"I really don't understand, what the hell does the principal think, the great opportunity is right in front of us, and he actually let us stand still!"

It was Zhao Changtian, the town guard of Nanjing, who spoke, and the person he spoke to was his deputy, a middle-aged man named Qian Shide.

This Qian Shide is forty-six years old this year, a native of Shaoxing, originally a master who served as a staff officer for Wuhu County, but later because Wuhu County opposed Li Zhigao's new policy, Yang Fengyin disobeyed, and was brought to justice by the Internal Investigation Bureau in the name of corruption.

During the period when he was acting as the magistrate, because Qian Shide's methods were good, and Li Zhigao's policy was implemented correctly, he was seen in the eyes, and he had already become a reserve member of the Glorious Party at that time, and later merged with the Guangfu Association to establish the new Guangfu Party, and he automatically became a reserve member of the Guangfu Party.

Later, after conquering Nanjing, Li Zhigao was not worried about Zhao Changtian's ability, so he sent the old and respectful Qian Shide over to be Zhao Changtian's deputy, and by the way, to be the acting mayor of Nanjing City to deal with Nanjing's government affairs. In other words, the armed commander-in-chief of Nanjing is Zhao Changtian, and Qian Shide is the acting mayor of Nanjing, as for the titular governor of Nanjing, Xu Shaozhen, he is just a puppet.

Seeing that Qian Shide was silent, just drinking tea with his head stuffy, Zhao Changtian walked back and forth a few steps with his hands behind his back, and then stopped in front of the big map on the wall, shook his head and continued: "Hey, it's a good situation, the name of Shouyi is just given to the one surnamed Xu, anyway, it is a puppet in our hands, and we are not afraid of him turning the sky." But now that the Qing army is gathering under the city, we just want to concentrate our forces and destroy the main force of the Qing army in one go. Don't let us strike on our own? What is this? ”

"Didn't the chairman say this in the telegram?" Qian Shide just smiled and shook his head, "This is called waiting for change." ”

"Waiting for change? Why wait for change? Obviously, our strength is stronger than that of the Qing army. Zhao Changtian shook his head again, stretched out his finger and pointed to the three red arrows on the map, "Look." Although the Qing army of the enemy we faced was numerous, and although it seemed that the soldiers had surrounded us in three ways, it was simply self-inflicted!

Although there are many Qing troops, their combat effectiveness is not as good as ours, and the most important thing to do is to huddle together and rely on strong troops to confront us. But now they are surrounded by three sides, which is the most stupid way, giving us a chance to break through! You know, they are going to besiege the city of Nanjing. At the very least, we need to have ten times our troops. But it simply can't be done. What's more, their firepower is inferior to ours, and they are fighting on the outside, unlike us, fighting on the inside. More initiative. Therefore, we can take advantage of our firepower and internal combat advantages to take the initiative and break them one by one!

In short, the Qing army is all local chickens and dogs, and there is no need for the principal to take action, nor for the garrison division, and even for bombers, I only use the strength of this one regiment. I dare to go out of the city to fight them, and I have an eighty percent chance of winning.

You know, although I have only one regiment, I am well equipped and trained. The morale is high and the fighting spirit is strong, and the Qing army on the other side, as far as I know, is inferior to us in light weapons and heavy weapons, but it only relies on the number of people. And now it's winter, only seventy percent of them have winter clothes, such a cold day, staying outside the city, they have long lost their original heart.

At this time, we should first fight the weakest first army, and then the second army, as long as we break through the two armies with the largest number and the worst combat effectiveness, Zhang Yongcheng's third army will inevitably retreat. Hey, why waste a great opportunity? Are you waiting for the Qing army to attack together? Isn't that a drain on our advantage? ”

"Changying, Shao'an is not impatient." Qian Shide smiled, took a sip of tea slowly, and then said, "The chairman said in the telegram that the Qing army is just for show, it is impossible to really fight, even if it really comes, it is not afraid, the chairman's army has been secretly ambushed outside the city, and if the Qing army does not fight, it will be fine, once the fight starts, it can only be self-inflicted." If we don't move, it's not that we're afraid of them, it's that we want to let them go. ”

"I know that, too." Zhao Changtian sighed, "I just think that the principal is too forward-looking, and he can solve things quickly, so he has to do so many doorways." Why let this Qing army go? Wouldn't it be better to annihilate the main force of the Qing army outside the city? ”

"You're still too young." Qian Shide smiled, "It's a pleasure to fight, but how much food and materials will be consumed and how many lives will be lost in a war, have you thought about this?" If there is a way to reap the benefits without fighting, why do you have to fight? If what I expected is correct, the chairman's intention is to keep this Qing army for the time being, or even make peace with them, and then let them deal with the revolutionary party of the League that is holding a meeting in Hangzhou to engage in some kind of provisional government, and we ourselves will watch from the outside, first develop on our own, and watch them fight to the death, and then clean up together. ”

