At this time, the representatives of the north had already come to Shenhai and were doing some in-depth exchanges with the representatives of the south, and the purpose of their visit was to hope for a peaceful settlement of this dispute.

At this time, Wang Feng naturally didn't expect that there would be such a situation in Shenhai! His mind was all on this Northern Expedition.

Except for leaving a battalion of guards at the Jinling Mint and setting up a general military station in Jinling, all his main forces crossed the river to the north.

The places passed along the way, all the military management, along the Jinpu Road all the way through.

Ma'anshan and Chuzhou went down without a fight, but in the area of Bengbu, Xuzhou, there were still the remnants of Zhang Dabraid's Jiangfang Battalion and the strength of a mixed detachment of Zhang Chengwu's Fifth Town to the south.

Now that the 1st Division is fully engaged in military operations, the minds of his subordinates are much simpler. The 1st Division was full of recruits, although the morale was high and the equipment was high.

There were a lot of jokes on the march along the way, and the officers of the accompanying camp school, under the leadership of the instructors, went down to various units to experience first-hand.

And Wang Feng himself is also learning to change from a simple soldier to a commander with 20,000 troops, and there are too many things he has to learn.

"Where is the 3rd regiment? Only to Mingguang? When I did a power search there, I found that there were two or three battalions of the Jiang Defense Army? ”

Wu Wencai recorded the return of the staff officers under him, and at the same time gave orders.

"The left detachment composed of the first brigade is advancing too slowly, and it must be rushed to Mingguang before 15 o'clock this afternoon, and the three regiments must be taken there! The headquarters of our division immediately organized a migration and arrived in Mingguang tomorrow morning. ”

A few horseback communication soldiers took the order, and Wang Feng walked out of the private house that was used as the headquarters and smiled at Wu Wencai.

"Brother Niansun, your strings are too tight! I don't think there will be a real battle with the Northern Army before I get to Bengbu. ”

Wu Wencai replied to him stiffly: "I also estimate so, but I can't relax my requirements for them!" ”

Wang Feng smiled and waved his hand: "These are the things that your chief of staff should take care of, and I won't interfere with you." It's funny to receive so many calls today! ”

He shook a lot of newspapers in his hands: "There are coalition troops, Shenhai people's groups, southern army, town army, and eastern Guangdong army............ This is a person who supports my Wang, and said: I am glad to hear that our army's Northern Expedition has broken the situation between the north and the south, without war and without peace, and has created more brilliance for the cause of recovery, and I am willing to attach ............."

He shook his other hand and copied the newspaper: "This is scolding me, Feng Ergou and Duan Laohu jointly sent me a telegram to more than 60 generals of the Northern Army, saying that if I don't stop this reckless military operation, I will lead 100,000 northern athletes to fight with me to the end!" Li Bodhisattva also sent a telegram from Hubei Province, telling me to think twice before acting, not to sabotage the north-south negotiations and resolve the situation of the war............ It's just that there is no sound in Shenhai and Jinling, two places where the Kuomintang gathers, and it seems that since they are willing to see me go north, they don't want to support me as a person............ Recently, there have been a lot of affairs, and looking at these telegrams, I can also talk about loneliness. ”

He crumpled the telegram in his hand: "I don't want anyone's support and support, just knock down Xuzhou and show it to these comrades!" The herald ordered the whole army to speed up its action, before the 25th, I will take Bengbu and threaten Xuzhou! ”

Wang Yangming stood in front of the artillery positions attached to his brigade, and each brigade originally had 12 75-mm Han mountain guns, and the division headquarters allocated 12 field guns to the 1st brigade.

Under the longitudinal fire of the powerful artillery, bursts of smoke rose from the outer positions of Mingguang. The assault battalion of the 3rd Regiment lay in front of the outlying positions, watching as hundreds of soldiers of the Jiang Defense Army jumped out of their positions and fled to the rear. The 3rd Regiment waited for the artillery fire to cease, and a burst of cheers poured forward.

Wang Yangyang put down the binoculars and shook his head. Chen Jianghe stood beside him and said with a smile: "These Jiangfang troops can't be compared with those troops in Jinling City!" The cannonball smashed and ran away, and it didn't taste like a fight. ”

Wang Yangming looked at him coldly: "The main force of the Jiang Defense Army is in Jinling City, and it has been defeated by us, these are just troops temporarily recruited by Zhang Da Braid............ But you also have to see what our troops have become now? This kind of enemy does not need artillery fire at all, it can collapse in one rush, and the result is that it has to wait for the artillery to enter the position, and our first division still needs more tough combat training! ”

Chen Jianghe said with a smile: "If there is artillery use, those guys are naturally too lazy to charge." It's burning you, since the Northern Expedition, you have a calm face, and you can't smile anymore... Still have an opinion about the division commander? ”

Wang Yangming ignored him, and just ordered the staff officers beside him: "After entering Mingguang, the troops are not allowed to enter the civilian houses. At 7 o'clock in the evening, a review meeting of officers above the company level was held at the brigade headquarters! Although I have a day off tomorrow in Mingguang, I still have to exercise! ”

After he finished speaking, he got on the horse by himself, Chen Jianghe looked at his back, and only shook his head slightly.

With the capture of Mingguang City, Wang Feng's first division has been fully deployed along the Jinpu Road, and the second brigade attached to the reinforced artillery battalion and the cavalry battalion to form a frontal detachment, the detachment leader Chen Jianghe, from Fengyang to the east front of Bengbu.

The first brigade attached a reinforced artillery battalion, a cavalry battalion, and an engineer company formed a canal detachment, and the detachment leader Wang Yangming detoured along the canal to the back road of Bengbu.

