On October 18, 1911, two fierce battles took place, one in Hankou and one outside Chengdu. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

On this day, the Hankou Revolutionary Army took the initiative to attack the Qing army that retreated to Liujiamiao, and won a great victory. Also on the same day, the 3rd Division of the Yunnan Revolutionary Army encountered the 17th Town of the Qing Army in Wenjiang, Sichuan, and a major battle broke out, which was also victorious.

Outside Wenjiang City, in the headquarters of the Third Division, Chief of Staff Yin Chengzhen led a group of staff officers to carefully and repeatedly deduce the accidents that might occur in the battle. When Li Hongxiang walked in, everyone had already lined up, waiting for him to officially give the order to fight.

"Salute!" Yin Chengling saluted with the personnel of the division headquarters!

"Are you all ready?" Li Hongxiang returned a salute and asked with a serious face. There were still a few minutes before the time to attack, and Li Hongxiang was a little apprehensive at this time.

"It's all ready, the seventh regiment and the eighth ** people have come to report that the attacking troops have arrived at the designated position. The positions of the artillery regiments have also been deployed. Just wait for your orders. Yin Chengzhen replied very neatly. For this battle to be victorious, Yin Chengzhen has no doubt that if such a strong army in his hand is put in his hand, if he loses the battle in the end,

Li Hongxiang looked at the watch on his wrist, there was still a minute left before he attacked. Li Hongxiang turned his head to Yin Chengzhen and said, "Shuheng, you come and give the order, this battle plan is your hard work." ”

Yin Chengzhen glanced at Li Hongxiang with feeling, and he was not hypocritical, he picked up the phone at the moment, looked down at his watch, and said in a slightly trembling tone: "Start!" ”

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble at this moment, and 36 105 and 18 155 caliber howitzers of the divisional artillery regiment and 75 caliber mountain guns under each regiment began to fire at the same time. The tranquility of the morning was smashed in an instant, and countless shells turned the defensive positions of the Seventeen Towns into a sea of fire, and the thick smoke and dust could not stop this shocking visual effect.

Zhao Erfeng, the governor of Sichuan who is far away in Chengdu, has not slept a peaceful sleep at all in the past few months, and Zhao Erfeng, who slept very late, got up early in the morning today, looking at the delicious food on the table, Zhao Erfeng is really difficult to swallow. Since the Baolu Movement, what was originally thought to be just a protest triggered by the local gentry to vent their dissatisfaction has evolved into a situation in which the entire Sichuan affair is now in bondage, although under the strict orders of the imperial court, they have tried their best to suppress it. But seeing that the situation is collapsing here, how can it be suppressed by a bullet pressure.

The sudden sound of cannon made Zhao Erfeng, who was thinking about his heart, quickly sit up from his chair and shouted: "What's the matter?" Where**? ”

As soon as he walked out of the hall, the soldiers outside came in in a panic and reported: "Dashuai, it is in the direction of Wenjiang, it should be the Nineteenth Town that is fighting with the chaotic party from Yunnan." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Erfeng chuckled in his heart, his face turned pale, such a dense cannon sound, then it is not clear what is going on, how many cannons are there in the nineteenth town, can he still be unclear? Feeling out the pocket watch and looking at the time, Zhao Erfeng muttered to himself: "I'm afraid it's troublesome this time." ”

Also saying this, there was also Zhu Qinglan, who was in the center of the position, as early as the beginning of the shelling, when the sound of tearing sounded in the air, he already felt that something was wrong, and rolled towards the bottom of the pit beside him with his body's instinct. Lying his head and seeing the crater where the shell fell on his position, Zhu Qinglan finally didn't calm down, such a big crater, what a large-caliber cannon? Heavy artillery, this is a legendary thing. If it goes on like this, there are still a few people left in a target arranged in the front-line position!

The Qing army in Seventeen Towns did not have heavy artillery, even a few mountain guns of 75 caliber, let alone shells. At this time, they have long lost their previous arrogance and contempt, and some people were directly frightened by the scene of their companions being blown to pieces in front of them, and there was only one thought left in their minds, run. Others are desperately trying to find a place to hide. It's a pity that such people quickly disappear into the barrage.

The bombardment, which lasted for half an hour, made the soldiers of the Seventeenth Town feel as if a century had passed. Before they could recover from the shelling, the infantry of the 3rd Division opposite the position began to attack.