"Is the Qing army so good at talking? Or is the Qing army so stupid? Zhao Changtian pursed his lips, "Why does the Qing army want to follow our wishes?" And bypass Nanjing and go directly to Hangzhou? It's not that I look down on these Qing troops, do they dare? If we dare to put the back road, we won't fight, let's go to Hangzhou in the south first? ”

"Well, I don't know." Qian Shide shook his head, and then squinted his eyes, "What I just did was just a private figure, and I can't take it seriously." However, although I don't know the true intentions of the chairman, I do know a truth, that is, no matter what you want to do, you must rely on strength to speak! Our strength is there, no matter who comes on stage, no matter how happy we sing on stage, as long as our strength is strong enough, then we have to listen to us in the end! ”

Just when Zhao Changtian wanted to continue to ask questions, suddenly a herald came over and gave Zhao Changtian a piece of news that made him even more depressed - the Qing army had withdrawn!

It is indeed a retreat, the Qing army was menacing, gathered under the city of Nanjing, looking like it was going to fight, the world thought that a big war was going to break out under the city of Nanjing, but in the end it was still not done, and finally because the Qing army retreated without a fight and dissolved.

The retreat of the Qing army was not a retreat together, but in batches, the first to retreat was the Third Army, which was reorganized from the Fifth Town of the New Army, and then the Second Army, and the First Army, which was composed of the Praetorian Guard and the First Town of the New Army, was the last to retreat.

After the Qing army retreated, it regrouped in Huai'an, and then stayed where it was, neither advancing. and does not retreat, so that outsiders are becoming more and more incomprehensible.

In addition to the army, the Qing court's naval movements are also strange, the Qing court navy led by Sa Zhenbing with two cruisers as the main force has already arrived in Shanghai, but it did not continue to advance, but stopped in Shanghai, how to not take a step forward, until the 123rd Army retreated, Sa Zhenbing's navy was still parked in Shanghai Port, without the slightest sign of moving.

All of a sudden. The whole country was in an uproar. Everyone knows that if you don't fight, you can withdraw. It was absolutely impossible to be an order from the Qing court, but a self-retreat of the Qing army, and it is clear that this happened. This shows that the Qing court can no longer fully control these forces.

In fact, this is true, because the order to retreat did not come from the Qing court, but from the new army itself, to be exact, Yuan Shikai's order!

This matter has to start from the beginning.

At the beginning, Li Zhigao captured Nanjing, and came to a lone assault, taking advantage of the situation to destroy the Qing army in the Jiangnan area, and disrupted the entire Jiangnan. After that, although he returned to Taiping Mansion and continued to recruit troops to recuperate, he did not continue to enter the army, but he has really become a thorn in the side of the Qing army.

In other words, although Li Zhigao gave the title of Shouyi to Xu Shaozhen. made up a Nanjing uprising, but the Qing court was not stupid, they all knew that the biggest enemy was Li Zhigao, not the well-known Xu Shaozhen. Li Zhigao's set of tricks to open the first righteousness is purely an unnecessary act, at most he deceives the people, and it can only be said that Li Zhigao is too deeply poisoned by the original history, and even a little superstitious about the unlucky words of the first righteousness. In fact, no matter whether he gave up the name of Kai Shouyi or not, his later raid on the Jiangnan region with his troops had exposed his strength and could no longer be hidden, especially after the occupation of Nanjing, the collision between him and the Qing court was already the first to bear the brunt, and there was no chance of reconciliation.

After Li Zhigao attacked Nanjing at that time, he already understood this, and it was precisely because he understood that he led his troops to engage in a locust-style assault, just to try to mess up the situation as much as possible and win time and wealth for himself. The reason why Li Zhigao later stopped and did not continue the offensive was mainly due to two reasons:

First, because he does not have enough manpower to manage the place, if he eats too much at once, he will have indigestion, and if he continues to attack blindly, the bigger the territory he will take, the more things will happen, and if his own administrative staff is insufficient, he can only use the old bureaucracy, and sooner or later he will drag himself back.

Second, Li Zhigao's surprise attack seemed to be painful, and it seemed that he had plundered a lot of wealth to go back, which was a very cost-effective deal, but it consumed a large amount of his ammunition reserves, and it was impossible to replenish them completely in a short period of time. You must know that although Li Zhigao's troops have a lot of modern weapons and very powerful firepower, they are synonymous with strong firepower and strong consumption, so after such a fight, half of the ammunition stored by Li Zhigao has been consumed, and the remaining half has to be kept to deal with emergencies, so he stopped and no longer played the initiative, but played defensive counterattack.

