"No?" Jin Zhao thought about it, shook his head decisively, and rejected this tempting idea proposed by Xie Jinyuan. At this time, Wang Geng also shook his head and objected.

"Why?" Xie Jinyuan asked in disbelief, in his opinion, now that Fuzhou's defense is empty, it is the best time to occupy Fuzhou, and he really can't understand why these two people are resolutely opposed.

Jin Zhao looked outside the door, Zhou Ping had been transferred to the Administrative Office by Jin Zhao, and as for the bodyguards sent by Lao Jiang, they were also transferred by Jin Zhao for various reasons. Jin Zhao shook his head and said, "It is indeed an opportunity to occupy Fuzhou now. But the 19th Route Army has not yet been defeated, and those politicians in Fuzhou have not yet left, so now is not the best time to enter and occupy Fuzhou. ”

Xie Jinyuan thought about it and immediately understood that he was too anxious. If Fuzhou is occupied now, what will those politicians and lords in Fuzhou do and drive them away? That would be tantamount to betraying the Central Committee and the Nineteenth Route Army at the same time. According to Jin Zhao's plan, he borrowed Lao Jiang's hand to force those politicians and old men in Fuzhou away, and then united with the remnants of the 19th Route Army to fight against Lao Jiang. After Xie Jinyuan figured this out, he nodded heavily and said, "Then what should we do, the military seat asked us to go to Fuzhou, we can't disobey the order openly, right?" ”

"Of course, we can't openly disobey orders, we can refuse to go north to Fuzhou on the grounds that the Youxi Lu Xingbang Department is unstable, has the intention of defecting to the central government, and the main force of our department has been transferred to the Datian front." Wang Geng said after thinking about it.

Jin Zhao nodded and said, "Good idea!" Just do what Brother Shouqing said. Now that the situation is unclear, we still want to wait and talk about it, premature exposure is not good for us. ”

Xie Jinyuan nodded, and then went to the confidential room to send a report.

After the Central Army successfully captured Yanping, morale increased greatly, and Lao Chiang took advantage of the indecisiveness of the leaders of the Min Mutiny and the slow movement of reinforcements. On 7 January, they concentrated their superior forces and launched an attack on Shuikou under the cover of air artillery.

The Central Army that participated in the Battle of Shuikou included Li Yannian's 9th Division, Li Mo'an's 10th Division, and Li Yutang's 3rd Division. Three divisions, 12 regiments, and tens of thousands of troops, under the command of Lao Chiang, launched a fierce attack on Shuikou.

Shuikou is located between Fuzhou and Yanping, and is an important place to support Gutian and defend Fuzhou. Tan Qixiu, commander of the Fifth Army of the People's Revolutionary Army, personally led the military headquarters and two regiments to garrison it.

In the face of the superior strength of the Central Army, Tan Qixiu was not afraid of danger and commanded the troops to fight against the water. The defenders took advantage of the favorable terrain such as Tianzhu Mountain, Qigan Mountain, Jianshan Mountain, and Kangshan Mountain to build a defensive line. Stubbornly resisting the attack of the Central Army, for a time inflicted heavy losses on the Central Army, but under the superior strength and artillery fire of the Central Army, the defenders suffered heavy losses.

After a day of fierce fighting, the defenders were exhausted, and at this time the Central Army mobilized reserves to launch a night attack, and the defenders were finally outnumbered and isolated, and the front-line positions were broken through one after another.

Tan Qixiu scolded angrily in the military department, Mao Weishou and Shen Guanghan were slow to act, and the rescue was unfavorable. Listening to the gunshots getting closer and closer outside, Tan Qixiu gritted his teeth and pulled out his pistol and shouted, "Guard battalion!" Follow Lao Tzu! ”

At this time, the adjutant hugged Tan Qixiu and persuaded loudly, "Military seat, the green mountains left are here, don't be afraid of no firewood." Shuikou can't be defended, let's retreat quickly! ”

At this time, the commander of the guard battalion also persuaded, "Military seat! I'll take the guard battalion to cover, and the military seat will be withdrawn quickly! The brothers are still waiting for the throne to avenge us! ”

Seeing that Tan Qixiu was still hesitating, the adjutant waved his hand and the two guards immediately stepped forward, picked up Tan Qixiu and left. That night, under the desperate protection of the guards, Tan Qixiu escaped from the siege on a raft, and most of the remnants of the defenders were annihilated by the Central Army, a few were captured, and Shuikou was declared lost.

