readsfreenovel Chapter 165 Lin Zongde Conquers Imjin City
Chapter 165 Lin Zongde Conquers Imjin City
After receiving the report, Fang Guoxuan looked strange. There were at least 6,000 people in the city. How could they be taken down so quickly?
Unfortunately, not many enemy troops were killed or captured in this battle, as most of them escaped.
In this battle, 623 enemies were killed, 1127 captured, 1714 Daxin XI-type rifles, 31 light machine guns, and 15 box guns were seized. More than soldiers of the Second Division were killed in the battle.
Although they had captured Qingyang County, Fang Guoxuan did not cross the Qingyang River. He only instructed the communications officer beside him: "Send a telegram to Lin Zongde, Jiang Changkun, and the commander."
"Let's say our army has defeated the Northern Government's Ninth Army, and the enemy army fled in defeat with only a few thousand remnants."
"After defeating the Ninth Army, our troops suffered heavy losses. At the same time, please ask Commander Lin to send someone to take over Qingyang County."
After defeating the Ninth Army, Fang Guoxuan has demonstrated his strength in front of the Southern Army. What he needs to do now is to keep a low profile and not let the Southern Army notice them.
If the heavy losses were not reported, would it be said that the First Division had more than 2,000 casualties and the Ninth Army had more than 18,000 killed or captured?
If that were really the case, the Southern Army might not even go to war with the Northern Army, but would directly turn its attention to the Nanshan Army.
At the same time, Fang Guoxuan sent a telegram to Fang Tianming, asking them to clean up the battlefield, count the supplies in Qingyang City, and then retreat to the south bank and withdraw their troops back to Changhuan tomorrow.
Since he wanted to pretend that he had suffered heavy losses, he naturally had to lead the army to retreat, otherwise it would be easy for others to notice.
When Lin Zongde received Fang Guoxuan's telegram, he handed it to the officers in the headquarters with a blank expression: "What do you think?"
"Commander, the enemy's division has only 20,000 people, and the Ninth Army has at least 20,000 soldiers. Can they really defeat the Ninth Army?" The commander of the 30th Army under Lin Zongde laughed. He didn't believe the news at all.
Wang Yunhai, Lin Zongde's adjutant, said, "We can find out whether the news is true or not by sending someone to investigate."
Having said that, Wang Yunhai's expression suddenly became solemn.
"If the news is true, the commander must capture Imjin City as soon as possible, otherwise he will be criticized by Jiang Changkun and others for not putting in enough effort."
Lin Zongde nodded gently: "Okay, in that case, send out scouts to Qingyang City to investigate and find out the situation first."
"At the same time, tell the brothers of the 30th Army to speed up the siege and capture Imjin City as soon as possible."
After receiving Fang Guoxuan's telegram, Jiang Changkun in Heyuan Province sent a telegram to Lin Zongde, urging him to capture Imjin City as soon as possible.
At the same time, this made him very happy, and the situation is different now.
Lin Zongde attacked together with the Nanshan Army, which easily defeated the Northern Government's Ninth Army. However, Lin Zongde made no progress in attacking the Imjin City where the Cangjun was stationed, which would seriously affect Lin Zongde's reputation.
After receiving Fang Guoxuan's telegram, Fang Jian encouraged him and agreed with Fang Guoxuan's idea of retreat.
Since he wanted to retreat, Fang Guoxuan would not act on his own and sent a telegram to Fang Jian to report.
The Northern Government received a telegram from Yuan Yuhao stating that his troops were defeated, had lost Qingyang City, and had retreated to Jiangbei Province with only a few thousand remaining soldiers.
After receiving this telegram, many members of the Li faction tried to hold back their smiles.
Yuan Yuhao is finished. Even though he is a member of the Yuan family, after this defeat, Yuan Shiting can't continue to use him.
Although Yuan Yuhao was defeated, the plan to support Sanjiang Province remained unchanged.
