Some things are often not transferred by human will, and calculations are seamless, and there are times when they are secret. On the evening of April 5, Shijiazhuang Law and the Russian Army Headquarters. The commander of the coalition forces, Fell, and the deputy commander, Yang Rovsky, were studying the military situation, and a subordinate hurriedly came in and said: "Report, there is news from the Anguo Qing Army, saying that the capital has undergone great changes and is very likely to be occupied by the Northern Expeditionary Army. Some people also say that Li Hongzhang rebelled and took refuge in the Northern Expeditionary Army. Fell anxiously asked, "Is the news conclusive?" "Not confirmed!"

Yang Rovsky said with a gloomy face: "Your Excellency General, it stands to reason that we should report to the capital that the order from the headquarters should have been issued, but 5 days have passed, and there is no news at all, indicating that there may be a problem in the capital." It is not credible to say that the Northern Expeditionary Army captured the capital, but the rumors of Li Hongzhang's rebellion cannot be disbelieved. In addition, the Northern Expeditionary Army broke through the defense line of Taihang Mountain in one fell swoop, and it took us two days to get the news. The Northern Expeditionary Army on the side of Taihang Mountain did not launch an offensive, did it try to divide troops to outflank us? ”

"General Yangrovsk, your analysis is reasonable, if there is really a change in the capital, it means that the Northern Expeditionary Army is a large-scale military operation, and maybe the Northern Expeditionary Army has divided its troops to outflank us. Immediately send a cavalry search detachment to search the northern area. That night, the cavalry search detachment encountered the advance of the Northern Expeditionary Army in the north, and as a result, all the search detachments were killed and none survived. In the middle of the night, there was no news from the search detachment in the north, and Commander Fell was not feeling good.

This guy consulted with Janrovsky and decisively decided to retreat to the east. At about two o'clock in the morning, the French army and the Russian army hurried out of the city and headed towards the east. An hour after the Shijiazhuang coalition army left the city, Leng Yifei received a notification. In a hurry, Leng Yifei quickly ordered the two divisions located on the south side to quickly outflank them to the east. The situation changed abruptly, and Leng Yifei could only hope that the two capable divisions outflanked in the east would intercept the enemy.

The task of outflanking the southeast direction was the provisional 21st Division, which was the Luo Bingzhang division of the Hunan Army of the former Zuo Zongtang who surrendered to Cheng when the Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers left Sichuan. After the Northern Expeditionary Army went out of Qinling to capture Xi'an, Luo Bingzhang's department was reorganized into the 21st Provisional Division of the West Route Corps. After nearly three years of transformation, Luo Bingzhang and others have systematically accepted the baptism of the military thinking of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and himself, including the old department, has been reborn.

Luo Bingzhang's task was to lead his troops to occupy Jinzhou, and then outflank them southeast of Shijiazhuang. Luo Bingzhang led his troops to the city of Jinju and learned that a brigade of the Qing army was stationed in Jinzhou. Therefore, he decisively ordered the siege of Jinju and the consumption of the Qing army's brigade. While the troops were unfolding, the forward troops captured several fleeing Qing soldiers, and through the Qing soldiers, Luo Bingzhang received good news and immediately ordered the troops to stop the offensive.

It turned out that the brigade commander of the Qing army stationed in Jincheng, whose name was Wang Jin, was once Luo Bingzhang's subordinate. Luo Bingzhang didn't say anything when he heard Daxi, and immediately wrote a letter to persuade him to surrender. Wang Jin, the brigade commander of the Qing army, heard that the general of the Northern Expeditionary Army who was approaching the city was his old superior, and immediately opened the city gate to surrender. Luo Bingzhang was dressed in military uniform, riding a high-headed horse and dismounted in front of the city gate, Wang Jin, who had been waiting at the city gate, hurriedly ran up, knelt down on one leg and said: "Lord Luo, my subordinates are ashamed, now I heard that Lord Luo's soldiers are coming to the city, and my subordinates have decided to defect to Lord Luo and serve the Northern Expeditionary Army!" ”

