Soon after the three divisions of the participating army marched eastward, Jin Yunpeng finally persuaded the commanders of the 12th, 17th, 19th, and 20th divisions to lead their troops to follow up and fight a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army. However, there is also the kind of master who does not enter the oil and salt and refuses to go out for anything, that is Wang Ruxian, the commander of the Eighth Division of Beiyang!

Speaking of this Master Wang, he actually has a lot to do with Chang Ruiqing's Baoding department. Because he also served as the principal of the Baoding Military Academy for a while, Chang Ruiqing's Baoding third phase of students spent most of their time in school under the leadership of this "old rough soldier" Principal Wang Da. And the relationship between him and Chang Ruiqing, a good-looking and excellent student, is also harmonious. After Chang Ruiqing served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, he did not forget his former mentor who was defeated in Beiyang in the 239th championship, and sent a stack of handwritten letters, all claiming that he was "Principal Wang". In the letter, Chang Ruiqing also assured him that as long as he was willing to lead the Eighth Division to the side of the Nationalist Government, he and his younger brother Wang Ruqin would have a position as a military commander!

Of course, if this kind of official wishes, Wang Ruxian and Wang Ruqin brothers will not take it seriously. But there is a wait-and-see mind in their hearts, and now the shape of Beiyang is extremely critical, and the decisive battle of the eastward advance is unpredictable, and of course their brothers will not move if they can. It just so happened that at this time, Wang Ruxian was seriously ill again, and he was not pretending. At the beginning of February, he was said to have had a small stroke because he was worried about state affairs, although his life was not in danger, but he also fell into a half-body failure, with such an excuse, Jin Yunpeng of course couldn't persuade their brothers. So they had to hand over the rear road of the main force of the First Front Army to their Eighth Division for defense, and then led their troops to the east.

But the errand of defending the back is not as easy as it seems. The eastern part of Henan Province is a terrain that can be defended without danger, and now it is being attacked from several sides! Not only was the east attacked by the First Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army. The defeated Beiyang Front Army of the 2nd 239th Northern Expeditionary Army in the south has also begun to move north, and the Zhensong Army in the west has also shown its antithesis. Even the north is not very peaceful, and Shanxi, which borders northern Henan, is already the world of blue sky and white sun flag! After Yan Xishan was attacked by Beiyang, he accepted the appointment of the Nationalist Government and became the commander of the Shanxi Provincial Security Department and the commander of the new 12th Army! The Jin army of his four mixed brigades also hung up the signboard of the new 12th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, although the strength was not strong, but it was always a threat.

In order to cope with the danger from all directions, Wang Ruxian and Wang Ruqin had no choice but to disassemble and deploy their Eighth Division, of which the 16th Brigade was on the line from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou on the Longhai Road, and the line from Zhengzhou to Anyang on the Jinghan Railway. It's more like it's stationed.

The other 15th Brigade was led by Brigade Commander Wang Ruxian. Drove to Lankao County. However, it did not deploy defenses and occupy the positions originally built by the Beiyang Third Division outside the city, but was comfortably stationed in the county seat, only placed some sentries on the city wall, and sent half a company of cavalry to the eastern plain to reconnoitre. After that's all that happens. Wang Ruqin and his subordinate, Liu Yuchun, the commander of the 29th Regiment, were guarding the original county yamen and the current brigade headquarters, and complained to each other.

"Tie Shan, do you think we Beiyang can still pass this hurdle? How successful is Xu Youzheng's plan for the decisive battle in the Central Plains? "Wang Ruqin has served as a Japanese non-commissioned officer and led the army for many years, so he is quite proficient in military affairs. I can't talk about famous generals or anything, but I can still recognize a little bit of the current situation, and I always feel that the general trend of Beiyang has gone. Xu Shuzheng's decisive battle plan is just a last-ditch fight.

Liu Yuchun is a tough and sturdy man, who joined the Huai Army as a soldier when he was young, and rose to prominence by virtue of his bravery and good fighting, and fought out as a regiment commander with a knife and a gun. He didn't have an opinion on the plan for the decisive battle in the Central Plains at all, all he cared about was how to hold Lankao and keep the back road of the main force of the First Front Army. The situation in Beiyang is over. It can't be finished in your own hands!

