Chapter 68: The Battle of the Jinghan Line (8)

Xu Shuzheng's meaning is that he plans to take this opportunity to buckle a hat that will not be saved in the face of death and seize the military power of the fourth town. Zeng Yujun didn't say it in person, but opposed it in private. Within the Beiyang Army, there is also a lot of fighting. Chen Guangyuan has a closer relationship with Feng Guozhang.

In the end, Duan Qirui made a decision, gave up Hankou, and went north to Xinyang to make up for the eleventh mixed association, waiting for another battle.

After the telegram went out, Duan Qirui sent another telegram to Yuan Shikai in Beijing, saying: I wanted to defend Hankou, but Chen Guangyuan advocated that Hankou was difficult to defend, so he was allowed to guard Xiaogan. And the eleventh association went north to Xinyang to break the enemy in the north first.

Yuan Shikai had a very troubled day, he woke up from a nightmare last night, and the time was a pair, and it was actually the time when the Anhui Revolutionary Army launched an attack. Fang Jianxiong brazenly launched a battle, which was completely unimaginable in Yuan Shikai's opinion. First, the North-South peace talks had already begun in Shanghai, and secondly, the British were clearly threatened there. Finally, with the strength of the Anhui Army, can it beat the tens of thousands of troops of the Beiyang Army?

The last one, Fang Jianxiong didn't have a bottom in his heart, but in a sense, this battle couldn't be fought without fighting. If you don't fight this battle, Fang Jianxiong's right to speak will be taken away, which is absolutely unbearable.

Yuan Shikai can't figure it out, he can't figure it out, and he has to deal with it head-on when it happens. In the past, it was his Beiyang Army that took the initiative to beat others, but now it is his turn to be beaten, which is not very pleasant.

A cadre of political officials and military staff soon gathered together, except for Yang Shiqi, who went south to assist Tang Shaoyi in the peace talks, everyone else arrived. Previously, Fang Jianxiong said that he wanted to fight. No one really takes it seriously. Fang Jianxiong seemed to have offended the British. The opinion of most people here is that Fang Jianxiong's death is not far away.

After a day of discussion, a cadre of staff came up with a proposal, which was roughly three points. First, it is fundamental to defeat the Anhui army on the battlefield. Second, they stepped up ties with Nanjing and Shanghai, and demanded that they isolate Fang Jianxiong in order to safeguard the overall situation of the peace talks. Third, we need to step up our diplomatic campaign. With the help of the British, cut off Fang Jianxiong's possible foreign aid.

With these three articles as the foundation, the staff felt that it was not a big problem, and Fang Jianxiong was stunned. Doomed.

Those who dare to provoke Beiyang in this era are almost doomed. This is probably the consensus of these people. There is no other reason, for a long time, Beiyang has always gathered talents and material resources from all over the world, regardless of political and military affairs. The Beiyang Army is the product of Yuan Shikai's years of painstaking management. The failure of the Eleventh Mixed Association seemed to everyone to be caused by the light enemy. Ni Sichong and Jiang Gui, these old warlords are more slippery than the other, who knows if they have serious wars?

The staff around Yuan Shikai are all human beings. It's because it's so shrewd. has seen people and things too thoroughly, and Fang Jianxiong is an alternative that makes these elites repeatedly make mistakes in judgment.

During the whole scene, there was one person who never spoke. This person is Feng Guozhang, after the defeat of Hanyang, due to the pressure from all walks of life, Yuan Shikai made some adjustments on the battlefield in Wuhan. As a result, it seems that Feng Guozhang was adjusted because he suffered defeat. There is also a saying that there is a crack between Feng Guozhang and Yuan Shikai.

Either way, Feng Guozhang didn't say a word at such an important meeting. His face was grim, which naturally attracted Yuan Shikai's attention.

"Huafu, why don't you talk all the time?" Yuan Shikai looked very relaxed, but in fact, he was not relaxed in his heart. The failure of the eleventh mixed up is not so simple.

