Master Yuan, start!

The 90mm caliber field guns equipped in large quantities by the National Revolutionary Army could only scratch the surface of this type of city walls.

However, some modified mountain cannons can be used to bombard the city at large elevation angles.

In the distance, shells hit the city wall from time to time, shattering a few bricks and splashing a cloud of dust.

Hearing the shaking of the city wall beneath his feet, Wei Rugui looked indifferent, but felt a little nervous in his heart.

Although the National Revolutionary Army’s artillery could not do anything to Nanchang City in the short term.

But even a large number of ants can kill an elephant. If they continue to attack like this, how long can Nanchang City hold out?

Wei Rugui knew that standing firm was not a solution.

However, he didn't dare to go out of the city to fight.

Wei Rugui had participated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in the original time and space, and was ordered to garrison in the southwest of Pyongyang to guard against the Japanese army knocking on the door.

However, during his garrison, he allowed his men to plunder and became notorious among the people. He also withheld military pay, causing mutiny among the soldiers.

It can be said that he offended both soldiers and civilians.

However, it would have been fine if he had fought bravely, but when facing the Japanese offensive, he retreated step by step. When he saw his friendly forces being surrounded, he ran away first.

They fled all the way from Pyongyang without taking any measures to stop the enemy. They ran more than 500 miles in one breath and only stabilized their troops when they reached Andong (now Dandong) north of the Yalu River.

Even though he defended the river, Wei Rugui was still defeated when the Japanese attacked.

In doing so, he offended the central bureaucracy of the Qing Dynasty, causing resentment from both top and bottom.

In the end, even the Qing Dynasty, which always liked to "dismiss defeated generals from their posts but let them retain their posts and make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences", could not stand it anymore and executed him at Caishikou in Beijing.

Li Hongzhang pleaded for mercy but was unable to keep him.

However, in this time and space, he was lucky. He followed Li Hongzhang south and never fought any hard battles. He was promoted to the position of General of Ganzhong by relying on his achievements and qualifications in suppressing bandits.

Therefore, although Wei Rugui was not very satisfied with the current situation of defending the city, he felt that this was the only way in the short term.

Since the enemy has not put all their efforts into attacking the city, there is no need for you to go out of the city to meet the enemy.

However, just because Wei Rugui can tolerate this situation doesn't mean others can too.

After stepping down from the city wall, Wang Xiaoqi, the commander of the 6th Regiment of the Lingnan New Army, rushed over cursing, "This battle was truly a disaster. Have we, the Lingnan New Army, really become cowards?

Are we just going to sit there and watch them bombard us with artillery shells?"

Wang Xiaoqi is not well-known in history, but he was once called the "three rising stars" of the Huai Army, along with Nie Shicheng and Zhang Gaoyuan.

He was very brave in marching and fighting. Whenever he faced a tough battle, he would personally brave the arrows and stones and command the enemy.

Therefore, seeing this passive situation of being beaten, Wei Rugui could hold it back, but he couldn't.

"Can this battle still be fought? The enemy is bombarding the city, and the cannons on our walls are firing back.

"We didn't kill many people, and we've used up almost half of our ammunition. If we run out, what will we use to fight?"

"What else can we do if we don't fight?"

Wei Rugui shook his head. He knew Wang Xiaoqi had a fiery temper, so he didn't care. He said, "Wait, until Marshal Quan dispatches a batch of ammunition, we can still hold on.

I'm more worried about our manpower than our ammunition."

Wei Rugui asked, "Hasn't the 4th and 5th Regiments been transferred here from Guangzhou yet?"

"Transfer? Transfer? Bullshit! They were all taken away and sent to Xiangxi!" Wang Xiaoqi got angry when he thought about it and said:

The 3rd and 4th regiments were originally scheduled to be sent to Jiangxi, but just as they were packing their luggage, Ye Zhichao said he had to go north from Guizhou to Sichuan to pacify the new Sichuan army. He was short of troops and urgently needed reinforcements.

In the end, we still have to transfer the 7th and 8th towns, which will delay us for several more days!

If Lin had known earlier, he should have sent 7 or 8 towns over from the beginning. It might have been a little weak, but at least he could have made it!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Rugui comforted him, "You also know that after the death of the Sichuan Governor, the Sichuan New Army has never been convinced of which side they are on.

3Except for a few old Huai Army soldiers in Chongqing who sent a telegram to express their obedience to Marshal Quan, the Sichuan Army in Chengdu in western Sichuan and Jianzhou in northern Sichuan remained silent.

Marshal 5 Quan must have wanted to stabilize the rear first. Besides, it’s not that the Nanchang front didn’t provide support, it was just a few days late.”

Wang Xiaoqi curled his lips when he heard this: "Support, how to support?

If they had arrived a few days earlier, they could have spread out and deployed their defenses. If they had arrived later, they would have had to hide in Nanchang City like us. What's the difference between 2 people and 4 people?

Could it be that Marshal Quan can provide support from the navy?"

When Wei Rugui heard Wang Xiaoqi talking about the navy, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the defense of Nanchang has been based on a three-dimensional defense line, relying on the dense aquatic grass and mudflats of Poyang Lake to hide soldiers, and relying on the strong city of Nanchang and the surrounding counties for maneuverability.

When the time is right, the navy will set sail northward, land near the Yangtze River, and launch a surprise attack on the enemy troops from behind. Regardless of success or failure, they will escape with one strike.

Relying on the convenience of the navy, they moved back and forth across the 800-mile Poyang Lake, making the enemy exhausted.

However, during the Hunan expedition, because Jiangning collapsed too completely, the National Revolutionary Army almost completely took over the command structure of the Hunan Army. As a result, although the Lingnan New Army occupied the city of Nanchang when it marched north, Poyang Lake was still occupied by the Poyang Lake Navy of the former Hunan Army.

