"The vanguard of Li Yuanhong's department has reached point 34."

"Enemy scouts have begun to try to cross our alert area."

"Li Yuanhong's troops have begun to reduce the speed of their marches."

"Li Yuanhong's navy is still stopped in the Nanqi River."

"There is no longer a guard force at the intersection of Chaohu Lake and Nanqi River."

The news from the intelligence department came in one by one, and the air in the front command of the Central Military Commission seemed to be tense. On the large map, the sign marked with Li Yuanhong's department was constantly moved to a new position on the blackboard, and everyone could see the latest changes in the situation as soon as they looked up.

"Chairman Chen, can you start?" Pu Guanshui asked.

The plan before the war has changed greatly from the specific form now, Chen Ke once thought that he had to block the passage between Chaohu Lake and the Yangtze River to block the Hubei navy, but he never expected that the navy of the Hubei New Army would dare to anchor in the Nanqi River. The place where the People's Party water detachment is ambushed is relatively far from here, and if it moves from the ambush site to the mouth of the Nanqi River, it will take at least half a day. Seeing such a good opportunity, Chen Ke ordered a part of the troops of the water detachment to block the exit of Chaohu Lake as it was, and urgently mobilized a part of the reserve troops to the mouth of the Nanqi River to implement an emergency blockade.

Li Yuanhong was about to arrive at the predetermined location, but Chen Ke still did not give the order to attack.

"Chief of Staff Pu, if I want Li Yuanhong to stop where I am first. Do you have any suggestions? Chen Ke asked.

Pu Guanshui was a little surprised, the General Staff had already formulated many plans, and there were several plans for Li Yuanhong to stop temporarily. Chen Ke's current problem lacked some necessary conditions, and Pu Guanshui was a little unclear about Chen Ke's true intentions. He simply asked bluntly: "Chairman Chen, are you worried about the retreat of Li Yuanhong's army?" ”

"Yes." Chen Ke replied a little helplessly, "Now we are short of ships. There is also little capacity to repair large ships. So I'd love to capture these ships without any damage. ”

Without waiting for Pu Guanshui to answer, Chen Ke continued a little anxiously: "According to the original plan, start acting." ”

"Chairman Chen, we are indeed short of ships now." Pu Guanshui couldn't help but persuade Chen Ke. He could fully understand Chen Ke's thoughts, the base area could not build its own warships, and the chances of capturing it this time were so good, even if it was impossible to change the battle plan slightly.

Chen Ke suddenly regretted that he had made some mistakes as a commander-in-chief. If the supreme commander of the campaign fails to stick to the original campaign plan when there is no major mistake in the judgment of the campaign, but seeks to blame all the details and keeps chassing after the small details, then the specific executors below will be in a state of disarray. Originally, whether or not the battle could be better completed should be the responsibility of the battlefield execution officer, but Chen Ke really thought too much. The worst thing is that Chen Ke actually said this kind of thought. He had to correct the problem he had created. Chen Ke said loudly to Pu Guanshui: "Chief of Staff Pu, don't think about the problem of the enemy's navy, follow the original plan. Now issue an offensive order. ”

Pu Guanshui didn't know what Chen Ke was thinking, he was just a little puzzled by Chen Ke's "capricious" approach. Now was not the time to discuss with Chen Ke, since Chen Ke no longer paid attention to the plan to completely annihilate the enemy's naval army, Pu Guanshui immediately began to convey combat orders to the troops.

In the face of the strength displayed by the People's Party, Li Yuanhong attaches great importance to his own exploration. He ordered the horses to scout around without stopping. Exactly like other Qing troops of this era, Li Yuanhong's scouts followed exactly the same route, that is, the route of Li Yuanhong's troops. First of all, the People's Party must get rid of Li Yuanhong's exploration of horses and turn Li Yuanhong's large army into "blind men."

The reconnaissance force of any army selects the most elite fighters, and there is no difference between the People's Party and the Hubei New Army in this respect. But Li Yuanhong made a serious mistake, he used his reconnaissance power too much. Lu Dashun, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, said only one sentence to his subordinates, "Those Hubei Yankees are almost exhausted, everyone go and kill them all now." After saying this, Lu Dashun was afraid that the soldiers would mistakenly carry out their orders, "If people are killed, don't kill horses." ”

Lu Dashun did not dare to underestimate the horses of the Hubei New Army. In order to get the maximum information in an unfamiliar environment, Li Yuanhong really went out as a detective. The BJP has long since built its own reconnaissance system. The arrangement of various fixed information points and mobile information points is very reasonable, plus the transmission of carrier pigeons. Moreover, the reconnaissance battalion of the People's Party is an entire battalion, nearly a thousand troops. There were only more than 200 scouts of the Hubei New Army. But the workload of these more than 200 people is really not small. The BJP fighters at the observation point even remembered the faces of most of the horses. Since they did not dare to underestimate the New Army's exploration of horses, the scouts of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army could only use the most ruthless means. Shortly after this order was given, a skirmish between the scouts began with great rapidity.

