In Fengyang County, a large number of Anhui soldiers wearing khaki or dark blue military uniforms formed a long queue and poured out of the south gate and retreated towards the south.

When the army began to retreat, the Fourth Division was also in a panic in the temporary headquarters of Fengyang, the officers and soldiers of the headquarters hurriedly moved all kinds of documents into the carriage, and at the same time burned a large number of confidential documents, and in the courtyard behind, a group of middle and senior Anhui army officers were gathering together, ready to retreat with the army, led by Duan Qirui, at this time they were discussing the route of retreat, but this discussion had just begun, and there was a herald galloping on a tall horse.

I saw him galloping his horse, and it didn't take long to gallop to Duan Qirui, and after hurriedly dismounting, he handed Duan Qirui an urgent battle report.

Duan Qirui opened it and looked at it and was silent for a long time, and a few people next to him saw that Duan Qirui's expression was not very good, and someone immediately said: "Dashuai, but the battle report of Fengyang in the back?" ”

Duan Qirui nodded: "Bengbu Town has been conquered by the Feng army, and the First Brigade of Liangjiang is already retreating to the risk county!" ”

Hearing this, several people next to him were surprised: "Even if our army does not have many defensive forces left in Bengbu, there are more than 5,000 people, the combat power of the first brigade of Liangjiang is in our army, even if it is not as good as the fourth division and the second mixed brigade, but it can be regarded as a combatable division, how can it be lost in Bengbu in less than a day!" ”

However, some people didn't know whether to comfort themselves or Duan Qirui, so they said: "But as long as the main force of the First Brigade of Liangjiang is damaged, and then rely on Fengyang County to hold on, it should not be a big problem to delay for another two or three days." ”

However, this remark attracted opposition: "I see enough, although Bengbu is only a peripheral defense line, but our army has built a defense line in Bengbu for many days, this place is one of the main defense lines of our army before, Bengbu can not hold a day, and it is difficult to rely on the fortifications of Fengyang County!" ”

In this era, the government of Fengyang Mansion is in Fengyang County, Bengbu is a town under Fengyang County, but although Bengbu is only a town, it is an important barrier in the north of Fengyang County.

To put it bluntly, in a series of defense lines built by the Anhui army, Bengbu is one of the most important forward defense lines, relatively speaking, Fengyang Mansion is not as important as Bengbu, and now Bengbu has built fortifications for many days have only been defended for less than a day, although there are factors such as the large gap between the forces above, but it is also difficult to believe that the first brigade of Liangjiang can hold Fengyang Mansion for a longer time after retreating.

Duan Qirui also spoke at this time: "The loss of Bengbu is sooner or later, and now it is only a few days earlier than we expected!" ”

At this time, Zhang Yongcheng on the side spoke: "Marshal, do you think we have left some troops behind?" ”

As soon as his words came out, several people next to him were shocked, and Tang Tianxi, the commander of the 7th Brigade of the 4th Division of the Central Army, who was narrating, immediately said: "Who else can be the rear force now, do you want to leave the main force of our Fourth Division to break the rear?" ”

His words caused a burst of discussion among everyone, what is the foundation of the Anhui army? That's the Fourth Division, to be honest, although the Anhui Army has more than 100,000 troops, there are only two that can really fight head-on with the Feng Army, that is, the Fourth Division and the Second Mixed Brigade.

In the battle, even if they successively lost the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 2nd mixed brigades of the Liangjiang Army, they didn't feel much distress, including Duan Qirui, because these troops were just cannon fodder.

Even Zhang Yongcheng, who is the commander of the first division of the Liangjiang Army, knows it himself, and even when he withdrew from Xuzhou and Fengyang, he took the initiative to let his troops be cut off, because the first division of the Liangjiang Army under his command was lost, and as long as the fourth division was still there, they would be able to pull up another division of the Liangjiang Army in less than two months.

However, those Liangjiang Army, Zhejiang Provincial Army and the like can be abandoned as cannon fodder, but the Fourth Division cannot be abandoned, and it is impossible for the Fourth Division to break off.

Duan Qirui himself quickly rejected this construction, but the matter is not to say that Duan Qirui can do what he wants, and when the next day, when the Fourth Division finally left Fengyang County for more than 20 kilometers, there was a battle report again, this morning the Third Division of the Feng Army carried out a large-scale attack on Fengyang Fucheng, retreated from Bengbu to garrison Fengyang, and more than 4,000 people of the First Brigade of the Liangjiang Army who served as the rear force of the whole army could not resist the attack of the Third Division of the Feng Army at all, and it quickly collapsed after resisting for less than a day. The remnants of the ministry were forced to withdraw from Fengyang Mansion City to avoid total annihilation, and the remnants of the army had quickly fled south.

After Fengyang Mansion City was conquered, it meant that the broken troops left by the Anhui army had been completely defeated, and now the distance between the two sides was only more than 20 kilometers!

After hearing the news, although Duan Qirui felt very bad in his heart, he still said calmly: "Order the troops, speed up the march, and let the baggage troops abandon all supplies except ammunition!" ”

Zhang Yongcheng on the side said: "Don't want hundreds of tons of grain?" ”

"There is no need to delay the marching speed of the troops for these grains, the five days of food carried by the soldiers themselves are enough for us to hold out to Chuzhou, and there will naturally be food supplies in Chuzhou!" Duan Qirui is a decisive person, although those grains are also important, they are nothing compared to the safety of his fourth division, and there is no shortage of food anyway, so there is no need to let these grains delay the pace of retreat.

