Wind and rain are blowing, and turbid waves crash on the shore.

On the Han River, two pontoon bridges connect the north and south banks, and with the slight undulation of the wind and waves, the procession on the pontoon bridge is not visible, although they are dressed in various costumes and holding various weapons, but they all sing the same song in their mouths.

"When will I wake up after a long dream for a thousand years, and who will make the alarm bell ring. East Asia Xiongzhou will sink the land, and listen to the lyrics of a song...... Don't send Shaoguang to the old, and the old man is self-pitying. Catching up with Japan, Europe and the United States, the world's civilization is the first to open. ”

This is the favorite song of the soldiers of the Republican Army, and now not only the soldiers are singing it, but also the Revolutionary Guards, and even the people in Wuchang and Hanyang are slowly learning this song.

It is said that this is a word written by several foreign students, written by the people of the Qunzhi Society, and sung in the Hubei New Army, but in the past, it could only be sung secretly in private, but now, all people can sing it openly.

Zhao Bei stood by an anti-artillery bunker at the head of the bridge, wearing a rubber-covered poncho and a bamboo hat, the sculpture was generally motionless, quietly watching this seemingly untidy team cross the Han River to reinforce Hankou, some of them were wearing coats and hats, some were holding oil-paper umbrellas, and a few were wearing foreign raincoats that only the Beiyang Army could wear.

Lan Tianwei and a few staff officers stood beside Zhao Bei, also wearing a variety of raincoats, most of the boots on their feet were not waterproof, they were already soaked inside, and their feet were cold and cold, but since Zhao Bei didn't change their boots, they had to continue to let Yaguan fight.

This rain is really not at the right time, from yesterday afternoon to today, although it is only a drizzle, but it affects the battle of Hankow, due to the lack of suitable rain gear, some soldiers because of the rain and cold, sick, although the battle of Hankow only lasted one day, but the non-combat attrition has almost caught up with the combat attrition, many sick people lie in the tent with a high fever, but even the dry military blanket can not cover.

After a day of fierce fighting yesterday, more than 10,000 Qing troops entrenched in the Chinese border of Hankou have been wiped out, the supreme commander of the Qing army, the acting governor of Huguang, Chen Kuilong, has led the remnants to retreat to a junction between the British Concession and the Russian Concession, with a few barricades to resist stubbornly, because they are backed by the concession, the revolutionary army is worried that the shells will fall into the concession and cause the joint intervention of the great powers, so they have not yet made up their minds to use artillery, the hundreds of Qing troops are still stuck there, however, so far, it is the last Qing stronghold of the Chinese border in Hankow, It was only a matter of time before it was conquered, and the main battle for Hankow could be said to be over.

In view of the experience and lessons of the Xinhai Revolution in history, Zhao Bei decided to transfer all the main forces to Hanyang and Hankou, directly stuck on the road of the Qing army's southward attack, no matter what, he also had to hold the two places, and use Hankou as a shield for Hanyang. At the same time, the republican army also divided a small number of troops led by Yang Wangpeng, along the Yangtze River upstream to attack Jingzhou, because according to the information obtained from the prisoners, the elite of the Jingzhou garrison Eight Banners has all been transferred to Wuchang and submerged here, so Jingzhou's defense is empty, and the counties along the way are also weak due to the reinforcement of Wuhan, which reduces the resistance to march, as long as Jingzhou is occupied, the door to Yichang Mansion will be opened, and Sichuan, the country of abundance, will not be far away.

After the news of the restoration of Wuchang came out, the Hui Party and the green forests in Hubei Province have pulled their flags to rebel in response to the Republican Army, so far, the De'an Mansion and the Anlu Mansion in the north of Hanyang Mansion have announced the liberation, and the counties under the jurisdiction of Wuchang Mansion in the south have all fallen into the hands of the Revolutionary Guards.

Faced with a favorable revolutionary situation, Zhao Bei decided to strike while the iron was hot and push the front line forward to the area of Hukou, where the first line of defense was established to block the Qing army moving south. According to the telegram intercepted yesterday, combined with the analysis of the news from the concession, the Qing court has officially set up a general grain station in Xinyang, Henan, and the Qing army in the south has already divided its troops into two ways to attack Wuhan, and the east side is blocked by Wu Zhenhan's headquarters in Jiujiang, so it can be left alone for the time being, but the Qing army coming from the north can take a train to attack Hankou directly from Hukou, so if you want to hold Hankou, the first line of defense is best placed in Hukou.

The staff officer had suggested continuing to advance northward, crossing the Wusheng Pass, and establishing multiple lines of defense along the railway to block the attack layer by layer, but Zhao Bei thought twice and vetoed this suggestion, because that would make the battle line too long, the logistical pressure would be too great, and the flanks would be too exposed, and if the Jiujiang side could not stop the Qing army on the east road, then the republican army could quickly retreat from Hukou and stick to the second line of defense in Hankou to defend Hanyang.

"Chief of Staff Blue, have the people sent to buy rain gear come back?" Zhao Bei asked Lan Tianwei beside him.

"Not yet. The British Concession made it clear that their neutrality would not change in any way, and rain gear was also a munitions, so they could not provide it. Lan Tianwei said. In accordance with the commander-in-chief's wishes, people have been sent to the German concession, but no word has been sent back. ”

Zhao Bei turned his head and watched the soldiers who crossed the bridge go away, many of them didn't even have oil-paper umbrellas, so they relied on a hat to shelter from the rain. There is no way, now the concession has declared armed neutrality, refusing to provide any "military supplies" to the warring parties, although the staff department has tried its best, it is still unable to meet the needs of the revolutionary army for rain gear, just now Zhao Bei has sent Zhang Jiyang back to Wuchang City, mobilizing the people to collect rain gear and rubber shoes, these days the current affairs propaganda team has done a very good job, coupled with the sale of grain at a low price, cracking down on profiteers and beetles, the revolutionary mood of the people of Wuhan is high, I believe that there will be gains, but this is an expedient measure after all, a regularized modern army is inseparable from reliable logistics support, a military quilt factory has sketched in Zhao Bei's mind.

