The People's Liberation Army of the Middle Route stayed in Mijiawan for one night and advanced westward on the 21st. Since the three divisions of Li Zhang, An Bingchao and Yu Dacheng basically achieved the expected goal of the attack on Kong Fanjin's forces, the People's Liberation Army of the Middle Route had no scruples when this westward. With Yu Tiepeng's third division leading the attack, he rushed straight westward and made an offensive posture towards Lanzhou.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Third Division of the People's Liberation Army arrived in Huining, and the 300 defenders surrendered without fighting.

At this time, Zhang Zhaoguan measured the situation and decided to retreat to Lanzhou. He had to rely on the city to fight a decisive battle with the People's Liberation Army in Lanzhou. After Kong Fanjin woke up, he learned that Qin An was also conquered by the People's Liberation Army. He immediately realized that unless he immediately entered Sichuan or retreated to Qinghai, he would have to rely on Zhang Zhaoguan to fight for life and death with the People's Liberation Army. If he wins, he will win all, and if he loses all.

After all, he was the King of Longnan. Although he knew that the frenzy started by the People's Liberation Army was unstoppable, he turned around and fled without even knowing the appearance of the enemy. He could not do such a thing no matter what. So he was cruel and led the 8,000 Longnan troops in Longxi to retreat to Weiyuan and prepared to go north to Lanzhou through Didao. The Dingxi road could not be taken. Even if he marched all the way, the PLA would come one after another when he arrived in Dingxi. With his troops, he would probably be swallowed up in one bite.

On the same day, Li Zhang led the main force of the Fourth Division to launch an attack on Tongwei. Behind the team, the Material Support Regiment kept a slow move while keeping prisoners and seized materials. In order to speed up the attack, in Qin'an, Anbingchao did not immediately implement the occupation procedures, but left a small number of troops to maintain order. The main force of the Fifth Division marched day and night to attack Longxi.

The same is true for Yu Dacheng, but Tianshui was the central important city to attack Gannan. He kept the entire Second Regiment, and he led the remaining 4,000 soldiers of the Second Division to attack Gangu. According to the plan, after conquering Gangu and Wushan, the Second Division would join the Fifth Division of Anbingchao and Li Zhang's Fourth Division in Longxi, and then determine the next step.

In this way, after the People's Liberation Army launched an offensive together on the middle and southern routes, tens of thousands of troops followed a straight line of Jingning, Qin'an and Tianshui, and crushed the western counties unstoppable. As the soldiers pointed, except for Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin's Gansu army, which were constantly gathering towards Lanzhou, the rest of the country could no longer have decent resistance.

On June 22, Yu Tiepeng conquered Dingxi and annihilated 1,200 defenders. On the same day, Li Zhang captured Tongwei and Yu Dacheng captured Gangu. On June 23, Yu Dacheng captured Wushan. On June 24, Yu Tiepeng occupied Yuzhong. In the afternoon, Wu Anping and Zuo Chun'an rushed to Yuzhong. Because he was not far from Lanzhou, he decided to stay in Yuzhong for a while, so that the troops could rest and prepare for the decisive battle in Lanzhou. On the same day, Anbingchao captured Longxi, Li Zhang and Yu Dacheng arrived one after another, and the Second Division, the Fourth Division and the Fifth Division successfully converged.

At this time, the People's Liberation Army actually formed two major attack clusters.

The northern cluster is in the Yuzhong area, including the Guard Division, the First Division and the Third Division, with a force of more than 17,000; the southern cluster is near Longxi, including the Second Division, the Fourth Division and the Fifth Division, with a total force of 15,000. Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin gathered the Ganges army to the west and south of Lanzhou, and the other surrounding districts and counties have completely given up, and their force is close to 60,000. In terms of total force, the People's Liberation Army and the Ganges army are almost twice the difference.

Of course, this comparison is actually meaningless. The People's Liberation Army's weapons and equipment are far more advanced than the Gansu Army, and the number of various types of artillery is at least twice as high as that of the Gansu Army. In addition, tanks and fighter jets that are about to be put into the Lanzhou battlefield, such weapon configuration is not much worse than that of the army of the great powers. It can be seen that the number of troops cannot be directly equated with combat power.

