Even if the power of Anhui Province cannot expel East China**, then it can only look for help. After consulting with his staff, Enming thought that the people who could be rescued were Zhao Erxun, the governor of Huguang, and Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang, Zhao Erxun had the Hubei New Army under his command, which was a new army second only to the Beiyang New Army in the Qing court, so if Zhao Erxun could transfer part of the Hubei New Army to support Anhui Province, Enming's confidence would be much more sufficient. Although the Liangjiang Governor Duanfang did not have a new army, he was a Governor after all, and the resources and power in his hands were far from being Enmingke, and the jurisdiction of the Liangjiang Governor actually included the Shanghai area, so he could directly put pressure on Shanghai to prevent them from continuing to send people to Anhui.

In addition, if Enming can get the support of Zhao Erxun and Duanfang, he will also pull the two governors of the Yangtze River basin region, and maybe he can also take the opportunity to fully integrate the entire Yangtze River basin region and unite against East China**. So Enming immediately sent Zhao Erxun and Duan Fang to ask for support from the two.

In fact, Enming's staff know that Zhao Erxun and Duanfang will not give Enming any support at all, after all, at this time, going against East China ** is basically equivalent to looking for death, but this is better than letting Enming go directly to East China ** Hard Encounter, Bi Jing's staff and proprietor are coexistence, one is prosperous, and one is lost, if Enming really wants to collide with East China**, he will also be unlucky, maybe after Zhao Erxun and Duanfang both refuse to support Enming, Enming will sober up.

In fact, Enming didn't understand that he and East China** were working against each other, which was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, but the court had already ordered it, and Enming also knew that East China** was a big trouble for the Qing court, not to mention that this time it happened in his own jurisdiction, so even if he knew that he couldn't do East China**, he had to give it a try, even if he was defeated by East China ** in the end , It can be regarded as doing a part for the imperial court, and Duanfang is also a Manchurian, it is impossible not to have the same hatred of the enemy, although Zhao Erxun is not a Manchurian, but he is also a Han army bannerman, and he will always give a few points to ask them for help.

Zhao Erxun unceremoniously rejected Enming's request for secondment to the Hubei New Army, saying that the mobilization of the army needed to be ordered by the imperial court, and at the same time, the Lianghu Governor's Mansion had no money to be used as military expenses, and Anhui Province needed to pay, and only when these two conditions were met could the Hubei New Army be dispatched. And Duanfang's reply was much more tactful, saying that Liangjiang also has personnel from East China, and it is necessary to use the manpower and material resources of Liangjiang to drive it away, so it is unable to support Anhui, please forgive me. However, although the language is tactful, the attitude of rejection is very clear.

These two telegrams also poured a basin of cold water on Enming's head, although he greeted Zhao Erxun and Duanfang in his heart, but he could not do anything, firstly, the officials of Zhao Erxun and Duanfang were bigger than him; secondly, the jurisdiction of the governor of Huguang was Hubei and Hunan, and the jurisdiction of the governor of Liangjiang was Jiangsu and Jiangxi, all of which were in the periphery of Anhui, but even regardless of Anhui, Enming had no choice. However, Enming is still a little unwilling, since Zhao Erxun and Duan Fang do not help themselves, it is impossible to send troops to expel the personnel of East China, but there is another trick, which is to intercept the ships of East China on the river. And this time, there was no way for the staff to stop it.

Anhui Province does not have many decent troops, but it has a fairly large naval division, the main warships are 5 wooden iron-hulled paddle steamers, with a displacement of between 200-400 tons. The merchant ships of Swire & Co., which were later bought by the governor of Anhui, were equipped with weapons and transformed into warships, and there were 6 wooden steamships, which were powered by steam sails, and were also transformed by merchant ships, and there were more than 10 wooden sailing ships, a total of 25 ships of various kinds, more than 3,700 soldiers, and it was also a water force that should not be underestimated on the Yangtze River, after all, the Yangtze River is not a battlefield, and the main task of the Anqing Navy Division Battalion is to combat the water thieves and pirates on the Yangtze River, so such a fleet is of course enough, and intercept East China ** Although Enming also knows that East China has a strong navy, the navy's warships generally will not sail into inland waterways.

So Enming ordered Huang Jin, the commander of the Anqing Navy Division, to lead the water division to attack and intercept the transport fleet of East China, and at the same time sent his henchmen to follow Enqing and attack with the sailors, which was actually the supervision of the army, in case Huang Jingong did not have to contribute.

After receiving Enming's order, Huang Jingong almost picked on the spot and quit, this is not clear whether he wants to push himself into the fire pit?

