Chapter 341: Fierce Battle in Shaoguan

When Cen Chunxuan made drastic moves in Guangzhou, Yuan Shikai truly made up his mind to completely calm Guangdong before the Lunar New Year. Hubei, Jiangxi and Jiangsu supply to the frontline became the top priority.

Half a month ago, Li Chun put the three regiments that had just been reorganized into the battlefield, and the situation in the battlefield in Nanxiong was reversed again; Feng Guozhang also signed an arms loan treaty with the British and Americans, and advanced rifles, heavy machine guns, and cannons were continuously transported from Shanghai to Fujian. Even He Zonglian, under the pressure of the ***, transferred two regiments under the First Division Zhu Yangzao Brigade to Hunan and handed them over to Cao Kun for command.

All this was completed in the first half of January, and the huge shadow of the Beiyang Army swept over again. If Cen Chunxuan had not been busy day and night in Guangzhou, he would have been afraid that the aura of the northern army would have been crushed.

The main forces of the First and Third Divisions of the Guangdong Army were in a tough battle in Nanxiong. Since mid-January, except for the street fighting in Nanxiong County, the battle situation of other regiments has almost retreated step by step. After careful analysis, the Guangzhou General Staff Headquarters believed that the Nanxiong battlefield must be given up, and all advantages have been lost here, and if they continue to fight, the entire army will be exhausted.

At the beginning, Wu Shaoting believed that the First Regiment was deeply trapped in Nanxiong County. Once the regiments retreated, the First Regiment would inevitably be wiped out. Therefore, he insisted that the First Division defended the southern wing of Nanxiong County and protected the First Regiment to retreat.

The First Regiment began to retreat on January 19th, because the entire regiment was scattered in the corners of the city in companies, and the orders of the regiment headquarters were conveyed very complicated. Some areas in the city had been occupied by the enemy, and the commanders could only disguise themselves as ordinary people and search for various company strongholds in the city to notify orders.

Until the 24th, the First Regiment still failed to withdraw all of them. During these six days, the other two regiments of the First Division, which defended the Nanxiong South Wing Defense Line, suffered extremely heavy losses under the strong attack of the three regiments of the Jiangxi Army.

Just when Wu Shaoting was determined to cut off his arm and abandon the remaining troops of the First Regiment, the Li Wenfan Cavalry Regiment, which was active in Jiangxi, fought two surprise attacks in a row. Once, the Jiangxi Army's reserve battalion was ambushed on the road, killing more than 100 people, and robbing countless supplies with the camp. The second time, he was even more bold and directly detoured the northern part of Ganzhou and made a heavy blow behind the Ganzhou General Command, seriously destroying the communication line from the headquarters to the front line, and using the same trick again spread false news that Tang Tianxi asked for help.

These two surprise attacks bought enough time for Nanxiong's strategic retreat. When Tang Tianxi received the fake news, he thought that the telegram sent from Ganzhou would not be fake, and believed it was true that the troops were transferred back from the front line.

On the afternoon of the 26th, the remaining troops of the First Regiment successfully withdrew from Nanxiong and retreated to Shixing County together with the other two regiments in the South Wing.

Three days later, the Nanxiong Battle was officially over, and the Jiangxi Army occupied the entire territory of Nanxiong and strategically obtained a transit point in Guangdong. When Fu Liangzuo and Tang Tianxi sent the news to Ganzhou, Li Chun hurriedly forwarded it to the north. The victory in the Nanxiong battle was more or less a good medicine, greatly alleviating Yuan Shikai's embarrassing situation at home and abroad.

The atmosphere seemed very low during the battle of Nanxiong, when the Shaoguan First Division headquarters was approaching the end of the Battle of Nanxiong, the atmosphere seemed very low, but the work was even busier. The hurried front-line retreat was a major operation, especially the troops of the First Division and the Third Division were mixed together, and it was inevitable that there would be no dispersed troops from other divisions on the way. The war was not over yet, and the entire team must be completed during the retreat. It was impossible to pile up all the soldiers in Shixing County and then slowly organize the troops. At that time, the Jiangxi Army came to pursue him and there was a lot of sand in Shixing County. How could an effective defense be organized?

