The situation in the direction of Zhenjiang has become very unfavorable, and the reasons for this are very complicated, but there are three aspects, one is that the national army lacked experience in large-scale operations before, and the time for forming an army was still too short, and it was inevitable that it would be a little difficult to face a tiger and wolf division like the Beiyang Army. The second is that the Nationalist Army relies heavily on firepower superiority in defensive operations, especially mortars and light and heavy machine guns, so that problems arise when the logistics bullets and shells cannot be supplied at once, and in addition, in these days of fighting, the Beiyang Army is not stupid and naturally knows how to focus on attacking these heavy weapons and equipment, so that the front-line troops have lost a lot of heavy weapons and equipment, especially machine guns, and when there are no heavy machine guns and mortars, many grassroots officers of the Nationalist Army do not know how to fight. And the third, but most important, is the sudden collapse of the 3rd Jiangsu Division.

Before the war, Chen Weihua treated the Jiangsu Third Division as an ally and let them undertake the combat mission in the secondary direction, but the Jiangsu Third Division could not resist at all under the attack of Cao Kun's Third Division of the Beiyang Army, and quickly collapsed, resulting in the rout of the entire front.

In just two days, there was such a major change in Zhenjiang, which made Chen Jingyun angrily overturn the desk in the study after learning the news.

"How did he assure me that Zhenjiang was as stable as Mount Tai!" Chen Jingyun was very angry, this Chen Weihua himself has always been very optimistic, otherwise he would not have put him in such an important position as the commander of the first division, and let him be in charge of the war in Zhenjiang, but in just a few days, he let the situation in Zhenjiang deteriorate to such a situation, which made Chen Jingyun not angry.

"If Li Jimin hadn't gone with the Fourth Division quickly, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been able to come back!" Chen Jingyun was still venting, and at this time, there were not many people around Chen Jingyun, only Lin Chengkun and Feng Qin, these two people were Chen Jingyun's cronies, and if they were placed in front of others, Chen Jingyun would not scold them directly.

It would be unfair to put all the responsibility for the defeat of Zhenjiang on Chen Weihua, and the headquarters agreed to let the Jiangsu Third Division participate in the Zhenjiang operation at that time, but no one expected that this Jiangsu Third Division would be so unbeaten, and it would be completely defeated within a few days, so that the First Division was in danger. Chen Weihua was also correct in ordering a retreat after the incident, but Chen Weihua's only mistake was that he did not properly arrange his troops to block the enemy's pursuers, so that the retreating troops were pursued by the enemy's cavalry units.

Later, it is to turn the retreat into a rout, and the retreat is always more difficult than the attack, and it is enough to measure the combat effectiveness of an army and see if he can organize the retreat smoothly.

Finally calming down the anger in his heart, Chen Jingyun asked, "What is the situation between the First Division and Zhenjiang now?" ”

Feng Qin knew that Chen Jingyun was still angry, so he replied very carefully: "At present, the first division has collected and integrated the troops, the 11th regiment of the three infantry regiments has lost more than half, the 13th regiment has lost a lot of losses due to the task of blocking the enemy, the artillery regiment has also lost a battalion of artillery, and only the 12th regiment has maintained a complete formation!" According to the estimate of the General Staff, excluding the morale factor, the first division should have maintained 70 percent of its combat effectiveness in terms of strength and equipment. ”

"The Zhenjiang side has now deployed a joint defense line with the Fourth Division, and is close to the river, which can effectively get the artillery support of the navy!" Feng Qin quickly explained: "However, General Sa called, saying that the navy had been out for a long time, and had carried out artillery bombardment on the land for several days, and ammunition and supplies were already lacking, and asked for permission to return to Jiangyin for replenishment!" ”

Chen Jingyun said: "Zhenjiang is not far from Jiangyin, let them take turns to send warships back for replenishment, Zhenjiang must maintain the artillery support of the navy!" ”

With naval artillery support, it looks like this, if the navy leaves, Zhenjiang will not be lost immediately. After losing Zhenjiang, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep Shanghai. At that time, the strategy of the Nationalist Army in the southern part of Jiangsu will be completely defeated.

After Chen Jingyun finished speaking, he said: "Call Shen Gang in Guangzhou and ask him to come to Hangzhou by boat immediately, as for the third division in Guangzhou, who do you say is suitable?" ”

Chen Jingyun suddenly said that he wanted to transfer Shen Gang to Hangzhou, the meaning of reuse in these words is already obvious, the war in southern Jiangsu has been going on so far, and the situation has become more and more unfavorable to the national army, although Chen Jingyun brought the entire national army headquarters to Hangzhou, and there are a large number of people under his hands to give advice, among these people are studying in Germany, there are also West Point graduates, and there are also those who stay, and then there are countless people from Baoding Military Academy and various army schools in China. However, among these people, Chen Jingyun became more and more insecure. And Shen Gang, but it was proved that he was a qualified general, and he only showed his head a little during the war in Hangzhou, but the various tactical movements and arrangements in Guangzhou were praised by a group of people in the headquarters, don't look at the various plans formulated by Shen Gang are ordinary, but it is this ordinary ordinary that allows the Third Division of the National Army to defeat Long Jiguang's more than 20,000 people with almost negligible losses, this ability is not comparable to the current National Army.

Shen Gang was reused, Feng Qin and Lin Chengkun were somewhat envious, Feng Qin needless to say, although he was the chief of staff, he had never led the troops, just a staff role, although he was deeply used by Chen Jingyun, but as a soldier, why didn't he want to go to the front line to lead thousands of troops. As for Lin Chengkun, he has been taking the guard division with him since the uprising for a long time, basically he will go there if Chen Jingyun goes there, if he wants to lead the troops to fight, unless Chen Jingyun wants to personally take the guard division to the front line, otherwise he will not have this opportunity for the time being.