"Your Excellency. I've been thinking about how to defeat Fang Jianxiong on the battlefield, but I can't find a way to do it. Summing up the Battle of Hanyang. The tactics used by the Anhui Army, as well as equipment training, etc., are already above our Beiyang Army's comprehensive strength. Feng Guozhang's words were astonishing, and everyone was stunned.

When others say this, they will definitely be dragged out and can't take care of themselves. Feng Guozhang said this, that is another interest. Present to help you, if you want to talk about the military, no one can compare with Feng Guozhang. There is a theory that the training manual compiled by Yuan Shikai was actually written by the three heroes of Beiyang. Among the three heroes of Beiyang, there has always been a saying that Feng Guozhang is the strongest militarily.

"Is Hua Fu's statement true?" Yuan Shikai's expression changed, and his body straightened up slightly from sitting still.

"How dare you tell a lie in front of adults?" As soon as the words fell, a telegram came from outside the door. The telegram sent by Duan Qirui was read directly by Yuan Shikai to everyone in Yang Du. "Abandoning Hankou and keeping filial piety is a good policy, and the ministry has approved it." When he heard this, Yuan Shikai twisted his body uneasily.

Finally, the telegram was read, and everyone understood the general meaning. The Anhui army attacked fiercely, and the patrol battalion mixed into the 11th Association and the auxiliary defense could not withstand it. Chen Guangyuan, the commander of Hankou, did not advocate guarding Hankow, but insisted on guarding filial piety. In other words, Duan Qirui is not very able to mobilize Chen Guangyuan.

Yuan Shikai asked Feng Guozhang again: "Huafu, what do you think?" ”

Feng Guozhang said without thinking: "Shrinking the force is a safe strategy, in this way, no matter how cunning Fang Wei is, there are thousands of tricks, it will be difficult to work." Coupled with the risk of winning the pass, Fang Wei wanted to go north again, and it was basically hopeless. Zhiquan can concentrate his forces to solve the enemy in the north and south without worrying about the future, and avoid the dilemma of fighting on both sides. ”

This is judging the problem from a military point of view, but Yuan Shikai never expressed his position, squinting his eyes, and a cold look seemed to be in a state of dissociation. There was a subtle expression in the atmosphere of the scene, and the relaxation on everyone's faces was consciously put away.

At this time, a telegram came again, this time from Chen Guangyuan, and the content was very simple: the defense line of the Eleventh Association was broken, Hankou was lost, the patrol battalion was almost completely annihilated, and a few escaped into the concession.

Feng Guozhang stood up and said loudly: "My lord, Fang Jianxiong studied in Germany, and there are talents like Jiang Baili as the chief of staff. This person has worked hard in Wuhu for many years, and the soldiers he has trained have few opponents in the country. What a character Zhu Jingtian (Zhu Jiabao) is, he is also planted in his hands, it can be seen that this person's plans are very big, and his scheming is profound, and he must not be taken lightly. ”

Yuan Shikai finally opened his mouth, glanced at Feng Guozhang, and said slowly: "Huafu, you go to Xinyang and talk to Zhiquan about what you said here today." The battle of the Jinghan Line, I can't afford to lose! ”

"Yes, sir!" Feng Guozhang saluted and received his order. Yuan Shikai said to Yang Shixiang: "Brother Pingshi, quickly telegraph to Sun Muhan, ask him Hanyang and his entourage, with full authority to represent himself, and persuade Fang Jianxiong to value peace, and the two sides should stop fighting." The conditions proposed by Fang Jianxiong last time promised him that he would not mention the matter of silver. ”

Yang Shixiang stood up to receive the order, and Yuan Shikai said to Yang Du: "Telegraph to Shanghai, first, and order Wang Zhaoming to try his best to mediate and lobby the alliance to reach a phased result of peace." Second, they promised that as long as Yuan could become the president, they would be persuaded to retire from the Qing Dynasty. ”

After making these arrangements, Yuan Shikai stood up and said, "Come on, prepare the car, I want to see the British minister." ”

How to fight, Yuan Shikai did not command indiscriminately, but handed it over to Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, but there is still a sense of checks and balances here. Lao Yuan habitually does this.

