In order to cheer up the brothers, Lin Shuqing personally supervised the formation with a sword and made a speech: The Ninth Division will be here soon. We can't make them laugh. To say that Jiangsu is a strange place, there is a Yangtze River between northern and southern Jiangsu.

, the folk customs are far apart.

Northern Jiangsu has always produced strong soldiers. This can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. Northern Jiangsu is a place where elite soldiers are produced. Southern Jiangsu is just the opposite. The people are gentle and the soldiers are not elite. Back then, when the Ninth Town recruited troops, they all went to northern Jiangsu.

Most of Lin Shuqing's soldiers were from northern Jiangsu. It would be really embarrassing for Gu Zhongchen's southern Jiangsu soldiers to laugh at them.

Lin Shuqing tried his best, but he couldn't bear the goal of the fifth town. At least there were 6,000 soldiers on the opposite side. Haha, there were still a few Kais and some small cannons. When the attack started, the commander went to the front line. The morale was still very high.

Exuberant.

The Beiyang Army relied on strong positions and struggled to hold on. Wu Peifu refused to move life and death. The commander of the Fifth Town became anxious and rushed to Wu Peifu and shouted: "If you don't give the order to attack, I will lead the troops to withdraw."

In fact, Wu Peifu still felt that the opportunity was not enough, but the friendly troops were from the fifth town, so he should not go too far. So he ordered the artillery to fire and the whole army attacked.

Lin Shuqing's side was fighting anxiously. He was about to rush to the position and was about to lead the guards up. Suddenly, dense artillery fire came from the opposite side. The artillery battalion brought by Wu Peifu was still equipped with the Japanese Meiji 38 style.

75 mountain artillery, Beiyang was shot six times in a row, and the momentum produced by the twelve cannons was not small. This was not Zhang Xun's grassroots team, this was the serious Beiyang elite third town. Yuan Shikai's housekeeping force. Originally recruited into Beijing, that

It must be of great use. Unexpectedly, Fang Jianxiong messed up history. The financial difficulties of the Provisional Government were alleviated. Once rich, the backbone became stronger, the voice at the negotiation table became louder, and the Northern Expeditionary Army's firepower became fiercer.

, which led to the southward movement of the third town.

At the critical moment when Lin Shuqing personally supervised the battle, the Beiyang Army's artillery showed off its power, and the dense formation was turned upside down by a burst of artillery fire. You can't expect the troops in the provinces to know skirmishing tactics these days. Basically, these generals know how to form a dense formation.

Charge forward. The reason for deciding this tactic is very simple. The equipment is too poor. Think about the Battle of Songhu and how brave the Gui army was. The dense formation launched a charge, and the large-caliber naval guns of the Japanese Navy were able to deal with it in a short time.

The army was directly disabled.

When a shell landed, Lin Shuqing's troops suffered heavy losses, and their formation was in disarray. They scattered in all directions. Wu Peifu was willing to spend money. After ten minutes of continuous bombardment, the Maxim machine gun that had been concealed was also fully fired. The town army was suddenly attacked.

The formation was suddenly disrupted, and someone dropped his gun and ran away.

When he saw the civilian army being beaten and beginning to retreat, Wu Peifu dropped his binoculars and rushed out of the headquarters with his sword in hand.

"Brothers, come with me!" Well, Wu Peifu is still a standard leader now. Seeing that the people's army is in chaos, it is obvious that they are defeated. It shouldn't be a big problem if you take the lead by yourself.

In fact, Wu Peifu didn't have much room to perform. As soon as he rushed out, he asked Zhang Fulai to hold him down and threw him to two soldiers. Zhang Fulai took over the position, holding a sword and wearing a very eye-catching officer uniform. He led the brothers forward.

.

The vast blue-gray Beiyang Army suddenly came out from all directions with bayonets in hand, with a huge momentum, and the shouts of killing were astonishing. The defenders of the fifth town have been suppressed and beaten until now, and they have been feeling aggrieved. When they saw this formation, they raised their eyebrows

Zhang Fulai, who was armed with a sword, rushed in front. They jumped out of the battle and rushed forward with bayonets in hand. The Zhenjun, who had been retreating, were followed and chased. They were instantly defeated and routed thousands of miles away.

Lin Shuqing didn't expect it to turn out like this. He swung his sword in anger and chopped down several defeated soldiers, but he couldn't hold back the position. The Beiyang soldiers charged fiercely with bayonets in hand, and the Zhenjun fled quickly, chasing each other and escaping.

Several of Lin Shuqing's soldiers stood up and left without saying a word. At this point, a day of fierce fighting ended with the defeat of the town army.

Fortunately, Gu Zhongchen was "cautious" in using his troops, but he was actually worried that the Beiyang Army would be too powerful. The result of being cautious was that the march was slow. When he heard the noise, he was still three miles away from the front. He was able to move out of the formation in time.

The Ninth Division, which was well equipped, also gave Wu Peifu a head-on artillery bombardment. Although there were not many casualties, when he saw that it was getting late, Wu Peifu also ordered to withdraw his troops.

The Northern Expeditionary Army suffered heavy losses in Zaozhuang. When the following units arrived one after another, they were all frightened by the news. When it comes to the combat effectiveness of these troops under the provisional government, the town army is relatively strong. The old foundation of Ninth Town, Ninth Town

Although the equipment of the completed Subei soldiers is only average, other troops may not be as tough as the Zhenjun.

That is to say, the first and second divisions, which also use the Ninth Town as their old base, are stronger than the town army. This is thanks to Fang Jianxiong and the better equipment of the troops. Now these two divisions have to defend Nanjing and cannot

Pull it out easily, Fang Jianxiong

In Wuhu and Anqing, there are two infantry divisions in charge. The other Jiangsu Army, Zhejiang Army, Shanghai Navy, and Yangzhou Army are not as good as the Zhen Army. After the Zhen Army was defeated and retreated, the other troops were naturally very weak.

