Tensions in Wuhan have made steamers on nearby rivers disappear without a trace in recent days, and both merchant and passenger ships have chosen to temporarily stop docking in Wuhan.

Strangely, on this day, two passenger ships were heading toward the shore, guarded by thirty soldiers of the Eighth Town. Jiang'an is not a key defensive area, so no more manpower was arranged, which was Lu Si's negligence. Unexpectedly, this negligence almost caused the collapse of the entire operation.

The passenger ship landed smoothly and without any hindrance, the biggest reason was that the soldiers on the river bank saw that the two passenger ships were coming under the escort of a British warship. The banks of the Yangtze River were originally the British sphere of influence, and their warships often appeared on the river near Wuhan, and it was not uncommon for them to overturn fishing boats and small passenger ships.

When the gun-wielding soldiers quickly ran down the passenger ship, the soldiers of the Eighth Town felt that something was wrong, and just wanted to go forward to interrogate, they saw that the flag of the Seventh Town was erected! In just a short time, hundreds of soldiers from the Seventh Town gathered on the shore, and seeing that there were thousands of people in this fight, there was no need to fight, most of them hid and monitored, and sent three people to report back immediately.

This trick was conceived by Sheng Xuanhuai, who had run the China Merchants Steamship Bureau for many years, and when Wei Guangtao was discussing how to solve the matter, he proposed to use the ships of the China Merchants Steamship to transport some soldiers directly into Wuhan. This idea made Wei Guangtao overjoyed, and asked Sheng Xuanhuai to handle the matter.

In response to some small river patrol boats on the Wuhan River, Sheng Xuanhuai simply asked the British for help. For the British, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were their traditional sphere of influence, and once seized by the revolutionary party, many of their interests would cease to exist. Therefore, the British had already provided a lot of help to Wei Guangtao and others, including loans, arms, and so on. This time, it is not surprising that warships were directly sent to help.

The old empire and cunning politicians taught Lu Liang and others a vivid lesson. The first batch of soldiers from the 7th Town, who landed by passenger liners, numbered 1,300 men, and instead of attacking in depth, they guarded the banks of the river. Half an hour later, the second batch of ten passenger ships and freighters arrived, more than 4,000 soldiers and eighteen Krupp 75-mm mountain guns of the left team of the artillery battalion, as well as 126 matching horses, corresponding ammunition and supplies, and so on.

It had been more than half an hour since Zhang Zhidong, Lu Si and the others got the news, and it was too late to deploy troops, and more news came back one after another, and there was roughly a reinforced infantry concord and an artillery team with eighteen artillery pieces landing in the seventh town, and now they were driving towards the railway station, the governor's palace and the arsenal, and the situation was extremely critical!

"We have a lot of troops, but they are too scattered to form an effective defense in a short period of time. Take a key defense, and order the soldiers to concentrate on the railway station, the governor's palace, and the arsenal, as long as these three places are not lost, Wuhan is equivalent to not being occupied! Lu Si suggested, he was the first person to make a reasonable suggestion based on the news, Zhang Zhidong and the others were still in the shock of the sudden landing in the seventh town, wonderful chess, wonderful chess!

"Xiangshuai, where is the artillery camp in the eighth town? The Seventh Town has eighteen artillery pieces, which is the biggest threat to us! Lu Si then asked, Zhang Zhidong returned to normal at this time, thought for a while and said: "The Eighth Town Artillery Battalion has sixty artillery pieces, of which 24 are in Wuhan City, but because they are afraid of using artillery to injure civilians, they are still in the arsenal and have not taken them out, and the soldiers of the artillery battalion are also used as infantry, scattered in various places in the three towns, and I am afraid that they will not be able to gather in a short time." ”

"Let the artillerymen assemble and go to the arsenal to pick up the equipment! Without artillery, our losses will not be small, Xiang Shuai, this is a tough battle, please be mentally prepared. However, we are not without a counterattack, and I will send a telegram to the Guangzhou side and ask the General Staff to find a way to solve this crisis. ”

The Eighth Town and the Nationalist Army had more than 5,000 troops in the Wuhan area, but the biggest disadvantage was that they were scattered everywhere, streets, important places, ferries, etc., and there were no wireless communication facilities, so they could only transmit orders through fast horses. The soldiers who landed in the seventh town did not divide their troops, but gathered together and prepared to attack each target one by one.

