On December 21, Sun Wen arrived in Hong Kong by boat, and when he heard that Xiao Zhenlei, the leader of the Iron Filings National Salvation Party, had already sent a naval ship to Hong Kong to wait for him, he hurriedly sent a telegram to express his gratitude. After Sun Wen disembarked, Hu Hanmin, Liao Zhongkai and others persuaded Sun Wen to stay in Guangdong, but Sun Wen insisted: "In terms of form, Shanghai and Nanjing are ahead, and it is easy to take refuge without taking the brunt of the situation. The comrades of the Quartet lead the hope, so what do they mean by me? If I don't go to Shanghai and Nanjing, then this qiē presides over the internal and external plans, and it is definitely not something that others can do, and it is advisable to follow me. So, Hu Hanmin and Liao Zhongkai accompanied Sun Wen to Shanghai on a naval ship.

In Xuzhou, in the middle of the night, Xiao Zhenlei, who was still thinking about fighting against Xuzhou, was looking at the map on the wall with his hands behind his back in the command headquarters, when a guard walked in and said: "Report, the reconnaissance battalion of the Second Army came with news from the north that it found a large number of Qing troops opening the city gate and fleeing to the north. Xiao Zhenlei immediately turned around when he heard this, "Is the news true?" ”

"It's true, sir!"

Xiao Zhenlei immediately said: "Okay, immediately order the Second Army reconnaissance battalion to intercept it, but don't block all the roads, block the roads, they will be desperate, and give the First Army Cavalry Brigade an order, let them immediately attack and follow Zhang Xun's troops until they annihilate them!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

The reconnaissance battalion of the Second Army, which received the order, immediately set up positions on both sides of the road to the north to intercept them, and the heavy machine guns, mortars, and grenadiers were all taken out as heavy fire weapons and opened fire. Zhang Xun's troops passing along the way were suddenly dealt a heavy blow, and the Qing soldiers fell to the ground one after another. More people did not dare to stay, and the girl ran north along the main road. Because the reconnaissance battalion cut off the railway transportation line in advance, Zhang Xun's defeated soldiers could only run on two legs, but the cavalry brigade of the coalition forces behind quickly caught up, and the Qing soldiers were so frightened that they fled in all directions, but they were soon caught up by the cavalry.

After chasing all night, most of Zhang Xun's troops chose to surrender after being caught up, and a small number of them were killed in the process of resistance, only Zhang Xun with a small number of cavalry still fled to the north and the cavalry brigade chased for two days. The pursuit was not stopped until Tai'an, and then it could not be pursued further north, because the fifth town of Beiyang was in Jinan, and the cavalry brigade camped on the spot after stopping in Tai'an, and then sent a small force to attack the surrounding county capitals, and the surrounding county governments killed the coalition forces so quickly to the hinterland of Shandong.

On December 22, Xiao Zhenlei left Dong Keqiang, the Third Division of the Second Army of Zhejiang, to lead his troops to defend Xuzhou. and captured the surrounding county capitals, he led the coalition army quickly north to Tai'an to join the cavalry brigade.

When the Qing court learned that the Northern Expedition coalition army was advancing one after another, and the troops were sharp, the ministers of the DPRK and China were immediately terrified. In order to prevent the coalition army from continuing to advance north and threaten Gyeonggi, he immediately ordered Jin Yunpeng, the commander of the fifth town of Beiyang, to lead his troops south to block the coalition army.

After leading the army to Tai'an, Xiao Zhenlei soon learned that most of the fifth town of Beiyang had gone south from Jinan. Xiao Zhenlei convened a military meeting at and above the division commander level of the coalition forces overnight.

Liu Fubiao and the others were deeply disturbed by the upcoming confrontation with the Fifth Town of Beiyang, and there was no way. In recent years, the Beiyang Army has become the most elite army in the country with the surname of the boss, and there is basically no possibility of winning against them.

