Chapter 36: The flood is overwhelming (I)

"Head of the People's Republic of China, good news! The Mechanical Brigade has defeated the Sixth Division of the Central Central and the Right Army of the Wuwei, but Chen Wei, the commander of the Third Regiment of the Second Brigade of the 5th Division, was unconscious and captured during the battle. He was unwilling to surrender to the commander of the Sixth Division of the Central Army. After being shot, several people were killed in bayonets. Only 123 remaining soldiers of the Third Regiment, and all the Second Militia Brigade fled. Among them, nearly half of the soldiers selected from the prisoner-of-war camp fled, with only 3,000 new recruits and 1,200 new recruits returned and have returned to their positions." Peng Qingjin was the first time After receiving reports from the Mechanical Brigade and Wu Yao, he hurried to Dengson's room. Dengson could not fall asleep during this period. The Northern War made him extremely worried. The British got into the trap of the war in the south according to his ideas, but the Beiyang army in the north was much more dangerous. Fortunately, there were only a few Beiyang troops around northern Anhui. As long as they blocked the other side and resolved the southern war before the other central armies assembled, Yuan Shikai would not fight to the death with him. Of course, he had to give in.

"How is the war going on in the south? Have the people all reached the north bank?" Deng Sen knew that digging the Huai River embankment would definitely cause grudges from heaven and earth. More than a dozen counties south of the Huai River would be submerged, but he had no choice but to make up for it as much as possible. And as long as he wins a great victory, everyone will fade away from the digging of the river in this only victory in dozens or hundreds of years.

"The people have all evacuated, and the Second Division has also gathered troops to fight with the British for a day and night, and will retreat from the trenches at 10 o'clock in the evening and give up Bengbu." Resistance must be carried out before giving up Bengbu, because only in this way can the British army believe that there is no danger ahead.

"Very good! How is Lieshan's current situation?" Deng Sen nodded. Everything went smoothly, but Lieshan was also quite worried, but the worries had become less heavy. Even if Lieshan was captured, as long as the southern war was over, he would rush his troops northward. As long as the Beiyang army did not assemble, he could defeat them one by one.

"The battle in Lieshan has been around for a day and night, but because of the reinforcements of our 1st Division and 2nd Brigade, the enemy could not break our defense at all, and the mechanical brigade was also rushing at full speed. As long as the mechanical brigade arrived, they would probably have to retreat to Huaibei." Beiyang invested a regular division and many militia in Lieshan, totaling 35,000 people, of which 20,000 were regular troops and more than 20 large and small artillery pieces. It can be said that they are not weak. However, the Iron Blood Army has more than 5,000 two regiments of the 2nd Brigade of the Fifth Division, and a brigade of the main first division that later entered. The aggressive Beiyang Army could only sigh. Facing this guy covered in thorns, he could only wait for the arrival of the army in the rear.

"Wait! Yuan Shikai, I can't beat you now, but you can't knead you!" Deng Sen knew that his current strength was not able to compete with hundreds of thousands of Beiyang troops for the world, but if Beiyang wanted to swallow him, Beiyang would have to make Beiyang go away. What's more, the Beiyang army could not gather so many troops to deal with him. The revolutionary army of southern provinces and various warlords in Sichuan also had to watch it. In addition, the insincere Yan Xishan in Shanxi, Beiyang sent up up to 100,000 troops, so what if it was a 100,000 troops? His iron-blooded army had the upper hand in the overall firepower. Even in artillery battles, his firepower was not weaker than the other party, and there were nearly 200 mortars. This kind of weapon that applied for patents, but only required the Germans to make seamless cannon barrels.

In Beijing, Yuan Shikai's Presidential Palace, everyone was gloomy. Yuan Shikai's desk was on his desk, and this telegram made him irritated! After defeat, the Sixth Division of the Central Committee and the Right Army of the Wuwei were defeated like this. This was when Deng Sen's Iron Blood Army focused on the war in Huainan. He could not imagine that if Deng Sen did not focus on Huainan but on his north, what would it do if he sent a few more divisions.

"Master General, it may be because Jin Yune underestimated the enemy! And the right army of Wuwei is really useless." Duan Qirui had to stand up and speak. After all, Jin Yune was his confidant.

"It's useless to say that the right army of Wuwei is useless, but my sixth division, with more than 3,000 people in a whole night, was defeated by a brigade attacked by the other side. Even if the brigade of his Iron Blood Army is large, can it be bigger than my division? What about steel armored monsters, guns and cannons, and things that the great powers don't have, then how could Deng Sen have? This is a shame. When did our Beiyang Army become so useless? This Deng Sen's existence is really a disaster. If he recovers, he wants to destroy him.

I don’t know how much effort it will take or how much troops it will lose. Now I immediately ordered Feng Guozhang to be appointed as the Jianghuai Xuanfu envoy and the commander of the Second Army of the Beiyang Army to go south to suppress Dengsen’s Iron Blood Army, and promoted him to the Central General, as the commander-in-chief of Anhui, and ordered the Sixth Division and the 29th Mixed Brigade of the Temporary Army to be under his command, and to arrive in northern Anhui within half a month, and then give the Iron Blood Army a fatal blow." Yuan Shikai now believes that Dengsen has a great threat to him. If he knows it earlier, it would be bad if he doesn’t lose his tail!

"Thank you, the new general, will definitely live up to his mission." Feng Guozhang is one of the two generals under Yuan Shikai. Duan Qirui's subordinates disappointed Yuan Shikai this time, so he was promoted. Moreover, the Beiyang First Army's First Army is under the jurisdiction of the First Division, the Third Division, the Fourth Division, the 20th Division, the 19th Division, the 27th Division, the 1st Mixed Brigade, plus more than 120,000 auxiliary personnel, it is very large in scale. Yuan Shikai has always been personally led by Yuan Shikai, which is the location of nearly half of Yuan Shikai's strength. From this, it can be seen that his determination to kill Deng Sen.

