Chapter 30/31: The River (I)

The river is located in the southern suburbs of Beijing, which was the former Qinghang Palace, built by the Qianlong Emperor on a large scale, is the most luxurious of the four palaces built by Beijing's famous Yuan Nanhaizi, the eight-nation coalition entered Beijing City, and the river palace was plundered and destroyed by the invading army, so it has decayed so far.Fortunately, in recent years, the Duanqirui likes the scenery of the river, often live here, the Ministry of Finance has repeatedly allocated funds for repair, and some of the colors have been restored.

At this time, the river palace is brightly lit, the inside and outside the guard are three steps and one post, five steps and one sentinel, and the alert is strict.East Hunan Palace three into the "Xuanyuan Hall", here the most stringent, the door stands are military uniforms, horse boots bright officers, they do not dare to go too close to the doors and windows, but standing across the distance, from time to time can hear the sound of arguments, provoke people side by side.

The atmosphere in Xuyuan Hall was heavy, and the senior generals of the national army were holding their breath one by one, listening to Xu Shuhuao's reply to Wu Peifu's reply: "... since the ancient crime is greater than selling the country, the ugly is more than the outside world... Duan Qirui believes that the thief is the father... the traitor of the country!"

“Don’t read anymore!”

Duan Qirui rudely interrupted Xu Shuxuan to continue to read, he gloomy a face, the nose is a little crooked, gritted teeth: "Good sharp mouth of Wu Xiucai, sent four telegrams a day to scold me, really no one, I don't know the sky is thick!"

Xu Shuxuan smiled lightly: "The supervision of anger, there is a lack of soldiers, help the tongue, Wu Xiu is just an empty tongue, my army is ready, no need to talk to him, only to eliminate your order, the three armies together, you can capture him in front of you."

He expressed full confidence in his words, the declaration of war can be described as his single-handed promotion, the original section of Qirui is not determined to go to war, he cried out, with the radical method to make Duan Qirui agree to go to war, now he is the general staff of the national army and the general commander of the East Road Army, holding tens of thousands of male soldiers, the spirit of the extreme, a great ambition to help the world.

Duan Qirui's anger was slightly reduced, still imperious: "Wu admires the real evil and hateful, he is biased in love with me, the former South of the three Xiang, if he did not move, I have long been determined in the north of the sea and smoothed Guangdong, Gui, unified the whole country, the country will not be today's situation, I can let him continue to call the dog!"Again, you are far more learned than he is, and you muster a text and scold him for me."

Duan Qirui gas is smaller, but also Wu Peifu scolded him too hard, traitors, traitors, and thieves came to make his atmosphere difficult.

Xu Shuxian is also a show talent, but the pen is much inferior to Wu Peifu, and he is busy and humble: "The supervisor, I can say that I can write a policy strategy, but if I write abusive articles, I recommend a person, and I will be better than Wu Xiucai."

At the time, he was interested: “Oh?Who would you recommend?”

Xu Shuxuan said, “Uzesheng.”

Duan Qirui suddenly, U Zesheng is an old man of the Anfu department, this king is good at running newspapers, responsible for the news public opinion of the Anfu Department, but has always been used to being attacked by the newspapers in Beijing and Shanghai, so he is not weighed by him, and now he thinks that only he who is often criticized in the newspaper industry, can sing a play against Taiwan with Wu Xiu.He was busy asking people to call Uzesheng, and asked him to immediately write a crusade directly to Cao Wu's text.

Xu Shujun personally called, there was a belly manuscript in Uzesheng, and at a moment's discretion he wrote a piece of emeralds: "Cao Yong, Wu Peifu, etc., are not in government, threaten the head of state... Guarding Gyeonggi, dividing the way into and out, protecting the border with the security government, except for the traitors to the state!"

Duan Qirui looked at the speech and said it well, immediately in his own name, and tampered the whole country.After the power was issued, Duan Qirui breathed a bad breath, and restored the calmness of the past, and asked, "And huh, how is the situation of the troops?"

Xu Shujun confidently said: "If you return to supervision, the morale of the officers and soldiers is like a rainbow, eager to go to the battlefield to kill thieves, and cut off the counter-thieves for the country!"

“All right!”

Duan Qirui Daxi, a pat on the table to drink: "For a time, I was a soldier for a while, I was a soldier who participated in the war, and then for the border army, now a national army, it is to fight for the national wing, fight for the national salvation, fight for the Chinese nation, and return the people to a peaceful one!"

