The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 668 Wang Yingkai's Disdain
Cai Chengxun continued, "In that case, let my First Association go, and let Teng Xingfu know that our First Town is not made of clay!"

Zhu Panzao also rolled up his sleeves and said, "Sir, the Second Brigade is also going up. They all say that the Zhi army is good at fighting. I will also go and see how they are doing."

He Zonglian nodded and said, "Alright! Let's go into battle with all our troops and fight against Teng Xingfu."

"I order the first brigade to attack the Great Wall Pass, and the second brigade to go down the mountain from Yinzigou in the northwest and attack Yaozijian. No matter which route succeeds, the other Zhi army must immediately withdraw and return to Dai County. We will take advantage of the situation and pursue them, and then attack Dai County directly."

"We will replenish our supplies in Dai County and then advance to Yanmen Pass. It would be best if we can capture Yanmen Pass. Then we can head to Taiyuan."

"After an hour, if you fail in both routes and cannot break through the Zhi army's defenses at the Great Wall Pass and Yaozijian, you should retreat immediately. We will then follow the Wangzhuangbao and Qianfoling roads to catch up with the second town."

"Sir, if we retreat with heavy casualties, our strength will certainly be greatly reduced. It would be best to have a second town as a companion."

Chief of Staff Tang Zaili asked with some concern. "But the question is, can the Second Town be trusted?"

Tang Zaili was a classmate of Tieliang and Liangbi at the Japanese Army Academy. After returning to China, he first served as a councilor in the Ministry of the Army. After the Henan Army was reorganized into the Shuntian Army, he was sent by Tieliang to the First Town to serve as chief of staff.

He Zonglian sneered and said, "Since Wang Shaochen has accepted Teng Yuzao's request, he is naturally unreliable. But Zhifu doesn't have to worry. I don't think Wang Shaochen dares to openly collude with Teng Xingfu to plot against us."

Wang Yingkai, courtesy name Shaochen.

"Moreover, as long as we stay with the Second Town, once the Zhi army chases and attacks us, Wang Shaochen will not be able to stand idly by. If he does not join forces with us to fight the enemy, he will be implicated, unless he openly surrenders to Teng Xingfu now."

He Zonglian's words made several people feel nervous. Tang Zaili, who wanted to stop He Zonglian from commanding the First Town to attack the Zhi army alone, couldn't help but shut his mouth.

After hearing what He Zonglian said, he could no longer try to persuade her in a tactful way. Otherwise, if the news got to Liangbi and Tieliang, he, as a classmate, would be in trouble.

Although he could no longer persuade He Zonglien to give up his plan to attack the Zhi army, He Zonglien's words opened a window for Tang Zaili. He couldn't help but look in the direction of Wangzhuangbao that Wang Yingkai mentioned.

Tang Zaili suddenly thought that if Teng Yuzhao could still lead the Zhili Army to fight bloody battles with the Russians and Japanese for the land outside the Great Wall, it would not be a bad idea to surrender to Teng Yuzhao.

Tang Zaili was from Shanghai. When he returned to his hometown after graduation, he went to the Second Regiment of the Zhi Army stationed in Liangjiang to watch the morning exercises of the Zhi Army. The Second Regiment of the Zhi Army left a very deep impression on him.

In his opinion, the Zhi army not only had strict military discipline and was well-trained, but the most valuable thing was that the morale of the Zhi army was very high.

On the other hand, the Shuntian Army, and even the Yu Army, were also strictly trained, but in Tang Zaili's opinion, they were not even close to the Zhi Army in terms of momentum.
After three o'clock in the afternoon, on a green hillside two miles away from the entrance of Yinzigou.

Under the shade of the trees, Wang Yingkai and his brother-in-law Sun Chuanfang were standing on the top of the hillside alone. Both of them were holding binoculars, checking the situation at the mouth of Yinzigou hidden in the trees in the distance. That was the starting point for the attack by He Zonglian's First Regiment and Zhu Panzao's Second Brigade towards the Yaozijian Zhijun defense line.