On the other hand, Fang Jianxiong basically became a shopkeeper. The northern front was completely lost to Jiang Fangzhen, and Fang Jianxiong didn't know that although Jiang Fangzhen was very famous, he never led troops to fight. Jiang Fangzhen is famous because he won the first place as a non-commissioned officer when he stayed in Japan, and the emperor gave him a sword. It can be regarded as a severe humiliation of the Japanese, and Jiang Fangzhen's strategic vision is indeed ahead of his time, because he has not commanded a battle in the real sense, and later historians and scholars have somewhat questioned Jiang Zhi's ability to lead troops. Probably because he first proposed the strategy of protracted war, Jiang Fangzhen was completely annihilated and disappeared in a special historical period.

On the northern front, Jiang Fangzhen also felt great pressure, and the battle of Hankou had already begun. The purpose was naturally to attract the attention of the Beiyang Army and reduce the pressure on the Northern Front by attacking.

When he received Fang Jianxiong's telegram, Jiang Fangzhen's pressure was a little greater. Chen Guangyuan actually did not save Hankou, but retreated to Xiaogan. In this way, Fang Jianxiong's plan to send reinforcements failed, and at the same time, the tactics of hoping to mobilize the Beiyang Army also failed.

The telegram reported the situation of the battle in Hankou, Wang Jingluo's troops formed a breakthrough in the middle of the road, and after the Yitian Jiyang troops formed a situation of flanking Hankou, the battle lasted until dusk, and the patrol battalion of the Qing army stationed in Hankou received Chen Guangyuan's retreat order, and it fell into chaos. The 11th Mixed Association in the direction of Caidian, after being broken through on the front line, carried out a very layered resistance, and it was difficult for the Anyi Department to expand the results, and the 11th Association took advantage of the twilight to slowly retreat to Xiaogan. Although the battle of Hankou was decided in one day, the 11th Mixed Association, as the main force of the Beiyang Army, lost more than 1,000 people, and the losses of the Anyi Brigade were basically on this number. The recovery of Hankou and the encirclement and annihilation of thousands of patrol battalions were of little significance, and did not hurt the main force of the Beiyang Army. It can be seen from this that today's main opponent is still the Beiyang Army. Even the Eleventh Mixed Association, which had twice lost under the First Brigade, was quite tenacious in this battle.

Fang Jianxiong also emphasized one point in the telegram that he underestimated the heroes of the world. This Chen Guangyuan is not an ordinary difficulty. Fang Jianxiong's judgment, Chen Guangyuan should have seen through Fang Jianxiong's strategic concept. Due to Chen Guangyuan's retreat, although Hankou was recovered, there is a high possibility that the strategy originally planned to join Xinyang City will fail. Fang Jianxiong analyzed in the telegram that Xinyang still had nearly 20,000 troops of the Beiyang Army and its patrol battalion, and if the attack on the Ruhe defense line could not be succeeded within three days, it should take the initiative to give up decisively and retreat to northern Anhui, so as not to be attacked by the third town heading south.

After reading Fang Jianxiong's telegram, Jiang Fangzhen immediately convened a military meeting overnight to deploy and adjust the attack launched tomorrow morning.

Hanyang in the twilight was full of laughter, and the recovery of Hankou was a foregone conclusion, and more than 3,000 prisoners were captured so far. No matter how you look at it, it's a huge win to come.

Fang Jianxiong, who returned to the headquarters, did not have the slightest expression of joy, but looked even more serious. The atmosphere inside the headquarters is therefore incompatible with the outside. ()