The generals of the army of the court were awe-inspiring, but this scene was only a moment of feeling, no one was too serious, everyone knew in their hearts that no matter which side was for the self-interest of the group, the so-called for the country for the people, but to put money on their faces.

Duan Qirui naturally also knows this, he said seriously: "As far as I mean, I do not want to fight, but Cao Yan, Wu Peifu forced me too much, they have to step down again, the target is actually aimed at me, aimed at us, I can not give up, only the World War I side."Needless to say, the battle is over, everyone is rich and rich, the battle is bad, everyone is finished together.Tell me about the war.”

Xu Shujun is the chief of staff, the entire battle strategy comes from his pen, the moment is not polite, let the adjutant hang a huge military map, he picked up the baton, to everyone said: "This war our army is divided into the east and west two battlefields, the west road as the main battlefield, to Baoding direction of the attack; the east road for the auxiliary battlefield, to Tianjin direction of the attack, the two ways at the same time to take the offensive, must make the direct army no respite."

As soon as he finished speaking, the commander-in-chief of the Western Army, Zhigui, stood up and laughed, “The inspector is relieved, when we lead the army to fight, Wu Peifu is still just a horseman, and it is easy to beat him.”

Other generals have also expressed their statements, the chest of the pouting: "Yes, the direct army is not enough to fear, supervise you to see, we will be Cao San and Wu Xiucai captured, so that he can not regret the original."

Duan Qirui smiled at the flowers on his face, as if he could foresee victory now, he touched the short beard of his chin and said with great air: "Cao Wu does not speak of benevolence, we cannot be ruthless, we are all Beiyang soldiers, after you catch them, do not blame the abuse, send me to the front, I want to ask them, who is right and who is wrong!"

The generals nodded, saying that the next people discussed specific tactics.

...

Under the dark night, the three hundred officers and soldiers of the selection team were deployed in the foothills, and countless healthy figures could be seen vaguely in the shadows of the trees, no one in the team spoke, only the jingling collision of equipment, heavy gasps and footsteps.

It has been five hours since the departure from the high-behind shop, along the way, the troops have avoided the road of the army, the rough road of the mountain, difficult to climb, all the way to the hardships and abnormal, even if there are well-known terrain mountain people as a guide, but also walked many times the wrong road, during the dozens of people fell to the cliffs lost their lives.

Chapter 31: The River (II)

Han Baihang followed the guide to the front of the road, climbing the dog-like stone and barbed wire-like thorns, his hands and face drawn a bloodstain, military uniforms were hooked out a hole, the foot of the cloth shoes have also broken the hole.He did not frown, did not gritted teeth, followed the guide, and looked back from time to time to see if they had fallen behind.

The original task of the sharp soldier was served by the vice-captain of a shed, but when he turned over a mountain, he fell into the mountain, although there was no danger of life, but he broke his leg and was unable to follow the troops.Han Baihang had to leave a man to look after him, and did not rest assured that other soldiers were involved in danger of exploring the road, he simply made himself a sharp soldier, his skill, especially good vision at night, better than anyone, than anyone else to be a sharp soldier, under his open road, the speed of the troops was greatly improved.

The guide is a 60-year-old old mountain people, not young but old and strong, along the way over the mountains and mountains and mountains are very fast and abnormal, even if Han Baihang such a strong boy is almost thrown behind, but he has been walking for so long, his physical strength is not as full as young people, began to pant for breath, Han Baihang stopped the march, said to the old mountain people: "Old man, rest, the road is far from this time."

Old mountain people thanked, sat on a stone to rest, touched a cigarette gun hanging with a load, slowly squeezed a small piece of cigarette from the bag into the pipe, Han Baihang took the initiative to light a match to help him lit, the old mountain people on the fire bar, smoked, smoked two cigarettes in a row, his strength recovered a lot, the smoke gun baby, the smoke gun baby, the old mane said, the old man.I have walked the mountain road all these years, not my boast, I can keep up with my people, always the first one!"

Han Baihang was a bit flattered, on this road in order to chase the footsteps of the old mountain people but he was tired enough, said bitterly: "Old man, you can't praise me, if not with the military order, I would have been unable to walk, but your old family is good, if you are a few years younger, I can't catch the horse."

The old mountain people's dark face showed a hint of shyness, and he said proudly: "That is, when I was young, I was able to go up the mountain to pick up the sluggish, and the ten-mile eight villages are famous!"

“Old man, do you have more young children like you can climb mountains like you?”

