Chapter 237 236. The National Army retreats to Beijing

Long before Guo Songling's mutiny, in November of the 14th year of the Republic of China, Yue Weijun, the commander of the Second Army of the National Army and the supervisor of Henan Province, sent Li Jicai as the commander-in-chief, led the three divisions of Tian Weiqin, Chen Wenzhao, and Wang Weiwei into Lu, and expelled Fengjun Zhang Zongchang.The troops of the two sides fought fiercely at the foothills to the west of Mount Tai. Although Zhang Zongchang of the Feng army was a miscellaneous army, his combat effectiveness was extremely strong, and there were mortars manufactured by the Northeast Arsenal, so the Yue army suffered heavy casualties.During the battle, Li Jicai secretly dispatched light troops to raid Jinan from the trail at the eastern foot of Taishan.Zhang Zongchang hurriedly returned to the teacher, and sang an empty city plan, which was resisted by the police guard.

Since Li Jicai's troops had no backup, their success was on the verge of failure. At this time, it was the time when Sun Yue, the third army of the National Army, attacked Tianjin with all its strength, so Li Jinglin of Tianjin and Zhang Zongchang of Shandong formed the Zhilu coalition. When Guo Songling was defeated outside the customs, Li Jinglin was defeated by the National Army in Tianjin. On December 24, 2014, the National Army entered Tianjin, and Li Jinglin retreated into the Japanese Concession. On the 25th, he took the Japanese ship to Qingdao. After the national army occupied Tianjin, senior generals Zhang Zhijiang, Li Mingzhong, Song Zheyuan, Deng Baoshan and Tang Zhidao all gathered in Tianjin.Feng Yuxiang sent Sun Yue to supervise military affairs for Zhili, and Deng Baoshan assisted in military affairs.Tianjin was taken over by the second and third national armies, most of the first national army returned to the northwest, Zhang Zhijiang returned to Zhangjiakou, and his troops moved to the Beijing-Tianjin line, Li Mingzhong returned to Suiyuan, Tang Zhidao was stationed on the Tianjin-Yuan line, and Song Zheyuan's first division and two brigades were handed over. Sun Lianzhong led the pursuit of Li Jinglin's army and helped the second and third national armies attack Lu.

On December 28, 2014, when Li Jinglin arrived in Jinan from Qingdao, Zhang Zongchang convened a meeting. On the one hand, he ordered the Lu army to retreat from Zhizhou to Dezhou. On January 4, 2015, Li Jinglin went to Dezhou to supervise the division, and Li Jinglin's troops in Zhili also retreated into Shandong one after another.The north and south sides of Shandong are preparing for war at the same time. Zhang Zongchang originally advocated defending from the south and attacking from the north, but after Feng Yuxiang stepped down, he changed his plan to defending from the north and attacking from the south. Zhang Xian is the fourth team, all of which are Li Jinglin's troops.Zhang Zongchang is the fifth road, Chu Yupu is the sixth road, Bi Shucheng is the seventh road, Fang Zhenwu is the eighth road, Xu Kun is the ninth road, and Cheng Guorui is the tenth road.

The National Army in Zhili was divided into three groups, Deng Baoshan was on the North Road, Xu Yongchang was on the West Road, Tian Weiqin, Li Jicai, and Wang Weiwei were on the South Road, all with Deng Baoshan as the commander-in-chief. At this time, Zhang Zongchang contributed to the alliance between Feng and Wu.The combination of Feng and Wu was a great threat to the national army, and it also relieved Zhang Zongchang's pressure in northern and southern Shandong. When Zhang Zongchang expelled Li Jicai's troops from the Second National Army in late January 2015, Wu Peifu ordered Kou Yingjie to lead the army northward to attack Henan, and sent a telegram to blame Feng: "It's clever to hide, and even more poisonous. Raising money."

When Wu was in command of the Chajiadun headquarters, the generals under him were Chen Jiamo, Jin Yune, and Kou Yingjie.Wu Yichen stayed in Wuhan, and later succeeded Xiao Yaonan as governor of Hubei, sent Jin Yun'e to lead the army out of Shandong, and sent Kou Yingjie to lead the army to attack Henan.Henan is Wu's base camp, and Mr. Wu wants to return to Luoyang to restore the momentum of being a tiger in Luoyang. Wu declared that he was using troops in Henan to save the chaos in Henan. He dispatched ten brigades, starting with the sixth brigade of Jia Fangxing, He Guoguang, Sun Jianye, Song Dapei, Yu Yinsen, and Chen Delin.Kou Yingjie is the commander in chief.

