The day of graduation from the first batch of Xiguan Military Academy is getting closer and closer, and at the time of graduation, Huang Ke not only asked to inspect military theory courses such as "Infantry Drill Code," "Tactics," "Ordnance Science," and "Topography," but also prepared to conduct a military exercise to assess the students' learning in actual combat.

Since the beginning of spring, Huang Ke can be said to be very busy, although Xiguan's home is only a few miles away from the military academy, but he has not been home for more than ten days; The food and accommodation are all in the military school, which makes Zhao Xiaowan have a lot of resentment.

But resentment is resentment, she can only admit it like this when she is such a man who does big things, on weekdays, in addition to going out shopping, Zhao Xiaowan often goes to the presidential palace to find Mrs. Sun.

Since she met Mrs. Sun at the party not long ago, she has begun to like this big sister. Her intellectuality and her grace and elegance all made Zhao Xiaowan praise, and she could always feel teachable when chatting with her.

"Madam, Xinghua rarely goes home these days because he is too busy, you don't know, he didn't even see me last time I went to the military academy to bring him chicken soup" When she spoke, Zhao Xiaowan couldn't help sighing, at this time she no longer had the arrogance and arrogance she had at the beginning.

Mrs. Sun smiled, she took Zhao Xiaowan's hand and said: "Xiguan Military Academy is now starting the final finishing stage, and public opinion has also said that the Northern Expedition will be carried out soon; Xinghua was the chief military commander of the revolutionary army, so he was naturally busy. ”

Zhao Xiaowan sighed: "Madam, I understand what you said; But we have been together for so long, and the days we have really been together can be counted, and outsiders sometimes envy me, saying that I am married to a person who has a heavy army and does great things, but who can understand my suffering? ”

Mrs. Sun smiled again: "Sister, the troops are about to go on the Northern Expedition; Xinghua is definitely going, so don't complain during this time. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Xiaowan frowned, the original anxiety disappeared, and what turned around was anxiety and worry, "Madam, when will the Northern Expedition?" I'm afraid it's going to be war again, right? ”

Mrs. Sun didn't say anything more at this time, she knew that these were all secrets, not to mention that she didn't know, even if she knew that she couldn't say anything more to anyone.

She just comforted softly: "Don't think about it, now that the situation is turbulent, these people will not have an ansheng." ”

In the final military exercise, Huang Ke decided to divide the more than 500 graduates into two groups, the first batch of more than 200 people was incorporated into the new army as platoon commander-level officers, and the remaining 200 people and the former gendarmerie formed an officer training team of more than 700 people, led by Huang Ke himself.

All the actions of the exercise were classified, and before the exercise, Huang Ke made a big splash in public opinion, holding a series of press conferences to announce the upcoming military exercises to the national media. At this time, Feng Yuxiang's national army entered the Forbidden City and drove away the little emperor Puyi, and Zhang Zuolin also led his troops into Beijing...... The warlords were inseparable from each other, and no one took the student soldier drill in Guangzhou seriously.

However, the students of Xiguan Military Academy are very excited, after all, for many people, this is the first time they have participated in a real battle; Tens of thousands of new officers and men belong to the cooperative exercise, and these people have fought a lot of wars, so they should not take it seriously.

But when they went to get their guns on the night of the exercise, all the officers and men opened the bolts and saw that the yellow, orange and orange bullets were all live ammunition, and there was not a single empty cartridge. The exercises were all live ammunition? What's going on? I guess I'm mistaken.

The soldier went to ask the squad leader, the squad leader asked the company commander in private, the first level, a few regiment-level officers went to inquire about Wang Maocai in private, and Wang Maocai scolded after hearing it: "Get out of your mother, what do you want for your hair, how can there be so much nonsense?" ”

When the sun sets, the lively Xiguan Street also returns to calm, the shopkeepers all tell the guys to get off the board and play the foreign, and the guys who have been busy all day are ready to go back for dinner, and occasionally a few fireworks places begin to light up foreign light bulbs, and where the lights are red and green, a fat head and big eared man with a flattering smile gets in. At this time, there was a sudden sound of rapid footsteps on the street, and everyone looked up, but soldiers in green tweed uniforms were running towards them.

"What are these people doing so late?"

"It looks like a student soldier in the Xiguan Military Academy, and it is estimated that military exercises will be held in the next few days."

"Can student soldiers fight?"

"Then I don't know? These are the fishers. ”

Everyone talked about it, but the student soldiers didn't care at all, and drove towards the outskirts of the city one by one.

When it was time for the exercise to begin, the officers and men received an operational order: "Attack Guangxi!" This is not a drill. ”

At this time, attacking Guangxi was a dangerous move taken by Huang Ke, and more than 10,000 new troops marched into three ways overnight, and all the troops pounced; Huang Ke knew in his heart that if he went right, he would definitely take Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the territory of the revolutionary army would be doubled, and the chances of success of the Northern Expedition would be much greater; But if you make a mistake, it will be a waste of all your previous achievements, and the New Revolutionary Army that you have worked so hard to run will even be wiped out.

Huang Ke has been thinking about making such a determination for a long time, after all, this is risky.

The president and the military council did not agree to his proposal at first, but later Huang Ke found President Sun himself and persuaded the president, and only a few people also agreed to his suggestion, Huang Ke knew the trajectory of history, and he did not want to follow in the footsteps of his bald head.

