Taking advantage of this, Guo Junqing brought the baggage battalion to bring the food and boiling water. Everyone had a portion. Even the officers and soldiers on the front line could eat hot dishes and drink boiling water.

My daughter's family is as careful as her hair. Guo Junqing has purchased military food and vegetables nearby for three days in the past few days. Each person has one and a half pounds of rice, three taels of meat, one and a half pounds of vegetables, and two eggs. Even oil, salt and firewood have been prepared. For the frontline soldiers, it can be said that it is quite rich.

The Hunan Army did not have such good fortune. After a morning of hard fighting, the sun shone on its body with a scorching heat, and its stomach was already so hungry that it was roaring, but lunch had not yet settled.

A small group of Hunan Army saw the Hubei army eating in the fortifications and wanted to sneak up the mountain to be polite.

As a result, it proved that it was very impolite to interfere with others' meals. The angry E army immediately threw down his bowl and threw grenades down to entertain these non-appropriate guests.

The afternoon war was rather dull. Seeing that this rampage tactic was ineffective, the Hunan Army instead used small troops of squad and platoon-scale attacks in an attempt to find a weakness on the defense line.

This squad-platoon-scale attack caused even more headaches for the Hubei army. The Hunan Army's rapid operation advantages were fully reflected. They rushed up the mountain in the scorching sun, threw light red grenades at the defenders, and fired several cold guns from time to time.

Their artillery tactics have also changed. They often suddenly concentrate their firepower and open fire on a certain mountain. Accompanied by the whistling of shells, a shocking explosion must be followed by an earth-shaking explosion.

The E army could only press his body against the hot fortifications and his eyes were close to the front line, but the south wind was getting stronger and stronger. Whether it was the thrown grenades or the four-fly projectiles, the accurate head was not very good, and the range was also very affected.

But Liu Jingxiao and Zhou Zaizhi both understood that this was just an illusion. Once the Hunan Army found a weakness on the front line, the next step would be a crazy attack like a tide.

Before the Republic, there was a saying that "the army cannot be formed without Hunan". During the past two days of battle, I have fully revisited the combat effectiveness of the Hunan Army. The other party is not a vegetarian.

After convening several military officers to discuss, Liu Jingxiao and Zhou Zaizhi stepped up the repair of the damaged civil fortifications, and on the other hand, they sent envoys to propose a truce to the Hunan Army for one hour to shelter the dead and wounded.

The Hunan Army agreed to the proposal of the Hubei Army and sent some bare hands to the mountain to carry the bodies away. Some seriously injured officers and soldiers were originally lying between the fronts of both sides. Both sides dared not carry the wounded, so they could only let them fall to the ground and moan powerlessly. Such a scene could easily cause morale to collapse.

The Hubei army also had the same idea, and sent bare hands to carry the corpses and wounded back. After the bloody battle, Yangloudong had temporary peace, but after the truce, dense guns and cannons sounded again on the front line.

After carrying the body back, Liu Jingxiao and Zhou Zaizhi counted the casualties. During the fierce battle, the Hunan Army killed at least 500 people, and the total number of casualties was Liu Jingxiao, which may be between 1,300 and 400 people. The losses of the Hubei Army were smaller than that of the Hunan Army, but nearly 700 people were also injured. However, the total number was only half of the Hunan Army, but more than 300 people died in the battle.

However, Zhou Zaizhi was very attentive to arrange his troops on the front line and lay down Liu Jingxiao's troops on the second line, so Liu Jingxiao's Dingbian Army only suffered more than 100 casualties.

This made Liu Jingxiao very fond of Zhou Zaizhi. Zhou Zaizhi urged Liu Jingxiao to quickly take the cavalry battalion and the wounded, and rush back to Zhao Liqiao General Headquarters as soon as possible, as long as he is responsible for the front line.

However, before Liu Jingxiao returned to Zhao Liqiao, he had to pay the burning and burial expenses to the battalion commanders.

