As the officers and soldiers of fifteen divisions of the two front armies of the Second Group Army marched into Shijiazhuang from the rear, the city and outside were bustling with soldiers and war horses. The supply of food and vegetables became a problem. The load on the Beijing-Hankow Line increased greatly and became overcrowded.
In addition, the operational direction of the First Group Army is located on the east road, and the three armies
Most of the main force of the regiment was stationed on the Dezhou front line. Therefore, after discussion with the commanders Zhu Peide, Chen Tiaoyuan, Fang Dingying, and An Yi, they submitted to Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek for approval and moved the headquarters eastward to Hengshui Tao next to Jinpu Road on the 24th.
The city military camp facilitates combat command and the transportation and replenishment of soldiers and materials.
The 12,000 officers and soldiers of the Seventh Division and the 5,000 brothers of the Independent Division were marching eastward on foot. An Yi, who had entered Shijiazhuang less than a day ago, was riding on horseback. He looked through the dusty sky and saw almost all the endless plains and plains in his field of vision.
Low mounds, rising in the distance
The winding hilly areas do not have much greenery due to drought and lack of rain. The water plants and trees on the banks of streams and rivers are also swaying listlessly in the heat wave. The sparse population and scattered dilapidated dwellings give people an indescribable sadness of vicissitudes of life.
feeling.
Li Guang, chief of staff of the independent division and commander of the first regiment, rode to the left of An Yi. He wiped the sweat and dirt from his face and said regretfully: "I left Shijiazhuang within a day after arriving. I didn't have a chance to see more, except at the station."
, the railway and the military camp where we are stationed, and I don’t know what other places are like.”
Hu Jialin, who was on An Yi's right, put away his thoughts and said with emotion: "Shijiazhuang is nothing to see. There are no places of interest and not much history. Apart from Zhengtai Road and Jinghan Road, there are military camps, residential buildings and some workshops. In fact, it has been more than 20 years ago.
Before, Shijiazhuang was just like its name.
The village with about 200 households gradually became a town after the Beijing-Hankow Railway was built. The Zhengtai Railway started construction the next year. In order to save money and avoid the construction of the railway bridge, the starting point of the railway was moved from the north of Hutuo River.
Zhengding moved south to Shijiazhuang, which made Shijiazhuang lively day by day.
I remember when I was twelve years old, my father and my master took over a business in Tianjin and escorted more than forty carts of goods to Shijiazhuang. I had never seen what the colorful world outside was like, so I rode on a horse.
Ma quietly followed my father and my master to Tianjin. I was discovered on the way and my father beat me up. Master said forget it and let Xiao Linzi follow. At the age of twelve, it was time for me to see the world.
Only then was he allowed to follow him to Tianjin, and then he escorted him for five days before arriving in Shijiazhuang. At that time, Shijiazhuang was not half as big as it is now, and was full of low and dilapidated sheds. Now it is much better, with western-style buildings, warehouses, streets and factories.
, because it is located at a transportation hub, it naturally became an important place for garrisoning troops, so every time the war of the Northern Expedition broke out, Shijiazhuang was filled with soldiers who were in a panic."
An Yi raised his head and looked at Huzi, knowing how excited his life-and-death brother was at this moment. He thought about it and comforted loudly: "Huzi, when Cangzhou is captured, I will go home with you to see the old man and my mother, as well as my elder brother and sister-in-law.
Brother and sister-in-law, you have been away from home for so many years, and you have not been able to communicate during the war, so it is time to go back."
"I will go too. My eldest brother's parents are our parents. We brothers basically took our parents to old Nanchang to enjoy their happiness. Jinan's parents and family also arrived in old Nanchang safely after the Spring Festival to meet their new daughter-in-law. Only my eldest brother's family did not
This news, little brother, I have always felt sorry for you, but I didn’t dare to ask you, alas..." Cheng Guang sighed.
