"Master, the other party's artillery fire is too fierce, and the brothers have suffered heavy losses, what do you think?"

"Hasn't the other side landed yet, it's just shelling?"

In the face of Zhang Jingyao's question, the staff officer was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Shizao, it's really just a boom, there is no other action!" ”

Zhang Jingyao heard a sudden panic here, although he had some rice buckets, but also guessed the meaning of the other party, this is to attack Hankou, speaking of Hankou, the most important thing in Hankou is the railway station in Hankou, this is the end of the Lutie Railway, all the materials transported in the north have to be transferred here, and the reinforcements must also be here, if once occupied by the other party, the consequences are unimaginable, of course, Zhang Jingyao does not know that the Sichuan-Han Railway has also been completed, this is also the end of the Sichuan-Han Railway, and the Sichuan army will also use this railway station.

However, Zhang Jingyao had nothing to do at this time, there were other side's gunboats on the river, and Wuchang's army could not transport Hankou at all, and the only thing that could be counted on now was that the defenders of Hankou could withstand it, and at this time Xia Douyin was also satisfied with commanding the artillery to bombard Hankou on the north bank of the river.

The power of the 120 mm caliber artillery is huge, it can be said that the sky is falling apart, the Beiyang is embarrassed, the Beiyang artillery is not equipped, and there is no corresponding training in peacetime, and the fortifications of the Beiyang Army are also very poorly built, and even half of the body can not be covered, and in the face of heavy artillery bombardment, there is no power to fight back at all, and they are soon beaten all over the field.

The soldiers of the Hubei army had already landed on the north bank at this time, and all the machine guns and mortars were ready, and the sound of the explosion like a storm of rain smashed the position of the Beiyang Army in an instant, Xia Douyin also arrived on the shore at this time, with the help of the fire of the explosion, he could clearly see that the Hubei army continued to leap forward, breaking through obstacles one after another, and killing the Beiyang Army one by one.

"Chief of Staff, the brothers are fighting well, but our main mission is to take the Hankou Railway Station, this is the most important thing, if the railway station can't be taken, you and I can't explain to Qiao Shuai, let the brothers not be entangled here, quickly capture the railway station, don't hesitate!"

After Xia Douyin gave the order, the Hubei soldiers quickly divided into several attack squads, under the cover of artillery fire to break into Hankou, the Beiyang Army set up fortifications by the river could not withstand the heavy artillery of the Hubei army at all, this time the Hubei army also brought four 155 mm howitzers, under the roar of the cannon, soon a gap was made, and the army poured into the city like a tide.

Zhang Jingyao frequently received urgent telegrams from Jiangbei, and he was also panicked, he never thought that the other party's offensive could be so fierce, and until now he has not figured out who the opponent is, Hankou is about to be lost, if the three towns of Wuhan have problems in their own hands, how can they explain to Emperor Yuan.

"Division, the enemy has broken through the outer defense of Hankou and is rushing straight to the railway station!" Zhang Jingyao hurriedly ran to the front of the map when he heard this, and looked carefully, Hankou Railway Station is the end point of the Sichuan-Han Railway, although Zhang Jingyao did not know that the Sichuan-Han Railway was about to be completed in its entirety, but he also knew that the Sichuan Army could rush to Yichang first, and then get on the train from Yichang to Hankou, and now the railway station is also used as a temporary freight yard, hoarding a large number of arms and materials, which were originally transported to Hunan and Liangguang, if the railway station is lost, the loss of Beiyang will be too great.

"Immediately give the order, let the brothers stationed at the train station resist me, whoever dares to take a step back, shoot on the spot!"

After the adjutant left, Zhang Jingyao gradually regained a trace of calm, the other party's goal is clear, that is, the train station, presumably the other party must be the Sichuan army, this kind of critical place must not be lost, otherwise how can he be worthy of His Majesty the Emperor's Hongen.

Thinking of this, Zhang Jingyao personally got up and ordered his subordinates to send a distress telegram to Cao Kun as soon as possible, in which Zhang Jingyao was in tears, and every sentence was blood, so that Cao Kun must be for the sake of the old brothers in Beiyang, help himself, and rush to Wuchang as soon as possible, otherwise Wuchang will be in danger of being lost.

After the distress telegram was sent, Zhang Jingyao sent a telegram to Wu Xintian, the commander of the 14th Brigade responsible for guarding Hankou, telling him to swear to defend the Hankou railway station to the death, and absolutely not to take half a step back.

At this time, a group of Hubei troops had rushed to the back of the house more than 200 meters in front of the railway station, they set up mortars, and bombarded them according to the fortifications in front of the train, this kind of 60 mm mortars have been widely equipped in the Sichuan army, light weight, easy to carry, not weak, deeply loved by the soldiers, the Hubei army is also a large number of equipment, and it has played a very good role in today's attack.

A series of six mortar shells fell in front of the railway station, the smoke rose in the sky, one of the machine gun positions had been completely blown up, two Maxim machine guns had also become parts, and the position on the other side had also been affected, several Beiyang soldiers got up one after another to flee, who did not have wives and children, they did not want to be bombed into the sky.

These people just escaped a few steps, and met the team led by Wu Xintian, he also knew the importance of Hankou from Zhang Jingyao's words, and saw that these deserters didn't say a word, and directly raised their hands with three shots, killing all of them.

