1890 King of Southeast Asia

On the 24th, because there were only two base shells left and the soldiers needed to rest after several days of attack, Zheng Lei ordered to stop the attack and switch to defense.

It was not only a rest, but also an adjustment of the attack direction and formation.

Feng Huafu breathed a sigh of relief. Nanhua attacked too hard in the past few days, so his troops were in chaos. He finally had time to count and reorganize the team.

If he didn't count, he wouldn't know that the gap caused by the surrender of the whole unit was discovered by him. After all, it was very uncommon for thousands of people to disappear in an organized manner.

Feng Huafu probably knew where these "missing" people went, but he didn't dare to make it public. He could only summon his senior officials to discuss how to prevent this from happening again.

He informed several commanders, commanders (assistant commanders), and some commanders (standard commanders) of this matter. These people were Beiyang irons and the upper ruling class of the Qing Empire, and they could be trusted.

"Mr. President (the highest military commander, equivalent to the commander of the army), this matter cannot be spread."

"The front-line soldiers suffered heavy casualties and resentment. This matter must be handled with extreme caution and cannot be suppressed."

"What are you talking about?! This group of conscienceless people have been provided with good food and drink, but they became deserters when they were needed. They must be severely punished! To serve as a warning to others!"

"We don't know the specific situation very well. Did these soldiers hide, or were caught alive, or... surrendered to Nanhua, or we should find out first."

"What are you investigating?! Isn't this an obvious thing? This..."

In the cellar, various senior officials quarreled for various reasons. For a while, the cellar, which was not spacious, was filled with arguments.

Bang!

"Enough!"

Feng Huafu slammed the table hard, suppressing their discussions.

"As for this matter, those who have disappeared should be treated as dead in action and reported."

"The large-scale disappearance of soldiers should be kept in mind and not spread!" Feng Huafu stared at everyone present.

"President, that's not what I said. Deserters are deserters. If we don't deal with them, what will we do if there are still those who want to escape without conscience?" Cao Zhongshan said unconvinced.

The others nodded their heads and agreed without saying anything. It may not be that they really have no opinion, but it may be because of insufficient qualifications and prestige.

But Cao Zhongshan didn't have this worry. Although he was weaker than Feng Huafu in all aspects, on the one hand, the relationship between the two sides was good, and they were in the same interests, so Feng Huafu would not give him face.

Secondly, in terms of qualifications, both of them graduated from the Beiyang Military Academy and followed Yuan Gongbao since they started training at the small station. Their qualifications were not far apart.

Qualifications are often more important than official positions. For example, this time Cao Zhongshan was reassigned to the third town commander, which actually represented Yuan Gongbao to check and balance Feng Huafu.

Yuan Gongbao was a great hero. When he was in a normal state of mind, he was suspicious of everyone. He would not let Feng Huafu take away most of the Beiyang family property without sending people to keep an eye on them.

"Zhongshan, now the army is shaken and the people are unstable. Maintaining stability is the most important thing."

"At least, only by stabilizing the people's hearts can we bring people back."

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"This is most of my Beiyang's essence. If it is lost here, what will happen even if we win?"

Feng Huafu said "affectionately" - this was the rhetoric he had thought of long ago.

"I'm not afraid that the news will spread out. If we don't follow military law, the brothers below will show other ideas in their hearts?" After hearing this, Cao Zhongshan softened his attitude a lot and muttered.

"Okay, let's treat this as a death in battle for now. We'll settle the accounts after the battle and punish them according to the law." Feng Huafu heard Cao Zhongshan's softening intentions and quickly put the matter aside.

According to military law, there is no way to deal with it since the people have surrendered.

However, the Beiyang and even the Qing Empire all adopted the system of collective responsibility. These soldiers have families and children. If they surrender to the enemy on the battlefield, their relatives will also be implicated, which is also a constraint on the soldiers.

Originally, it should be time for military law to play a role, but Feng Huafu did not dare to do it.

It's a very simple thing, how to define missing and surrendering to the enemy or escaping?

There are many reasons for disappearance besides surrendering to the enemy, such as the body being buried by debris, being cleaned up and dragged away by the revolutionary army, or even being hit by a shell directly, and the shovel cannot shovel it up, etc.

They don't have time to investigate slowly. Once they make a one-size-fits-all decision, the soldiers may not have the heart to continue fighting next.

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"In the east of the city, the enemy's attack is very strange."

"The east of the city has been the third town these days, Zhongshan, you come and tell them." Feng Huafu looked at Cao Zhongshan.

"Then I'll tell you."

"Since the third town changed its defense to the east of the city, the enemy has launched a strong artillery bombardment, and the city walls and fortifications in the east of the city have suffered certain damage."

"But the pace of infantry attack is very slow, and often only one team is needed to repel the enemy's attack."

"I judge that the enemy troops in the east of the city are just feinting. Their target is likely to be in the north of the city, or the west of the city where there has been no action."

Cao Zhongshan stood up and sat down again after speaking, ignoring the curious expressions of the crowd.

"Cough!"

Feng Huafu coughed and attracted everyone's attention.

