"The march continued to be played on the platform, the music resounded in all directions, the trenches were filled with gunsmoke, the soldiers were dressed up to the front, the march accompanied us to conquer Chengdu, and will march with us to Yanjing, the Chinese have already stood up, and the march on the road is passed forward..." On the streets in Yichang County, soldiers of the National Army were wearing steel helmets and carrying Mauser G98 on their shoulders, and four people strode into the city in a row.

The people on both sides of the street who were temporarily pulled out by the county magistrate of Yichang County as a welcome procession looked at these mighty soldiers who were singing the "March of the National Army" with awe and a little rejection...

However, these people didn't know that while singing the "March of the National Army", these well-equipped and majestic soldiers of the National Social Army actually didn't have a taste in their hearts...

Because Yichang County was given up by the Beiyang Army on its own initiative, not by their own hands...

After learning that the bottom of the Haiqi ship had exploded and the entire warship had sunk in the Shanghai Military Port, the first reaction of Yuan Shikai of Yanjing, Duan Qirui of Wuhan, and others was that this incident was done by the Kuomintang Army. Yuan Shikai's suspicions are certainly not unfounded, after all, at this time, only the National Social Army has a reason to do so.

In fact, not only Beiyang, after learning the news of the sinking of the Haiqi ship in the port, even the common people, the provincial overseers and those foreigners staying in China also thought so.

Because although the Haiqi ship was injured during the attack on the Wusongkou Fort, its own injuries were not very serious, and it was still possible to participate in the battle of the general surname. Therefore, after learning that the Sichuan Navy was indiscriminately issuing silver power in the waters of Wuhan, Yuan Shikai had the idea of sending the Beiyang Navy Army, that is, Haiqi, Hairong and Haichou ships to help the war, after all, the National Social Army had the artillery support of the Sichuan Navy Army, and if the Beiyang Army only fought alone in the army, it would be too much of a loss...

It is precisely because of this that the sinking of the Haiqi ship is like someone slamming Yuan Shikai's head with a hammer...

Now the only thing he is glad about is that when Liu Guanxiong led the navy to attack Nanjing, he took away all the ships Hairong and Haichou, and there was nothing else left in the Shanghai Military Port except for the Haiqi ship and some other small warships, otherwise............ If the capital ship of the Beiyang Navy was inexplicably blown up and sunk in the Shanghai Military Port, I am afraid that Yuan Shikai would have stilted off a few years in advance...

After learning the news of the sinking of the Haiqi ship, Duan Qirui in Wuchang City said to Feng Guozhang.

"Now it looks like we're going to change the battlefield."

If there is the support of ships such as Haiqi, Hairong and Haichou, Duan Qirui is confident that he will have a fight with the National Social Army, after all, the tonnage of the Haiqi ship has an overwhelming advantage in front of the Jianghu-class shallow water gunboats, and the two 8-inch main guns can play a role in the roll call to a certain extent, plus the 10 120 caliber secondary guns...

Now the Haiqi ship is gone, although the power of the 150-caliber main guns of Hairong, Haichou and other ships is not small, but after all, it is still a little worse, not to mention that the waters from Yichang to Yueyang are not very suitable for large-tonnage ships to sail (Wuhan to Chenglingji, that is, the water depth of the waters near Yueyang is 3.7 meters, and 3,000 tons of sea ships can be passed under the condition of natural water depth, and the 4,300 tons of Haiqi ships are needless to say, and the full row of Hairong, Haichou and Haichen is 2,950 tons... In this case, if the Beiyang Navy and the Sichuan Navy meet in the waters of the Yangtze River, it is still unknown who will kill the deer............ At least in the eyes of Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, after the lack of the Haiqi ship, the Sichuan Navy has a greater chance of winning.

The advantage of the National Socialist Army is that it has a large number of heavy artillery, including naval guns, especially the 120 120-caliber naval guns on 15 shallow-water gunboats, and I am afraid that even the army artillery group of the National Social Army does not have so many 120-caliber guns (all of which are original German goods, and there are only dozens of them in Yan Guang's hands). At the same time, it also has a large number of sophisticated equipment, such as the Mauser G98 rifle, which is a generation ahead of the Hanyang-made used by the Beiyang Army, and the Danish Madsen light machine gun, as for the Maxim machine gun? There are a lot of this Beiyang Army.

The advantage of the Beiyang Army is that it has well-trained soldiers and a large number of excellent officers, especially the six towns of the old Beiyang and several divisions reorganized from the New Army in the late Qing Dynasty. After all, it's also an old foundation accumulated over the years.

In this case, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang naturally want to make use of their strengths and avoid weaknesses as much as possible.

The first point is the replacement of the battlefield, after determining that the Sichuan naval army can also fight, and can provide strong artillery support, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang decided to take the initiative to abandon Yichang and Jingzhou, because these two cities are facing the Yangtze River, if they want to defend these two cities, the Beiyang Army will have to struggle under the rain of Sichuan gunboats...

So in the end, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang decided to take the initiative to withdraw from Yichang and Jingzhou counties, and change the battlefield to Qianjiang County, which is only more than 100 kilometers away from Wuhan.

Although Qianjiang County also carries the word "Jiang", the entrance of this river is in Wuhan, and Qianjiang County is far away from the Yangtze River, so there is no need to worry about the threat of the Sichuan Navy, and it is also a part of the Sichuan-Han Railway, which also has certain advantages for the Beiyang Army, and it is indeed a suitable location.

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"Qianjiang..."

