Chapter 170: The Formerly Provoked Array

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The smoke of gunpowder that lasted for more than four hours dissipated. Qiaoyi Town, located in the northern suburbs of Changsha, was already full of ruins. The bodies and fires left between the positions of the two armies felt desolate under the shadow of the setting sun.

Qiaoyi Town, surrounded by three mountains and one water, has always been the throat of Yuezhou and Xiangyin. It can be called the north gate of Changsha. It is a north-south railway and highway run through the entire town. The Beiyang Army and the Hunan Army have a total of more than 30,000 soldiers, and have fought here for four days and nights.

Seventeen attacks in four days and nights were repelled, and the more than 5,000 shells fired from thirty-four artillery could not shake the Hunan Army's defense line. The Beiyang Army, which had no choice but to pay the price of more than 3,000 casualties, had to stop moving forward.

Faced with the brave Hunan Army who were willing to go one after another, Zhang Jingyao, who came to the front line to supervise the battle day and night, could only sigh that the Hunan Army was full of desperadoes, and secretly admired Cheng Qian, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army.

Cao Kun, who was in charge of Yuezhou, could no longer sit still. After receiving the news that the entire line was blocked, he rode south overnight. The next morning, accompanied by Zhang Jingyao, Fan Guozhang and others, entered the front line.

Cao Kun took the lead and climbed to the Moshiao in front of the artillery position. After entering the carefully constructed front line command center, he immediately raised his telescope and carefully observed the Hunan Army's defense line. Zhang Jingyao and Fan Guozhang, who were following the left and right, looked at each other quickly, and smiled bitterly guiltily at the same time.

The three-5-kilometer-long position in front of the Wulishan Mountain to Jinjiazui is now beyond recognition. This two-kilometer defensive position that lies across the Beiyang Army has completely lost its normal appearance. It is full of charred soil, burning wooden stakes, and the area in front of the position is more than 100 meters densely packed with the corpses of the two armies who have no time to restrain themselves.

Faced with such a tragic scene, Cao Kun took a deep breath and looked much better when he put down the telescope. He no longer wanted to blame Zhang Jingyao and Fan Guozhang for their poor attacks. Instead, he comforted his two old friends and subordinates with great understanding:

"I really didn't expect that the Hunan Army's resistance was so decisive. The Hunan Army could still hold on to this extent and was still rushing to repair fortifications in an unyielding manner, which shows its determination to resist to the death. If it weren't for a sudden appearance of an artillery regiment on the south bank of the Xiang River on the west, I would really not want my brothers to pay a cruel price here... I can't conquer the tough for four consecutive days. It seems that I can't just use the strong, and I have to revise the combat plan."

The burly Fan Guozhang finally breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to complain:

"Commander, the Hunan Army's position is surrounded by mountains in the east and the river in the west. The attack surface is extremely narrow. Even if our army has the advantage of military strength and artillery fire, it will be difficult to distribute it!

"The two elite divisions of the Hunan Army are all placed opposite us. The road and the eastern front must be insufficient. As long as they can break any of the roads, the entire defense line will collapse. But why has the middle and eastern fronts of our army been slow to make progress? Could it be that the other three divisions and a mixed brigade also encountered such great trouble for us?"

Cao Kun waved his hand: "Don't count on the east road. The Sichuan army occupying Liuyang has been dispatched. They are swaggeringly arranged on the side. Their troops are as high as 1,000. Not only do they have many light and heavy machine guns, but they also have huge mortars. Their strength is far beyond our expectations. How dare Feng Huanzhang, who is already indifferent, take a step forward?"

"How could this happen? Didn't it mean that there was only one regiment of the Sichuan Army in Liuyang? Is the Sichuan Army really coming to this muddy water?" Zhang Jingyao was shocked.

Fan Guozhang was very worried: "I'm in trouble now!"

Cao Kun nodded with a serious expression, crawled out of the command center, looked at the Hunan Army position ahead, and raised his hand and pointed to the west:

"Actually, I suspect that the artillery regiment that appeared on the south bank of the Xiangjiang River was the reinforcements invited by the Hunan Army... You all know that only a few cannons in the entire Hunan Army had more than 100,000 troops? Even if the old 57 artillery and 37 war defense artillery ten years ago were included, if there was 30, it would be considered as the sky!

"But, the gun regiment that suddenly appeared on the south bank of the Xiangjiang River the day before yesterday actually erected the barrels of twenty-four Krupp 75th Field Cannons. Looking at the two lakes and surrounding provinces, who else can be there besides the Sichuan Army? Who else has this family background except Xiao Yimin? This is why I ordered you to attack with all your might at all costs!

