readsfreenovel Chapter 155 Before the War
Chapter 155 Before the War
"Conspiracy?" Yuan Yuhao's face was a little gloomy.
He thought the other party would cross the river after building a pontoon bridge, but they did this. He had no idea what the enemy was planning.
After pondering for a while, Yuan Yuhao, who still couldn't figure out the reason, asked: "What do you think the other party will do?"
"The enemy may build a pontoon bridge with great fanfare to attract our attention, deploy troops to other places, make a feint to the east and attack in the west. Or prepare for a surprise attack, or simply make us nervous, but in fact they will do nothing."
The chief of staff shook his head slightly, indicating that he was not clear about the other party's specific movements.
Hearing the chief of staff's guesses, Yuan Yuhao's face turned even uglier. Indeed, the other party could do too much, any one of them was possible.
Yuan Yuhao quickly calmed down after his previous enthusiasm for meritorious service: "Send out the soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion to scout along the Qingyang River to see if they have found any traces of the enemy."
"Let all units be alert and not be careless, so as to avoid a surprise attack by the enemy."
Thinking that the opponent was just bluffing and was just trying to hold him back, Yuan Yuhao's face turned very unhappy.
If the other side really doesn't intend to cross the river, he currently has no good solution.
Now that the troops have been properly deployed, any major movement will easily allow the enemy to seize the opportunity.
Although he still had nearly 91 people directly under the military headquarters and people from the st Division in the city, these people had to be kept for support and could not be easily transferred.
Thinking of this, Yuan Yuhao couldn't help but secretly hate the other party for being too insidious. Just by building a floating bridge, he made himself very passive.
At the same time, at the headquarters of the First Division on the south bank of the Qingyang River, Fang Tianming asked with a smile: "Division Commander, I think the Ninth Army on the other side must be very confused today, why don't we cross the river."
"We will use a combination of real and fake tactics to make the opponent tense first, and then we will surprise them." Fang Guoxuan also chuckled.
When they started building the pontoon bridge yesterday, the scouts sent to the other side discovered that the Ninth Army on the opposite side was building defensive fortifications outside Qingyang County.
After receiving this news, Fang Guoxuan was no longer anxious.
The other side is now waiting for them to send up. If they send up now, their morale will be high and it will not be the right time to fight.
Fang Guoxuan planned to first temper the other party and let him wait on the battlefield for a few days. When he lost his patience, a surprise attack would be the best option.
If the Ninth Army waited for several days on the battlefield and saw no sign of the enemy crossing the river, what would the soldiers of the Ninth Army think? Would they slack off, thinking that the enemy would not cross the river? Would their morale drop?
Fang Guoxuan was waiting for this opportunity. If he could attack the enemy unexpectedly and catch them off guard, the effect would definitely be much better.
After waiting for two more days, not only were the soldiers of the Ninth Army anxious, even Yuan Yuhao was getting very impatient.
Although Yuan Yuhao was not a complete playboy and had some talents, he was spoiled since childhood, lived a luxurious life, and was never neglected by anyone.
How could he bear it when he waited in Qingyang County for several days but saw no sign of the enemy?
Moreover, in the past few days, the Seventh Army sent two or three telegrams for help every day, saying that the Imjin City was in danger under the bombardment of the Southern Army, a gap was blown in the city wall, and the Southern Army had broken into the city several times.
The pressure on the Northern Military Government increased dramatically, and Li Bingqing had expressed his willingness to resign after the battle of Sanjiang Province.
Since the other party has stated it so openly, Yuan Shiting is not afraid that he will not comply. Therefore, Yuan Yuhao also received an order from the northern government urging him to advance today.
After receiving the telegram from the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, he also received a telegram from Yuan Shiting, advising him to put national affairs first and not to make trouble.
Yuan Yuhao knew that this was an order from Yuan Shiting for him to advance, but Yuan Yuhao was very depressed at this time. It was not that he did not want to advance to support, but that he was really held back by the opponent.
The chief of staff, two division commanders and other senior officials were called to the conference room, and Yuan Yuhao handed the two telegrams to everyone for them to read one by one.
"Commander, what do you mean?" The chief of staff didn't know Yuan Yuhao's attitude, so he asked carefully.
At this time, the chief of staff also found something wrong. The troops had been dragging their feet before, but the northern government had never urged the Ninth Army until this time when a telegram was sent.
The chief of staff guessed that there must be some hidden secrets that he didn't know about. Moreover, now it seems that the previous delay was not entirely Yuan Yuhao's intention.
In response to the Chief of Staff's question, Yuan Yuhao said unhappily, "Since the order has been passed down from above, it must be carried out."
"However, our army is currently being held back by the enemy on the other side of the river and cannot move easily. I wonder if you have any solutions?"
The commander of the 91st Division stood up and said, "Commander, why don't we gather our troops and launch a surprise attack on the troops on the south bank?"
"That's not a good idea. Even if we launch a surprise attack, we will be stuck in a tough battle, and the surprise attacking troops will be in danger." The commander of the 92nd Division objected.
He stood up, walked to the map, pointed at it and said, "Although the enemy has deployed a pontoon bridge in this section."
“But after crossing the floating bridge, it’s an open area and it’s easy to be discovered.”
"This place has no strategic location to defend. It is similar to the terrain on the north bank. Once we get into a tough battle, there is a lack of cover and strategic depth. Troops that cannot evacuate in time will only be wiped out."
After the commander of the 92nd Division finished speaking, many people nodded in agreement, while Yuan Yuhao rubbed his eyebrows with a headache.
The original intention was to lure the other party into a trap, but unexpectedly, he would end up trapping himself.
The chief of staff looked at the map and thought for a moment before saying, "Commander, why don't we abandon Qingyang County, go west around Lanqiu County, and enter Linjin through Jupu City."
When Yuan Yuhao heard the chief of staff's idea, his eyes lit up and he immediately went to the map to observe it carefully.
"Well, good, the Chief of Staff has a good idea. Let the troops in the city prepare for departure. Have a good rest tonight, and abandon Qingyang City and march west tomorrow."
The commander of the 91st Division asked, "Commander, how do we arrange the troops outside the city?"
"Let the two regiments of the 91st Division withdraw. The 92nd Division will be stationed outside the city temporarily and still needs to make preparations for departure. We will set off together tomorrow." Yuan Yuhao said nonchalantly.
At the same time, at the 1st Division’s headquarters on the south bank, Fang Guoxuan was also holding a meeting with several regiment commanders.
Fang Guoxuan pointed to the sand table and said, "At 101:102 tomorrow, the artillery will launch an artillery attack on the enemy's positions outside the city. During this period, the st and nd Regiments will quickly cross the Qingyang River. After the artillery attack stops, they will quickly break into their positions and head straight to the northern city of Qingyang."
"After breaking into the enemy's flank position, the 101st Regiment immediately built defensive fortifications, and the 102nd Regiment launched an attack on the position outside the south city from the flank."
"Yes, Commander." Although the mission was very dangerous, Fang Weian and Fang Weiguo didn't care and were happy to accept it.
Fang Guoxuan planned to use two regiments as ears, redeploy the troops of the Ninth Army, disperse them, and then concentrate superior forces to attack their weak points.
"The 103rd and 104th Regiments, be ready to cross the river at any time, or prepare to cross the river from other sections of the Qingyang River."
After everything was arranged, the commanders of each regiment went down to arrange their troops to prepare for tomorrow's battle.