In the front command of the 3rd Division.

Gu Lanyu withdrew his gaze from the map, and then turned to look at his subordinates: "You have also read the latest order of the military department, General Xu asked my division to solve the battle in Lashan as much as possible, and then go south to intercept the Lu army to go north to reinforce the detachment!" ”

Kong Weibei said: "Now that the battle in Lashan has reached the final stage, our department has successively conquered a number of important strongholds in Lashan, and it is expected that the battle in Lashan will be completely resolved tomorrow!" ”

Gu Lanyu nodded, then turned to Pei Lianying and said, "The Sixth Brigade must be prepared to go south tomorrow afternoon!" ”

Since the outbreak of the Jinan Campaign, Zhang Huaizhi's Third Army reinforcements have not stopped, when Zhao Dongyun entered the customs, Zhang Huaizhi began to draw troops from Jiangxi and Anhui to the north, but this transfer does not mean that all the troops can be transferred north at one time, after all, although the troops of the Southern Federation were defeated and retreated, they were still entrenched in Jiangxi and southern Zhejiang, and Zhang Huaizhi controlled Anhui for a short time, and a large number of troops were also needed to implement local control.

However, as the Feng army continued to win the battle to enter the pass, especially after the Battle of Tangshan, Zhang Huaizhi accelerated the pace of sending troops north.

It was also officially because Zhang Huaizhi sent troops north early that he was able to arrive in Jinan and deploy defensive warfare before the Feng army, from more than 4,000 people in a brigade at the beginning to more than 10,000 people now.

More than 5,000 troops are on their way north, and if they intercept them, the army's more than 5,000 reinforcements are expected to arrive in Jinan in three days.

Now that Jinan has more than 10,000 Lu troops, it is not easy to fight, and Xu Bangjie is unwilling to let this Lu army reinforcements arrive in Jinan.

"Now it has been ascertained that the Lu army that went north to reinforce is the second mixed brigade of the Shandong Provincial Army, which was formed at the beginning of the year, and in the past six months, it has moved to northern Jiangsu and Anhui, and there have been many large-scale battles with the Southern Federation, and it has rich combat experience, and its combat effectiveness is still not to be underestimated!" Pei Lianying said: "However, according to our intelligence, the equipment level of the brigade can only be said to be average, although they are not short of light weapons, but there are not many heavy weapons, especially artillery!" ”

The lack of heavy weapons in the domestic warlord army is not a separate special case, but a common phenomenon, even in the Feng army, there is a situation in this situation, only a few main forces can maintain the full strength of the artillery establishment, and more troops are heavy weapons are not enough, although the strength of the third army under Zhang Huaizhi is not weak, after half a year of expansion there are more than 20,000 people, but the artillery is still in short supply, even the fifth division is now only two battalions, the rest of the mixed brigades, It would be nice for the provincial army units to have an artillery battalion.

The most artillery in the domestic army is naturally the Feng army and the previous direct army, and after the defeat of the direct army and most of the troops surrendered to Zhao Dongyun, most of the belongings of the direct army were accepted by the Feng army.

In addition to the artillery of the original Fourth Division, Duan Qirui's artillery captured a considerable amount of weapons and equipment of the Southern Federation during the southward operation, and at the same time, Duan Qirui is currently in control of the Jinling Arsenal and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, of which the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau can produce artillery, although the output is very small. In addition, after Duan Qirui captured Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other Liangjiang regions, he looted a large amount of money, and used this money to buy a large number of artillery from foreign banks in various countries.

Interestingly, like Zhao Dongyun, in addition to buying Japanese and German-style artillery, he also purchased a considerable number of legal and British-made artillery, which he could basically buy and could get ready for in a short time.

Although there is no accurate information yet, the Anhui army under Duan Qirui has at least 100 barreled artillery, although there are old and old, and the models and calibers are messy, but this cannot deny the fact that the Anhui army has more than 100 artillery pieces.

Zhang Huaizhi's Lu army is much worse!

However, the lack of artillery does not mean that Zhang Huaizhi's troops cannot fight, although the Lu army under Zhang Huaizhi is actually the third army formed when Wang Yingkai served as president. This third army number. And Duan Qirui's first army, Wang Shizhen's second army is the old number, now most people don't shout like this, generally directly called the Lu army, the Anhui army, the Hubei army, the Jin army, the Feng army, etc., some of the names here are the birthplace of the warlord as the title, and some are called by the warlord control zhì area, there is no unified law, it is just people's habit to call it convenient.

For example, Fengjun, this is called by the warlord control zhì district, but at the same time, Zhao Dongyun is from Jiangsu, so outsiders will also call the military and political group headed by Zhao Dongyun and the Soviet system, so many times some people will also say 'Su is Fengjun'.

Although the troops under Duan Qirui's command have the names of the First Army and the Liangjiang Army, people are still used to calling Duan Qirui's hometown of Anhui Province, so they are generally called the Anhui Department and the Anhui Army.