After the officers and soldiers were killed, they were usually buried on the spot by their camps. The cost of this burial was called the burning and burial fee. During the war, the Northern Army generally paid only eight yuan for the burning and burial fee, and they were also paid half of the cost. Liu Jingxiao now has money, so he announced that the burning and burial fee was doubled during the war, and all the soldiers who fell into battle would be paid 16 yuan for the burning and burial fee.

Liu Jingxiao handed over a lot of money to the battalion commanders on the spot. The chief of the funds did not have much chance of embezzlement, and the officers and soldiers' eyes were all lit.

As for the pension issue that officers and soldiers are most concerned about, since the Northern Army only paid a pension of seven yuan at one time, the money was too small. Liu Jingxiao increased it four times in one breath and announced that all the soldiers who fell into battle would be given a pension of 34 yuan, which was usually halved. The officers and soldiers expressed their satisfaction with this.

However, since the war has not yet ended, Liu Jingxiao could only announce the end of the battle and sent it to him again.

The actual reason is that Liu Jingxiao couldn't raise so much cash. This time he only brought 20,000 yuan in cash to the front line. Fortunately, Guo Junqing could deduct the food expenses of each battalion and company.

But Liu Jingxiao's expenses are very large. The miscellaneous expenses in the past two days have cost more than 7,000 yuan. This time, the burning and burial expenses of more than 300 people will cost more than 5,000 yuan.

The Shanghai Banking Branch in Puqi does not have that much cash. Liu Jingxiao sent people to urge him several times, but only brought in 5,000 yuan in cash.

After paying the burial fee, Liu Jingxiao brought the wounded and the cavalry battalion back to Zhaoliqiao. Halfway through, she met Guo Junqing again. At this time, she brought the baggage battalion to transport a batch of guns and shells to the front line.

The bullets and grenades of the front-line troops were consumed a lot in combat. Mengdingguo fired more than 300 shells in the morning, and almost all the shells carried by the troops were used up. Therefore, you can imagine how popular Guo Junqing is on the position.

When Liu Jingxiao returned to Zhao Liqiao, there was another good news from Murong Xuehai. It turned out that the Hunan Army attacked his position again, but the losses were heavy. The Second Battalion suffered very little casualties, and each company could fight to the end. The strengthening of the artillery company of Zhou Zai's regiment also made great contributions.

Liu Jingxiao transferred all the artillery regiments of Mengding Kingdom to Zhou Zaizhi for use, and Zhou Zaizhi strengthened his regiment artillery company to Murong Xuehai, who was stationed separately in Xindi. This company had six four-pound cannons, which was also a very powerful artillery weapon for the infantry battalion.

There was also good news from Wanyan Yuzhuo. Her telegram said that she had hit Wang Zichun hard, and the urgently needed combat materials had been sent to Zhaoli Bridge via the Hunan-Europe Railway, while the remaining materials were temporarily stored in Wuhan. She had already found two large warehouses for supplies, but the direct teams, cavalry teams and supplies of the Dingbian Army had not yet arrived in Wuhan.

The other telegrams are not worth seeing. Most of them are all parties fighting a telegram. There are also a group of telegrams to cheer for Liu Jingxiao and Zhou Zaizhi. Liu Jingxiao quickly drafted a telegram for Wang Zichun and took the opportunity to complain to Wang Zichun.

After dinner, Liu Jingxiao was busy again in the middle of the night, and gunfire was still on the front line of Yangloudong.

Before he knew it, it was already the sky above the moon. Liu Jingxiao had not slept for two days and was very tired. He grabbed a military blanket and wrapped his body on the sofa at the headquarters.

While asleep, Liu Jingxiao was suddenly awakened by the dense sound of gunfire. Just as he was about to go into battle to observe, a panting messenger ran in and reported: "Team Commander Liu, Commander Zhou asked me to tell me that as long as he was in Yangloudong for a moment, he would be sure to withstand the attack of the Hunan Army! Please ask Commander Liu to have a good rest, otherwise he would not be able to give him face!"

