Warlords: Conquer the world from the county magistrate

As a row of soldiers took away the weapons of Zhu Yaoxiang's surrendered troops, Wang Tieniu was completely relieved and escorted more than 500 prisoners back to Qingshan.

When Wang Tieniu met soldiers from the Third Battalion of the Second Regiment on the way, he was very moved to hear that they were sent by the regiment commander to provide reinforcements.

"Tie Niu, you kid, actually brought more than 200 people to chase us." The third battalion commander Du Feiyun couldn't help but teased.

Du Yunfei also participated in the military academy training class. Because he had been to school before, and was smarter and performed better, he was promoted to battalion commander after the reorganization of the troops.

Wang Tieniu scratched his head and said, "The other side was scared out of their wits, so I ran over and scared them, and they surrendered."

Du Yunfei was speechless. Does this mean that fools have good fortune?

Those who have attended the temporary military academy training class like them have a great advantage in early promotion. But if they want to move up after becoming a battalion commander, they need to have real military achievements.

He thought he could bring back some merits from this battle, but he felt like he was just eating dust the whole time, which was extremely depressing.

Du Yunfei had a depressed look on his face, while Wang Tieniu had a silly smile on his face. The two groups escorted the prisoners back to Qingshan City together.

At this time, in Nanling City, a side hall of the Governor's Mansion was converted into a meeting room.

In the conference room, Ma Jincen, Ma Yulin, Ma Jinwei, Wang Rong, Xu Yunhua and other senior military officers gathered.

Ma Jincen said angrily: "Zhu Yaoxiang sent a telegram asking for help. What do you think?"

The telegram was received at around seven in the morning, but because Ma Jincen had recently married a concubine, his subordinates did not dare to disturb him, so they waited until nine in the morning before he received the news.

Ma Jincen was angry that Fang Ji'an took the initiative to attack.

He was the biggest warlord in Nanshan, and Fang Jian provoked him and secretly developed under his nose.

This is not going to end yet. Are they going to attack me proactively? I am the biggest warlord. Even if someone wants to attack, I should be the one doing it.

"General, Fang Ji'an's troops should not be underestimated. Immediately send Zheng Zhifan's troops and Liu Minggong's troops to reinforce them." Ma Jinwei was still very wary of Fang Ji'an, so he spoke out.

Ma Yulin shook his head and said, "Commander Ma Jinwei, Zhu Yaoxiang's troops have more than 10,000 men, and they can also rely on the city for defense."

"At the very least, we can hold out for ten days or half a month, right? Why not let him consume Fang Jian's strength, and then we can send out troops later, isn't that better?"

Ma Yulin, Ma Jincen and Ma Jinwei are from the same family, but Ma Yulin and Ma Jinwei are not on good terms.

Ma Jincen was a suspicious person and didn't even trust the Ma family. But since Ma Yulin was his secretary and a civil servant, he couldn't threaten his position, so he still trusted Ma Yulin very much.

However, due to the bad relationship between Ma Yulin and Ma Jinwei, Ma Jincen became increasingly distrustful of Ma Jinwei under Ma Yulin's constant instigation.

As for the reason why Ma Yulin was unhappy with Ma Jinwei, it was that Ma Jinwei was able to lead troops, while Ma Yulin only did secretarial work.

Xu Yunhua didn’t care about the internal fighting of the Ma family, but said seriously: “General, Fang Ji’an’s strength is unknown, and the army’s combat power is extremely strong.”

"Even if we want to deal with Zhu Yaoxiang, we have to wait until Fang Ji'an is eliminated."

"If we do nothing to save him, and Zhu Yaoxiang surrenders to Fang Jian, that will not be a good thing for us."

"Adjutant Xu, you also look down on Fang Ji'an's troops, right?" Wang Rong said disdainfully.

"The last time we attacked Zhu Yaoxiang, we should have used thunder and lightning. By dragging our feet, we not only failed to eliminate Zhu Yaoxiang, but also gave Fang Ji'an an opportunity."

"Besides, even if it's Zhu Yaoxiang's troops, can they stop our cannons? Commander-in-Chief, send my troops."

"I promise that I will not only capture Fang Ji'an, but also eliminate Zhu Yaoxiang."

"Fang Jian's troops are also equipped with artillery, machine guns and other weapons." Ma Jinwei shook his head and reminded.

Wang Rong was upset and asked sternly, "Why, Commander Ma Jinwei, you were defeated by Fang Ji'an's army, so you don't have the courage to fight them anymore?"

"You..." Ma Jinwei was also angry.

Ma Jincen waved his hand to stop the two people who were still arguing: "Okay, stop arguing."

"How is the training of the new troops going?"

"The new soldiers have only been recruited for a month and have only undergone simple basic training." Ma Jinwei shook his head.

"Also, the troops' food supply is not up to par, so in order to reduce physical exertion, the training intensity is not strong."

Ma Jincen was very angry about this: "They are just peasants. It's good enough that they have something to eat. You should pay more attention to the training of the troops."

"Yes." Ma Jinwei had no choice but to agree.

Finally, Ma Jincen said, "Send a telegram to Liu Minggong, telling him that Zhu Yaoxiang's troops were attacked. Ask them to find out the situation and act accordingly. Okay, let's all disperse."

"Yes." After a group of people answered, they left one after another.

When Liu Minggong received Ma Jincen's telegram, he was very conflicted about whether to send troops or not.

Last time, Fang Ji'an's troops wiped out two divisions at once, so Liu Minggong became more wary of Fang Ji'an.

In the past few months, Liu Minggong sent many soldiers to Fenglin to gather intelligence, but he did not get much useful information.

After several months of recuperation, Liu Minggong believed that Fang Jian would never rashly send troops unless he was sure of his success.

This made him feel very insecure when dealing with Francis Xavier.

He only had two divisions, and even if Zhu Yaoxiang was added, he could only have three divisions at most.

Liu Minggong called Zheng Zhifan, handed him the telegram and asked, "Brother Zheng, what do you think we should do?"

"You are now the front-line commander, and the governor also said that you are in charge. It is still up to Commander Liu to make the decision on this matter. I will just follow your arrangements." Zheng Zhifan shook his head.

Zheng Zhifan was very dissatisfied with Liu Minggong. They said, "We are all your superiors. Why should I listen to you?"

The reason why he did not make the decision in this matter and only acted as an executor was that he thought that Liu Minggong's previous plan had resulted in the loss of two divisions. If something happened again this time, he would be in big trouble.

Of course, if Liu Minggong asked his troops to go forward as cannon fodder, he would not do it.

Liu Minggong thought for a moment and said, "The situation is unclear now. Let's get the main force ready and send a reconnaissance team to Qingshan City to find out the situation first."

"Okay." Zheng Zhifan had no objection to this.

After the two men dispersed, they each arranged their troops and sent out reconnaissance teams.

The Battle of Qingshan began with artillery bombardment at 7 o'clock and was basically over by 9 o'clock in the morning, but the work of collecting prisoners, cleaning the battlefield, and counting the spoils lasted until 11 o'clock in the morning.

At the temporary command center in Qingshan City, officers from various divisions, Tao Yunong, and Fang Jian gathered together.

Fang Guoxuan reported: "Commander, the results of the battle have been counted."

"In the battle outside the city, 5622 enemies were killed, 2617 prisoners were taken, 1352 were seriously wounded, 2358 old sleeves, 6681 Daxin XI-style, and 45 box guns were seized."

"In this battle, the Guard Division lost 23 men, the First Division lost 104 men, and the Second Division lost 256 men."