He scratched his bald head and said to Wang Ruqin: "Brigade commander, Shangqiu's side is open to fight, and Commander-in-Chief Jin also has seven divisions of troops in his hands, even if the chance of victory is not big, it will not be defeated." However, the back road guarded by our eighth division is a bit empty, a division guards almost half of the province, or is surrounded by enemies on all sides, especially here in Lankao, although there is a brigade of troops, but it has not yet been arranged, guarding a county town, in case the southern army comes over, surrounded on all sides, it will be the same as Yucheng. ”

As he was talking, he suddenly heard sporadic gunshots and explosions in the direction of the east, and then it sounded into a ball, and there was a faint sound of shouting and killing! Both of them were stunned, and they both knew that something was wrong, so they both stood up suddenly. Before he could open his mouth to ask, he saw a staff officer pointing to the red sky in the east outside the window and shouting, "Enemy attack!" The southern soldiers are coming! ”

The two of them rushed out towards the dean, and when they looked to the east, they saw that the flames of explosions kept rising through the night! Estimate the location of the explosion, it should be near the east gate of Lankao County! The Southern Army actually came to Lankao in one fell swoop! Didn't they want to cut off the rear route of the main force of the First Front Army and annihilate it completely?

Seeing this scene, Wang Ruqin was a little dazed, and muttered: "One step late, one step late, I should have made up my mind sooner if I knew this...... Liu Yuchun was already so anxious that he didn't know that the Wang brothers had already had contacts with Chang Ruiqing, and they had also moved to join the National Revolutionary Army, but they didn't make a final decision. He only had Lankao's gains and losses in his heart, and he said loudly: "Brigade commander! Don't be one step earlier or one step late! The enemy is coming, we have to meet it immediately, or we all have to go to see Yuan Gongbao! I will immediately go to the regimental headquarters of the 29th Regiment to organize reinforcements, and you hurry up and send a telegram to the division commander and Commander-in-Chief Jin, saying that Lankao is under surprise attack and asking them to respond quickly! ”

When the telegram was sent to the headquarters of the First Front Army of Beiyang on the Shangqiu front, it was a busy and noisy place, with telephones ringing one after another, staff officers running in and out, passing on all kinds of orders and information, and rumbling artillery in the distance.

Jin Yunpeng was pacing in the war room, his eyebrows furrowed tightly, and from time to time he would ask a few words in a loud voice about the latest battle situation. However, the answer was always "fierce fighting", "no progress has been made", "the southern army is fiercely counterattacking" and so on. It seems that the situation here is not good for David either!

That's when it happened. A staff officer in charge of communications suddenly rushed in and stuffed a copy of the newspaper to Fu Liangzuo, chief of staff of the front army. Fu Liangzuo only glanced at it. He exclaimed, "It's broken! Broken! Something is wrong! ”

Seeing Fu Liangzuo's appearance, Jin Yunpeng was also surprised, and hurriedly asked, "Qingjie, what's going on?" Could it be that our position has been lost? ”

Fu Liangzuo replied in a trembling voice: "No, it's not Shangqiu here, it's Lankao who has something to do, Lankao is being attacked by the Southern Army!" Our back road is going to be broken! ”

Jin Yunpeng sat on the ground as soon as he got his buttocks, and several staff officers hurriedly went over to help him up, and when he took the telegram, his face became more and more ugly. Fu Liangzuo reminded on the side: "Lankao only has one brigade, but three or four thousand troops. If there is really a brigade of southern soldiers, it will not be able to hold it! Shangqiu can't go on any more here. You have to withdraw to Kaifeng quickly! ”

Jin Yunpeng stumbled and sighed: "Shangqiu can't fight here or not, we can't help it!" The southern army is stuck with us, no one can take half a step back, as soon as they retreat, they will collapse, and when the time comes, more than 100,000 people will cover up and kill, and we will be wiped out! ”

Fu Liangzuo's face was pale, and he also knew that he couldn't retreat now. If you retreat, you will be defeated, but if you don't retreat, you will sit and wait for encirclement! Moreover, the logistics of their seven divisions here must all be maintained by the Longhai Railway, and now the Longhai Line must be cut off, and the supply of their 100,000 troops here will be cut off, and how many days can they last by relying on the ammunition carried by the troops? When the ammunition is exhausted, is it not the fate of the total annihilation?

He gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Let's withdraw!" In that way, if you can maintain a little force, you really can't pull the troops to the west and go to Shaanxi! There are tens of thousands of us there. As long as you hold Tongguan and Wuguan, you can always maintain it for a while! ”

Jin Yunpeng shook his head and said loudly: "No, no, there are also southern soldiers coming over on Jinghan Road, and the Zhensong army in western Henan has an ambiguous attitude, let's collapse here." They will definitely turn against each other, and when the time comes, we will all be finished with a slight block! In my opinion, Shangqiu can only withstand it here! At the same time, it is right to divide troops to counterattack Lankao, and then send a telegram to Xu Youzheng, asking him to urge Feng Huanzhang's Jinpu Road Front Army, telling them to hurry up and go south to threaten Xuzhou...... It was not necessary for Xu Shuzheng to urge, Feng Yuxiang's Jinpu Road Front Army had already begun to move south! The first to be dispatched was Feng Yuxiang's 11th Division, and their two brigades searched the mountainous areas on both sides of the Jinpu Road, but of course "did not find" anything suspicious. Li Chun then commanded the 2nd and 6th Divisions to march south. Since the period between Tai'an and Jinan was already a war zone, the Jinpu Railway Company could no longer provide transportation services, so Li Chun's two divisions had to go south on foot. And in order to arrive at the designated place earlier, Feng Yuxiang also ordered the Second Army to march to Tai'an overnight!

After receiving the order, Li Chun also knew that the battle on the front line was urgent, so he did not hesitate and obeyed the order. It's just that he couldn't have imagined that in the area of Wande Town, where his army was about to pass by, two divisions of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army had been lurking for two whole days!

Under the cover of night, more than 20,000 officers and soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army were already lying on the hillsides on both sides of Jinpu Road. All the bullets were loaded, and the long bayonets of the Minqi rifles were also loaded, and they were waiting for the southbound Northern Army to enter the ambush circle! There was also a regiment of officers and soldiers who had already ambushed into Wande Town at the foot of the mountain, which was originally controlled by the troops of the 11th Division of the Northern Army, but they had been quietly withdrawn for almost twelve hours! Of course, Li Chun, the commander of the Second Army of the Northern Army, who was heading south, knew nothing about this.

Bai Chongxi had also arrived at the former enemy command post of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army at this moment. This command post is located on a hill about 300 meters high on the east side of Jinpu Road, and looking northwest from here, you can already see a long fire dragon, rolling south along the winding road!

"That should be the Second Army of the Northern Army, right?" Bai Chongxi put down the binoculars in his hand and asked lightly.

** Liao Lei, the commander of the Second Army, said busily: "They are the Second Army of the Northern Army, and the liaison officer sent by Feng Huanzhang to us informed them that they were about to arrive in Wande half an hour ago." Jiansheng, it seems that a third of their troops have entered our encirclement, do you want to give the order to attack? ”

Bai Chongxi snorted coldly and shook his head: "Wait until they all enter before you do it!" According to Feng Yuxiang's request, the Second Front Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army should "inflict heavy losses" on the Second Army of the Northern Army, not annihilate them completely! So. Bai Chongxi's plan at the beginning was to open fire when one-third of the Second Army of the Northern Army entered the ambush circle, but now, he seemed to have suddenly changed his mind.

Liao Lei was stunned. But he didn't say anything. Bai Chongxi is the commander of the front army, he is just a military commander, of course he has to obey Bai Chongxi's orders.

However, the northern army at the foot of the mountain did not listen to Bai Chongxi's command, and after about half of the troops entered the encirclement, they suddenly stopped advancing!

It turned out that Li Chun received a telegram from Beijing and learned that the county seat of Lankao had just been attacked by the superior forces of the Southern Army! The long-wave radio station of his military headquarters was pulled by a truck imported from the United States, and every two hours it stopped to set up antennas and make contact with Beijing and Jinan. As soon as it was time to make contact, the staff officer in charge of communications hurriedly presented the telegram to Li Wen as soon as he had finished translating it.

