The wind was bitterly cold, and there was no light in the lead-gray sky.

It is now four o'clock in the afternoon, but the river is dark and dreary, the vision is extremely blurred, the waves on the river are very high, several small wooden boats are tossed on the cusp of the storm, it seems that there is a danger of capsizing at any time, the few red flags carried on the boat are particularly conspicuous, hunting in the wind, pointing to the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Zhao Bei stood by the river, holding a German-made binoculars, taking in the scene on the river.

Behind him stood a row of officers with solemn expressions, all with binoculars in their hands, carefully observing the movement on the river, although it was very dark and they could not see the details on the other side of the river, but they could also guess the panic scene over there.

There was a burst of "boom boom" cannon sound in the distance, every time it sounded, the dark and heavy sky on the opposite bank would flash a burst of light, and then there would be a roar like a train rushing in the sky, it was the Jinjipo Fort on the opposite bank that was firing artillery on this side, the shells swept across the Yangtze River, tearing the air and roaring, but because there was no correct guidance, the shells flew aimlessly, roaring on the north bank of the river, but did not pose any threat to the rebel army.

After two days of rapid marching, Zhao Bei led the rebel troops all the way to the west, successively passing through Taihu, Susong, Huangmei, into Hubei, in order to hide people's eyes and ears, hide their whereabouts, the rebel army put away the banner of the iron-blooded republic, re-raised the banner of the Qing army, walked all the way to pull out the electric pole, completely destroyed the Qing army communications, encountered a remote patrol battalion station, all disarmed the old army, wrapped in coercion, passed by the county but did not attack, arrived at Huangmei County immediately turned around and turned to the south, With lightning speed, he went straight to Xiaochikou, an important ferry port on the Yangtze River, defeated the patrol team stationed there, occupied this dangerous place, and faced Jiujiang City on the south bank of the Yangtze River across the river, and the Jiujiang Battle was ready to start.

Xiaochikou is located at the junction of three provinces on the north bank of the Yangtze River, with Anhui to the east, Hubei to the west, and Jiangxi to the south.

There are two reasons why it did not go straight to Wuhan: first, Jiujiang City is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, where the river is narrow, and the Yangtze River route is controlled and choked, and it has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times. Second, the latest intelligence shows that a batch of guns and ammunition has just been transported from the Hanyang Arsenal to Jiujiang City, and it is hoarded in the city, so that the governor of Jiangxi can recruit defense battalions on the spot to prevent the Anqing Revolutionary Army from attacking Jiangxi.

In addition, Zhao Bei also had another intention, that is, to test the real combat effectiveness of the troops with the Battle of Jiujiang, and at the same time to make a posture of going south to Guangdong, and to make a false shot in Jiujiang, mobilize the Qing army, disrupt the strategic deployment of the Qing court, and pave the way for the march into Hubei.

According to the battle plan, the revolutionary army will attack Jiujiang City in a surprise attack, but because the vanguard launched the attack too hastily, failed to completely annihilate the defenders, resulting in some of the remnants of the defeated army will flee across the river, the whereabouts of the rebel army has been exposed, Jiujiang City fell into a panic, the merchant ships originally moored in Jiujiang have anchored, along the south bank to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, in order to avoid the war, but there are also some wooden boats sailing to the north of the river, take the initiative to join the rebel army, plus the insurrectionary troops occupied Xiaochikou captured and requisitioned along the river, Now the revolutionary army has more than 400 large and small wooden ships, just waiting for Zhao Bei's order.

"It's cloudy, and it looks like it's going to rain." Zhao Bei put down the binoculars, looked at the sky and said.

The officers standing behind him also raised their heads and looked at the sky, and no one took the conversation. After two days of rapid marching, the troops were already very tired, and if they could not take Jiujiang City in one go to rest and recuperate, the morale of the troops would be damaged.

"Zhang Yukun, do they have any news?" Zhao Bei asked a staff officer beside him.

"Not yet." The staff officer said.