The current situation is that Yuzhong is less than one day away from Lanzhou, and it will take about three days to go from northeast Longxi to Lanzhou. If the attack on Lanzhou is independently completed by the three divisions in Yuzhong, the gap with the Gansu army will be nearly four times. Moreover, Lanzhou's terrain is very dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In this way, even if Lanzhou is successfully captured, the PLA will suffer a lot. Therefore, the three divisions of the PLA in Longxi still need to join the battlefield.

Through the contact of military radio, Wu Anping and others discussed the Lanzhou combat issue and finally decided to set the general attack time on June 27. Whether the army in Yuzhong or the army in Longxi, they must arrive near Lanzhou before noon on June 27 to launch a final attack on Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin's Gansu army.

The three divisions of the People's Liberation Army in Yuzhong were suspended from advancing west and rested on the spot for two days. During this period, the People's Liberation Army of the three divisions in Longxi must conquer Weiyuan and Didao one after another, and rushed to Huanghualing south of Lanzhou. In this way, the People's Liberation Army can gather 30,000 troops and attack Lanzhou simultaneously.

At this time, Wu Anping did not realize that many forces were actually paying attention to the battle between the People's Liberation Army and the Gansu Army. He, the commander-in-chief and commander of various divisions and brigades, was no longer a group of unknown peers.

Of course, the six guards who are concerned about the war are Pei Dizhun, Wu Tongren, and Huizhen Sima. After all, no matter what the outcome of the war is, they will have a huge impact on them directly or indirectly. Especially if the People's Liberation Army is the winner, the situation in Gansu will undergo earth-shaking changes. Whether they can continue to rule the side may be found in this war.

In addition to these guards, the Northwest Army and the Beiyang coalition also turned their attention to Lanzhou. Whether they were willing to accept the sudden rise of the People's Liberation Army, they had already risen in Gansu. What purpose this army adheres to and what political tendencies are, they need to understand these issues.

The Northwest Army and the Beiyang coalition have been in a stalemate for some time. At this time, the joining of any new force will shake the entire battle situation. The chain reaction it triggers is likely to cause the hostile side to be defeated on the thousands of miles long front. Moreover, Zhang Zhaoguan is supported by Wu Peifu, and Gansu was originally controlled by the Northwest Army, and both sides have a bit complicated thinking about the People's Liberation Army.

Wu Anping couldn't think of it much, and he focused all his attention on combat preparations, as did others such as Zuo Chun'an and others. Everyone understood that only by capturing Lanzhou could the People's Liberation Army truly gain a firm foothold in the northwest land.

Lanzhou is a hub and important place for Gan, Ning, Qing and Xin provinces, and is also a major plateau town that military strategists have fought for since ancient times. It is bordered by the Yellow River in the north, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and is surrounded by mountains and rivers. It is dangerous and strong in the city. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Gaolan Mountain, which surrounds the city walls, has towering peaks and becomes a natural barrier for the ancient city.

Cen Shen, a famous frontier poet who lived in Hexi for a long time in the Tang Dynasty, praised Lanzhou and its barrier to Gaolan Mountain in the south of the city: "The ancient city is based on the heavy danger, with tall buildings connected to Wuliang, the mountain roots are connected to the post road, and the river water is flooded with the city wall." It fully explains its heavy danger.

There are many fortifications in Lanzhou and its peripheral areas. There are permanent fortifications built by Gansu on the mountain. After Liu Yufen entered Gansu, he continued to strengthen it and expanded day and night. The fortifications were like spider webs and snake caves throughout the entire mountain, which was extremely strong. If Liu Yufen had not been short of troops, it would have been a dream to use these fortifications to capture Lanzhou.

Now, just like Liu Yufen's situation, Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin will also fight against each other in Lanzhou. Their victory or defeat is related to their life and death. Therefore, after repeated discussions, Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin discussed several changes, they finally formed a meticulous deployment plan for the battle, trying to defeat the People's Liberation Army's offensive based on Lanzhou's natural barriers and the strong fortifications on the periphery.

If the People's Liberation Army can be killed in large quantities and then annihilated it in Lanzhou, it would be better. However, Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin knew that it was difficult to do it with the tens of thousands of Gansu troops in their hands, so they could only hope that after the war situation would be dragged into a stalemate, Pei Kuizhun, Wu Tongren and the Sima of Huizhen could join the war situation, and even Liu Zhenhua's Zhensong Army could attack Xifeng. This not only revitalizes the entire Gansu battle situation, but also can really encircle and annihilate the People's Liberation Army.