"Commander-in-chief, Jiujiang Urgent!" A cavalryman rushed over, restrained his horse in front of Zhao Bei, didn't even get off the horse, and handed Zhao Bei a piece of paper.

A few lines were written on the paper:

"This afternoon, five Japanese gunboats passed through Jiujiang in a column, and nine Qing warships also forced their way through, and the headquarters were afraid of accidentally attacking the Japanese fleet and causing the intervention of the foreign powers, so they failed to give the order in time to bombard the fortress with huge artillery, and only blocked it with field artillery, destroying two Qing torpedo boats and one baggage ship, and the Qing ships took the opportunity to bombard the battery with heavy artillery, destroying all the remaining huge guns at Jinjipo and bombarding the Jiujiang city wall. Fortunately, the Qing army is still far away, and it has not been able to attack by land and water, and Jiujiang seems to be able to hold for a few more days, and the staff swear to live and die with the city! After destroying Jinji Slope, the Qing gunboats and Japanese ships rushed through the blockade line and drove towards Wuhan at high speed. In addition, the army has been derelict in its duties, and it is ashamed of the commander-in-chief and the revolution, and it is self-punishable! Occupation, Wu. ”

Zhao Bei handed the telegram to Lan Tianwei and the others, and everyone looked at each other.

The revolutionary army has always tried its best to avoid direct armed confrontation with the foreign powers, so as not to invite foreign interference and affect the revolutionary cause, but Wu Zhenhan's telegram shows that even if the revolutionary army does not provoke the foreign powers, the great powers will take unilateral action.

Although Zhao Bei has long said that if the foreign ** ship dares to open fire, the revolutionary army will immediately return fire, but after all, the stakes are very high, and judging from the telegram, the Japanese fleet does not seem to have opened fire, for a front-line general like Wu Zhenhan, it is indeed difficult to make up his mind.

Not all of them are determined to shoot at the Great Powers.

Of course, there are also risks in firing artillery at the great powers. What is the purpose of the Japanese fleet's blatant cover of the Qing fleet's actions this time? Was it because of the shelling of the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant?

The crowd fell into deep thought.

"The Qing army came really fast. The edict was issued yesterday, and today it will destroy Jinjipo. A staff officer sighed.

"But this seems to be a separate action of the navy, and the army is still lagging behind, otherwise, if the land and water go hand in hand, Jiujiang may have fallen." Lan Tianwei said.

"The navy wants to steal the credit, relying on the cover of the Japanese warship, and wants to give us a straight shot." Zhao Bei touched the hilt of the command knife, looked at the turbid waves of the rolling river, and said quietly: "Five Japanese gunboats, six Qing gunboats." Ladies and gentlemen, it's not good. ”

"The First Army of the Qing Army is strong, if you pounce on Jiujiang, Wu Zhenhan is afraid that he will not be able to hold it." Lan Tianwei reminded.

"Call back Wu Zhenhan." Zhao Bei let go of the handle of the knife and raised his hand. "First, Jiujiang does not have to be held, all the troops left behind retreat south, use the Hunan Gang ships to trace the Ganjiang River, and the whole army will gather to attack Nanchang, whether Nanchang can be taken or not, within two days of arriving in Nanchang, the whole army must march westward and march to Hunan, and respond to the Communist Advance Association uprising troops to recover Hunan. Second, the loss of Jinjipo is special, not the fault of the commander, Wu Zhenhan is loyal and commendable, and the officers and men under his command have contributed a lot to the recovery of Wuhan. ”

A staff officer wrote down the contents of the telegram, and after Zhao Bei saw and stamped it, he handed it to the cavalryman to take back to the general headquarters.

Lan Tianwei asked, "Are you still going to Hukou?" Jiujiang could not be defended, and the Qing army on the east road could advance all the way west and go straight to Hankou. ”

Zhao Bei turned around and led everyone into a tent, and a staff officer took out a map.

Zhao Bei pointed to the map and said: "Don't go to Hukou, the battle line is too long, the flanks are too exposed, and the supply line is easy to be attacked by enemy ships." The area around Hankou was originally low-lying, and there were many large and small lakes, which were advantageous for defense, and then sent engineering troops to garrison in Zhanggong Dike, and if necessary, they could blow up the earthen embankment to block the Qing army, but this matter was very important, and the blasting order was issued by me personally, and it must be a warrant!

In addition, the railway workers were mobilized to dismantle the railroad tracks along the way, and even if the Qing army entered the Hukou, they had to walk over with their legs, and the dismantled rails were sent to the arsenal to make steel. We set up a former enemy headquarters in the vicinity of the foreign merchants' racecourse, held the second line of defense, and ordered the artillery to set up the artillery position on the west side of the concession, if the Qing gunboats wanted to open fire, they also had to worry about where the shells would fall. In addition, send someone to the arsenal to see if you can make a mine that can be hidden under the surface of the water, this kind of mine structure does not need to be too complicated, it can be visually detonated by wires, while the Qing gunboats have not yet opened, we will lay these mines on the waterway, no matter what kind of ** ship it is, as long as it fires at our Republican Army, we will blow it up! ”