Turning around, let's look at the Huainan land. It is now seven o'clock on August 8th. The Iron Blood Army repelled an attack from the British army again. This is the second day. The British army's attack has not stopped, and many revolutionary troops have come to support, and their troops have always been at the upper hand.

"Damn it! I finally retreated! I almost didn't have the strength to pull the trigger!" After fighting for an afternoon, both the British and the Iron Blood Army had no strength. The British army's habitual artillery bombardment began again. It started yesterday. After the British attack, it would always carry out an hour-long shelling. Of course, it would also be carried out every two hours later. This was a clever plan that Lieutenant General John learned from a Chinese staff member. This effect was to affect the sleep of the Iron Blood Army. As expected, when the attack the next day, the Iron Blood Army's resistance became weaker and weaker. The first layer of defense took only more than an hour and was taken down by him and pushed to a place less than ten miles from Bengbu.

"The British devils retreated, but the shells are coming! It's better to hide deeper, but they are really rich, and they are desperate for life. Our artillery is too unscrupulous. Just a few cannons will be useless!" Another soldier, shrank his body as much as possible. Although he could not really avoid shells, it would be useless if the shells fell in, you could still give him a sense of security and a little psychological comfort.

Just yesterday, the Iron Blood Army Artillery Battalion under the command of Wu Xiangrong, but was hit by two field artillery by a stray bullet by the British army under the difference in caliber and range, causing great losses. In desperation, it had to retreat the artillery to the north of the Huai River. Only three 122mm howitzers could fire against the enemy, but three heavy artillery was useless to the entire battlefield. Nearly a hundred mortars scattered in the trenches performed very well in defensive operations. Whenever the British army charged in large quantities, the mortar shells would always cause bloody rain.

"Commander-in-chief, everything has been prepared. The Engineering Corps has sent a squad of soldiers to dig the hole. As long as the enemy enters Bengbu, the seventh army will definitely flood after twelve o'clock." In the command center, Li Fang, with gauze wrapped on his head, sat in front of many officers. Zhang Xiaozhun said with a bandage hanging on his left hand with a crutch.

As the highest commanders of the army, these two men went to the front line yesterday to inspect, but were very unlucky to pass by an enemy shell. Li Fang was cut through his head by the splashed gravel, and Zhang Xiaozhun was even more miserable. A small piece of his muscle was cut off by shrapnel, and his left hand was also hit by a stone. Therefore, you can see in the command center that the commanders and commanders sitting above and above the left were all tied with bandages, while other division and brigade-level officers were all fine.

"Very good! Now the British army has entered our trap. Even if they don't enter the city, they will never be able to escape once we release the water. TMD was pressed and beaten for so long and finally he can breathe anger! It's 7:13 pm now, and we have four hours and forty-seven minutes to evacuate before twelve o'clock. This evacuation must pass through the floating bridge in an orderly manner. Now the flood peak is coming. Although the floating bridge is wide enough and firm enough, and it is a floating bridge every day, it is a floating bridge after twelve o'clock, so be careful. After twelve o'clock, our Iron Blood Army army will no longer be on the south bank of the Huai River. At that time, whenever we fall, we will be in the team.

There is no living life, and no one is allowed to fall into the team, nor is there any news about this operation to the subordinates. My commander, Brigadier General Chen Hui, will carry out the finishing work after 10 o'clock! Even if the division and brigade commander fall behind, there is only one to deal with, kill!" Only the senior officials know the water attack plan, and the soldiers must not know that one side fell into the enemy and leaked out. In order to ensure that everything is foolproof, Chen Hui's direct military regiment will be sealed off as the finishing army. Any injured and outdated soldiers will be executed, but they will be dealt with according to the martyrs after the war.

"Everyone stood up and went back to prepare. We only had four hours to retreat. At that time, it was the time when the British artillery fire was the most fierce. The rear army retreated first. The First Division army in front immediately entered the trenches and defended on the spot after returning to the other side." Li Fang stood up and looked at the surrounding people seriously.

"Yes! Long live the Iron Blood Army, Long live the Head of the People, Long live the Han people." All the generals and officials then swore one after another. This was a certain word after every meeting. Deng Sen needed loyalty. Now only infinite loyalty can make him further away from success. He believed that he would not be confused later because he had the experience of Taizu.

"The command headquarters ordered all troops to evacuate Bengbu immediately and return to the other side of the Huai River."

"What? Why are you going to retreat suddenly? Are we defeated? We are not defeated yet!" After hearing the order of the military headquarters, the soldiers and generals who fought with the British army for so long were very puzzled. Some generals and schools even asked the soldiers who came to issue orders.

"Mr. Colonel, please pay attention to your tone. This is the command order. As a soldier, you should not ask why, you just need to execute it. Please tell me again if you heard the order?" The person who conveyed the order was not the general messenger, but the lieutenant, chief staff officer of the division headquarters. Although he was civil, his military rank was not low compared to those of these regiment commanders and battalion commanders, and even some regiment commanders had the same rank as them, so they dared to ask so loudly.

"Yes! I understand! I evacuate Bengbu immediately and return to the other side of the Huai River!" Military orders are like mountains, which has been promoted by the Iron Blood Army. A regiment leader does not abide by the military orders and his subordinates have the right to dismiss him on the spot. He will conduct a military court trial based on the circumstances and consequences later. In the mild case, the army will be expelled, and the worst case will be shot and raided.
Chapter completed!