Hu Jialin smiled gratefully at Cheng Guang, said to the rear team to have a look, then turned his horse and rode away. An Yi shook his head and said: "Cheng Guang, there is an idiom called "cowardice in the countryside", I guess Hu Zi's mood now
That's it, from the moment he entered
Lu Jun has not been home for nine years now. Now that his hometown is in sight, how can he calm down? He never reveals his feelings and always looks like a tough guy. In fact, he is no more worried than us.
Too little!"
"That's what I think too. From the time I met Brother Hu until now, I haven't seen him look at any woman. He has never been to a brothel. I guess there is someone at home. We will probably see him when we get to Cangzhou. I hope Hu
Brother and his family are all safe and sound." Li Guang couldn't help but look to the northeast.
An Yi looked forward deeply and nodded slightly: "Don't worry, Ji people have their own destiny. Cangzhou has not suffered any wars in these years. The few Zhili-Fengzhi wars were only in the west and north of Cangzhou.
When the war begins, Huzi’s hometown is in the south of Cangzhou City.
The town of Botou is probably fine. When we hold a meeting tomorrow night to arrange combat tasks, I will talk to General Chen Zhuo of the 26th Army and ask him to give up Botou Town to two regiments of our independent division. We have five thousand
Brother, I want Beard to go home in glory this time!"
"Okay, let me take command and ensure that no other friendly forces can harass Botou Town." Cheng Guang happily asked for a fight.
On the evening of the 27th, Zhu Peide, commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the First Army, Chen Tiaoyuan, commander of the Second Army, Fang Dingying, commander of the Third Army, and An Yi, who had been removed from the post of chief of staff of the former enemy but was still exercising his rights as chief of staff, strolled out of the military camp.
, came to the seven-hole Anji Bridge with a history of more than 200 years, and walked along the river bank while chatting.
After the combat meetings last night and this morning, each group army is making intensive preparations according to their respective combat tasks. General Fang Zhenwu's Fourth Army moved from Jizhou north to Shenxian, Xinji line; General Chen Tiaoyuan's Second Army Seventeenth
The army stayed in Dezhou, while the 26th Army and the 37th Army advanced towards Wuqiao and Leling;
General Fang Dingying's Third Army is in the middle, Mao Bingwen's 40th Army attacks Fucheng, and Xia Douyin's 27th Army attacks Wuqiang. Jin Handing's 31st Army, which arrived from Binzhou yesterday to Huimin, temporarily returns to General Chen Tiaoyuan's Second Army as the right wing.
Road reserve team. All armies have successfully entered the battle preparation state, and several commanders can also relax for a while.
Chen Tiaoyuan and Zhu Peide were both Confucian generals who had read poetry and books and had profound knowledge of Chinese studies. They had studied the humanities and history of various places. Under the afterglow, the two of them browsed carefully and talked while walking, telling the history of Hengshui in detail.
After listening to the interesting talk of the two seniors, Yi realized that the story of Su Hu's presentation of Daji recorded in "The List of Fengshen", Meng Tian's biography of penmanship in the history books, Cao Cao's battle with Yuan Shao, and Dou Jiande's uprising all happened here; as well as Confucianism
The great master Dong Zhongshu, the famous general Dou Ying of the Han Dynasty, the famous Prime Minister Gao Ying of the Sui Dynasty, the famous Prime Minister Li Fang of the Northern Song Dynasty and other famous figures are all natives of Hengshui. The long history has left many historical sites and cultural landscapes in Hengshui, such as Dou
An Yi listened with interest to the Qingshan Mountains, Feng's Tombs, Zhou Yafu's Tomb, Anji Bridge, Baoyun Temple, the Tomb of Kong Yingda, a famous economist in the Tang Dynasty, etc. Only then did he realize how poor and pitiful his little historical knowledge was.
Forty-year-old Lieutenant General Fang Dingying doesn't speak much, but he has profound knowledge of military theory. He has rich qualifications and academic qualifications. He was also Chiang Kai-shek's junior disciple at Zhenwu Military Academy in Japan. He joined the Tongmenghui while studying in Japan and later passed the Japanese Army Examination.