In the past few days, the horses of the Hubei New Army have become very familiar with the road and the scenery on both sides of the road. A small group of new army scouts saw a slight difference in the scenery ahead. There was a pit on the side of the road in front of them, and two broken wooden sticks were scattered around the pit. The stick looked like it had been soaked in water and then casually thrown on the side of the road, and the pole took on a miserable white color, which was quite striking in the grass. Now the two sticks have been moved to the edge of the pit. This subtle change didn't bother the ponies. But while they were urging their tired horses forward, two sticks suddenly stood up in the pit at the same time. There was also a puff of dust rising from the ground. It turned out that the two sticks were connected by ropes, and they became a stumbling rope when they were immediately boarded.

The horses of the New Army hurriedly tightened their reins, and the horses were tired for the past few days, and they were not running fast, and Kankan stopped when he reached the ropes. Before the horses could see what was going on, gunshots rang out behind them. Several fighters of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had already risen from their dug hideouts and fired at the back of the probe horses that were close at hand. Several of the scouts were killed on the spot. The horses heard the gunshots and subconsciously began to run. And the tripping rope also played a role at this time, stopping the horses. The scouts hurried up and grabbed the horses. There is a shortage of war horses in the base area, and these horses are extremely valuable.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army used tripwires in some places, and in others it was more straightforward, and the New Army saw peasants on foot unexpectedly appear on the road, and if they had not stopped their horses to ask, they would have been shot from behind by the peasants. If they stopped to ask, the peasant immediately drew his handcuffs and shot the tanma head-on.

The sound of gunfire from far and near made the scouts on the road more vigilant, and the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army also discussed this. The first round of close-range attacks ended. Sharpshooters from various units began to appear, and it was an even more brutal killing. Generally, three people ambush and snipe a scout at the same time. Long-range sniping is always aimed at vital parts, and after a round of gunfire, each probe horse will be hit by at least two bullets, completely losing the chance of survival.

The killing lasted less than an hour, and all the more than 170 recruits on the road were wiped out. In the next half hour, more than 20 scouts sent by Li Yuanhong were all killed. The Hubei New Army completely lost its organized reconnaissance capability.

After the gunshots rang out, Li Yuanhong immediately and almost instinctively chose a more conservative strategy to strengthen vigilance. This is what the BJP hopes for most than this kind of response. The so-called "know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles." Li Yuanhong may be a confidant, but he doesn't know much about the People's Party. Since the strength of the People's Party lies at the grassroots level, his preliminary investigation work has not been effective at all. However, Li Yuanhong himself occupies Anqing, and all his actions are exposed in the city, and it is easy to find out.

Since Li Yuanhong did not want to be thrown into chaos by the People's Party, the People's Party could have ample time and space to complete its own tactics. After losing the Tanma, Li Yuanhong asked the troops of the New Army to inquire on foot in units of ten. The spies on foot cautiously followed the main road and were soon met with snipers from the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants. In the blink of an eye, the first ten people were killed and wounded. The people behind tried to shoot at the ambush soldiers who couldn't see it, but they didn't expect another bullet from the nearby reeds, and the remaining soldiers of the new army dared to resist, and ran back as soon as they slipped away.

Li Yuanhong was stunned by such a round of peripheral harassment. The attack was not only from the front, he also tried to send people to contact the fleet left behind, and the soldiers sent out were also attacked. The new army, which was on its way to Hefei to suppress bandits, was suddenly "attacked from front to back." If he hadn't encountered such a situation himself, Li Yuanhong would have said that he would not believe anything.

"Lord Co-ordinator, the bandits are ahead."

"Cooperate with my lord, the bandits should be ambushed behind."

"I think they're just afraid they've gathered forces on our flank."

Staff officers put forward a variety of views. Every view is very reasonable, but what surprised Li Yuanhong the most at this time was not these. No matter what kind of civil rebellion, as long as the rebellious people encounter the official army, even if they encounter dozens of official soldiers, even if there are thousands of rebellious people, they will be easily defeated. The most important thing is that the officers and soldiers can see the "anti-thieves" for the sake of large-scale assembly. Now Li Yuanhong has encountered anti-thieves, but the number of anti-thieves is not mentioned in the information sent back from various places. All estimates were based on the number of casualties of the Forces nouvelles themselves.

The new army is now on the march, and after a sudden attack, the various units have made great efforts to turn the new army into a combat state. In particular, the artillery units, which installed amplified artillery and prepared to shell the bandit army, have not been fully prepared until now. However, these preparations did not see the enemy at all, and this strange performance made Li Yuanhong feel very uneasy.

What are the BJP bandits going to do?