Sichuan, known as Yizhou in ancient times, according to the geographical chronicle of the Book of Han, "the land is fertile, wild, mountains and forests, bamboo and trees, vegetables, fruits, Nanjia, near the west, cattle." "Huayang National Chronicles" also has a similar record, "its treasures include wall jade, gold, silver, pearls, jade, copper, iron, lead, tin, ochre, chalk, brocade, embroidery, felt, yak, danhuang, empty blue, mulberry, lacquer, hemp, and Zhirao." ”

As early as the Warring States Period, Qin Shu guarded Li Bing to build Dujiangyan to irrigate fertile land for thousands of miles, and since then, Shu has gradually become the "country of abundance". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the warlords were fighting, and the Central Plains was hungry, but the Shu land was "fertile for thousands of miles, the soil was creamy, the fruits were born, and there was no grain and full; The industry of women workers is the world of clothes; Famous bamboo, the rao of the instrument, can not be used; There are also the benefits of fish, salt, copper and iron, and the convenience of floating water. Zhuge Liang also said to Zhongzhong in Longzhong that Yizhou is "the land of abundance" and "the people are rich and the country is rich". Tang, five dynasties, Song Dynasty, Yizhou's wealth can be compared with Yangzhou, although later after the end of the Song Dynasty, the end of the Ming Dynasty two wars, the population of Shu withered, the place is broken, but by virtue of the geographical innate advantage, in a short period of time again became the world's rich land, to the end of the Qing Dynasty, Sichuan has become second only to the southeast of the wealth of the tax source area, salt tax, field endowment, gold and other income is quite abundant, not only enough to maintain the province's expenditure, but also to help several provinces, it can be said that Sichuan is the financial center of southwest China, Whoever controls Sichuan will master the entire southwest.

Due to the unique geography of Sichuan, it has become an ideal area for warlords to divide one side in history, whenever the world is in turmoil, there will be local secession regimes, Gongsun Shu in the late Western Han Dynasty, Liu Yan and Liu Zhang father and son in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Shu Han regime established by Liu Bei, and the Li Xiongcheng Han regime in the late Western Jin Dynasty are all representatives of the Sichuan secession forces, in the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiaozong divided Sichuan, and in the five dynasties, Sichuan successively appeared in the former Shu and later Shu regimes, Yuan Wei, Sichuan and the Xia regime established by Ming Yuzhen, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, " The "Eight Kings" Zhang Xianzhong's Western military regime also briefly seized Sichuan.

The so-called "the world is not chaotic before Shu is chaotic, and the world has been governed by Shu and then governed", if you want to really win the world, you can't do without Sichuan.

The reason for this situation is that in addition to the wealth of Sichuan, it is also closely related to the geography of Sichuan. The first Chinese geography is high in the west and low in the east, divided into three ladders, and Sichuan is just the second ladder, here, the east-west mountains and the north-south mountains alternately, so that Sichuan has become a complete and closed basin, the west is the huge mountain range of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Qinling Bashan is in the north, the Wushan barrier is in the east, the south of the Lou Mountain is the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the past, it is also a high mountain tower, the trek is difficult, the whole Sichuan is surrounded by high mountains on all sides, there are only a few dangerous passes to guard the gateway into Sichuan, it can really be called "a husband when the pass is not open", This geographical condition was simply prepared for the secession of local warlords.

"Shu Road is difficult, it is difficult to go to the blue sky." This poem of the poet fairy Li Bai is very straightforward to say the difficulty of the Sichuan road, but this only refers to the danger of the road into Sichuan, once into the Sichuan Basin, this road is not difficult, a Yangtze River meanders from the west of Sichuan, from Kuimen out of Sichuan, I don't know how many large and small tributaries have gathered on this road, Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, Jiang, Jialing River, Wujiang River, Jinsha River, many large tributaries can be navigable all year round, especially the Minjiang River, Tuojiang River and River, it is the lifeblood of the traffic in Sichuan, the river is also called "inner water", the Minjiang River is called "outer water", Tuojiang River is called " Relying on the three waters, Chengdu and Chóngqìng constitute the two major hubs of the Sichuan River shipping area, which are divided into western Sichuan and eastern Sichuan, and the rise and prosperity of these two cities is not without reason.

