The shelling of Yingjiang Temple in Anqing by the Hubei Navy continued the next morning. At the same time as the naval artillery bombardment, the infantry of the Hubei New Army finally appeared in the west of Anqing City. The cadres of the Yue Wang Society, who originally vowed to "kill all the new army", were obviously divided into two factions.

Hearing that the army of the Hubei New Army had entered the battle, the leader of the Youhui Party said with a look of nervousness and fear, "Can we defeat the Hubei New Army?" ”

"What's so great about the Hubei New Army? Let's shoot them all when we get to the city! "Others are bold and eager to try. These members had not fought and had no understanding of war. Standing on the high Anqing city wall and inspecting condescendingly, they can always have a heroic mentality.

Unlike the participating parties, the regular troops of the Anqing Revolutionary Army, which was established with the New Army as the core, knew that the city wall was nothing because of its war experience. The commanders of these regular units frowned and did not say a word, clearly having their own agendas.

"We have four or five thousand people, guns and cannons, and Anqing City. How could it be impossible to hold Anqing City? If it weren't for the fact that the People's Party had taken away so much equipment, we would have rushed out and killed all the Hubei Yankees. "Some of the cadres of the Yue Wang Association continued to walk with clichés. This statement is still supported by many people.

"It's like, what's there to be afraid of. We're still going out of the city to meet the new army in Hubei to see what they're capable of. "The leaders of the party even asked to take the initiative.

Looking at the attitude of these parties, Chen Duxiu couldn't help but have the idea of fighting to the death with the Hubei New Army in Anqing. After nearly two months of "sit-in" in Anqing, the enemy finally came. What Yue Wang Hui is now facing is a test of revolution! A few hours ago, he was forced to admit his "defeat" to Lu Zhengping of the People's Party. But that kind of acknowledgment, after seeing a room full of "revolutionary comrades", was shaken and even vanished. Chen Duxiu felt that he only admitted "failure" because he was in a bad mood and was in a state of vacillation. In fact, I really think about it, King Yue will have four or five thousand people, even if the new army has tens of thousands, and the attacker has twice the numerical advantage in the siege battle, it is actually not a big advantage. Moreover, the fighting capacity of the new army is not necessarily as strong as that of the People's Party. Chen Duxiu began to list various reasons in his mind for the possibility of defeating the Hubei New Army.

Just when Chen Duxiu began to fall into the fantasy of "revolutionary success" again, Qiu Jin introduced Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu to Tao Chengzhang at the gate of Chizhou City.

After Lu Zhengping told Chen Duxiu his views last night, he resigned to Chen Duxiu. This was originally told to Chen Duxiu. The Hubei New Army blocked the river, and it was not easy to cross the river during the day, so Lu Zhengping and the others had to get up in the middle of the night and set off for the lower reaches of Anqing, and then find an opportunity to cross the river. Chen Duxiu admired Lu Zhengping deeply at that time, and simply asked people to take Lu Zhengping to Anqing Water Gate to pick a boat. Lu Zhengping was also not polite, and went with He Jinwu to wake up Qiu Jin, and then went to Anqing Water Gate to pick a small boat. We set off at night. Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu are both from the water detachment, and their ability to drive boats is quite good. They followed the fleet of steel transporters, and the ships that sailed up the Yangtze River during the Battle of Anqing, although it was only a small boat, but they traveled extremely fast, and reached Chizhou in the morning.

Tao Chengzhang listened to Qiu Jin's introduction and knew that Chen Ke was not able to provide reinforcements. He didn't care too much about this matter, Chen Keyuan was in Fengyang Mansion, and it would be strange if he could provide a large number of troops. Listening to Qiu Jin talk about the hardships of the journey along the way, Tao Chengzhang deeply knew what kind of energy and willpower it takes to travel long distances based on his own experience. Looking at Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu in front of them, although they were also dusty, they did not look exhausted at all. The evaluation of these two people in my heart has become extremely high.

After everyone entered the city, Chizhou was similar to Anqing, but there were still a few shops in operation. The ground is also far less messy than Anqing. In the morning, I was able to see people cleaning up. Although judging from the outfit, it is still the same people who were responsible for cleaning in Chizhou City in the past. However, compared with the total failure of Anqing, Chizhou is still a lot better.

