Chapter 420: The Great Encirclement of the Hunan Battle (Part 2)
On August 12, 1919, when Wu Peifu's right-wing troops Duan Huanggui and Xu Shuzheng saw that there was no hope of victory in the Hunan battlefield, they abandoned their troops to save their vehicles, ignoring Wu Peifu and the 15th Division of the Border Guards who were fighting on the front battlefield, and left the Hunan battlefield!
First, Sun Chuanfang gave up his position under Zhang Xiaohuai's sharp attack, and then Duan Zhigui and Xu Shuzheng. As a result, Wu Peifu's wings were opened.
Zhang Xiaohuai and Li Zongren were outflanked by two wings, with Liu Zhaocheng's troops on the front, forming a three-sided outflank on Wu Peifu's Beiyang Army.
At the same time, the Beiyang Army, which was besieging the Hunan Army in the direction of Yuezhou, also began to retreat in large numbers. The freed-up Hunan Army began to gradually control the Yuezhou front line.
On the 13th, the Northern Expeditionary Army, which had controlled the waterway, began to transport a large number of troops. The newly formed 51st and 52nd divisions were independently combined into the 37th Brigade, which was transported by naval ships for large-scale landings.
The Northern Expeditionary Army landed, immediately contacted the Hunan Army, and after taking control of Yuezhou and other places, they completely surrounded Wu Peifu.
More than 200,000 Beiyang troops were tightly besieged on the Changsha front line. Surrounding them was a huge encirclement.
Subsequently, the Northern Expeditionary Army, reinforced from Guizhou and Guangxi, also arrived on the Hunan battlefield, cutting off the Beiyang Army's last hope of survival.
The overall situation of Hunan has been decided!
On the 15th, Wang Hengyue, President of the Southern National Revolutionary Government, sent a message urging Wu Peifu to lay down his arms and surrender to avoid more casualties, and promised Wu Peifu to retain the entire Third Division and reorganize it into the National Revolutionary Army.
Less than half a day after Wang Hengyue's short message was sent, Hubei's 4th Mixed Brigade announced its surrender. Subsequently, the 51st Mixed Brigade also surrendered to the Northern Expeditionary Army in front of them.
He is like a domino, knocking down the first pastor,
Wu Peifu took a very strange attitude towards Wang Hengyue's urging. He neither agreed nor refused, but chose to ignore the urging for the time being.
Even his subordinates found this attitude very strange. Fight or surrender. What does Yu Shuai's attitude mean?
On the 1st, the 19th Hubei Division also followed in the footsteps of its companions and surrendered to the Northern Expedition.
In just two days, one division and two brigades of the Beiyang Army chose to lay down their weapons and surrender. The situation was already precarious for Wu Peifu.
On that day, Wu Peifu summoned all the officers of the third division and above, as well as Sun Chuanfang and the commanders of his three divisions.
Wu Peifu took out Wang Hengyue's urging message in front of everyone. After letting all the officers read it once, he said: "If we fight, we will definitely not be able to defeat you. What are you going to do now?" Sun Chuanfang hesitated for a moment: "Mr.
Command, the battle is difficult, our army is surrounded by heavy siege, and our people are surrendering to the Northern Expedition every minute. I will definitely not be able to hold our guard."
He stopped talking at this point, and everyone understood what he meant.
Zhang Fulai, commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade, stood up with a shout: "Commander Yu, fight! Our third division still has more than 10,000 troops, we still have artillery, we still have so many troops, we are a
Even if the stone is broken by Ken, it will still cause the Northern Expeditionary Army to lose a few teeth!"
A smile appeared on Wu Peifu's face: "Everyone, I want to ask you a question, if we surrender now, who are we? A defeated general, a surrendered general! Since ancient times, most of the surrendered generals have not been reused! In the past, Tang Jiyao of Yunnan went to the field,
After being "invited by Wang Hengyue," Lu Rongting of Guangxi went out of Yunnan, and Lu Rongting of Guangxi was "invited" by Wang Hengyue. When he arrived in Hong Kong, Feng Yuxiang of Shaanxi was "invited" by Wang Hengyue, who went abroad for inspection. Although those of us who are soldiers are not like this, we can still
It doesn’t look much better.”
As soon as these words came out, Sun Chuanfang also nodded slightly.
"So even if we don't fight, we are not surrendering, but are negotiating conditionally. Then the peace talks must have the capital of peace talks. What is this capital? One word, fight!" Wu Peifu's voice was very calm: "I decided to give up Changsha.
All the outer positions were guarding Changsha.
As long as we can persist in Changsha for a month, we will have the capital to negotiate peace! Everyone, I am not doing it for myself. If I surrender, no matter what, I will go on an "overseas inspection". I am doing it for your consideration!"
All the generals nodded frequently after hearing this, and now they finally understood Wu Peifu's intention.
Wu Peifu smiled slightly: "So after I received Wang Hengyue's telegram, I neither agreed nor refused, in order to leave room for future negotiations. If you are willing to listen to me, then retreat to Changsha with me.
With an army of tens of thousands, it will be enough for the Northern Expeditionary Army to chew on for a while. If you are unwilling to listen to me, please lead your troops and surrender to the Northern Expeditionary Army now. We are all brothers after all, and I, Wu Peifu, will never embarrass you!"
"Shuai Yu, do we all listen to you?" Li Jichen said first.