After the rebel troops left Huangnigang, Zhao Bei sent Zhang Yukun, Lin Shuqing and others to rush to the banks of the Yangtze River together with Xu Shaozhen, the commander of the Ninth Town of Jiangsu who agreed to cooperate with the rebel army, to instigate the 33rd standard uprising of the Jiangsu New Army stationed there. According to the intelligence, the 33rd standard is known as the "Dragon of the Beiyang" Wang Shizhen, although in history this "Wang Long" Mr. has not done any earth-shattering business, but the reputation is outside, with him in charge, and there are gunboats monitoring by the riverside, whether the 33rd standard can successfully instigate an uprising, is indeed not completely sure, which is why Zhao Bei did not wait for that force.

Now it is a race for time, to take Hubei in one go before the Qing court mobilizes heavy troops to go south.

In any case, it now seems that the 33rd standard may not be able to catch up with the Jiujiang Campaign.

Opposite is the ground of Jiangxi, as long as the Yangtze River is crossed, occupy Jiujiang City, the rebel troops can be proud of South China with the momentum of sweeping thousands of troops―――――― you know, up to now, the Qing court has trained a total of less than 120,000 new troops, of which more than 70,000 are Yuan Shikai's Beiyang New Army, and far away in North China, the total number of new troops in the entire southern region is less than 50,000, and after the Anqing Uprising and the Huangnigang Uprising, half of the troops in the Southern New Army have fallen to the revolution, that is to say, Zhao Bei immediately hollowed out half of the new military force in the south of the Qing court!

More importantly, most of the Qing gunboats on the Yangtze River were transferred to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Jiujiang area was deserted, and except for the occasional foreign gunboat, there were no ships on the river that could threaten the rebels.

A kind of pride in rewriting history and directing the country stirred in Zhao Bei's chest, he suppressed the excitement in his heart, handed the telescope to the staff officer, glanced at the people behind him, and said calmly: "Let's start." ”

"Smack! Syllable! ”

Two green signal flares rose into the sky, and the Battle of Jiujiang officially began.

More than 400 wooden boats hung up their sails, carrying 2,000 commandos, and sailed to the south bank on the north wind, with the field guns on the bow holding their heads high, and the muzzles of the black holes pointed directly at the south of the Yangtze River.

The white sails on the dark and heavy river were dotted, and they were gradually divided into two fleets, one was upstream, responsible for feints to attack Jiujiang City, and the other was downstream, they were the main force of the assault, responsible for attacking the Jinjipo Fort.

According to the "Constitution of the New Army" promulgated by the War Department established at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Jiangxi Province needs to organize and train a new army in one town, totaling more than 12,000 people, but due to the violation of the local governor Fuyang Fengyin and the shortage of funds, so far, Jiangxi Province has only trained a new army of less than 5,000 people, and it is only an association establishment, and most of the troops are adapted from the old defense battalions. In the face of the revolutionary army that can almost be regarded as fully manned, the Qing army in Jiangxi is vulnerable, the new army troops in Jiujiang City are only two thousand people at most, even if the rabble of the patrol team is added, the total number will not be more than four thousand, 20,000 against 4,000, the rebel army has a five-to-one strength advantage, the only thing that worries the rebel troops is the heavy fortress guns on the Jinjipo fort, which is used to block the Yangtze River waterway, with a long range and great power, which is the biggest resistance to the siege, so the Qing army there must be solved first, Capture the battery, then bombard the walls with the cannons on the battery.

The wind was colder, mixed with tiny raindrops, and it was darker. This was advantageous to the attacking side, as it could effectively block the sight of the Qing artillery and cover the movement of the troops crossing the river.

Zhao Bei put on a rubber-faced poncho, took a hat brought by the guards, put it on his head, stood by the river with his hands behind his back, looking at the white sails that were gradually moving away, his heart fluctuated, and his mind was relaxed.

"The tiger is better than the past, and the world is turned upside down and generous." In addition to being proud, Zhao Bei stole a poem.

Lan Tianwei, the chief of staff standing on the side, was slightly surprised, and wanted to take out his diary to write down the commander-in-chief's impromptu poem, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't see the commander-in-chief continue to "make" the poem, and the poem was only two sentences.

"It's a pity, the beginning of this poem is impassioned, does the poem end here?" Lan Tianwei pondered, looked up, but saw Commander-in-Chief Zhao standing on a boulder by the river, standing at the head of the tide.

In the drizzle, the tall image remained in everyone's memory forever.