Xu Xuzhi

Chapter 51 The Battle of Zhuozhou
In the second half of the 17th year of the Republic of China, looking at the whole of China, the political situation was between two climaxes: the rise of the Nanjing National Revolutionary Army was full of confidence and felt invincible; But he didn't hurt his muscles and bones, and his vitality was still there. The old man tried in vain to consolidate his "An Guojun government" in Beiping.

Therefore, at this time, no matter whether the new warlords in the south or the old warlords in the north are mobilizing their horses and sharpening their swords, they continue to use force and dream of "ruling the world by force".The great man once made the following analysis of the situation at that time: the new warlords were divided into four factions. Before Beiping and Tianjin were captured, there was a temporary unity against the Beiping military government; situation……

Yan Baichuan, one of the factions of the new warlords, known as "Yan Laoxier", was the leader of the Jin faction warlords. He was quite slick, and he was also a member of the famous "Rebel Generals" brigade.He took the initiative to contact the old commander, and together with Ning Xi defeated Feng Huanzhang, another Northwest warlord who was particularly good at "changing the family", and then took the post of deputy commander-in-chief of the Anguo Army.

After the end of the Nanjing government's purge of the party, the Northern Expeditionary Army rose again. He realized that the Ning faction's situation in the pass was over, so he turned around without hesitation and declared his allegiance to the Nanjing government, participated in the Northern Expedition, and took office in Taiyuan in September as the "National Revolutionary Army Northern Army" Commander-in-Chief", immediately opened fire on the former comrades-in-arms, and sent troops to attack the Ping-Sui Line and the Ping-Han Line controlled by the Ningxi on October [-].

Zhuozhou is located between Beijing and Baozhou, a hundred miles away from Beiping in the north, more than a hundred miles away from Baoding in the south, and two hundred miles away from Tianjin in the southeast.

As soon as the situation became tense, in order to ensure the safety of the Jinghan Road, the old commander immediately ordered the combat headquarters to be set up in Baoding and sent Ning Zheng to control it. Ning Zheng led his troops from Henan to Hebei; Zhang Fuchen, the commander of the [-]th Division, guarded Zhuozhou.In late September, Yan Baichuan personally led the four main forces to leave Niangziguan eastward and go northward along the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway to Dingzhou;

The flames of war are rising again, but what makes people laugh and cry is that amidst the artillery fire, the two armies did not forget to launch a telegram war.Because this kind of telegram is to be published in newspapers, not to mention the whole of China, even the international community is paying attention to this war.In fact, wars have always been like this. Either side has to describe itself as a righteous army. This is not only the need of public opinion warfare, but also the necessity of boosting the morale of the army.

The Jin army suddenly changed course and launched a fierce offensive. The Ning army was caught off guard and was sent down many cities.At the beginning of October, Zhang Fuchen of the [-]th Division stationed in Zhuozhou was transferred to Baonan to participate in the war, and Wang Dingfang, the brigade commander of the guard brigade, led his troops to take over the defense.On October [-]th, Wang Dingfang led all the soldiers to get off at Zhuozhou Railway Station and entered the city through the south gate one after another.On the same day, Zhu Deheng, the chairman of the Zhuozhou Chamber of Commerce, hosted a banquet to clean up the dust and welcome the successor Wang Brigadier Commander Wang and other Ningjun officers.

Near noon, a team with high morale and wearing military uniforms that looked very similar to the military uniforms of the Pinqing Ning Army calmly entered the city from the north gate, passed through the center of the North and South Streets, and passed the Bell and Drum Tower.The Bell and Drum Tower is the military defense center of Zhuozhou. When approaching the oncoming Ning army, the team suddenly raised their guns and fired.

The soldiers of the Ning army were completely unprepared. Most of the soldiers walking in front were killed or injured immediately, while those behind were panicked and fled in all directions.Then dense gunshots rang out everywhere in Zhuozhou City, even from the direction of the train station outside the city.Wang Dingfang and others who were drinking at Zhu Deheng's house heard the gunshots, but they didn't know what to do, so they had to flee in a hurry, and the city was in chaos.

