Chapter 26: Tiger Head Snake Tail

  Liangzhou garrison commander Ma Junzheng led his cavalry brigade of three thousand men to advance towards the Shandan Expressway, originally passing through Jiaozhuang Village. After receiving a telegram from Ma Bufang, he hastily retreated and withdrew to Yongchang County for local garrison, waiting for Ma Bufang's next order.

  Yongchang is about 200 miles away from Shandan. It can be attacked or defended, and this arrangement made Ma Bufang very satisfied.

  Ma Bufang's abacus was loud enough, he never thought that Ma Zhongying's men and horses would take the initiative to attack instead of being passive defense.

  April 16th.

  Li Ruofeng entered the third day of his stay in the Laojunshan defense zone on the Shandong-Dan line.

  Intelligence from the reconnaissance troops prompted Li Ruofeng to quickly summon Qi Dongming and Feidi Qing over.

  Just as the tamed horse was about to charge into the pocket formation set up by them, unexpectedly this guy seemed to have smelled the danger and suddenly turned around, retreating back into Yongchang County City, no longer advancing.

  The cavalry was like a gust of wind, swift and agile, leaving Li Ruofeng and the others no chance to pursue, and Ma Xun's horse had already shrunk back.

  My hometown is over sixty miles away from Shandan County, and there are only about two hundred households in the town.

  Li Ruofeng's former enemy command post was located in the Temple of Land on the west side of the town.

  On the unfolded map, Li Ruofeng measured left and right with a ruler, and finally threw the ruler away, saying decisively: "I've decided, we'll change our plan, take the initiative to attack, and capture Yongchang County, Yongchang City, and Liangzhou. After making some repairs, we'll attack Lanzhou! Since the troops have all been deployed, whether to fight or not is no longer up to Ma Bufang to decide."

  "Master, why don't we discuss it with Director Zhuang and Captain Sun?" Feidi Qing suggested after a moment of thought.

  "Uh, Shu Sheng, immediately send a telegram to Ganzhou with the following content: The enemy from Liangzhou suddenly stopped advancing and is currently stationed in Yongchang. According to reliable intelligence, Liangzhou's military strength is empty, and there is only one local security regiment defending Yongchang City. I have decided to launch a surprise attack on the enemy in Yongchang tonight, surround them, and capture the city. After breaking through, we will advance eastward the next day and take Liangzhou and Jinchang in one fell swoop. Please discuss with Wu and Huang as soon as possible and make arrangements for the three places to receive the news. Notify. Li Ruofeng"

  The characteristics of cavalry are better at attacking than defending, and they have already lost three points before the battle has even started.

  If Li Ruofeng still can't grasp this situation, then his seven years in Japan will be completely wasted.

  Half an hour later, Zhuang Yu replied: Received your telegram, Ma Bufang's troops have been stalled at Fengxia Bay, more than 200 miles from Shandan, since yesterday. The situation may change, Master, you can rest assured to attack Yongchang. We will arrange the follow-up personnel immediately. Take care. Shusheng, Zhengyang

  Learning that Ma Bufang also stopped, Li Ruofeng quickly made a judgment, it is likely that the strong equipment shown by the grand expedition oath of our side made Ma Bufang timid.

  To know, now whether it is Qing Ma Ma Fang or Ning Ma Ma Hongkui, due to the limitations of the northwest region, their troops' weapons and equipment are really bad. And Li Ruofeng's current firepower configuration, even the best-equipped Northeast Army in China today, has to slightly yield.

  Ma Bufang is not daring to make a move, Li Ruofeng understands that the initiative of the war is also in his own hands. He must take advantage of the fact that the Nanjing government has not reacted yet, and use the fastest speed to determine the outcome of the war.

  Soldiers are expensive and swift, Li Ruofeng immediately made a decisive decision, and didn't care whether Qi Dongming and Feidi Qing agreed or not. He led the 300+ Hellfire troops to use mechanized marching speed, becoming the vanguard of the entire army, taking advantage of the night to rush towards Yongchang County.

  The terrain along this route is flat and suitable for cavalry and mechanized troops to fight, with few villages on both sides of the road. To be cautious, Li Ruofeng still divided two teams of 18 people to take charge of the wing guards, and detained anyone they found along the way.

