Chapter 619: Clamping

The adjutant of the staff walked up and persuaded: "Sir, maybe it's dark and the wind is strong outside, so it's hard for the brothers of the cavalry battalion to succeed! The brothers came on a long journey and immediately started fighting. They were really unbearable, otherwise they would take a breath today!"

Ma Longbiao looked solemn and said seriously: "If you can't make morale at the first stop, it will be difficult to deal with next. The Southern Army defended its positions, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and has already gained all the geographical advantages. You can't even make a sneak attack at night. What are you still expecting to play during the day? It's difficult, this battle is difficult."

He walked to the wooden table with the map, looked carefully at the map, and his face became heavier and heavier.

The battlefield of Hejiang was in a stalemate. The Beiyang Army could hardly shake the defense line of the Southern Army, and every charge had to pay an extremely heavy casualty price. After two days of hard work, the Beiyang Army could only rely on heavy machine guns and cannons to fire blindly between distances, but the cannons were still insufficient. The Southern Army held positions and responded to the enemy in the same way. Cai E had strong logistical support and was not afraid of the cannons being opened in conjunction.

At the same time, Liu Zhenhuan's troops on the east bank of the Yangtze River had already quietly left the defense line, with light cavalry first, and light infantry behind, and almost no baggage was carried. They only wanted to detour to the rear of the Central Sixth Division at the fastest speed. Although Liu Zhenhuan and Ma Longbiao were separated by a distance from the Yangtze River, this sneak attack was a major operation of two regiments, and it was necessary to ensure that the enemy would not notice it in advance. Therefore, his detour troops marched for two days and crossed the river from more than 40 miles north of Hejiang County.

Unfortunately, there were not enough ships, so I could only move one by one bit by bit, and I had to waste a day and a half.

On the afternoon of March 15, Liu Zhenhuan's light troops finally appeared behind Ma Longbiao's troops and launched an extremely fierce assault attack. After observing the changes in the situation, Cai E decisively ordered the army of the headquarters to fight out of the trenches.

The front and back attack immediately caused the Sixth Division of the Central Committee to go in chaos, and the sound of gunfire was only more than 100 meters away from the division command post.

In the command post tent, the division officers were very anxious and issued a death order to the peripheral troops. They must first stabilize the defense line, especially to ensure the safety of the command post.

"How could an enemy appear behind us?"

"Earlier, the 7th Division had gathered six regiments of troops in Hejiang. There were only about three regiments in the position ahead of us, and the other three regiments were missing. I guess they were going to the back of us."

"A bunch of money. We can't succeed when we attack the enemy by roundaboutly. If the enemy attacks, we will succeed when we raise our hands! Shame, this is shame. What qualifications do we have to claim to be the elite divisions in the Beiyang Army!"

Everyone said and said something, adding to the originally tense scene.

Ma Longbiao has not spoken until now, and has been standing in front of the map to watch the current situation.

The Chief of Staff quickly ran over and said impatiently: "Sir, what should I do now?"

Another adjutant of staff came over and said nervously: "Our army is in chaos, and the two regiments on the periphery have not yet called back. Sir, the current situation is not optimistic. I think we must break through as soon as possible."

"Yes, yes, if you don't break through as soon as possible, you will be surrounded by the enemy if you don't do it well."

Ma Longbiao shouted: "Look at how you look, do you still look like an officer!"

Everyone present suddenly remained silent, but everyone's expression was still frozen in their previous state. Should we be anxious or anxious, what we should be nervous or nervous, what we should be worried about is sad.

Ma Longbiao snorted coldly. Although he was very angry and was helpless about the situation at this moment, he was a veteran who had experienced many battles. The principle that victory or defeat was common to military strategists is more thorough than others. What he had to do now is not to lose his own way, but to try his best to preserve the vitality.

"If the Third Regiment and the Sixth Regiment cannot be connected, then don't use telegrams. I have always felt that this kind of thing is unreliable. I immediately send a messenger to contact me, and let the Sixth Regiment retreat to the town near the division headquarters, use the private houses as a cover, and do all our strength to block the enemy behind. Then send someone to the Third Regiment and order the Third Regiment and the First Regiment to adjust the direction and attack in the northwest direction. The two regiments are closer to each other, cover each other, and concentrate firepower." He analyzed in an orderly manner.