The group entered the Yamen of the Chizhou Prefect, only to see people coming in and out of the Yamen, and there were not many people waiting in the lobby. It seems that the efficiency of the Restoration Society is better than that of the Yue Wang Society, and the faction is far less than that of the Yue Wang Society.

Not long after he sat down, he saw Xu Xilin hurrying from outside, and when he saw Qiu Jin, he smiled with relief, "Xuanqing, you're back!" ”

Qiu Jin also hurriedly stood up, "Bosun, I just arrived." Mr. Tao said that you took someone to check on the enemy, and you came back so soon? ”

Hearing this, Xu Xilin's smile instantly dissipated without a trace, and he said to Tao Chengzhang: "Tao Gong, the Hubei New Army has set up a sentry post more than 20 miles away from us. When I saw that they were very scrutiny, I did not go any further. ”

"It's okay. You don't know how to speak the local dialect of Anhui, so it's not appropriate to go up rashly. Tao Chengzhang didn't care, "Since Bosun has also returned, our people will be together." Let's listen to what message Mr. Lu brought to Wenqing. ”

After speaking, Tao Chengzhang looked at Lu Zhengping with blazing eyes.

Because the Guangfu Society is a party in Zhejiang, no one from the local party in Anhui has come to defect. So there weren't many people involved in this meeting, only seven people. Everyone gathered around a table of eight immortals, looking at the map that Lu Zhengping took out. "We, Chairman Chen Ke, suggest that the Liberation Council should go above in the face of a strong enemy."

"Flee without a fight?" There was no emotion in Tao Chengzhang's voice. On the contrary, Xu Xilin raised his eyes and looked at Lu Zhengping after hearing this.

"Since you can't win the war, why do you need to sacrifice here senselessly?" Lu Zhengping said.

No one refutes, no one argues. The eyes of the leaders of the Restoration Society fell on Tao Chengzhang. Tao Chengzhang was silent for a while, and then said: "After fighting Anqing, I understand that I am not as good as Wenqing in the matter of fighting. In the past two months, we have only occupied such a city of Chizhou, and there has been no progress in launching a revolution. The gentry prevaricated, and the common people did not believe us at all. Since Wen Qing thinks we should retreat, then we might as well retreat back to Zhejiang. ”

Xu Xilin hurriedly said: "Tao Gong, we have to fight." After returning to Zhejiang in such a gloomy way, how can you explain to Mr. Cai Yuanpei? And Anqing is still there, and it is impossible for the Hubei New Army to attack us, so why should we take the lead in escaping like this? ”

Without waiting for Tao Chengzhang to speak, Lu Zhengping said: "Anqing can't hold it." I just came from Anqing, and I can see that Anqing definitely can't stand it without fighting. ”

"How long have you been in Anqing?" Xu Xilin asked suspiciously.

"Less than a day."

"In such a short period of time, can you know that Anqing can't hold it?"

"There is no soldier to be saved outside, and there is no city to be defended inside. King Yue would only think about defending the city, and he didn't have the idea of destroying the new army in Hubei at all. Can you hold the city by blindly defending it? It was no longer the day of the broadsword, spear, bow and arrow, and with the new firearms such as rifles and artillery, the advantage of the defending side was greatly reduced. Not to mention that the Anqing defending side is simply a rabble. ”

Xu Xilin doesn't know much about military affairs, and when he hears Lu Zhengping say this, he is still suspicious, and he has more doubts and less belief. Tao Chengzhang decisively took over the conversation, "How long does Mr. Lu think Anqing can hold on?" ”

"Defeat in ten days."

"Why the Ten Days?" Tao Chengzhang was puzzled by this accurate number.

"Because I don't know what the combat strength of the Hubei New Army is. However, since it is a new army, it will not be able to fight after a slight setback. Before I came this time, Chairman Chen Ke made a special count of the number of artillery and shells in Anqing. Once the battle begins, Anqing's artillery will last for five days at most. After five days the shells will run out. With the strength of Anqing's gang, they couldn't withstand two days of bombardment in the city. Once they were taken from the walls, they were demoralized. Failure is just a matter of a day. That's why I say they will be defeated in ten days. ”

Lu Zhengping speaks with numbers to explain the ongoing battle in Anqing in a quantitative way. When the people of the Liberation Society heard this, they were skeptical. Ping Zhiji, a cadre attending the meeting, asked: "It is not necessary to defend the city to fight, if King Yue will adopt methods such as night attacks, it may not be impossible to win against the new army, right?" ”

