Chapter 80

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Liu Zhi left the Northern Expedition Army Headquarters, and unexpectedly, just as Lv Muzhi had predicted, the Principal had originally planned to send Wang Bolin's First Division there, keeping his own Second Division as a reserve force.

Fortunately, Lv Muzhi had prepared a battle petition in advance and persuaded the Principal; otherwise, he wouldn't even get a sip of the soup.

Although Lv Muzhi was a regimental commander, he was actually Liu Zhi's staff officer, and Liu Zhi valued him a few points more in his heart.

The left, center, and right route troops, having received the Principal's orders, immediately marched at full speed, all wanting to capture Nanchang City at the fastest speed and claim the first merit.

Wang Bolin led the First Army of the Left Route into Jiangxi from Tonggu, occupied Fengxin, and finally advanced to the foot of Meiling.

Meiling is located on the west bank of the Gan River, about thirty kilometers from Nanchang City Wall on the east bank of the Gan River; it would take less than half a day to reach the city walls.

Officers above the regimental level of the First and Second Divisions of the First Army were urgently summoned; Left Route Army Commander and First Division Commander Wang Bolin stood with both hands propped on the table, and the military conference was clearly asking for advice.

On the long table, the regimental commanders of the First and Second Divisions consciously sat separately on the left and right.

"Gentlemen! Everyone knows the situation; our army is divided into three routes, with swords pointed at Nanchang!"

The Right Route's Second and Third Armies have already engaged Deng Ruzuo's forces along the Zhangshu line;

The Center Route's Sixth Army has already stationed in Ga'an;

And my Left Route Army, with the Principal's high hopes and the soldiers' efforts, advanced directly from Tonggu and Fengxin to Nanchang, now at the foot of Meiling, about thirty kilometers from Nanchang; it has been confirmed that Nanchang City's defenses are empty, and we are the force closest to Nanchang."

Lv Muzhi sat below, eyes observing the nose, nose observing the heart, listening to Wang Bolin's speech.

The Left Route First Army was originally the route that could reach Nanchang City the fastest; along this way there were few enemies; the Center Route's Sixth Army was second; the Right Route's Second and Third Armies were the most difficult, needing to face nearly twenty thousand enemies around Zhangshu, and these two armies were arranged here to restrain the enemy.

A commotion suddenly arose below the stage; the officers whispered to each other, their eyes eager; after sitting on the cold bench for so long, who wouldn't want the merit of being the first to capture the provincial capital?

Wang Bolin pressed his hand and continued: "I now deploy the attack on Nanchang City as follows;

The First Division attacks Nanchang City and consolidates the city defenses; Division Commander Liu Zhi leads the Second Division to occupy Niuhang Station and advances northward for reconnaissance and warning, preventing enemies from Jiujiang from moving south along the railway line to reinforce."

Liu Zhi exhaled a breath through his nose, clearly somewhat unhappy; the First Division enters Nanchang City, the Second Division guards outside, meaning the Second Division is just standing guard like a dog for Wang Bolin outside, and in the end, the merit of recovering the provincial capital still belongs to Wang Bolin.

However, Liu Zhi could not directly express opposition, after all, Wang Bolin was the commander of the Left Route Army, and his position in the Principal's heart was more forward than Liu Zhi's.

"Such deployment is indeed reasonable, but... I heard that there are many enemies around Jiujiang; casually dispatching twenty thousand to reinforce would be more than enough; my Second Division has three combat regiments plus one supplementary regiment, totaling only about seven thousand people; wouldn't it be somewhat difficult? I request Division Commander Wang to dispatch a regiment to reinforce Niuhang Station."

"Uh... this... which of you from the First Division is willing to leave the city to help the Second Division with the warning?" Wang Bolin deliberately asked.

First Regiment Commander Sun Yuanlang and Second Regiment Commander Hu Gongnan both tacitly said nothing; Third Regiment Commander Xue Yue saw the atmosphere was strange and felt very uncomfortable in his heart, so he wanted to volunteer to help the Second Division defend Niuhang Station.

Wang Bolin didn't wait for Xue Yue to speak and directly opened his mouth, "Look! No one can spare themselves; our First Division also has heavy responsibilities; don't worry, wait for Cheng Qian's..."

Wang Bolin led several regimental commanders of the First Division out of the conference room, leaving only Liu Zhi of the Second Division and several of his subordinate regimental commanders.

"Division Commander, our..." Fourth Regiment Commander Chen Jicheng looked at Liu Zhi standing with his hands behind his back.

Other regimental commanders also had opinions; Nanchang City's defenses were weak, and the First Division directly reserved Nanchang City with one sentence.