However, Kou Yingjie was weak. On January 26, 2015, he was ordered to go north, and met Jiang Shijie's troops of the Second Division of the Shaanxi Army in Xinyang.Jiang Shijie is a strange figure in the National Second Army. He is skinny, doesn't talk much, and is addicted to opium. His troops are also like their division commanders. With the sound of cannons roaring like thunder, Jiang Shijie lay on the couch, puffing out the clouds, commanding the soldiers to defend Xinyang to the death.Sometimes when Jiang Shijie went to the trench, he would blow a few puffs with the sergeant in the trench, and then pull the machine gun; How many people come back" style.

Yue Weijun was most afraid of Wu Peifu returning to Henan, so he went to Zhengzhou on January 18 to discuss the defense of Henan and Shaanxi.Wu's march was a glimpse of Yu through three routes: Guangzhou, Wushengguan, and Zijingguan. Under the insistence of Jiang Shijie, Xinyang prevented Master Wu from going north. Since Master Wu could not cross the Wuguan pass, Wu's prestige and future after his revival were greatly hindered.Therefore, the Battle of Xinyang became the touchstone of Wu's resurrection. Wu Riri hoped for good news but failed to get good news. He was furious in Chajiadun. , After three days, it will be limited to five days, and after five days, it will be limited to seven days. Although the Kou army attacked Jiang Jun fiercely, Jiang Jun smoked and fired guns, and stood firm as usual.

On February 10, the news of Xinyang's conquest suddenly came, which lifted Wu's spirit and made him look bright. Based on this, he telegraphed all parties to win.But the next day it suddenly turned out that the victory report was false, because Kou was forced by Wu and had no choice but to issue a false victory report. In fact, not only did Xinyang fail to capture, but Jiang Jun counterattacked, causing considerable losses.Even a small Xinyang can't be conquered, where is Wu's former prestige? So Wu gritted his teeth and asked Jin Yun'e to lead his army back from Shandong to Henan to attack the Yue family army (Yue Weijun).After Jin returned to his teacher, he was indeed very skilled. On February 28, Gao Rutong of the Jin family invaded Kaifeng, on March 2 he conquered Zhengzhou, and on March 5 he went to Luoyang.

Although there were frequent reports of Jin Jun's victory and news of Yue Weijun's death in battle (it was later proved to be false), Jiang Jun still took a puff of smoke and fired a bomb in the trench, and Xinyang was still in Jiang Jun's hands. Jin Yun'e went to Zhengzhou on the evening of March 2. Most of the Yue army retreated to Zhangde, Weihui, and Shunde, and a small part retreated to Zhengxi and Xingyang.Jin Junxi was led by Wang Weicheng to occupy Luoyang, and Yue led the remnants to retreat to Shanzhou.The Jin army on the North Road, led by Wang Weiwei, occupied Xinxiang on the evening of the 5th, passed through Weihui on the 6th, and occupied Zhangde on the morning of the 7th.The Yue Army in southern Henan lost its elite after the two battles of Minggang and Zhumadian, and both Yancheng and Xuchang were defeated without a major battle.Fearing being surrounded, Yue Weijun abandoned Zhengzhou and retreated towards Gong County and Hulao. The remnants of more than 30,000 troops wanted to get through Luoyang Road and return to Shaanxi. Therefore, there was no resistance for the bandits to go north. They occupied Xuchang on March 1 and entered Xinzheng on the evening of the 2nd.

Kou Yingjie arrived in Zhengzhou on the 4th to meet with Jin Yun'e and decided to part ways to pursue Yue Jun. After Yue Weijun abandoned Henan, the Kou army who attacked Xinyang shot the news into the city and persuaded Jiang Shijie to surrender. Jiang Shijie thought it was a rumor and ignored it.At this time, Liu Yuchun, commander of the 15th Brigade of the Eighth Division, was attacking Xinyang. On the one hand, the defenders were allowed to flee, while the defenders stayed on as before.Liu was in a hurry, and finally brought several cannons from Hankou, and the shells hit the city like raindrops, but there was no sound and no movement in the city.