After surrendering to the Republican government, the Hunan Army's Poyang Lake Navy transformed into the Poyang Lake Fleet of the National Revolutionary Army.

Therefore, the current situation in Jiangxi seems to be that the National Revolutionary Army is stuck at the gates of Nanchang.

In fact, wasn't the Lingnan New Army also blocked by the National Revolutionary Army's land and sea forces in the south of Poyang Lake, unable to advance an inch?

"Do we have to abandon Nanchang and retreat all the way?" Wei Rugui fell into deep thought as he looked at the defense situation of the Lingnan New Army in Jiangxi.

South of Nanchang, there is only Ganzhou Prefecture that can be considered a strong city and can be relied upon for defense.

However, Nanchang is more than 500 miles away from Ganzhou. If Nanchang is abandoned, it means that more than 7% of Jiangxi’s land will be handed over to others.

Is this okay?

Wei Rugui initially refused to abandon the land for defense.

But for some reason, when looking at the map, Wei Rugui suddenly felt a sense of familiarity with the number 500 miles.

He vaguely felt that this seemed feasible.

As if he had done this kind of thing himself.

But Wei Rugui knew that in his more than 5 years of military career, he had never abandoned his post and fled.

Not to mention fleeing hundreds of miles, that's completely unheard of.

Shaking his head, Wei Rugui strengthened his belief in keeping it.

Just at this time, Wang Xiaoqi could no longer sit still. He decided to take the initiative and not stay in Nanchang City and be imprisoned.

"I don't want to be a coward. I'm going to bite that bastard off!" Wang Xiaoqi looked at the battle map and set his sights on Raozhou Prefecture east of Poyang Lake.

"He has a navy that can transport troops quickly, so I'll just leave and go around on foot!" Wang Xiaoqi slapped the Raozhou City wall.

"Yuan's army moved south from Jiujiang and set up camp in front of Nanchang. Jiujiang's defenses must be vulnerable.

After the reinforcements arrive, I will lead my troops north from Raozhou, run behind Yuan’s army and attack Jiujiang, and see if they will turn back to rescue us!

"This?" Wei Rugui asked in surprise, "You ran so far, are you crazy?!"

Wang Xiaoqi stared at Wei Rugui and grinned:

“Save us! The siege of Nanchang will be lifted.

If we don't rescue Jiujiang, the city will fall, and the attacking Yuan army will be trapped between Nanchang and Jiujiang, like a turtle in a jar! "

Wang Xiaoqi knew that Wei Rugui was not good at field combat, so he did not rely on the Nanchang defenders for the main battle.

He only needed Wei Rugui's Nanchang defenders to leave the city to contain Yuan's army when he led his troops north, and prevent Yuan's army from going north to provide support.

Wei Rugui can't be unable to do this, right?

Wang Xiaoqi looked at Wei Rugui with a worried look on his face and was full of confidence in his plan.

Chapter 391 Dimensionality Reduction Strike

East of Nanchang, on the banks of the Zhutun River.

This is a river that originates from the foothills of Wuyi Mountain in Zhejiang Province and flows into Poyang Lake through Wannian County. Because it is located in the mountainous area at the junction of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, it is generally sparsely populated.

"Hurry, faster!"

Wang Xiaoqi was riding on his horse, looking at the army marching forward behind him, his heart filled with excitement.

He led a town of troops and detoured back to the east side of Poyang Lake, intending to launch a surprise attack and cut off the retreat of the National Revolutionary Army!

In his opinion, if this detour was successful, not only would the siege of Nanchang be lifted, but they might even be able to move all the way east to Jiangning.

No matter whether Jiangning is really attacked or not, at least the National Revolutionary Army will definitely return to defend it!

Because of the large number of people, Wang Xiaoqi deliberately avoided the main road and chose to quietly move north from the west side of Wuyi Mountain where the military defense was weak.

The division of power between the Republican government and the Lingnan Military Governorate in Jiangxi was basically based on two mountains and one river.

The water refers to the Yangtze River; the mountains refer to the Tianmu and Huaiyu mountain ranges.

The National Revolutionary Army occupied Jiujiang in the north and controlled the waterway; the southern route occupied Shangrao and blocked the only smooth road from Jiangxi to Zhejiang.

The fact was indeed as Wang Xiaoqi expected. The National Revolutionary Army only added one brigade of troops in Shangrao to guard the passage from Zhejiang to Jiangxi.

As for the low hilly area between Shangrao and Nanchang, it includes Anren, Wannian, Leping, Fuliang and other counties.

Due to the obstruction of mountain ranges such as Tianmu Mountain and Huaiyu Mountain, which separated it from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang plains, the National Revolutionary Army did not send any organized troops to be stationed there for the safety of the troops.

"Commander, look!" A shout woke Wang Xiaoqi from his thoughts.

The personal guard approached Wang Xiaoqi, pointed at a kite flying high on a hillside in the distance, licked his lips, and said, "Commander, someone is flying a kite over there!

Should we go over there and wipe out the roots? Otherwise, what if the news leaks out?"

"The march is urgent, don't think about looting everywhere!"

Wang Xiaoqi frowned, seeing through the guards' thoughts at a glance, and said, "They are just farmers in the mountains. Besides game, how much gold and silver can they have at home?"

Besides, even if these people saw us, what could they do?

Even if we go and inform him immediately, he won't be faster than us.

Let’s go quickly, don’t waste time!”

After saying this, Wang Xiaoqi no longer lingered, kicked his horse's belly, and slowly caught up with the leader of the team.

"Yes!"

The personal soldier responded with some regret.