If this were an order from First Army Commander He Yingqin, everyone would execute it without much issue, but Wang Bolin, as First Division Commander, temporarily acting as Left Route Army Commander, let the Second Division stand guard while the First Division ate the meat; no one felt comfortable in their heart.

Liu Zhi spoke up to silence everyone: "Stop arguing; Niuhang Station must be taken; otherwise, if the First Division is inside Nanchang City and enemy reinforcements arrive without them knowing, it will be everyone who suffers!"

Lv Muzhi also nodded: "In the battle of Nanchang, it appears on the surface that the First Division won the first merit, but the enemy will definitely move south along the Nanxun Railway from Jiujiang to reinforce; if we go to Niuhang Station to block them and succeed, then the greatest merit of this battle actually belongs to our Second Division."

"But what if we fail? The enemies stationed in Jiujiang are very numerous!" Fifth Regiment Commander said worriedly.

"Risk and opportunity coexist; as long as we fight well at Niuhang Station, it is equally a tremendous merit!" Lv Muzhi continued to insist.

Liu Zhi nodded: "Do it this way; all units depart immediately; they must launch an attack on Niuhang Station before six o'clock this evening, take Niuhang Station before midnight, and hastily build fortifications!"

At exactly six o'clock that evening, just as night fell at the foot of Meiling, the sound of artillery fire came from the direction of Niuhang Station on the west bank of the Gan River.

The Second Division's attack on Niuhang Station began!

Liu Zhi entrusted the main attack mission to the Fourth Regiment and Lv Muzhi's Supplementary Regiment.

The Fifth Regiment bypassed Niuhang Station and moved north along the railway line for warning; the Sixth Regiment served as the reserve force by Liu Zhi's side.

Chen Jicheng's Fourth Regiment launched a frontal strong attack from the south of the station, attracting the defenders' firepower; Lv Muzhi led the Supplementary Regiment to attack from the west side, directly inserting into the station's flank and rear.

"Artillery Battalion! Concentrate firepower; bombard the warlord soldiers inside the station for me!" Liu Zhi ordered at the temporary command post.

The artillery battalion belonging to the Second Division immediately opened fire; several mountain guns and field guns roared angrily.

Having been stifled for over two months, the Second Division's artillery was firing for the first time!

Shells smashed into the defensive positions of Niuhang Station; the firelight of the explosions illuminated the platform and the barbed wire around it; the wooden watchtowers crashed down with a clatter, and the searchlights on top and the unlucky sentries fell directly into meat paste.

The two battalions of Beiyang Army troops stationed inside the station obviously did not expect the Northern Expedition Army to come so quickly, nor did they expect the other side to have artillery.

The opposite side deployed artillery to strike; it was obviously a large force deployed; how could an ordinary unit have cannons?

Liu Zhi held up binoculars, very satisfied with the artillery's striking effect; "Creeping barrage; definitely spread it like a big pancake; roll over the entire Niuhang Station; if we can't enter Nanchang City, can't we still deal with the Beiyang warlord defenders inside Niuhang Station?"

"Machine Gun Company! Suppress the enemy's firepower points!" Lv Muzhi shouted at the Supplementary Regiment's attack position.

The six heavy machine guns reinforced by the Supplementary Regiment were mounted on wheels, needing no extra installation of mounts; just push them out; at this moment, the machine gunners fired wildly at the station, making the station's waiting room crackle and pop, and the scalps of the Beiyang warlord soldiers inside went numb.

Soldiers of each battalion, holding gleaming bayonets, rushed into the station, frightening the defenders inside so much their gallbladders turned cold.

The attack on Niuhang Station achieved an overwhelming victory; the two regiments didn't take much effort before rushing into the station; many warlord soldiers directly surrendered their weapons.

Almost at the same time, in the direction of Nanchang City on the east bank of the Gan River, dense gunfire and faint shouts of killing also came; Wang Bolin's First Division launched a general attack on Nanchang City.

Just as the intelligence showed, the defenses inside Nanchang City were extremely empty; apart from a small number of police and guard troops, there were almost no regular troops in formation; the huge Nanchang City had fewer than six hundred armed forces.

Just as victorious as the Second Division attacking Niuhang Station, the First Division hardly took much effort to break through the city gate, and then spent two hours clearing out the enemies hidden inside Nanchang City.

At Niuhang Station, Lv Muzhi found Liu Zhi.

"Division Commander, quickly build several pontoon bridges on the Gan River." Lv Muzhi suggested.

"Why?"

"To make it convenient for Wang Bolin to run away... oh no... to redeploy"