The Republic of China: A Letter of Appointment Creates the Most Powerful Warlord

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Cao Xin dispatched 50,000 troops from Zhili Province, took a detour through Zhongzhou, and after five days, they gathered again at the Wuyue border defense line.

However, this reinforcement was not smooth. As soon as the large force arrived in the southern part of Huishan, they encountered the heavy artillery positions arranged by He Wei.

When the enemies met, they were extremely jealous of each other and started fighting immediately. After many days of traveling, Feng's troops found it difficult to form effective combat effectiveness.

In the end, after paying the price of more than 3,000 lives, they retreated in a panic and retreated to the front line of Zhijiang to rest.

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, the negotiations in the capital broke down. The 100,000 troops of the Duan faction stationed in Tianjin took the initiative to attack and broke through the two defense lines of the Fengbei Army within a day. Old Zhang was so angry that he stayed in the command center and cursed for a long time.

The next day, the Fengbei Army regrouped and adopted a layered encirclement strategy to slow down the Duan faction's offensive and fulfill its promise to the Feng faction.

From this point of view, Lao Zhang is quite decent. He takes the money to do the job and agrees to delay it for two months, so people will keep working on it.

On the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month, after a week of minor frictions, a large-scale battle finally broke out on the Wuyue border. Feng's faction mobilized 170,000 troops from Zhili, Jiangyou, Zhijiang, and Shanghu, and launched attacks from three directions respectively, determined to recapture Wuyue Province in one fell swoop!

Fortunately, the Independence Army had made preparations in advance. Commander-in-chief Lu Shan ordered people to set up minefields overnight, filling the entire Wu Yue border line within more than ten kilometers with mines, causing Feng's offensive to be delayed again and again, making it difficult to advance quickly.

Moreover, during their mine-clearing and obstacle-clearing process, Lushan, relying on the ultra-long range of its large-caliber mountain artillery, launched frequent bombings, making the Feng faction miserable, unable to fight or retreat.

On the 21st day of the 12th lunar month, the whole country is already filled with the festive atmosphere of the New Year. Children playing and having fun can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys, and the people who have worked hard for a year all smile for the first time in a rare moment. Throughout the year, only at this time can they feel that they are still alive.

At Feng's front-line command post, Cao Zheng, along with a group of senior generals, was having a headache looking at the map in front of them that was marked with dense red dots.

They couldn't figure out where Zhang Ye got the equipment and support. This guy was like a bottomless pit, firing large-caliber heavy artillery round after round. His arrogance was so great that even veteran warlords like them who had been operating for many years were shocked and couldn't bear to do such a stupid thing.

"General Sun, we can't delay this any longer. We've lost many lives just clearing mines and obstacles these past few days. This will only wear down the morale of our soldiers. We must break through this minefield as quickly as possible."

Cao Zheng pointed at the bright red mark on the map, gritted his teeth, and pleaded.

"Direct large-scale bombing to plow the entire minefield is the most efficient and fastest solution."

"Vice President Cao, I completely agree with what you said."

As the commander-in-chief on the front line, Sun Chuanfang nodded slightly, seemingly approving of his plan, but his tone was mixed with sarcasm.

"This minefield is over ten kilometers deep, completely blocking all our offensive routes. Large-scale bombing is certainly effective, but the cost is simply not something we can afford."

"Have you ever thought about what the situation is like behind the minefield? If I finish firing my artillery shells here and there's no heavy firepower support for subsequent battles, are you going to let the soldiers take the bullets with their heads?!"

"Mr. Sun, what you said makes sense, but this matter cannot be settled in this way."

Cao Zheng was not afraid of his gaze at all. He stared at him and argued.

"We can continue to call for support even if there are no shells, but we cannot stop the offensive. Just like now, we advance one or two kilometers every day, but this comes at the cost of the lives of dozens or even hundreds of soldiers."

"Not only will this idea cost us the opportunity to fight, it will also severely damage our own morale. What's the point of keeping the shells? No one wants to fight anymore. Even if you have a pile of shells, they won't help you capture the city or territory!"

"Without the shells, the consequences will be even worse!"

Sun Chuanfang totally disagreed with his plan. He immediately slammed the table, glared at the other party, and shouted.

"The snow is still falling heavily, and the supply convoy won't be able to reach the front lines for two or three days. I just want to ask you one thing: after bombing the minefield, do you want to continue forward?"

"Without artillery support, a single charge would have resulted in hundreds of casualties. If you, Cao Zheng, are willing to sign this damage report, I will absolutely not stop you!"

"I'll sign it!"

Unexpectedly, Cao Zheng's attitude was extremely firm. He made a decision immediately, turned to look at the generals in the staff department, and gave orders.

"Push out all the mountain artillery and start clearing the obstacles!"

"Send a telegram to the Zhijiang Logistics Support Headquarters. If ammunition supplies cannot be delivered within one day, they will be beheaded!"

"Alright! Cao Zheng, you will regret this. You will be solely responsible for the failure of this attack. I want to see how you explain this to Marshal Cao!"

Sun Chuanfang was so angry that his face turned ashen. He smashed the teacup on the table and walked away.

This guy is really an old fox. He seemed to be madly angered by Cao Zheng after quarreling with him, but in fact, he was already very happy in his heart.

The offensive has not been going well in recent days, and there has been no progress after repeated attacks. He has thought about the plan of clearing the artillery obstacles, but he couldn't make up his mind for the time being and was afraid of taking responsibility.

Now that Cao Zheng has stepped forward and taken over the responsibility in front of so many people, how could he not be happy?

Sun Chuanfang's current requirements are not high. As long as some results can be achieved in a short period of time, otherwise, hundreds of thousands of troops have not achieved any success in nearly half a month. He is too embarrassed to submit this battle report!

……

At three o'clock in the afternoon, snowflakes fell from the sky like goose feathers.

At this moment, Feng's sixteen artillery regiments were already on full alert, forming neatly arranged lines, their eyes fixed on the minefield ahead that had once caused them heavy losses.

At the commander's command, sixteen artillery regiments opened fire at the same time, and shells poured out like raindrops.

In an instant, the flames that shot up into the sky instantly engulfed the entire battlefield, illuminating the surrounding snow red.

The snowy field that buried countless mines now became a sea of ​​fire, and the explosions resounded through the sky, deafening.

Each shell was like a ferocious beast, ruthlessly tearing the earth apart and raising billowing clouds of smoke, dust and mud.

At the same time, Lu Shan, who was warming himself by the fire in the command center, couldn't help but smile slightly after receiving the news from his subordinates.

"These guys are finally taking action. If they keep going like this, I'm going to go back to Qizhou for the New Year."

"Have the minefields for the second phase been laid?"

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, it was completed overnight last night. This time, the coverage area is larger. Moreover, I was careful. The two minefields are five kilometers apart. They will definitely not be able to find it."

The general of the staff showed a cunning smile.

The reason why it took so much trouble to set up the minefield was mainly because of the weather. As the heavy snow continued to fall, the temperature dropped sharply and it was too cold outside. Lu Shan felt sorry for his soldiers and didn't want them to suffer from the cold.

Therefore, he decided to perform a little trick to delay the enemy troops.

In this way, the soldiers can temporarily avoid direct confrontation with the enemy and also get some time to rest and adjust.

As for the next battle, he planned to postpone it until after the New Year. After all, it was only a few days away and everyone needed to rest and celebrate.