Regarding such an erroneous view, which is already considered "very common sense", Lu Zhengping felt that the level of the Restoration Society was indeed much higher than that of the Yue Wang Society, and he explained: "Definitely not. The new army has many more drills than King Yue. If you are a skilled player, you will never have any chance of winning. This is not a one-man fight, punching the master to death. This is a large-scale battle of thousands of people, and without rigorous training, it is simply impossible to win. ”

Ping Zhiji is still skeptical of Lu Zhengping's words. He looked at Tao Chengzhang and saw that Tao Chengzhang was nodding slightly, obviously agreeing with Lu Zhengping's attitude. It is no longer convenient for Ping Zhiji to say more.

"Then how to retreat? What advice does Mr. Lu have? ”

"The route of the retreat, the speed of the retreat, the plan for encountering unexpected situations." Lu Zhengping said without hesitation. He pointed to the map, "How long are you going to evacuate?" It depends on how much supplies you can bring. This determines the speed of the retreat......"

After talking for half an hour, Lu Zhengping finished explaining the basic essentials of the retreat, in fact, when Chen Ke told about this knowledge at the military academy, he used moving as an example, at that time, Chen Ke's words were relaxed and happy, and the students often couldn't help but laugh. But after all, Lu Zhengping had fought so many wars, so he couldn't help but mix his military experience into it, and it was the first time that everyone in the Liberation Association heard someone talk about "military operations" more systematically, and the seemingly relatively simple retreat actually had so many doorways in it. They all listened stupidly. In their view, retreat is an escape in defeat. But I never thought that even an escaper would have so much knowledge in it.

Tao Chengzhang was the first to recover, his eyes widened, and he said eagerly: "Mr. Lu, can you stay in our Restoration Society?" I want you to command this retreat, Mr. Lu. ”

Lu Zhengping did not expect Tao Chengzhang to react so violently, the military operations of the People's Party are all formulated by the staff officers, and Lu Zhengping is not a staff officer. He hurriedly excused himself and said, "I'm also talking on paper." I myself did not command the retreat at all. ”

Tao Chengzhang didn't care about Lu Zhengping's explanation at all, he said resolutely: "Mr. Lu has not commanded the retreat, and we have not commanded the retreat. After all, Mr. Lu has learned how to retreat, could it be that Mr. Wenqing sent Mr. Lu to just go through the motions? ”

When Chen Ke sent Lu Zhengping to come, he just asked Lu Zhengping to act at the opportunity and help the Liberation Society as much as possible. Chen Ke felt that the Liberation Society was likely to choose to stick to Chizhou. I didn't expect the Liberation Society to be able to decisively choose to retreat, which was unexpected by Lu Zhengping. He glanced at He Jinwu, and He Jinwu frowned slightly. After thinking for a while, He Jinwu asked, "It is impossible for us to follow you back to Zhejiang." ”

"You don't have to go back to Zhejiang." Tao Chengzhang said, pointing to the map, "As long as you can cross Wuhu." From Chizhou to Wuhu, there were many places where the Manchu garrison was stationed along the way, and as long as we crossed Wuhu, we had comrades to meet us. ”

This is the truth, one of the reasons why Tao Chengzhang was able to make up his mind to retreat so quickly was that the Qing army cut off the connection between Zhejiang and Chizhou, and it was difficult for the comrades supported by Zhejiang to reach Chizhou. He knew that the Liberation Society would be alone in Chizhou, so he made up his mind to retreat.

After hearing this, He Jinwu couldn't find a reason to object. Before he and Lu Zhengping came, Chen Ke explained that if the Restoration Society and the Yue Wang Society had no intention of cooperating at all. Then the two of them can go directly back to the base area. If the two revolutionary parties are genuinely willing to cooperate, especially the Liberation Society, then give them as much help as possible. Of course, the premise is that Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu can't put themselves in. Now it seems that the intention of the Restoration Society to cooperate is extremely firm, and the two are only responsible for the retreat, but they have not disobeyed Chen Ke's orders.

"Political Commissar Lu ......," He Jinwu hinted.

Lu Zhengping nodded, "Then we'll help you fight for the time being." If you think we can't do it, just say it. We will never delay everyone's business. ”

Tao Chengzhang hurriedly responded: "What does Mr. Lu say, since we ask Mr. Lu to command, we will definitely not disobey Mr. Lu's orders." ”