Black Flag Army

Fan Guozhang's messenger rushed to the division headquarters and saw that a big hole had been blown in the division headquarters building, and it was in a mess. It turned out that the planes not only bombed the Beiyang Army on the front line, but also bombed the division headquarters. More than a dozen staff officers were killed and many more were injured. General Pan escaped by chance, but his ear was injured and bleeding. With the participation of planes in the battle, there was no distinction between front and rear on the battlefield.

When the military doctor was bandaging Pan Dutong's wound, Pan Dutong cursed: "Which bastard said that airplanes are useless before? Isn't this harming people?"

Some people said it was Senator Lu and Senator Liu, so General Pan immediately asked someone to find Senator Lu and Senator Liu to settle the score with them.

The military doctor said, "There's no need to look for the division commander. Councilors Lu and Liu have been killed in the explosion."

When Pan Dutong heard that the person was dead, he was stunned and couldn't scold them anymore.

At this time, the messengers of Fan Guozhang and Xiao Guangchuan arrived and told them about the failure of the attack and the heavy casualties. They requested to suspend the attack, rest for half a day, and attack again tomorrow. General Pan was also afraid of the bombing and was ready to agree to the request of the two brigade commanders.

Pan Erxi said, "Division Commander! In the morning's attack, the two brigades only lost a few hundred people each, of which only a few dozen were killed by planes. They are still capable of attacking in the afternoon. They are doing this just to preserve their strength."

After listening to what his distant cousin said, Pan Dutong thought it made sense, so he changed his mind and ordered them to continue the attack in the afternoon after lunch and not to rest.

Fan Guozhang and Xiao Guangchuan were shocked when they received the order. They heard from the messenger that it was Pan Erxi who spread rumors and did bad things. They could not help but curse Pan Erxi, but were afraid of being executed by military law by General Pan, so they had to order an attack in the afternoon. However, the army was demoralized and the attacking troops almost collapsed at the first touch. It was completely incomparable with the fierce battle in the morning. The offensive ended quickly and hastily. By the evening, Baotou had not been captured yet. Pan Juying had to order another attack tomorrow.

Of course, this was because Fan Guozhang and Xiao Guangchuan were lazy in their afternoon attacks. The actual attack time was not too long, but there were still differences in the conditions of the two brigades in the afternoon. Xiao Guangchuan was very passive in the attack throughout the day. By the evening, only the artillery was still attacking the south gate of Baotou, and no charging soldiers could be seen. The cumulative casualties of his troops were about 500 people. In the afternoon, his position was also bombed by aircraft, but most of the casualties were caused by the enemy's artillery shells.

Fan Guozhang on the other side seemed quite unlucky. In the morning, he thought that the Third Brigade could provide timely support, so he fought very hard and suffered a lot of casualties. In the afternoon, Fan Guozhang saw that Pan Juying ignored his suggestions, so he began to slack off in the attack. However, the Baotou army on the opposite side changed. In the afternoon, Zhang Zhenyang led the cavalry battalion to launch a roundabout raid on the logistics troops behind Fan Guozhang. Fan Guozhang never thought that the other side would dare to counterattack them. As a result, a large amount of food was burned, and a baggage company over there was almost wiped out. The company commander was hacked to death by sabers. When Fan Guozhang led the main force to support, the enemy's cavalry had long disappeared, which made Fan Guozhang hate Pan Erxi even more, because his friendly army did not move. In the evening, when Fan Guozhang counted the number of people, he found that the cumulative casualties of his army had reached more than 900 people, and the wailing of the wounded had resounded throughout the brigade, which made his mood suddenly fall to the bottom. He kept cursing Pan Erxi in the camp. Even Pan Juying was scolded.

The night fell quietly, and gusts of cold wind blew over the Beiyang Army's camp. The chill in the air became heavier. The few trees here were already bare, standing gloomily in the cold wind. In this weather, the morale of the entire 20th Division was even lower, and many soldiers had the idea of ​​deserting. After a while, the time came to eleven o'clock. Many officers and soldiers of the 20th Division had fallen asleep. At this time, several figures came to the brigade headquarters of the 3rd Brigade of the 20th Division, and the guards at the door were wiped by the neck in silence. Inside the house, the senior officials of the 3rd Brigade and the guards of the guard company were snoring. Pan Erxi, who had drunk, also slept in the same room with his favorite concubine Gou Xiaoxiang. Originally, women were not allowed to be brought into the army, but Pan Erxi had a way. He cut the concubine Gou Xiaoxiang's hair short, put on guard clothes, and pretended to be a male soldier. Although his men saw it, no one dared to report it because they all knew that he was a relative of the division commander.

Suddenly, several screams were heard in the brigade headquarters. The deputy brigade commander and several staff officers were stabbed to death in the bedroom. Pan Erxi's concubine Gou Xiaoxiang was awakened by the screams. Seeing Pan Erxi's throat pierced with a knife and blood gushing out, she screamed immediately, and then her mouth was covered. The masked man who covered her mouth swung the knife to cut her throat. She fainted from fright, and another masked man stopped him, saying, "This is top-notch stuff, a high-end trophy. It's a pity to kill him. Tie him up and take him away."

