The Feng army relied on the Beijing-Feng railway to carry out rapid maneuvers, the speed of the entry into the customs can be described as very fast, from the dawn of the 12th, just one day, its vanguard a regiment of infantry has arrived in Tangshan lightly, the afternoon of the thirteenth, the evening is to arrive at two infantry regiments one after another, the next day is the fourteenth, the artillery regiment also arrived in Tangshan one after another.

In addition to the infantry and artillery units of the Third Division, the Third Cavalry Regiment of the Third Division and the First Cavalry Brigade were also the first batch of troops to enter the customs, but the First Cavalry Brigade did not directly enter Tangshan, but bypassed Tangshan to Yutian and Zunhua, the task of the department was not to participate in the brutal positional battle in the direction of Tangshan, in that case, it was very wasteful and stupid to use the cavalry as infantry, their task was to launch an attack on the Yutian and Zunhua lines, on the one hand, to intercept the possible southward movement of the direct army in the direction of Chengde, On the other hand, it is trying to include and annihilate thousands of direct troops in this area together with the 4th Mixed Brigade in the direction of Chengde, and then threaten the Beijing Division from the northeast to cooperate with the westward advance of the main forces in the direction of Tangshan.

In just two days, the Feng army transported an infantry division and a cavalry brigade, a total of more than 20,000 troops, up to thousands of military horses, dozens of artillery pieces, hundreds of mortars, heavy machine guns, and other materials to the Tangshan front line 150 kilometers away.

For this reason, the transportation department under the army headquarters of the three eastern provinces and the railway department under the transportation bureau of the government affairs of the three eastern provinces have looted almost all the train wagons on the Jingfeng Railway, and even seconded some of the train wagons of the China Eastern Railway Company in various names in advance, and also temporarily suspended the civilian transportation business of the Jingfeng Railway, so that the transportation capacity of the Jingfeng Railway has been brought into full play, so that more than 20,000 people and all the heavy weapons and equipment belonging to them and military horses can be transported to Tangshan within two days.

However, this extreme speed can only be temporary, the Feng army transported more than 20,000 people to the Tangshan front line in two days, but then the Feng army will be much slower to carry out the second wave of large-scale railway transportation, mainly because the railway is a single-track railway, can not be opened at the same time, which also causes the train to depart from Shanhaiguan to Tangshan, can not return to Shanhaiguan in time for the second splash transportation, this back and forth will delay a lot of time, and it is extremely important that the Tangshan front line troops are still in a state of operationIn order to replenish all kinds of combat materials to the front line, this squeezed the originally tight railway transportation space, which also caused the transportation of the second army, the main force of the Feng army, led by Zhao Dongyun personally, to become much slower, and it could not transport 20,000 people and all the artillery and military horses at one time as before, and it could only be transported part of it in one day.

Of course, the fact that the main force of the Feng army led by Zhao Dongyun did not arrive in Tangshan does not mean that the two armies of Zhifeng will not fight!

On the thirteenth, Lu Yongxiang's first division and the first mixed brigade suspended the attack on Tangshan, and retreated about three kilometers to five kilometers to build a preliminary defensive line, and although the Feng army was reinforced by two infantry regiments that day, the strategic focus was still to defend Tangshan, so Lu Yongxiang took the initiative to retreat and not attack, and they did not leave the fixed fortifications and went out to play field battles with Lu Yongxiang. As a result, the thirteenth showed an eerie calm throughout the day, and even the artillery battle between the artillery stopped.

However, this situation did not last long, and the next day, that is, on June 14, after the artillery regiment of the Third Division, that is, the Third Artillery Regiment, arrived in Tangshan, although the number of artillery under the control of the Feng army was not as good as that of the direct army, but the performance was more advanced, which indirectly offset the numerical disadvantage.

Most of the artillery equipped by the direct army are Japanese artillery, the main models are 31-year mountain artillery and field artillery, and 38-year field artillery and mountain artillery are mainly purchased and equipped from Japan in 1903 and 1904 to the Beiyang Standing Army Zuozhen and Jingqi Standing Army, which is now the first and seventh divisions. After the outbreak of the civil war last year, Wang Yingkai purchased a large number of artillery pieces from Japan, most of which were 31-year-old field artillery and mountain artillery that the Japanese army had redressed and retreated, and the second-hand artillery purchased in this batch mainly supplemented the equipment of the Seventh Division and the First Mixed Brigade, but there were also some of the latest Japanese-style 38-year-old field guns and mountain artillery, together with 38-year-old rifles and heavy machine guns, which became the equipment of the newly formed 11th and 12th Divisions, but the number purchased was not much.

To put it simply, in the current units of the direct army, the 1st Division, the 7th Division, and the 1st Mixed Brigade of the old units are all equipped with 31-year-old artillery, 30-year-old rifles, and Makqin heavy machine guns, while the newly formed 11th and 12th divisions are equipped with 38-year-old field artillery, 38-year-old mountain artillery, 38-year-old rifles, 38-year-old heavy machine guns, and other new-generation weapons.

Although the above weapons of almost two series are only a few years apart, the difference in performance is huge, especially for artillery!

Because the direct army continued to use the old Beiyang establishment, the artillery was a battalion of 18 guns, while the Feng army was reduced to a battalion of 16 guns, which also led to the fact that the artillery units of the two armies in the Tangshan area are now four battalions, and even the two types are the same, both are two field artillery battalions and two mountain artillery battalions. However, the number is different, the Feng army has eight fewer artillery pieces than the direct army, and the mountain artillery battalion to which the seventh mixed brigade belongs has lost two guns in the previous battle, so if you add up, the number of artillery in the Feng army is ten less than that of the direct army.

