Wu Peifu looked at the map heavily, and his thin bone-scraping face was full of solemn and solemn expressions. The Northern Expeditionary Army's actions were unexpectedly decisive and swift, and they immediately caught the slightest negligence in the command of Zhang Fulai, the illiterate commander of his third division, and used ten times the strength to surround his heart, the third division of the Beiyang Army (owing two artillery battalions, an engineer regiment, and a baggage regiment) to the regiment in Yucheng County!

Zhang Fulai and Xiao Yaonan had already sent him a "message of safety" by wireless telegram, and the 3rd Division had suffered little losses in the two days of fighting, and the 11th Regiment, which had been trapped in Zhangji Town, and the 10th Regiment, which had fought a melee with the New Eighth Division of the Southern Army, had successfully withdrawn to Yucheng County. Moreover, the southern army did not immediately attack the city after completing the encirclement, and now the battlefield around Yucheng is relatively calm, and the third and 237th champions are taking advantage of this opportunity to repair the fortifications. Zhang Fulai and Xiao Yaonan both expressed confidence in holding on to Yucheng County for a period of time. However, the ammunition carried by the Third Division was insufficient, and there was not much military ration that could be collected in Yucheng County, so it was difficult for the Third Division to hold out for a long time......

Wu Peifu knew that the Third Division would not be able to hold out for long on its own, so he had to try to relieve them! And the best time to break the siege is in the early stage of the formation of the encirclement, and if we concentrate the main forces to advance eastward now, there may still be a little chance...... But the commanders of several divisions around Kaifeng City, will they take out the capital in their hands for their third division at this time? He shook his head inwardly. Their biggest weakness in Beiyang is probably warlordization, the army is the private property of the generals, and it is also the source of their power! The reason why Xu Shuzheng can now become the leader of the alliance in Beiyang is because he has the three divisions and three brigades in his hands. And he and Feng Yuxiang can occupy the second and third positions of the Beiyang group, also because they have two strong teams, the third division and the eleventh division! But now the Third Division is surrounded by the Southern Army in Yucheng, and it is about to be lost. Without the descendant army, his status as the 237th champion of the "New Three Heroes of Beiyang" is probably coming to an end, right?

"Ziyu. Have you thought of a way to relieve the siege of the 3rd Division? "Cao Kun doesn't know when he appeared in the war room, and the Third Division is also his old book! The Zhang Fulai who broke things was also picked up by him. In addition to this Third Division, he only has three Zhili Mixed Brigades left with two shortages of personnel and equipment, even these three brigades cannot be used to relieve the siege of the Third Division, they have to be used to fill the gap left by the Second Army of the Northern Army after the transfer, and to confront Yan Xishan's four mixed brigades.

Wu Peifu's face sank like water, and he just hummed: "Zhong Shuai, what do Qu Weiqing (Qu Tongfeng) and Fu Qingjie (Fu Liangzuo) say?" ”

Cao Kun originally rushed over from the garrison of the participating army. There are three divisions under the Beiyang Second Front Army that are participating in the war system, and now they are probably the only ones who can save the third division. So as soon as the news of the siege of the Third Division came, Cao Kun immediately ignored his old face and went to ask Qu Tongfeng and Fu Liangzuo for help.

Cao Kun nodded: "Qu Weiqing and Fu Qingjie agreed to help." But follow their way to fight ......"

"What's the solution?"

Cao Kun walked over to the map table. Picking up a baton, he clicked on the Jinpu Road on the map and said, "They want our First Front Army to cooperate with Feng Huanzhang's Jinpu Road Front Army." The eight divisions of the First Front Army marched eastward, and the Seventh Division and the Second Brigade of the Jinpu Road Front Army went south, and they couldn't take care of Chang Ruiqing's head and tail! He put down his baton, looked at Wu Peifu and said, "Ziyu." I think it's a good idea, and it's probably the only way to do it. ”

The corners of Wu Peifu's tense mouth moved slightly, revealing a wry expression: "It's just talking on paper, most of it is Xu Youzheng's proposition." It's okay for him to engage in military and political affairs, but it's not possible to lead troops to fight, and he takes it for granted. ”

