Feng Guozhang set up many outposts on the periphery of Hanyang as a guard, but the troops in these outposts were mostly platoon and few, and none of them were equipped with heavy weapons like Makqin, and in addition to Hanyang, there were only some grenades made by the Beiyang Machinery Bureau.

So a few hours later, when the commander of the Third Division arrived with a "cloud of smoke" in his mouth, Zhou Zining's cavalry regiment had almost cleared the Beiyang outpost on the outskirts of Hanyang.

"Zining, good job!"

Stepping on the "cloud smoke" that had been almost smoked, looking at Zhou Zining, who turned over and dismounted, the commander of the third division said with a "haha" smile.

As a person who has never smoked, Yan Guang also knows how much support the tobacco industry has given to "China's finances" in later generations. Now, although Yan Guang does not have any financial problems, after all, for Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, the annual oil field income of 150 million or 60 million silver dollars is more than enough. But it is far from enough for the country as a whole. And now, although Yanguang's territory is only Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Hunan, which is not fully embraced, he has to start making some preparations for the future.

Therefore, Yan Guang set up several cigarette factories in Sichuan and Yunnan to produce new paper cigarettes, and the effect was ......... Very bad.

As early as 1910, that is, in the second year of the Manchu Dynasty's Xuantong, Li Maosong and others in Kunming had already established a joint venture to establish a joint stock company to try to produce cigarettes with machinery and equipment. Later, Yu Enxi, a native of Mojiang, raised 150,000 yuan, purchased equipment from Shanghai, hired technicians from other provinces, recruited more than 100 employees, and established the largest modern tobacco company in Yunnan, "Asia Tobacco Company"

However, most of China's cigarette factories at that time were closed due to a shortage of funds. The most important reason is that there is a lot of quality of local dried tobacco leaves, which leads to poor quality of cigarettes produced with it...

However, despite this point, Yan Guang still set up several cigarette factories in the two provinces.

For example, in 1914, in order to reduce costs and expand dumping, the British American Tobacco Company provided Turkish and American tobacco varieties and cultivation technologies to Yunnan in 1914.

And because it is a domestic product, although the quality is not good, the cigarettes produced by the cigarette factory still have a lot of loyal clusters in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Not to mention the fact that the main customers of several cigarette factories currently put into production are not ordinary people, but the army ...

On the battlefield, soldiers are always in a state of extreme tension due to the influence of the surrounding environment, and in this case, cigarettes are the best medicine to relieve mental tension. For example, during World War II, the Americans made cigarettes a wartime necessity, and several other allies also distributed 5 to 7 packs of cigarettes a week.

That's right, cigarettes are really bad for your health. Moreover, in the years of artillery fire, the soldiers are still in danger, and the living brothers today may be left with corpses tomorrow. At this time, someone told them to be careful of lung cancer and take care of their health, isn't it a joke?

Therefore, after several cigarette factories in Sichuan and Guizhou were put into operation, the largest customers of the cigarette factory's products were nearly 200,000 officers and soldiers of the National Social Army. For the officers and men who have to undergo a lot of physical training every day and at the same time have to withstand the test of war, the quality of the cigarettes is of course the best, but if it really can't be improved―――――― then be like that, anyway, they are distributed free of charge from above, and they don't have so many requirements.

Of course, due to the limited output, only two or three packs of "cloud cigarettes" can be distributed to the officers and men of the National Socialist Army every week, which is completely insufficient for some officers and men who are more addicted to smoking, but it is already enough for those ordinary officers and men.

――――――――――

On the outskirts of Hanyang, after Yan Guang took Qianjiang, the Hubei army stationed here had already built fortifications and defense lines together with the Beiyang army that went south to reinforce them. Later, due to the depletion of ammunition and excessive damage, the National Socialist Army had to rest in Qianjiang for more than a month. It was also taking advantage of this opportunity that the remaining Hubei army and the Beiyang army that went south to reinforce the defeated army built fortifications together, but it was just a little more than a month, although Hanyang could not be built into an iron wall, but the trench fortifications that stretched for dozens of miles also made Hanyang and other towns impregnable.

