Chapter 315 The Second Division Returns

Compared with the lively atmosphere in Guangdong, there are distinct differences in the front-line enemy command post in Chenzhou.

Xiao Yaonan was calm, but Cao Kun was furious for several consecutive times. Not long after the congratulatory message of Lechang County won the victory, the Southern Expedition Army was actually surrounded by the strategic encirclement of the Guangdong Army, the logistics line was cut off, and the main force could not break through the Snake Ridge. If this continues, the four regiments will end up leaving and never returning.

Even though Cao Kun's call back every time he cursed, Xiao Yaonan still kept asking for reinforcements, otherwise the Nanxing Army would be trapped in Guangdong.

Xiao Yaonan woke up this time. Before he rushed to the south, he promised Cao Kun that sweeping across Guangdong would not require a lot of troops, and he could only use a real pull and adjust. Now he realized that he overestimated himself and underestimated the Guangdong Army too much.

When the Southern Expedition Army was in trouble in northern Guangdong, Cao Kun also fell into trouble in front of Tang Xiangming. Although he cursed Xiao Yaonan in his mouth, he was still thinking about solutions to the problem in his heart. He had been in Hunan for almost half a year, so how could he let Tang Xiangming seize the territory like this?

At the beginning of the war, Cao Kun also vaguely felt that the troops transferred to Xiao Yaonan were not sufficient. Thinking about Li Chun's success in Jiangxi, the key was that Duan Qirui behind the third town supported Li Chun. Unfortunately, He Zonglian in the first town was not familiar with Cao Kun, and he only cared about playing swords and guns in Hubei, so that Cao Kun only organized five regiments of troops in three months.

Cao Kun is very distressed now. On the one hand, he has no face to ask for help from the Hubei Command, and on the other hand, he must raise troops to support the Southern Army as soon as possible. In desperation, he could only plunder funds everywhere in Hunan Province and force men to strengthen the men. At the same time, he recruited troops from Zhuzhou, Xiangtan and other places that were originally Tan Tingkai.

By the end of November, the Changsha General Command finally hastily organized two miscellaneous regiments and sent them to Xiao Yaonan to support the Southern Expedition Army in northern Guangdong. All of these two miscellaneous regiments were not fully equipped and there were not enough weapons and ammunition. After Xiao Yaonan took over, he was so amazed that he couldn't help but laugh. Wouldn't such a combat-capable regiment lose the face of the Beiyang Army?

Cao Kun sent a telegram to Xiao Yaonan:

"This time, the use of troops to Guangdong is not my first town. It is because of the plan drawn by the President. Therefore, the four provinces have surrounded Guangdong. How can we work alone in Hunan now? After the Jiangxi incident, Commander Li will send troops to help. I entrust you to the front line. If you want elite support, you can telegram with Commander Li or negotiate with the Fujian army. Our rear department coordinates for coordination. You must do your best to fight the front line and do not let my entrust."

Xiao Yaonan knew that Cao Kun meant to urge Jiangxi and Fujian to send troops together. This kind of thing should have been the responsibility of Cao Kun. Now Cao Kun has pushed it to him, which shows that the competition between Changsha and Tang Xiangming is becoming more and more intense.

He didn't care about the situation in Changsha, and the most important thing was to send troops to rescue his subordinates.

That night, Xiao Yaonan contacted the Jiangxi Command and explained his interests to Li Chun in a earnest tone, hoping that Li Chun would send troops to aid as soon as possible. Li Chun replied that his troops were raising the last strategic materials and would soon go south to meet with the Southern Expedition Army.

The word "non-day" made Xiao Yaonan very unhappy, which shows that Li Chun still did not determine the date of going south. In desperation, he had to reorganize the two miscellaneous groups in his hand, assemble the weapons and equipment as fully as possible, and then personally lead his troops from Chenzhou to arrive in Yizhang County to take the front line to attack.

The war has been fought to this day, and the situation in northern Guangdong is getting worse and worse. If he doesn't take action personally to turn the situation around, he can't bear this responsibility.

The war in northern Guangdong was progressing very smoothly for the Guangdong Army. The Seventh Regiment, the Eighth Regiment and the Ninth Regiment successfully suppressed the forces of the four regiments of the Southern Expedition Army. On the fifteenth day, due to a shortage of materials, Lechang County had to send reinforcements to open up the supply line of Laopingshi Town. As a result, the reinforcements were ambushed by the Ninth Regiment on the way and returned to Lechang County after paying a heavy price.

After five days of urging the left-behind troops in Laopingshi Town, the left-behind troops from Yizhang County barely sent two battalions to support.

However, these two battalions had just crossed the provincial boundary, and the entire army had not fired a single shot, but received an emergency order to return to Yizhang County quickly. Because after the reinforcements set off, the 11th Cavalry Regiment of the Guangdong Army guided a field company in the previous field, detoured from the depths of the hills and entered the enemy's backbone, and took advantage of the empty space of Yizhang County, and launched a large raid.

In just one night, six military material warehouses in Yizhang County were burned down. Because reinforcements were sent to Laopingshi Town, Yizhang County had almost no soldiers to defend. When the Guangdong cavalry regiment broke into the country, it seemed like they were in a no-man.