So the high-level trophy Gou Xiaoxiang was tied up, gagged with a towel, and put into a sack and taken away.

The brigade's guard company was also awakened. After entering the room, everyone saw several corpses in the brigade and fell into panic.

The guard company commander quickly ran out of the brigade headquarters, but bumped into Xiao Qingzhi, the commander of the Third Brigade. He quickly apologized, and then saw Xiao Qingzhi coming with many people, so he said: "Captain Xiao, why are you here? Something bad has happened. The brigade commander and deputy brigade commander have been killed. I have to report to the division commander immediately."

Xiao Qingzhi held him and said, "Pan Erxi was killed? Who did it? Was there an enemy assassin? Did you do it? Don't look for the division commander first, explain it to me." The guard company commander was stunned. Before he could say anything, two of Xiao Qingzhi's cronies rushed over and stabbed the company commander to death with a dagger. Then, several of Xiao Qingzhi's followers ran to the two regiment headquarters respectively, and he himself walked into the brigade headquarters with the remaining cronies. The two regiment commanders mentioned just now were from the Third Brigade and were colleagues of Xiao Qingzhi. After Xiao Qingzhi entered the brigade headquarters, he sent people to control the brigade headquarters while waiting in the room for the other two regiment commanders to come. In fact, the previous shooting here was done by Xiao Qingzhi's people, and the purpose was naturally to seize control of the Third Brigade.

After a while, the two regiment commanders came to the brigade headquarters with their men. The regiment commander with the surname Zhou was called Zhou Peng. When he saw Pan Erxi's body, he couldn't wait to ask: "Old Xiao, do you have anything important to say? Who killed the brigade commander?"

Xiao Qingzhi replied: "I killed Pan Erxi because Pan Juying colluded with the enemy! I received a secret letter from the President at night, which said that Pan Juying was eager to attack Baotou for a conspiracy. It turned out that he wanted to sell Baotou to the Mongols. The Mongolian army is already on the way. We are fighting so hard to help others!"

After hearing this, Zhou Peng found it hard to believe and immediately asked: "Captain Xiao, you said that the division commander colluded with the Mongols. What evidence do you have? If you kill people without even knowing what's going on, that's treason!"

At this time, the silent commander Zhao suddenly stood up. His name was Zhao Shiqun. He slowly said, "I have noticed the evidence of Pan Juying's collusion with the Mongols. Yesterday, Pan Juying's confidant brought a batch of gold and many wolfskin carpets into the division headquarters. I was curious about what was going on, so I took one." After that, he took out a gold bar from his arms.

When Xiao Qingzhi saw that Zhao Shiqun actually produced evidence, he was overjoyed, so he continued, "It seems that there is solid evidence that Pan Juying is collaborating with the enemy. He is unforgivable. Brothers, take your men and act with me. After a while, it will be twelve o'clock. Let's attack Pan Juying's division headquarters at this time. This traitor must be executed."

Zhao Shiqun replied: "I didn't expect he would be such a person. Lao Xiao, just give me your orders. I will listen to you now."

Zhou Peng still felt that Xiao Qingzhi's words were not credible, and continued to argue: "The division commander has been corrupt more than once or twice. How can you accuse the division commander of selling out his country just because of the gold? What power do you two regiment commanders have to deal with the division commander? I want to see Brigade Commander Fan..." Before Zhou Peng could finish his words, he was strangled by Xiao Qingzhi, and then several of Xiao Qingzhi's guards rushed up, tied him up, stuffed cotton cloth in his mouth, and threw him next to Pan Erxi's body.

At the same time, there was a sound of fighting at the door. Soon, a guard came in and said to Xiao Qingzhi: "Captain, Zhou Peng's cronies have been controlled. Please rest assured." Xiao Qingzhi also stood up and said to the tied Zhou Peng: "Captain Zhou, since you don't want to work with us, you have to stay here." Then he led the others out of the room.

When Xiao Qingzhi walked to the yard, he asked Zhao Shiqun who was standing beside him: "Why do you want to help me? I really don't have any evidence that Pan Juying is collaborating with the enemy." Zhao Shiqun replied: "Do you think you are the only one who is dissatisfied with Pan Juying? My ex-wife was also occupied by Pan Juying, and of course I wish he would die sooner." Xiao Qingzhi continued: "It's rare that Brother Zhao can agree with me! You should quickly return to the regiment headquarters to reorganize the troops, and we will attack the division headquarters together at twelve o'clock."