What's more, there are Hairong, Haichou and other ships on the Yangtze River, although Yan Guang has the Sichuan Navy, he does not dare to underestimate the Beiyang Navy, as for the Haiqi ship that was sunk by the bombing―――――― it is still sitting calmly in the military port in Shanghai...

Moreover, in the past few months, Yuan Shikai has been allowing the main warship with the largest displacement in China to sink in the military port, and he has never thought of salvaging and repairing this warship. There is no way, who called those foreign salvage companies have already sentenced the Haiqi ship to death.

Of course, this is not to say that this warship is unusable, but that it takes too long to salvage and repair longer, not to mention that the two three-cylinder reciprocating steam engines in the warship have also been blown up.

One and a half years......... If you really have to wait for a year and a half, what else does Yuan Shikai want this ship to do? At that time, the Battle of Wuhan had long been over.

And at present, money is used everywhere, and although the total amount of loans for the aftermath is huge, so far it has only entered the hands of Yuan Shikai a few million pounds, if you really invest the money in the Haiqi ship that you don't know when it will take effect, it is better to give it all as a reward to the soldiers in Wuhan to boost their morale...

Therefore, the Haiqi ship, the largest warship of the Chinese Navy at present, can only sit and sit calmly in the military port of Shanghai until one day Yan Guang and Yuan Shikai decide the winner, and then the winner will decide its fate...

Without the Haiqi ship, although the lineup of the Beiyang Navy is still huge, the 15 shallow water gunboats of the Sichuan Navy are not vegetarian, after all, the 120mm caliber Krupp guns above may only be an itch for battleships, but for ships with a displacement of less than 3,000 tons, such as Hairong and Haichip, it is a deep threat, especially those Chuzi-class gunboats with a displacement of only 800 tons...

As early as when the Nationalist Army was still resting in Qianjiang, the Sichuan Navy had already clashed with the Beiyang Navy several times in the waters around Yueyang, and the two sides ......... There were mutual damages, and the 15 German-made shallow water gunboats of the Sichuan Navy alone had already sunk two, and several others were the first, while the Haizi-class cruiser of the Beiyang Navy was heavily damaged, the Jianwei and Jiangheng ships were sunk, and several Chuzi-class gunboats were damaged. (Jianwei ship is the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau under the guidance of the French technician Doyere to build a destroyer with French parts, each cost 637,000 taels, is the pinnacle of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, the class of ships built a total of two, of which the Jianwei ship was launched on January 29, 1899, and the Jian'an ship was launched on March 3, 1900, the displacement of the two ships is 850 tons, the weapon is a 100mm main gun, three 65mm secondary guns, six 35mm machine guns, and two 360mm torpedo tubes. ）

Although the Sichuan Navy had a certain advantage in firepower, the biggest reason for the sinking of the two ships in the battle was the lack of experience and training of the officers and men of the navy. Although the Beiyang Navy is also not very good, after all, it is also a historical force, and the Beiyang Navy, which has been adrift on the ocean all the year round, is not comparable to the Sichuan Navy Army, which started from the Neijiang Naval Division.

Fortunately, although the waters of Yueyang are not narrow, they cannot be compared with the ocean after all, so although the gunners of the Sichuan Navy are not as good as the Beiyang Navy, in the limited waters, they did not suffer much loss when they clashed, otherwise, they may not be able to hit the sea chips hard...

Moreover, experience is something that can be learned, and excellent officers and soldiers have been honed in actual combat, so after several encounters in the waters of Yueyang, the strength of the Sichuan Navy has improved rapidly, among which the Haizi-class cruiser with a displacement of nearly 3,000 tons, the Haizi-class cruiser, was hit hard in the last confrontation.

Moreover, because there was no shipyard on the Yangtze River that could repair the Haichip, the Haichip had to leave the waters of the Yangtze River to repair the shipyard in Shanghai under the towing of the ship, and it is estimated that it would not have to think about returning before the end of the Wuhan Campaign.

