Just when Tao Zhiyue's side was preparing for the war, Bai Chongxi's side did not rest, in comparison, the preparations for the attack were definitely no less than the defense.

Bai Chongxi hasn't slept well in the past few days, and he is there every day with a group of staff officers to improve the battle. The various terrains, enemy situations, and intelligence sent back by the reconnaissance units were also continuously sent back to the command headquarters. The staff officers were also very efficient in comparing and summarizing, and then on this basis, they further improved the operation. With the passage of time, a clear map of the battlefield began to slowly appear in front of Bai Chongxi, which is also the third lecture of Weishenme at the Army University, Bai Chongxi dared to be very proud and proud: "My staff team can be said to be the most professional and efficient in the whole army."

The four main regiment commanders of the Seventh Division, Ye Qi, Hu Zongduo, Deng Yulin, and Fang Benren, were all in front of Bai Chongxi at this moment, waiting for Bai Chongxi's order. In the past few years, Bai Chongxi, who is usually not smiling, has established his prestige in front of himself. Moreover, Bai Chongxi has always emphasized that he is not in charge of the troops, and he is often more ruthless to his own people who disobey orders than to the enemy. Therefore, every time an order is given by Bai Chongxi, no matter whether it is right or wrong, it will be regarded as a death order by the officers under him, and it will be executed immediately without discount. Of course, Bai Chongxi's prestige is definitely not all due to strict military law, and all the battles he commands will definitely end in a big victory.

The staff officer sent two very critical pieces of information: "Report to Commander-in-Chief Bai, according to the information sent by the axe (the code name of the Yangtze River Intelligence Network), the actual strength of the Dingwu Army under Zhang Xun's personal command is 20,000, and only half of the army rushed to Shenxiang on the Chaohu front, but it is expected that in the next two or three days, the Dingwu Army will all be in place, but their fortifications are also progressing slowly due to the lack of people. According to a report by Li Dachao, commander of the special service battalion of the headquarters (the unit is composed of three companies of guards, reconnaissance, and special agents of the Seventh Division), Zhang Huaizhi's division of the Fifth Division preemptively requisitioned more than 40,000 people to dig fortifications on the east bank of the Yuxi River, but the total length of five kilometers from Diaoyu to Dongguan was not up to standard. ”

Bai Chongxi thought for a while and said: "Invite Division Commander Cheng Qian, Division Commander Liao Lei, and Li Pinxian, the acting division commander of the Third Division, to come here, I have a combat mission to issue." ”

After a while, all the three division commanders arrived, and Bai Chongxi stood quietly in front of the sand table and said: "Everyone, the current enemy situation is in front of us, Zhang Huaizhi, this kid is obviously making a small calculation, nesting more than 20,000 people in his Fifth Division in Chaohu, relying on Taihu Mountain and Yuxi River to resist us. I've seen it on this terrain, even if we concentrate superior forces to attack, it's, the entire front is only five kilometers, and we can't use it at all. In contrast, Zhang Huaizhi threw Zhang Xun almost 30 kilometers of frontage, so that he gave us a front that was enough to spread our troops. This Zhang Huaizhi is not a good person, he actually put himself on our waist, if our attack goes well, it's okay to say, if the attack doesn't go well, he is estimated to stick a knife in our left ribs. So I'm thinking about a question now, who will restrain this Zhang Huaizhi so that he doesn't dare to act rashly. And who will serve as the sharp knife of the whole army to penetrate Zhang Xun's Dingwu army? ”

Cheng Qian is the person with the most eyes here, originally he stayed well in Jiangxi, and was thinking about making a king of Jiangxi, but Wang Zhenyu forced him to the front line as a reinforcement with a telegram. Cheng Qian's wings were not full at this time, and he had no contact with the north, so he didn't dare to think of the idea of supporting the army to rebel, and obediently obeyed the order to go to the front. Cheng Qian's Ninth Division is much better than Zeng Jiwu's Tenth Division and Lu Diping's Eleventh Division in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness. Therefore, the ambition has risen with the capital, and Cheng Qian is determined to make a great contribution in this operation, and strive to win a good position for himself when the youth army dominates the world in the future. It was with such vulgar psychological support that Cheng Qian was the first to shout: "I am willing to command the 11th Division as the vanguard of the whole army, and seize the head of Zhang Xun's old thief for the commander-in-chief." ”

Bai Chongxi was stunned for a moment, took a closer look at this senior teacher who was older than himself, his eyes rolled, and he immediately understood what Cheng Qian was thinking. He smiled slightly, then shook his head and said in an unquestionable tone: "The errand of the vanguard should be handed over to the third and fourth divisions, in my opinion, it is even more necessary for a strong force like the ninth division to keep an eye on Zhang Huaizhi's troops for everyone." That's it, let's take a look at what needs to be changed in the combat jihua of the staff. ”

Cheng Qian was so angry that his lungs were about to explode, but it was not easy to have a seizure, after all, he had only joined the gang for a short time. He endured his anger and said secretly: "You Bai Chongxi said that when you see Zhang Xun there is a good fight, you will take care of your Guangxi fellow countrymen with one mind, who do you think you don't know, hum, let's see!" ”

However, I was unhappy in my heart, the whole operation jihua was in hand, and after Cheng Qianzai took a closer look, he could only say that he admired it, and it was actually specific to the use of each company. With such a jihua in hand, all you can do is to desperately execute it at all costs, because such a delicate jihua is like a combination of boxing matches, interlocking, once a punch is disrupted, then it is all messed up.