The train station is the closest to the riverbank, and it is fortunate to be the first target of the seventh town. According to preliminary counts, there were 1,013 soldiers at the railway station at this time, all armed with light firepower, and there were 120 shells left from the six mortars - this was the price of a light advance. More than 1,000 Chinese People's Army soldiers, 300 of whom were temporarily grouped, were divided into four parts and quickly built improvised fortifications. Liu Dezhi, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Division of the Nationalist Army, was elected as the temporary commander.

Before the fortifications were completed, more than 4,000 troops of the 7th Town had already arrived at the railway station. It was a severe test, as the enemy outnumbered us and outnumbered us. Liu Dezhi quickly arranged the defense, and the soldiers quickly entered the position, and fortunately, the soldiers of the Eighth Town also showed good fighting qualities, which made Liu Dezhi a little more confident.

Seeing that the railway station was heavily defended, the Qing army immediately launched artillery and began shelling, and the infantry entered the starting position, preparing to attack after the shelling was over. The Krupp mountain cannon is not very powerful, and as long as the shell does not hit directly after exploding, or the soldiers hide in time, it is difficult to cause damage to the soldiers, of course, this can only be done by veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time. The soldiers of the Eighth Town looked a little flustered under the shelling, and once they raised themselves in the explosion, they were likely to be hit by shrapnel.

Without defensive depth, Liu Dezhi also buried himself in the explosion, powerless against the panicked soldiers. Ten minutes later, the shelling stopped, and Liu Dezhi immediately led people to organize the defensive team.

"Soldiers of the National Army, all to the front line, machine gunners, check the condition of weapons, ammunition men, hurry up and deliver ammunition!" After a few minutes, calm returned to the position, as a large number of enemies came into view.

The fierce battle at the railway station was in full swing, giving Lü Si and Zhang Zhidong time to adjust their forces, and most of the soldiers scattered in the city converged under the uninterrupted horseback running of the heralds. In the first phase of the operation, the armed forces of the Koo faction were basically wiped out, and the opposition forces such as Gu Hongming were also controlled. At Lü Si's suggestion, he led more than 1,600 Nationalist soldiers to support the railway station, and the remaining soldiers of the Eighth Town were divided into two parts to control the governor's palace and the arsenal.

In two hours, Liu Dezhi led more than 1,000 soldiers to repel three attacks by the Qing army, killing and wounding at least 700 enemy soldiers, and more than 60 soldiers of the second battalion of the Nationalist Army on the front line were also killed or wounded.

However, the attack of the seventh town also had to be stopped, and the reinforcements led by Lu Si arrived, so that the defense of the railway station was finally solidified. With more than 2,000 national troops, with just more than 50 mortars, the seventh town can retreat. The two armies entered a state of confrontation, and the Nationalist Army and the soldiers of the Eighth Town were temporarily incapacitated by the fatigue caused by the continuous fighting, and it was not wise to take the initiative to attack an enemy with artillery and twice the number of people. The Seventh Town was frightened by the countless barrels and rushed forward with such firepower? It's no different from looking for death!

Just when the seventh town was brewing to divide the troops, the eighth town, under the leadership of the commander Zhang Biao, began to snipe Duan Qirui's third town in Beiyang with difficulty. There are only the 29th and 30th bids of the eighth town, plus 40 guns of two artillery teams, and after the third town starts from Xinyang and enters Hubei, the battle between the two sides breaks out immediately.

Zhang Biao fought extremely hard, the style of the Third Town was tenacious, the quality of the soldiers was high, and the number of artillery and barrels exceeded that of his side. Most of the officers of the Eighth Town have studied for a long time, and some of them have even gone to Japan for further study, but they still feel very difficult when facing these desperate northern soldiers.

If there is no national army, the third town and the eighth town are the two strongest armies in China at this stage. Now is not a drill, under the real sword and real gun, there will definitely be a defeat on one side.

In the frontal fierce battle, Duan Qirui decisively sent a unit to attack the flank of the eighth town, Zhang Biao responded in time, but unfortunately the troops on the flank did not block the enemy's offensive, causing the entire position to face collapse. Zhang Biao had to order the Eighth Town to retreat, and Duan Qirui successfully broke through the blockade of the Hubei Army.

Whether or not a perfect retreat can be the best means to test the combat effectiveness of a unit. Zhang Biao's Eighth Town Harmony was obviously not up to par, and just as the retreat was about to turn into a rout, Duan Qirui received a telegram that saved Zhang Biao's life.