May 16, 1909 AD, 2 o'clock in the morning.
Hanzhuang, Yixian County, Shandong Province.
Hanzhuang, called Hanzhuang Town in later generations, is located 30 kilometers southeast of Weishan County, Shandong Province, bordering Weishan Lake to the west, Zaozhuang to the east, Xuzhou to the south, and about 55 kilometers away from Xuzhou.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal enters Weishan Lake here.
When the Grand Canal was prosperous, it was a very important terminal.
The Tianjin-Puzhou Railway also passed through here, so the geographical location is quite important.
Because there is a station here, some carriages of the Beiyang Army broke down when they went south, so they stayed here for repairs, and a shed row was left to guard the station and carriages.
"Uh" A low scream came from the station dispatch room.
After a while, a figure came out of the control room silently.
Then one could see from a nearby streetlight that he was wearing a camouflage suit, with a black gauze covering his face, leaving only his eyes, mouth and nose exposed.
If you suddenly see such a person at night, you will still be a little shocked, and many people will be frightened.
Soon, several more identical figures ran out of other rooms.
After several people met, they started communicating with each other using gestures.
About ten minutes later, several cuckoo calls suddenly sounded in the barracks, and several people here immediately responded with thrush calls.
Soon, a dozen people dressed in the same style came out of the barracks not far away.
After a round, the two sides started communicating with gestures.
Then someone whispered: "Okay, the Beiyang Army here is all done, send a signal for the large army to come over."
About 500 meters north of Hanzhuang, a company of the People's Liberation Army is waiting quietly here.
Hong Shilou squatted in the grass on the roadside and looked around under the moonlight.
His 7th Company was nearby, but he could only see the nearest few.
The other comrades were well hidden.
If he hadn't known it in advance, he wouldn't have been able to tell that there was a company of nearly 200 people hidden in the grass.
A heavily armed man.
Farther back, about 1 kilometer away, were all the other units of the 2nd Battalion.
He couldn't help but get excited when he thought about tonight's action.
A whole regiment of soldiers took 20 large airships, took advantage of the darkness to bypass the enemy camp, and then flew to a place dozens of kilometers behind the enemy and landed, blocking the enemy's retreat without anyone noticing.
According to the group army's battle plan, the mission of the 1103rd Regiment is to seize Hanzhuang and then set up defenses here to block the Beiyang Army's retreat so that they can close the door and beat the dogs.
Hong Shilou and his battalion, as the vanguard, were to seize Hanzhuang, the landing site of the regiment headquarters and the main force 5 kilometers behind them.
After the airship brigade unloaded the 1103rd Regiment, it immediately went back and picked up the 1102nd Regiment and the division artillery.
But before that, it all depends on the 1103 regiment, so their task is the heaviest.
If the Beiyang Army discovers their actions, they will definitely counterattack vigorously.
The 7th Company of Hongshilou is the sharp knife company at the front.
For them, capturing Hanzhuang is not a problem.
I heard that the Beiyang Army only has a few dozen people here, and that does not count the equipment advantage.
However, the superiors attached great importance to this operation and dispatched a special unit dedicated to this kind of thing to clean up the enemy in the village without the need for the 7th Company to do anything.
They were just outside the village just in case.
If the special team inside failed, they would rush in to help.
The leader of the platoon leaned over and asked in a low voice: "Company commander, what kind of team can't miss?
Why is there still no movement?"
Hong Shilou shook his head and said: "It's the special team.
If they missed, they should have heard the gunfire, but now I don't even hear the barking of the dog."
As he was talking, a red light suddenly lit up from the village.
He was held by someone and turned clockwise three times, then turned it counterclockwise three times, and then it flashed three times.
"There is a situation."
The officers and soldiers of the 7th company suddenly widened their eyes.
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When the red light did the same thing for the second time, Hong Shilou stood up and said to his subordinates: "The brothers have cleared out the enemy troops.
We immediately entered the village and divided them into squads.
Each squad only used 2 flashlights to light up.
Open more.
Each class is at least 20 meters apart.”
The platoon leader jumped up and shouted: "Comrades, follow me."
The soldiers next to him immediately turned on their flashlights, and the soldiers in the first platoon immediately took action.
With a flashlight as the center, several people ran towards the village in an evacuation formation.
In fact, everyone in their company was issued a flashlight, but only to reduce exposure and confuse the enemy, several people shared one.
With the physical fitness of the PLA soldiers, they can see the ground clearly with a flashlight within a few meters.
After a while, a platoon entered Zhuangzi, and the special forces also greeted them.
After the two sides exchanged a few words.
The first platoon sent a signal to those behind.
Hong Shilou and the others were originally hanging at the back, but after seeing the signal from their own people, they immediately accelerated their speed.
Hanzhuang is not big.
After ten minutes, the 7th Company and the special forces took control of the entire Zhuangzi.
The company headquarters' communications troops immediately contacted the battalion headquarters via the radio and informed them that Hanzhuang had been occupied.
At 3 o'clock in the morning, the 1103rd Regiment arrived and immediately began to repair the fortifications outside the village, dig trenches, lay barbed wire, lay mines, and build bunkers and artillery bunkers, etc.
At 2 o'clock in the morning, north of Xuzhou, the Beiyang First Army is stationed.