Brigadier Wang was unable to gather his troops, so he had to retreat to a Catholic church in the southeast corner of the city, sealed the church door, and fought hard. A fierce battle came to the ancient city of Zhuozhou so unexpectedly.

This team that pretended to be so similar to the Ning Army was the advance detachment of Fu Yisheng, the commander of the Fourth Army, who was set as a mobile force during the Jin Army's northward movement: soldiers in the Ning Army Guard Brigade all wore yellow armbands, while The armbands worn by Fu Yisheng's fourth division were single day yellow and double day red. The day they arrived in Zhuozhou City happened to be single day, so the Ning army saw that the soldiers on the opposite side also had yellow armbands, so they naturally thought they were from the same division; In addition, he never thought that the enemy would dare to enter the city in a big way, so he didn't become suspicious, so he was caught off guard.

Fu Yisheng is sober-minded, resourceful, and with God's help, he was able to make a surprise attack in one fell swoop without the Ning army and the people of Zhuozhou noticing, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Ning army changed defenses sooner or later.

After the two armies exchanged fire on South Street, the two companies of Yuan Qingzeng, the advance captain of Fu Yisheng's Fourth Division, also arrived at the train station. A group of soldiers from Wang Dingfang's troops who came to Zhuo successively got off the train, and they were suddenly attacked by the Jin army.After the Ning army retreated, the Jin army destroyed the railway and overturned the tracks.However, the Ning army immediately discovered that the invading Jin army was few and single, and they regrouped to confront the Jin army, and the Jin army was forced to withdraw from the station.

At night, under the command of Brigadier Wang, the Ning army guarding the church in the city suddenly attacked the south gate, killing the two company commanders patrolling the city. , And then use sackcloth to build a fortification to stick to South Street.

At dawn, the Ning army outside the city bombarded Beiguan, stormed the southeast and southwest corners of the city, and at the same time climbed up the city wall with ladders and other objects; foothold.

However, Yuan Qingzeng had an elite commando team of more than a hundred people, many of whom had a background in martial arts. In the dark night, they flew over the eaves and walls as if they were in no one's land. The fortifications of the Ning army collapsed under the intensive firepower. More than half of the Ning army in the city was killed or injured. As a last resort, the remaining Ning army retreated to Pushou Temple five kilometers outside the city.

The old man was furious after receiving the urgent telegram, so Ning Zheng had to quickly send his troops northward, and sent No.15 Division Huang Shiyue Division, No.20 Third Division An Xixia Division, Artillery Sixth Brigade Qiao Fang Division and Engineer Commander Bai Guilin Division A total of more than 3 people waited to besiege Zhuozhou, vowing to regain the key.
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From the last time Ning Zheng went back to the present, the final exam week of the first semester of Fengjiu's university career is over, and the winter vacation is about to begin. Even Melanie has given birth to a healthy baby boy, and Ning Zheng has never been back. Naturally, Ji Songling couldn't come back, and almost all the elites of the Ning army were still in the pass, and half of them were caught in the bitter battle on the front line of Zhuozhou. Counting it, this was the first time that the two couples had been separated for such a long time since they got married.

Feng Jiu was very concerned about the battle on the front line in Zhuozhou. Newspapers and radio said it was extremely difficult.She began to worry about the safety of Ning Zheng who was on the front line, because in the first five storms, even Huang Shiyue, the commander of the [-]th Division, was defeated.

Ning Zheng used almost all methods, while the opponent resisted tenaciously. Both sides attacked and defended strongly, and a classic battle was achieved.

The Ning army used cannons, tanks, airplanes and many other weapons respectively, and the upper, middle and lower three-dimensional wars advanced simultaneously. This kind of siege method is also commendable. According to the general siege warfare, it should have been a great success. Total victory.

But Zhuozhou City is very special: Zhuozhou is a famous granary in the north, and there is a lot of grain stored in the city; Ammunition is plentiful; there are secret passages in the west of the city to Zijinguan and Yizhou, and the external communication is not broken.

The war has not ended for a long time, and Ning Zheng is very worried. Recently, he even flew over Zhuozhou City to inspect the battle situation.He observed that there is a tower in the southeast corner of the city, tens of meters high, standing on the top of the tower, it must be clearly visible dozens of miles outside the city.From this, Ning Zheng guessed that the artillery observation post of the Jin army must be set up on the pagoda. After he came back, he checked the map and found out that these are stupas.