"Attacking towards...the northwest?" The Chief of Staff was surprised.

"Why, don't you understand what I said? The enemy in the northwest has no position, and the enemy's defense line there is the weakest. We must tear a hole from the northwest and fight out to the Dafu Mountain area." Ma Longbiao said with a stern and ironclad look.

"But, even if we fight out, we still haven't broken through! The top priority is that we should break through in Chongqing!" said the chief of staff quickly.

"Hmph, do you want to escape back to Chongqing?" Ma Longbiao glared at his chief of staff coldly.

"Sir, I... I don't mean that. We must keep in touch with Chongqing, otherwise the materials and reinforcements in the rear will be cut off. You said we will go to Dafu Mountain, which is close to Luzhou. At that time, our retreat will be cut off, and our situation will be as dangerous as Luzhou." The Chief of Staff explained.

"I'm going to Luzhou!" Ma Longbiao said strongly.

Everyone was surprised and looked at each other one by one, but they didn't expect the teacher to make such a crazy decision!

The Chief of Staff took a breath and said quickly: "Sir, if we go to Luzhou, we will not only send ourselves to difficulties, but also have no soldiers to defend Chongqing. If the enemy takes Chongqing directly, we will be really finished."

Ma Longbiao said loudly: "The reinforcements from Hubei are coming soon. What we need to do now is to stabilize the morale of Luzhou. Luzhou is the only connection between Chongqing and Chengdu. When we retreat to Chongqing now, not only will Luzhou be in chaos, but we will also be pursued and suffered heavy losses. I am not going to fight for the expedition this time. If our 6th Division cannot bring hope to the overall situation of Sichuan, Sichuan will be truly over!"

"But……"

"No, no one dares to speak nonsense anymore, don't blame our military law for handling it!" Ma Longbiao shouted.

Everyone had no choice but to follow the old man to do something.

The pincer attack in Hejiang continued until late at night.

The Sixth Division of the Central Committee finally stabilized a little formation in a hurry, and each unit began to break through according to the orders of the division headquarters. Even if Ma Longbiao emphasized that this was an attack, the soldiers all believed that this was a breakthrough. In the evening, some of the Beiyang Army first tore open the gap from the northwest direction. At ten o'clock in the evening, the large army followed the vanguard out of the encirclement one after another, but a regiment behind the hall was bitten by the Southern Army and finally fought until late at night, completing the mission at an extremely heavy price.

When they met north of Dafu Mountain, there were only less than 3,000 people left in the Central Sixth Division. The most serious casualties were the Sixth Regiment behind the Palace. The counting number was less than 600, and the two battalion commanders were missing. The second was the first regiment serving as the vanguard. Even in the northwest direction, the enemy's weakest defense position, the breakout was still quite tragic, and the cavalry that charged in the front was almost wiped out.

Cai E and Liu Zhenhuan met successfully. Although they failed to wipe out the Beiyang Army, they still gained a lot. In this battle, they almost wiped out a sufficient number of troops and seized a lot of strategic materials. Of course, the most important achievement for Cai E was a strategic victory. The Southern Army completely cut off the connection between Chongqing and Luzhou.

It was almost twelve o'clock at night, after counting the prisoners and casualties, Liu Zhenhuan hurried to Cai E's temporary camp outside the suburbs. Cai E, under the repeated urging of the adjutant and the doctor, was not allowed to put down his affairs and pick up the warm Chinese medicine and drink it all. When Liu Zhenhuan walked into the tent, he immediately smelled the strong fragrance of medicine.

"Xianchen, you are here, the town is cleaned up?" Cai E asked slowly.

"Oh, it's all my fault. You can complete the detour in one day, but I didn't expect that I found that the ships were not enough when I arrived at the designated location. Otherwise, I would have wiped out the Sixth Division of the Central Committee this time and teach the Beiyang Army a lesson." Liu Zhenhuan sighed, his face full of self-blame and annoyance.

"We couldn't estimate some things before, and there was nothing we could do about it. What's more, I had expected that although this attack was huge, it might not be able to eat the Sixth Division in one go. The area where we fought was too wide, and there were many gaps in the entire north. It was not surprising that the Sixth Division could break out." Cai E looked at it calmly. He didn't care how many gains and losses were.

"Anyway, it's a pity." Liu Zhenhuan shook his head and said.
Chapter completed!