Envy, after the two of them considered the meeting, Feng Qin first said: "I suggest Liang Xunqin of the Operations Department as the candidate for the commander of the Third Division, and then Chen Yi of the Strategy Department is also competent, and Guo Hengsi of the General Affairs Department is also a good candidate!" ”

Feng Qin said three candidates at once, and these people are basically important personnel of various departments under the General Staff, following Shen Gang's precedent, it should be okay to serve as the commander of the Third Division!

And Lin Chengkun also said at this time: "I originally planned to propose these people, but since Chief of Staff Feng said that they will not be said, I will talk about the others, one is Zhuang Xianhe, the deputy commander of the Sixth Division, and the other is Xu Lishan, the deputy commander of the Fifth Division, both of them joined our National Army in the early years, their qualifications are old enough, and they have experience in leading troops." The second is Xu Jingqing, the commander of the 13th Regiment of the First Division, who fought very well in the previous Hangzhou battle or in the past few days. ”

After hearing this, Chen Jingyun said: "Xu Jingqing is now the commander of the 13th Regiment of the First Division, and now the First Division is at a critical juncture, and the gains outweigh the losses by transferring him, as for Liang Xunqin, Chen Yi and Guo Hengsi are now all holding important positions in the General Staff, they must be used in the war in southern Jiangsu, and they cannot be easily transferred, so let Xu Lishan, the deputy commander of the Fifth Division, go to Guangzhou to serve as the commander of the Third Division." ”

After making such a decision, Feng Qin looked at Chen Jingyun's face, and then asked Chen Jingyun in a low voice: "Commander, if Shen Gang is transferred back, are you going to let him take the position?" ”

Although Shen Gang is still a major general, he was the commander of the third division before, and if he was transferred to Hangzhou by Chen Jingyun this time, then it can be judged that he needs to take on the burden, so he can go there, it is unlikely that he will hold a position in the headquarters, because the current directors of various divisions are selected, and even if Shen Gang is allowed to serve as the director of each division, it will not be a promotion but a demotion, if it is a higher one, then it will be the chief and deputy chief of the three major departments, and these chief and deputy directors are not so easy to change, Feng Qin, the chief of the General Staff, can't see any signs of being replaced for the time being, and the deputy chief is Yuan Fang, and he is not easy to change, as for the logistics department and the equipment department, it is not suitable for a general like Shen Gang to lead troops. It is said that there is only one direction left to turn around, and that is the division commander of the subordinate divisions.

And in the end, it may be the position of the commander of the first division, although Chen Weihua is a general that Chen Jingyun loves very much, and it has been smooth sailing all the way, but now there is such a big mistake in Zhenjiang, he has to be responsible, and it is even possible to be directly removed by Chen Jingyun.

Chen Jingyun pondered for a while and said: "Give Shen Gang the rank of lieutenant general and let him come back as the commander of the first division!" ”

Chen Jingyun's words did not surprise Feng Qin and Lin Chengkun, after all, let Shen Gang come to Hangzhou so far away, Chen Jingyun would never let him be a cold bench.

After saying that, Chen Jingyun continued: "The current commander of the first division, Chen Weihua, has been transferred to the chief military attache of the Governor's Mansion, and the former deputy division commander has been removed from his post and arranged to give lectures at the Fuzhou Military Academy." Xu Jingqing, commander of the 13th Regiment of the First Division, was promoted to the rank of major general and transferred to the deputy commander of the 1st Division for his meritorious service in combat, and the commander of the 13th Regiment was succeeded by the deputy commander. ”

Chen Jingyun's brief words have already announced the tragic fate of the two commanders of the first division, but fortunately, Chen Weihua has not been directly dismissed, and if he is transferred to the military attache chief of the Governor's Mansion in the future, he can be regarded as a person who follows Chen Jingyun, and there may not be a possible surname for a comeback in the future. The reason why Chen Jingyun did this is also simple, who can guarantee that he has never made a mistake in his life, and as a general, it is even more impossible to win battles all the time, if Chen Jingyun, the general who lost the battle, is directly removed and never used in the future, it is estimated that the national army will not be able to find a few high-ranking generals to lead troops to fight in the future. At the beginning, Yuan Fang almost let the 13th regiment be surrounded, Chen Jingyun did not directly remove him, and now Chen Jingyun will not do the same after Chen Weihua is defeated, of course, it is certain to let him calm down from the front line for a while, and in the future, depending on the situation, no one can say that he will be used in the future.

Some people are sad and some people are happy, Chen Weihua returned from the front line gloomily, while Xu Jingqing jumped from regiment commander to deputy division commander in one fell swoop, from colonel to major general, and completely entered the ranks of senior generals of the national army.

In addition to personnel adjustments, in order to stabilize the situation on the Zhenjiang side, Chen Jingyun ordered the Zhenjiang side to gather the remnants of the Jiangsu Third Division, and used these remnants to form a garrison regiment to assist in the defense, and then ordered the First and Seventh Divisions of Lishui to launch relevant offensives to contain the Beiyang Army in the direction of Nanjing, so as to reduce the pressure in the direction of Zhenjiang, Ma Cheng also united the reconnaissance cavalry battalions of the Second Division and the Seventh Division, and temporarily formed a small-scale cavalry unit to go to the railway line from Nanjing to Zhenjiang to disturb the supply line of the Beiyang Army.

Just when the situation in southern Jiangsu was becoming more and more unfavorable to the national army, No. 29 Cai Yi officially announced to the outside world that he would prepare to leave for Yanjing, and the itinerary was to first take a railway to French Hanoi, then take a boat to Shanghai, and then to Yanjing, and expressed the hope that they could meet and talk with Chen Jingyun.