The Morality of the Beiyang Era (385): The world is hot and cold, and I have no anger; the taste of the world is thick, and I am not happy.
In the history of Beiyang, the Beiyang warlords started with six towns, of which the third town turned to the northern and southern provinces, winning more and losing less, and the Vietnam War became stronger and stronger, making great achievements for the warlords directly under their direct lineage. For example, Wang Chengbin, Xiao Yaonan, Yan Xiangwen, Zhang Fulai and others were all from the Third Division and successively became the grass-headed king who sat on the side. The rise and fall of the Third Division is a condensed history of the rise and fall of the Cao Kun and Wu Peifu groups. During the Wu Peifu period, the expansion of the third division laid the foundation for the victory of the direct warlords in the first Zhifeng War, and the direct warlords also entered the heyday. At that time, the number of men and horses and weapons and equipment under the direct warlords were inferior to those of the Fengzhi warlords, but the direct army originated from the Beiyang clan and had been in battle for a long time, and the main general Wu Peifu was even more able to fight a good battle. The Fengjun army fought away, deep into the territory of the direct warlords, and the rear supply line was too long, and it was easy to cut off the rear road.
Among them, the duel on the middle road front was between the main forces of the direct warlords, and the 27th and 28th Divisions of the elite troops of the Feng Army faced the 3rd and 24th Divisions of the direct line. On April 24, 1111, the Feng army attacked from Gu'an, under the cover of fierce firepower, inflicted heavy casualties on the Zhi army, and it was Peng Gang of the Third Division of the Zhi Army, who copied the rear road of the Feng Army and repelled the Feng army. Three days later, in the afternoon, Zhang Zuoxiang, commander of fengjun East Road, led an army to cross the Yongding River and capture Yongqing County. At night, the Feng army dispatched death squads to sneak into the positions of the Third Division. The Zhi army strafed with powerful firepower and repelled the Feng army. On the 29th, the Feng army attacked Gu'an with superior troops, and Wang Chengbin's troops of the 23rd Division of the Zhi Army quickly reinforced, and the two sides launched a fierce competition. Fengjun Xu Lanzhou "led the third echelon and four artillery pieces, and the starry night rushed to the front of the enemy to assist in the battle, the artillery of the Fengjun army was very fierce, the Twenty-eighth Division charged with cavalry, and the Zhi army was slightly defeated." ”
Subsequently, Wu Peifu set out from Zhuozhou and led the Third Division to cross the Yongding River, fiercely competing with the Feng army, and finally recaptured Gu'an. Upon hearing the news, the Warlords quickly sent reinforcements to reinforce the Feng army in Gu'an, but the Guard Brigade was defeated by the Sixth Brigade of the Third Division of the Zhi Army, which was also a brigade, and retreated to the rear, until Zhang Zuolin dispatched two fresh troops of mixed brigades to counterattack with fierce artillery fire before stabilizing the position. After that, Wu Peifu dispatched troops to attack, Guo Songling was seriously wounded, and the Feng army retreated. Zhang Zuolin's brother Zhang Zuoxiang led the 27th and 28th Divisions of the Feng Army to come to the rescue, and the 3rd Division of the Zhi Army fought with it for five hours, and the two sides entered a state of stalemate. Wu Peifu then personally led a unit of the Third Division and launched a charge. The Feng army returned fire with heavy artillery, killing Wu Peifu's aide-de-camp and many direct warlord officers, and Wu himself was wounded, but his arrogance did not diminish, but he became more courageous. The Third Division was worthy of Wu Peifu's concubine, and the soldiers were deeply encouraged and morale greatly encouraged when they saw the commander fighting to the death.
In the end, Wu Peifu "turned back to the front and fell in the middle of the attack, and raised his sword and shouted: 'Peifu is here. 'The soldiers are all marching forward. The Feng army was defeated. "On the other hand, the Twenty-seventh Division and the Twenty-eighth Division are both elite of the Feng Army, but since the beginning of the war, these two units have been running back and forth as mobile units of the Feng Army, rushing back and forth, responding to aid from east to west, and the losses have been extremely heavy and they have been unable to fight again. So the Bong army began to waver, and the soldiers retreated one after another. The Zhi army captured more than 40,000 Fengjun troops and won the victory in the middle of the battlefield, and the overall situation was determined in the first battle. The Third Division directly fought against the main force of the Fengzhi warlords in this direct battle for supremacy, fought fiercely with the Fengjun army in the Langfang and Gu'an areas for many days, and belonged to the ballast stone-like existence in the Zhijun army, and with its tenacious combat ability, it defeated the main force of the Fengjun army, won the victory in the middle road battlefield, and led to the development of the entire war situation. In the Second Zhifeng War, although Wu Peifu was defeated, the Third Division had only a few thousand men left in Shanhaiguan, and still followed Wu Peifu to Tianjin to wait for help, and finally suffered a devastating blow.