At twelve o'clock that night, the second and third regiments of the 20th Division Cavalry Brigade suddenly attacked Pan Juying's division headquarters. The sound of gunfire suddenly rang out in the middle of the night. The 20th Division headquarters had a direct regiment, which was divided into guard battalions, baggage battalions and transport battalions. Among them, only one guard battalion could really fight, but the guard battalion was caught off guard. Countless sabers flashed coldly in the night sky, and then dyed blood red in an instant. Infantry had no advantage in fighting cavalry, not to mention that these cavalry were wearing Beiyang Army clothes, which made the situation even more chaotic. Countless soldiers of the guard battalion died tragically under sabers. The battle was almost one-sided. Pan Juying was also awakened by the shouting and killing. He felt very strange when he heard the screams around him. He hurriedly put on his clothes and began to look for people everywhere.

The deputy division commander walked into the division headquarters room with several soldiers with blood on their faces. Pan Juying hurriedly asked him what happened. The deputy division commander replied nervously: "Division Commander, Pan Erxi has rebelled, the Third Brigade has attacked the division headquarters, we are almost surrounded by the traitors, the guard battalion has suffered heavy casualties, and even Chief of Staff Qian was killed."

Pan Juying was in disbelief, grabbed the deputy commander's clothes and yelled: "Pan Erxi is my own brother, how could he betray me, you must be talking nonsense!" The deputy commander struggled and said: "If you don't believe it, you can go out and see for yourself. I dare to guarantee with my head that it is the cavalry of the Third Brigade."

After hearing this, Pan Juying gradually calmed down and said to everyone: "We can't fight this battle anymore, you guys quickly find the horses, we will retreat eastward and return to Suicheng as soon as possible." After saying this, he quickly found a soldier's clothes to change into to avoid attracting attention.

Soon, Pan Juying fled eastward with more than a hundred people riding fast horses. It was dark at night and the rebel army could not catch up with them. Relying on the speed of the fast horses, Pan Juying survived in the end, but most of the troops were left behind by him. The guard battalion was almost wiped out. The rebels even launched a large-scale robbery in the division headquarters, and the military pay and supplies of the logistics department were looted. After robbing all the money and goods, Xiao Qingzhi led the rebels to Chahar to become horse bandits.

When Pan Juying's division was attacked, Fan Guozhang and Xiao Guangchuan's two brigades were also attacked at night. They were attacked by Zhu Anbang and Zhang Shusheng's two regiments, and Zhang Zhenyang's cavalry battalion attacked the heavy artillery regiment. Di Xiong knew the importance of heavy artillery and personally took many workers to participate in the action. Liu Zhendong's troops suffered heavy losses during the day and it was difficult for them to participate in the battle. At this time, Fan Guozhang of the brigade was rarely asleep. He was whipping a battalion commander of his men with a whip. This man was also a relative of Pan Juying. Fan Guozhang could not vent his anger at Pan Erxi, so he took other relatives of Pan Juying as an attack. At this time, several staff officers rushed into the brigade, and one of them said to Fan Guozhang: "Brigade commander, the enemy attacked at night. The three regiments at the front were not prepared and have been beaten to pieces." Fan Guozhang replied: "Hurry up and send someone to ask the division commander to send a cavalry brigade to assist us."

The staff officer went on to say: "There is a fire all over the division headquarters, and there is no news from the intelligence officers we sent out. The division commander is probably in danger. You have to make a decision quickly."

Fan Guozhang took the telescope and walked out of the house. He saw the roar of killing outside and the chaos at the artillery position. He then said, "Since the division commander can't be contacted, I don't want to accompany him. The third regiment has suffered heavy losses during the day, and it would be a burden to bring them along. Let's ignore them and notify the other two regiments to retreat eastward, toward Guisui." After that, he took out his pistol and shot the battalion commander who was beaten to pieces. Then he led the two regiments to retreat eastward.

On the other side, Xiao Guangchuan was half asleep, and was finally woken up by his subordinates. When he heard that the enemy was attacking at night, his first reaction was not to flee, but to ask all troops to hold their positions until reinforcements arrived. Soon, the soldiers of the Second Brigade gradually gained a firm foothold, picked up guns and grenades and launched a counterattack. Relying on their numerical advantage, they exchanged fire with Zhu Anbang's guard regiment. The firepower of both sides was almost equal, but the soldiers of the Second Brigade were more tired, and many of them could not hold their guns steadily. The firepower was gradually suppressed by the enemy, and casualties continued to increase.

About ten minutes later, an intelligence officer ran to Xiao Guangchuan's brigade headquarters and said to him: "Brigade Commander, something bad has happened. The artillery regiment has been lost, many artillerymen are fleeing, and the commander of the artillery regiment has been killed by the enemy. Most of the heavy artillery has probably fallen into the hands of the enemy."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Guangchuan dropped the pocket watch in his hand to the ground in fright, and hurriedly said to his regiment commander: "If those cannons fall into the hands of the enemy, we will be the ones to be blown up. How can we fight this battle? Retreat! Retreat!"

Soon, the 2nd Brigade of the 20th Division also embarked on the road of retreat.