He looked at Cao Kun, who looked puzzled, picked up his baton and pointed to the location of Xuzhou on the map and said: "Xuzhou, a transportation hub, is now controlled by the Southern Army, so Chang Ruiqing can use the Jinpu and Longhai railways to quickly mobilize the main force...... Originally, my idea was to concentrate the main forces in the Central Plains and lure Chang Ruiqing to divide his troops. Then each one is broken. But now it has become our soldiers divided into two ways, and Chang Ruiqing has concentrated the main force! Moreover, he has the convenience of Xuzhou, Jinpu and Longhai railways, so he can concentrate his forces to break our First Front Army and Jinpu Road Front Army! Zhong Shuai, it seems that our Beiyang is completely finished this time! ”

Cao Kun furrowed his eyebrows and asked in a low voice, "Ziyu, then do you have any other way?" I can personally go to Beijing and talk to Xu Youzheng. If it really doesn't work, I'll go to Tianjin and invite Duan Zhiquan out! ”

Wu Peifu shook his head and sighed: "It's late...... Feng Huanzhang has already led his troops to Jinan, even if Xu Youzheng is willing to transfer the main force of the Jinpu Road Front to Longhai Road, with the efficiency of our Beiyang Army, it will take a week, and the third division will be gone by then! Once the third division is destroyed, our Beiyang is not afraid of the three armies? As long as Sun Yat-sen and Chang Ruiqing are slightly wooed, more than half of the troops will take refuge in the past! We don't have to fight, we lose too. ”

"So, what should I do?" Cao Kun hesitated for a moment and asked, "Ziyu, do we really want to play in Beiyang this time?" ”

Wu Peifu looked at the old chief in front of him who had raised himself with one hand, and just shook his head with difficulty. Cao Kun laughed deeply: "Ziyu, don't be sad, there is no banquet in the world that will not be dispersed, and our Beiyang has been beautiful for decades since Li Zhongtang's time...... We, the civil and military officials of Beiyang, have also made a lot of money, and it is time for someone else to make a fortune! ”

Hearing this, Wu Peifu sighed again. In their Beiyang system, most of those who have served as overseers have a net worth of several million, and it is common for those who have been division commanders and town guards to have one or two million, and even a brigade commander has mostly one million and eight million. Nuoda is a Beiyang Group, and he doesn't make much money, probably only he Wu Peifu, Duan Qirui, Xu Shuzheng, and Feng Yuxiang are just a few people, right?

(Note, the Beiyang rule in history is longer, and the wealth of the Beiyang warlords naturally increases, and the richest of them is Zhang Xueliang's family, which is said to have earned a net worth of 500 million in the Northeast...... In the end, most of them were cheaper Japanese devils! However, making money in Beiyang is not corruption**, after all, the army, territory and everything belong to individuals, isn't it how you want to make money? ）

Cao Kun walked up to Wu Peifu, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a low voice: "I'm already old, and I have made enough money." I can't spend it in ten lifetimes...... As soon as the matter here is over, I will go to Shanghai to live in seclusion, and Sun Dacang promised in his handwritten letter. As long as I don't ask about politics in the future, their national government will not touch me at all! He sighed, and then continued: "Ziyu, you are still young and have great ambitions, so you will definitely not be willing to go to the wild now." In this way, I still have three mixed brigade soldiers in Zhili, and there are also some divisional troops directly under the Third Division, all of which will be handed over to you as capital...... Don't worry about the things here, hurry up and go to Baoding. Hold on to the troops first! ”

"Zhong Shuai......" Wu Peifu immediately stood up straight. A pair of slightly drooping eyes looked at Cao Kun fixedly, and the corners of his eyes were still a little moist.

Cao Kun waved his hand and said with a smile: "There is no need for this, you and I are originally one...... Ziyu, hurry up and go to Baoding. The First Front Army was personally commanded by me, the commander-in-chief! I'm Cao San's fool, and there's no shame in being defeated by Chang Ruiqing. You are our No. 1 Beiyang general, you can't be defeated by a repeated villain, and the hope of our Beiyang revival in the future is all on you...... Commander-in-chief, I just received the news that Wu Peifu has resigned from his posts as chief of staff of the Beiyang base camp, commander-in-chief of the southern front, and commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the First Front Army, and has been reappointed as the direct superintendent of the army. ”

Chang Ruiqing heard the news of Wu Peifu's transfer on February 15. At this time, he was observing the situation in person at the front-line position of Shangqiu-Yucheng.