"Only by defeating the Hunan Army in front of you and reaching Changsha, you can get the initiative in the overall situation. Otherwise, no one will predict the sinister consequences when the Sichuan Army moves!"

"Ah!? So, even if we defeat Cheng Qian's troops in front of us, the battle situation will not be clear, and we may be attacked by the superior artillery fire of the Sichuan Army at any time?"

When Zhang Jingyao heard this, he was shocked. He would never have thought that the road ahead was so difficult.

Cao Kun nodded in frustration: "These you are worried about are very likely to happen! The sudden appearance of the Sichuan Army makes the entire battlefield situation suddenly become real and difficult to grasp. Every step you take must be very cautious."

Fan Guozhang couldn't help but hesitate: "What should we do next? Do we have to give in? Even if we can't take the position under Chengqian's current position for a while, we can still restrain nearly half of the Hunan Army's troops... Isn't there two divisions in the middle of Chief Xiong's position? Why can't we still take a mere Qingshanpu?"

Cao Kun explained helplessly:

"Qingshanpu has been taken down. The two brigades of the Hunan Army facing him did not defend Qingshanpu, but took the initiative to retreat ten miles and built solid fortifications between Tianlei Mountain and Yangjia Mountain. Seeing this, the Chief of Staff did not dare to be careless and sent seven teams of troops to investigate and found that there was an additional number of Xiangxi garrison brigade in the Hunan Army."

Zhang Jingyao and Fan Guozhang were stunned again.

Recalling the intimate relationship between King Chen Quzhen of Xiangxi and Commander-in-Chief of the Sichuan Army, Xiao Yimin, the two immediately realized that the entire front had been blocked.

Although the Beiyang Army still has three and a half division reserves that can be transferred at any time, the Sichuan Army's invincible reputation after Xinhai is really a concern.

What's more, so far, I only know that a cannon regiment suddenly appeared on the south bank of the Xiangjiang River to the west, and the Qianchuan Army, which blocked Feng Yuxiang's troops' advance, were hidden in the dark and invisible? How many Sichuan Army have entered the battlefield? Where are they hiding now and giving a fatal blow at any time?

Cao Kun and his party silently returned to the front command center set up ten kilometers behind. The generals along the way were worried. After fighting for so many years, they had never encountered such a strange situation in front of them.

Recalling the battle of Wanxian several years ago and Xiao Yimin's tricks and vicious way of using troops in the two Sichuan-Yunnan Wars, Cao Kun and others were even more deeply moved.

......

Twenty-four hours later, 18 kilometers northwest of Changsha, Guansheng Temple in the south of Wangcheng County.

Cheng Qian, who returned from the front, rode his horse to the temple surrounded by more than ten adjutants and guards, and then followed his engineer company commander and strode towards the small woods by the river. When many officers and soldiers sitting on the ground saw Cheng Qian, they quickly stood up to salute.

Cheng Qian strode to the cannon position on the edge of the woods, carefully looked at the dark cannon barrel pointing to the sky ahead, then stepped forward to touch the cannon stand and wheels, and knocked it hard, unable to help laughing:

"Gaoming, how smart! More than twenty wooden cannons scared Cao Kun and Zhang Jingyao, haha! Company Commander Liu, where are the brothers from the Sichuan Army Engineer Battalion? I have to go and thank them."

The short and strong engineer company commander quickly stood at attention and replied: "Report to the division seat, the Sichuan Army brothers left before dawn, saying that they were going to rush to the front line of Tianlei Mountain."

"Oh? Who's got the order?" Cheng Qian asked.

"It was Commander Chen of the Xiangxi Guard Army, and Chief Li of the Second Gage Division came to pick up the people in person." The engineer company commander replied respectfully.

Cheng Qian nodded without saying anything. He walked around and ordered to be strictly guarded and prevented leaks. He immediately rushed to Wangcheng to meet with the garrison commander Chen Quzhen.

Along the way, the incident of more than 20 Krupp artillery made from wood in the Sichuan Army's engineering camp scaring away the Beiyang Army was lingering in Cheng Qian's mind. He never expected that the level of the Sichuan Army's engineering squad had developed to this level. A camouflage artillery array with a false array was built so realistically and had such a huge effect. This was something Cheng Qian had never thought of before.

When contacting the excellent performance of an infantry brigade of Xiangxi Garrison Division in previous defensive battles, Cheng Qian could only sigh secretly, and was deeply worried about the situation after the battle.

However, the two divisions of the Sichuan Army have already entered the battlefield, and it is too late to regret it at this time. Even if it is easy to invite gods and difficult to send gods, I don’t care about so much. The Beiyang Army stopped attacking and contracted across the line for the time being. Waiting for the three divisions of the Beiyang Army who were heading south to arrive at the battlefield, it is the real test for everyone.

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Chapter completed!