Xiao Zhenlei glanced at Liu Fubiao, Li Yingshi and others and said, "The Fifth Town of Beiyang has already set off from Jinan and headed south under the leadership of Jin Yunpeng. It is only three days away from us at most, I heard that the Beiyang Army is the elite of the world, I am very unconvinced, they are just going south, I am about to fight with them, to see who is more elite, now I will talk about strategic deployment, order: the first road, Huang Yingjie of the Fourth Division of the Zhejiang Army and the cavalry brigade of the Jiangsu First Army will move to the northeast from tomorrow to capture Zibo, after capturing Zibo, the cavalry brigade will march from east to west to force Jinan, Huang Yingjie's department will leave enough troops to recruit and garrison Zibo, and then set off from Zibo to the east to recover the Shandong Peninsula area east of Zibo. On the second road, Liu Chenglong, the first division of the Jiangsu Second Army, and Li Yingshi, the fourth division of the Shanghai army, pulled out the camp overnight and set off to march westward, all the way to capture Feicheng and Pingyin, after occupying Pingyin, Li Yingshi's department of the Shanghai Army stayed on standby, and Liu Chenglong's department gathered the ships on the shore of the Yellow River to cross the Yellow River to capture Dong'e and Liaocheng, and then marched in the direction of Jinan; On the third road, Sun Ming and Lin Qingshu of the Eighth Division of the Third Army of Jiangsu attacked Laiwu to the east overnight tonight, forming a horn with the main force of our Fourth Road, and the Shen Tongwu Department of the Seventh Division of the Third Army of Jiangsu stayed in Tai'an, and the rest of the roads advanced north with me, which was the fourth road. It is said that the six towns of Beiyang are unparalleled in the field battle, and I, Xiao Zhenlei, are going to gnaw on this hard bone this time! All of you go back and prepare, you will set off tonight to speed up your preparations, set off overnight, and the troops that will leave tomorrow must also prepare accordingly! ”

"Yes, sir!"

The commander of the fifth town in Beiyang is Jin Yunpeng, who has only recently taken office, and his younger brother Jin Yunhe had previously served as a staff officer under Xiao Zhenlei, but he was transferred to the fourth town of Beiyang as a staff officer not long after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising.

The Fifth Town of Beiyang has jurisdiction over the Ninth Association, the Tenth Association, the Fifth Standard of the Horse Team, the Fifth Standard of the Artillery Team, the Fifth Battalion of the Engineering Team and the Fifth Battalion of the Baggage Team, of which the Ninth Association is Ma Liang, and the 17th Standard (Standard Xu Hongbin) and the 18th Standard (Standard Shangguan Jianxun) of the subordinate troops; The 10th Association is Jia Binqing, and the 19th standard (standard commander Pan Hongjun) and the 20th standard (standard commander Zhang Keyao) of the infantry team, Zhang Peirong, the fifth standard commander of the horse team, and Zheng Shiqi, the fifth standard commander of the artillery team.

On December 25, Xiao Zhenlei's main force on the fourth road went north to meet Jin Yunpeng, the fifth town of Beiyang, and on the way to the north, Xiao Zhenlei received a telegram from Shanghai, saying that the naval ship on which Sun Wen and his party were riding had passed the estuary and was sailing in the direction of Wusong, and the ship would dock at the Jinliyuan Wharf in Shiliulipu, and the main figures such as Huang Xing, Chen Yingshi, Zhang Jingjiang, Wang Jingwei, and other revolutionaries such as the League and dignitaries from all walks of life in Shanghai, as well as representatives of various missions in Shanghai should go to the Jinliyuan Wharf to greet them.