Wang Feng led the teaching regiment and the divisional troops to follow up behind the frontal detachment.

After the cavalry troops' powerful reconnaissance on the front line, it was also preliminarily determined that in the Bengbu area, there were 13 infantry battalions and one artillery battalion of the Jiangfang Army newly formed by Zhang Da Braids, as well as a battalion of the main artillery of the 20 standards of the Fifth Town of Beiyang, which gathered more than 7,000 people to defend to the death.

In the Guzhen area behind, there are six infantry battalions of the Jiangfang Army, and a battalion of nearly 3,000 people in the 19th Beiyang standard, and the real battle of the Northern Expedition is about to start.

Bengbu is the capital of Zhunnan, and it controls the mouth of the Fushan Gorge of the Five Rivers, which is a dangerous point in the territory of Zhunnan.

Jinpu Road crosses Bengbu from this gorge, and after passing here, it is all to Xuzhou, and there is no danger to defend.

If you want to defend Xuzhou, you must defend Bengbu.

Therefore, Zhang Da Braid completely arranged his main force here, wanting to fight to the death in the first division.

After he fled to Xuzhou, he took in the former patrol team and cobbled together more than 20 battalions and more than 10,000 troops, but the combat effectiveness was very poor!

However, after Zhang Chengwu sent Ma Shuyuan to co-ordinate and led the 1st Battalion of the 10th Association Artillery to the south to support him, with the foundation of the old Beiyang, Zhang Da Braids suddenly became full of confidence, and he put on a posture of fighting to the death in Bengbu.

The outpost battle began on 18 December, and the 2nd Brigade launched an attack in turn on a front of more than 10 miles from south to north, with the focus of the attack on Fushan Gorge.

After a day of fierce fighting on the 18th, almost no progress was made, and the old Beiyang Fifth Town really lived up to its name, and the main position of Fushan Gorge, with them as the main force, withstood the repeated attacks of two or three battalions of the Second Brigade, and the artillery fire was grounded in the sky.

But these old Beiyang are very calm, the firepower is extremely well organized, and the shooting is extremely accurate.

The 1st Division left more than 100 corpses in front of the main position, and more wounded, while the Jiang Defense troops in other positions were encouraged and defended very tenaciously, and fought hand-to-hand with the troops of the 2nd Brigade several times, and also firmly held their positions.

It was already dark, the enemy's artillery shells were insufficient, and the artillery had stopped, only more than 20 mountain artillery pieces of the Second Brigade, and there was not a single shot fired at the enemy's position, occasionally exploding a cloud of red light and smoke, and the corpses of the officers and men of the Second Brigade in front of the position were even more conspicuous under this light.

Chen Jianghe's eyes were red, his sleeves rolled up high, and he mobilized to more than 100 young officers with red eyes: "Our Second Brigade has never fought such a humiliating battle!" The corpses of the loyal brothers who died on the front line cannot be recovered! Those of us who are officers usually command our brothers to go up and fight hard, and today it is time for us to go up and fight hard for our dead brothers! Snatch all the corpses back for me, and I order a night attack immediately! What's so great about Old Beiyang? I'd like to see who's the guys! ”

A cold voice said, "Order canceled!" ”

Chen Jianghe turned around and scolded: "! Which king eight..."

Wang Feng and Wu Wencai stood behind him in an overcoat, and Lu Si was also fully armed and accompanied them with a cold face.

Wu Wencai waved his hand: "Go back to your company platoon, master the troops, arrange the guard, and stay awake all night at the front-line position!" ”

The officers dispersed unconvinced, and Chen Jianghe squatted down and shouted: "Division commander! Why don't you let us go up! Our brother's corpse is still ahead, and my heart feels like a knife is being poked! Division, as long as you agree, I'd rather die in front! ”

Wang Feng silently pulled him up, patted him on the shoulder, and continued to walk forward with Lu Si, looking at each company one by one.

Wu Wencai glared at Chen Jianghe solemnly: "If the division commander hadn't come over with me, would you want to reimburse all the officers of the Second Brigade?" I doubt you can be this brigade commander! The opponent is the old Beiyang, and we are mostly new recruits, so it is normal that we can't beat it once! Just organize the troops to pull the corpse down at night, who wants you to fight hard? ”

He was so angry that his chest rose and fell: "Our first division, we have to grow slowly in the flames of war, it's not you who are so brutal!" I am a colleague and good friend of the original 33 standards, and I only advise you to calm down this time. You're not a kid anymore! Next time I do it like this, I will only have to do business. Calm yourself down and think about how to lead the troops well and fight the battle well! ”

Chen Jianghe was speechless, and watched Wu Wencai turn around and leave, he had done more than 800 shells today, but he ran into the hard nail of Lao Beiyang. For the first time, this excited young man felt that he had met an opponent.

He got up and shook his head, straightened his uniform, and walked towards the brigade headquarters.

After midnight, Chen Jianghe organized dozens of squads, sneaked up, and pulled down the corpses of his comrades.

Wang Feng stood at the front, his hand on the brim of his hat, and refused to put it down, quietly watching his soldiers, who were carried down by his side one by one.

Behind him, Wu Wencai and more than a dozen senior officers all stood and saluted, and occasionally a few stray bullets swept by, but none of them bent down to dodge.

In Wang Feng's past experience, the military history he was keen on, and the casualties of the grand battles that made him intoxicated, were just a simple number.

But being truly immersive, those young and cold bodies, gave him a completely different feeling.

He was the one who brought these young people who had not yet been fully trained to the battlefield! The officers and soldiers of the Second Brigade in the vicinity slowly gathered around Wang Feng, like a group of sculptures in the dark night.