Jiangyin Fort, the history of this fort is also many years, but the strength is not very good, far inferior to the Wusong Fort, the 20th Brigade of the 10th Division of the Feng Army only spent one day to take this small fort.

After taking the Jiangyin Fort, it means that Cheng Biguang's naval fleet can go straight to Jinling, and there is nothing to stop Cheng Biguang's fleet from moving west to Jinling.

After Cheng Biguang led the fleet through Jiangyin, he sent a telegram to Zhao Dongyun of the Beijing Division, which was different from the previous telegrams from the naval fleet complaining about grievances and avoiding war, this time Cheng Biguang sent a telegram to Zhao Dongyun full of confidence, saying that his fleet forces were fighting bravely and were ready to launch a large-scale artillery bombardment against the enemy in Zhenjiang and Jinling to support the army's battle.

In order to block Cheng Biguang's fleet from going up the river, Duan Qirui ordered the weak navy of the Anhui system to block it, and the shipwreck blocked the sermon.

But in the face of Duan Qirui's order, the commanders of the gunboats of the Anhui Navy refused very simply, and it was not enough to refuse, in the face of Cheng Biguang's fleet approaching, in order to save the battleships, several captains of the Anhui Navy announced very simply that they had joined the big family of the Soviet Navy with honor.

As mentioned earlier, the Chinese Navy in this year is a very undisciplined guy, and its independent nature makes them often betray their warlords, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are born with backbones.

The navy betrayed the Qing court in 1906, betrayed the Southern Federation, betrayed the direct line, and betrayed the Anhui line, and they have betrayed everything they can in the past two years.

Of course, now Zhao Dongyun is not unlucky, and he is still the largest warlord in China, so Cheng Biguang, a naval general, does not mind working for Zhao Dongyun on the premise that their own safety can be guaranteed and the navy's military expenses can be guaranteed.

The 10th Division and the Navy cooperated with each other and marched all the way west along the Yangtze River, which made Duan Qirui, who was in Jinling, finally feel a sense of crisis that the end was imminent.

"Although the 2nd Mixed Brigade has launched a fierce attack, but now the 2nd Mixed Brigade is short of troops and medicine, and it is difficult to break through the enemy's defense line on the opposite side, and the enemy's 10th Division is about to arrive in Zhenjiang, relying on the remnants of the 9th Division and the 10th Division, it is still very difficult to block the 10th Division, Marshal, now at this time, it is time to consider the next strategic direction!" A young man beside Duan Qirui said so cautiously.

Duan Qirui also sighed deeply at this time, the battle has come to this point, in fact, the victory or defeat can already be seen, although the current battle in the direction of Jinling is still deadlocked, but as long as the 10th Division of the Feng Army breaks through the direction of Zhenjiang and joins the 1st Mixed Brigade to launch an attack on the east of Jinling, in the absence of a miracle, Duan Qirui does not see any possibility of continuing to hold Jinling.

And miracles, if they happen, it's not called a miracle.

As a military general, Duan Qirui would not hope for these illusory miracles and the like, he only believed in his own judgment and his own army.

Now, it's time to go!

Duan Qirui knew very well that if he didn't leave now, he would not be able to leave when the Tenth Division took Zhenjiang and arrived in Jinling.

But how to get around is also a problem!

On the same day, Duan Qirui convened a group of generals under his command to discuss how to withdraw from Jinling, and some people said that they would break through from the east, directly defeat the first mixed brigade, and then go to Zhenjiang, and then gather the fourth division and a large number of Liangjiang army, and it is not impossible to kill the tenth division by the way, so that they can also recover the vast southern Jiangsu area east of Zhenjiang by the way, establish a defense line in Zhenjiang, and block the eastward advance of the Feng army.

Some people also say that they will break through to the west, because there is a second mixed brigade in the west that can respond, as long as the Anhui army gathers its main force to break through to the west, and together with the second mixed brigade, it may not be able to break through the interception of the enemy's 14th and 3rd divisions, and then continue to go all the way to the southwest and retreat to Jiangxi.

However, in this way, it is tantamount to announcing the abandonment of the entire Jiangnan region, and even the abandonment of Zhejiang.

Some people also say that they can break through directly to the south, the Feng army in this direction is not much, only one is missing the 9th Division of the 33rd Regiment, the possibility of breaking through is very large, as long as you can break through, you can go all the way to Jurong and Lishui to the south, and then you can go east to Changzhou and Wuxi, or you can go directly south to Huzhou and Hangzhou.

In this way, the selectivity is relatively large, and it is also possible to recover the Jiangnan region and keep the northern Zhejiang region.

However, there is a very big problem in breaking through to the east and south, that is, not to mention whether the breakthrough can be successful, even if the success rate is, it is possible to face the pursuit and outflanking of the main force of the Feng army in the future, and it is possible to lose the remaining nearly 100,000 troops of the Anhui army in the Jiangnan area, which is fatal for the Anhui system, and it is fatal than losing the entire Jiangnan.

Because the army is the foundation of the Anhui system, only with the army can we seize territory, and without the army, any territory is empty.