On March 10, Jiang Shijie really knew that Yue Weijun had escaped and Henan had fallen into the hands of Jin Jun, so he asked foreign missionaries in Xinyang City as guarantors, signed an armistice treaty with the siege army, and prepared to open the city. Not giving in to each other, it turned into street fighting. It was not until the 14th, when the food and smoke in the city were exhausted, that they accepted the condition of disarming. The Kou army entered the desolate and appalling city of Xinyang, and settled the deaths and injuries of more than 10,000 residents in the city, countless people starved to death, and piled up corpses.There were more than 9,000 defenders, more than 6,000 guns were surrendered, and there were countless other smoking guns. On March 15, Song Dapei sent Jiang Shijie to Hankou and disbanded Jiang's army.Jiang was a prisoner, with a smoky face and skinny bones. Everyone thought that Wu Peifu hated Jiang to the bone, and must poach Jiang's heart to make Wu a handsome man. How could Wu know that Wu greeted Jiang Shijie with a smile and treated him as a guest of honor. Jixi hosted a banquet to suppress Jiang's shock, and said to Jiang with his thumb up: "It's amazing, you can stick to it for forty days, it's really unambiguous, I admire you." This is where Wu's loveliness lies. He respects a good man and a man.After the Xinyang defenders disarmed, Henan returned to Wu's arms. Wu had a high opinion of Henan. He once wanted to center on Luoyang and establish Wu Peifu's world. Now he has fought hard. Although he has suffered a lot, Henan has finally won. Now that he got it, he also regained his grace and grace in the Chajiadun headquarters. Is Henan the base of Wu Dongshan's comeback?Unfortunately, he made another mistake in handling Henan's military, political and personnel affairs. If a person is lucky, he will be unhappy everywhere, and he will be self-defeating.Wu Peifu began to withdraw his troops from Hengyang, and he was handy, calling the wind and the rain.Since Cao Kun bribed the election, it has gone downhill, especially after the second Zhifeng war, and everything is wrong.It took 40 days to beat Jiang Shijie's first division in Xinyang City. After the whole of Henan fell into Wu's hands, he made another wrong step in personnel arrangements, which made it impossible to preserve the fruits of victory. This cannot be said to be wrong. fate. As mentioned earlier, in the era of Cha Jiadun, there would be three Wu available, namely Chen Jiamo, Jin Yun'e, and Kou Yingjie.Wu told them that Chen, Jin, and Kou are his three tripartite forces, and sooner or later they will all have the role of warlord.Xiao Yaonan died of lung disease, and Chen Jiamo took the throne first.When Jin Yun'e went to Shandong, Wu gave him the position of Governor of Lu; when Kou Yingjie attacked Henan, Wu naturally agreed to give him the position of Governor of Yu. Since Zhang Zongchang became Wu's own family in Shandong, it is impossible for Lu Du to be the governor. Kou Yingjie attacked Henan and was blocked in Xinyang for 40 days. Henan's first victory was gently handed over to Jin Yun'e. When the governor was hopeless, he received an urgent order to return to Henan, and he fought desperately in Henan. Sure enough, the Jin army was in the same position all the way. None other than.When Jin entered Kaifeng, all the public groups in Kaifeng also publicly elected Jin as the commander-in-chief of Henan Security.How did Wu Peifu think otherwise? Wu believed that he had promised Kou Shijie a long time ago, and he shouldn't break his promise to Kou.This is the thinking of a leader, the so-called "Zhao Meng is valuable, Zhao Meng can be cheap." So he issued an order on February 14, with Kou Yingjie in charge of military affairs in Henan and Jin Yun'e as the governor of Henan. Kou's letter of appointment was handed over to Shilongzhou, the left-behind commander of the Kou army, and sent to Kaifeng. Jin felt very unhappy, he met Kou in a hurry in Zhengzhou, Kou went to Kaifeng, Jin then went to Hankou to visit Wu to ask for instructions on future policies, and humbly resigned from the governor's new appointment.He said he didn't understand politics, so he asked Wu for leave and wanted to visit the West Lake.Wu Yanjin was in Xiyuan, admiring him as the number one meritorious service today, and he was awarded the post of commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, and persuaded Jin Weiqu to be the governor first. On the evening of March 15th, Jin and Qi Xieyuan went to Henan, and Kou and Jin Jun were electrified to serve as the governor of Henan and the governor of Henan respectively. On the 17th, Qi, Kou, and Jin held a military meeting and resolved: (1) Send troops to attack Baoding. (2) Send troops to clear Gongluo. (3) All military