  Be careful and there will be no big mistakes, this is Li Ruofeng's usual way of doing things.

  The marching speed of the Inferno was indeed fast, but the two armies behind, led by Qi Dongming and Fei Dicui, were not slow either.

  They didn't dare to slow down, fearing that if the young master was surrounded by enemy cavalry, their guilt would be great.

  Under the strict supervision of the two, 8,000 soldiers were divided into two groups, no more than thirty miles away from Li Ruofeng's vanguard. Moreover, the marching speed was still accelerating.

  At midnight, the Hell Fire had reached the outskirts of Yongchang and made contact with a regiment of Qing cavalry stationed at Wulizhuang, five miles outside the county seat.

  It was said to be a contact, but in fact the entire 116th Battalion was captured while still asleep, with only a few sentries killed by bayonets and nooses.

  Everyone's face was painted with different facial makeup, the hellfire warriors, for Ma Lu, the captain of the cavalry company under the jurisdiction of Liangzhou Defender, were simply a group of devils from hell.

  They slipped silently into the village of Wuligou, and just as Ma Lu had finished his escapade with a widow in the village and fallen asleep, he was dragged out of bed by Gromov and his Russian squad without warning.

  These blue-eyed devils spoke a devilish language that Malakai couldn't understand, and Gromyko also couldn't make out what Malakai was saying in return. There was no way around it; they could only hand over the highest-ranking captive to Li Ruofeng for handling.

  Li Ruofeng also took these back, but there was nothing he could do about it, because none of the Hellfire members could understand the Hui language.

  Li Ruofeng was also a bit stunned. He didn't think he would make such a low-level mistake. He thought that among Ma Bufang's troops, there would be at least a few people who could understand Chinese or other languages, but it turned out that the whole company was full of locals.

  In terms of language, it is one of the combat skills that Li Ruofeng attaches great importance to. In order to solve the communication problem of Inferno in the future battlefield, all personnel under Inferno have mastered more than three languages. Japanese, German and Russian are compulsory courses for Chinese soldiers, while Chinese and Japanese have become compulsory courses for German and Russian soldiers.

  Even in the midst of hellfire, there are people who can understand Uyghur from Xinjiang, but somehow they ignore Huihui language.

  Li Ruofeng lightly slapped himself, and had to abandon his original plan of letting the Hellfire sneak into Yongchang City at night to blow up the camp. When Qi Dongming and Fei Diclear arrived with their troops, he didn't even bother with a stealthy attack, instead openly deploying his forces, surrounding the city, and forcing the defenders to surrender.

  Li Ruofeng still attaches great importance to the combat effectiveness of the soldiers under Qing Ma. On the premise that they can be captured, he does not want to stain his hands with too much national blood. In the future, these soldiers will undergo a new round of reorganization and training, and let them take to the anti-Japanese battlefield, which is an indispensable fresh force.

  Yongchang County is not big, with only two city gates east and west. After Li Ruofeng met up with Qi Dongming and Fei Diqing, he divided his troops into two groups. Qi Dongming led 2,000 soldiers to launch a frontal attack, while Li Ruofeng led 3,000 soldiers to block the enemy's retreat route.

  Twenty-four mountain guns and twenty-four 80mm mortars were concentrated to form an artillery regiment, led by Feidiqing, as the main force for a frontal attack.

  Although having the absolute advantage in firepower and troop strength, Li Ruofeng still strictly required Qi Dongming and Feidi Qing's two battalions to build fortifications overnight, just in case the enemy launched a desperate breakout, if their own side was not prepared, they would definitely suffer greatly, after all, the ones surrounded in the county seat were all the elite cavalry of the Green Horse.

  At dawn the next day, Ma Zhuxiang received a report from his subordinate that his 3,000 troops had been surrounded by the superior enemy forces at the West Gate. Frightened, he immediately sent a telegram to Ma Bufang asking for reinforcement.

  Qī Dōngmíng and Fèi Qīng were both from Gansu, and they could both speak fluent Hui language. Under their combined kindness and authority, Mǎ Lù had led his troops to surrender.

