Wu Peifu arrived at Heshengqiao on the 27th. Before he got off the car, he received news of Tingsiqiao's crushing defeat. He decided to stay in Heshengqiao to supervise the battle. Although he lost consecutively, Wu Peifu was still full of confidence. It was not accidental that he had such confidence. Except for the defeat in the Second Zhi-Feng War due to Feng Yuxiang's betrayal, Wu Peifu had never lost the battle. However, Wu Peifu opposed many of his staff members in the decisive battle in Heshengqiao.

"Shishou Yu, it's best not to fight here and retreat to Wuchang. Rely on the strong city of Wuchang to resist and wait until the main force is assembled before the decisive battle." Secretary-General Zhang Qihuang told Wu Peifu worriedly that he did not arrive in the same car as Wu Peifu. After returning to Wuhan from Henan, he heard that Wu Peifu was going to fight the Northern Expedition Army at Heshengqiao, so he hurried to dissuade him. Since the civil strife in Hunan, he has made several suggestions, but Wu Peifu has not adopted it. Now the situation has finally evolved to the worst situation he had predicted at the beginning.

"Ziwu, don't worry. This time I will supervise the battle myself, and with the favorable terrain here, I have an 80% chance of winning. In the past, Tingsi Bridge won the Hubei battle, and today, Hesheng Bridge won the world." Wu Peifu said lightly.

"Wu Ziyu, okay, please be sober?" Zhang Qihuang pointed at Wu Peifu's nose and shouted: "Although the terrain here is good, the scholars have no fighting spirit and will not have the will to fight. How can you win?"

Zhang Qihuang was really anxious. He no longer cared about etiquette. In his opinion, the current situation was entirely caused by Wu Peifu's mistake in decision-making. From the beginning of the civil strife in Hunan, he suggested that Wu Peifu listen to it and admit that Tang Shengzhi was in charge of Hunan. However, Wu Peifu was moved by Zhao Hengti's "gratitude" and was greedy for Hunan's wealth. He ignored the weakness of his strength since his comeback and risked fighting on both sides, intervened in Hunan, which turned out to be a war between the north and the south. Even today's uncontrollable situation.

Wu Peifu was not angry about Zhang Qihuang's misconduct, but felt guilty. His aide worked hard for him since he met. He spent all his efforts. Today's dilemma was also because of his own will and failed his good intentions.

Wu Peifu smiled and gave a smile: "Ziwu, I know this, but if I kill them, I will kill them, and I will beat them if I don't beat them."

"Look. I set up three lines of defense, the first line of defense is located in Taolinpu, Yanglintang, and Wang Liben; the second line of defense is located in Yindoshan; the third line of defense is located in Hesheng Bridge." Wu Peifu led Zhang Qihuang to the map to introduce his layout.

"This is not a dead place, it is a living place." Zhang Qihuang said sarcastically.

"Don't be anxious," Wu Peifu showed his rare patience: "I have analyzed the past few battles. The Southern Army is good at surrounding and sneak attacks, so I have built circular fortifications on each hill, and each fortification has a large amount of ammunition reserved, so that every position can continue to fight. Even if the rear path is cut off, every position can still continue to fight. All officers and soldiers are not allowed to retreat. Those who retreat will kill, the second line will kill the first line, and the third line will kill the second line. I personally led the supervising team to supervise the battle at Heshengqiao, so that the soldiers will fight hard and dare not retreat. I don't believe it. With this natural danger, plus 50,000 dead soldiers, they will eat down Heshengqiao. It is not easy, and at the worst, they can cover the main force to assemble in Wuhan."

"Oh. Please take care of yourself." Seeing that Wu Peifu had made up his mind, Zhang Qihuang could only sigh and go back to Wuhan. Before leaving, he advised Wu Peifu again: "The key to victory or defeat is no longer with us, but with Sun Chuanfang, if Sun Chuanfang sends troops, we will win. If we don't leave, our army will be defeated."

"If we don't fight a good battle, he will be dispatched." Wu Peifu said sadly. As early as in Nankou, he had sent Sun Chuanfang to send troops to aid Hunan, but now he is late, and the coalition forces of the five provinces have not sent a single soldier.

"Although Sun Xinyuan is very arrogant, he will not tolerate the Southern Army occupying the three towns of Wuhan. I will let you retreat to Wuhan. Another purpose is to tell Sun Xinyuan that if you don't send troops, we will give up Wuhan and retreat to Henan, and let him face the Southern Army alone." Zhang Qihuang was very discouraged. Sun Chuanfang's purpose was to take Wu Peifu and replace him, so when Wu Peifu still had spare energy, he would not save Wu Peifu, but Sun Chuanfang also had ambitions for the two lakes. Therefore, if the Northern Expedition Army occupied Wuhan, Sun Chuanfang would definitely send troops to fight.

