Part 4 Chapter 4: Advance to the Gaiping

The train was galloping on the Luhan Railway. In a carriage, it was brightly lit. On the huge table, there were sand tables from the Liaodong Peninsula. Chen Congyun, Keze, Zhao Xinglong, Wang Shusheng and a group of German staff surrounded the sand table.

"A call from aftershocks, the third and fourth divisions have arrived in Jinzhou and are undergoing a short rest. Li Hongzhang's intention is to let our army guard Fengtian, and he particularly emphasizes guarding." Keze pointed at the sand table with a stick and said seriously.

Chen Congyun glanced at the battlefield situation and couldn't help but sneer: "Defend? Nonsense! I have tens of thousands of tigers and wolves, and I still have to defend it? It seems that it is from top to bottom, and the tactical thinking of passive defense is also formed from top to bottom." Chen Congyun's disdainful tone caused a cadre to smile.

Chen Congyun did not laugh, but turned around and glanced at his subordinates and said in a deep tone: "Are you very happy? After the Japanese occupied Lushun, they killed more than 20,000 of my compatriots, and only 36 people remained in Lushun. When the country was hatred and family hatred, you still laughed? Let's go back and write an order to send it, saying that I said, "I don't want Japanese prisoners on the Liaodong Peninsula, and I just need the Japanese heads to hand over a Japanese soldier's head, and I will give 10 yuan to the ocean."

Such an order made the hands look at each other. Keze frowned and said, "This is not in line with international public law, right?" Chen Congyun raised his eyebrows and said angrily: "Is it in line with international public law that Japan provoked a war and killed my people? What kind of international public law will it be with a group of beasts?"

Keze wanted to say something else, Chen Congyun waved his hand and said, "Don't say it, just do it."

As soon as Chen Congyun said this, everyone felt that Chen Congyun today was different.

Zhao Xinglong stepped forward carefully and whispered: "Military Captain, Liu Kunyi sent a telegram, saying that the court meant to let us listen to Liu Kunyi's orders, how do you plan to reply to him."

"Don't hesitate! What qualifications do Liu Kunyi have to dispatch me? I don't want more soldiers and guns. If you answer him, just say that my troops are determined to complete the assembly, and before the Japanese army gain a foothold, they will immediately counterattack the Japanese army in front of me. I hope that the Hunan Army will complete the assembly and head north as soon as possible."

Zhao Xinglong smiled bitterly and said in a low voice: "Liu Yongfu called and said that the First Division had completed the assembly in Qingdao. What should I do next?"

Chen Congyun turned his head and looked at Keze and said, "This is the matter of the Chief of Staff, don't ask me."

Keze probably knew that Chen Congyun felt uncomfortable, so he shrugged his shoulders and said: "According to the pre-war deployment, let Liu Yongfu march into Rongcheng. Once Weihai is attacked, reinforce immediately to ensure the safety of the Beiyang Navy."

"The Vietnamese Jiangfang Fleet called to ask when the Great Wall and the Yellow River warships began to head north. The young overseas students were all ready to go north to fight the Japanese." Zhao Xinglong asked again, and Chen Congyun turned around and whispered: "What are you anxious about? Let them stay honestly in Shanghai. When will they go north? I will naturally know when they go north."

"I'll be in Tianjin in one hour, look..." Zhao Xinglong stopped talking. Chen Congyun had an explanation before and wanted to stop in Tianjin to see Li Hongzhang, but now news came from Princess Yuxiu in Beijing that the court was extremely disappointed with Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. Li Hongzhang's position was in danger. Chen Congyun went to see Li Hongzhang at this time. It seemed a bit unwise for others to avoid Li Hongzhang, so he went up.

Chen Congyun suddenly turned around and said angrily: "What's going on with you? Did I say to change your action plan? No matter how bad Li Hongzhang is, he has the kindness of knowing me. A real man has a clear distinction between grudges and grudges. Is there something wrong with it?"

Tianjin Station!

In the night, on the platform, Li Hongzhang, with a quiet face, stood on the platform, silently looking at the distance. The railway tracks were like a long dragon, disappearing into the darkness.

"Zhongtang, it's windy outside, go and wait inside. I'll come back and I'll invite him to see you." Sheng Xuanhuai took a cloak and put it on Li Hongzhang, and said in a low voice.

Li Hongzhang remained calm and laughed in a low voice: "Xingsun, no need. I am just waiting here. It's a matter of hardship. Now everyone in the court is waiting to see my jokes. It's too late for others to hide. Yuan Shikai came back from North Korea and went directly to Ronglu. I heard that the Military Affairs Office had the intention of letting Ronglu be the governor of Zhili. When I was frustrated, Chen Congyun not only did not avoid it, but called to see me. What can I do if I waited for him?"