After the heavy artillery was extended, the 75 mountain guns of the regiment continued to bombard, suppressing the opponent's position. The sharp knives in front of them rushed in vigorously, and then the soldiers who followed up pressed towards the opponent's position without hurry, and in addition to the sound of semi-automatic rifle fire in the hands of the soldiers, there was also a sharp whistling sound from mortars firing shells from time to time.

It's just that the firepower is strong, but this unit is one of the three troops carefully built by Xiao Mubai, not only well-equipped, hard-trained, but also tactical literacy, not to mention the world, it is definitely one of the best in the current China. A team of four has become a reflex. When they rushed to a distance of thirty or forty meters, countless grenades were immediately thrown onto the positions of the Seventeenth Town. Of course, at this time, China, except for the army in Yunnan, did not have such a thing as a grenade.

The officers and soldiers of the Seventeen Towns had never heard of this kind of fighting, let alone seen it. Not to mention the various other means of attack, even the rifles in the hands are not comparable. The kind of rifle that can fire in bursts, often when you fire one shot, people have already fired three or four bullets.

The blow like a storm immediately made it impossible to find the north of a marked position deployed in the front-line position of the Seventeen Towns, and most of the dead and wounded fled in an instant. Zhu Qinglan, who was supervising the formation behind him, was frightened, but at this time it was not the time to think too much, as soon as he saw that the movement was wrong, he immediately ordered to abandon the first-line position, and prepared to defend the second-line position together with the two new battalions.

Zhu Qinglan's reaction was also timely, and the revolutionary army's rapid offensive was slightly sluggish, of course, only a little stagnant. However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a rain of shells immediately rained down from the sky, turning the soldiers of the 17th Town of the New Army, who were shooting at the revolutionary army, on their backs.

After more than two months of fighting in the north and south, the soldiers of the 17 towns had never fought such an aggrieved battle, and it was needless to say that the equipment was inferior to others, and even the people were inferior to others, and the quality of the soldiers of the two armies was not comparable at all.

Seeing the revolutionary party rushing upwards from the smoke and dust from the shells, and looking back at the sieve-like bodies of his soldiers who had just gotten up, Zhu Qinglan's heart was desolate.

The position held by thousands of men was crumbling in less than an hour. Zhu Qinglan ran backwards after being picked up by his own soldiers, and when he retreated to a retreat position, he had not yet come to his senses. What kind of army is this? What kind of play is this? Zhu Qinglan, whose face was pale, immediately rushed towards Chengdu with the remnants of less than 3,000 people. If you don't leave at this time, it will be too late to leave later.

"A rabble!" Seeing the 17th Town of the New Army that had fled through the telescope, Li Hongxiang gently spit out four words.

"Division commander, it's your requirements for the Seventeen Towns that are too high, to put it bluntly, as far as these current domestic military forces are concerned, including the Beiyang New Army, whose equipment advantage can compare with us?" Yin Chengzhen said with a smile on the side.

"Hey, Shuheng, you're right. Inform the troops, carry forward the revolutionary spirit of our army, which is not afraid of death and hardship, pursue the enemy army, and occupy Chengdu. Li Hongxiang shouted energetically.

"Yes!"

In the loud reply of the officers, the officers and men of the Third Division swept all the way to Chengdu like a storm, and the officers and men of the Third Division completed the 20-kilometer road from Wenjiang to Chengdu in just one hour.

As the 17th town retreated all the way to Chengdu, the whole Chengdu fell into a panic for a while. At this time, there were Manchu Qing officials in Chengdu City, all of whom had no owner and their faces were like ashes. As the governor of Sichuan, Zhao Erfeng had the responsibility to guard the land, so he had to order the city gate to be closed.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the New Army camp on Phoenix Mountain was captured, and the bright red flag of the revolutionary army floated on the top of the mountain. At this time, Chengdu has been trampled under Li Hongxiang's feet and has become his bag.

In the evening of the same day, Li Hongxiang stood in the governor's yamen in the city of Chengdu, and a group of Manchu officials with panicked expressions and trembling legs stood below.

On October 19, 1911, Chengdu was recovered. The next day, on October 20, Yan Weidong also successfully occupied Guilin and Guangxi was recovered.