The temporary camp of the First Army is about 18 kilometers away from Xuzhou.
With two armored trains as the core, they were arranged around both sides of the railway, forming a camp area about 6 kilometers from south to south and 4 kilometers from east to west.
Because it was already after eight o'clock in the evening when Beiyang arrived here.
They were unloading trucks, repairing camps and fortifications, and setting up defenses.
They didn't go to bed until 1 o'clock in the morning.
They were very tired from the journey and had to work for so long.
The soldiers were so tired that they basically fell asleep as soon as they hit the pillows.
Some people didn't even set up their tents, so they just spread out on the ground and slept.
Fortunately, now It's May and the weather is relatively warm, so I'm not afraid of freezing.
Now the entire Beiyang camp was snoring, and most people were in a deep sleep.
Even some of the night watchmen were dozing off, there was nothing they could do, they were too sleepy.
However, Duan Qirui couldn't sleep.
He, Xu Shuzheng and several staff members were still sitting in the carriage looking at maps and talking about things.
"Minister, don't be careless now.
The bandits are in the south, less than 20 miles away from us.
They must have known about our arrival.
If the bandits attack at night," Xu Shuzheng persuaded without giving up.
Originally, according to Xiao Xu's wish, he shouldn't camp here.
He should at least retreat to Liguo Town and stay in the town.
Duan Qirui shook his head and said: "Youzheng, I don't know what you are saying, but we must join forces with Zhang Xun as soon as possible and support Feng Guozhang.
Otherwise, if we are defeated by the bandits one by one, the south will be out of control.
Liguo Town It's 70 miles away from Xuzhou.
If we rush over there, Come, I don't know how many air raids we will encounter on the way.
Although it is a bit more dangerous here, the risk is more bearable than the air raids.
At 5 o'clock, we will start to attack them as long as we can fight with them or break into Xuzhou City. , their air force becomes useless.”
Along the way, Lao Duan ate so many bombs and shells that he was really frightened by the People's Air Force.
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In his opinion, if he followed Xiao Xu's opinion and went to Liguo Town to camp, it might be safe that night, but the next day would be miserable.
It was more than 30 kilometers from there to Xuzhou, and he didn't know what kind of bombs he would be bombed along the way.
I'm afraid the First Army was on its knees before they even saw the Xuzhou City Wall.
Although camping here is a bit risky, it's better than being bombed along the way.
And in Lao Duan's view, a night attack was unlikely.
He is an old soldier, and he has always scorned the so-called "night raid on the enemy camp".
That kind of thing only exists in romance novels written by literati, and it is difficult to do in reality.
This is indeed the case.
For a long time in the past, night battles were basically only found in novels.
The reason was night blindness.
This is not only true for China, but also for many countries.
If you really have to fight at night, the losses will be greater than during the day.
And even without night blindness, the efficiency of night fighting is far lower than that of daytime fighting.
Unless you are desperate, there is no one who would go back and do such a thing.
The People's Liberation Army is obviously not at the point of desperation.
They are not fools.
How could they do such a risky thing?
Therefore, although it is a little closer to the People's Liberation Army, it is basically safe, and Lao Duan has also set up defensive forces.
And being close has its advantages.
We only need to wait until five o'clock to launch the attack.
Under the cover of the armored train, we rush from here to the Xuzhou City to join forces with Zhang Xun.
However, what Lao Duan failed to calculate was that the People's Liberation Army did not follow his ideas.
The troops surrounding Xuzhou took advantage of the darkness to quietly move their positions last night.
Now under Xuzhou City, there are only the first part of the 7th Mixed Brigade and the 1101st Regiment of the 11th Division that caught up from behind, as well as the division headquarters and directly affiliated troops.
The 7th Division and the 8th Mixed Brigade that originally surrounded Xuzhou had broken away from the encircling position and were outflanking the Beiyang Army's temporary camp.
That's right, the People's Liberation Army is going to be a "fool" for a while this time and have a night battle.
In fact, Lao Duan's estimate is not wrong.
If other armies, such as the Beiyang Army, would not be able to carry out such a night attack.
Because most people in China at this time were nutritionally deficient and generally suffered from night blindness.
Most people have to catch their eyes at night.
Not to mention fighting, even walking is a problem.
If they were sent out to fight at night, most of them would be separated before they reached their destination.
But the People's Liberation Army is different.
Wen Desi has given his troops good nutrition, and there is no night blindness at all.
Coupled with the advanced equipment, night is no longer an obstacle.
At this time in China, only the People's Liberation Army has the ability to fight at night.
Of course, no matter what, the efficiency of fighting at night is definitely not as good as during the day, but it depends on who you compare with.
For example, with the same number, if the PLA's combat strength is 100, the Beiyang Army's combat strength is about 20, giving it a 5:1 advantage.
But if it is a night battle, the combat power of both sides will decrease, but the People's Liberation Army will drop to 5060 at most, while the Beiyang Army will definitely drop to below 5.
The advantage can be extended to more than 10:1, and the gap will be even greater.
In the People's Liberation Army headquarters, the communications staff reported to Xin Jie: "Chief of the General Staff, all attack units are in place.
Please give instructions."
"Okay."
Xinjie looked at his watch.
It was now 3:12.
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"Order all ministries to rest where they are and launch the attack on time at 3:30":