After receiving the report that the First Town seemed to be preparing to launch an attack on the Zhi army blocking the road, Wang Yingkai immediately took a sentry guard troop and prepared to go forward to investigate the situation.

Sun Chuanfang followed immediately, and both of them wanted to see the battle between He Zonglian and the Zhi army. Sun Chuanfang even wanted to sneak to the mountains near Yinzigou to observe the battle situation more closely, but was stopped by Wang Yingkai.

Their location at the moment was too far away, so it was definitely impossible for them to see the specific battle situation. They could only see teams of soldiers from the First Town driving into Yinzigou from the mountain ridge. They had only one goal in mind as they moved forward along Yinzigou, and that was Yaozijian.

A large number of soldiers from the First Town gathered at the entrance of Yinzigou. It seemed that He Zonglien also set up the headquarters of the First Town there. If we go close to observe the situation and are discovered by He Zonglien, it will be difficult to deal with.

Sun Chuanfang, who had been watching for a while, put down the telescope unwillingly and said tentatively to Wang Yingkai.

"Brother-in-law, if He Zonglian really breaks through the Zhi army's line of defense blocking the road, should we follow him?"

Sun Chuanfang lost his father at an early age and grew up in a poor family. When he was a teenager, he followed his mother and sister to escape famine from Tai'an to Jinan, and only settled down after he met Wang Yingkai.

Wang Yingkai was very caring towards his brother-in-law. Not only did he pay for his schooling, he also planned for his development. Not only did he send him to the military academy which had just opened in Baoding, but after he graduated, he even went to the Ministry of the Army to get him a place to study military in Japan. It can be said that Wang Yingkai was Sun Chuanfang's benefactor and noble man.

Therefore, Sun Chuanfang respected his brother-in-law very much.

Sun Chuanfang's words surprised Wang Yingkai. He put down the telescope in his hand, turned around and handed it to his groom, then waved his hand to signal the groom to step back.

"Xinyuan."

Wang Yingkai looked at Sun Chuanfang and said, "Do you think He Chunjiang's First Town can break through the Zhi army's blockade and kill his way down the mountain?"

Sun Chuanfang nodded and said, "The First Town has 16,700 to 17,000 men. The two all-mule and horse fast-moving brigades of the Zhi army have to garrison Shuozhou, Yanmen, and Dai County, and also block the road down the mountain from here. The defense line is too long, and the troops are inevitably dispersed. The First Town's troops are now concentrated in one place, with an absolute advantage in strength. It is still very likely that they will break through their blockade and kill Dai County."

"As for why Bao Guiqing didn't charge forward, it was because Bao Guiqing was just testing the attack, and the troops he sent out were only at the sentry level, so the force was too small."

Wang Yingkai shook his head and said, "Xinyuan, what you said makes some sense, but you only see the surface and don't think deeply. When you lead troops to fight in the future, you can't do this. You must think carefully when encountering things, so that you can be invincible."

Wang Yingkai patiently explained, "Take the two brigades of the Zhi army for example. They claim to be two so-called fast brigades equipped with only mules and horses. In my opinion, the reason they are called fast brigades is that they must be very fast. This time, they rushed thousands of miles from the outside of the pass and were able to rush to Dai County before us, which is a clear example of their speed."

"As you said, they even have trucks. It shouldn't be difficult to quickly mobilize troops."

"Although they themselves said that they have also stationed troops near Shuozhou, their troops are extremely mobile. How could they not make good use of such an advantage!"

"So, I estimate that they will definitely not distribute their forces evenly. With a combined force of nearly 30,000, I estimate that the Zhi army's forces at Yaozijian and the Great Wall Pass will not be less than 6,000. It is not easy to break through the Zhi army's defense line with fierce artillery fire, a large number of machine guns and a dangerous position."

"Also, Xinyuan, you have to understand that if our troops want to advance to Shuozhou, they must cross the mountains and pass through Hengshan. However, the route that the Zhi army has to cross Hengshan between Daixian and Shuozhou is much closer than the route we take from here."

(End of this chapter)