and political affairs in Henan Province will be resolved in full accordance with Wu's will. (4) The Northern Expedition with the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Division, and the 5th Brigade of the Jin Army (Yan Xishan Division), with about 140,000 people, attacked Baoding. On March 18th, the mobilization order was issued for the Allied Forces Against Thieves to be divided into three armies. The second army passed through Shijiazhuang.Qi Xieyuan returned to Han on the 21st. When the Wu army was unable to attack Xinyang, the national army decided to divide into three groups to fight against the coalition forces. One army was against Feng, the second was against Wu, and the third was against Lu.Han Fuju guarded the Langfang, Shiyou three guarded Gaobeidian, Zheng Jinsheng guarded Shunyi to defend the capital. Now that Zhang Zongchang had relieved the threat from the south, reconciled with the Wu army, and subsidized Jin Yun'e's 300,000 yuan in military pay to facilitate the Jin army's attack on Henan, he and Li Jinglin did their best to deal with the north. At the beginning of February 2015, the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces marched northward in two routes from Dezhou, one from Dongchang to gain fame, and the other from Dazhen to attack Botou and force Cangzhou. Departed to Cangzhou on the 20th, the right wing crossed Yanshan, Zaoqiang, and the left wing arrived at Fucheng and Jiaohe. On the 22nd, Li Jinglin moved to Cangzhou, and the striker captured Qing County from Xingning Town and entered the trapped horse factory. The First Nationalist Army had already returned to the Northwest for the first time, and even added reinforcements to Tianjin and Bao.Han Fuju led a brigade to Machang to supervise the division.Zhang Zhijiang and Lu Zhonglin formed a temporary division of the First Army and went to Yangliuqing.Another six brigades were sent to the front line from Yangliuqing.Zhang Zhijiang ordered Han Fuju to be the commander-in-chief of Jinpu defense, and Wei Yisan to be the commander-in-chief of Baoding defense. The competition for horse farms was very fierce, and they changed hands twice.Zhang Zongchang of the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces served in the middle road, Li Jinglin served in the east road, and Chu Yupu served in the west road.As for the national army, Lu Zhonglin led Feng Yuxiang's guard Feng Zhi'an Brigade out of Beijing on the 28th, went to the front with Sun Yue to supervise the battle, and set up a general headquarters in Jinghai. Zhang Zongchang was supported by the navy. The 32nd Division of Qingdao Bishucheng Division and the Marine Corps took three ships "Haiqi", "Haichen" and "Huajia" to Qinhuangdao and "Chengli" respectively. Dagu landed and attacked Tianjin. Lu Zhonglin prepared to counterattack with all his strength, and divided his troops into three groups: (1) Han Fuju and Zheng Chengsi attacked from Tangguantun in the middle. (2) Left-wing Men Zhizhong, Liu Tingchen (National First Army) and Xu Yongchang (National Second Army) went out from Jinghai to Sijiaokou to attack the flank. (3) Right-wing Gong Fukui, Zhou Shiqi, and Gao Guizi copied Qingxian from Yuxian County and cut off the rear of the Zhishan-Shandong Allied Forces. Although the national army counterattacked with all its strength, the situation was stronger than the people. In fact, the national army encountered enemies everywhere and became a trapped beast. In March 2015, the national army fought hard on all fronts, and the Jinpu line was captured by the Zhilu coalition forces on the 16th.The National Army of Jingfeng County withdrew from Luanzhou, and the Fengjun intercepted arms worth 2.5 million yuan at Dagukou.On the Jinghan line, because Yan Xishan in Shanxi sent Shang Zhen to send troops to Shijiazhuang, he will join the Zhijun army to attack Baoding. On March 22, Li Shufeng, Li Jinglin's nephew, led 200 death squads into Tianjin and fought street battles with the national army. The army was defeated and Li Jun occupied the supervisory office.Tianjin gentry Hua Shikui and others agreed with Li Shufeng on how to deal with the aftermath of Tianjin: (1) Li temporarily appointed Xiang Hui, the head of the Police Department, to maintain order, and (2) welcome Li Jinglin to Tianjin.In the evening of the same day, Li Shuangkai led a cavalry team into Tianjin from the small station, and went to the guarding envoy to inform Anmin. On the 23rd, the Rongzhen 1st Brigade of Li Jinglin's vanguard arrived in Tianjin from Yangliuqing Station, and was immediately divided into the suburbs of the Station of the Superintendent's Office.Due to the damage caused by artillery fire, the Yangliuqing Railway had to be repaired, so the Zhishan Allied Forces of the Brigade had to wait for the railway