On the evening of 18 June, Zhao Dongyun led a large group of senior generals to Tangshan by special train, accompanied by the Ninth Infantry Division of the Second Army.

The next day, June 19, the 5th Mixed Brigade also successfully arrived at the outskirts of Tangshan.

On the 20th, the 10th Division and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the last main force of the Feng army, also arrived in Tangshan one after another.

After eight days of maneuvering, the Feng army finally mobilized three infantry divisions, one mixed brigade, and two cavalry divisions from Shanhaiguan, 150 kilometers away, to Tangshan.

The main force of the Feng army gathered in Tangshan, and the next strategy of the Feng army was naturally not based on defense, but undoubtedly chose to launch an active attack.

"According to the information of the Intelligence Section and the information obtained by the reconnaissance of the front-line troops, it has been confirmed that the 1st Division, the 1st Mixed Brigade, the 11th Division, and the 1st Brigade of the Zhili Provincial Army have gathered on the front line outside Tangshan. In addition, there are three enemy units whose numbers have not yet been determined, and the Intelligence Section is currently investigating the detailed numbers of the above three divisions, but according to the speculation of our Operations Department, it is very likely that they are troops of the 11th and 12th Divisions, and the total strength of the above units is about 40,000. Yang Deming explained the latest battle situation at the combat meeting:

"The above direct troops were deployed in Yinfeng and Huanxizhuang, especially along the southern line of Tangshan, that is, along the Jingfeng Railway, while the rest of the lines were small in number, and the reconnaissance knew that the enemy army did not deploy heavy troops in the northwest area of Tangshan, and only deployed a regiment in the direction of Yutian. In the north, the 1st Cavalry Brigade of our army recently had a small-scale contact with the cavalry of the direct army in the Xinglong area, and the direct army in the Chengde area is still fighting with the 4th Mixed Brigade of our army. ”

"At present, our army has gathered the 3rd, 9th, 10th, 5th Mixed Brigade, 7th Mixed Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Brigade, independent heavy artillery battalion and two independent mortar battalions on the Tangshan front. In terms of troops and equipment, our army has a relatively large advantage, so many colleagues who have fought out believe that the time has come to launch a general offensive on the front line of Tangshan! ”

After Yang Deming, the head of the operations department, finished speaking, Meng Enyuan, who was sitting in the first place on the left, spoke: "We have also started to launch a counteroffensive a few days ago, but the combat effectiveness of the direct army on the opposite side, especially the first division and the first mixed brigade, is still relatively strong, and it has resisted the large-scale counteroffensive of our army twice in a row, and in these two battles, it can also be known that the frontal defensive combat capability of the direct army is still quite difficult, if you want to launch a general offensive, I can't take the way of frontal breakthrough, otherwise even if you win, I am afraid it will be a miserable victory!" ”

In the past eight days, the two armies have been fighting each other many times, the first two days were the direct army attacking, and then the third, fourth, and fifth days were all calm confrontations, mainly engaged in large-scale artillery battles, and on the sixth and seventh days, after the Feng army gradually got more reinforcements, it began to try to carry out a counteroffensive, but the effect of the counteroffensive was very unsatisfactory.

The 19th Brigade of the 9th Division, which had just arrived in Tangshan and replaced the defense line of the 7th Mixed Brigade, launched a large-scale attack on the enemy in the Yinfeng area, that is, the 1st Division under Lu Yongxiang, with the support of three artillery battalions, but after a morning of fierce fighting, although the 19th Brigade successfully captured several positions, its own casualties were as high as more than 500 people, and finally the guide did not arrive for a day, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Zhao Dongyun personally ordered the 19th Brigade to stop the attack, because it continued to attack so strongly, This 19th Brigade will be crippled in less than two days!

In addition, the 3rd Division and the 7th Mixed Brigade also tried to launch several small and medium-sized counteroffensives two days ago, and the facts have proved that their Feng army's defensive ability is good, but the people's direct army is not bad, at least dozens of machine guns on the front line swing upward, and the Feng army, even if it wants to attack strongly, it will have to pay a lot of casualties, and this kind of casualties cannot be borne by both the direct army and the Feng army.

The Zhi Army and the Feng Army, these are typical warlord troops, and their ability to withstand the casualty rate is relatively poor, and there is another very critical reason is that whether it is Wang Yingkai or Zhao Dongyun, it is not easy for them to train these tens of thousands of troops, it can be said that these troops are where their hard work and their power lie, and this random death and wound of a few hundred is enough to make their hearts ache.

Otherwise, Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen, who were fighting in the south, would not have reused those newly trained provincial troops, not because of how good the combat effectiveness of the provincial army was, but because Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen used these provincial troops as cannon fodder, and only at critical moments would they put into the main forces of the lineage, that is, the fourth division and the sixth division, which were the number one units of the central army.

And now on the ground in Tangshan, Zhao Dongyun pulls out the main force, although there are patrol forces similar to the provincial army under his hands, but these patrol troops have to stay outside the customs to deploy defense, and if they are brought to the customs, it will not be of much effect, because these provincial troops and patrol troops are basically defeated in the face of the Beiyang elite, Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen can use the provincial army in the south, that is because the level of the southern federal forces on the opposite side is more scummy.