After receiving the telegram, Xiao Zhenlei immediately ordered the navy to send the Jianwei warship to Wusongkou to meet him, and at the same time asked Ma Hanlong's Military Department of the Shanghai Navy Government to send elite troops to the wharf to take charge of security work. Moreover, he also pointed out in the telegram that Ma Hanlong asked Ma Boyang to be Sun Wen's security adviser during his stay in Shanghai, maybe the assassins sent by the Qing court were already in Shanghai at this time, and once Sun Wen was on land, he would be in danger of being assassinated, Xiao Zhenlei had a lot of contact with Ma Boyang, and Ma Boyang was introduced to him by Qin Liankui, and later he found that Ma Boyang's ability in criminal investigation and security work was extremely good, and if Ma Boyang was in charge of Sun Wen's security work, he would be much more relieved.

After sending the telegram, Xiao Zhenlei followed the army to continue to advance, and soon the communications staff officer took a few people to report on horseback: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the reconnaissance force found the forward troops of the fifth town of Beiyang in Dingzhuang, three miles south of Zhangjia Town, thirty miles ahead, and exchanged fire with the other party, look at the flag number should be a battalion under the seventeenth standard of the Ninth Association!" At present, both sides are digging trenches 500 meters back."

Xiao Zhenlei, who was sitting in the open-top jeep, nodded and said, "I was still thinking about the fact that the reconnaissance force should also encounter the strikers of the Fifth Town of Beiyang, but I didn't expect the news to come so soon." Pass my order, order the reconnaissance unit to send a team deep into the hinterland of the enemy's rear to reconnoiter the situation of the opponent's main force, and if the news is found at any time, order the first division of the first division of the Jiangxi Army He Qibu to speed up the march and rush over to participate in the trench excavation and arrange defensive positions! ”

"Yes, sir!" The communications staff officer immediately put a pen on the small notebook as soon as he agreed, and then tore off the two pages and handed them to the two communications staff officers to convey the order, one to rush over on horseback to convey the military order to the first division of the Jiangxi army, and the other to go to the telecommunications department to send a telegram to the reconnaissance unit.

Xiao Zhenlei instructed the driver to park the off-road vehicle on the side of the road and let the troops pass, and then asked the combat staff officer to bring the combat map and spread it out on the front engine cover of the car to study the combat deployment.

After studying for a quarter of an hour, he immediately said to the operational staff officer: "Order: First, order Liu Fubiao's division of the Fifth Division of the Shanghai Army to occupy Dujia Village southwest of Dingzhuang within two hours, build a defensive position on Mantou Mountain, and notify the logistics department to send him five heavy machine guns and enough bullets to go over, as for how he crosses the small river in the west, let him figure out his own way, but there is one point, you can't rob the boats of the local people, if you don't occupy Dujia Village and build fortifications in two hours, you will be dealt with by military law!" Second, the second division of the Jiangsu Third Army, Bai Wenwei, was ordered to immediately set off to the northeast to detour to the area of Jiguan Mountain, three kilometers northeast of Dingzhuang, and must arrive within two hours, and if the enemy occupies Jiguan Mountain, immediately launch an attack on Jiguan Mountain, and if there is no one on Jiguan Mountain, immediately occupy it. Third, inform the artillery brigade to speed up the march and must reach the rear of the combat site before dark today. Go to herald! ”

"Yes, sir!" The combat staff officer took notes and saluted and left.

Subsequently, Xiao Zhenlei rushed to the direction of Dingzhuang with the Fourth Division of the Jiangsu Second Army, the Headquarters Guard Regiment and other directly subordinate units of the Headquarters.

An hour later, Xiao Zhenlei led his troops to arrive at the forward position of Dingzhuang, the trench fortifications had been almost built, but at this time the main force of the fifth town of Beiyang had also been in place, but at this time it was getting late, and the climate was a little cold, not suitable for fighting, both sides were just tentatively released a few shots, fired a few shots.

Xiao Zhenlei set up his headquarters in a wealthy family in Qingmiao Village, 3 kilometers away from Dingjiazhuang, and then the guard regiment took control of various small roads outside the village, and the staff office and field hospital of the headquarters also moved over. (To be continued......) R1292