As for the Sichuan Water Army? Although two ships of the Sichuan Navy were sunk in battle, and several ships were damaged, the Yucheng Shipyard has also been preliminarily completed, and although it is unrealistic to say that it is not realistic to build ships in the current situation, it is no problem to repair several gunboats that have been damaged. Therefore, in terms of combat strength, the Sichuan Navy will recover faster than the Beiyang Navy.

――――――――――

After receiving the order, the officers and soldiers of Beiyang threw themselves into the fortified defense line of their own side in the outer positions of Hanyang. However, after entering the fortifications, these Beiyang officers and soldiers kept inspecting their own fortifications, and if they found something inappropriate, they would strengthen and repair them on their own―――――― and now the vast majority of the Beiyang officers and soldiers on the periphery of Hanyang were defeated and retreated from Qianjiang, and they were naturally impressed by the ferocious firepower of the Guoshe Army.

Therefore, after entering the position, the first thing these officers and men did was to check the quality of the fortifications, so as not to die under the artillery fire of the Nationalist Army, but under the tofu scum project of their own army.

Not to mention, after careful inspection, those Beiyang troops who entered the position really found a lot of places. Therefore, after entering the position, the first thing the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army did was not to arrange weapons, but to constantly strengthen their own fortifications, and build a more solid defense line like an iron wall.

And those Beiyang officers who noticed this also turned a blind eye, after all, they all came back alive from the Qianjiang front, and they knew very well the power of the artillery of the National Social Army, if they stopped the brothers below from reinforcing those "tofu scum" projects at this time, wouldn't it be tantamount to harming their own brothers―――――― not to mention that many of the fortifications were still used by themselves?

Just when the officers and soldiers in Beiyang were scolding and waving steel shovels and carrying sandbags, Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui, and Li Yuanhong suddenly walked into the position.

Seeing Feng Guozhang and them walking in, the Beiyang officers and soldiers who were still scolding immediately closed their mouths, and at the same time straightened their bodies, and then looked at Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui with awe-inspiring eyes.

While feeling the awe-inspiring eyes of the soldiers, Feng Guozhang also waved his hand at them―――――― the reward silver allocated by Yuan Shikai is still on the train of the Jinghan Railway, so it must not be there before the battle begins, in order to improve the declining morale, Feng Guozhang forcibly opened the treasury in Wuhan, and then sent all the cash inside.

Now Wuhan has gathered nearly 200,000 troops from the Beiyang and Hubei armies, each of whom has sent 10 yuan, almost emptying the entire Wuhan treasury, and a lot of it is Li Yuanhong's private money. There was no way, although Li Yuanhong didn't want to take out the money, but when Feng Guozhang and the others stared at him, Li Yuanhong couldn't refuse.

And after getting 10 pieces of silver bounty from the ocean, the low morale of the Beiyang Army was quickly raised, plus Feng Guozhang also promised that after waiting for two days and another bounty, although he was still worried in his heart, his morale was almost the same as before the defeat of the Qianjiang Campaign. As for whether Feng Guozhang will lie to himself? Not to mention Feng Guozhang's personality for the time being, even if Feng Guozhang really wants to deceive, he has the guts. deceived nearly 200,000 soldiers on the ocean, not to mention that he was Feng Guozhang, even Yuan Shikai had to be careful of mutiny.

"But fourth brother, it's okay for me and Brother Song Qing to come here, isn't it too risky for you to come?" Walking beside Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui said with some concern.

You must know that not long ago, the Beiyang Army at the forward post had just sent back the news that the enemy had been discovered, and although it was impossible for the Nationalist Army to reach Hanyang in such a short period of time, it never hurt to be careful.

After listening to Duan Qirui's words, Feng Guozhang shook his head.

The soldiers in the forward outposts could not resist the National Social Army, Feng Guozhang had known this for a long time, so in Feng Guozhang's heart, the soldiers in those outposts were just chess pieces.

Of course, Feng Guozhang is not the kind of person who is ruthless and innocently abandons his soldiers. He would leave hundreds of soldiers out because he thought very well that those soldiers would not be able to resist desperately in the face of the enemy army, and in fact as long as they could send the message back, they would already be considered loyal to their duty.