Han Baihang suddenly came up with an idea, China's backward traffic, the marching battle is still dependent on the legs and feet of the soldiers, especially the raid operations are mostly to climb over the mountains, ordinary infantry is extremely difficult to adapt to the combat needs, take the front team, this way to the surprise attack the river, afraid to go down at least a quarter of the force, which has a great impact on the operation, so it is necessary to train a force that is good at mountain marching.Of course, he is now just a small platoon leader, and there is no power to recruit and buy horses, but it does not prevent him from imagining.

The old mountain people looked at him, took off the grass shoes and shook the sand inside, and said, "A lot, there are no legs and feet in the mountain!"

Han Baihang smiled, “Old man, I want to go to your village to recruit soldiers in the future, and I asked you a lot of help!”

As soon as the old mountain people heard this, they shook their heads and raised the rattle: "No, no, the days in the mountains are more bitter, but the ancestors have passed down for generations, and they cannot be soldiers to sell their lives."

Han Baihang dumb, he knows that now the people have "good iron do not nail, good men should not be soldiers", the Republic of China frequent war, the people are tired of war to the extreme, in addition to being forced to enter the army, most people would rather live in the face of the yellow soil back to the sky, rather than eat military food.However, then, the treatment of the Beiyang Army is really good, the salary is very high and very secure, take the third division of the bottom of the second class, for the removal of food and miscellaneous use, every month to get six pieces of ocean, with today's purchasing power, the price of an acre of land in the countryside is about 20 pieces of ocean, a soldier as long as the life is bigger, when a few years soldiers down, you can save a number of expensive savings, when the time back to the countryside.He did not force the old mountain people, after all, now just casually said that when it is really necessary to recruit mountain soldiers, there are ways to make the mountain people follow suit.

After a while, the follow-up troops rushed up one after another, and Han Baihang tied his leg again and picked up again.Two hours later, the old mountain people buried in front of the road, Han Baihang habitual stop to observe the front, inadvertently saw the right 100 meters away a red dot flash, he scratched, at first thought it was the eyes spent, then rubbed his eyes and looked over there, not much time and suddenly saw the red dot, he suddenly surprised, the brain flashed a thought, someone is smoking!In this uninhabited mountain, the only possibility is to meet the enemy.He quickly responded, quickly followed the old mountain people, and covered his mouth: "Shhh, there is a situation!"

The old mountain people subconsciously struggled a little, opened their eyes in the direction of Han Baihang's fingers, and also saw the flashing red dot, and more than one, only listening to Han Baihang's low voice and ask: "Old man, do you remember the terrain over there?"

The old mountain people jumped through the heart, busy and cautiously lying down, carefully looked at the surrounding terrain, not very sure said: "I remember well, there should be a beam mouth, only a steep and dangerous sheep intestine path leads, both sides are cliffs!"

Han Baihang's heart was slightly heavy, and the sudden appearance of the soldiers in the army was bound to disrupt the combat deployment, saying, "Let's go back to report first."

The two people turned back to find the captain Zhong Gaoying, talked about the situation encountered in front of him, Zhong Gaoying paused, immediately opened the map, through the moonlight to see, can not help but take a cold breath: "Intelligence is wrong, how can there be enemies here!"

Han Baihang calmly said: "Captain, the intelligence is changing at any time, I listen to the old uncle, there is the beam head, the slope is steep, the road is narrow, our troops are difficult to expand the formation, if the army occupies, if you want to attack hard is not easy!"

Zhong Gaoying frowned: "Can't attack, that will expose the combat intention of the surprise attack on the river, there are no other paths to bypass!"

The old mountain people thought for a moment and said, "Go back to the six or seven, there is a valley road that can be bypassed, but I have not walked for a long time, and I can't guarantee the smoothness."

Zhong Gaoying heard some words of interest, Han Baihang but in the heart of the head, the mountain road back and forth more than a dozen miles is not a child's play, and the other road is not clear, there may be a Wan army appeared, he was busy reminded: "Captain, our marching speed has been slightly behind the battle plan, such as back more than a dozen miles, afraid it is difficult to reach the river on time."

His words reminded Zhong Gaoying that the selection team shouldered the heavy responsibility, if you can't launch the attack on time, resulting in the failure of Yu Shuai's surprise attack, this sin no one can afford to eat, he bowed his head for a while, suddenly moved his eyes to Han Baihang, regardless of the order of 3721: "Han platoon leader, I make you want to do everything you can to open the way for the army."