Warlords: Conquer the world from the county magistrate

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Linyu was overjoyed. He took the telegram from the staff officer and started reading it.

"Division Commander, did Yanping defeat the Northern Army so quickly?" The chief of staff also came over with mixed feelings.

You know, the Northern Army had 120,000 soldiers in the middle, and they were all wiped out in less than half a day?

After reading the telegram, Zhao Linyu handed it to the chief of staff: "Take a look."

"Order all regiments to prepare for battle. Once the shelling stops, go up and pin down this enemy force. Do not let them escape."

During this period, the 11th Army launched several attacks on the 5th Division's positions every day.

Except for the first few days, the Northern Army's offensive formation was relatively scattered. Although the intensity of the attack was not strong, it caused considerable trouble to the Fifth Division.

A lot of machine gun bullets were wasted before we repelled their attacks several times.

At the 11th Army position, Li Yonglin, who was hiding in a cave to prevent artillery fire, was also cursing: "Have these Nanshan soldiers eaten gunpowder?"

"My troops are planning to retreat. What does he mean by this? Is he planning to hold a farewell party?"

Facing Li Yonglin's ridicule, the staff officer looked very serious: "Commander, this matter is probably not simple."

"What's so difficult about it? We have 120,000 main forces in Yanping, and even our 11th Army has 30,000 troops."

Of course, Li Yonglin said that the 11th Army had 30,000 people, but in fact, after this period of consumption, there were only more than 25,000 left.

After shelling for half an hour, the Fifth Division launched a feint attack on the Eleventh Army from several directions to tie down its actions.

After receiving intelligence from the front, Li Yonglin said angrily: "What are these Nanshan troops doing? Do they think they can defeat our 11th Army with just these few people?"

"Commander, just as we received the retreat telegram from headquarters, the Nanshan Army launched a fierce attack on our army. I'm afraid there is a significant connection between the two." The Chief of Staff of the 11th Army also said solemnly.

Li Yonglin's expression suddenly froze, and he said with a dry mouth, "No, that's not possible."

According to the chief of staff's speculation and analysis, the result is that the main force was defeated by the Nanshan Army, or the Nanshan Army received reinforcements.

Although this speculation seems absurd, there is no other reason for the current situation except this speculation.

Li Yonglin's heart was also filled with shock and fear. The situation was still very good yesterday, but it suddenly reversed today, catching him off guard.

"Commander, now is not the time to hesitate. You should make a decision early." The chief of staff had a bad feeling in his heart and his face was a little anxious.

Li Yonglin thought for a moment and shook his head: "Send a message to the headquarters first and find out the situation before making any plans."

"Okay." Although he was anxious, Li Yonglin was the one who made the decision after all. The chief of staff could only suppress his emotions and go to the communications office in person to convey the order.

Twenty minutes later, the chief of staff walked into the headquarters with a gloomy face.

Li Yonglin saw him coming back and immediately went up to him and asked, "How is it? What did the headquarters say?"

He still had some hope in his heart, hoping that the headquarters had some plan for them to execute before ordering them to retreat, so he was eager to know the whole story.

The chief of staff shook his head slightly: "I have been calling for ten minutes, but there is no response from the headquarters."

"What?" Upon hearing the news, Li Yonglin seemed to have lost his strength and sat dejectedly on the chair.

There are only two possibilities for not being able to call the headquarters. The first is that the headquarters radio is not turned on, and the second is that the headquarters is gone.

Li Yonglin tends to believe the first possibility, that the radio station at the headquarters was not turned on. Why the radio station at the headquarters was not turned on is worth pondering.

Either it's broken down, under attack, or on its way to being transferred.

Combined with the last telegram from the headquarters, it is not difficult to guess that the headquarters is either on the way to transfer or under attack.

Li Yonglin took a deep breath and told the chief of staff his guess.

Chief of Staff: "Commander, if this is true, then there are only two possibilities. Either the Nanshan Army is counterattacking, or Sanjiang Province is being attacked by the Nanshan Army."

Li Yonglin shook his head slightly. He did not think that Sanjiang Province was attacked by the Southern Army. This was the time when the Northern Army and the Nanshan Army were fighting fiercely.

The Northern Army still retained a lot of strength. If the Southern Army marched north at this time, the Northern Army could quickly escape from Nanshan Province, which would be a loss for the Southern Army.

Even if the Southern Army wants to attack Sanjiang Province, it will wait until the Northern Army has been exhausted to a certain extent before taking action.

"I'm afraid that the reinforcements from the Nanshan Army have arrived, and the battle in Nanshan should have come to an end."

Seeing Li Yonglin's firm words, the chief of staff thought about it and realized it, so he said anxiously: "Commander, if the Nanshan Army sends reinforcements, we will be in great danger. What should we do now?"

"Don't panic. Even if reinforcements from the Nanshan Army arrive, they should appear in the middle and fight with our main force."

In Li Yonglin's opinion, there are 120,000 Northern troops in the middle. If the Nanshan Army wants to defeat the troops in the middle, it will take a lot of time, which is enough for the 11th Army to deal with it.

Moreover, the distance from the Yanping battlefield to the Lingshan County is eighty or ninety miles. Even if the Nanshan Army has already annihilated the main force in the middle, it will have to wait until night or tomorrow to reach Lingshan.

"Brothers, hold the position. We will break out tonight under cover of darkness."

The chief of staff immediately conveyed Li Yonglin's order, asking all units to prepare for combat and nighttime breakout.

However, Li Yonglin's speculation did not apply to the Nanshan Army. In the afternoon, the convoy carrying the Nanshan Army's reinforcements entered Lingshan County. The troops stopped not far from the battlefield to rest and eat dry food.

When the troops were resting, Cai Tingwu asked someone to send a telegram to Zhao Linyu, and then Cai Tingwu and Du Feiyun sat together to eat dry food.

"The Northern Army outside Lingshan City is still holding on to the battlefield and has not retreated." Du Feiyun was still a little surprised by this.

The Northern Army had a radio station. It was impossible that Feng Huamin did not send a message to Li Yonglin when he retreated, right?

Cai Tingwu chuckled and explained, "The 11th Army should have received orders from the headquarters, but it is being held back by the 5th Division, so it is not easy for it to retreat."

"I'm afraid he thinks that even if the main force in the middle is defeated, it will be difficult for reinforcements to reach Lingshan in a short time."

"The commander of the 11th Army probably wants to use the night to get rid of the Nanshan Army's containment and harassment under the cover of darkness."

If it was against other warlords' troops, this idea would be correct, but when encountering the Nanshan Army, Li Yonglin could only blame himself for his bad luck.

After finishing his dry food and drinking a big gulp of water, Du Feiyun asked, "Captain Cai, how do you plan to arrange the operation?"

Du Feiyun knew that his qualifications were not as good as Cai Tingwu and Zhao Linyu, so he could only leave the arrangements of strategies and tactics to these two people, and he only had to execute them.

Cai Tingwu shook his head slightly. Lingshan County was backed by a mountain on the west, so it was only necessary to surround the 11th Army from the other three sides and slowly erode its troops. There was no need for any other arrangements.

Du Feiyun said this just to express his willingness to follow his arrangements.

"I have sent a message to Division Commander Zhao, asking them to surround the 11th Army from the south. Our two divisions will surround the 11th Army from the remaining two directions."

Through telegram exchanges, it was decided to launch an artillery attack on the 11th Army at 2:00 p.m., after which the 5th Division would attack the Northern Army from the south, the 4th Division from the north, and the 8th Division from the east.