When Qi Xieyuan knew that Zhang Zongchang's 100,000-strong army was marching into Jiangsu Province, he was already prepared for failure. He knew that he did not have the strength to resist Zhang Zongchang, and with the support of Zhang Zuolin from the Fengxian faction,
The power of the Lu army had reached a point where he could not match it, but what he never expected was that Zhang Zongchang's combat strength had reached such a point.
Zhenjiang has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times, and he has dispatched a division of troops to defend here. Zhenjiang's city defenses have been repeatedly reinforced a few months ago. Qi Xieyuan never expected that Zhang Zongchang would actually attack in one day.
He captured Zhenjiang within a short period of time and wiped out all the Zhenjiang defenders. This made him feel despair.
When the news of this battle reached Qi Xieyuan's ears, he had already stayed in place in a daze, unable to move for a long time. Could it be that... was Su Province going to end like this? Could it be that his many years of hard work would be the end of it?
Is this going to waste? Will the ambition of the Northeast King Zhang Zuolin be realized so easily? Qi Xieyuan is not willing to give in!
Facing the menacing Lu army, most of Qi Xieyuan's generals also wavered. At this critical moment, more generals advocated surrender than those who advocated fighting. For them, fighting with any warlord's men is also a war.
There is no need to risk one's wealth and life, but for Qi Xieyuan, Su Province is his final home. If Shanghai falls, then Qi Xieyuan will be a lost dog. The world is so big and he has nowhere to call home.
Therefore, Qi Xieyuan cannot retreat. There is no road behind him that allows him to retreat. The only thing he can do now is to ask for help. Only in this way can he have a chance of survival.
He had already sent the telegram asking for help to Sun Chuanfang two days ago, but it was not until the news of Zhenjiang's defeat came out today that he received a call back from Sun Chuanfang. With only a few words, Qi Xieyuan felt this way for the first time.
Overjoyed: The lips are dead and the teeth are cold, the Lu army is powerful, and they agree to join forces!
For Sun Chuanfang, there is really no reason not to join forces. The ancients said: The lips are dead and the teeth are cold. This is the choice he is facing now. For now, Sun Chuanfang has no choice but to not rescue Qi Xieyuan, although he has to watch Qi Xieyuan being cheated.
Zongchang's Lu army was wiped out, and then he watched Zhang Zuolin's army move south, plotting against Jiangnan step by step. But at least now he does not have to face the threat of the Lu army and Feng army, and he can be sure that he will have no worries for a while. And judging from the current direction of the Lu army's advance
, and had no intention of doing anything to himself.
However, if Su Province is captured by Feng Jun, then he will be left alone in the Yangtze River area to face the impact of Feng Jun and Lu Jun. By then, he will be alone and unable to fight. If he wants to ask for help, I am afraid that the forces around him have already been destroyed.
Fengjun cleans up, and if he doesn't help others, I'm afraid no one will help him.
At that time, there are only two endings left for him, either surrender to Fengjun, or be annihilated by Fengjun.
Sun Chuanfang has been fighting for so many years, but which warlord has he never fought against? His strategic vision is naturally long-term, so when he first got the news of Qi Xieyuan's request for help, he already wanted to agree to his request.
However, a lot of time was wasted in mobilizing troops and generals in the past two days. Unexpectedly, in just these two short days, Zhang Zongchang's continuous efforts captured Zhenjiang!
Sun Chuanfang finally realized how powerful the Lu army was, so he quickly agreed to Qi Xieyuan's joint request, and announced the news to the public the moment the telegram was sent. He wanted Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zongchang to see his determination. If
If Zhang Zongchang doesn't withdraw his troops, he will be defeated and he will fight them to the end.
Sun Chuanfang knew that for warlords like Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zongchang, mere words of telegram notification could not dissuade them. Therefore, the moment he sent the telegram agreeing to the alliance, he sent an army of 150,000 to march.
Su Sheng headed to Shanghai and planned to join Qi Xieyuan's 50,000 troops along the way. In this way, 200,000 troops rushed to Shanghai in a mighty manner, where he wanted to fight to the death with Zhang Zongchang who was heading south.
In this battle, only victory is allowed, not defeat! If defeated, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces will return to Fengjun. If they win, Fengjun will be defeated and retreat, and the southeast will be peaceful from now on! Therefore, this battle is a matter of life and death, and no retreat is allowed. For him,
, there is no way back!
But just when the stone in Qi Xieyuan's heart fell to the ground, a shocking news made him feel despair. A day and a half after he received the news that Zhenjiang had been captured, he received another news: the Lu army had arrived in Danyang, Danyang.
At stake!
It’s over! It’s over! Danyang’s defenders are worse than Zhenjiang, how can they hold on!
After Zhang Zongchang's Lu army sacked Zhenjiang in disguise, except for the day when they waited for Han Baihang's arrival and stayed to collect the wealth in Zhenjiang City, there was no specific time that he could not determine, and they did not stop at all.
Han Baihang listened to the constant reports of his soldiers and played with an exquisite dagger in his hand. This dagger was given to him by Zhang Zongchang. With his meager awareness of cultural relics, Han Baihang could also tell that the dagger in his hand was
It has been around for many years, but it should be from the Song Dynasty.
With Han Baihang's love for traditional Chinese cultural relics, he should be ecstatic to get such a valuable old object, but this time, Han Baihang was not happy at all. On the contrary, he threw the dagger into the exquisite
In the red sandalwood box, the lid was tightly closed.
His subordinates came in again and again. Every time Zhang Zongchang's truck, filled with the treasure gold and silver collected in the past two days, drove from Zhenjiang to Shandong, Han Baihang's soldiers came in to report, and Han Baihang threw the dagger back into the box.
At that time, the eleventh soldier had just finished reporting.
Han Baihang could imagine that among the cartloads of stolen treasures, there were definitely not a few precious items like the dagger in his hand. Some of them were found from the homes of local officers and soldiers, and some were found from the homes of local gentry.
Most of what was taken was taken from innocent people. Maybe an ocean was the source of all the food and clothing for the local people for a month. Without this ocean, their lives would be unsustainable this month. However, Lu
The army doesn't care about this! The lives and deaths of ordinary people are not valuable in the eyes of these rogue-like soldiers!
To the local people, the passing of an army is even worse than a bandit!