At this time, Guangxi was still in the hands of the Gui system, but unlike before, the Gui system itself was also divided, and there were great internal contradictions.

In the past, when Lu Rongting's gang of old Gui factions occupied Guangzhou and other places, Guangxi was basically peaceful. That's the same, if you have the ability, you can fight wherever you want, and when you go back to your hometown, we will treat each other with courtesy.

But now it is different, as soon as the revolutionary new army came, the Gui faction stationed in Guangdong retreated to Guangxi; Originally, Guangxi's territory was not large, coupled with the mountainous terrain and the economy was not developed, a mountain simply could not accommodate so many tigers, and they were all big tigers.

Therefore, not long after Lu Rongting and the others returned to Guangxi, all the urgent problems of military salaries and defense areas came out.

Warlords from all walks of life gather in Guangxi, but in the final analysis, they are still vying for power and profit, and if the problem of power is not resolved, Guangxi will not be at peace.

Among the warlords of the Gui family, Lu Rongting is a big brother-level figure, Chen Bingkun, Mo Rongxin, and Tan Haoming are all people who have worked as overseers, and Shen Hongying also has the ambition to be a separatist party, and now he has some strength in his hands, so he is naturally not convinced by others.

Soon after this chaotic dispute, the Gui faction was divided into two factions, one was the Wuming faction, headed by Lu Rongting; One faction is the Liuzhou faction, headed by Chen Bingkun. The two factions said that they were constantly at the beginning of this great change, but later realized that the outside line, Huang Ke sent out the inside line told him that Lu Rongting's Wuming faction was willing to help the Liuzhou faction attack Guangzhou, in the final analysis, it was also for their own interests.

After Chen Bingkun heard Lu Rongting's suggestion, he also readily agreed, he knew that it was not a way to stay in Guangxi all the time, there was such a big place here, and so many soldiers were stationed here, sooner or later there would be trouble.

After reaching a cooperation agreement, Lu Rongting on the one hand recommended Chen Bingkun to the Beijing government as the military envoy of Guangxi; On the one hand, a large number of troops were concentrated to prepare for a counterattack on Guangdong, and he said that after conquering Guangdong, he would cede the territory of Guangdong to Luo Bingkun. Luo Bingkun was naturally happy when he heard this, and he also sent two divisions to Wuzhou to help in the battle, and then Lu Rongting concentrated more than 20,000 people and prepared to counterattack Guangzhou.

However, when they had just been transferred, Huang Ke had already gotten the news. The other party's 20,000 soldiers were a big trouble in Huang Ke's eyes, if he didn't eliminate them, he didn't know when they would bite him back.

Sooner rather than later, Huang Ke decided to use the name of military exercises to launch an attack on the Gui army in Wuzhou. Huang Ke can be regarded as having some friendship with Lu Rongting, this guy also helped him save Zhao Xiaowan, but feelings are feelings, at most Huang Ke let him go like he treated Chen Jiongming, but Huang Ke still has to get rid of the team in his hand.

It is already past the vernal equinox, and the night is getting shorter and shorter; Huang Ke wore a washed military uniform and walked neatly to the team's assembly point.

His new army was stationed around Canton, and after receiving the order at noon, the combat troops were assembled here, and now the assembly has been completed.

More than 10,000 field troops rushed to assemble, the scene was indeed spectacular, Huang Ke walked to the room of the command room, where stood more than 100 officers, all of whom had just arrived from various stations.

After seeing Huang Ke come in, the guards at the door shouted at the top of their voices: "Commander Huang has arrived!" ”

As soon as this sound came out, the originally chaotic scene quieted down suddenly, and the officers all saluted Huang Ke. Huang Ke was neatly draped, he untied the armed belt and shell gun in his waist on the table one by one and said: "I have nothing to say, the combat plan is according to the previous exercise plan, the three troops are advancing to Guangxi side by side, I clearly tell you that today is the outpost of the Northern Expedition!" ”

"Also, don't take it lightly, Lu Rongting's gang of Guangxi boys are all experienced in a hundred battles, not to mention that the strength is twice that of us, we must not underestimate the enemy, is it clear?"

"Clear!" Everyone shouted at the top of their voices.

"Okay, let's go down and prepare, set off in half an hour, remember, without the order of the headquarters, even if you are tired, you can't stop!"

While talking, the men had already prepared a steaming meal, and after the assembled team had dinner, the three-way army immediately left for Wuzhou.

According to the requirements, the meal before departure was half-full, every officer and soldier wore leggings according to the requirements, and they all wore armed belts around their waists, and each person only carried a thin quilt and some guns and ammunition, which really made them a lot easier.

This is mainly due to Huang Ke's implementation of mule-horse troops, each infantry platoon has an average of three mules, and all the supplies brought by the mules are pulled, so that the combat troops can throw off their arms and run forward.

During the two-day and one-night journey, the more you go to Guangxi, the more difficult the road becomes, and the rugged mountain roads make the officers and soldiers a little unbearable; The forced march made Huang Ke tired, but Huang Ke did not order to rest, and neither did he rest, he knew the importance of a surprise attack, and if the Gui army got the information, they would pay a heavy price.

Because they did not rest for a long time, many officers and soldiers were tired along the way, Huang Ke ordered them to wait on the spot for the logistics troops behind, and the others continued to advance; When the mule and horse died of exhaustion, they threw it down, and some of the substances on it were simply thrown away.

At this time, Huang Ke had only one belief - to raid the Gui army and occupy Guangxi!