Wei Rucong has not had a good sleep for more than ten days, especially from the 19th to the 24th. On average, he has a maximum rest of four hours a day. He is in his thirties, and after these days, he has become more than ten years older, his eyes are deep and his hair turns white.

At this time, he was sitting on the edge of the map platform, supporting his jaw with one hand, holding half a pencil in the other hand, and staring at the location of Shixing County on the map with bloodshot eyes. He was very worried now that Nanxiong, a battlefield with excellent geographical location, suffered defeat. How could the First and Third Divisions, which had heavy losses, make a comeback in Shixing County?

The difficulties facing him were not only the Jiangxi army with reinforcements, but also Cao Kun in the north was also ready to move. The Intelligence Department had discovered that Xiao Yaonan was reorganized in Yizhang County and Laopingshi Town, and seemed to take advantage of the failure of the Guangdong army to make a comeback.

The Southern Expedition Army and the Jiangxi Army advance together are truly a heavy challenge for the Guangdong Army. The first division and the third division are less than one-quarter of the entire Hunan and Jiangxi army from the perspective of military strength. Even if the Beiyang Army uses wheel tactics, they can beat the Guangdong Army to death.

"It's hard, it's hard." Wei Rucong sighed worriedly and muttered to himself.

At this time, Deputy Commander Li Jishen strode into the command hall. He took off his shawl and hung it on the clothes hanger at the door, and then walked quickly towards Wei Rucong.

"The third division has just made a rough statistics. The two regiments they participated in the battle in Nanxiong were about 850 people killed, nine officers above the company level were sacrificed, and countless soldiers were injured." Li Jishen reported with a serious expression. He had just returned from the Third Division headquarters and had been in charge of the coordination between the Third Division and the First Division.

"It seems that the number of casualties in our division is twice as high as that in the third division." Wei Rucong shook his head helplessly.

"Teacher Mo has a suggestion for the next defense. He believes that we should concentrate our troops in the mountainous areas of Zhilechang County, Shixing County, and use the mountainous terrain to form an arc line of defense. This is roughly like this..." Li Jishen said, while taking a pencil from Wei Rucong's hand and carefully drawing several defense symbols on the map. "The key is to attract the enemy's main force to the mountainous areas and trap them in this mountainous area, so that we still have the chance of winning with less enemies."

Wei Rucong glanced briefly at the defensive position drawn by Li Jishen, frowned and pondered for a long time. About a minute later, he looked up at the almanac hanging on the wall not far away, and sighed: "There are too many variables, not good. First, it takes a long construction period to open a defensive position in the mountainous area, and we may not have enough time; second, we are not sure to lure the main force of the Beiyang Army into the mountainous area; the last point is that spring will begin soon, and you also know that the spring rain in our south is cloudy and wet, which is more annoying than the thunderstorm in summer. Brothers have been in the mountainous area for a long time and will sooner or later rot in it."

Li Jishen nodded thoughtfully and said in agreement: "What the teacher said is very true, but only this method can resist the two-way attack between the Jiangxi Army and the Southern Expedition Army."

Wei Rucong shook his head and said helplessly: "It's useless. I'm also upset about this matter now. The forces of the two brigades and three regiments of the Jiangxi Army alone are enough for us. Now Xiao Yaonan's southern expedition army has movements. This time, it can't be defeated on the front battlefield no matter what. Lechang and Shixing two counties are one west and one east. If we divide our troops to defend these two places, we will undoubtedly break up the few troops, and the Beiyang Army can defeat them one by one."

Li Jishen became silent. He didn't like to ask, "What should I do now?" Such nonsense is just a waste of time. It is because I don't know what to do, so I have to seize the time to come up with a solution. However, there are too many unfavorable factors in front of the Guangdong Army, especially in terms of the most basic number of troops. Without enough troops, there is not enough defense line. Now it is really time for critical survival.

At this moment, the telephone ringing came from the communication room of the division headquarters.

