dangerous even for the two oldest integrated divisions in the country.

Although the French lacked heavy equipment and the fortifications were not sound, their second division did not bring heavy equipment, and all the heavy machine guns were left in the Xiangyuan camp, all with light machine guns and submachine guns, and no artillery, all small mortars.

Fortunately, the navy temporarily dispatched more than 60 mountain howitzers, only 75mm caliber.

After dark, the Jianghuai Second Division began to set off secretly, and the adventure was taken to the extreme, only Wang Zhanyuan stayed behind with an artillery regiment and two infantry columns, and the remaining 30,000 people were all equipped with infantry equipment, and together they made a detour through the rear line of the French army to attack the second division of the Korean rebels.

It happens that the second division fights the second division, and the master beats the apprentice.

Groping along the mountain road, the 2nd Division quickly interspersed, crossed several small rivers, and arrived at the eastern line of defense of the 2nd Korean Division in the early hours of the morning, only six kilometers from the opponent's artillery positions.

The four main regiments of the 2nd Division were interspersed separately and approached the eastern line of defense of the Korean rebels one by one.

It was very close to the enemy line, and as soon as the appointed time came, Wang Zhanyuan's artillery regiment sent out artillery cover bombardment, mixed with incendiary bombs, to bombard the rebel artillery positions.

The flames burned instantly, illuminating half of the sky.

As soon as the first round of shelling ended, Duan Qirui personally led an infantry regiment to cover the position with mortar and machine gun fire, and the other two infantry columns, all armed with submachine guns, rushed in from the left and right flanks.

The Korean rebels, who had not expected the JAC Corps to penetrate their hinterland, were suddenly taken by surprise, suffered heavy casualties in the forward positions, and soon lost their protective line of defense against the artillery positions.

The nearly 30,000-strong troops of the Jianghuai Corps were vented out in one go, annihilating the North Korean Second Division, and at the same time sending people to repair the fortifications, renovate the artillery facilities, and occupy the artillery shell warehouses of the North Korean rebels.

To put it mildly, although it has very good equipment, the combat strength of the North Korean army is really pitiful, nearly 20,000 troops were killed and wounded in just half an hour, and most of the rest surrendered.

After occupying the shell storehouse, Duan Qirui immediately violated the international convention and killed all the prisoners.

As the sky grew brighter and the southern front was firmly occupied, the Jianghuai Second Division adjusted the captured artillery, and Wang Zhanyuan also pulled his own artillery regiment over, and then concentrated its firepower to bombard the hinterland of the French Fourth Army.

At this time, the French Fourth Army had already begun to organize a counterattack, and the strength of the two brigades was encircled, and in their west, the Jianghuai Fourth Division also began to organize artillery bombardment.

Both sides are the elite troops of the two countries, and the battle of Xialanshan was fought very fiercely, and the French had to recapture the positions of the 2nd Jianghuai Division, and if they could not take it back, they could not evacuate.

The French Fourth Army organized a battle for four days, and due to the lack of artillery cover and strong attack, in the positional battle, the fire network composed of a large number of light and heavy machine guns and mortars of the Jianghuai Corps caused a large area of casualties to the French army.

After directly annihilating the Second Division of the Korean rebels, because the weapons and ammunition of the two armies were completely identical, Duan Qirui's troops, who were lightly armed and simple, relied on captured materials and quickly arranged preparations for long-term operations, especially the addition of more than 100 Makqin heavy machine guns, which caused serious mass damage to the French army.

Four days later, the troops of the French Fourth Army stationed in Wonsan, with the assistance of two Korean rebel divisions, prepared to attack Duan Qirui's position.

Subsequently, the 2nd Jianghuai Division was responsible for garrisoning, and the 4th Division divided its troops into two ways to encircle the opponent.

At this time, through the supply of the Xialanshan Theater, the Jianghuai Corps drew a large number of flamethrowers from the Pyongyang arsenal, and used these flamethrowers with a range of 60 meters.

Using flamethrowers and submachine guns to kill and inflict casualties, the Jianghuai Corps continued to use the tactics of short-range suppression by mortars and light and heavy machine guns, and the tactics of small-scale infantry breaking through in a roundabout way, constantly seizing the opponent's positions and inflicting large-scale casualties on the front-line enemy.

The Korean rebels on both flanks of the French Fourth Army were the first to be routed, and some of the troops changed their flags and regained their allegiance to the Korean king, turning their guns on the French Fourth Army.

The entire battle of Xialanshan lasted only seven days, and the French Fourth Army was wiped out under the strong attack of the two main integrated divisions of the Jianghuai Corps, with more than 70,000 of the 104,000 troops annihilated and about 20,000 captured.

On October 24, when Yang Zongli fully retreated to Changchun, Duan Qirui fought a beautiful battle of annihilation on the Korean battlefield, destroying more than 170,000 enemy troops and reoccupying Wonsan.

After conquering Wonsan and getting the materials and armaments of the French and Korean rebels here, Duan Qirui immediately ordered to withdraw.

Completely withdraw to the Ahufeiling Mountain Range, first concentrate forces on fighting a tougher battle in Xinxiling, and break up the offensive of the Yue army.

Before leaving, he sent a telegram to Hu Chuyuan, hoping that Hu Chuyuan would transfer additional militia regiments from Jianghuai as soon as possible, and use the guns and ammunition he had captured and recovered on the Korean battlefield to quickly increase the number of Jianghuai regiment training troops stationed in Pyongyang to 100,000.

In addition, if the War Department has approved the organization of a mechanized corps in the Jianghuai Corps, he hopes that the speed will be as soon as possible, next March...... He has a very important tactical use.

In this battle of Xialan Mountain, Duan Qirui fought too beautifully.

The whole world was shocked, and the news quickly spread to the country, and the whole country was also greatly boosted, and morale was high.

Duan Qirui, a Chinese flying general!

(To be continued)