Located in the southern part of Hubei Province, Gong'an County, although the scale is not large, in the vicissitudes of thousands of years of vicissitudes of life is more and more inconspicuous, but in history is a famous place for soldiers, the Three Kingdoms period of Wu, Shu The main battlefield of the war is public security.

The inconspicuous ancient city of public security has been slaughtered by the wars of the past dynasties, and there is no tall and majestic city and wide moat, but this historical city located on the south bank of the Yangtze River still has the geographical advantages of Hunan in the south, Wuhan in the east, Bashu in the west, and Henan and Shaanxi in the north, and still has the title of "Seven Provincial Road Holes", which shows the important military position of public security in the land of Hunan and Chu.

Regrettably, Wang Zhanyuan, the overseer of Hubei, and all the generals of the Hubei army did not have sufficient understanding and attention to the county seat of public security, perhaps because of the shrinking taxes, perhaps because the economic vitality of the three towns of Wuhan and the vigorous development of the eastern Hubei region since Xinhai had overshadowed the brilliance of the public security in the ancient city, and perhaps because all the armies in Hubei believed that there were Jingxiang and Yichang barriers in the west of the public security, the Hanshui moat in the north, and Wuhan with heavy troops to the east, so no one stationed heavy troops in the county seat of public security. The 1st Division of the Hubei Army, which had been driven out of Yichang a year earlier due to internal strife in Beiyang, only sent a new army company to lead 1,500 local villagers to station.

At five o'clock in the morning, there was a sudden rain shower in the sky, the river wind in early autumn was already slightly biting, there was not even a soldier standing guard outside the two outposts of Dasheng Village in the south of the city and Wangjiatai in the west of the city, and a squad of officers and soldiers of the guard post in the south of the city was still snoring in the sound of the autumn rain, but the lights in the Wangjiatai outpost in the west of the city were bright, and the sound of pushing pai gow and shouting and scolding continued to sound, and no one knew that a catastrophe was just around the corner.

In the darkness, groups of officers and men, soaked through, were marching from south to north at a rapid pace, encircling the public security.

After listening to the report of the reconnaissance company, Wang Jian, the commander of the Fourth Division of the Sichuan Army, and He Qiwu, the chief of staff, who were in the broken temple on the side of the road, smiled relatively bitterly, and didn't even bother to give orders, but just waved their hands casually and sat down, shouting loudly to make a fire and roast the military uniform on their bodies, otherwise when they entered the city at dawn, it would damage their majesty.

Two regimental reconnaissance companies of the Fourth Division kicked the gates of the two outposts south and west of the city almost at the same moment.

Dozens of non-commissioned officers and soldiers who were negligent in training and had corrupt military discipline were firmly controlled in the blink of an eye, and more than 300 murderous officers and men of the Sichuan army suddenly appeared at the Zhujiadu port on the bank of the river in the east of the city.

After the two gunshots rang out, the only river patrol ship tied to the iron stakes of the wharf with thick cables stood full of Sichuan officers and soldiers with loaded guns and roaring sounds, and more than a dozen defeated soldiers of the public security river defense brigade with pale faces held their weapons and knelt down one after another beside the two dead bodies.

More than 100 garrisons were escorted out of the barracks by the fierce Sichuan soldiers, and they sat in the rain in rags, trembling in the face of hundreds of black muzzles.

Up to this point, the vast majority of the captives still had no idea what was going on.

The county government in the middle of the city was in chaos under the blazing fire that had ignited in the barracks across the street, and more than a dozen bureaucrats, big and small, including the county magistrate, and more than 70 dependents had been driven into the hall, and the 300 brothers of the special service battalion of the Fourth Division were methodically detaining prisoners, sealing files, and searching the storehouse.

The main vanguard regiment took full control of the empty barracks opposite the county office, and was organizing officers and soldiers to extinguish the raging fires that had ignited in the horse rings and granaries, and the entire county town was soon completely occupied by 16,000 officers and men of the Sichuan Army.