In particular, because of the cost performance and the sensitivity of ammunition, Li Zhigao's ammunition is not mainly purchased from modern times, but produced by his own arsenal. Although its own arsenal is already working overtime to produce ammunition, after all, it lacks enough skilled workers and its productivity is limited, and it will take some time to replenish the ammunition consumed by Li Zhigao before. Therefore, the longer the time drags on, the more sufficient Li Zhigao's ammunition is, and the stronger his strength will naturally be.

Originally, Li Zhigao's purpose was the same as Zhao Changtian's idea, that is, to stay in Nanjing, wait for the Qing army to send it to the door, and then annihilate the main force of the Qing army in one fell swoop under the city of Nanjing, and the Qing court did react quickly, sending the main force to gather in Huai'an, and also sent an army to contain Anqing, looking like a fierce and fierce army to exterminate the rebels in one fell swoop.

Who knew that at this moment, a person who was ignored but should not be ignored appeared on the stage, this person is Yuan Shikai!

As early as when the Qing army began to assemble in Huai'an, Li Zhigao ushered in a secret envoy sent by Yuan Shikai, and this person was Yang Du.

Yang Du personally met with Li Zhigao, and put forward Yuan Shikai's suggestion, that is, to sign a secret agreement of mutual non-aggression with Li Zhigao, not to attack each other, even if the Qing army sent a large army this time, but Yuan Shikai promised to restrain the troops attacking Nanjing, and promised that the Qing army would only come to Nanjing and station thirty miles outside Nanjing, and would never attack Nanjing.

Plainly. What Yuan Shikai means is that the attack on Nanjing is just a show, and it is a show for others to see, and we still don't invade each other.

Li Zhigao believed in Yang Du's suggestion, because although Yuan Shikai had now been relieved of all his duties and was only idle at home, the generals of the new army in the Qing court almost only obeyed Yuan Shikai's orders, although Yinchang was nominally presidential. But he couldn't command the generals under his command at all.

Other words. Forces nouvelles. At least the new armies that attacked Nanjing were actually listening to Yuan Shikai!

Just because Yuan Shikai sent Yang Du to deliver the message, and Li Zhigao was not ready, he didn't want to continue to fight with the Qing army in front. Wasting his own supplies and ammunition, he ordered the troops to stand still in the city of Nanjing.

Of course, just in case, Li Zhigao also led the main force early and took Yang Du to Mulong Town outside Nanjing to station, just because he was afraid that if the Qing army really treacherously attacked Nanjing City, he would have a timely response.

The reason why he didn't tell Zhao Changtian about this in advance was because it was secret after all, and it was difficult to say it clearly. And he wasn't sure, so he didn't tell Zhao Changtianming.

In addition to this factor, on a tactical level, it is certainly less expensive to defend than to take the initiative, and to defend. It can also create tension and intimidate other revolutionary parties of the League who want to come and pick peaches.

You must know that since the Nanjing Uprising, the revolutionary party elements began to rejoice, not only Sun Dacang immediately set off to return to China, but even the originally suppressed revolutionary party elements also rushed to Nanjing, among them, there is also a very famous figure, this is Huang Xing, Huang Keqiang!

It should be said that Huang Xing is a real revolutionary aspirant, at least much stronger than Sun Cannon, at least he dares to be on the front line in everything, can lead by example, and can be regarded as a true man who dares to act.

Originally, Huang Xing had secretly come to China and planned to carry out his Guangzhou Uprising, which was later known as the Huanghuagang Uprising, but in the process of preparing for the uprising and preparing firearms, the revolution broke out in Nanjing first. This made him very excited, and he felt that this was an opportunity, so he led Lin Juemin and other young talents to Nanjing.

Huang Xing brought people to Nanjing, in addition to participating in the battle to defend the fruits of victory, but also a bit of a snatch of power, but unfortunately, although on the surface, Nanjing is the ninth town uprising and seizure of the city, but after coming, you will find that the real situation is not like that at all, a little look at the original officers and soldiers of the ninth town can know what the truth is, and the entire Nanjing city is also firmly grasped by Zhao Changtian.

In terms of strength, Zhao Changtian is the well-deserved boss of Nanjing City, he directly commanded one of Li Zhigao's main regiments and the Nanjing garrison division that had been organized, and indirectly commanded the officers and soldiers of the original Ninth Town, with more than 20,000 officers and soldiers under his hands, and advanced weapons and sufficient materials, while the revolutionary party only came one after another with less than 2,000 people, most of whom wanted to come over to ask for benefits.

