The specific distribution of troops is that the first regiment, the second regiment and the firepower reinforcement battalion are responsible for encircling and annihilating the Qing army in Henan, and the third regiment is responsible for containing the Qing army in Hubei.

The 1st Regiment, the 2nd Regiment, and the Firepower Reinforcement Battalion were all stationed in the areas around Xuzhou and Chenzhoufu, and the 3rd Regiment was also stationed between Cangtai and Huyangdian on the border between Nanyang and Xiangyang Provinces, and at various important intersections, a large number of reconnaissance personnel were dispatched, and the local people's army was organized, tactical training was strengthened, and field hospitals and material supply stations were established.

In addition to the army, the local governments in the base areas have not been idle, actively assisting the army and stepping up propaganda and mobilization work. Since the base areas have not been established for a long time and they have not experienced major battles before, although the land reform carried out by the government of the base areas has won the hearts of the people in the base areas, there is still a general lack of confidence in the face of the Qing army's two-front offensive this time. Moreover, there are still many landlords who have lost their land in the base areas, and they are naturally extremely dissatisfied with the government in the base areas, and when they hear the news of the Qing army's conquest and suppression, they also feel that the opportunity for a counterattack has come, and intentionally or unintentionally, they try their best to exaggerate the strength of the Qing army, and the overseas Chinese have not been around for a long time, and even a few people claim to have ties with the imperial court and government, which has also made many people in the base areas panic.

On the one hand, it is necessary to publicize that the volunteers and the governments of the base areas have full confidence in defeating the Qing army and defending the base areas, and on the other hand, they should encourage the people from the aspect of interests, because once the Qing army wins, then every peasant will lose the land allocated to them again, so they must do their best to support the volunteers in fighting for their own land.

Sure enough, this is really effective, for the Chinese peasants in this era, land can basically be regarded as the root of life, and before the arrival of the traverser, the vast majority of peasants in this area have almost never owned their own land for their entire lives, and some have even been tenant farmers for several generations, so fighting for their own land is the best way to encourage the peasants.

However, in addition to agitation, those who instigated and propagated the feelings of defeat and exaggerated the strength of the Qing army were also unceremoniously suppressed, and more than 50 people were arrested in a row on charges of spreading rumors, fornicating with the Qing court, and colluding with the Qing army.

After this rectification, it took only four or five days to stabilize the situation in the base areas. Of course, the current stability is also a temporary stability, once the news of the defeat comes from the battlefield, even if it is only a small defeat, it is enough to shake the current situation, in this sense, the combat policy to list the Henan Qing army as the primary target, it is also reasonable.

However, in any case, the mood of the people was aroused, and the government of the base area immediately organized the people to form a transport team to be responsible for transporting ammunition and materials for the combat troops; it was now late September, and most of the crops in the fields had already matured or were close to maturity, and the government of the base area had to organize the peasants to step up the harvest, because as soon as the war began, there would certainly be no time for harvesting, and the villages in the area bordering the Qing court would be relocated as a whole, and all the grain, materials, and property would be taken away, leaving no trace for the Qing army.

Everything else was fine, but there was considerable resistance to moving out of the village, although the local government promised that they would be guaranteed and compensated during the move-in period, and that they would be relocated to their original location after the war was over, and that if their houses were damaged during the war, they would be repaired at the expense of the government, and so on. At the same time, he vigorously preached that after the arrival of the Chun army, they would definitely burn, kill and loot, and do all kinds of evil, and there was only one way to die if they stayed in the village

However, the traditional concept of China is that it is difficult to leave the homeland, so there are still a large number of residents who are reluctant to leave their homes, because many of them still keep a fluke mentality, thinking that the Qing army will not come, or even if they come, they will not treat themselves, of course, there are very few people who plan to wait for the Qing army to come and immediately surrender, so they are reluctant to move away.

After all, most people still choose to obey the government's arrangements and move to other areas to live temporarily, while those who insist on not wanting to go will be left to fend for themselves.

And just when the base area was actively preparing for war, the Qing army was finally dispatched. This time, the conquest and suppression of the base areas was mainly carried out by the Qing army in Hubei, and the Qing army in Hubei was mainly composed of the eighth town of the newly organized army and the 21st mixed formation association, of which Zhang Biao, the commander of the eighth town, decided to dispatch about 3,500 troops from his headquarters; Li Yuanhong, the commander of the 21st mixed formation association, dispatched about 2,000 troops from his headquarters to participate in the battle, and these more than 5,000 troops were also the main force of this conquest and suppression, and the governor Zhao Erxun appointed Zhang Biao as the commander-in-chief of this expedition and suppression, and Li Yuanhong as the deputy commander, and also transferred troops and sent generals, and collected a total of about 5,000 troops in various parts of Huguang as auxiliary troops, in addition to 8 75mm caliber field guns and 10 75mm caliber mountain guns, 16 57mm caliber mountain guns, more than 1,200 mules, horses and livestock, and more than 300 vehicles.

