Four thousand against one thousand five, if you compare it with the offensive and defensive momentum, the difference in strength is not huge. In terms of equipment, there was not much difference between the two sides, the Qing army had two Makqin, and the revolutionary army had five light machine guns; The Qing army did not have many artillery, and the revolutionary army had grenades at close range.

However, the revolutionary army had simple fortifications, and the front of the blocking position it chose was also narrow, which made it difficult for the Qing army to deploy its forces and give full play to its numerical superiority.

The fierce battle made the patrol lose the will to fight first, and a variety of strange ways to avoid the battle appeared. Some are lying in the muddy water and pretending to be dead, some are desperately retreating, and some have escaped and fled.

After a period of confusion, Yang Kaijia had to order the patrol team to withdraw, relying entirely on the Hubei New Army to open the way.

As the fighting became more intense and brutal, the revolutionary army continued to throw in forces to ensure that positions were not lost, or to carry out counter-charges to regain lost positions. The middle and lower rank officers, who were almost all members of the Revival Society, played a tremendous role, and their fanaticism, their bravery, and their leadership made the blocking force like a boulder crashing on a storm, and after the tide passed, it remained unmoved. Most of the Guangxi soldiers recruited by the revolutionary army, inspired by the officers, also showed their brave nature.

The battle was brutal, which shocked Yang Kaijia, who had never experienced such a scene, and he used very peculiar numbers to record the fierce progress of the battle: a battalion of more than 300 people, after a charge, it became 200 people; And then a hundred, dozens of people. The children of Huxiang who came from afar were dumped in the muddy sewage of a foreign land in a blur of flesh and blood, and it was likely that they would die without a place to be buried.

"Compatriots, don't die for the Manchu court!"

"Think of your wife, children, and parents, they are waiting for you to go back!"

"Surrender and don't kill, give preferential treatment to prisoners!"

"You are buried in a foreign land, how do your families live?"

…………

Bursts of shouting came from the positions of the revolutionary army. In the face of repeated setbacks and corpses everywhere, this kind of persuasion-style propaganda is quite lethal.

Yang Kaijia clenched his fists and slowly released them. He saw the expressions and eyes of the soldiers around him, not only frightened, but also confused. Compatriots, all Han Chinese. Compatriots indeed. And even brave soldiers, when they mention burying their bones in a foreign land and mentioning their relatives in distant places, they have to hesitate and hesitate in their hearts, and they are touched by the nostalgia of family affection.

For Yang Kaijia, the fame of life and death at this time may not be insignificant. But he felt guilty, sorry for the young men who shed their blood in a foreign land, they had parents, brothers and sisters, and maybe wives and children. Doesn't he also have nostalgia and nostalgia......

But- Yang Kaijia let out a long breath and clenched his fists again, ready to give the order to charge again.

The sound of gunfire suddenly rang out behind him, and Yang Kaijia was taken aback, thinking that the pursuers had arrived, and that was the disaster of annihilation. Before the men he sent returned, several soldiers were already rushing in a hurry. It was reported to him that there was a rebellion in the engineering battalion behind the team. Guan led Nguyen Vinh Phat to be killed by the rebels, and the rebels broke the old army such as the patrol battalion and went to defect to the rebels.

Sure enough, the remnants of the sins have not been removed, and they will eventually become a big disaster. Yang Kaijia didn't have to think about it, he knew that it was the party members who had developed in the Rizhi Club and took the opportunity to make trouble. Yang Kaijia knew that the number of party members among the soldiers would not be very large, but he was really well selected at this time. Under the bad situation, it is inevitable that the morale of the army will be shaken, and the soldiers who are confused will be very susceptible to incitement. Look. There may be only a dozen engineering battalions, and even a few party members, after killing the commander and rebelling, can actually coerce almost one battalion to follow.

And the impact of the rebellion of the engineering battalion was extremely bad, Yang Kaijia saw that the initial momentum was gone, and instead there was a whisper, his face changed, and he was afraid.

Yang Kaijia was a little afraid, who knew if there were any party members among the soldiers, and whether anyone would shoot black guns at him. He hurriedly summoned the guards to strengthen his own security, and was ruthless, and ordered the third battalion to start attacking and break through the resistance of the enemy on the opposite side.

The sound of gunfire and explosions rang out again, but Yang Kaijia was surprised to find that this attack had completely lost the appearance of bravery and desperateness, and under the gunfire of the opposite side, only a little casualties were paid, and the troops lay on the ground, firing at each other without advancing.

The hearts of the people are scattered, and the team is not easy to lead. If Yang Kaijia knew about the words of the later generations, he would definitely blurt it out. But he was a little hairy in his heart, and he was always worried about another civil strife, and he didn't dare to force him to the death.