After hesitating for a moment, Ning Zheng still decided to dispatch two cannons in Xihe Village, less than two kilometers away from the city, to bombard the top of the twin pagodas. , Unexpectedly, three shells hit the past, and the tower was still safe and sound.The soldiers of the Ning army generally have low cultural quality and are very superstitious. Reminiscent of the supernatural things that the nearby people said about the Zhuozhou Twin Pagodas, they can't help but feel that this stupa is afraid of being blessed by the Buddha, so they dare not bombard it again. Ning Zheng can only do nothing. .At this time, the battle had been raging for several days, and Ning Zheng had exhausted all his tactics, but the Fourth Division of the Jin Army in the city was really tenacious. Even if a gap was opened in the city wall, the defenders could immediately repair it, but as the food reserves were exhausted, At the end of the day, winter is coming, and it is only a matter of time before Zhuozhou is taken down.From November, the Ning army stopped the ground attack and prepared to dig tunnels in the Fanjiapo area in the north of the city to attack the city.On the one hand, the old commander ordered Shanxi fellows in Beijing to send representatives to the city to surrender, and on the other hand, he called Yan Baichuan, expressing that he would never invade Shanxi and hoped to resolve the issue between the two armies peacefully, but failed.

Let’s go back to Yan Baichuan’s battle: After the Ning army lost the first battle, it immediately went through rectification and gradually defeated the Jin army’s northern and southern armies one by one.The Ning army regained its lost ground, Yan Baichuan, who had left the pass angrily, could only flee into Niangziguan in a hurry, so that all the seals of the headquarters were intercepted by the Ning army, and now there is only one Zhuozhou that has not been recaptured.

The war dragged on until December, and the weather became colder and colder. At this time, the soldiers of the Jin army in the city could not be supplied with supplies. Because they could only eat distiller's grains for three meals a day, some soldiers' hands, feet and heads were getting swollen day by day, and some even Unable to urinate and defecate, the combat effectiveness of the army has lost eighty-nine; and ordinary people have long been without food, starving to death, sickness and death are countless; the sound of wailing in the streets and alleys is endless day and night.One day, more than 100 old ladies and children in the city circled around Fu Yisheng's division headquarters, begging for mercy, touching their heads to the ground, weeping and wailing, begging Fu Yisheng not to resist any longer.When Ning Zheng heard about it, he called Fu Yisheng immediately, and sent personnel from the Peking Red Cross to the city to make contact, releasing more than [-] dying women and children.

On Fengtian's side, Melanie had finished confinement, and Ji Songling hadn't come back yet.

Counting it, Feng Jiu hadn't seen her husband for three months. She knew that the war had reached its final stage, and now it was exhausting her willpower. Fu Yisheng hadn't received Yan Baichuan's order to open the door and surrender, so she was still resisting.

However, since Ning Zheng was safe and sound, she was relieved.

On this day, after all the exams were over, she was waiting for the holiday, so when she returned to Shuai's mansion, she was playing with Buku who came to visit, and Hong Yun and Yanying from the second brother's house who came uninvited.

Buku has already found a few teachers to open the door, but the class is not so regular; Feng Ling will also take the university entrance exam next summer.

Feng Jiu and Buku are playing idiom Solitaire, but idioms are idioms, but they don't sound so serious, and they often go astray, for example——

"Thinking forward and being loyal—" Buku said first.

"Loyalty and righteousness—" Feng Jiu continued.

"Audacious—" Buku answered quickly.

"Tianjin Baozi—" Feng Jiu was not slow.

……Well?Qiu Hongyun, an elementary school student watching the battle quietly, felt that something was wrong. Although he was younger than Buku, his knowledge could not be as good as it was. He looked at Solitaire in confusion with bright black eyes like a sparrow, and he didn't think there was anything wrong at all. The third aunt and the little brother of the Tang family are all right.

The second sister-in-law Yan Leling, who went back to her own residence and found a few toys, just came in and heard it, and couldn't help shaking her head and laughing, "Bong Jiu, you're naughty again."