to be repaired before they could move.Li Jinglin himself planned to go to Tianjin with Zhang Zongchang. When the national army was retreating steadily and Fengjun and Zhijun were both advancing on Beijing, the Beiyang celebrities in Beijing launched a peace movement. On March 15, Wang Shizhen led a telegram to propose six peaceful measures: (1) The national army retreated to the northwest. (2) Feng Jun retreated outside the pass. (3) The Zhilu army retreated to Shandong. (4) The Wu army will no longer advance. (5) Shandong and Henan provinces temporarily maintain the status quo. (6) The political situation of the Central Committee will discuss the aftermath again. On the 18th, Wang Shizhen, Zhao Erxun, Sun Baoqi, Wang Daxie, Hu Weide, Wang Zhixiang, Xiong Xiling and others sent telegrams to all provinces to appeal for peace.On the 20th, Zhang Zhijiang, Li Mingzhong, Ma Fuxiang, Liu Ji, Song Zheyuan and others responded by telegram. At the same time, the generals of the national army on the front line were also led by Lu Zhonglin to power on, briefly saying: "Since January, wars and disasters have continued, the army and the people have been troubled, internal and external troubles, branches and branches, looking forward to the future, shuddering. But it is not difficult to stop the army immediately when all parties meet with each other openly. Hiring the old Xiandian, with a fair vision, as a guide for peace , to explain the various sections, dare not agree. That is to say, follow the telegram to order the front, strike first, retreat to the original defense, and wait for the next order, to show the sincerity of our army in favor of peace." After these two telegrams were sent out, the front-line National Army Jingfeng, Jinpu, and Jinghan three groups all withdrew their troops immediately.Zhang Zhijiang, Li Mingzhong, Lu Zhonglin, Ma Fuxiang, etc., and Wang Shizhen, etc., said that they respect the opinions of the public, and that they will withdraw the teams of all parties in order to seek a peaceful solution. However, it is difficult to guess whether the parties are in agreement. Please continue to persuade and release the conflict. and so on. On the afternoon of the 22nd, Wang Shizhen and other mediators resolved: (1) Call Zhang Zhijiang and others, and transfer Zhang Zuolin, Wu Peifu, etc., please withdraw to the original defense immediately, do not pursue, and wait for a peaceful resolution: (2) Inform Lu Zhonglin of the capital security , Li Mingzhong, please earnestly maintain. The telegrams sent by Beijing elders to Wu Peifu, Zhang Zuolin, etc. can be briefly described as follows: "The first national army withdrew to the original defense, developed the northwest, and retreated on the 19th. The future of peace has already begun. I hope to accommodate the previous telegrams and order the enemy's troops to stop advancing. They will send representatives to a selected location to discuss the aftermath. Quietly cleanse the armored soldiers. , rebuild courtesy." Another telegram to Sun Chuanfang and Yan Xishan said: "Telegram Wu Zhang, stop the military, the two are patriotic, forgive me for sympathy, beg for advice, promote a peace conference, and secure the overall situation." On the 21st, the National Army ordered the general retreat of the front line, gathered at Tianjin Main Station, and returned to Beijing by train. Tang Zhidao of the National Army guarding Luanzhou withdrew to Tongzhou. Lu Zhonglin and Zheng Jinsheng led the headquarters back to Beijing on the 22nd. Sun Yue also led the guards back to Beijing that night. Stationed in Zhantan Temple, still maintaining local order in the name of the Beijing Police Chief.The Fang Zhenwu Division of the Beijing-Hankou Line retreated to Baoding and the Weiyi Division retreated to Yi County. The National Army set up a containment team with Yangcun and Machang as the front line.Langfang and Xianghe are the second line, and Huangcun has a general military station.Men Zhizhong was the cover commander of the Jingfeng line, and Han Fuqu was the cover commander of the Jinpu line.Rehe Song Zheyuan also withdrew his troops and retreated west to Lingyuan. Sun Yue announced that he would "self-relieve the Zhili military governor and hold various positions".The reason is that the government brutally killed students because of the humiliation of the eight-nation ultimatum, so he was dismissed to promote the authorities' awareness.In fact, it is only because Tianjin has given up and cannot be taken remotely in Beijing. The National Army hoped to buy time with the truce and peace talks, and at the same time try not to abandon Beijing in terms of military strategy. First, it will defend Beijing in the last battle near Langfang and Yangcun. If it cannot be stopped, it will fully defend the north of Nankou.