Because Imjin City was under siege and the area north of Imjin City was not safe either, the reinforcements had to take the train to Jiangbei and then walk to Sanjiang Province.
The military situation was urgent, and early that morning, reinforcements boarded the train and set off for Jiangbei Province.
It took Fang Guoxuan's troops five days to escort the prisoners back from Qingyang County to Changhuan City.
On the day Fang Guoxuan returned to Changhuan City, Lin Zongde's troops blasted open the south gate of Imjin City, and Imjin City was captured.
After the city was broken, Wu Lihuang and others wanted to retreat with their men, but the four gates were surrounded by Lin Zongde's troops, and Wu Lihuang was eventually captured.
After entering Imjin City, Lin Zongde laughed and said, "After the brothers have cleaned up the battlefield, they can rest for three days and relax in Imjin City."
"Commander, this isn't a good idea." Wang Yunhai said with a slight hesitation.
The commander of the 30th Army, Zhang Xianghu, was dissatisfied and said, "Adjutant Wang, since the commander has given the order, you just need to carry it out. Why, are you dissatisfied with the commander's order?"
Seeing Lin Zongde glance at him indifferently, Wang Yunhai pursed his lips and said nothing more.
Zhang Xianghu sneered, then passed down the order, allowing the thirty soldiers of the army to relax for three days.
This relaxation was naturally not an ordinary relaxation. After capturing the Imjin City, these soldiers were allowed to indulge themselves in the city.
The soldiers who received Zhang Xianghu's order immediately cheered and wandered around the city.
When they saw a wealthy family, they would go in to see if they had any valuables. They would also go in to see if there was any meat stored at an ordinary household.
Those shops are their favorites, as there are many valuable items inside, including the most gold and silver.
Not only that, they will not let go of any beautiful women they see. Even if a woman is average-looking, few can escape safely when they encounter these soldiers.
Within three days, the entire Imjin City fell into chaos, with wailing and chaos everywhere in the city.
When Francis Xavier heard the news, he was so angry that he smashed several teacups: "Don't these new southern troops advocate human rights and democracy? How could they do such a thing?"
Fang Jian felt a little regretful that he should not have hastily agreed to form an alliance with the Southern New Army and send troops to help Lin Zongde.
Tao Yunong stood aside, lowered his head and dared not speak. The commander was angry and he did not dare to displease him.
What had happened was irreversible. After venting his anger, Fang Jian calmed down and let out a long sigh.
Without thinking about it anymore, Fang Jian instructed Tao Yunong, "How is the recruitment of 50,000 reserve soldiers going?"
"Commander, the reserve soldiers have been recruited and have undergone ten days of training." Tao Yunong said immediately.
Fang Jian nodded slightly: "Ask about the casualties of the First Division and replenish them with enough soldiers."
"Yes, Commander." Tao Yunong did not dare to delay and responded immediately.
On May 7, reinforcements from the northern government entered Sanjiang Province and arrived in Qingyang County.
I thought there would be a lot of Southern Army in Qingyang County. I was a little confused when the vanguard army entered Qingyang County. It was said that the Ninth Army would be defeated here, so how come there was not a single Southern Army in the city?
When Wan Congsheng, commander of the 12th Army of the Northern Government, received the report, he was stunned: "What? There are no Southern Army in Qingyang City?"
"Chief of Staff, what do you think of this?"
The Chief of Staff shook his head slightly: "General, this is strange, could it be a conspiracy by the Southern Army?"
"No matter whether it is a conspiracy of the Southern Army or not, now that we are here, there is no reason to retreat." Wan Congsheng shook his head slightly.
No matter what conspiracy the Southern Army has, they have dispatched more than 50,000 troops this time. As long as they are careful, they will be able to deal with the Southern Army under Lin Zongde.
They didn't know that after Fang Guoxuan withdrew, Lin Zongde sent people to check that Qingyang City was unguarded, but he didn't care and didn't send troops to take over Qingyang City, which led to this situation.