He dismounted from his horse and took the telegram. But after two or three glances, I gasped. Said to the left and right: "Quick! Quickly order the whole army to stop advancing! ”

Qi Kuiyuan, the commander of the Second Division, who was still riding on a horse, frowned and asked, "Xiushuai, what's wrong?" Could it be that there is some ambush ahead? ”

"It's not an ambush, it's something happening in the direction of Longhai Road! The Southern Army had just attacked a brigade of Wang Ruqin in Lankao City, and it couldn't hold it at all! As soon as Lankao was lost, Longhai Road was broken. How many days can the main force of the First Front Army on the front line of Shangqiu last? ”

"What?" Qi Kuiyuan also hurriedly jumped off the horse, took the telegram from Li Chun's hand, glanced at it twice, and frowned: "Xu Youzheng and Feng Huanzhang are urging us to march quickly, Xiushuai, you see...... And get into the fart army! Li Chun snorted: "Xu Youzheng doesn't know how to fight at all!" Feng Huanzhang was also confused, and at this time he was still listening to his blind command! The army on Longhai Road will definitely not be able to sustain us when we hit the city of Xuzhou, if we really have the strength to fight it! And even if it hits the city of Xuzhou, what can it do? Rely on the seven divisions of the Longhai Road Front Army to fight the hundreds of thousands of Southern Army and Northern Expeditionary Army in Xuzhou? Isn't this going to die? ”

"So what do we do?" Qi Kuiyuan hesitated for a moment and leaned into Li Chun's ear. He said in a low voice: "Otherwise, let's return to Jinan first, and then contact the national government through Zhang Jilao to see if we can give a new army number?" ”

It turned out that Li Chun, Qi Kuiyuan, and Wang Zhanyuan had already been communicating with the south in private! They followed the path of Zhang Jian, the big industrialist in Nantong.

Li Chun nodded and sighed: "I originally wanted to fight a good fight, maybe I can still make a piece of land, but now it looks like that's all!" ”

His voice had just fallen. Suddenly, someone shouted: "Shelling! Shelling" was followed by the screeching sound of shells cutting through the air!

Rumble! Rumble! rumble

Dozens of 75mm mountain artillery shells and 80mm mortar shells accurately hit the marching column of the Northern Army with torches almost simultaneously! Then the sound of machine gun fire suddenly sounded on the hillsides on both sides of Jinpu Road, and hundreds of tongues of fire spat out from various commanding heights, sweeping from all directions The officers and soldiers of the North who were stunned and had not yet reacted! The metal fragments of the shell explosion and the rain of bullets fired from the machine gun were intertwined at this moment into a large net symbolizing death, knocking down the Northern officers and soldiers in the net in groups!

The sound of artillery shells, machine-gun fire, the wails of wounded and fallen officers and soldiers, and the shouts of junior officers of the Northern Army giving orders became a mixture.

However, before the officers of the 2nd and 6th Beiyang Divisions could reorganize their ranks, the earth-shattering shouts of killing came up on the slopes on both sides of the road! The infantry assault of the National Revolutionary Army has begun!

Seeing that the ambush had basically been successful, Bai Chongxi called Liao Lei and Huang Shaohong, chief of staff of the Second Army, to the map table, frowned and pointed to the numbers of several Northern Army units in the south of Jinan City: "Li Chun's Second Army is finished, but Feng Yuxiang's Jinpu Road Front Army still has at least five complete divisions, we can't let them return to Beijing!" They must be exterminated in Shandong! ”

He clenched his fist and slammed it on the map: "Throw Li Delin's Sixth Division into it!" Tonight, we must rush to break Li Chun's two divisions, and then the whole army will go north and attack along the Jinpu Road, and all the northern troops along the way will be targeted! They must be completely defeated and disarmed! ”

"Do you want to defeat and disarm?" Huang Shaohong took a breath and asked rhetorically: "The 11th Division of the Northern Army is Feng Yuxiang's troops, he has now defected to the Nationalist Government, and Mr. Sun Yat-sen also appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier. ”

Bai Chongxi smiled coldly: "Feng Yuxiang is going to take refuge in the National Government, not already in the National Government!" Theoretically, he is still a general on the Beiyang side, and his 11th Division is also in the Beiyang Army sequence! So it's perfectly legal for us to attack them! As for his commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier, hehe, he will be this officer, but there will be no more of his own Northwest Frontier Army! (To be continued......) rq！！！