Sun Chuanfang finally understood Wu Peifu's painstaking efforts. This was for the sake of his own future. Even if he couldn't defeat the Northern Expeditionary Army, he had to fight once. He said with emotion at that moment: "Since the commander-in-chief has worked so hard, what else can we say? I
All three divisions under me are willing to obey the orders of the commander-in-chief."
All the generals also expressed their willingness to obey Wu Peifu's command.
Seeing that everyone agreed on everything, Wu Peifu felt a little relieved. The third division was his direct line unit and could be trusted. Sun Chuanfang would definitely not have second thoughts for his own future. If Changsha had these units, Wu Peifu firmly believed that he could defend a
month time.
After arranging the tasks of each division, Li Jichen suddenly asked: "Commander Yu, what about those who are not willing to follow us to defend Changsha?"
Wu Peifu's expression was a little dim, and he sighed softly: "It's going to rain, my mother is going to get married, let them go. At least they are not surrendering to foreigners, but to our [Chinese] troops."
With Wu Peifu's instructions, the troops quickly mobilized.
The third division was the first to take the initiative to leave the battlefield and retreat into Changsha City. Immediately afterwards, Sun Chuanfang's three divisions also entered Changsha one after another.
This was when the officers of several divisions knew that they were fighting for their own future and destiny, so their originally low morale suddenly became high.
When Wu Peifu mobilized a large number of troops to defend Changsha, the 48th Beiyang Mixed Brigade, the 11th Division, and the Shandong First Mixed Brigade also chose to surrender like the Northern Expeditionary Army.
But Wu Peifu no longer cares about all this. What he cares about is how long Changsha can defend.
"Hengshuai, good news, good news!" Chiang Zhongzheng, who had always been calm and calm, actually seemed extremely excited when he rushed into the presidential palace: "Following the Dichuan Division in the Hunan direction, the 17th Beiyang Division also surrendered.
Got it!"
Wang Hengyue and Jiang Baili looked at each other and smiled, Jiang Baili said: "If Hunan is settled, the world will be settled. Congratulations to Commander Heng, the victory of the Northern Expedition is in sight!"
"It's not easy, it's not easy." Wang Hengyue put away his smile: "I thought that the Beiyang side had gathered a large number of troops in Hunan, and even if they won, it would be a very long process, but I didn't expect that victory would be so soon."
Jiang Baili nodded and said: "Firstly, our strength indeed exceeds that of Beiyang, and secondly, the frontline soldiers sacrifice their lives, especially those three whom Hengshuai calls "the three commanders of the Northern Expedition, who fought brilliantly in Hunan!"
Wang Hengyue suddenly asked: "Where is Wu Peifu?"
"There are no signs of surrender yet." Chiang Zhongzheng quickly replied: "We have already sent the second telegram, and the Hunan frontline generals have repeatedly urged Wu Peifu to put down his weapons immediately, but Wu Peifu chose to remain silent and gave up his third telegram.
The division and a large number of troops have been pulled into Changsha. It seems that he is going to rely on Changsha to fight a decisive battle with us!"
"No, no." Wang Hengyue said repeatedly.
Wu Peifu is not like this kind of person. Why would he do this when the overall situation has been decided?
After frowning and thinking hard for a long time, Wang Hengyue suddenly smiled and said: "I understand, Wu Peifu is deliberately holding on to Changsha and turning surrender into peace talks.
Then he looked at Jiang Baili: "Chief of Staff, do you think we should attack Changsha together?"
"Yes!" Jiang Baili answered without any hesitation: "But"
"But such casualties will inevitably be heavy, especially on Wu Peifu's side." Wang Hengyue took over Jiang Baili's words: "Now that the overall situation has been decided, it is better to end the battle as soon as possible. Don't kill too many people. After all, these people will be in the future.
Many officers and soldiers among them are the foundation of our National Defense Forces!"
Having said this, he walked to his desk, picked up a pen, and scrawled something on it.
Jiang Baili and Jiang Zhongzheng waited quietly for about twenty minutes. Wang Hengyue finally finished writing, carefully folded the letter, put it in the envelope, and then wrote on the envelope: "Personally signed by Marshal Yu"!
Then it was handed over to Chiang Kai-shek: "Send someone to Wu Peifu to order the Hunan front line to step up the siege of Changsha, but no attack on Changsha is allowed without my order."
"yes!"
"Heng Shuai has put a lot of effort into this handsome man." Jiang Baili sighed: "I just hope Wu Peifu can understand Heng Shuai's painstaking efforts and not continue to resist to the end."
"No." Wang Hengyue smiled and shook his head: "The reason why I treat Wu Peifu like this is that, in addition to admiring this person, the more important reason is that I want to follow Hunan as an example and serve as a model for other military forces who are still trying to resist.
Look, my friends, how I, Wang Hengyue, treat my enemies.
I will not only let my opponents go to the field and go abroad for inspection, but for those who are truly talented, I will treat them the same as everyone in the National Revolutionary Army without any deviation!"
Jiang Baili exhaled softly and smiled.
If Hunan is determined, the world will be determined!
Such long preparations for the Northern Expedition have resulted in victory. Everything we have done before has been worth it. Soon with the pacification of Hunan, the road to unification by force will be completed!
All of this will be engraved with one person's name: Wang Hengyue! (To be continued...!)