However, who is Wang Yingkai on the other side, there are a lot of old Beiyang troops under his command, and the newly formed troops are also the main forces, as for those provincial armies with poor combat effectiveness, although Wang Yingkai also has several brigades, no one takes them seriously.

In this Zhifeng War, whether it is the provincial army or the patrol police, this kind of cannon fodder is useless, and it is the main forces of both sides that can really decide the outcome of the battle.

When the elite main force was invested, more than 500 people were killed and wounded in this tentative brigade-level offensive battle, which was enough for Zhao Dongyun to personally order the 19th Brigade to stop the attack.

He didn't want to kill more than half of the troops before he had defeated the Beijing Division, if this was the case, when he took Zhili, wouldn't there be only less than half of the remnants left? If this is the case, why talk about sitting in Gyeonggi and controlling the central government, it will not be photographed back to Guanwai again.

"It is naturally not advisable to attack directly from the southern defense line of Tangshan, but it is not good for us to break through from the northwest!" Lin Yongquan on the side said: "Now Lu Yongxiang knows that the troops are far inferior to us, why do you still have troops on the periphery of Tangshan, isn't it just to prevent us from continuing to advance eastward!" If we don't defeat Lu Yongxiang first, we will rashly transfer our troops to attack in the northwest direction, if there are fewer troops, we will not be able to do it, and it will be dangerous to have more troops in Tangshan, and the supply line of the westward troops may not be easy to maintain, and there are a lot of cavalry under Wang Yingkai! ”

Although the Feng army has the largest cavalry unit in the country, there are also many cavalry units under the hands of the direct army in the north, and there are two cavalry regiments with a full establishment alone, and it is worth noting that the direct army and other warlords in the country, including the southern federal army, still have the establishment of the old Beiyang, that is to say, one of their cavalry regiments has a full 1,000 people, not the 600 cavalry regiments in the Feng army.

Although the direct army does not have a cavalry brigade, it has two cavalry regiments and several cavalry battalions, and the cavalry adds up to 3,000 to say the least, although the number is not as good as the nearly 10,000 cavalry of the Feng army, and it is impossible to independently launch a large-scale offensive or defensive operation, but these 3,000 cavalry are still easy to use to attack the supply line, so how to ensure the logistics line is a big problem to divide the troops to march from the northwest direction.

"According to my opinion, don't care about the rest, we have to destroy Lu Yongxiang's first division first, otherwise we don't want to leave Tangshan even one step!" Chen Guangyuan also spoke.

However, Xu Bangjie also said: "It's natural to fight the first division, but how to fight?" I am afraid that this frontal assault will not be able to be won without 3,500 casualties, and if this is a strong attack, to defeat Lu Yongxiang's first division, we will have to abolish a division, to say the least. ”

"If we call Huanxizhuang, will it work? Although the 1st Mixed Brigade defending Huanxizhuang is an old unit, as long as we concentrate our forces and launch an attack with absolute superiority, we can hope to take this Huanxizhuang in a short time, and then turn south and cooperate with the southern front to flank the 1st Division. Li Chun said.

"In this case, how can the direct army in the direction of Tangfang go to reinforcements?" Fang Biyong opened his mouth and said: "And if we attack Huanxizhuang, the 11th Division of the Direct Army in the north of Huanxizhuang will definitely not sit idly by, and if we go south to reinforce at that time, won't our attacking troops fall into a situation of being attacked from both sides?" ”

After arguing for almost half an hour, Zhao Dongyun, who had been sitting at the top and had not spoken, coughed lightly, and immediately the conference room was instantly quiet.

The people present have followed Zhao Dongyun for a long time, and they are very clear about Zhao Dongyun's meeting habits, especially when this kind of military meeting is often preceded by the time for free discussion, and Zhao Dongyun at the top generally only listens and does not speak, or occasionally asks a few questions, but generally does not express his own opinions.

When everyone is arguing, Zhao Dongyun will speak in person, and this opening is often a decision.

"There is not much time left for us now, Wang Zhanyuan's Seventh Division has entered the territory of Zhili, if we wait a few more days, I am afraid that we will come to Tangshan, and Wu Shuai also sent me a telegram, saying that their pressure is relatively high, Wang Ruxian has personally led the Eighth Division to the north, and there is intelligence information that a brigade of Wang Shizhen is also preparing to go north." Zhao Dongyun's speed of speech was not fast, but it seemed a little deliberately slow: "Wu Shuai's troops stationed on the front line of Shijiazhuang are not more than 10,000, and only more than 4,000 are the troops of the old Beiyang, and the rest are newly formed provincial troops, it is already difficult to intercept a division of Wang Ruxian, if Wang Shizhen's brigade goes north again, I am afraid that Wu Shuai's side will not be able to resist it at that time!" ”

Zhao Dongyun continued: "Now we can't continue to wait, after preparing for so long, in the end, it is a mule or a horse, we have to pull it out and slip it to know!" ”