As soon as the sky was bright, the raindrops changed from large to small, and gradually disappeared, and order gradually returned to the boiling public security county, and all units of the Sichuan army began to conduct a large-scale search of the whole city with platoons as units.

According to the prisoners' confessions, the officers and soldiers took out the garrisons and villagers who were staying at home at night or hiding everywhere from one household to another, and escorted them to the military camp in the city for careful screening.

The sound of rumbling horses' hooves came from far and near, beating the hearts of more than 10,000 people who were already panicked, and more than 300 war horses galloped from the south of the city, and finally stopped at the gate of the county government.

The commander of the special agent battalion ran to the jujube red horse in front of the horse team and reported loudly:

"Division, the garrison and the townsmen in the city have all been solved, 1,273 enemy defenders have been captured, seven enemy officers who have stubbornly resisted and tried to burn down the military warehouses have been killed, and more than 30 have been wounded, no casualties have been inflicted among any of our troops, all the prisoners have been detained in the opposite barracks, except for the 36th Regiment, which is still searching the two towns north of the city, the rest of the units have completed their tasks and are now resting and waiting for duty."

"That's right, it only took an hour and a half to control the county seat, and there were no casualties, it's very remarkable that our fourth division has never fought such an easy battle, haha! What about the seizure of weapons and equipment? Wang Jian asked with satisfaction.

The battalion commander replied with some discouragement:

"The defenders of the public security are all poor, and the seizure figures reported by various departments are only more than 350 long and short guns, and there is not even a shadow of artillery and machine guns, but a lot of pike darts and shotguns have been found from civilian homes......

"Ge Laozi, how can this be?"

Wang Jian dismounted sideways, shook his head helplessly, and strode into the cleared county office.

Chief of Staff He Qiwu led a group of staff officers and brigade commanders and regiment commanders who arrived one after another, and the communications company quickly set up radio antennas, set up hand-cranked generators, and prepared to send a report to the former enemy headquarters in Yichang.

The main hall of the county government was unrecognizable by the staff officers of the division headquarters in a blink of an eye, the two Eight Immortal Tables were placed in the center of the main hall, the combat map had been spread out flatly, and Wang Jian and He Qiwu, who were still holding military kettles in their hands, gathered around the map and began to discuss in a low voice.

"We must cross the river immediately, at least let the 10th Brigade go first, and go straight to Shashi without stopping, and then the 12th Brigade will follow up and travel 35 kilometers to the northeast, occupy Xiaojiawan first, cut off the road leading to Qianjiang in Shashi and Jingzhou, and must not let the 3rd Brigade of the Hubei Army stationed in Qianjiang react.

"Only by taking Shashi with lightning speed can we form the greatest deterrent to the Shixingchuan Department of Jingzhou." Wang Jian rubbed the stubble on his chin and said as if talking to himself.

He Qiwu thought about it for a while: "It's better to let the Third Brigade of the Hubei Army in Qianjiang know, maybe the Third Brigade will rush to Jingzhou under Wang Zhanyuan's order." ”

"Huh!? Do you mean to simply lure out the 3rd Brigade of the Hubei Army and kill it? Wang Jian suddenly came to his senses.

He Qiwu nodded: "What do you think, why did Chief of General Staff Bao rush to Jingzhou?" It must be that the commander wants to persuade Shi Xingchuan to lay down his arms and avoid unnecessary conflicts through Chief of General Staff Bao, so he will arrange it like this, otherwise, with the strength of Yang Sen and Liu Xiang's two newly formed divisions, it only takes one charge to defeat the more than 5,000 defenders in Jingzhou!