There are only a hundred thousand people in Lanzhou, but there are 60,000 Gansu troops in each unit. It can be said that the entire city is a military camp.

The war was about to come, and Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin were both a little panicked. In case of precautions, the two contacted the Suzhou garrison commander Wu Tongren in advance to prepare for the unfavorable war, so they could take the remaining troops out of the east to escape Suzhou. On the one hand, there was a place to settle down, and on the other hand, there was hope of making a comeback. After several considerations, Wu Tongren felt that even if the People's Liberation Army conquered Lanzhou, they would not advance to Hexi for a while, so he proposed several conditions and agreed to the two.

The People's Liberation Army marched quickly, and perhaps the battle would begin in a blink of an eye. Zhang Zhaoke ordered all departments to strengthen fortifications day and night and prepare for war.

On the north side of the Yellow River, the river was covered with fortifications, and machine guns and artillery were set up. The machine gunners and gunners were guarding each other day and night, and even meals were sent to the fortifications. The Gansu soldiers were wearing dirty clothes and their hair was rolled together like broken felt pieces, like a group of exiled prisoners.

They were driven by the officer's scolding and forced them to dig fortifications along the river day and night and built sandbags. They all looked gray-black, bloodless, exhausted, and napped while working, and were in a state of half awake and half asleep. The officers were rushing to whip in their hands. When they saw the soldiers who had to hit tons, they beat them without saying a word, and they beat them all over their bodies and were covered in blood. They stopped.

While beating and scolding, they threatened: "You lazy guys! If you don't repair fortifications quickly, the People's Liberation Army will come, and you will be caught and thrown into the Yellow River!"

The patrol team ran along the Yellow River day and night. As soon as this group passed, the other group came and went back and forth, making the tense atmosphere before the war even stronger.

When the bureaucrats and gentlemen in Lanzhou saw this situation, they knew that the scale of this war was even higher than that of the previous attack on Liu Yufen by Zhang and Kong coalition forces. In order to avoid the war, they used horses and vehicles to transport the gold, silver and fine materials at home to the north of the Yellow River, preparing to run towards Xinjiang.

The Yellow River passes through the ancient city of Lanzhou, and there is only an iron bridge connecting the north and south banks. Ammunition, food, soldiers and horses, from south to north, a large iron bridge that was not wide was already crowded. In addition, local gentlemen carry their belongings, causing frequent blockages on the iron bridge, and fighting with knives and guns occurred frequently. Before the war started, the iron bridge was covered with blood.

The iron bridge was blocked and reached Zhang Zhaoguan's ears. In order not to affect the combat operations, he immediately passed an order: "Chain the iron bridge and implement military control! No one is allowed except for the troops to act! If someone dares to do something nonsense, just kill them!" So the iron bridge was controlled by military control.

The officials and gentlemen had no choice but to spend money to hire rafters and carry items with sheepskin rafts and boats of all sizes.

The Yellow River was immediately in chaos. Along the river, soldiers took the opportunity to rob and plunder and make a fortune.

When Zhang Zhaoke got the news, he was furious and ordered the troops along the river to block the Yellow River. He found that the ships and sheepskin rafts were all sunk! As a result, the Yellow River was also blocked.

The officials and gentlemen were helpless and digging cellars everywhere, burying gold, silver and treasures in the soil.

The city of Lanzhou was even more chaotic, with the streets and alleys filled with soldiers, vendors and citizens. People were inquiring about news from each other, panicking, wanting to run away, wanting to hide, wanting to hide, and having nowhere to hide. They were afraid of leaving their wives and children, and they were crowded around for a while, and they didn't know what to do.

Some people who knew that the People's Liberation Army came from Xifeng were also very nervous on the surface, but secretly applauded that the People's Liberation Army was about to attack Lanzhou. They hoped that the battle would start quickly so that the people of Lanzhou would escape from suffering as soon as possible, and also had work, study, and make money like the people of Xifeng.

On the morning of June 27, after 9 o'clock, the People's Liberation Army troops finally appeared in the southwest of Lanzhou one after another.
Chapter completed!