Although he had already decided to go, going in that direction was something that Duan Qirui couldn't decide in a short period of time.

However, due to the fact that the time left for Duan Qirui to decide, the 10th Division marched all the way at high speed, and since there were no obstacles on the way, they had already arrived at the periphery of Zhenjiang on April 24, and quickly launched an attack on Zhenjiang.

The 10th Division launched an attack with the support of naval artillery of the naval fleet, and the 9th and 10th Divisions of the Anhui Army were simply unable to resist, and they showed defeat on the first day.

In this regard, Duan Qirui finally made up his mind to break through, and the direction of the breakthrough was to the south.

On April 25, Duan Qirui personally commanded nearly 50,000 Anhui troops in Jinling City and the outer areas to launch a breakthrough operation to the south, and it was naturally the Fourth Division that acted as the vanguard of the breakthrough, which is not to say that Duan Qirui deliberately put the other Anhui Army Liangjiang troops in the rear to break off, but because in order to successfully break through, only the Fourth Division has the ability to tear through the defense line of the Ninth Division, thus opening a gap for the army.

As soon as the Anhui army's breakthrough battle began, its tactical intention was guessed by Meng Enyuan, can you not guess it, the fourth division of the Anhui army, which was originally fighting with the 14th and 3rd divisions, suddenly moved the whole army to the south and launched a counterattack towards the ninth division, and a fool can see that Duan Qirui is about to break through.

"If you want to run, even if you want to leave, you have to leave me behind for the Fourth Division!" Meng Enyuan naturally would not let the Anhui army go lightly, although the entire Jiangnan War was said to be to seize Jiangnan, a tax-paying land, but more importantly, it was to annihilate the living force of the Anhui army.

There are so many Anhui troops, most of the troops of the Liangjiang Provincial Army are not the main target of the Feng army, and the goal of the Feng army is very clear in the entire Jiangnan strategy, that is, to divide and encircle the second mixed brigade and the fourth division, and then gather forces to annihilate the second mixed brigade and the fourth division.

Although the Feng Army and the Dangtu of the 2nd Mixed Brigade lost a 4th Mixed Brigade and the 33rd Regiment in the First Battle, and the above two divisions are now less than 3,000 people combined, the 2nd Mixed Brigade is no better, from more than 12,000 people at its peak to only more than 6,000 now, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it has been disabled.

However, the Fourth Division, the other main force of the Anhui Army, was the main force for the loss, and the loss of several thousand people before and after was nothing to the Fourth Division, which had a strength of more than 20,000 people.

And this situation is Meng Enyuan, which Zhao Dongyun does not allow to happen.

Duan Qirui's Fourth Division was like a central pillar of Great Xia. Propping up a piece of the sky of the Anhui system, as long as the fourth division is still there, then the Anhui system will be able to rise lightly.

It's just that if you want to keep the fourth division, it will be more difficult than taking the whole of Jiangnan.

This can be seen from the battle in which the Ninth Division intercepted the Fourth Division, although the Ninth Division tried its best to block it, but when the Fourth Division, which numbered up to 20,000 men, launched an all-out attack, it still resisted very reluctantly, and was forced to retreat five kilometers in less than a morning.

At this time, Meng Enyuan also knew that relying on the Ninth Division would not be able to complete the task of intercepting the enemy, so he immediately decisively ordered the Third Division to quickly reinforce the Ninth Division.

However, this reinforcement did not mean that it would go directly to the 9th Division to participate in the interception operation, but that the 3rd Division was ordered to attack the flank of the 4th Division.

He not only wanted to stop the breakthrough of the Fourth Division, but he also wanted to take this opportunity to inflict heavy losses on the Fourth Division, and then completely annihilate this enemy army that had worried countless Soviet generals.

The Fourth Division is strong, but the Ninth Division and the Third Division are also the three ace troops in the Feng Army, of which the Ninth Division has suffered a lot of damage in the previous battles and its combat effectiveness has declined, but the Third Division still maintains most of its combat effectiveness.

When the 3rd Division launched an attack on the flank of the 4th Division, its fierce offensive was not something that ordinary troops could withstand, and a Liangjiang Infantry Brigade covering the flank of the 4th Division only held out for half a day before being forced to retreat, and finally Duan Qirui was forced to transfer the 4th Division to supplement the brigade to resist the 3rd Division's offensive pace.

However, the 6th Brigade and the 7th Brigade of the 4th Division, still dominated by the 6th Brigade, launched a fierce attack on the position of the 9th Division.

Behind the Fourth Division were more Anhui Army Liangjiang troops, who wanted to block the flanking attack of the 14th Division and the 1st Mixed Brigade of the Feng Army.

The breakthrough of the Anhui army was to lead the battle in the direction of Jinling from the city to the southern suburbs.

One wants to go, the other wants to stop, both sides know that the long-lasting Jinling battle is almost in the final stage of deciding the winner, whether it is Meng Enyuan, Gu Lanyu and other senior generals or those ordinary officers one by one dare not relax, urging the soldiers under their command to launch the most fierce offensive.