After the collapse of the defense line southwest of the South City Gate of Zhengzhou, the guard Li Tiancai and a large number of Beiyang officers and soldiers threw themselves into the Northern Expeditionary Army, Li Tiancai is a native of the Yi nationality in Yunnan, he was the commander of the first division of the Hubei Army, and later Li Yuanhong reorganized the Hubei Army, he was transferred to the Beiyang Army, he was an old subordinate of the late Qing Dynasty Minister Cen Chunxuan, Yuan Shikai also admired him, so he appointed him as a division commander in the Beiyang Army, he was originally the first to be the first, if it was not a last resort, he would not have stayed in the Beiyang Army, after being raided from the flank, He soon led the rout to the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Zhang Xiaozhun learned from Li Tiancai and Li Jincai about Zhang Huaizhi's urban defense deployment in the city, and it seemed that Zhang Huaizhi was ready to fight street battles, and in the afternoon he arranged an offensive battle, first using heavy artillery to collapse the Zhengzhou city wall, and then he ordered the squad as a combat unit to infiltrate the city along the streets and alleys in the city, and ordered the grenadier team and the mortar squad to follow behind to provide fire support.

After the three lines of defense in the south were broken through, Zhang Huaizhi's defense deployed in the west and east was no longer effective, he quickly withdrew the 8th Division deployed in the west to the city, and together with the 11th Division, fought street battles with the Northern Expeditionary Army in the city, in order to leave a way for himself to retreat, he did not retreat the 9th Division deployed in the east into the city, in case Zhengzhou really could not hold on, he could retreat from the east, and the Yellow River in the north, it was impossible to evacuate in a hurry, and could only withdraw from the east.

After the battle turned into a street fight, the situation became much more difficult, and the tension began to become panicked, the most important Northern Expeditionary Army's large number of mountain artillery and field artillery played a small role in the street fighting, the Beiyang Army under Zhang Huaizhi's arrangement and deployment with a solid structure as a base, the artillery was difficult to move in the city, and there was no way to hide behind the Beiyang Army hiding behind a solid bunker, but grenadiers and mortars played an extremely important role in the street fighting, these two weapons were not only powerful and powerful, but more importantly, they were very mobile and flexibleIt can be moved at any time, and only one or two people are needed to carry it around.

The will to resist of the Beiyang army in the city was not strong, and the battle was carried out in the evening, and the Northern Expeditionary Army had occupied the South Railway Station and the surrounding area, and seized the locomotive and carriages in the station, which made Zhang Xiaozhun extremely happy, and it was extremely convenient to have a train to transport troops and supplies, and he immediately ordered someone to find someone to drive the train away.

At night, Zhang Huaizhi's headquarters.

In order to facilitate the evacuation and safety considerations, Zhang Huaizhi set up the headquarters near the east gate, and when it was officially extremely hot in August, the headquarters lit a few lanterns to barely illuminate the huge headquarters, but the people present were all sweating and looking anxious. The weather itself was hot, coupled with the erosion of the war, low morale, and the future of life and death, and everyone was restless, so it was no wonder that these people looked like they had just been fished out of the water.

The officers are all sitting on chairs, some are smoking cigarettes, some are breathing water, and some are leaning on the back of the chair and smoking big cigarettes. Look at Duan Zhigui again, he has already returned to the capital, it is estimated that he will still be playing mahjong with others, and he will be very happy! The truly capable people in the Beiyang Army have been repeatedly squeezed out, while those who are not capable of winning Yuan Shikai's favor by slapping sycophants and pimping occupy high positions. Thinking of this, Zhang Huaizhi was a little disheartened, but he couldn't leave these tens of thousands of horses and horses to slip away alone, how could he explain to Yuan Shikai after he went back?

"Listen to it all!" Zhang Huaizhi knocked on the table, and when he saw that everyone stopped to look at him, he continued to say with a gloomy face: "Now it's a matter of life and death, you guys are still *** smoking, if you don't smoke, you will die?" After losing Zhengzhou City, how can we go back to the president? Do you still have face? I didn't care what you were like before, but now I'm cheering you up! ”

Wang Ruxian, the commander of the Eighth Division, complained: "Lord Zhang, this afternoon, the West Gate defense line defended by our division was forced to give up one-third, the brothers suffered heavy casualties, the Northern Expeditionary Army doesn't know where so many small cannons came from, one hit and one accurate, all the water and bead machine guns in my hands are now left with three, and the others have all been knocked out by the Northern Expeditionary Army's small cannons, and now the morale of the brothers is low, I see that Zhengzhou City is nine times out of ten and can't hold it, let's make plans as soon as possible, right?" ”

"Smack!" Zhang Huaizhi was furious when he heard this, and slapped the table and shouted; "Bastard, you are disturbing the morale of the army, come here, drag me outside and kill me!"

"Yes!" Two soldiers rushed in from the outside, dragging Wang Ruxian outside.

The officers were frightened and trembled, seeing that Zhang Huaizhi's posture was real, they all trembled and did not dare to intercede, but Wang Ruxian shouted: "The surname is Zhang, how dare you kill me?" What right do you have to kill me, if you kill me without the consent of the president, the president will not let you go! ”

Zhang Huaizhi was not moved by his words in the slightest, until a gunshot rang out outside and the shouting stopped, he stared at the other officers in the command headquarters and said in a deep voice: "The Eighth Division is temporarily appointed by Li Changtai as the acting division commander!" ”

Li Changtai was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately stood up and saluted Zhang Huaizhi: "Yes, the humble position must live up to the high expectations of the adults, resolutely hold the position, and never take a step back!" ”

Zhang Huaizhi waved his hand and said: "Actually, Wang Ruxian said something right just now, if there are no reinforcements to support us, I am afraid that sooner or later this Zhengzhou City will be lost, but we are soldiers and eat food, we are for the president, we can't give up Zhengzhou City, the Northern Expeditionary Army wants to seize Zhengzhou, we must let them break a few big teeth to be worthy of the military salaries we take." Now that the Northern Expeditionary Army has captured the South Railway Station, which is not far from us, I have decided to shrink the defensive line, Li Changtai, your 8th Division will retreat back to the area around the West Railway Station to defend, and transfer a regiment of troops to the south to help the 11th Division deploy its defenses! ”

"Yes, sir!"