As soon as Cai Tingkai arrived in Baisha, he received the news that Shuikou was lost. Cai Tingkai is no longer in the mood to scold. Shuikou was lost, and the central army around Gutian was gathered, and it was difficult to defend it, and in fact, the gate of Fuzhou had been opened. Yanping and Shuikou were both declared lost within one day, which greatly hit the morale of the officers and men of the 19th Route Army, and at this time, Mao Weishou and Shen Guanghan, who rushed to the rescue, one was unknown, the other had no will to fight, and was slow to act. At the same time, rumors spread that some generals had accepted the bribes of Lao Jiang and secretly defected to the Central Army, so they would not move. Thinking of this, Cai Tingkai suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness, and whispered to himself, "The defeat is like a mountain!" ”

Jiang Guangnai and others hurriedly advised Cai Tingkai to boost his morale and comforted Cai Tingkai, saying that the road of revolution was tortuous and arduous, and the failure in the early stage was understandable. But everyone knew in their hearts that the Nineteenth Route Army had been defeated!

Later, Cai Tingkai received information that the Wei Lihuang Department of the Central Army was operating south of the Minjiang River and was attempting to cut off the rear route of the 19th Route Army and encircle and annihilate the 19th Route Army.

Subsequently, Cai Tingkai summoned Jiang Guangnai, Chen Mingshu, Huang Qixiang and other generals of the 19th Route Army to hold an emergency meeting in Baisha. At the meeting, Chen Mingshu and Cai Tingkai had a heated debate on whether to retreat to Fuzhou or retreat south.

Chen Mingshu advocated resisting and retreating to Fuzhou one by one, while Cai Tingkai suggested that he should immediately retreat south, otherwise once the rear connection was cut off, the whole army would fall into a heavy encirclement and be surrounded and annihilated by Chiang's army. Jiang Guangnai also supported a rapid retreat to the south, believing that the army's morale was now in chaos and it was not suitable to fight again, so it should retreat south, adjust the deployment, and reorganize the army to fight again. Chen Mingshu was reluctant to give up Fuzhou, and Cai Tingkai's face was red, and finally with the support of Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai's proposal was passed.

Cai Tingkai immediately ordered all armies to retreat in the direction of Quanzhou, appointed Zhang Yan as the commander of martial law in Fuzhou, maintained order, and was responsible for arranging the retreat of the personnel of the people's political axe organs.

The Third Army of Yi Shounian first crossed the river and retreated to the south, and rushed to Xianyou with a rapid march. Ordered the Jin Zhao Reading Division stationed in Xianyou to be responsible for receiving and covering the southward retreat of the main force. At the same time, because Jin Zhao refused to go north to Fuzhou before, Cai Tingkai had already become suspicious of Jin Zhao, so he secretly ordered Ou Shou Nian, if Jin Zhao was suspected of defecting to the central government, he would immediately occupy Xianyou, arrest Jin Zhao, and disarm the reader.

Subsequently, the Second Army, the First Army followed closely with the Third Army and retreated in the direction of Quanzhou through Xianyou, and the Fourth Army continued to follow up after covering the main force to cross the Wulong River.

The main force of the 19th Route Army retreated south, and the Gutian defenders were in a desperate situation. According to Lao Jiang's original military deployment, he launched a feint attack on Gutian, inducing Cai Tingkai to lead the main force to reinforce the city, besiege the city and send reinforcements, and completely annihilated the main force of the 19th Route Army in northern Fujian, laying a victory in one fell swoop. But he didn't expect Cai Tingkai to be fooled, and decisively led the army to retreat south, and Lao Jiang's wishful thinking failed, so he ordered a general attack on Gutian.

At the same time, Lao Jiang secretly ordered Jin Zhao to block the southward retreat of the 19th Route Army in Xianyou, and swore that if Jin Zhao could resist the 19th Route Army in Xianyou for a day, when the Central Army arrived, he would be able to annihilate the 19th Route Army in the Xianyou area. Jin Zhao naturally didn't believe Lao Jiang's nonsense, and besides, Jin Zhao had no intention of taking refuge in Lao Jiang, so he politely refused on the grounds that the troops were insufficient and too scattered, and it was difficult to assemble in a short time.