Looking out of his binoculars, the two sides of Longhai Road were flat like a tabletop under the eyes of the Great Plains. The county seat of Yucheng and the surrounding positions guarded by the Beiyang Third Division were no more than a dozen square kilometers in circumference. However, in just a few days, they have built a relatively complete defense system on this territory. Deer, barbed wire, trenches are layered on top of each other. And the walls of Yucheng have also been clearly reinforced, becoming their last line of defense...... At least that's what I saw in Chang Ruiqing's telescope.

There were also occasional skirmishes between the two armies. Columns of blue-black smoke rose over the plains. This is the artillery of both sides firing at each other, and there are several hot air balloons in the air, which are the observation posts of the artillery of the Northern Expeditionary Army, which are used to correct the landing point of the shells. Under the organization of Wang Geng, who returned from the United States. The artillery of the Western Advance Corps fought quite well! From time to time, the civil fortifications of the Beiyang Army, which are suspected to be machine gun fire points, are lifted into the air, and from the telescope, you can vaguely see that there are broken human bodies thrown high! In contrast, the artillery of the Third Beiyang Division was a little unsatisfactory, but it was just a hammer in the east and a hammer in the west, and it really had no other role than to scare the officers and soldiers on the front-line positions of the Northern Expeditionary Army. This may also be related to the fact that the 3rd Division has too few artillery pieces, and they do not dare to engage in artillery battles with the artillery clusters of the Northern Expeditionary Army now!

The shelling was often followed by a tentative attack by the infantry of the Northern Expeditionary Army. Usually less than a battalion of infantry launched a single assault in a very dispersed formation. The purpose is to lure the Beiyang Army's machine-gun fire points into opening fire, so that the Northern Expeditionary Army's mortars or artillery groups can knock them out! This style of play became popular in the middle and late stages of the European war, and it is not too complicated (too complex tactics cannot be played by the National Revolutionary Army at the moment), but it can be very effective in depleting the strength of the defending side.

Chang Ruiqing looked at the battle between the two armies for a while before turning his head and smiling: "It seems that even Wu Ziyu can't fight this battle!" What else do you think? ”

The senior officers of the Full Mask Department all had beaming expressions. Wang Junhao, the commander of the Western Advance Corps, looked a little regretful, he shook his head and said, "It's a pity!" Brother Yaoru, we lost an opportunity to defeat the first general in Beiyang. But as soon as he goes, there will be no suspense in this battle! I estimate that the Beiyang side has two choices, one is to give up rescuing the Third Division, let the Jinpu Road Front Army defend Jinan, and the First Front Army hold Kaifeng, and adopt a solid defensive method to deal with us. The second is to let the two front armies launch an attack at the same time to relieve the siege of the third division...... But that would only make them die faster! As soon as these words came out, the officers present also nodded, and it seemed that everyone also meant the same thing.

Chang Ruiqing smiled faintly: "If we give up the Third Division, then the two heavy army groups in Beiyang will lose the courage to fight with us in the field, and they can only stay in the lonely city and wait for death." Xu Youzheng will not command like that, he will definitely choose two ways and come in and fight with us! ”

There was a sudden echoing sound in the shelter department, it was not that these generals of the Northern Expeditionary Army were patting Chang Ruiqing's ass. But Chang Ruiqing is indeed the one who knows Xu Shuzheng best among them...... Didn't he start by fooling Xu Shuzheng?

Chang Ruiqing suddenly frowned slightly, as if he was talking to himself: "I can guess what Xu Shuzheng will do...... Cao Kun will most likely do the same. So don't worry about the direction of Longhai Road, you can encircle the point and send reinforcements, and break the main force of the Beiyang First Front Army. But what will Feng Yuxiang do. I just can't guess! ”

Lu Yixuan said with a smile: "Brother Yaoru, Feng Yuxiang has nothing to worry about all the way!" With Bai Jiansheng's ability. Always able to stop him. If you really don't feel at ease, you can also strengthen an army to the Northern Advance Corps. ”

"No, no, no...... I'm not worried about this. Chang Ruiqing thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Feng Yuxiang has always been secretly communicating with Mr. Sun, and there are Sun Yat-sen's people among the few priests around him!" Now that the general trend of Beiyang is gone, he should soon turn around. However, his Jinpu Road Front still has seven divisions and two mixed brigades! If he is all co-opted, how will he be placed in the future? ”