No wonder Bai Chongxi is notoriously strict in governing the army, and he also has a bad reputation for not taking the lives of soldiers seriously, the root cause is here, Cheng Qian said secretly in his heart......

On the side of the Beiyang Army, Zhang Xun was looking at the other side of the canal at this place called Shen Xiang at the moment, and his whole old face was wrinkled like a bitter melon, and he was about to wring out the water.

Back on March 16, before Feng Guozhang set off for Wuhu, Zhang Xun personally visited him at his parade embassy. There is only one purpose, Zhang Xun needs to replenish arms.

Looking back on this war to protect the country, from beginning to end, the Beiyang Army was truly selfless, and there was actually only one person who fought for Lao Yuan wholeheartedly, and that was Zhang Xun from Jiangxi. And which of the other generals didn't have the idea of sitting and watching the situation to preserve their strength? No, they are all greedy and selfish ghosts, and they all say that the northerners are real, but at this level, the most real is Zhang Xun, a Jiangxi person, who is unexpected!

But the conversation with Feng Guozhang was obviously unpleasant, when Zhang Xun came out, his face was full of clouds, and he jumped on the war horse, and then whipped the war horse fiercely with a horse whip. The frightened horses immediately galloped out and galloped down the street. Seeing this, the guards hurriedly got on their horses and chased after them, while the pedestrians and vendors on the street saw the horses galloping and dodged one after another.

Zhang Xun's anger was justified, as the Dingwu Army, as the non-mainstream of the Beiyang Army, was once defeated by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang coalition forces with the Ninth Division of the New Army as the backbone during the Xinhai Revolution. And after receiving the secret support of the prince of the Zongshe Party, especially after Wang Zhenyu sold the first batch of arms to the Zongshe Party (it seems that these two are destined people), Zhang Xun began to regain his strength. And soon reorganized the Dingwu Army in the Xuzhou area. After the Second Revolution, Zhang Xun finally returned to Nanjing, but because of his dealings with the Zongshe Party, Yuan Shikai was deducted from the task of overseer of Jiangsu by Yuan Shikai. This also led to the fact that the Dingwu Army immediately became non-mainstream, and it lagged far behind other units in the supply of weapons and equipment. Usually, if it's a weapon, it's almost enough, but Zhang Xun is a person who has fought with the Eight-Nation Alliance, how can he not know the importance of weapons. Therefore, he asked Feng Guozhang for nothing else, in order to fight this battle, he asked to transfer part of the materials that Lao Yuan transported from the north to himself. The opening was 50 mountain guns, 200 heavy machine guns, and some ammunition.

But Feng Guozhang also has his own ideas at this time, this batch of materials is only 80 cannons and 300 heavy machine guns, if Zhang Xun's Dingwu Army is satisfied, then what will the second and fourth divisions in front think. So let Zhang Xun dry his mouth, Feng Guozhang didn't agree, Zuihou was almost Zhang Xun about to turn his face, Feng Guozhang reluctantly agreed to allocate a hundred heavy machine guns, as for the mountain artillery, I'm sorry, there is no one. As a result, if he Zhang Xun and Zhang Shaoxuan were not angry, then there would be a ghost, and later Zhang Xun mentioned this to a friend when he was living in Tianjin: "Although he is meat on the back of his palms and hands, he is not as thick as this meat!" If Lao Yuan could be less selfish and give me more support, where would it be his turn to sit in the court now? ”

If you have the conditions, you have to go up, and if you don't, you have to go up. Although Zhang Xun had a lot of opinions and dissatisfaction with Feng Guozhang, the commander, he still commanded his Dingwu army westward without hesitation.

But when he arrived at Shen Xiang, when he saw the military situation, he was so angry that he almost jumped up and scolded his mother: "Zhang Huaizhi, you lack great virtue." ”

With such a wide front and a 60-mile-wide defensive line, even if there is a soldier standing one meter, Zhang Xun does not have so many soldiers to stand on. Zhang Huaizhi leaned to the side very lightly, and as a result, Zhang Xun was completely on the front of the 100,000 youth army, and whoever encountered this situation would have to scold his mother.

But scolding is scolding, and the battle still has to be fought. Zhang Xun summoned several of his generals over for a meeting to see what method was more appropriate.

Most of Zhang Xun's subordinates are officers who can fight, but there are not many who are good at strategy, but the three commanders of Su Xilin, Li Futing, and Zhang Wensheng standing in front of him are all good at military affairs, so the four of them began to plan.

Zhang Xun tinkered for a long time and said: "Yushu (Su Xilin's words), Gengzi Nian, you fought with the Germans in Niangziguan, we may be in big trouble this time, what should you do?" ”

Su Xilin and Zhang Wensheng glanced at each other and said: "Dashuai, we have less than 20,000 people in total, and there are not enough heavy weapons, if we carry it here, I am afraid we will suffer a big loss." So Dashuai, we must focus on defense, otherwise what awaits us can only be the collapse of the whole line. ”

Zhang Xun nodded when he heard this, then stroked his eight-character beard with his hand and asked, "Then tell me, where should our focus be?" ”