If you want to control Sichuan, you must control the Sichuan River, and if you want to control the Sichuan River, you must control Chengdu and Chóngqìng, and if you control these two big cities, you must control the overall situation of Sichuan.

This is precisely the strategic point of the Republican Army's westward expedition, and in any case, it is necessary to occupy Chóngqìng and Chengdu in the shortest possible time, and hold the strategic initiative in the hands of the Republican Army.

Zhao Bei stood in front of a huge military map with his hands behind his back, Lan Tianwei, chief of the general staff of the Republican Army, stood to his left, Jiang Fangzhen, deputy chief of general staff, stood on his right, and Tian Jinfu, commander of the Jǐng Wei Battalion, stood behind the three of them unwillingly, holding three military hats in his hands.

This military map was not drawn by the Chinese, but was purchased with a large amount of money from a British captain, so it was written in foreign languages, and the staff officers were busy for two days and two nights, checking the classics and errata, and only then did they replace the full paper with Chinese and print it. Strictly speaking, this map drawn by the British explorers cannot be considered a military map, because it has no contour lines and is incomplete, but there is no decent military map in the whole of Sichuan, so it can only be used.

Because Kuimen has long fallen into the hands of the Republican Army. Cannons have been erected at several key commanding heights in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. When the army entered Sichuan from Hubei, it did not meet resistance. It was smoothly advanced to the Kuizhou capital. And immediately started the Battle of Kuizhou. It only took half a day to take the first important town in eastern Sichuan. A large number of baggage, mules and horses were seized. After a short break. Another blow along the Yangtze River to the west. Since the engineering units have cleared the Yangtze River channel. Blew up a number of reefs on the waterway. The two substitute gunboats of the Republican Army, "Chu Jia" and "Chu Yi", were able to be pulled across the Three Gorges by the slender men. Drive into the Sichuan River. Cooperate with land forces. at

support. The IRA marched at great speed. Hit the state in one go. Stopped again at the intersection of the land. Wait for supplies. At the same time, preparations were made for the state campaign.

The state is located to the east of Chóngqìng. It is the gateway to chóngqìng. It is located at the confluence of the Wujiang River and the Yangtze River. The terrain is precarious. Easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, Zhao Erxun, the governor of Sichuan, deployed tens of thousands of heavy troops along the Wujiang River and the Yangtze River. Catch up with the Sichuan River chūn flood again. The river is turbulent. It was not possible to erect a pontoon bridge over the river. Therefore. The state campaign is likely to be a hard-fought battle.

Zhao Bei did not rush to give the order to attack. He only told the troops to closely monitor the movements of the Qing troops on the other side of the river. At the same time, a small number of troops were sent to move in the direction of Chóngqìng and Hechuan. Make a posture to skip the state and attack the chóngqìng directly. Tried to mobilize the Qing army to return to the aid of chóngqìng. But Zhao Bei also knew. It is impossible to skip the state without attacking. It controls the Yangtze River waterway. Don't take the state. Supplies from downstream areas cannot be transported. The troops could not be replenished with food and ammunition. It is impossible to continue westward. This. The IRA staff is also well aware. Did the commander-in-chief of the Qing army think the same way? Nobody knows. But give it a try, no matter what. Fighting a war is not just about courage. It is more important to rely on wisdom.

"Did the shells arrive?" Zhao Bei asked the blue sky around him.