A moment later, a correspondent hurriedly ran over and reported to Wei Rucong and Li Jishen: "Team Commander, Deputy Commander, Guangzhou General Staff Headquarters Telephone."

The phone call from Guangzhou was considered a very long distance in this era of underdeveloped communications. In order to contact the front line as soon as possible, Wu Shaoting spared no expense to assume the phone line next to the telegram line.

Wei Rucong and Li Jishen both stood up and quickly walked through the hall to the communication room.

Picking up the phone, Wei Rucong said, "I am Wei Rucong, speaking."

Li Jishen stood aside and waited for the result. He found that Wei Rucong's face was getting heavier and heavier, as if the news from the Guangzhou General Staff Headquarters was not very good. After a moment, Wei Rucong said: "But if there is a mistake in Shaoguan, the Beiyang Army will be able to arrive in Guangzhou in less than ten days. Would it be too risky to do this?"

When Li Jishen heard this, he was shocked. Could it be that the General Staff Headquarters ordered the deployment of defense in Shaoguan and the final decisive battle?

Wei Rucong sighed and said to the microphone: "Yes, I understand, I guarantee the complete task." After he said that, he put down the microphone, but his expression still did not improve.

Li Jishen quickly asked: "What order is the General Staff Headquarters? Should we make the final decisive battle in Shaoguan?"

Wei Rucong nodded slowly and said calmly: "That's right. The phone call just now was Governor Wu who was speaking in person. He ordered our First Division and Third Division to gather all the troops in northern Guangdong to Shaoguan, give up Lechang County and Shixing County, and even give up the entire northern urban area of ​​Shaoguan. The decisive battle battlefield is mainly the southern urban area, and with the help of the navy's artillery fire and the division of the Beijiang River area, a big battle will be fought."

Li Jishen was not in a hurry to express his opinion. He thought seriously for a while, his expression seemed helpless, and he sighed deeply.

"It is undeniable that this is a solution, but it is a bit of a destruction. If the Southern Expedition Army and the Jiangxi Army advance together, pass by Lechang County and Shixing County, they will eventually arrive at Shaoguan. Shaoguan is the throat position deep into the hinterland of Guangdong. Whether by land or water, it is a must-pass place. Instead of scattering troops in Lechang and Shixing to welcome the enemy, it is better to guard the throat and fight back and forth." His tone of speaking was powerless, and it really had a decisive meaning.

"Take a boat and fight with your back..." Wei Rucong murmured, his eyes very confused. This was the first time he felt unconfidence. He was facing four times the enemy, and the army that had just won the battle.

"Master, you seem to be very worried?" Li Jishen looked at Wei Rucong and asked with a frown.

"Can you not have any worries? The decisive battle is very important to morale. Our Guangdong army has been fighting since July last year. It has been more than half a year since today. The brothers have been exhausted. In addition, the failure of the Nanxiong Battle has made their morale extremely low. At this critical moment, there are still many enemies and fewer enemies, which is very dangerous." Wei Rucong said earnestly.

Li Jishen couldn't help but nodded and agreed with Wei Rucong's analysis. However, in the current situation, the arrow has to be fired. For the Guangdong army, the next battle must be to meet the enemy in Shaoguan. Once Shaoguan is lost, there will be no way out. Therefore, this battle in Shaoguan will be the final decisive battle in any case.

Wei Rucong sighed again and said slowly: "And the order issued by Governor Wu just made us win a battle on the battlefield of Shaoguan at all costs. With the current morale of the brothers, it is difficult to draw, let alone win a big victory unless a miracle happens."

Li Jishen said seriously: "Secretary, no matter what, this battle is inevitable. You and I are soldiers, so we should obey orders. Let's hurry up and start the arrangement. The terrain of Shaoguan is relatively complicated, and the troops still need time to regain their time. Arrangement of the decisive battlefield is not a small project."

Wei Rucong cheered up a little and said solemnly: "You are right. Now you should go to the Third Division headquarters again and notify Commander Mo and the others. After an hour, we will go to the Third Division to hold a meeting with the Third Division to discuss the defense issues in Shaoguan. The battle in Shaoguan is a real battle of back-to-earth!"
Chapter completed!