"Jingzhou is no better than Xiangyang with perfect city walls and peripheral fortifications, there is a flat river, you can fight as much as you want! As long as Jingzhou is successfully taken, Xiangyang City, where only 3,000 defenders are left, what can you do but surrender? ”

Wang Jian suddenly realized: "I understand, it is likely that the commander has a secret deal with the Hunan side and the revolutionary party in Guangdong, so we did not launch a strong attack on the Shixingchuan Division, we suddenly turned around from Changde and went north, and took the public security and Shashi, which is purely to cut off the retreat of the Shixingchuan First Division and lay a solid foundation for peace negotiations!"

"But then, where do we have a chance to fight? It is estimated that the enemy defending Shashi will also disperse when the wind blows, and we can only take advantage of the fact that the Third Mixed Brigade of the Hubei Army in Qianjiang did not react and lure him out to fight, so as to live up to the thousands of miles in vain. ”

He Qiwu smiled, raised the thumb of his right hand, and shaved the thick mustache on his upper lip: "Right! Anyway, after the fight, anyway, Wang Zhanyuan, the overseer of Hubei, has been dismissed by Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui because he ordered to confront Wu Peifu by force

"Hubei is actually leaderless now, even if we kill all the third brigade, it is estimated that there will be no big problem, but it will promote the persecution of Wuhan! I think the commander is too much for stability, and he has always hesitated whether to directly move to Wuhan, and always stops on the excuse that he needs to wait for the opportunity

"So, why don't we create an opportunity ourselves? As long as the Third Brigade of the Hubei Army is cleaned up, Qianjiang City will go down without a fight, and Wuhan will be under the nose of our army. ”

Wang Jian walked around excitedly, and the last punch was on the map: "Chief Lu, record the message." ”

"Yes!"

The skinny staff officer Koluko strode over, opened the folder, and prepared the records.

"Respectfully to the former enemy headquarters, Commander-in-Chief Jun Jian: Our division occupied Gong'an at 6 o'clock in the morning, the 10th Brigade is organizing ships to step up the crossing of the river, and the 12th Brigade will leave Xiaojiawan in the north according to the original plan, and it is expected that at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Jingqian Highway will be cut off. Our unit plans to leave a regiment to guard the public security waterway passage, and the rest of the units will cross the river to build a defense line. ”

He Qiwu waited for Wang Jian to sign the telegram, and asked with some uncertainty: "You don't want to report the matter of luring and annihilating the Third Brigade of the Qianjiang Hubei Army?" ”

Wang Jian smiled slyly: "I can't report it, what if I let the commander refuse?" Let's fight first, haha! ”

"However, if the enemy of Qianjiang can't be trapped, what should we do then? You wouldn't have directly ordered an attack on Qianjiang City, would you? He Qiwu asked with some concern.

Wang Jian was dumbfounded: "Why not?" If the enemy's 3rd Brigade does not come out, Lao Tzu will personally lead the 11th Brigade and the 12th Brigade to attack Qianjiang, and I don't believe that the 3rd Brigade of the Hubei Army, with more than 4,000 people, can withstand a round of strong attacks by our two brigades and 9,000 brothers directly under the artillery regiment.

"The opportunity is in front of us, when will we wait without a fight? Do you want to wait for the dust to fall and be ordered to return to Yichang for rest and expansion? Not to mention that I can't look down on the 5,000 recruits in Yichang, but there is a mountain of gold and silver waiting for us in Yichang, and we will also finish the first battle, otherwise what is the value of hard work and hard work? Anyway, we can't go to Hunan! ”

He Qiwu was speechless, his mind was rapidly weighing, and the ideological struggle was very fierce, when he saw that more than a dozen brigade commanders, regiment commanders, and a group of division staff officers had surrounded him, and every pair of eyes was full of strong fighting spirit and expectation, he had to grit his teeth and decisively decide:

"Then let's fight, let's talk about it first, this is the collective decision of the whole division, and no one can take the main responsibility on their own heads, understand?"

The generals in the hall cheered, Wang Jian laughed, called Section Chief Hu again, and under the eager gaze of a pair of eyes, he issued one combat order after another.

(To be continued)