Luo Bingzhang said with a smile: "The Northern Expeditionary Army can't bow down, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has long been outdated." Get up, welcome you to join the Northern Expeditionary Army, you and I fought a horse back then, and I will pull you when I miss the old love. "Thank you for your grace, and the little one will never forget it." Wang Jin was grateful. "You follow me for the time being, and as for how to adapt, you must obey the dispatch of the corps headquarters." "Subordinate Order! Lord Luo! The subordinates set up a banquet, a little respect, and asked Lord Luo to enter the city to enjoy the light. ”

"The military situation is urgent, and I can't stay. To tell the truth, our department undertook the task of outflanking the Shijiazhuang coalition army. The troops must quickly take Qincheng and narrow the encirclement. Wang Jin heard this: "Could it be that the Northern Expeditionary Army wants to eat all the 50,000 allied troops in Shijiazhuang?" Luo Bingzhang said with a smile: "Otherwise, what will I do in Jincheng with my troops, you can guard the city with peace of mind, and after the enemy in Shijiazhuang is eliminated, I will come to Jincheng to ask for a glass of water and wine." ”

When Wang Jin heard this, he hurriedly said, "Lord Luo, one of his subordinates is uninvited?" "Say it!" "The subordinates led the troops to surrender to sincerity, and did not build an inch of merit, please ask for your permission, and the subordinates will lead the troops to participate in the war. Usually we suffer from the anger of foreigners, and we take this opportunity to vent the evil anger in our hearts. Luo Bingzhang didn't want to agree, but when he saw Wang Jin's pleading face, his heart softened and he agreed. The success of the blocking operation fell short, and the problem was in this Qing army that surrendered, and Luo Bingzhang regretted his confusion.

The troops marched westward and soon took Qincheng. On the night of the day when the troops that took Qincheng began to deploy their defenses, the coalition forces in Shijiazhuang suddenly chose to retreat to the southeast, and the hastily blocking operation began. The vanguard of the French army took the lead, and the Russian troops were behind. When the vanguard of the French army was attacked head-on, a fierce battle broke out. News of the interception of troops was quickly fed back to the command.

Commander Fell, deputy commander Yang Rovsky, received that the forward troops were intercepted by the Northern Expeditionary Army on the front line of Qincheng, and their heads immediately became big. Commander Fell, without hesitation, gave a death order, ordering the forward troops to launch an attack, and they must break through the interception of the Northern Expeditionary Army and ensure the safe retreat of the large army. The French forward units immediately threw in the strength of a brigade to launch a strong attack. Because it was a heavy force to break through, Luo Bingzhang invested all his troops to intercept it.

Considering the combat effectiveness of the Qing army, Luo Bingzhang put Wang Jin on the central defense line, so that both sides would be taken care of. And Wang Jin is only responsible for 1 kilometer of defense area, but there is a problem with this kilometer. At the beginning, the Qing troops saw that the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, especially their former "comrades-in-arms", were stubbornly resisted, and their morale was greatly boosted.

The coalition forces stormed for several hours without any results. However, a French commander on the front line found that the central blocking position was relatively weak, and he immediately reported the situation to the headquarters. Fell immediately ordered to concentrate all the artillery fire on the central part of the storm, and then throw in heavy forces to launch a series of attacks. The Qing army troops who had just surrendered to Cheng had passed through this kind of formation. If someone fled, it could have a chain reaction, and soon the position was lost, and the Qing army retreated to both sides.

The enemy's forces are too many, and once the hole is torn open, you can only watch the enemy flee. Luo Bingzhang hurriedly ordered the troops to attack and intercept from both sides, but there was little progress. About an hour later, it happened that the 47th Division arrived on the battlefield and intercepted about 10,000 Russian troops behind the palace. The main force of the coalition forces is desperate to escape, and it is impossible to turn back to the rescue. A few hours later, the besieged Russian army saw that the Northern Expeditionary Army appeared on all sides, so they laid down their arms and surrendered.