Zhao Changtian is a pure soldier, he doesn't care what alliance you have or not, he only recognizes the leader Li Zhigao alone, so if the revolutionary party elements want to come to Nanjing, he will not stop him, and he will not care if you want to hold any meeting of yours, but if you meddle in military and government affairs, it will definitely not work.

Just for Zhao Changtian's actions, these members of the alliance who can't do anything, but they are very powerful, criticize Zhao Changtian all day long, what a single husband, what a thief, if Huang Xing is not restrained, I am afraid that the situation will be even worse.

However, just after the Qing army pressed the border, these impassioned members of the League died down, and many people were frightened, and left Nanjing in a hurry under the pretext of contacting other revolutionaries. After leaving Nanjing, most of these people went to Hangzhou, where they held a preparatory meeting of the provisional government, and held meetings all day long, imagining that after the establishment of the government, others would listen to them.

Only Huang Xing stayed firmly, and formed a volunteer army of other revolutionary aspirants who volunteered to stay behind to assist Zhao Changtian's troops in defending the city. In this regard, Zhao Changtian did not talk nonsense, and in accordance with Li Zhigao's instructions, he gave each of these troops, which numbered only more than 800 people, a new Zhongzheng rifle, a number of bullets, and food and shelter.

In any case, the Qing army finally came, but it was stationed thirty miles outside Nanjing, and then it did not move, and refused to attack.

To put it bluntly, if Zhao Changtian was really willing to lead the troops to attack at that time, he would have a great chance of winning, because the Qing army at this time had no intention of fighting at all, but it was a pity that Zhao Changtian was also restrained by Li Zhigao at that time and could not play freely.

After that, the generals of the new army began to jointly make a request to the Qing court, saying that if Yuan Shikai did not come back, they would not use troops, and if they wanted to recover Nanjing, they had to let Yuan Shikai go back out of the mountain!

When President Ji Yinchang heard this, he was naturally furious and began to urge again, who knew that the urging was urgent, Yuan Shikai's descendant troops, the third army adapted from the fifth town dominated by Zhang Yongcheng simply took the lead in retreating on its own, and then the second army also retreated, and the first army under the command of Yinchang was difficult to support alone, and the soldiers had no intention of fighting, so they had to retreat.

When the three armies retreated to Huai'an, they did not move again, apparently waiting for a reply from the Qing court.

At the beginning, the Qing court was still very tough, that is, it refused to use Yuan Shikai, but sent people to persuade the commanders of the new army to continue to persuade and win over, but when the Fourth Army and the Fifth Army that were contained in Anqing were completely annihilated under the city of Anqing, the three towns of Wuhan were occupied by Li Zhigao's rebels, and Sichuan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places had telegraphed to declare independence, and they could no longer support it.

It turned out that when the main force of the Qing army attacking Nanjing retreated back to Huai'an, the world was already deeply shaken, and everywhere began to be unstable, especially the new army in Anqing, the position was very awkward, whether it was to go, not to go, and the revolutionary party elements inside were becoming more and more active.

After that, on the third day after the Qing Army's 123rd Army withdrew to Huai'an, the 4th and 5th Armies in Anqing to contain Li Zhigao's 1st Reserve Division mutinied at the same time.

At the beginning, it was the 15th Association of the 8th Town of the New Army that revolted in front of the battle, and then the 21st Mixed Association also responded immediately, and for a while, the Qing army camp was immediately in chaos. After discovering this situation, Zhou Daqiang also made a quick decision, leaving a regiment as a reserve to continue to defend in Anqing, and the rest of the troops took advantage of the situation to attack out, and joined forces with the new army uprising troops, and wiped out the fourth and fifth armies under Anqing City, and took advantage of the situation to continue the attack, until the three towns of Wuhan, and finally stopped because of Li Zhigao's order.

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd armies retreated without fighting, the 4th and 5th armies were all wiped out, and the prestige of the Qing court plummeted.

At this point, Yixuan and the cabinet assistant ministers Na Tong, Xu Shichang and others felt that the situation was serious, and unanimously advocated the use of Yuan Shikai, and the ministers of Britain and the United States also suggested the use of Yuan Shikai.

In the eyes of the Qing court, as long as Nanjing is conquered, as long as Li Zhigao is destroyed, other places can naturally be slowly cleaned up, but it is a pity that the upper echelons of the Qing court have not seen the situation clearly, and they do not know that Yuan Shikai harbored evil intentions from the beginning, and they do not know that in fact, the whole world is no longer controllable by the Qing court from the moment of the Nanjing uprising.

As the saying goes, the flame of revolution has become a prairie fire and can no longer be stopped.