"I, Wu Peifu, are not old enough to ask that kid to take action," although Wu Peifu was looking forward to Sun Chuanfang's troops, he was not discouraged at all, cheering himself up and his subordinates.

It is unreasonable for Wu Peifu to choose Hesheng Bridge as the decisive battlefield from time to time. The Hesheng Bridge area has undulating hills, green mountains, intersecting rivers, and crisscrossing ditches for dozens of miles. Moreover, due to the recent collapse of the Yangtze River and floods, the low-lying areas have become a country of ​​whether.

After conquering Tingsi Bridge, the morale of the Northern Expedition Army increased. On the 27th, the four on the left and seven on the right were captured. Chiang Kai-shek was well aware that the battle was of great importance and no longer retained his strength. He also sent Liu Zhi as the chief reserve team. Two regiments of the First Division entered Tongcheng, but the first regiment of the First Division remained in Yueyang.

On the night of the 29th, the Northern Expedition Army approached the frontier of the Wu army. The Wu army was panicked and immediately made guns and cannons. They could not see the target clearly in the darkness and fired randomly, which exposed the target. In the early morning of the 30th, Chen Keyu gave the order, and the Fourth Army launched an attack on the west side of the railway.

The 35th Regiment of the 12th Division was the vanguard, and the ** Regiment followed up to attack Yang Lintang; the Seventh Army launched an attack on Wang Benli with the 8th Brigade as the vanguard.

The front of Hesheng Bridge was too narrow, and neither army could fully deploy. The Fourth Army left the 10th Division as the reserve force, and the Seventh Army left two brigades as the reserve force.

The 35th Regiment had long been lurking in an area that was only 100 meters away from the enemy's strengthening. They imitated the battle of Tingsi Bridge, and did not fire a single shot during the attack. They rushed forward in the enemy's artillery fire and rushed into the enemy's positions to launch hand-to-hand combat.

The battle of Tingsiqiao made the Wu army exhausted. As soon as the 35th Regiment rushed into the position, the Wu army soldiers turned around and ran away. In just an hour, the Taolinpu's front-line position fell into the hands of the Northern Expedition Army. Ye Ting led the ** regiment to surpass the 35th Regiment to launch an attack north of Taolinpu.

Less than three hours after the attack was launched, the front line was shaking. Wu Peifu was shocked and quickly ordered Liu Yuchun to lead the 8th Division to launch a counterattack, and ordered Zhao Ronghua to lead his own guard to block the intersection. All retreating officers and soldiers, regardless of their official positions, were beheaded.

Liu Yuchun led the 8th Division to launch a counterattack on the ** regiment. The ** regiment was caught off guard. Xu Jishen's Second Battalion was surrounded on several hills. Xu Jishen was shot in the abdomen and lay in the Wu army's circular fortifications to command the battle.

The Eighth Division came down from the northern battlefield. It is a relatively complete army. The veterans of the group have fought many fierce battles, and the nearest ones are the Nankou Battle. There was the Jiumenkou Battle during the Second Zhifeng War in the distance. But I have never seen such a desperate army. After the third attack, I finally approached the ring fortifications. In the fortifications, an officer in the fortifications stood up and shouted, "Catch them down." Immediately, a group of desperate battles emerged from the ring fortifications, holding a shaky bayonet and pounced down. Once the battle was fought, they were still alive. When a wounded man with a broken leg raised a smoke grenade and rolled into their crowd, they were mentally broken.

The news of the Second Battalion being surrounded reached Ye Ting. But Ye Ting had no choice at this moment. The attack speed of the ** regiment was too fast. The 35th regiment failed to keep up in time. The 8th Division cut off the connection between the ** regiment and the 35th regiment. "The first battalion commander, rush forward, only by rushing over, there is a chance." Ye Ting shouted at Cao Yuan, and Cao Yuan did not turn around and yelled: "Catch He Shengqiao and capture Wu Peifu alive! Crash!". Lead a series of killing into the enemy group.

The hand-to-hand tactics of the first battalion were exactly the same as those of the seventh company. The team fought as a whole, and three or five soldiers formed a small group. This small group was both offensive and defensive. In just one moment, they fell down more than a dozen enemies under the bayonet. The remaining enemies panicked and retreated, dodged a path for them, and watched Cao Yuan lead a company whistling past.

The circular fortifications helped the Second Battalion. The departments of the Second Battalion relied on these fortifications to deal with the Eighth Division. Liu Yuchun commanded the troops. The strong attack was unsuccessful. The morale was slumped. Ye Ting led the first battalion to reach the death road and rushed to the hills of Xu Jishen's defending. Seeing Xu Jishen injured, "Is it important?" Ye Ting asked rudely, and Xu Jishen nodded with a pale face: "I can't die." "Then leave two squads to defend here. The others attacked Yindousan with me."