After the battle, Wang Jin tied himself up and met Luo Bingzhang and said: "Lord Luo, the crimes of your subordinates deserve death, please engage in military law!" ", the responsibility is not on me, it's me who didn't think it through, and I will ask Commander Leng for responsibility." Luo Bingzhang said that I will personally untie the rope for Wang Jin. A group of horses galloped from the southwest, and a general led by him jumped off his horse with agility. Luo Bingzhang immediately ran forward and said, "Report to Commander Leng, my subordinates are not effective in blocking the attack, ask for punishment!" ”

Leng Yifei said with a smile: "It's because I didn't think it through, I didn't expect the enemy to suddenly break through to the east on a large scale." Fortunately, our strategic goal was achieved and the key points of Shijiazhuang were occupied. The enemy suddenly chose to flee, indicating that they already knew about the changes in the capital. Luo Bingzhang took the opportunity to introduce Wang Jin, and Leng Yifei took the initiative to hold Wang Jin's hand and said warmly: "Welcome to join the Northern Expeditionary Army, and I accept your righteous act on behalf of the Eastern Route Corps of the Northern Expeditionary Army." Not to mention the superfluous, you immediately led your troops to escort the prisoners of war to take over Shijiazhuang, and the stability of Shijiazhuang was handed over to you. Wang Jin was moved to tears, but he kept nodding his head and couldn't say a word.

Then Leng Yifei ordered the division commanders to go to Qincheng and hold a military meeting. Early the next morning, the division commanders gathered in Qincheng, and at the military meeting, Leng Yifei said with a tiger face: "Although we have not achieved the combat mission of eating the Shijiazhuang coalition army, our strategic goal has been achieved. Having occupied the key points of Shijiazhuang, we are in a more favorable situation. The elimination of 10,000 Russian troops was also not a small victory, and we paid a very small price. Maybe the bad thing turned into a good thing, and the Shijiazhuang offensive battle was not carried out, which won us precious time. ”

Leng Yifei paused and continued: "We just learned that the 50,000 Japanese troops in Baoding also fled. Obviously, they knew about the changes in the capital in advance. Wang Xuezhong! "Here!" Wang Xuezhong stood up. "You led the 50th and 49th divisions to advance to Baoding immediately, and after occupying Baoding, guard the Qing army in Zhangjiakou and strive to get in touch with the capital. If there is a crisis in the capital, immediately lead troops to support. "It's a subordinate order!" "The rest of the divisions, including the artillery division, followed the headquarters to fight south, pointing at Zhengzhou." Leng Yifei said decisively.

Two days later, the army marched south. On the march, the deputy chief of staff said: "Commander, the Japanese army in Baoding is obviously retreating to Shandong, while the coalition army in Shijiazhuang is retreating to Xuzhou, and soon the coalition army in Xuzhou will also retreat to Shandong, it seems that the East Route Corps can eat fat." Leng Yifei said: "There is no way, we are beyond the reach of the whip, we can only target the coalition forces in Henan." The coalition forces in Henan cannot be allowed to escape. ”

"I don't know what happened to the Middle Route Corps, has the Tongbai Mountain defense line broken through?" The chief of staff said. "Anyway. We first reached the edge of the Yellow River and blocked the retreat of the coalition forces. Once the Tongbai Mountain defense line was breached, the coalition forces could not escape. "What Leng Yifei didn't know was that when he led his troops south, the Middle Route Corps broke through the Gushan defense line, and the entire Tongbai Mountain defense line was already fragmented and difficult to parry."

The deputy chief of staff asked again: "I'm afraid that the Qing troops in various places have already learned about the changes in the capital, otherwise they would have turned against each other repeatedly." As soon as our army arrived, the Qing army immediately chose to surrender. As if to verify the words of the deputy chief of staff, a fast horse flew in front, and an officer did not dismount and report: "Report to the commander, the forward troops report that a division of the Qing army in Xingtai has surrendered, and the troops have occupied Xingtai." "Order the forward troops, quickly advance to Handan!"

After Leng Yifei finished speaking, he smiled and continued: "Deputy Chief of Staff, what you said will be fulfilled immediately." As soon as the imperial court fell, these Qing army units were disbanded, and it seemed that Commander-in-Chief Deng's capture of the capital Jihua could be called a decisive battle. The deputy chief of staff also sighed.

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