  Under Li Ruofeng's instructions, Ma Lu led his more than 100 subordinates to line up in a row under the city wall and shout towards the inside of the city.

  "Commander, let's surrender. They are the troops of Chairman Ma Zhongying. Look at their artillery, heavy machine guns, Browning light machine guns, and submachine guns. This firepower is a nightmare for our cavalry. We have no chance of winning this battle. Surrendering in this situation won't be shameful. Don't let our brothers die in vain! We're all from the Ma clan, there's no need to slaughter each other. Let those who are dear to us live and those who hate us rejoice!"

  Ma Quan actually didn't want to be an enemy of Ma Zhongying in his heart, but since Ma Bufang gave the order, he had no choice but to obey.

  He secretly calculated that he was lucky to have stopped advancing towards Shandong in time, otherwise he would definitely fall into the ambush circle set up by the advantageous forces of the defenders of Shandong, and at that time it would be a complete defeat.

  Ma Zhongying is so powerful, it's unwise to be his enemy. It seems that the situation in Gansu has changed.

  Ma Bufang suddenly ordered a halt to the advance, he must have grasped some intelligence that Ma Jiyuan did not know about, so he had no choice but to change the original battle plan. Now at the Gansu-Qinghai border, there is definitely a concentration of heavy troops.

  The war was started by Ma Bufang, and Ma Zhongying would definitely not withdraw his troops easily. Liangzhou and Jinchang might be taken over by Ma Zhongying.

  Ma Quan and Ma Zhongying had no feud or grudge, and in fact the two families were related by marriage. If it was possible for both sides to meet without resorting to arms, Ma Quan would be more than happy.

  But he had to wait for Ma Bufang's order before daring to make a decision.

  Helpless, Ma Bufang had no choice but to let Li Ruofeng send people into the city for negotiations while waiting for Ma Bufang's instructions.

  Ma Bufang only realized after receiving Ma Qu's telegram that the current Ma Zhongying was no longer the foolish Ma Darenzi he had thought him to be.

  Nanjing did not respond for a long time and was definitely concerned about Ma Zhongying's strength.

  At this time, his father Ma Qi in Ningxia also sent a telegram asking him not to go too far. As members of the Ma family, if they fought each other to mutual defeat, the ultimate beneficiary would be the Nanjing government.

  Under various variables, Ma Bufang weighed the pros and cons and had to order Ma Zhongying to surrender, but on the condition that Ma Zhongying would have Ma Zhongying withdraw his cavalry brigade back to Qinghai, and the defenses of Liangzhou and Jinchang could only be temporarily handed over to Ma Zhongying.

  According to Bai Chongxi's understanding of the Nanjing government, President Chiang would definitely not allow Gansu to become red and there must be a follow-up move.

  Ma Bufang originally thought that this time the troops would definitely be able to drive Ma Zhongying westward, forcing him out of Gansu. Who could have imagined it would turn into such a situation, only able to retreat back to Xining with their tails between their legs.

  History quietly took a turn here.

  In the original history, Ma Zhongying was defeated by Ma Bufang all the way to Su Zhou, retreated out of Gansu and then escaped into Xinjiang. The entire Hexi Corridor was controlled by Ma Bufang.

  But now, with Li Ruofeng's wings lightly fanning, Ma Zhongying has become the nominal ruler of the Hexi Corridor, not only standing firm in Gansu and Suiyang provinces, but also gaining control over Jinchang and Lanzhou, two large territories, and the territory of Gansu to the northwest of Lanzhou has fallen into Ma Zhongying's self-established Hexi Province.

  Ma Bufang's sudden and unexpected move was completely beyond Li Ruofeng's expectations.

  Li Ruofeng didn't expect that Bai Fanghai could still be so calm and composed, actually not minding the humiliation of losing face, and retreated halfway.

  It seems that Ma Bu Fang can become a hero in his own right, and there is reason for this.

  In this day and age, if one were truly an idiot or weak-minded, how could they become a warlord wielding great military power?

  Li Ruofeng secretly reminded himself: never underestimate anyone in this era.

  If you treat others as fools, then you are the biggest fool yourself.

  Ma Bufang treated Ma Zhongying like a fool, and as a result he became the laughing stock of public opinion in Hexi region.

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