Before leaving, Zhao Erxun also specially set up a banquet in the governor's palace to entertain the two commanders, and personally toasted the two of them, and promised that after the victory, he would ask the court for the two of them. set up officials and posts, and did not take the court seriously, so beating this gang of bandits, that is, angering the arrogance of overseas Chinese, the court will inevitably rejoice.

Zhao Erxun is one of the nine governors of the Qing court, a feudal official, and in terms of rank, he can be regarded as a minister, while Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong are just commanders and co-unifications, and they are far apart, so they can get such courtesy from Zhao Erxun, and both of them are quite flattered. In fact, in all fairness, the two of them were quite appreciative of the overseas Chinese manpower to resist the Eight-Nation Coalition and the Javanese defense of overseas Chinese. During the First Sino-Japanese War, the Guangjia ship was incorporated into the Beiyang Fleet and participated in the Battle of Dadonggou, but he was unable to sail because he ran aground on the reef, and Li Yuanhong, who went out with the Guangjia ship, jumped into the sea to escape, and served in the naval division for a total of 12 years.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Yuanhong threw himself into Zhang Zhidong's door, and was quite appreciated by Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Zhidong trained the new army in Hubei, and entrusted Li Yuanhong with important tasks, although Li Yuanhong is now only 21 mixed into the co-ordination, but at the same time in charge of the Hubei Naval Division's Liuchu fleet and the four lakes mineboats, the status in the Hubei military circles is not weaker than Zhang Biao. And it is precisely the time of serving in the Beiyang Naval Division that makes Li Yuanhong's knowledge and vision higher than that of ordinary soldiers, when overseas Chinese first landed, Li Yuanhong admired overseas Chinese very much, thinking that this was the Heavenly Blessing Imperial Court, so that such a strong army came, and from now on it will probably not be bullied again.

However, Li Yuanhong's subsequent performance of overseas Chinese disappointed Li Yuanhong, and the overseas Chinese completely cared about their own power, supported their own troops, were proud of their achievements, and were arrogant, and did not take the imperial court seriously at all. Of course, Li Yuanhong is only a small co-ordinator, and whether he admires or disagrees with overseas Chinese, it has no practical significance, and this time he will actually have something to do with overseas Chinese, and Li Yuanhong is quite eager to try; first, as Zhao Erxun said, he has angered the arrogance of overseas Chinese; second, he has been training in Hubei for several years, and he also wants to try the effect of military training, and he should make some achievements.

After leaving the Governor's Palace, Li Yuanhong and Zhang Biao also got together to seriously negotiate and discuss the battle plan for this conquest and suppression; although this time they were not directly enemies with overseas Chinese, they should not be underestimated against this gang of bandits, because now this gang of bandits has a small climate, and they are quite popular in the local area, and their weapons and equipment are also very sophisticated; moreover, the areas around Xiangyang and Nanyang are mountainous, with deep forests and dense trees, and they are very good at ambushing and sneaking attacks. The two of them also carefully studied the previous local conquest and suppression process, and they were both ambushed by bandits and suffered a tragic defeat, so they must not be regarded as ordinary bandits.

In the end, the two worked out a tactic that Li Yuanhong led the headquarters army to the front, while Zhang Biao led the brigade to carry the heavy baggage as the rear team, and set up an army on the left and right flanks, and the home team kept a distance of 5-10 kilometers to prevent the bandits' sneak attack. However, Li Yuanhong's front army kept a distance of 15 to 20 kilometers from the brigade, and once the enemy army was discovered, it could engage it, and if it could win, it would win; if it could not be defeated, it would defend on the spot and wait for reinforcements from the brigade; if the enemy army fled, it would hold on to the enemy and wait for the brigade to catch up with the enemy and fight a decisive battle; and if the enemy army did not come to meet the battle, then Li Yuanhong would lead the army to attack Tang County, and after the arrival of the army, attack Tang County, and if Tang County could be captured, then all the bandits in Xiangyang Prefecture could be cleared out, so that from the standpoint of Hubei, it could be regarded as a great success。

After Li Yuanhong led the army to set off, he did not dare to be careless, and sent a large number of spies to search in front and on both sides of the army in case there was an ambush, and the speed of the march was not fast, and he could only march 20-25 kilometers a day.

In this way, he marched for three days in a row, walked out of about 70 kilometers, and arrived at the Cangtai area at the junction of Xiangyang Mansion and Nanyang Prefecture, which is only more than 30 kilometers away from Tang County, although he did not find the enemy along the way, but the spies sent out had more than 20 people lost contact, life and death are unknown, Li Yuanhong also knows very well in his heart, the current calm is just an illusion, the bandits are already staring at themselves in the dark, if they do not move, they will be themselves, once they are launched, it will inevitably be the momentum of thunder.