"Brothers, now is the time for everyone to repay Your Majesty's kindness, no one can retreat, and the same is true for me today, if anyone dares to take a step back, they will be doomed, and I promise you all brothers that as long as you can hold the train station, you will be rewarded!"

These Beiyang troops were under the grace and power of Wu Xintian, and soon stabilized, and entered the position of the railway station one after another, and the rifles were aimed at the oncoming Hubei troops and opened fire, and in an instant more than a dozen Hubei troops fell in a pool of blood, at this time, the Hubei soldiers were not ambiguous, and after quickly concealing their bodies, they all took out grenades and threw them at the position of the Beiyang Army, and a cloud of gunpowder smoke rose, and many lives disappeared in the firelight, but the Beiyang Army relied on its strong strength and finally withstood the fierce attack of the Hubei army.

"Senior Commander Xia, we have been fighting for nearly six hours, and the sky is almost dawn, the brothers are exhausted, this Beiyang Army is really difficult to deal with!"

Xia Douyin gritted his teeth, he thought that after getting the full set of equipment of the Sichuan army, his army would be able to compete with Beiyang, but now it seems that things are not so simple, not only have powerful equipment, but also have rich experience, this night sneak attack is not a soldier who got lost, failed to rush to the train station on time, only gave the Beiyang army a chance to breathe, failed to take the railway station at night, and the hope of the day was even more slim.

However, after a night of hard fighting, the Hubei army had already occupied one-third of the city of Hankou, and Xia Douyin had no choice but to let his subordinates temporarily switch from attack to defense on the spot and begin to rest the team.

The Beiyang Army, which had fought all night, was also exhausted at this time, and some soldiers with serious smoking addiction were already full of snot and tears, obviously reaching the limit, and the same was true for Wu Xintian, at this time his face was full of black smoke, and his shoulder was swept by a bullet, and the wound hurt from time to time, and he no longer had the chic of the past.

"Chief of Staff, is there any news from Commander-in-Chief Cao Kun, when will the reinforcements arrive?"

"Division, Commander Cao has sent a telegram just now, they have already passed Zhengzhou, and they can rush to Wuhan within a day, so we must defend to the death, and we must not lose an inch of land!"

After Zhang Jingyao heard the news, he immediately put his heart down, after a night of fierce fighting, Zhang Jingyao already knew that the attack on Hankou was only a division of Xia Douyin, the Sichuan army did not keep up, the ratio of troops between the two sides was one to one, and the defenders of Hankou could also get local armed support from the neighboring areas, if they could not hold it, it would be too nonsense.

Zhang Jingyao had high hopes for Cao Kun, but now Cao Kun was extremely depressed, he led the army directly south, and along the way Cao Kun was still discussing with Wu Peifu how to fight this battle, Wu Peifu seemed full of confidence.

"Marshal, the Beiyang Army became an army earlier than the army in the southwest, and it is still a corner of the country, there is no reason not to win, but there is one point that His Majesty has lost too much moral points now, and we will inevitably be looked down upon if we give him our lives, so we have to give the army in the southwest a way to live!"

Just as they were talking, a staff officer hurriedly sent a distress telegram over, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu looked at it and were immediately surprised, "Ziyu, why did the Sichuan army move so quickly?" Actually killed in Wuhan? ”

"Dashuai, I think most of them are Xia Douyin's troops, and now Xia Douyin is almost one with Sichuan, and the two confrontations are said to be Xia Douyin's direct troops from Yichang, but this Zhang Jingyao is also a rice bucket, and he can't even stop the Hubei army, a full rice bucket!" Wu Peifu was arrogant.

"Ziyu, it's not the time to complain, Hankou is too important, and it must not be lost, let's act quickly!"

The train rumbled, and it seemed that it was about to reach the boundary of Luohe, and at this moment, the soldiers of this special troop transport train suddenly felt a buzzing sound, and then the sky seemed to become dark, could it be raining?

Some soldiers poked their heads out and looked out, only to see a huge group of planes passing by in the air, most of the soldiers had never seen airplanes, so they pointed fingers at each other, completely unaware of the power of this weapon, which also alarmed Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, especially Wu Peifu looked out of the car window, and suddenly a thought flashed in front of his eyes.

"Dashuai, it's terrible, hurry up and stop and hide in place!"

Cao Kun didn't know how to deal with the attack of the plane, so he listened to Wu Peifu's advice and ordered to stop, at this time the plane formation did not attack, but after turning in a big circle, he quickly went back, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu didn't know what was going on, they heard a series of explosions in the distance, and the soldiers on the train felt shaken for a while.

Wu Peifu's mind turned quickly, and he suddenly knew that this was the Sichuan military plane bombing the railway line, and the people just came here to show off their might.

"Dashuai, stop quickly, the road ahead must be damaged!"

The train finally stopped, and at the most hundreds of meters away, a series of more than ten sections of railways were blown up, with a total length of more than several hundred meters, and the rails and sleepers were scattered in all directions, and there were many large and small deep pits in the middle of the roadbed.

"The Sichuan Army, these rats, have the ability to confront us head-on, what is it to use this kind of indiscriminate means!" A staff officer said indignantly.

Wu Peifu was also frightened at this time, annoyed and angry, and gave this staff officer a slap with his backhand: "Our skills are not as good as others, why should you be honest, if the planes of the Sichuan Army directly bomb our train, how many people will we die, people have already saved face, we have no ability!" ”