The second sister-in-law likes Feng Jiu's honest and lively personality very much, so whenever Feng Jiu returns to the commander's mansion, she will definitely bring the children to play.

Since Feng Jiu went to university, she has become too busy, so it is not easy to come back.

Feng Jiu saw that she had been dismantled, so she could only smile embarrassedly, and then said to the three children with a straight face, "Children, Tianjin steamed stuffed bun is not an idiom, aunt," she nodded towards Buku "That's your third aunt—" She turned around and nodded to Hongyun and Yanying again, "That's not right, don't learn from it."

The children all expressed that they would definitely not imitate the behavior of the elder in front of them.

At this moment, Qiu Sheng shouted outside that Feng Jiu had a phone call, Yan Leling gave the three children a bunch of toys to play with, Feng Jiu took the opportunity to go out to answer the phone, unexpectedly it was the handsome old man.

On the phone, the old handsome calmly asked Feng Jiu if he was not used to his college life, and praised Feng Jiu for winning the first-class scholarship.Fengjiu's slander came out only yesterday, you really know everything, and then the old man asked Fengjiu to go to the front line of Zhuozhou to visit her husband in a soft but firm tone.

Feng Jiu blinked, thinking he heard right?It's not that she's afraid of going to the front line, but she just thinks that, except for very special circumstances, since ancient times, women's family members have not been allowed to accompany the army?It is said that they are afraid of getting bad luck.

Of course Feng Jiu doesn't feel that she is that unlucky, but she still respects this kind of custom that is beyond her comprehension.

She readily agreed, but she just asked the old man if this was in compliance with the rules and if anyone would gossip.

The old man was very satisfied with Feng Jiu, and felt that the daughter of the Tang family was really educated and reasonable, so he told her very intimately that this is nothing serious, so don't worry.

So Fengjiu brought a lot of items with him, all of which were given to Ji Songling by Melanie, who immediately started packing after learning about the matter.The front line was tough, Fengjiu didn't plan to take more people to suffer, so he got on the special train of Ning's family and went straight to Zhuozhou - the Ning army had beaten the Jin army back to their hometown and regained control of the railway line, so the journey was unimpeded.

It was already the [-]th day of the first month in the Gregorian calendar at this time, in the temporary headquarters of the Ning Army in Pushou Temple in Zhuozhou, Ning Zheng remained motionless like a mountain, letting the old courtiers and young officers around him quarrel.

Fu Yisheng refused to surrender, and more and more people in the city, especially the old and young, women and children, died of starvation and freezing.He didn't want to commit murder for no reason, but his subordinates couldn't reach an agreement on whether to deliver supplies to the city, or whether they would be exploited by the Jin army in troubled waters, and they had been arguing for almost two days.

He was a little bored, and wanted to take out a cigarette, but felt that his pocket was empty, then remembered, and put down his hand again; Zhi Changsheng cleverly handed over a cigarette, and Ning Zheng waved his hand, "Forget it."

Li Sheng, the commander of the first division closest to him, looked at him strangely: "Junzuo, have you really quit?"

Ning Zheng let out a "huh".

The handsome adjutant Ke Weili, who was as handsome as a Greek statue, couldn't help but smile, took out a cigarette, lit it, and started smoking.

"Amazing! This subordinate admires, admires!" Li Sheng only felt that this incident was quite sudden, and the others who were arguing also stopped and looked at them inexplicably.

Everyone has always thought that the young marshal's addiction to smoking is not big or small. In the past, if he occasionally felt unwell and coughed badly, under the doctor's warning, it would be good if he could not smoke for a few days. Just smoke.

But this time, many people have witnessed it, and they haven't smoked for half a year.

In fact, since she got married, Feng Jiu kept quiet about it, but Ning Zheng had already discovered that she was extremely disgusted by the smell of cigarettes.From the first time he kissed her, Ning Zheng noticed that she was quite sensitive to smells - in addition to the smell of cigarettes, she also hated the smell of alcohol and pungent perfume... The sensitivity of smell is amazing.Of course, since this is the case, why he still likes smelly food so much is also puzzling to him.

Once in Mrs. Ning's yard, Qiaozhi peeled off a piece of durian candy from a relative who went to Nanyang and stuffed it into her mouth, and then went out; after half an hour, Feng Jiu entered the house, and immediately shrugged her nose and asked, Did someone eat durian just now? Everyone in the room was surprised.