The eighth class artillery major of the Non-commissioned Officer School. After graduation, he entered Baoding Military Academy as the first class artillery instructor. In terms of qualifications
, the generals of the Baoding faction in the three armies of the National Revolutionary Army had to call him their teacher. During the Revolution of 1911, he participated in the Wuchang Uprising and led the rebel army in a bloody battle in Hankou. After the peace talks between the north and the south, he once again traveled east to Japan for further study, and successively entered the Japanese Army Artillery Corps.
He studied at the Field Artillery Shooting School, and after graduation he engaged in theoretical research at the Ordnance Department of Teida University in Tokyo. He once pointed out
His troops participated in many battles and were famous for their bravery and prowess. In 1923, Sun Yat-sen organized the Hunan Army to attack Hunan Governor Zhao Hengti. Hunan general Fang Dingying was appointed as acting army commander. Later, he led his troops to quell the war on Sun Yat-sen's order.
Chen Jiongming rebelled. Since 1925, he has served as the lieutenant general director of the Enlisted Student Department of Huangpu Military Academy, the chief of education, and the principal of the descendants of the Northern Expedition.
Last year, Zhang Fakui and Huang Qixiang led their troops back to Guangdong. During the operation to expel Li Jishen, they stormed into the Whampoa Military Academy and injured and killed many students. Fang Dingying was ordered to organize a student army to expel Zhang Fakui, and then led the then-new Thirteenth Army and later four
The Sixteenth Army cooperated with Li Jishen's troops to successfully quell Zhang Fakui's coup. After the Jinan massacre, he was transferred to the commander of the Third Army.
The rigorous, meticulous, knowledgeable and kind-hearted Fang Dingying, like General Zhang Zhizhong, was An Yi's deeply respected instructor. Several deputy division commanders of the 46th Army were students of the first and second batches of Huangpu under Fang Dingying's guidance. There were also many teachers and students in school.
conversation. At this time, he and An Yi walked side by side, listening attentively to the conversation between Zhu Peide and Chen Tiaoyuan, always with a calm smile on his face.
From historical anecdotes to the use of troops, and then from the use of troops to the integration of vertical and horizontal lines, Chen Tiaoyuan soon turned the topic to the current offensives of each group army:
"Before leaving Shijiazhuang, I heard that Brother Baichuan secretly sent an envoy to have a secret meeting with Zhang Zuolin. Now it seems that the two parties have not reached an agreement, otherwise the three armies of the Third Army would not still be in Tang County, and the Wangdu front line would be fighting so fiercely with Fengjun.
, it is estimated that Brother Baichuan’s two northern armies will also attack Huailai from Zhangjiakou.”
"It's very likely that Brother Huanzhang's three front armies are not far behind. Yesterday they began to attack Anguo, Boye, Lixian, and Baoding. The Fengjun army is surrounded by enemies on both sides. It is estimated that it will be difficult to sustain for a few days. I hope Brother Huanzhang and Brother Baichuan can
Be courteous to each other and go north together." Zhu Peide said with some worry.
Fang Dingying shook his head slightly: "From my perspective, the second and third armies will not have a big conflict. The two armies jointly attack Baoding, but it will be conducive to the advancement of the overall situation. If Baoding falls, the Feng army can only retreat north to Zhuozhou and Langfang.
There is only the last gate left in the whole city of Beijing
I guess the situation will become clear without further fighting. However, our First Army has a bit of a headache. I am very worried that the strong Second Army will cross our theater and enter the important town of Langfang first, and then press forward to Tianjin in advance.
This will disrupt our military deployment."
"It's very possible that everyone knows the style of the Northwest Army. Any place captured by them will never leave anything for the follow-up troops, let alone friendly forces?" Zhu Peide frowned.
Chen Tiaoyuan saw that An Yi beside him had been listening without speaking. He stopped and asked with a smile: "General An, what do you think of this issue?"