"Em Xiang, news came from the palace that Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzao and Xu Yongyi proposed to let you go home to retire. Look, is it a memorandum?" Zhang Peilun walked over slowly and said to Li Hongzhang in a low voice.

"Hehe, no matter how much the memorial is written, it will be useless! I guess I should move the place after this battle." As Li Hongzhang sneered, a long whistle sounded in front of him, and the train lights from afar shone brightly in front of him.

Titicaca, the train stopped slowly, the door opened with a bang, and Chen Congyun jumped out of the train first. Before he could stand firm, he heard a trembling shout: "Zi Go!"

Chen Congyun looked at him in the voice and saw Li Hongzhang walking towards him. He quickly stepped forward and said, "Ye Xiang! Why are you here in person? It's cold! It's so cold!"

Chen Congyun's words undoubtedly made Li Hongzhang feel warm in his heart. He took Chen Congyun's hand and sighed: "When I am in awkward, I will never forget me. So what if I get a little cold? Come on, speak inside."

Li Hongzhang held Chen Congyun's hand all the way and walked into the station. Chen Congyun felt that Li Hongzhang's hand was trembling slightly, and an indescribable feeling arose in his heart. Although Li Hongzhang was not like this or that, Li Hongzhang was always very good to himself. Unfortunately, Li Hongzhang's reputation came from hardships throughout his life. He struggled and humiliated externally and was not strict in control of his subordinates, and he was not careful in his ears and eyes. He was based on preserving his strength, which finally led to the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and his reputation was lost.

"Zi Gui, tell me about your combat plan."

Chen Congyun turned around and said to Zhao Xinglong: "Get the map!"

Zhao Xinglong hurriedly spread the map, Chen Congyun turned around and smiled at Keze who was following him, and then said to Li Hongzhang: "Zhongtang, this is my German joining army. Let him introduce our army's deployment. I'll translate it for you."

Li Hongzhang nodded with a smile, Keze pointed to Haicheng on the map and said, "Motianling, Haicheng, Gaiping. Nie Shicheng's troops guarding Motianling are elites of the Huai Army. Nie Shicheng is brave and good at fighting. The Japanese army cannot succeed in several attacks. They will definitely attack Haicheng and go around to the side of Motianling. Now our two divisions have gathered in Jinzhou and standby. Our troops plan to launch their troops immediately after the two divisions arrive, with the third and fourth divisions that arrived in advance as the left. The main force of the right assault was directly inserted into Haicheng and Gaiping. If the two places were not lost, the Fourth Division would be used as the right wing and attacked Yizhou directly, cut off the way for the Japanese army to retreat to Korea, the Third Division on the left to seize Dagushan, and then occupy Huayuankou. The Fifth and Sixth Divisions would go straight to Jinzhou and Lushun. Now our troops only require that the Beiyang Navy will have a rest and have a life, so it should come out. As long as the Beiyang Navy cut off the Japanese retreat at sea, our troops will be confident that they will be wiped out the invading enemy."

"Zi Gui? How many troops have your troops mobilized in total? Are you sure?" Li Hongzhang showed a look of lack of confidence. Chen Congyun smiled and reached out to gesture six times: "Four divisions, two infantry brigades each, four regiments of each infantry brigade, plus a baggage brigade, a heavy artillery regiment, and some other divisions directly under the army. One division has a force of about 18,000. In addition, it is equipped with firepower support from a heavy artillery brigade. Our army has nearly 500 artillery pieces of large and small artillery, and more than twice the strength of more than twice the strength of the troops. I don't believe that a division and a mixed brigade can withstand. The key problem now is that Beizhi is worried that the Japanese attacked Lushun, and Enxiang has to guard against it. The Beiyang Navy can no longer trap the beast port."

Li Hongzhang did not expect that Chen Congyun would make such a big noise. He knew that the new army was good at fighting, but thinking that the Huai Army had a large number of people and equipment were not bad, and was defeated by the Japanese army step by step. Li Hongzhang's expression couldn't help but dim and sighed: "Oh, I have ordered Ding Ruchang to travel out of the port several times, but he just won't execute it."

Chen Congyun had known this was the case for a long time and sneered: "Removed him and let Liu Buchan take over the position of admiral."

Li Hongzhang's face looked a little ugly, and he pondered for a while and said, "Let's discuss it again!"

Chen Congyun sighed slightly in his heart, very helpless. This is Li Hongzhang, who regards the Beiyang Navy as more important than anything else.

Beijing, Forbidden City.

The lights were all night in the Nan Study room.

A group of military ministers stood opposite Guangxu, each of whom was pale.

"Where has Shenqiongyun been?" Guangxu looked at the map anxiously without raising his head.