Consciously be on guard.

When Huang Xing and Li Liejun's Jiangxi Army came up, they were shocked to learn that the town army was defeated and more than half of them were lost. They quickly convened a military meeting. Before the meeting started, an urgent message from Lan Tianwei arrived. Something big had happened. The Northern Expeditionary Army

The Second Army, also called the Second Route Army, was captured by more than 10,000 Jiaodong soldiers in Laiyang County.

The guards were surrounded. After several fierce battles for a day, they finally broke out of the encirclement. The troops suffered huge losses. The total number of troops that returned to Yantai was less than a thousand. Lan Tianwei asked for reinforcements. If there were no reinforcements, he planned to retreat by sea.

.Jiaodong is a very evil place, and the local armed forces are so strong.

When Huang Xing received this telegram, he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. What was going on? When the situation in the Northern Expedition was so good, why did he suddenly suffer successive blows? This was too hard to accept. The key is that Lan Tianwei brought a hybrid

The brigade, or the troops of the former Ninth Town and now the Jiangsu First Division, after marching north to Yantai, didn't they say that they achieved great results? Didn't they say that Weifang was about to be defeated? This change is too big, and it is difficult to accept it.

And what is the origin of the Jiaodong Self-Defense Force? Is it a local militia? How did they defeat the elite First Mixed Brigade of the Provisional Government?

Huang Xing didn't understand, Li Liejun didn't understand either, and a bunch of Northern Expeditionary Army generals couldn't figure it out either. The militia couldn't be defeated? Those were the top elites under the provisional government!

Lan Tianwei didn't understand how the world had become like this. He left Laiyang early this morning and was preparing to move forward. As soon as the leading troops left the city, overwhelming artillery shells fell. With this density of artillery fire, there was no need for an artillery regiment.

Bar?

The smug Lan Tianwei was knocked unconscious by this artillery fire. Less than half an hour after leaving the city, a battalion returned less than halfway. That was not the end. He climbed to the top of the city and took a breath of cool air. There were flags in all directions on the far side.

, trenches are being dug everywhere.

Even a fool knows that they are surrounded! The key is that these guys came out of nowhere and are not wearing regular army uniforms. The question is where did they get an artillery regiment? Soon, Lan Tianwei had the answer.

When I looked at the top of the city, I saw rows of cannons spread out. They didn't look like toys at all.

Forget it, these Sunzis seem to be free of charge for artillery shells. Even though the Northern Expeditionary Army had retreated to the city, they still refused to give in. They moved their position forward and fired at the city wall. The artillery shells didn't stop anyway.

One morning, Northern Expedition

The army was blocked in the city and could not get out. Lan Tianwei organized several exploratory attacks, which were basically to death. The opponent not only had many cannons, but also Maxim machine guns. In my impression, the Beiyang Army had this kind of firepower, which was even worse than the opponent.

These vigilante groups.

After three attacks, the first one was washed away by artillery fire, and then they were plowed by Maxim, and not many people came back. The second and third times, the results were even more tragic. More than 2,000 people were thrown into the enemy's position, and even the opponent's position was destroyed.

He was beaten back before even getting close.

At this moment, Lan Tianwei panicked and hurriedly went to find someone to question. Finally, he captured some gentry officials in the county who had not escaped. After interrogation, he found out that the so-called Jiaodong Self-Defense Force was the senior officer of the Shandong Patrol Battalion.

foundation,

The soldiers all came from poor places like Yimeng Mountain, and many were professional bandits who switched careers. This patrol battalion was sent to Jiaodong by Sun Baoqi. It was later doubled in size and called itself the Jiaodong Self-Defense Army, with more than 10,000 troops and several artillery battalions.

The counties in Jiaodong are relatively wealthy. These self-defense forces are usually fine and do not disturb the people, but the protection fee cannot be reduced. Laixi County once refused to ask for protection money, but the self-defense forces opened the city and the county magistrate was beheaded.

From then on, all counties became honest, and they paid a lot of money every month. Later, I heard that the Jiaodong Self-Defense Army collected all the protection fees in Weifang. Think about how cruel these people are.

That is to say, they don’t mess with the Germans, but the other counties in Jiaodong really treat them as evil gods. Anyway, if a lot of them pay protection fees, they will be fine, and besides, the money they charge is not a lot. All the lijin in the previous counties have been cancelled.

, which is equivalent to half of Lijin’s protection fee.

Seeing that it was already afternoon, he could not just sit back and wait for death, so Lan Tianwei ordered a breakout. It went smoothly at first. They left Laiyang and did not suffer much losses. It seemed that the Self-Defense Forces had placed their main force in the west. However, they left Laiyang less than twenty years ago.

Here, disasters began to strike one after another.

The Second Route Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army was ambushed one after another on its way back to Yantai. They were fighting and running, and there were only more than 500 people left when they returned to Yantai. For this reason, Lan Tianwei was too embarrassed to tell the truth and was beaten five times.

He said that there were still a thousand people left.

After returning to Yantai, Lan Tianwei's first thing was to stay on the warship before sending a telegram to Xuzhou, Nanjing.

This day was truly an unlucky day for the Northern Expeditionary Army. It was a head-on blow at a time when the situation was promising.

The so-called house leak happened to rain all night, which probably refers to the Nanjing Provisional Government. After a night of telegram exchanges, there was no conclusion. The next morning, Fang Jianxiong sent a telegram to the whole country, and another big thing broke. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!