An Yi replied politely: "The seniors have said it very comprehensively. The juniors suddenly thought of two questions: First, the Fourth Army led by General Bai Jiansheng arrived in Zhangde yesterday. According to the order of the general headquarters, their attack direction is also Tianjin.
If the route of the Fourth Army was occupied by the Second Army, what would General Li Delin and General Bai Jiansheng think? After finally making up their mind to come all the way, they would get a piece of the pie, right?
Secondly, troops from European and American countries are entering Tianjin continuously. In the name of protecting their own expatriates and industry and commerce, in fact they are protecting their vested interests in North China. For this reason, the United States, Britain and France seized the opportunity of the Jinan incident and did not hesitate to quarrel with Japan.
They disagreed with the two joint conventions proposed by Japan. Thanks to the efforts of Minister Song Ziwen and others, Europe and the United States immediately rejected
The United States rejected Japan's proposal to expand the Tianjin International Defense Zone. The United States took an even tougher stance. On the one hand, it ordered the Japanese government to explain and compensate for the killing of its nationals, and on the other hand, it sent two fleets and fourteen submarines to Qingdao and cruised in Tianjin waters.
, three thousand French troops transferred from Annan also landed in Tianjin, which complicated Tianjin's problems.
If I guess correctly, the commander-in-chief and the central government will soon make a decision to stop our army in the suburbs of Beijing and Tianjin. Therefore, it will be meaningless for our first group army to join in the fun. By then, millions of troops will be crowded.
It’s probably going to be very lively around Beijing and Tianjin.”
Zhu Peide and the other three smiled knowingly after listening to it, and they all agreed with An Yi's analysis. Fang Dingying nodded with satisfaction: "An Yi has a broad vision. While staring at the battlefield, he can also see various problems outside the battlefield. This point
It's rare. It seems that these two years of fighting have helped you grow a lot. You have surpassed your senior brothers by a lot. No wonder the principal is unwilling to leave you behind and wants you to return to the front despite the pressure.
"
Zhu Peide repeatedly praised: "You have a very unique vision. In a few words, you can thoroughly analyze the current situation. It seems that Tianjin is not occupied. Brother Boxiong, you are a student who has a lot of troubles. Most of the entire battle plan at this stage was made by him."
Yes, the generals of all the armies are very satisfied. Brother Xuexuan commented that the plan is neither fast nor slow, and can advance and retreat freely. Commander-in-Chief called back at noon and he also thought that the plan was very sound. It can be seen that he has put in a lot of hard work."
Fang Dingying nodded in approval: "That's true. Not long after I took over as the commander of the legion, several army commanders and division commanders under my command still spoke highly of An Yi. Although An Yi is young, he does not lack military exploits and qualifications.
Victory is his capital.
In this third phase of the campaign, facing the demoralized Zhilu Army of more than 50,000 people, the several plans formulated by An Yi were relatively targeted and realistic, and the emergency plans were relatively complete. If they were carried out smoothly, all armies would win.
It's very relaxed, there is nothing missing... An Yi, I want to ask you, what is your focus in making this plan?"
An Yi answered truthfully: "Returning to the instructor, students focus on interests! Only interests will prompt the armies to rush forward regardless of their own safety. Based on the opinions of several seniors, the students have to avoid unnecessary disputes or even internal strife.
We have formulated this conservative battle plan. Our troops are limited and we have come from a long distance. We cannot win the battle no matter what.
With almost all the two friendly forces deployed, and General Bai Jiansheng leading the Fourth Army into the battlefield at high speed, the competition for interests between the various armies will become increasingly fierce. Therefore, the students feel that since they cannot compete, they might as well be more generous.
, as long as we conscientiously complete our own combat missions, there is nothing to fight for except political reputation."
Fang Dingying's eyes lit up: "What a benefit, it's so thorough! Let's just finish this battle easily and then watch indifferently. It will probably be very lively! An Yi, very good, haha..."