Ye Ting knew in his heart that the 35th Regiment on the periphery must have been fighting fiercely, and the third battalion was also scattered everywhere, relying on the circular fortifications to block the enemy, and then attack Yindoshan by himself. If you Liu Yuchun is in charge, I will take Yindoshan; if you take charge, the peripheral armies will be able to quickly defeat the Eighth Division.

"I want to go together, I can't die." Xu Jishen struggled to stand up and said.

"No, why are you going to be so hurt like this?" Ye Ting didn't have much of a moral character: "Besides, keeping you here is to restrain the enemy and cover our retreat! You stay here honestly and don't lose your position!"

After saying that, he waved his hand and rushed towards Indoshan first.

Liu Yuchun's counterattack was beyond the expectations of the Northern Expedition Army. The battle line was not broken, and the front line was not broken. At dawn, the front line was stable. All units of the Northern Expedition Army launched an attack on the Eighth Division. Liu Yuchun turned the attack into defense, but there were ** regiments inside and the Fourth and Seventh Armies outside. Liu Yuchun couldn't stand it and led the Eighth Division to retreat backwards. The ** regiment took the opportunity to conquer Yindoshan. The 35th Regiment conquered Yanglintang, and the Seventh Army also conquered Wang Benli. The three defense lines that Wu Peifu had worked hard to manage fell into two after half a day of bloody battle.

Ye Ting kept running and took advantage of the victory to launch an attack on the Hesheng Bridge Iron Bridge with the first company as the forward. Wu Peifu's train stopped not far behind the iron bridge. The General Fuwei's flag was flying at the front of the car, and a flagpole was treed beside the train, with nine heads hanging on it.

At the railway bridge, people were rolling. Zhao Ronghua commanded the Big Sword Team to kill desperately among the defeated soldiers, trying to stop them from escaping. Liu Yuchun knelt in front of Wu Peifu, covered in blood and tears.

"Master, no more than half of my people died. I can't stop them. You kill me."

There was a loud gunfire in the south of the bridge, with a sharp roar and a shell exploded not far away, and the defeated soldiers became even more panicked. Many people abandoned their guns and jumped from the bridge into the river.

Wu Peifu's face was pale. He didn't expect that he would be defeated so quickly and miserably. He said to Liu Yuchun in a stern manner: "It's not your fault, it's not your fault."

Wu Peifu shook his body, raised his head with difficulty, looked at the south side with murmur, "Children are rampant, children are rampant."

At this time, Wu Peifu was already in his fifties, Chiang Kai-shek was only 39 years old, less than forty years, Tang Shengzhi, Li Zongren and others were younger, which was the ones who led a group of younger people to overthrow the once prominent Marshal Wu.

A blue sky, white sun, the ground was red, and the shouts of "Catch Wu Peifu alive!" were approaching a hundred meters. The defeated soldiers on the bridge were gathering more and more, becoming more and more chaotic. Zhao Ronghua came over crying and said, "Master, go quickly, they are completely in chaos and can't hold on."

Suddenly, gunfire sounded loudly among the rioters, and the defeated soldiers were resentful and shot at the supervision team. Some more, they began to shoot at Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu's two guards stood in front of Wu Peifu, and Liu Yuchun jumped up from the ground: "Master General, Wuchang and tens of thousands of troops from Deputy Commander Jin, there is still hope to defend Wuchang." Seeing that Wu Peifu was still unmoved, Liu Yuchun stomped his feet in a hurry and shouted at the guards: "Take the commander away, I'll stop them."

After saying that, he pulled up his sword and rushed to the bridge. Zhao Ronghua stepped forward to command the guards to lift Wu Peifu and ran away. Wu Peifu shouted: "Let me go, let me go, I would rather die in battle than run away! Let me go." The train had already started. As soon as Wu Peifu was carried into the car, he immediately started, knocked away the defeated soldiers on the railway and rushed towards Wuhan.

The ** regiment ignored the surrendered soldiers kneeling on the ground along the way, rushed across the iron bridge and chased them along the railway line. Liu Yuchun tried to organize resistance, but no one was willing to fight.

Tingsi Bridge and Hesheng Bridge had two fierce battles, with corpses everywhere and blood flowing into a river. The Northern Expedition Army bravely defeated Wu Peifu, and its sound shocked the whole country.

He Shengqiao went down from the battle, which was beyond the expectations of Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Shengzhi. In addition, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Fourth Army to continue pursuing Wuchang. One of the Seventh Army cooperated with the Fourth Army's operations, and the other occupied Echeng. The Second Division of the First Army headed to Heshengqiao. Two regiments of the First Army headed to Xianning, and the first regiment stayed in Yueyang.
Chapter completed!