Zhao Dongyun was also a little hesitant in his heart at this time, there is no doubt that Duan Qirui, who has occupied the two rivers, is a hard bone, but it is not easy to gnaw, now the strength of the Anhui army on the front line of Xuzhou is as high as sixty or seventy thousand, and the total strength of the second army that went south to Shandong is only more than 30,000 points, even if it is the first mixed brigade with follow-up reinforcements, it will not exceed 40,000 people.

Although the Feng troops under his command are all regular troops, the combat effectiveness is not comparable to those provincial armies. In the face of Duan Qirui's 70,000 troops, especially the 40,000 divisions with high morale and well-equipped among these 70,000 people, it is really hard to say whether this can be defeated.

If the current small number of troops go south to take the initiative to attack, it is easy to say that they will win, but if they are defeated, it will be a big trouble, their second army is the essence of their own Feng army, and if it is lost in northern Jiangsu, the impact on themselves will be too great.

And now that he has entered the customs smoothly, he no longer needs to fight a battle to bet on the fortune of the country like when he entered the customs, and it is necessary for him to continue to reinforce reinforcements in Shandong, and then launch an attack after the reinforcements arrive.

It's just that in this way, it will also leave Duan Qirui more time, in case the Southern Federation guys will be defeated in the next few months, so that Duan Qirui can completely solve the war in the south, and the other troops of the Anhui army will be transferred north, then it will be even more difficult to fight.

But on the other hand, if you can delay it for a few months, wait until you solve Wang Shizhen, and then turn around and gather the main force to kill Duan Qirui, this is also a benefit, but Zhang Zhidong obviously will not cooperate with him obediently, if he defeats Wang Shizhen, it is estimated that he will have to station tens of thousands of troops on the north bank of Wuhan.

Zhao Dongyun's mind was spinning rapidly, and as he pondered, everyone else also quieted down, they were waiting for Zhao Dongyun to make a decision!

After a full quarter of an hour, Zhao Dongyun stood up, and then walked to the large Chinese map on the side: "You all remember that the Third Army will be established on the same day, with the 13th Division and the 11th Division under its jurisdiction, and immediately take the train south along the Jinghan Railway to Zhengzhou for reinforcements, and be sure to end the Zhengzhou Campaign within half a month, and then transfer troops east to Xuzhou to reinforce the Second Army!"

The Second Army continued to move south according to the plan of the Operations Department to clear the remnants of the enemy in Shandong, but without my personal order, it was not allowed to launch a large-scale general attack on the enemy in Xuzhou! ”

After all, if you want to reinforce Xuzhou, why don't you directly send the newly formed Third Army south to Shandong for reinforcements, and then go all the way east to Xuzhou after going around to Henan and conquering Zhengzhou?

This is related to the railway, Zhao Dongyun's reason for doing this is very simple, because with the Jinghan Railway, he sent the Third Army reinforcements from the direction of the Beijing Division to Zhengzhou, fast at most three or five days, and after getting the reinforcements of the Third Army, it should not be a problem to take Zhengzhou, when the terrain from Zhengzhou to Xuzhou is a flat river, which is very conducive to the mobility of the troops, and the straight-line distance of the foot march is only about 400 kilometers, which is far closer than the straight-line distance of five or six hundred kilometers from the Beijing Division to Xuzhou.

Of course, after taking Zhengzhou, the Feng army can also continue to go south, but it is not so easy to continue to go south at this time, because continuing to go south is to directly face Wang Shizhen's main force, although he is not afraid of Wang Shizhen, but on the one hand, there is a large number of mountainous terrain in southern Henan and northern Hubei, and the famous Wusheng Pass is at the junction of the two provinces.

And now time is very important for the Feng army, the biggest enemy of the Feng army at present is not Wang Shizhen, nor is it the Southern Federation, but Duan Qirui, if Duan Qirui's current expansion momentum is not suppressed, and after Duan Qirui completely takes Jiangxi, Fujian, and even Guangdong, then Duan Qirui occupies a larger territory than Zhao Dongyun occupies, and Duan Qirui occupies a lot of wealth, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, which are all important financial provinces in the late Qing Dynasty, the above three provinces plus Jiangxi, Fujian and Anhui, The total financial revenue of the above provinces is enough to break 100 million, far exceeding the northern provinces controlled by Zhao Dongyun, and even if it is smashed with money, it will be enough to smash Zhao Dongyun to death.

So no matter what, Duan Qirui has to be suppressed first, as for Wang Shizhen, this person is no longer a big threat, and he can't afford to make any waves.

In addition, if Wang Shizhen continues to be held against Zhang Zhidong in Hubei, it will also allow the Feng army to avoid direct confrontation with the troops of the Southern Federation.

Today's Zhao Dongyun's idea is one, that is, to concentrate all the forces of one qiē, and first suppress Duan Qirui's momentum, of course, with the current strength of the Feng army, it is impossible to destroy the Anhui army in one battle at once, although the total number of Feng troops is more than the Anhui army, but the forces that can be concentrated in the direction of the two rivers are also limited, it is not easy to completely eliminate the Anhui army, but in the short term, at least in Xuzhou to give the Anhui army a heavy blow, otherwise wait for Duan Qirui to calm the southern war and then transfer the remaining troops to the north, At that time, the situation of the Feng army will not be good.

Maybe Duan Qirui can still defend and attack and give himself a Northern Expedition!

