Xu Shaojiao, the commander of the ninth town, and Shen Tongwu, the co-commander, came to Zhoucun, where the temporary headquarters was located, because Fang Jianxiong's generosity impressed these two, they didn't have too many requirements for the dominance this time. The two of them only brought a company of guards, and their posture was very low.

Fang Jianxiong, together with the General Staff and brigade commanders, warmly welcomed the arrival of friendly troops.

When the two armies decided to join forces, they naturally had to discuss a meeting. The pre-war battle meeting was held in a rudimentary tent, much to the surprise of the two high-ranking officials of the Ninth Town. The two infantry divisions, one heavy artillery brigade, one artillery brigade, and units under the headquarters and the general staff headquarters totaled nearly 40,000 people from the entire Wuhu side, and all of them were stationed in the field.

Fang Jianxiong's headquarters set up a tent at the foot of a small hill. Tens of thousands of troops marched all the way east, and it can be said that there was no crime in the autumn.

Chapter 14 of the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition (2) in the second volume of the second volume alone is such a military discipline, and the two of them dare not underestimate the Anhui Revolutionary Army in the slightest. In the past, I thought that even if the equipment was better, everything else might not be stronger. When I arrived at the place, I realized what it means to have strict military discipline! Shi full of horses!

Both of them can be sure that there will be no problems at all in letting Ninth Town toss like this, and it will definitely not be possible.

"Brother Xu, Lord Shen, you are on an expedition, and dinner can only be simplified because of ugliness. After eating, we had a combat meeting. Fang Jianxiong said politely, and led the people into his tent, and the accompanying guests were all Fang Jianxiong's command core.

The biggest feature of Fang Jianxiong's team is that it is young. Fang Jianxiong himself is very young, and several brigade commanders under him are similar. Regarding the combat effectiveness of a team, Xu Shaojiao and Shen Tongwu still have considerable concerns. Fortunately. There are a lot of moral ** officials here, which should be able to play a little role.

Dinner is also very special, that is, steamed white rice with a table of canned food. Braised pork ribs, braised chicken nuggets, luncheon meat, and some cold dishes, dried tea leaves, pickled melons and so on.

There was no drinking, and everyone didn't talk during the meal, and the atmosphere was very strict. Even the two of them didn't speak.

The soldier's eating action was very fast, including Fang Jianxiong, and it took only six or seven minutes to bury his head in the second volume of the second volume of the sea and the fourteenth chapter of the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition (2). They put down their chopsticks. It's very neat, and it seems to have been practiced. Xu Shaojiao and Shen Tongwu had only eaten half of it, and when they saw that everyone had put down their chopsticks. I had to put it down.

Fang Jianxiong saw it clearly, and explained two sentences to Duan Feng beside him in a low voice. After the meal was withdrawn, Fang Jianxiong walked to a huge map, turned around and said, "Now that we have a meeting, the place is shabby, so I have to grieve everyone to sit on folding chairs." ”

There was no table, only a circle of folding chairs, and after everyone found a place to sit down, Fang Jianxiong said, "Please ask Mr. Hamilton, Chief of Staff, to announce the explanation of the battle plan." ”

Hamilton got up and walked to the map with a solemn expression. Scooped up the prepared pole, pointed to the map, and said: "This is Nanjing, surrounded by mountains on three sides and the Yangtze River in the west." This is Zhoucun, this is the commanding heights of Nanjing's city disaster, Yuhuatai, and this will be our first target tomorrow. ”

Hamilton speaks German. Fang Jianxiong made a temporary cameo as a translator, mainly because he was worried that the general translator would not know military terms.

"According to the pre-war reconnaissance, the Qing army did not have many troops stationed in Yuhuatai, more than 2,000 people. And there were no too strong fortifications, and with the firepower of our army, it basically didn't take much effort to capture Yuhuatai. In order to avoid harming the poor. After capturing Yuhuatai, our army turned to Chaoyangmen through Gaoqiao Gate, and then attacked Tianbao City, the most dangerous commanding height of Nanjing City. As for the ninth town, the time to attack Tianbao City with our army is the time to initiate. I believe that when our army enters the city of Tianbao, the Qing army should make corresponding adjustments. It is even very likely that after the capture of Tianbao City, the Qing army will lose the courage to fight and abandon Nanjing and flee. For this reason, the first division of our army has already set out two days in advance, and it is not surprising that tomorrow morning it will launch an attack on the Jiangfang battalion in Pukou. My plan is said and done, now I ask the commander-in-chief to issue an order. ”

Fang Jianxiong nodded at Duan Feng, and Duan Feng immediately unfolded a document clip, stood up and read: "The battle order is announced below!" 2nd Division Jensen Division! Jensen and his two brigade commanders immediately stood up and snapped upright.

"Your unit will be the main attacker tomorrow, and before five o'clock in the morning, the attacking troops must enter the attack position. After the artillery fire of our army is ready,........................。 ”

The battle plan is decent, and to put it bluntly, there are four words, "Strength wins!" This is also Fang Jianxiong's consistent pursuit. To put it more clearly, the essence of war is to fight for strength! Probably only a dynasty as perverted as the Song Dynasty would have the world's largest economic strength, but its military strength was so strict that no one could defeat it.

The two divisions are one in front and one behind, the second division is the main attack, and the third division is the reserve to take care of both sides! It's hard to say whether this battle plan can be won or not, but it is very difficult to lose it! The plan was formulated by the General Staff after many deductions and careful reconnaissance in advance. When the plan was finalized, Fang Jianxiong sat in on the hearing, but did not express any comments. A sense of letting go and letting the people below do it.