She especially doesn't like the strong smell of perfume. If she attends a banquet with Westerners, the choking smell will always give her a headache, so she doesn't go if she can.

Incense is also limited, unlike the two sisters, who have to try all kinds of incense.

There are only a few kinds of fragrances she likes, all of which are faint and thin.Some long-established spice shops have started to sell some exotic essential oils and incense since they learned Western spice making techniques. Fengjiu also only picks the fresh fruity aromas of bergamot, orange, and lemon. There is also tea scented with jasmine, osmanthus and Milan, which is enough.

Ning Zheng himself only likes sweet rosin. Although it is called "sweet" pine, it actually smells clear and slightly bitter. Feng Jiu is also weird. After smelling it once, he fell in love with it.

The men of the Tang family did not smoke this kind of incense, they prefer the traditional luxurious, thick sandalwood and ambergris.

Ning Zheng's clothes, except military uniforms, other Chinese-style long gowns and Western-style clothes, are often smoked with sweet and rosin by the servants.

Not long after they were newly married, Ning Zheng once held her in his arms, and almost immediately heard a thin snort of "咻咻". Looking down, Feng Jiu's pretty nose first shrugged, then sniffed, and sniffed again. , Seeing the brows stretched and the eyes slightly closed, Ning Zheng knew that the incense on her body was right for her temper.

After washing in the morning, if he kissed her, even if he hugged her to kiss her forcibly, Feng Jiu, who was always ready to wake up early in the morning, accepted it silently, even though he was not very willing.

But if you come back from the outside, especially after attending a meeting, the room is full of people who are almost all smoking guns. Every time you come in and want to kiss her without changing clothes, she will frown secretly. It will be a little stiff.

One meeting was too long, and she smelled the strong smell of cigarettes all over his body, and she actually wanted to vomit.

At that time, Ning Zheng had an idea, so he might as well quit like this.In order to help the brothers in Heilongjiang, he once led the Seventh Brigade to encircle and suppress the Heilongshan bandits in the ice and snow of Chahar. The low temperature of minus [-] degrees did some damage to his body, and his lung function changed. If he is weak, Dr. Huang also suggested that he quit smoking as soon as possible, so wouldn't it be the best of both worlds.

Before the start of the war, the same class of Chinese students from the Virginia Military Institute returned to China to visit him and brought him several boxes of high-quality Cuban cigars. from.

"Smell it, does it smell like a virgin?"

Ning Zheng slid open the rectangular wooden box, took out a thick brown cigar, slid it sideways through the crowd, and took a deep sniff. Aroma, people unconsciously intoxicated.

...and put it back again.

"Don't you come with one?" He Zhulin, a classmate who has joined the Jin Army, opened his eyes wide and looked at him with some puzzlement. Of course, at that time, Yan Baichuan hadn't turned his back on the old man.

"Quit. Keep it as a gift."

"Hey——I heard that you quit smoking? It seems to be true. What's going on? Broken love? No, didn't you just get married?"

"... Do you think who quit smoking after falling in love? Smoking is almost the same."

He Zhulin had an open-minded look of "please enlighten me".

He looked at He Zhulin who was single, smiled slightly, and said casually: "One day you will marry a wife who hates the smell of cigarettes, and you will be able to quit smoking."

He Zhulin glared at him, "... Bah! Look at you, bully me, a loner!"

Later, Feng Jiu also saw this box of cigars, and when Ning Zheng relayed what his classmate said, he almost died of laughter, "It's just a gimmick, does anyone really believe it? Look, they are all masterpieces of the girl's seventh and eighth aunts."

Ning Zheng smiled, "My wife is really not easy to lie to."

Feng Jiu shook his finger at him triumphantly, "I'm just being pragmatic."

Ning Zheng hugged her and asked in a low voice: "For you, I even quit smoking, aren't you moved?"

Feng Jiu intentionally misinterpreted his words, straightened his eyebrows and stared blankly, stiffened his body and held back a smile, and said, "Don't dare to move, not even dare to move."

Ning Zheng was overjoyed.

(End of this chapter)