Li Wenfan, the commander of the Guangdong Cavalry Regiment, had no intention of occupying Yizhang County. He led his troops to evacuate before dawn, and took advantage of the maneuverability of the cavalry to come and go as if they were in a hurry and as if they were going to be as breeze. When Xiao Yaonan personally led his troops to Yichang County from Chenzhou, there was almost nothing left here, and there was no officer at the logistics headquarters.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Yaonan felt so worried about crying.

However, Xiao Yaonan knew that no matter how difficult this battle was, he had to continue without hesitation. He and Cao Kun's future was almost on fighting against Guangdong, not to mention that the early losses could be gritted and endured. As long as Jiangxi and Fujian sent troops to attack, the overall situation would sooner or later be controlled by the Beiyang Army.

On the 18th, the two cavalry battalions of Lechang County regained some face for Xiao Yaonan. After some investigation, the commander of Lechang County finally found out where the garrison of the Ninth Regiment was stationed and decided to fight a surprise attack. All the cavalry in the city were sent to set off at night and attack the Ninth Regiment headquarters.

This night was too thrilling for the Ninth Regiment. The Ninth Regiment did not expect the Southern Expedition Army to take the initiative to attack. In a hurry, the regiment headquarters was almost wiped out. The regiment commander Xu Haiying personally took the opportunity to block the enemy. At the critical moment, the nearby battalion headquarters quickly dispatched troops to support. After attacking from front and back, they finally retreated the enemy.

Although the surprise attack failed, it also gave the Guangdong army a blow, which boosted some morale to a greater or lesser extent.

From the beginning of the month to today, the war in Sheling has become increasingly stalemate. The Southern Expedition Army originally had combat effectiveness that exceeded the Guangdong Army, but unfortunately, the supply of arms was interrupted from the 15th. Until today, the 25th day, even the supply of food and grass was not available. When the accident occurred in Laopingshi Town earlier, the telegram line in Sheling was damaged and failed to grasp the intelligence organization to rescue them as soon as possible.

By the time the news was received, the strategic siege of the Guangdong Army had been completed, and the rescue was useless.

More importantly, not only did he lose his logistics supplies, but he also lost his morale. Under the double blow, his combat effectiveness was sharply reduced.

After launching more than ten consecutive attacks, the Seventh Regiment was blocked, and the troops were killed or injured.

The attitude of the Seventh Regiment of the Guangdong Army was very clear. The enemy attacked by defense and counterattacked according to fortifications. The enemy did not move and did not move. The enemy retreated and followed and pursued. Faced with such helpless battles, the Southern Expedition Army had no choice but to retreat and had no choice but to advance. If there was no support in a while, the troops would be trapped and died in the ravine.

Guangzhou Wharf is unique on this day. Many ordinary people gathered on the shore of the wharf, waiting for a cruise ship from Fujian with anticipation and grief. The students volunteered to form a welcome team, holding bunches of red and white flower rolls, and lined up neatly in the rustling autumn wind. Many officials of the military government, led by the governor Wu Shaoting, stood in the first row of the berth of the wharf. They were wearing formal public uniforms, and each of them had a very solemn expression.

A month ago, after several twists and turns, the surviving officers and soldiers of the Second Division of the Revolutionary Guangdong Army came to Shanghai from Nanjing and then took a boat from Shanghai to Guangdong. As a result, the freighter was seized by Li Houji's navy in Fujian.

After Zhang Xun and Wu Peifu conquered Nanjing, they confiscated all American rifles from the Second Division of the Revolutionary Guangdong Army and planned to forcefully adapt the troops. However, the soldiers of the Guangdong Army were homesick and deserted many times. Not long after, the Guangdong Army officers sent another joint letter, demanding that the travel expenses be paid and they were dismissed home.

Wu Peifu knew that these Guangdong soldiers would not work hard for him. If they kept them forcibly, they would only harm the fish in the pond and could not be executed. So he simply sold a favor and sent a travel fee to let them go home.

So the remnants of the Second Division gathered in one place and came to Shanghai to hire a cruise ship to return to Guangdong. However, when the cruise ship had just passed by Fujian, it happened to be when Cao Kun sent troops to Guangdong. Although there were very few remaining troops in the Second Division, it was a new force. Li Houji received the order from Duan Qirui and ordered that the troops be stopped from returning to Guangdong by any means.

This order was originally intended to let Li Houji sink the cruise ship, but Li Houji still had revolutionary forces in Fujian Province to avoid serious consequences, so he only seized the remnants of the Second Division and ordered the news.

Ma Jinchun was ordered to go to Fujian. He didn't know the news at first. He stayed in Xu Chongzhi Headquarters for more than half a month. He didn't know the news by chance until six days ago. He sent a telegram back to Guangzhou that night to inform Wu Shaoting.

Wu Shaoting learned the news and contacted Lee Houji the same day.

Although Guangdong is in a war with the Beiyang government and Li Houji is from the Beiyang army, he is also the head of the Fujian local government. It is not inappropriate for Wu Shaoting to contact the Fujian government in the name of the Guangdong government.

After some consultation, Wu Shaoting used various means to urge Li Houji to let go, and even threatened to send a navy to fight with Fujian.

Li Hou had basically not planned to detain this group of Guangdong soldiers for a long time. It was really thankless to spend money and food to raise a group of people who could cause crisis at any time. Now the detention of these soldiers has been exposed. Regardless of whether Wu Shaoting will really fight with Fujian, if Wu Shaoting uses this as an excuse to instigate Xu Chongzhi and the Fujian Revolutionaries to rebel, that would be a serious problem.
Chapter completed!