"The west of the city is defended by the Japanese. Although I don't like them, their combat effectiveness is still beyond doubt."

"Lord Gong Bao has sent a letter saying that three towns have set out from inside and outside the pass and are rushing towards Xuzhou."

"As long as we continue to attract the main force of the rebels, and wait for the reinforcements to arrive, we will attack them from both inside and outside, and we will definitely catch them off guard."

"Lord Gong Bao said that if the weak win this battle, the rebels will definitely lose, and you will be awarded a title of nobility, a general, wealth and honor, and a wife and children, all of which are not a problem!"

"Tell this to the people below, let them know that as long as they make merit, Lord Gong Bao will not be stingy with rewards!"

After Feng Huafu finished speaking, he recorded the expressions of the people.

The people present were all experienced, and no one had a wrong expression. Feng Huafu breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't reveal the specific information of the reinforcements to the people below, so as not to let the rebels know." Feng Huafu warned.

"As you command!" Everyone stood up and saluted respectfully. The unified movement did not show any of the noisy and disorderly appearance just now.

"I have sent people to contact the Fifth Town and ask them to ambush in the northwest. The first shot of the counterattack will be fired by the Third Town."

"When the time is right, the Third Town will set out from the west of the city, and the Fifth Town will rush up from the rear of the rebels, attacking from the front and back."

"After defeating the enemy, the two towns, led by Cao Zhongshan, the ruler of the Third Town, will detour from the left, threaten the left wing of the rebels, and attack when the opportunity arises."

Feng Huafu looked at Cao Zhongshan.

"Respect the order of the President!" Cao Zhongshan stood straight and looked at Feng Huafu gratefully.

This is a great achievement, the first achievement, and there is no problem in conferring a title.

As for success or failure, the Beiyang has not actually experienced failure at the hands of the revolutionary army. The retreat was because the troops were too dispersed and the supply station was too long - it was also to seize power.

Cao Zhongshan did not think they were any worse than the revolutionary army.

…………

On the 25th, Zheng Lei launched a small-scale attack again, and also received news of the military mobilization of the Qing Empire.

"Report! The Qing Empire has sent reinforcements, a total of three towns. The leading Beiyang Fourth Town has passed the capital and joined the First Town to go south."

"Order the Second Guard Division to stop moving, build fortifications on the spot, and block the enemy reinforcements." Zheng Lei gestured on the map and said indifferently.

He has two divisions in the north of the city, so it doesn't matter at all, right? It can easily resist the attack of three divisions.

If there is no logistical support, no tactical support, no multi-arms coordination, and the road is bad and cannot support the rapid movement of heavy weapons, Zheng Lei will not defend at all, but launch an attack.

For example, the Second Guard Division, although the armored units have been withdrawn, its firepower density is still configured and supplied according to the standard of the heavy armored division.

Such a division can easily defeat a Beiyang division in a field battle, but it is powerless to do more.

The standard marching speed of the Second Guard Division is 15 kilometers per day. If it is faster, the artillery and supplies will not keep up.

This is also the reason why Zheng Lei does not frequently use the more powerful Second Guard Division.

On the 26th, the construction of the front-line airport was completed - mainly the construction of hangars, repair shops, oil depots, ammunition depots, etc. After the construction, it took time to transport bombs and fuel, so the speed was not fast.

The short board effect was extremely obvious, and Zheng Lei's attack speed had been limited by the transportation capacity.

On the afternoon of the 26th, a new batch of supplies was replenished.

Among them, a total of about 35,000 artillery shells were replenished, and the warheads alone weighed 800 tons. There were also countless grains, bullets, medicines, various non-staple foods, sundries, etc.

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In order to transport supplies to the front line, the revolutionary army used various means to collect a lot of canal boats, carriages, and even cattle, many of which were originally war horses.

Cows are all oxen for farming. With the war, spring ploughing will obviously be affected. Zheng Lei has sent a telegram requesting a batch of tractors, which are urgently needed. He also needs to raise a batch of food to deal with the crisis and try to reduce the impact of poor harvest.

On the 27th, the bombers took off. Because the revolutionary army and the Qing Empire army in Xuzhou City were intertwined, the bombing accuracy could not be guaranteed, and the bombers did not bomb for fear of error.

However, when the bombers were looking for uninhabited places to drop bombs, they found the Beiyang Fifth Town more than 30 kilometers northwest of the city!

"There is still a troop here? How do they live?" Zheng Lei scratched his head in surprise after hearing this, and then he was scared.

Their reconnaissance range is only 20 kilometers around, and occasionally expanding the range is not much.

Even if the range is expanded, it is only to reconnaissance important towns and traffic arteries. After all, the army itself is not productive, and leaving these places, supply is a problem.

The Fifth Town is hidden in the mountains more than 30 kilometers away from the northwest of Xuzhou City.

This place is obviously not suitable for stationing large troops, so the Fifth Town has not been discovered.

If the Fifth Town suddenly penetrated behind the revolutionary army in the fierce battle and carried out division and encirclement, Zheng Lei was not sure whether the result would be good or bad.

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Wars are fought with intention and without intention, and there are many examples of the weak defeating the strong.

"It's a trouble..."