After all, this admiral of the sailor is a fat poor, although he does not dare to manage the ships of foreigners and East China, but other ships can be intercepted, so the barrage is set up to set up cards, pumping commissions, black and white, up and down, and can also be smuggled by official ships, not to mention that there are 1 or 20,000 silver in the account every year. What's more, now in front of Enming, if he really wants to do this, it is estimated that Enming will immediately ask for his own life, so Huang Jingong can only vaguely agree to the order, and wait for the attack before he has the opportunity to act.

In this sortie, Huang Jingong took almost all the ships of the Anqing Navy Battalion out, and dispatched a total of 5 wooden iron-hulled paddle steamers, 6 wooden steamboats, 8 wooden sailing ships, a total of 19 ships of various types, and more than 2,000 troops, because Huang Jingong also had a thought, hoping to use a huge force to deter the transport fleet in East China, so that they could retreat in difficulty, and they would not have to start, so that both sides could get by in terms of face, and there would be room for relaxation in the future. And if the transport fleet of East China ** refuses to retreat, then it is necessary to fight a war, Huang Jingong has been mixing on the river for a long time, knowing that the transport fleet of East China ** only has 3 or 4 escort warships at a time, so Huang Jingong feels that concentrating all the troops of the Anqing Navy Division is expected to defeat the escort warships of the East China ** transport fleet. Of course, the situation is really going to develop to this point, and Huang Jingong also plans to resign immediately after he comes back and run away with his family.

And Enming saw that Huang Jingong had taken almost all the troops of the Anqing Naval Division Battalion out, and he was also very satisfied, and he finally had an explanation to the imperial court, but Enming's staff were all worried and hurried, and they didn't know how the situation would end.

After the flotilla attacked, it patrolled on the river for 3 days, and sure enough, it found the transport fleet of East China, and at this time Huang Jingong was also ready to send an arrow, so he ordered the fleet to spread horizontally on the Yangtze River to intercept the transport fleet of East China, and at the same time issued a flag, requiring the transport fleet of East China to stop sailing for inspection, or return to the sea. From Huang Jingong's heart, of course, he hopes that the transport fleet of East China's ** will return, so that he can explain, of course, because Enqing is monitoring by his side, he will still pretend to chase for a while, and then use the excuse of insufficient speed or mechanical failure. Anyway, Enqing didn't understand, and he had blatantly played the banner of "suspension inspection, or return", which was to deceive Enqing for not understanding these routines.

Na Zhi Huadong**'s attitude was far tougher than Huang Jingong expected, not only sent back a tough reply of "either leave or go to war", but also listed the formation, and there was a big look of fighting to the death, and took the initiative to fire a warning.

"Boom!" The shells fell into the river more than 200 meters away from Huang Jingong and Enqing's boats, stirring up a column of water several meters high.

Huang Jingong's face also became very ugly, because there was no room for relaxation between the two sides, but Enqing was just staring at him? How could the people in East China not even understand this idea? Could it be said that they thought that with seven ships they could run rampant on the Yangtze River?

At this time, the expression of one of the deputy generals under Huang Jingong also became nervous, because Huang Jingong had told them all the bottom, and it was best not to fight, it was best not to fight, and it was best to scare away the transport fleet of East China, of course, no one wanted to be an enemy of East China, so they naturally agreed, just hiding from Enqing alone. But now the transport fleet of East China's ** did not act according to this script, and actually took the initiative to fire, what can I do now?

Huang Jingong gritted his teeth and said, "Fire!" Because at this time, he had no choice but to fight first.

The lieutenant general obviously didn't react, and said, "Junmen, this ......"

Huang Jingong glared, because Enqing was beside him, and he couldn't explain more, so he had to say sharply: "Fire! ”

Seeing that Huang Jingong's whole face was taken down, the adjutant general didn't dare to ask any more, so he had to say "take the order", and then went to the main gun position in the bow of the ship to give an order. And Huang Jingong peeked at Enqing, and saw that he was holding the windowsill of the porthole with both hands, looking forward, and his face was quite excited, and he didn't seem to be tired of his own cat, so he was a little relieved.

Huang Jingong and Enqing's ship is equipped with an 88 mm caliber main gun in the bow, which is also the largest caliber main gun of the entire Anqing Navy Division, but although the caliber of this gun is considerable, it is an old-fashioned retreat gun, and it turned out to be an artillery that was eliminated by the army, and it was installed on the ship for use, which is considered a waste utilization.

"Boom", the main gun of Huang Jingong's ship fired, and the boat immediately shook violently, Enqing was the first time to participate in a water battle, unprepared, if it wasn't for Huang Jingong to help him, he would have fallen on the deck.

And the flagship opened fire, and the other ships of the Anqing Navy Division also opened fire one after another, hitting rows of water columns on the river, and it was quite a bit of momentum.

Seeing that the ships of the Qing army had opened fire, the escort warships of the People's Army were naturally not polite, and they were also full of firepower.