The generals in the conference room are also veteran generals, Zhao Dongyun's voice just fell, they are already thinking about Zhao Dongyun's strategic concept, although Zhao Dongyun is to reinforce the third army to the Jinghan line, but in fact, the strategic core of the follow-up Feng army is not in Hubei on the Jinghan line, but the Xuzhou line in northern Jiangsu, the third army is transferred to reinforce Zhengzhou, the most direct purpose is to defeat the land of Zhengzhou, and then liberate more troops to participate in the war on the front line of Xuzhou.

"As for the position of commander of the Third Army, Xiufeng, you have to take it first!" After Zhao Dong said that, he turned his attention to Chen Guangyuan.

When Chen Guangyuan heard this, his face changed several times, from surprise at the beginning to surprise and then to panic, and the expression on his face could be described as extremely rich.

Just now, after Zhao Dongyun said that he wanted to establish the Third Army, and his 13th Division also belonged to the Third Army, he also had a small fantasy in his heart that he would be appointed as the commander of the Third Army, but he thought that it was unlikely, not long ago in the Battle of Bazhou, although it was won in the end, but it was Wang Zhanyuan's Seventh Division that ran away, and throughout the command process of the Battle of Bazhou, he Chen Guangyuan had many miscalculations, at the beginning he believed that the Fifth Brigade was enough to contain the northward movement of the Seventh Division. However, he did not expect Wang Zhanyuan to dare to take the initiative to launch a roundabout attack, and the Fifth Brigade of the Daozhì was once in danger, and when Wang Zhanyuan decided to lead the army to retreat, he misjudged the direction of the pursuit, and the Daozhì failed to leave Wang Zhanyuan's Seventh Division.

After this battle, he was transferred from the position of commander of the third division to the position of commander of the thirteenth division, and the thirteenth division was only a new unit, and its importance was obviously not as important as the third division, so many people, including himself, thought that he had been demoted.

However, now Zhao Dongyun has reappointed him as the commander of the First Army regardless of his previous suspicions, which makes him feel surprised and a little grateful.

I saw him stand up: "The great president's trust, Guangyuan is terrified, this time he will go south to repay the president's high hopes with good news!" ”

Zhao Dongyun showed a kind look, raised his hand and pressed it: "I know your thoughts, you have to watch and think more about it when you go south this time, don't underestimate the heroes of the world!" ”

The reason why Zhao Dongyun appointed Chen Guangyuan as the commander of the Third Army was actually a helpless move, and there were really few high-ranking generals under him who were capable and qualified to serve as the commander of the First Army.

Meng Enyuan is one, and Xu Bangjie is also one, but these two people have already served as the commanders of the First Army and the Second Army respectively, and among the next few senior generals, such as Lin Yongquan, Chen Guangyuan, Gu Lanyu, Cao Kun and others, they actually have various problems.

For example, Lin Yongquan, this person's ability to tell the truth is really average, and now he can serve as the commander of the Ninth Division, in fact, it is already very reluctant, if it weren't for the fact that he is the general who has followed Zhao Dongyun for the longest time, there is no hope of becoming the commander of any division at all.

And the abilities of Gu Lanyu and Cao Kun are obvious to everyone, but their qualifications are a hard injury, Gu Lanyu was only a brigade commander before, and now he has just been promoted to the position of commander of the third division, and even the military rank is only the rank of major 'general plus middle' general, if he is not allowed to serve as the commander of the first army for more than a month, I am afraid that many people in the Feng army will not be convinced.

Cao Kun also has a similar problem, the military rank is also a major 'general plus a lieutenant' general, and he has just been promoted from the commander of the mixed brigade to the commander of the 11th Division, and although this person is an old backbone of the Soviet system, but this person has been serving in the Beijing Banner Standing Army and the Seventh Division before, and only ran to serve in the Feng army on the eve of the republic last year.

Chen Guangyuan, although Zhao Dongyun was a little dissatisfied with his appearance in the Battle of Bazhou, but this person's qualifications are sufficient, this person's qualifications in the Fengjun are at the same level as Meng Enyuan, he has served as the co-commander of the Third Town for a long time, and he has served as the commander of the Third Division since last year, whether it is employment experience or prestige, it is enough. As for the question of ability, to be honest, the level of the entire high-ranking generals of the Feng army is like that now, and you don't expect Napoleon to have Napoleon under your hands.

Moreover, there were victories and defeats, and the Battle of Bazhou was strictly won, but the results were smaller than expected.

After careful consideration, Zhao Dongyun felt that it was still necessary to give Chen Guangyuan a second chance, after all, it is common for soldiers to win or lose, and if the front-line generals are dismissed after losing a battle, it is estimated that it will not be long before there will be no one available under his hands.

Zhao Dongyun's thoughts are naturally unknown to Chen Guangyuan, and after the military meeting, Zhao Dongyun called Chen Guangyuan again, and talked for more than an hour, in addition to the ordinary encouragement, but also discussed some military issues, and finally Zhao Dongyun added: "Fight hard after going south, I look forward to giving you a promotion!" ”

When Chen Guangyuan heard this, he didn't know that Zhao Dongyun had already made a promise to himself, as long as he played well in the southward battle this time, then a 'general' title would be in his hands, even if it couldn't be granted, but there should be no problem with the 'general plus' rank in the middle.

With the expectation of being promoted to an official and making a fortune, Chen Guangyuan soon took the 11th and 13th divisions to take the train south along the Jinghan Railway!