Of course, it is not good to throw away or burn the grain directly, Duan Qirui ordered the troops to distribute the grain directly to the people along the way, and used it to buy people's hearts.

The Fourth Division rushed all the way to the south, and even threw away a large amount of baggage in order to speed up the march, of course, artillery, machine guns, shells and other important military materials will not be abandoned, without these equipment, the Fourth Division would not be the Fourth Division, when he retreated from Xuzhou, the situation was even more critical, and he Duan Qirui also did not abandon these heavy weapons and equipment.

In the face of Duan Qirui's escape, Gu Lanyu, who pursued him, hated itchy, this Qirui's ability to fight was not very good, but his ability to escape was not weak, in order to escape, he abandoned the first brigade of Liangjiang, although it was said that the Feng army had a record of defeating a brigade of the enemy, but it also delayed at least a day or more, so that Duan Qirui successfully pulled down the distance between the two sides by more than 20 kilometers, don't look at only 20 kilometers, but it is not so easy to catch up, After all, you're chasing people and running.

"We can't be so passively chased, otherwise we won't be able to catch up, and when they arrive in Chuzhou, I'm afraid there will be another fierce battle, and we must stop them!" The hole next to it looks north like this.

However, Pei Lianying said: "No matter how you block it, we can't catch up now!" ”

Kong Weibei said: "Division commander, do you think we can send out the cavalry regiment, forcibly march to capture Dingyuan, and then drag the enemy?" ”

Pei Lianying still objected: "There are only more than 500 people in a cavalry regiment, how can you drag more than 20,000 elite main forces?" However, Pei Lianying did not blindly object, he also said: "I think we can let a regiment march lightly and quickly, and the day and night march may not be able to catch up with the enemy, and even make a detour in front of the enemy!" ”

At this time, Gu Lanyu spoke: "A cavalry regiment or an infantry regiment are inappropriate. ”

The lightly armed and rapid march pursued and even blocked the enemy, which is a good thing to say, but since it was lightly armed, it means that it is impossible to bring heavy weapons, not to mention dragging the enemy with a small number of light weapons in their hands, and it is even possible to be eaten by the enemy with a bite, after all, what they are pursuing is not a miscellaneous army, but Duan Qirui's fourth division.

As the so-called shadow of the famous tree of people, the fourth division has not tasted defeat since it became an army, so it is in Xuzhou that it is also inseparable from the main force of the Feng army, although they retreated all the way from Xuzhou, but it was a strategic initiative to retreat, not to be beaten by the Feng army.

If there is a huge difference in strength between the two, the third division of the Feng army will be able to defeat the fourth division when it is in Bengbu, where it is necessary to wait for reinforcements, but now it is good, the reinforcements have not waited, the fourth division has run away again, so that the third division is once again forced to pursue the south alone, as for the reinforcements behind, the nearest 17th Brigade of the 9th Division is still in Huaiyuan, more than 30 kilometers away.

Therefore, even if Gu Lanyu had great confidence in his own troops, he would not think that splicing a regiment, and a regiment that was lightly armed and marched to catch up, would be able to stop the enemy.

Gu Lanyu pondered for a moment, and then said, "Is the Seventeenth Brigade of the Ninth Division still in Huaiyuan?" ”

Pei Lianying said: "They just arrived in Huaiyuan this morning! ”

"Inform them, let them speed up the march to support our department, and cover our division's baggage regiment and artillery team to catch up with us in time!" Gu Lanyu said: "As for us?" The combat units of the whole division are all lightly armed and march day and night! ”

"The whole division marches lightly and quickly?" Even Pei Lianying, who proposed to let a regiment march lightly and quickly, showed a hint of doubt at this time: "Wouldn't this be too dangerous?" ”

This kind of thing is not scarce, but in contemporary times, it is really rare to use a whole main division to play light and rapid marching, to be honest, you must know that the contemporary Feng army, especially the main division like the third division, is a heavy infantry unit in the era of mules and horses, with the army carrying a large number of heavy weapons and baggage, how is the combat effectiveness of the third division reflected?

It was embodied by the artillery regiment equipped with 48 75-mm guns, more than 150 mortars of various calibers, and more than 200 light and heavy machine guns, and in order to exert the power of these weapons, the troops had to provide a large supply of ammunition at all times. This is also the reason why the number of logistics troops in the Fengjun army far exceeds that of other warlord troops, not because there are many people, but because there are not enough baggage troops, which cannot meet the logistics and transportation needs of the troops.

However, if you play lightly armed and march quickly, it means that the infantry will break away from these heavy weapons and rely only on the infantry's own firepower, which will rashly catch up with the Fourth Division, and it is not known who will fight at that time.

The risk is relatively large!

Gu Lanyu said: "They are bent on escaping now, if they don't get through, we won't be able to catch up at all, can we let the Fourth Division flee all the way to Jinling?" When the time comes, with this fourth division here, how will we cross the river? How else to enter the Jiangnan area? ”

"Even if there is a certain amount of risk, I will keep this fourth division!" Gu Lanyu's decision was resolute, and in the afternoon of the same day, after informing Xu Bangjie of the Second Army and the 17th Brigade of the Ninth Division and other friendly troops, he left behind the artillery regiment, baggage regiment and other auxiliary troops, and began to march rapidly with two brigades of pure infantry.

One wants to escape, the other wants to chase, so the tens of thousands of troops of the two armies of Fengwan and Anhui staged a chase battle in Jiangbei again!