Chapter 22 The South Bank of Huaihe River

"Report to the head of state, a 30,000 expeditionary force composed of an Indian division in the UK, a Singapore regiment, a Myanmar regiment, an Australian regiment, as well as the 2nd Division of the First Division of the Anhui Revolutionary Party, some local armed forces gathered in Huainan. Our army's first division was transferred to Shangyao, Xiquan was deployed, and the other 4th division went south to Jiulitang, and conducted fortification excavation. The first mixed field artillery regiment entered Bengbu, and the engineering regiment personnel were already in place." Deng Sen looked at the map frowningly. He did not expect that the coalition forces would attack on two lines and had to use a method that hurts the world. He was not going to use this method originally, but the cost was too high, but now he chose himself between the life and death of the people and his own survival.

"The third division ordered the rest and rest to rush to Bengbu, the eastern defense line was defended by the First Division, and the Fifth Division headed south to the First Brigade. Many militias in the north distributed combat weapons. No matter how the south attacked, the north must not relax their vigilance." During this period, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government opened the door to convenience. All the deals between the Germans and Dengsen entered northern Anhui from here. Dengsen had a surprising favorable impression of Germany, because it was because of the reason for the time travel of later generations!

"First of the People's Republic of China, our army fought one after another. Although there were sufficient bullets and shells, gunpowder was in short supply. If there was no bullet production line of the gunpowder arsenal, it would not be able to operate!" Dengson purchased up to 10 million bullets at the beginning of the war, and later the Germans supported another three million. However, the eastern blocking battle in Sishui alone consumed four or five million. Now the battle is not known when it will end, and it is a problem without gunpowder production line.

"Look at it step by step! If those strategies cannot achieve results, we will have to die for the country!" Gunpowder was collected by Dunson to make explosive packs. There is very little gunpowder used in arsenals now, but Dunson has no choice. The weapons in Shanghai were embargoed, and Germany only agreed to see Dunson's combat achievements against the British. Germany drew a big pie for Dunson, loans, weapons, officers, and even several inland gunboats. The requirement was that the Iron Blood Army in Anhui commanded by Dunson consumed the British's strength as much as possible.

Compared to others, Dunson knows the current situation between Germany and Britain. Just like the Boer War, the Germans support it. As long as there is any country and nation in the world resisting Britain, Germany is willing to provide help to reduce the strength of the British. This Far East is different from that of European wars. Even if there is only one brigade of troops, the sun and the moon will be astonishingly large. Otherwise, Britain would not consume 2 billion pounds of losses in the Boer War. If Dunson, like the Boer, could give huge damage and consumption to the British, the Germans would of course be happy to see it. Moreover, Dunson also knew that as long as he defeated the great powers this time, the situation could be restored. Although Britain is not weak now, it is still powerless. Japan is busy paying the reparations for the Russo-Japanese War. The army cannot be sent too much. Moreover, as an island country, Japan is not determined to attack and think about annexing the behemoth of China. As for France, France is probably in a military competition with Germany.

Logically speaking, although the land in northern Dunsen Anhui is not big, it is not small, and has a population of nearly 10 million, which is much stronger than the Boers. However, due to distrust of the Chinese, Germany is very cautious about support.

"In the Huainan blocking battle, Li Fang was the commander-in-chief of the battlefield. In short, kill the enemy to the greatest extent, and retreat while fighting and attract the enemy to Jiulitang Changqing and other places." Deng Sen no longer thought about the casualties in the war. Since the war started, the Iron Blood Army has paid more than 10,000 casualties, and nearly half of the Third Division was killed in battle, and the organization was completely disordered. Even this rest and recuperation is probably difficult to achieve the previous strength.

Bengbu is now in a state of military control. A large number of citizens moved to the north of the Huai River. There are local police militias and more than 30,000 front-line troops gathered in Bengbu. The number of Iron Blood Army reached an unprecedented 70,000, almost the same as the British army. However, everyone, including Deng Sen, understood that the British army, which had the advantage of firepower, equipped with a large number of artillery and heavy machine guns, was not so easy to resist. Twelve solid pontoon bridges have been built behind Bengbu. Now the river water has soared. Because it has reached the rainy season, it is extremely difficult to install pontoon bridges under such circumstances.

"stand up……"

After Li Fang entered the venue, the commanders of the divisions and brigades on the conference table stood up one after another. This was the Iron Blood Army's regulations and everything was formalized.

"Please sit down!" Li Fang returned a greeting and then asked everyone to sit down.

"Now, Chief of Staff You will explain the current situation." There are chiefs of staff at the Iron Blood Army at the level of the regiment, and their chief of staff are generally one to two classes lower than the commander of the army. This time, as the chief of staff, the first division You Chuanlong, was born in Youji Town. He has been abroad and entered the military academy. Although he is not a great talent, he is not a mediocre talent.