So in the face of those abandoned sons, Feng Guozhang has made it very clear.

"When you find out about the enemy, you just need to send the news back, and it is up to you to decide whether to surrender or fight afterwards."

Feng Guozhang didn't believe that this group of guys would fight to the death for Beiyang, so this group of people was already a group of people who wanted to surrender in Feng Guozhang's eyes.

It's just that the Nationalist Army is coming so fast, even if it's just some cavalry...

"If you can, the truth will retreat to Hankou or Wuchang..."

When he walked into a fortification, looking at the defense line that stretched for dozens of miles, Feng Guozhang let out a long sigh.

In his opinion, Hanyang, which has no danger to defend, is absolutely undefensible.

And after hearing Feng Guozhang's long sigh, Duan Qirui also sighed.

"yes..."

Like Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui did not want to defend Hanyang, after all, in the case of no danger to defend, the artillery of the National Socialist Army could completely suppress the artillery of the Beiyang Army――――――, although because of backward technology, the Beiyang Army did not equip and manufacture the old 210mm Krupp cannon, but the 150mm and 120mm caliber cannons in the National Socialist Army alone were enough to suppress the Beiyang artillery.

What's more, in the National Socialist Army, there are still a large number of howitzers?

It's just that Hanyang is different from Qianjiang, maybe they can give up Qianjiang, but Hanyang must not give up. Because Hanyang is not only the most prosperous port among the three towns of Wuhan, but also the location of the Hanyang Arsenal...

Although most of the equipment in the Hanyang Arsenal has been dismantled, Hanyang still has great significance, and coupled with the defeat of the Qianjiang Battle, if the Beiyang Army does not defend Hanyang. It is not good for the "international view", you must know that in foreign countries, the Hanyang Arsenal is also quite famous...

However, just when Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui were still sighing at each other, an alarm suddenly sounded on the position of the Beiyang Army.

"What's going on?"

Hearing the alarm, Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui hurriedly walked out of the fortifications, and then asked loudly to a Beiyang officer who ran over in a panic.

The officer had originally made a special trip to find Feng Guozhang and the others, so he hurriedly replied after hearing Feng Guozhang's question.

"Two adults, a few kilometers away from the forward position, the cavalry of the National Social Army has been found."

"What?"

Hearing such an answer, Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui first met each other, and then followed the officer to the forward position.

When Feng Guozhang and the others walked to the forward position, they took the telescope handed over by the officer and looked at it, and sure enough, they found that there was a group of cavalry running back and forth there a few kilometers away.

"It's the cavalry regiment of the National Socialist Army..."

Although he was somewhat dizzy, but with the effect of the telescope, Feng Guozhang still read the establishment of the cavalry in the distance―――――― the establishment of Beiyang and Guoshe are the same, only the equipment of heavy firepower is a little different, so after seeing the cavalry of more than 1,000 people in the distance, Feng Guozhang immediately recognized that this is the establishment of the cavalry regiment, because the cavalry regiment in Beiyang is also organized.

"Fourth brother, what should I do now?"

It's not that Duan Qirui has no idea, it's just that Feng Guozhang is here, and he is older than Duan Qirui, so Duan Qirui naturally wants to ask him.

After hearing Duan Qirui's question, Feng Guozhang looked at an officer beside him.

“……… Were those cavalrymen within range of artillery? ”

The officer glanced in the direction of the cavalry and nodded.

"All within the range of artillery."

Hearing the officer say this, Feng Guozhang thought for a moment.

Now that Wuhan is full of heavy troops, there are naturally not a few cavalry as an important branch of the army.

And at this moment, although the morale of the Beiyang Army has been improved because of the silver reward, this is only the effect of heavy money, although it is strong but not strong...

So looking at the cavalry regiment of more than 1,000 people in the distance, Feng Guozhang thought in his heart.

"Do you want the cavalry regiment to go up and earn some morale and come back? It's just more than a thousand people, and if you let the two cavalry regiments go together, it should be nine out of ten..."

(To be continued)