"Your Majesty, according to the report of Chen Congyun, the two divisions of the newly formed Second Army have arrived in Jinzhou. In addition, Chen Congyun personally led two divisions and was on the way north. It was probably already arrived in Tianjin." Yihuan was Guangxu's old man. At this time, his son's expression was in his heart, and he couldn't help if he was anxious.

"What does Liu Kunyi mean?"

"Liu Kunyi's meaning is to let Chen Congyun listen to his orders. This may be difficult." Weng Tonghe stepped forward to answer, and Guangxu frowned and said, "Are you still thinking about this at this time? Where is Liu Kunyi now?"

"It is still in Liangjiang, and according to the court's wishes, we are recruiting troops and heading north soon."

"Why do you command Chen Congyun in Liangjiang? I drafted the order, Liu Kun immediately entered Beijing and took charge of Liaodong military affairs in the name of the imperial envoy. Chen Congyun, Chen Congyun..., let him cooperate with the Liaodong troops to fight at the camera." Guangxu's words meant that he did not say anything. Li Hongzhang is still in his position. Guangxu wanted to replace him, but he could not.

………………………………………

On October 26, Jiulian City was lost, on the 27th, Dadonggou fell, and on the 31st, Phoenix City was lost. On November 14, the Qing army gave up Huanglingzi, which had a dangerous terrain. Feng Sheng'a saw the enemy from both sides of the north and south, and ran to Ximucheng at night. On November 12, the only cavalry of the Japanese army Imada seized the Lianshan Pass and then attacked Motianling. Nie Shicheng led his troops to resist stubbornly, but the Japanese army could not succeed and retreated to Lianshan Pass. The west attacked Motianling. At the same time, a Japanese army attacked the horse racing Ji, but was hit by the Iketang Abe head-on, with heavy casualties. The Japanese army could not get Motianling, so they had to retreat from Lianshan Pass and gathered at Caohekou to try to block Nie. On the 26th, Nie defeated the Japanese army with both troops. On the 29th, he immediately saw Shangwen leading his troops to reinforce the Japanese army with Caohekou. The two armies fought fiercely. Because they were afraid that Phoenix City would be in trouble, they immediately saw Shangwen retreating to Phoenix City.

Nie, in accordance with the two departments, went south together to try to recover Phoenix City. He fought fiercely with Li Jian Shangwen's troops, and suffered heavy casualties and failed to recover Phoenix City.

On the 30th, Chen Congyun led his troops to complete the assembly in Jinzhou. He immediately followed the third and fourth divisions to Haicheng as planned and came straight to Gaiping.

On the road, smoke and dust filled the road, tens of thousands of mules and horses and tens of thousands of troops formed a team and rolled eastward.

Chen Congyun, who was riding on the horse, saw this scene and turned his head to bow to Hu Xueyan beside him and said, "Brother Xueyan, thank you for your hard work. If you hadn't arrived in advance and prepared, how could our army be prepared so quickly?"

Hu Xueyan smiled modestly, pulled Tang Shaoyi beside him and said, "I dare not take this credit. Shaochuan is the first to get the first step and prepares to set up five thousand mules and horses. I have done almost everything when I come."

Chen Congyun looked at Tang Shaoyi and said, "What kind of rank Shaochuan is now?"

Tang Shaoyi smiled faintly and said, "Fourth-rank! Just a sesame official."

Chen Congyun laughed and said, "Shaochuan has a great ambition. OK, this battle is over, I will give you three levels in a row."

Wang Chao once again returned to the sequence of the newly formed First Army and served as the brigade commander of the Sixth Strengthening Brigade of the Third Division. It was said that it was the reinforcement brigade because, as the pioneer of the entire army, Chen Congyun specially sent him a heavy mortar regiment, and the heavy artillery regiment of the Third Division also followed the brigade.

On the way the troops were advancing, Wang Chao called all four regiment commanders over, including his old subordinate Li Qing.

"Everyone, I'll say the ugly words in front. The military commander has come down. The Japanese killed my compatriots in Lushun for 20,000. How can I get back by multiplying this number by two? One head is ten silver dollars. You all give me some energy, don't lose my face at that time. All the commanders of the regiment will go to the front line to supervise the battle. If you have lost the battle, don't come back to see me. I have no shame to see the military commander. Our brigade has never been defeated since Vietnam."

After hearing this, several regiment leaders stood at the sight and shouted loudly: "Don't worry, if the troop has been defeated, we will stop ourselves."

On January 10, Haicheng and Gaiping fell one after another. On that day, the 11th Regiment of the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division, the vanguard of the New Army, arrived at the periphery of Gaiping, facing Xu Bangdao, the retreating Qing army, and Zhang Gaoyuan.
Chapter completed!