The Third Army, Shandong Provincial Army, and Anhui Provincial Army under Zhang Huaizhi are called the Lu Army, because Zhang Huaizhi is not only from Shandong, but also because his old territory is Shandong.

Wu Fengling became the ruler of Shanxi, so people called Shanxi according to his control of Shanxi, and called the troops under Wu Fengling the Jin army.

Wang Shizhen controlled a large area of Hubei north of the Yangtze River and southern Henan, and people called the troops under his command the Hubei army.

Of course, these titles are just people's customary names, and they are not official establishments, and their official establishment is still a certain division of the central government and a certain division of the provincial army.

Although Beiyang was divided, the numbers of the various units were still relatively unified, and except for the Central Division, the units under the various warlords were compiled in accordance with the provincial army regulations issued by the former War Department.

Among these troops, the Second Mixed Brigade of the Shandong Provincial Army under Zhang Huaizhi was formerly the Ninth Infantry Brigade of the Fifth Division, but the old Beiyang troops, like the old Beiyang troops of other warlords, have gone through many times to transfer backbones to form new units, guide the decline of heavy weapons, but the combat strength still exists.

"Jinan is a hard bone, although there are only more than 10,000 people left, but it is not a matter of a short time to take it down, so the military department has changed the original plan, attacking Jinan and striving to defeat the reinforcements of the Lu army!" Gu Lanyu said: "And the task of sending reinforcements has been handed over to our third division!" ”

The Second Army of the Feng Army under Xu Bangjie is actually not very strong, and the Third Division, the Tenth Division and many other troops together are only more than 30,000 people, so there will not be too many troops that can be drawn out to help.

As for the reinforcements of the Feng army, the closest is the 1st Mixed Brigade, but now they are still in the Cangzhou area, and it will be a long time before they reach Jinan.

Fortunately, the reinforcements of the Feng army are far away, but the situation of the Lu army on the opposite side is not much better, and it is not easy for more than 10,000 people to arrive in Jinan in the early stage, and the nearest mixed brigade is still more than 50 kilometers away from Jinan, as for the other troops of the Lu army, they have only just entered the territory of Shandong, and it is not a matter of time to arrive in Jinan.

That is to say, the current war in Shandong is at least a matter of Xu Bangjie's early 30,000 men and Lu army's 16,700 men within half a month, and it will take at least half a month for other troops to be reinforced.

"If we can defeat this second mixed brigade, then in the next half a month, we will be able to calmly launch an attack on the more than 10,000 defenders in Jinan, and it will be much easier to conquer Jinan!"

After Gu Lanyu finished speaking, he continued: "All departments must be prepared to end the battle in Lashan tomorrow morning, and then our troops will immediately go south to fight!" ”

Kong Weibei, Pei Lianying and others naturally responded to the call!

The next day, the 3rd Division did not live up to Xu Bangjie's expectations, and after a morning of fierce attack, it finally conquered the last stronghold of Lashan, and then the 3rd Division left a regiment to deploy and wait for the 10th Division to take over the defense area, and the main forces of the other three regiments of the 3rd Division immediately turned around and headed south.

When the 3rd Division was moving south, the 10th Division's offensive on Jinan was still continuing, and in the afternoon of the same day, it conquered Wujiabao and cleared the area along the Yellow River north of the place, and then the 3rd Division did not continue to advance eastward, but covered the troops on the north bank of the Yellow River, especially the artillery and a large number of baggage troops to cross the river, and after the artillery troops crossed the river, it was the time for the 10th Division to continue the attack.

The main force of the 3rd Division moved rapidly southward, and the next day its forward troops engaged the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Shandong Provincial Army, which had been reinforced from Tai'an, at Gushan Town.

Gushan Town, this town is not well-known, and it is not strictly a strategic place, but this place is on the passage from Tai'an to Jinan.

What is the terrain to the south of Jinan? That is the world-famous Mount Tai, and in the middle and west of Mount Tai are mountainous old forests are difficult for large troops to pass, its western region is much more gentle, the Lu army wants to go north from Tai'an, can only pass through the Mount Tai Mountains, and one of the most convenient, the shortest passage is to go north directly from Tai'an, and then pass through Wande, Zhang Xia, Gushan, after arriving at Gushan, you can choose to continue to go north, through a small mountain area and then directly into the Lashan area, this passage is actually the route of the Jinpu line in the later generations, although the Jinpu line has not yet been repaired, But being able to serve as a passage for the railway line in this era, the terrain is naturally much better than other mountainous areas of Mount Tai. If the Lu army captures Gushan Town, it can also choose to go west to Changqing County, and then follow the Yellow River east to Lashan.

Then it can be seen from here that this Gushan town can be said to be the only passage for the Lu army to go north, and it is also the only passage for the Feng army to go south in the future.

With the outbreak of the Battle of Jinan, this small Gushan town has become a key point of contention between the two armies, and the reinforcements of the Lu army must conquer this Gushan town if they want to reinforce Jinan!