The direct army had seventy-two 75-mm guns in four battalions at full strength, while the Feng army had only sixty-two 75-mm guns.

But in the artillery battle that began on the 15th, the artillery units of the Feng army had an advantage!

When the difference in the firing range of the guns of the two sides is not large, and the caliber is the same, then rapid fire becomes the only factor that distinguishes the winner from the loser.

In the early morning of the 15th, the 32 field guns of the Feng army began to carry out long-distance artillery bombardment of the positions of the direct army, and the direct army on the opposite side was not to be outdone, and immediately returned fire with field artillery.

Then, although only the field artillery of both sides participated in the battle, the total of more than 60 field guns kept bombing, not to mention the results of the battle, the rumbling sound alone was enough to shock others.

In this artillery battle between the two sides, the front-line infantry on both sides could only hide trembling in the front-line trenches and anti-artillery holes, praying that the shells would not fall to their side.

"This way of playing is completely burning money, this one-day artillery battle, I'm afraid the cost of the shells will exceed 100,000 yuan!" Even Li Chun, who is one of the senior generals, can't help but sigh a word or two when he looks at the overwhelming artillery battle between the two sides, looking at the country, it is estimated that the artillery units of his own Feng army and the opposite direct army can let go of their hands and feet, if it is replaced by several other warlords, it is estimated that there will be no shells if they don't shoot two cannons!

Due to the presence of the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, the Fengjun was relatively well replenished, and Wang Yingkai was regarded as the central government, and took over most of the resources of Beiyang in Yuan Shikai's era, especially a large number of reserve materials in Baoding, Shandong, Jingshi and other places, you must know that the Beiyang Army in Yuan Shikai's era in the past few years has stockpiled a large number of shells, bullets and other consumable war materials, and most of these materials were accepted by Wang Yingkai.

In addition, Wang Yingkai not only took over the small treasury of Beiyang and other family funds, but also took over the household department of the former Qing Dynasty, the Daqing Bank, and raided the house in Beijing, etc., and got a lot of money, and Wang Yingkai spent most of this money on the purchase of ordnance and the expansion of the army, he not only imported a large number of rifles and artillery from Japan, but also imported many shells and bullets from Japan, so there was no shortage of shells and bullets for the direct army, at least for a short time.

And Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen, Wu Fengling they are much worse, they can take away not much ammunition when they go south, and the consumption of fighting in the south is not small, although this Qirui now controls the Jiangnan region, he can collect a lot of money to raise the army in the future, and even now he also controls the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, but this money is not a day or two can be scavenged, even if there is money, it is not a day or two can be exchanged for a large amount of arms, these all take time.

So at present, the only troops in the country that can afford large-scale artillery bombardment and shoot out thousands of shells a day are actually the Feng Army and the Zhi Army, not because of the size of the territory they occupy or how rich they are, but because they have a large amount of ammunition in the previous reserves.

On the fifteenth, the artillery bombardment of the two armies was already considered large-scale, but on the sixteenth, as the third division entered Tangshan to stabilize the situation, Meng Enyuan tried to attack westward, and his troops began to attack westward gradually, although the speed was slow, but the trenches were dug to a distance of only one thousand meters or even five or six hundred meters from both sides.

The proximity of the infantry on both sides meant that the artillery units of both sides could also move further forward, and the two mountain artillery battalions of the 3rd Division and the 7th Mixed Brigade were also deployed close to each other to launch artillery bombardments on the positions of the direct troops from a distance of three or four thousand meters.

The direct army on the opposite side was similar, when the infantry unit of the Feng army approached, it also entered the range of the direct army's mountain artillery, so the mountain artillery units of the two sides also joined the artillery battle.

Beginning on the afternoon of the 17th, the scale of the artillery battle between the two sides further increased, and the combined number of more than 100 barreled artillery pieces of the two sides carried out fierce artillery bombardment on the infantry positions of the two sides ranging in width from several hundred meters to one thousand meters.

The proximity of the distance not only allowed the five or six thousand meter range artillery of the mountain artillery to participate in the battle, but also allowed the Feng army to have a large number of 80 mm and 120 mm mortars to join the artillery battle, and the participation of a large number of mortars also allowed the Feng army to have more artillery advantages, if it were not for the 80 mm and 120 mm mortars in the army to exert their firepower, Meng Enyuan would not let the infantry units leave the strong fortifications and move forward.

"Division commander, it's not okay to fight like this, the artillery fire of the Feng army on the opposite side is too fierce, I'm afraid the infantry brothers in front won't be able to support it for long!" In the headquarters of the First Division, a lieutenant colonel said to Lu Yongxiang worriedly: "If it is only field artillery and mountain artillery, it is fine, but the mortars of the Feng army on the opposite side are too threatening, especially those mortars of 120 millimeters, our anti-artillery holes can't hold it at all!" ”

Although the 120-millimeter mortar has many shortcomings such as short range and poor accuracy, the power is not to be said, even if the fragments of the shell do not hit, but the shock wave alone is enough to make the enemy uncomfortable, and many soldiers of the direct army are shocked by the shock wave and bleed from their ears or even die directly.

Lu Yongxiang was also worried, when he first began to attack Tangshan, he had great confidence, thinking that even if he could not conquer Tangshan in a short time, it would not be a problem to stop the enemy in Tangshan, which was also the main reason why he built a defensive line on the periphery of Tangshan.

However, now it seems that the Feng army on the opposite side is not only not weak in defense, but also has almost twice the ability to attack, especially in artillery battles, which can be described as very difficult to fight.

Just when Lu Yongxiang was worried, Zhao Dongyun had already led a large number of generals to board his special train to Tangshan.