Zhang Huaizhi said to Kong Geng, the commander of the 9th Division: "Commander Kong, at noon, a battalion of troops of the Northern Expeditionary Army snatched the Yellow River Bridge in the north, and our army's retreat to cross the Yellow River to the north has been cut off. ”

Kong Geng said: "Master Zhang, I'll do my best!" ”

Xinzheng, the headquarters of the Middle Route Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Brigadier General Zhang Xiao called the adjutant over and took out a letter and handed it to him: "You took this letter and rushed to Zhengzhou overnight, the Beiyang Army stationed near the east gate is the former commander of the first division of the Shanxi Army, Kong Geng's troops, when I studied at the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, I was an alumnus with him, and he was also a ** comrade, but he was a few years lower than me, he had just enrolled in school for a year when I graduated, you found him and handed him this letter!" ”

The adjutant took the letter and hid it, saluted Zhang Xiaozhun with a military salute, and then turned to leave.

Kong Geng and Yan Xishan were classmates in the sixth cavalry section of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, and they had a good relationship. During the Xinhai period, he was appointed as a special envoy by the Qing court, and he took the opportunity to travel back and forth between the capital and Xiaogan, contacting comrades and delivering news. I was going to go to Wuchang to participate in **, but I was blocked halfway, and it happened that Wu Luzhen was stationed in Shijiazhuang at that time, so I went to meet and was appointed as the chief of staff of the camp. Later, Wu Luzhen was assassinated, Kong transferred to Taiyuan to join Yan Xishan, was appointed as the Shuo Fang envoy, and the Qing army fought in the area of Jiemen Pass, because of the merit of the Jin army commander-in-chief, after the peace talks between the north and the south, he was appointed by Yan Xishan as the commander of the first division of Shanxi. It can be said that Kong Geng still has a strong ** tendency, which is why Zhang Xiaozhun wrote this letter to Kong Geng.

After the letter was sent, Zhang Xiaozhun immediately sent a telegram to Nanjing, reporting to Nanjing about persuading Kong Geng to revolt on the battlefield, Xiao Zhenlei received Zhang Xiaozhun after receiving the telegram, of course he understood what he meant, that is, what kind of treatment can be given to Kong Geng, only after Xiao Zhenlei gave conditions, Zhang Xiaozhun could negotiate with Kong Geng.

Soon, Xiao Zhenlei sent a telegram in Nanjing, Zhang Xiaozhun took the telegram from the hand of the communications staff officer and looked at it, Xiao Zhenlei gave the condition that the uprising on the Konggen battlefield was counted, and the troops were still under the command of Kong Geng, and the number was the provisional 93rd Division, which was under Zhang Xiaozhun's control, and he was in the process of reorganization after the end of the Northern Expedition.

On August 18, Zhang Xiaozhun went to the front line to discuss the uprising with Kong Geng, Kong Geng was very willing to defect, but he was worried about the safety of his family, his family was in Taiyuan, he did not dare to guarantee that Yan Xishan would not treat his family like this, this was also the only thing he was worried about, Zhang Xiaozhun immediately said that he would find a way to take Kong Geng's family out of Taiyuan.

After talking with Kong Geng, Zhang Xiaozhun immediately found the officer in charge of intelligence in the army and asked the military intelligence department to find a way to rescue Kong Geng's family from Taiyuan and take him to Nanjing.

Since Kong Geng and Yan Xishan were classmates, Yan Xishan was still very relieved about Kong Gen, so he did not send anyone to monitor his family, which made it easy for the intelligence officers in charge of the rescue to take Kong Geng's family out of Taiyuan.

The Northern Expeditionary Army did not attack in the past two days, Zhang Huaizhi, Li Changtai and Chen Guangyuan and others had a good rest for two days, but greater worries rose in Zhang Huaizhi's heart, he didn't know why the Northern Expeditionary Army did not attack in the past two days, although he and the defending Beiyang Army were not attacked in the past two days, but he became more and more uneasy in his heart.

On August 21, Kong Geng was relieved to learn that his family had been picked up from Taiyuan by people from Nanjing, and in the afternoon of the same day, he summoned all the officers of the division to declare an uprising, and quickly launched a fierce attack on Chen Guangyuan, the 9th Division in the city.

Chen Guangyuan was caught off guard, the east gate was broken through, Zhang Huaizhi was frightened and had no time to set up defenses, and was directly rushed to the vicinity of the headquarters by Kong Geng, and the remnants of the two divisions of the Northern Expeditionary Army in the city were suddenly surrounded by heavy encirclement, and it was difficult to escape.

After organizing troops to carry out several major breakthrough battles and failed, in desperation, Zhang Huaizhi took out a gun and committed suicide, Chen Guangyuan and Li Changtai led their troops to surrender, Zhang Xiaozhun immediately commanded the troops to enter the city to take over the city defense, pacify the people, and reorganize the surrendered Beiyang Army, eliminate the old and weak, and leave the strong. R1152