In the presidential palace in Tieshi Hutong, looking at the telegram jointly sent by Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Li Yuanhong and others, Yuan Shikai scratched his thinning hair. After reading the content of the telegram, Yuan Shikai was somewhat hesitant, but after consulting Yang Shiqi, Yang Du and Wang Shizhen, Yuan Shikai still nodded and agreed.

However, after the telegram was sent, Yuan Shikai sat in his seat and sighed.

"Retreat before you fight!"

In all fairness, Yuan Shikai also thought that the decision made by Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang was correct, after all, he was also from a military background, and he knew very well how much damage the navy's naval guns could do to the defenders. Just like Nanjing in the Second Revolution, the Beiyang Army was able to capture Nanjing in such a short period of time, although there were reasons why the defenders were not strong, but Liu Guanxiong's command of the ships to bombard at night also played a big role.

If the Beiyang Army and the Hubei Army are really placed in Yichang and Jingzhou, then only the Sichuan Navy will bombard it for a few days............ Yuan Shikai is confident in his Beiyang army, but what about Li Yuanhong's Hubei army? And let his descendants eat cannons in vain, Yuan Shikai will also feel distressed.

It's just that now that he has retreated without a fight, not to mention the blow to morale for the time being, what will the provincial overseers who have just attached themselves to him think?

Noticing Yuan Shikai's tangled expression, Yang Shiqi on the side hurriedly leaned in front of him and whispered comforting.

"Gong Bao Mo should be sad, although we have withdrawn from Yichang and Jingzhou now, the initiative is still in our hands, but if we are driven out by the National Social Army, then..."

Yang Shiqi's meaning is very clear, now that he has taken the initiative to withdraw from the two counties, there is still a trace of decency, not to mention that they are also thinking about the overall situation, but if they are driven out of Yichang and Jingzhou by the National Social Army............ It's no different from being cleansed out of the house...

After Yang Shiqi finished comforting Yuan Shikai, Yang Du and Wang Shizhen on the side also stepped forward one after another, so that Yuan Shikai was in a better mood.

It's just that no matter how they comfort themselves, an indisputable fact is still in their hearts, that is, they were indeed forced to retreat by the National Socialist Army, and this fact also makes everyone who has always thought that Beiyang is stronger than the National Society feel very uncomfortable, but now they can only hope that Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang can breathe a sigh of relief for them in the land battle...

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I don't know Yuan Shikai's central thoughts, Yan Guang at this time just rode a high-headed horse into Yichang under the support of the guards...

After learning that the Beiyang Army had taken the initiative to withdraw from Yichang and Jingzhou, Yan Guang personally led the First Guards Division to Yichang, preparing to personally sit on the second-line battlefield. Of course, the 1st Guards Division had already set off a long time ago, so Yan Guang himself and a group of staff officers actually took a freighter, escorted by Jiang Jiao and other ships to Badong, and then went to Yichang with the 1st Guards Division that arrived in Padang first.

As for why did the Beiyang Army take the initiative to withdraw from Yichang and Jingzhou? Not to mention the so many staff officers raised by Yan Guang, even he can guess it himself.

"It's nothing more than that my own warship can't get in, and I'm afraid of suffering the loss of our Sichuan navy, so I took the initiative to retreat to a place where the navy can't enter, really..."

However, Yan Guang also had to admit that Duan Qirui and they did take a good move, they took the initiative to move the battlefield back to Qianjiang, and the Sichuan Navy that he was originally going to use in Yichang and Jingzhou and even Yueyang was useless...

"Don't worry, even if there is no Commander He and them to help, we won't be afraid of them..."Seeing that Yan Guang was still entangled in the uselessness of the water army, Feng Nan, who was half a horse behind, said with a smile on the side. Isn't it tantamount to admitting that they are afraid of us by doing so now? ”

"That's a good point." Hearing Feng Nan say this, Zhu Qinglan also nodded in agreement. "And Duan Qirui and their retreat like this has also brought us a lot of convenience. Qianjiang is only more than 100 kilometers away from Wuhan, if we can defeat the Beiyang Army blocking the way in Qianjiang, we can face Wuhan directly, and as long as Wuhan is taken at that time, not to mention the world is shaken, those provincial overseers who are attached to Yuan Shikai may also choose again"

At least for now, an Overseer surnamed Tan has come to contact Yan Guang.

"Speaking of which, how did Yingcai and Tan Yanmin talk? Is there any news coming back? ”

"Not yet..."Zhu Qinglan shook his head. But now that we have a common enemy with Tan Yanmin, I believe there shouldn't be any problems. ”

After Yan Guang announced that the reading power of Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and won the bridgehead of Badong, which was forced to enter Jaw Province, Tan Yanhong, who was forced to cancel the reading power due to the situation of the Beiyang army, but still retained a strong strength, quickly took the initiative to contact Yan Guang.

As far as Yan Guang is concerned, he really doesn't want to have anything to do with Tan Yanmin, after all, Yan Guang's ultimate goal is to eliminate all the warlords and truly unify China together, in other words, Tan Yanmin is also one of the warlords he wants to eliminate.

However, just when Yan Guang was about to reject Tan Yanmin's envoy, Song Dinghan and others spoke out to dissuade him.

In the eyes of Song Dinghan and others, now the Kuomintang and Tan Yanmin have a common enemy, and the strength of this enemy is still very strong, so why not cooperate? As for the unification of China or something............ Isn't there an idiom called settling accounts after the autumn?

So under the persuasion of Song Dinghan and others, Yan Guang hooked up with Tan Yanmin after coming and going...

(To be continued)