Time, it's just a waste. The noose tightened more and more, and when the fierce gunfire came from behind, the Qing army was irrepressibly commotion and chaos.

The pursuing troops rushed to the battlefield, overcame fatigue and immediately plunged into battle. Although there was a lack of heavy weapons, the shouts of the revolutionary army were earth-shattering, and the fierce attack finally shattered the last will of the Qing army to fight.

At 5:20 a.m., the Qing army collapsed, to be precise, it was the collapse of the patrol battalion that led to the collapse of the new army, and it was the shouts and persuasions of the soldiers of the engineering battalion anyway that caused the commotion and war weariness of the new army.

“…… Although the soldiers and officers had fought like warriors, the battle was irretrievable, and the enemy was growing and undaunted, and we knew too little about them, or rather deceived by them. I gave the order to stop the fearless resistance so that more soldiers could be kept alive and go home to see their loved ones, which was probably my last responsibility......"

Yang Kaijia sat down abruptly, smiled wryly and waved his hand to order the guards to put down their weapons. The will to fight is worn out and broken, and forcing resistance only increases casualties. At this time, he had to admit that the revolutionary army was not weaker than the new army in terms of equipment, and it was stronger in terms of combat will. And those officers of the middle and lower ranks, whom he saw in his binoculars, are not an exaggeration to call them fanatical.

……………

There is no 100% way to win in war, and no matter how perfect the tactics are, there will inevitably be mistakes, but it is precisely these unknown factors in it that make the war colorful and colorful, and countless famous generals and commanders have emerged.

War is still a complex chain of interlocks, some of which are insignificant, and some of which affect the whole body.

The Qing army group in southern Yunnan was devastated, with ten patrol battalions, one standard of the new army, and five or six thousand people, and very few escaped.

The revolutionary army mobilized nearly 10,000 horses, among which wireless communication showed great power. Several units cooperated quite tacitly, and the attack and resistance were fought resolutely and bravely.

At this point, the situation in Yunnan and Guizhou has undergone a reversal change. Although the Qing army group in Guangxi was able to repel the revolutionary army responsible for containing and blocking the attack, and even recovered Nanning, this had nothing to do with the overall situation. The reunited revolutionary army once again threatened Kunming.

Under the urgent order of Xiliang who was angry and panicked. The Qing army group was transferred to Kunming; Urgent telegrams were sent to the Qing court one after another, requesting more troops to fight again.

…………

The rainy season is coming, and the revolutionary army has finally won nearly half a year of rest, training, management, and consolidation. After this battle, negotiations with the French will soon resume, and it is likely that the routes for the transportation of men and materials will be settled. Moreover, the Qing army in Guangdong is difficult to support alone, and I am afraid that there will also be readjustment and deployment.

Chen Wenqiang put down the telegram and let out a long breath.

As a result, it is also an accident to say that it is unexpected. Unsurprisingly, it makes sense.

You must know that the backbone of the revolutionary army were all staunch revolutionaries, and almost all the staunch revolutionaries at that time were heroes who were tenacious and unyielding, indomitable to the death, and "threw their heads, spilled their blood, sacrificed their lives, and rewarded the country with their lives". They are passionate and not afraid of death. He even longed to recommend Xuanyuan with blood and bravely sacrifice himself for the country and the people.

Most of the soldiers recruited by the revolutionary army were honest and honest peasant children. Able to bear hardships and stand hard work, but also have a habit of obedience, as well as the unique courage of Guangxi people. So, under the leadership of a group of fanatical and brave officers, even if the training time is still short, there is still something lacking. It is still not an opponent that a few thousand new armies can defeat.

With a buffer period of a few months, the revolutionary army should be able to raise its combat strength to a higher level, and it will basically be able to realize its strategic intention of consolidating its base areas and supplying food according to its needs.

Rushing to forge ahead, of course, is also a routine. But Chen Wenqiang has always been against it. Up to now, the revolutionary army has been full of vigor and vigor, and this is a gratifying merit. At the same time, whether it is military, political, economic, or renaissance, the members of the Revival Society lack practical experience.

Occupying a piece of land is not only to set up a banner to attract revolutionaries from all over the world to vote, but also to provide a test field for the members of the Revival Association to learn how to govern the local area and develop the economy. Without this capability, even if a large area of land is recovered, it will be difficult to turn it into a revolutionary logistics base, provide sufficient resources for the revolutionary army, and even occupy a lot of troops for local stability.