Wang Junhao shrugged his shoulders: "I heard that he was sent to the northwest to be the commander-in-chief of border defense...... It's all bitter territory, so it's better to let him go. ”

Chang Ruiqing frowned and muttered in a low voice: "A commander-in-chief of the Northeast Security and a commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier...... One pro-Soviet Russia, the other pro-Japanese! If they join forces. I'm afraid it's a big scourge! Speaking of this, he suddenly set his eyes on Mao Zd, the only one in a long shirt among the first-class generals. He smiled slightly at Mao ZD: "Brother Run." I remember that Wu Peifu was an honorable GCD, right? You haven't been expelled from the party yet, have you? ”

Mao ZD was stunned for a moment, he already understood what the other party meant, and he smiled faintly: "Of course expulsion is expulsion!" However, the notice of expulsion has definitely not reached him now! And he has not made a statement about leaving the party...... It seems that he still has a little GC belief and is a comrade worth saving. So I decided to go to Baoding to save him! ”

……

Jinan, Wanzhuyuan.

Feng Yuxiang returned briskly to the headquarters of the front army on Jinpu Road, Wanzhuyuan, Jinan, although he still tried to show a little worry on face, but he still inadvertently smiled.

Located in the northern part of Jinan's inner city, this Wanzhu Garden is a private residence built by Zhang Huaizhi, the overseer of Shandong. After Feng Yuxiang led the troops to Jinan, Zhang Huaizhi contributed this place to him as a headquarters in order to please him as a rescuer. At this time, Feng Yuxiang did not believe in atheistic gcism, but was a devout Christian, and he was not the only one who believed in Christ. He also ordered more than 10,000 officers and men of the 11th Division to follow him to Christianity. So in his army there is the position of chaplain! There was also a military chief chaplain to oversee all matters related to God throughout the Eleventh Division. Now holding this position is a pastor of the American-Israeli Society named Liu Fang, who was the same pastor who baptized Feng Yuxiang in 1917. Moreover, this Pastor Liu also had close contacts with some Kuomintang Christians, and was a figure who brokered between Sun Yat-sen and Feng Yuxiang.

When Feng Yuxiang walked into his commander-in-chief's office, he saw Liu Fang, dressed in a black priest's dress, holding a Bible in one hand. He was sitting on the couch with a large envelope in one hand. Seeing Feng Yuxiang pushing the door in alone, Pastor Liu immediately got up to greet him: "Commander, Mr. Xu asked me to bring you Mr. Sun's handwritten letter, and he is ready to make you the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier, and the provincial chairmen and security commanders of Gansu (including Qinghai and Ningxia) and Xinjiang are also recommended by you...... In addition, the national government will also give you the establishment of two armies and six divisions, and a monthly subsidy of 300,000 yuan for military salaries! ”

Feng Yuxiang nodded, he and Sun Yat-sen had not been in private for a day or two. When Yuan Shikai was still alive, they communicated with the pastor Liu Fang. The "Mr. Xu" Feng Yuxiang in Liu Fang's mouth also knows Xu Qian, who is the Minister of Justice of the National Government and a devout Christian, and has a good relationship with Liu Fang. This time he was Sun Yat-sen's secret envoy, who had just arrived from Nanjing (the Nationalist Government had moved its capital to Nanjing), and brought Sun Yat-sen's personal letter.

As for the terms set out in the letter, both sides have already bargained over and over again, and now it is only a final finalization. Two days ago, Feng Yuxiang was still a little worried, afraid that Sun Yat-sen would suppress Chang Ruiqing's price because he surrounded the Beiyang Third Division in Henan. Now it seems to be a bit redundant, this time Sun Yat-sen is still quite on the road.

He smiled and took the envelope from Liu Fang's hand: "Pastor Liu, where is Mr. Xu?" When can we be scheduled to meet? I would also like to talk to him about the specifics of participating in the National Revolution, and if I have the opportunity, I would like to go to Nanjing to meet Mr. Sun. ”

Liu Fang is also a smart person, and he knows that Feng Yuxiang's defection this time is a "technical job". After all, at the moment, in his Jinpu Road Front Army, except for the 11th Division, the rest are other people's troops! Even if people are willing to defect together, the territory of the two provinces is not enough! We have to find a way to annex all these armies, which means that we have to borrow the strength of the Northern Expeditionary Army, so Feng Yuxiang is now anxious to meet with Sun Yat-sen's envoy. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )rv！！！