It turned out that although Zhou Zaizhi was a tiger general, his temperament was a little bit smaller. Today, Liu Jingxiao took the cavalry battalion to the front line to press the formation. He felt that this situation was suppressed by Liu Jingxiao, so he specially sent a messenger to inform Liu Jingxiao.

Liu Jingxiao had no choice but to send off the messenger and went to bed again. Fortunately, the sound of gunfire on the front line gradually subsided, and Liu Jingxiao was indeed very tired and couldn't help but sleep very sweetly.

Suddenly, someone pushed Liu Jingxiao's body hard, and then shouted loudly: "Teacher!Teacher!"

Liu Jingxiao couldn't help but open her eyes. When she saw that she was his adjutant Li Tao, who was also one of the cadres of his small group, looked very anxious on his face, so she opened her sleepy eyes and asked, "What's the matter?"

Li Tao lowered his voice and said, "Captain Zhou Zaizhi unfortunately died!"

Liu Jingxiao was shocked, and she threw away the military blanket and stood up and asked, "What's going on? How is Zhou Tuan?"

What he cares most about is Zhou Tuan. With his 4,000 Liu Jingxiao's 4,000 men would definitely not withstand the attack of the Hunan Army.

Li Tao said: "Although Zhou Tuan suffered heavy losses, his backbone is still there."

Liu Jingxiao was already neatly put on his military uniform and asked again: "What the hell is going on?"

Li Tao informed Liu Jingxiao in detail of the battle situation.

It turned out that Zhou Zaizhi fought fiercely on this day and repelled the Hunan Army, but he was worried that the weather was hot. If the south wind continued to rush tomorrow, the bullets would not be easy to hit or go far. It happened that the Hunan Army came to attack at night and was repelled by Zhou Zaizhi. Seeing that the Hunan Army could attack at night, Zhou Zaizhi wanted to lead his troops to attack the rear of the Hunan Army.

His wishful thinking was to wipe out the Hunan Army in one fell swoop, so he led the Supplementary Battalion and the Fourth Battalion to attack. He encountered the Hunan Army shortly after advancing. After receiving the fire, the Hunan Army was defeated and retreated for more than ten miles in a row. He thought the Hunan Army had collapsed.

When they retreated to Zhuhe Town, the Hunan Army ambushed troops came out together. Zhou Zaizhi led his troops to fight bloody battles, but unfortunately they were killed by stray bullets. More than 1,100 officers and soldiers in their troops were killed, more than 300 people were killed in battle, and only more than 170 people fought hard to break through, and the remaining more than 600 were disarmed by the Hunan Army.

When the Yangloudong defenders learned that the war was not good, Xiao Rulang led his army to rescue him. Unfortunately, they were attacked by the Hunan Army and returned in vain.

Soon after, more than a hundred defeated soldiers were admitted to the fleeing. Finally, they learned about the battle situation on the front line. They knew that the Hunan Army was about to attack the general attack, so they quickly sent Li Tao to ride a fast horse to notify Liu Jingxiao.

Liu Jingxiao was also shocked when he heard the news. He lost nearly a thousand people this night, which was even greater than the total casualties in the past two days. The Hunan Army must come to the general attack with its victory. Therefore, his first feeling was that tomorrow would probably be an unprecedented hard battle.

What's more, Zhou Zaizhi's death in the battle, and the annihilation of the two battalions of the Zhou regiment also had a great impact on the morale of the officers and soldiers.

He re-counted the forces of both sides. Now the total force is only more than 6,000, and the total number of troops used in Yangloudong is only 5,000. The total casualties of the Hunan Army will not exceed 3,000. The force used in Yangloudong must be several times that of the current side, so this battle will be difficult to fight.

He couldn't help but regret that if he went to the front line to supervise the battle tonight, he would probably not have such a defeat. He was also very responsible for this defeat.

However, Liu Jingxiao has always been good at making decisions, but these thoughts were circling in his mind. He then shouted to Li Tao: "Get me a cavalry battalion, stay at the Third Company, and the rest of the troops and I go to Yangloudong to supervise the battle!"
Chapter completed!