The economic base determines the superstructure, and although Chen Wenqiang cannot be called the economic foundation of the Renaissance Society, the biggest financier is well-deserved. Therefore, his opinion is crucial, and as long as his ideas are practical and reasonable, they will basically be adopted by the Renaissance.

The time has not come, the time has not come! In Chen Wenqiang's vision, the revolution must always break out, at least a few conditions must be met.

First of all, Zhang Zhidong can't sit in Huguang. In the seventeenth year of his reign in Huguang, his prestige was too high, whether it was the army or the government, as long as he spoke, it was often better than the holy decree. Therefore, although the launching of the new army is going on, it is very difficult for the party members in the new army to make up the majority, and can the officers and soldiers who sympathize with the revolution or go with the flow not obey Zhang Zhidong's orders or appease?

Second, the progress or measures taken by the Qing court to make a constitution should arouse opposition and righteous indignation from the constitutionalists You must know that the constitutionalists are not only mostly industrial and commercial tycoons and industrialists, with strong financial resources, but also have a huge influence on stabilizing people's minds in the local area. Without the response and support of the constitutionalists, it would have been difficult for the revolution to complete the transfer of power everywhere at minimal military cost.

Of course, there are other conditions, such as the change of the center of the Qing court, the political turmoil; For example, if there is a major incident, it can be used by the revolutionary army, and so on. But these are not necessary in Chen Wenqiang's view.

Based on the above considerations, Chen Wenqiang is a little ambivalent. On the one hand, he hoped that Zhang Zhidong would be transferred out of Huguang so that it would be smooth when he launched here in the future; On the other hand, after Zhang Zhidong's transfer, he is still worried about how much adverse impact it will have on his industry and arrangement.

In China at that time, although the Qing court introduced regulations such as the "Articles of Association for Rewarding Companies" and the "Regulations for Chinese Entrepreneurs to Handle Industrial Rewards" to encourage private investment in modern enterprises, it was difficult to change the accumulated habits abruptly, and without the support of the government, or in other words, it was suppressed and made difficult for industrial and commercial enterprises to operate. Taking centijin as an example, if it weren't for Zhang Zhidong's preferential policies, Chen Wenqiang would have spent a lot more money on various industries in Hunan and Hubei.

Therefore, as Zhang Zhidong said, Chen Wenqiang also felt that investing in the training of the new army and using it to control it was a guarantee for him and his industry. If someone has a gun, even if the leader is changed, he has to weigh it.

It's just that this is different from the private army after all, and Zhang Zhidong will not let Chen Wenqiang do this, and he must always add some restrictions and precautions. Therefore, if Chen Wenqiang wants to achieve his goal, he has to put some effort and plan carefully. Naturally, he focused his attention on the Constitutional Council, and on the Constitutional Branch of Hunan and Hubei Provinces.

The money cannot be paid by him alone; As for power, he can't hold it alone. In this way, Zhang Zhidong's suspicions can be dispelled, and an army that is ostensibly constitutionalist but in fact is more inclined to revolution can be formed.

Is it difficult, there is a little, but Chen Wenqiang is still confident and sure. Moreover, the development of the situation is more favorable for this.

The first is the impact of the Anqing Uprising and the killing of Enming. A fourth-rank official (Xu Zeng donated a four-rank Taoist), lurking in the system, assassinated a second-rank governor, which was unprecedented in the Qing Dynasty.

When Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang, telegraphed this to the Beiyang minister, Yuan Shikai, he used the words "extremely strange" to express his incomprehension -- until then, these court officials had always thought that the revolutionary party was nothing more than a reckless party, and once they realized that the revolutionary party also existed in the system, close to them, their horror and fear could be imagined.

But what shocked the imperial court even more was what Xu confessed before his execution - his assassination list not only included Enming, but also Duanfang, Liangbi and others. This could not but remind the imperial court of the bomb of Wu Yue two years ago, when the five important ministers targeted by the bomb -- Zaize Ze, the prince of Zhenguo, Dai Hongci, the head of the household department, Xu Shichang, the head of the military department, Duan Fang, the governor of Hunan, and Cheng Shaoying, the right man of Shangzhong, were preparing to go abroad to inspect the constitution.

"We have not had a day of rest" is the exclamation of Duanfang. The palace and government offices in the capital quickly "sent additional guards and patrol officers to station for protection", and if they were facing a great enemy, the officials were "afraid of abnormalities, and there were soldiers of grass and trees"; The Empress Dowager Cixi also informed the Minister of Military Aircraft, asking them to bring the introduction personnel of the various yamen to the cabinet in the future, and not to bring them to her again.

For the first time, Enming's death gave the Qing court a sense of crisis that the revolutionaries were everywhere, everywhere, and invincible.

………… (To be continued......)