"Zhang Jiyang came to report just now. Said to find some river wooden boats. A small number of shells have been transferred. But it was far from the shells needed for the general offensive. Heavy rain is likely to fall upstream these days. The river rose very much. The waves are rapid. Not suitable for boating. Only the wooden boats of the Sichuan River can barely navigate. Those wooden boats have a shallow draft. It is possible to pull the fiber close to the shore. But now the river is still rising. Many of the shore pathways are submerged. How long can the slender men last? No one knows. As for the steamboats. Due to unfamiliarity with the fairway. I didn't dare to go on the road. There are too many reefs in the river. We've got a few steamboats at the moment. Especially those two gunboats. There can't be a slip-up. Lan Tianwei said with a frown.

"Didn't Yuan Shikai say that he wanted to transfer a few steam ships to us from the China Merchants Bureau? Why haven't you driven it yet? Those reefs in the Three Gorges have been blown up, they should be able to get by, the lack of horsepower is not a problem, don't we also set up a winch and a slender man? Zhao Bei paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.

"The key is that the progress of the engineering troops is too slow, to keep up with the speed of our attack, the channel into the Sichuan River is cleared, but the Sichuan River channel has not been cleaned for a long time, and the river water has risen, and the Hong Kong divers who have been invited to pay a lot of money are unwilling to take the risk of diving. As for the steamship, I'm afraid that the water can't quench the thirst of the near, now we lack everything, the steamship is still second, the wireless telegraph is the most annoying, the lack of spare parts, sometimes good and sometimes bad, the current military communications, all rely on the bottom of the river cable laid along the river, I heard that Zhao Erxun has laid a lot of ambush along the way, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not destroy, in that case, it will be troublesome to repair. ”

Lan Tianwei was also a little anxious, before the expedition, Yuan Shikai promised to transfer a group of radio stations and telegraph operators to the Republican Army, but until now, those telegraphs have not even seen a shadow.

"Even if Yuan Shikai's steamship arrives, I'm afraid I will have to look at the beach and sigh. If the steam engine horsepower is not enough, it will not be able to pass, and the efficiency of pulling fiber is not high. Jiang Fangzhen interjected a few words. This is true, even the two small gunboats of the Republican Army rely on the slender men to pull the fiber, otherwise, depending on the motive on the ship, it is also unthinkable.

"There should be a few machine traction stations there, and it is much faster to pull the fiber by machine than by manpower."

Zhao Bei glanced at Tian Jinfu behind him and asked, "Did you reply to the propaganda bomb you shot just now?" ”

Tian Jinfu shook his head and said: "We have been fighting propaganda bombs for two days, but the other party hasn't even let out a fart, I see, I'm afraid this persuasion can't be counted on, or we have to use real shells to fight, and the cannons will be bombarded for a day and a night, I don't believe it, the old army of the patrol battalion is iron." ”

"Our current artillery shells can fire for an hour, which is good. The guys in the patrol battalion, do they really want to bury the Manchu Dynasty? Why were they so loyal to the Manchus? ”

Zhao Bei was a little puzzled, maybe he was addicted to instigating the uprising of the new army, and he really wanted to solve the Qing army on the other side of the river without blood, so in the past two days, the republican army did not shoot many real shells, but only fired hundreds of propaganda bombs, exposing the corruption of the Qing court with pictures and texts, calling on the Qing army soldiers to revolt in the line of fire, surrendering to the republican army, and all those who surrendered to the army were given preferential treatment, and each person who had a gun was given 20 yuan of refuge, and each person without a gun also had 5 yuan of ocean repayment.

"Report!"

The voice of a staff officer came from outside the military tent, Lan Tianwei greeted him, and when he walked back to the tent, he held a post in his hand, handed it to Zhao Bei, and whispered: "There are a few parties outside, saying that they want to meet the commander-in-chief." Can't see it? ”

"Will the party? Ha, still an old acquaintance. Zhao Bei took the post and looked at it.

"The party is good, the party is the head snake, it is very useful to our Republican Army, why don't you see it? See! Please come in and speak. ”