To put it bluntly, none of them had any experience in commanding a large corps in combat, and although they only had more than 30,000 troops, no one had ever commanded such a unit to fight. The final result could only be that Hamilton led a group of staff officers, and every detail was repeatedly scrutinized, and finally a battle plan that looked stable and stable. The basis is the phrase "Be invincible!" ”

After the combat meeting, Xu Shaojiao and Shen Tong rushed back at noon. Fang Jianxiong saw that the guard companies he led were all spears, and gave all the box guns equipped by the special service company responsible for protecting the headquarters to Xu Zhiwei. Well, and a submachine gun, enough for it.

On November 31, 1911, two fierce battles took place, one in Hankou and one under the city of Nanjing. The biggest difference between these two battles is that Feng Guozhang, who was also the attacking side, chose to set fire to Hankou regardless of civilian casualties, and the fire burned for three days and three nights, and the prosperous town of Hankou was turned into a white land. Another attacker, Fang Jianxiong, repeatedly emphasized before the battle that it was necessary to reduce unnecessary casualties in Pingming, and if it was necessary to attack the city, it was necessary to use artillery of 75 caliber (including 75 cannons) or more.

At 5:50 a.m., Fang Jianxiong was woken up by staff officer Duan Feng. Getting up and freshening up, when he came to the headquarters, Hamilton had not slept all night, leading a group of staff officers to carefully and repeatedly deduce the accidents that might occur in the battle. When Fang Jianxiong came in, everyone had already finished their gear and lined up, waiting for the commander-in-chief to give the order to fight.

"Salute!" Hamilton and the rest of the staff raised their hands and saluted!

"Return the gift!" Fang Jianxiong replied, and asked with a stern face, "Are you ready?" There were still a few minutes left before the time to attack, and Fang Jianxiong said in his heart that it was false not to be nervous. Nanjing is not Anqing, there can be conspiracies and tricks there, but here you have to fight hard.

"Everything is ready, Jenson sent someone to report that the attacking force has advanced five hundred meters outside the enemy's position as required. Personally, I am not in favor of such an arrangement, commander, it is too demanding for artillery. But that's a specific tactic, and I don't have the right to interfere. Hamilton expressed his views very directly, to which Fang Jianxiong replied: "How to implement specific tactics is only a matter for the front-line commander, and I have no right to interfere with his command." ”

After speaking, Fang Jianxiong raised his hand to look at the time, it was now fifty-nine minutes, and it was only one minute before the attack was launched. The phone had already been scooped up, and when Hamilton handed it over, Fang Jianxiong shook his head and said, "You come and give the order, this battle plan is your brainchild." ”

Hamilton gave him an appreciative look, nodded and scooped up the phone, looking down at his watch. Click! Wait for the second hand to point to the last unit. Fang Jianxiong suddenly became nervous, walked quickly to the observation post on a high place, pushed away the staff officer who was observing, and grabbed the gun scope to watch the results of the shelling.

The sky is slightly bright, and in the quiet morning, the morning mist shrouds Yuhuatai. I couldn't see the specific situation clearly, and when Fang Jianxiong was a little disappointed, Hamilton's voice came from his ears: "Start!" ”

Buzz! The earth shook suddenly! 24 105, 24 150 howitzers fired at the same time. The tranquility of the early morning was shattered, and the falling cannonballs could be seen in the gun mirror turning the mountain into a sea of fire, and the thick morning fog could not stop this shocking visual effect.

Cheng Wenjun, the commander of the Jiangfang battalion, didn't sleep well all night, and the tens of thousands of troops on the opposite side really didn't come for vacation. After carefully inspecting all positions, I got up in the middle of the night and turned around a few more times to guard against a sneak attack or something from the opposite side. Luckily, the Anhui Revolutionary Army did not seem to have the habit of attacking at night, and the night was very peaceful.

Chengwen, who slept very late, was woken up by the shock, and this guy who had bad luck in history is also very bad luck now. The difference is that historically they were killed by gunfire, and this time they didn't even get out of the door of the command post, and a shell hit the command post directly. Luckily, this is a 150 heavy shell!

The entire command post was overturned, and Cheng Wenjun was buried in the rubble on the spot.

After the war, a surviving soldier of the Jiangfang Battalion recounted the battle: "It was so quiet that morning! Looking down from the mountain, the view from the fog is so beautiful. Suddenly, countless fires fell from the sky, and the whole mountain shook. At that moment, I finally knew what it meant to have the sky falling apart and what it meant to have nowhere to stay! It's like tormenting in a pot of oil in the eighteenth layer of hell. ”

The Qing troops of the Jiangfang battalion, not to mention heavy artillery, did not take a few shots even if it was a 75-caliber cannon.

Some people were directly frightened by the scene of their companions being smashed to pieces in front of them, and they became incontinent. Some people only have one thought left in their minds, run! Others are desperately trying to find a place to hide.

More than 2,000 Qing troops completely collapsed after half an hour of artillery preparation, and when they heard the news that Cheng Commander was buried alive, they were unstoppable!

The problem was that the attacking revolutionary army did not know about this situation, could not see clearly in the dense fog, and could only continue to attack in an orderly manner. After the heavy artillery was extended, the division's 75 guns began to bombard, continuing to suppress the opponent's position, and the 37 guns and mortars accompanied the infantry to attack!!