After You Chuanlong got the order, he picked up the baton and walked to the large-scale combat map behind Li Fang. He gently clicked Huainan and said: "Now, the British invaders and the revolutionary traitors have 70,000 troops, with the British Indian Third Division and two colonial regiments as the main force, and the target is directly aimed at the Xiquan under our control. More than 30,000 revolutionary troops attacked Shangyao from the back. Yingjun's momentum was huge this time, and the heavy machine guns were initially retreating, with nearly 200 artillery pieces, of which 102 were

There are no less than fifty artillery pieces above the caliber of ten millimeters, and the firepower advantage is obvious. The pure white combat troops are 13,000, namely the First Special Regiment of the Third Division of India, the Singapore Regiment, the Myanmar Regiment, and the Australian Regiment. In addition, the four Indian native regiments have a total of 20,000 people. In other words, there are about 40,000 enemies attacking Wexiquan. The number of revolutionary first division and local armed personnel in Shangyao is more than 30,000, heavy machine guns, and more than 20 large and small artillery pieces, but their combat power is extremely poor.

Since the Revolutionary Party announced that it would help Britain attack us, a large number of revolutionary intellectuals and patriots have withdrawn from the army or the revolutionary Party. Therefore, our combat strategy has made a great change from the early stage. Now I announce that all the combat orders issued by the Supreme Military Headquarters and the Head of State will stand up!"

"On August 4th, the First Fourth Division was sent to defend Xiquan, and the Third Division had more than 10,000 people to defend Shangyao. The Fifth Division went south to the Second Tourism North with Shangyao, ready to attack the Revolutionary Army at any time. In addition, the Iron Blood Army's independent artillery brigade participated in the Xiquan battle. In short, the battle of Xiquan must last for more than four days, that is, until August 8th. No matter what happens, all troops must be moved north of the Huaihe River and keep the floating bridge in order to counterattack. If any prisoners are prohibited from being shot during the battle, anyone who does not obey military law will be shot on the spot.

On August 4th, the Supreme Military Head of Military Affairs, Deng Senling, the Iron Blood Head of Army, was sent in April of the second year of the Republic of China!”

"Long live the Han people, long live the head of state, and resolutely complete the task!" All officers, whether they were division-level major generals or brigade-level colonels, stood up one after another.

"Very good. In fact, we are completely sure to win this time. We don't need to attack, we only need to defend. The enemy will not attack for 40,000 people. The army I guarded, as many as two divisions and a large number of local militias, as high as 50,000. We still have the advantage in terms of number of people. Moreover, our army has five heavy artillery pieces, seventy other large and large artillery pieces, and more than 200 earth artillery pieces. Although the long-range strike force is not too strong, our army is in the trenches and is still somewhat advantageous than the enemy." This breakthrough is not an iron explosive ejector, but a kind of Deng

A mortar with a 60 mm caliber simplified manufacturing of the Sen Arsenal is similar to a small cannon. It is less than one meter tall and weighs 40 kilograms. It is imported from Germany. A firing needle is designed at the bottom. There is a movable gun stand in front. However, because of the hasty manufacturing, it cannot be compared with later mortars. The range is 130 meters. The Iron Blood Army has a total of 210 doors, of which 170 were entrusted to the Japanese Arsenal in Shanghai. Of course, in other ways, the Dunsen Iron Blood Army only manufactured forty doors, and the covers were due to insufficient manpower.

"Although this kind of small cannon can provide us with firepower support, we lack fortification materials to resist enemy heavy artillery. Now all fortifications are civil fortifications, and there is no concrete at all. Heavy artillery more than 120 mm will be fired in turn. In less than half an hour, the trenches in front of us may be flattened about half a meter. Our Third Division encountered such a problem when fighting with the Japanese and French troops in Sishui. The enemy's endless artillery bombardment was caused by the fact that the enemy could not break through our defense. Most of our casualties were caused by the enemy's casualties.

This starts. So we must come up with a feasible way to minimize the threat from the opponent's heavy artillery to us." The Third Division was the army led by Yuan Li to resist in the west of the Sishui Canal. After a few days of fighting, the Third Division suffered more than 14,000 casualties, two regiment commanders, nearly seven battalion commanders, and dozens of platoon leaders. Almost the organization of the First Brigade was gone. Guo Huai, known as the Iron Blood Army general, was also unconscious because he was shot in the head and was sent to the rear. Now, Yuan Li was still scared of heavy artillery.

"But what can I do?" Although Li Fang is the highest commander here, his combat experience is not as good as Yuan Lu. Except for a few brigade-level officers who graduated from junior high school, the Iron Blood Army really does not have any particularly high-level military talents.

"I think the trenches can be dug deep to resist the enemy's heavy artillery bombardment." Zhao Guangxing, as the commander of the Fourth Division, rarely spoke, but at this time he also came up with a solution, which was the simplest and most incapable method.

"That won't work. Our soldiers are all about 1.7 meters tall, and the depth of the trench is up to two meters. If it is deeper, it will be detrimental to the combat." Several division brigade commanders began to discuss fiercely.

"Report! The Supreme Military Department sent a call, and the Chief of Staff of the Iron Blood Army will arrive in half a day. As the deputy commander-in-chief of this battle, all personnel must cooperate with the deputy commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief Li Fang and cooperate sincerely with him!" Just as everyone was discussing, suddenly the personnel of the telegraph department arrived and read a telegram signed by Deng Sen in front of Li.

"Chief of General Staff? When will our Iron Blood Army have a Chief of General Staff?" Everyone was puzzled. The Iron Blood Army never set up this position! Why did a Chief of General Staff suddenly arrive?
Chapter completed!