Garrisoned in Gutian was the Seventh Division of the Fifth Army of the People's Revolutionary Army, and the division commander was Zhao Yishou. The Central Army's attack on Gutian was the 87th and 88th Divisions in the central part of Zhangzhi, and after the Battle of Shuikou, Lao Jiang transferred the 36th and 89th Divisions to Huaimen Pavilion on the outskirts of Gutian. At the same time, the 3rd and 10th Divisions were ordered to respond near Shuikou.

After Lao Jiang gave the order to attack Gutian, Zhang Zhizhong did not give the order to attack. This is because Zhang Zhizhong wants to use a peaceful way to win Zhao Yi's shoulder and surrender without a fight, so as not to lose his life. Because Zhang Zhizhong's troops had fought side by side with the 19th Route Army on the Songhu battlefield, they couldn't bear to kill each other by the fraternal troops who shared life and death back then. At that time, Zhao Yishou, as the chief of staff of the 19th Route Army, had a good relationship with Zhang Zhizhong, and with this incense relationship, Zhang Zhizhong personally wrote a letter to Zhao Yishou to persuade him to surrender.

In his letter, Zhang Zhizhong took responsibility for the righteousness and persuaded each other with interests and disadvantages, hoping that he would rein in the precipice and return to the central government as soon as possible. At this time, the main force of the 19th Route Army went south, the Gutian defenders were isolated, and after weighing the pros and cons, Zhao finally accepted Zhang Zhizhong's persuasion to surrender, and on January 11, he went out of the city and surrendered.

Zhang Zhizhong "released Gutian soldiers" and took Gutian without a single shot. Zhao Yibei's 7th Division surrendered, so far Tan Qixiu's 5th Army was equivalent to the annihilation of the whole army, and the war in northern Fujian was declared over.

At the height of the battle in northern Fujian, Huang Qiang, chief of staff of the 19th Route Army and mayor of Xiamen, who was far away in Xiamen, also surrendered without a fight, and on January 9 he telegraphed to announce his support for the central government and request Lin Guogeng, commander of the Xiamen Naval Fortress, to take over Xiamen. However, on the night of January 9, the special service regiment of the 19th Route Army stationed in Xiamen staged a mutiny, and Zhou Dashan, the commander of the special service regiment, led his troops to occupy the regiment headquarters and the municipal axe of Xiamen, and arrested Huang Qiang and Li Jinbo, the head of the special service group.

After receiving the news, Cai Tingkai immediately appointed Zhou Dashan as the commander of the Xiamen garrison. Subsequently, Zhou Dashan led the special task force to engage in a fierce battle with Lin Guogeng's naval brigade in Xiamen. The battle lasted until the morning of January 10, when Lin Guogeng's troops were defeated and retreated to the port of Xiamen. At the same time, he asked for help from Navy Commander Chen Shaokuan. Chen Shaokuan immediately ordered Wang Ting, commander of the torpedo guerrilla column, to lead Yixian, Zhongshan, Jiangning, and other ships and the first part of the Marine Corps to rush to Xiamen's aid.

Jin Zhao handed the telegram in his hand to Lin Huiyuan, and said with a smile, "Brother Huiyuan (I didn't find Lin Huiyuan's words, so let's call it that for the time being!)" Huang Qiang and Li Jinbo have already surrendered to the law, congratulations on your grievances! ”

Lin Huiyuan took the telegram and read it carefully, and after Zhou Dashan executed Huang Qiang and others, he immediately posted a notice in Xiamen, announcing the guilt of Huang Qiang and others, which gave a detailed account of how Huang Qiang and others framed Lin Huiyuan. Lin Huiyuan took the telegram and said excitedly, "Thank you, Brother Meng Bo!" Thank you for your kindness! After saying that Hui Yuan is willing to whip and fall from the horse for the general, he will never give up! ”

"Brother Huiyuan is polite, everyone is for the revolution! A scum like Huang Qiang should have been subdued a long time ago! Jin Zhao said with a smile and a wave of his hand. (To be continued.) )