When Zhang Xun, the commander of the third town, received the news that the western Sichuan army had begun to attack and rushed to the front line, the seventh brigade of the western Sichuan army had already launched an offensive and was preparing artillery fire before the attack.

The artillery of the Western Sichuan Army continued to pour shells into his position, and there were constantly stumps and broken arms rising into the air, Zhang Xun was very angry. As for how the battle started, he didn't want to investigate it now, and what matters now is how to resist the attack of the Western Sichuan Army. The third town is stationed in the border area all the year round, and often fights with the western Sichuan army, knowing the strength of the other party.

"Fight back! And what about our artillery? Fight back for me! Zhang Xun ordered loudly. The third town is also equipped with artillery, all of which are 05-mm howitzers imported from the British, a total of 36 guns, 12 more than the artillery battalion of the 7th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army.

"My lord, it's not that we don't fight back, it's really that the range of our artillery is not as good as that of the Western Sichuan Army! Their artillery has a range of seven kilometers, ours has only five. Unless all the artillery was fired at close range, it would not be able to reach the position of the Western Sichuan Army at all. However, if you shoot at close range, you will be easily shelled by the western Sichuan army. The standard of the artillery mark of the third town replied.

"Bastard! What to do? Can we only be beaten and not fight back? Zhang Xun's eyes were filled with rage.

"My lord, our artillery can wait until the Western Sichuan Army begins to attack before opening fire and shelling their attacking troops!" The co-ordinator of the First Association of the Third Town replied.

"Humph! Whatever? We have to hold our ground. The Governor is in Yichang. If our position is broken through, then the Western Sichuan Army will be able to break through directly to Yichang. If the Governor blames him, no one can afford to bear it! Zhang Xun warned.

"Don't worry, my lord, the lowly rank will definitely guard the line of defense!" All the generals hurriedly assured.

The artillery of the Western Sichuan Army finally stopped shelling after half an hour of rage, and the positions of the Hubei New Army had already been destroyed, and at least one-third of the troops stationed on the front line were killed and seriously injured in the shelling, and the entire position became incomplete.

"Order the troops to attack, and the artillery will carry out the blocking shelling!" The commander of the Seventh Brigade, Xie Dingkun, put down the binoculars in his hand and ordered.

Soon, the artillery of the Western Sichuan Army carried out shelling again, but the target of this shelling was behind the position of the third town of the Hubei New Army, preventing the opposing soldiers from reinforcing the position.

At the same time, the soldiers of the 1st and 4th Battalions of the 7th Brigade jumped out of their positions and launched an attack on the positions of the Hubei New Army. More than 2,000 soldiers of the Western Sichuan Army lined up in a skirmish line, bent on their waists, and quickly launched an attack on the position of the Hubei New Army 600 meters away. Behind them, mortars and heavy machine guns of various divisions also followed them to attack, ready to provide them with sufficient supporting firepower.

"Get up, get up for me, the Western Sichuan Army has attacked!" On the position of the Hubei New Army, those standard, pipe band, team officers, platoon commanders, and regulars caught up with the soldiers who survived the shelling of the Western Sichuan Army to the position. A door of mountain artillery and heavy machine guns also rolled out bunkers and prepared to start firing.

"Dada-da-da!" When the Western Sichuan Army rushed to less than 400 meters from the new army in Lihubei, the heavy machine guns of the Qing army opened fire one after another. Thinking about the sound of gunfire, the attacking western Sichuan army suddenly fell to the ground and moved forward prostrate instead. At the same time, the heavy machine guns and mortars that followed up immediately set up and launched a counterattack. Mortars, in particular, focused on clearing the heavy machine guns of the Hubei New Army.

At the same time, after seeing that the attack was blocked, the artillery positions of the Western Sichuan Army immediately changed the target of the artillery bombardment and once again ravaged the positions of the Hubei New Army. A mountain cannon and a heavy machine gun were directly blown into twists.

"Shelling, those soldiers of the Western Sichuan Army in front of the target position!" The artillery of the third town of the Hubei New Army also gave an order for shelling. Thirty-six 05-mm light howitzers, which began to fire fiercely. The offensive of the attacking soldiers of the Western Sichuan Army was immediately stopped, and the casualties rose sharply under the shelling of the Hubei New Army.

"Order the brothers to withdraw, the artillery come forward, first deal with the artillery of the Hubei New Army, at least avoid them!" The brigade commander of the Seventh Brigade, Xie Dingkun, hurriedly ordered. Allowing the opposing artillery's artillery to bombard their own soldiers unscrupulously on the flat ground is tantamount to sending the soldiers to death.

After receiving the order, the attacking two battalions immediately withdrew. However, in the attack just now, the Western Sichuan Army also lost nearly 200 people, and the strength of a company was gone.

The artillery battalion of the 7th Brigade immediately advanced two kilometers and aimed the artillery of the Hubei New Army at the target of the shelling.

"Haha, it's back, the Western Sichuan Army has been repelled by us!" A smile appeared on the face of the Hubei New Army artillery standard. For them, it was unthinkable to attack western Sichuan, but resisting the attack of the western Sichuan army was also a great achievement.

"Whew!" However, before the smile on his face had dissipated, the sound of a sharp cannonball piercing the air could be heard in the sky.

"Damn, shelling! Hide now! The Hubei attack artillery commander hurriedly fell to the ground.

"Boom! Rumble! "Shells fell from the sky one after another, accurately hitting the artillery position of the third town of the Hubei New Army. Shrapnel flew sideways, shock waves raged the entire artillery position, a large number of shelling by the Hubei New Army was killed, and some artillery pieces were directly shot and destroyed. This is not the strictest, at this time on the artillery position, a large number of shells were piled up, these shells were hit, and the resulting detonation directly destroyed most of the artillery positions. The resulting violent explosion shook the ground like an earthquake.

"My cannons, my artillery!" Their own artillery was killed one by one, stumps and broken arms flew everywhere, and the cannons were blown into twists, and the heart of the artillery standard of the third town of the Hubei New Army was almost dripping blood!

The artillery of the Western Sichuan Army bombarded for half an hour, plowing the artillery positions of the Hubei New Army several times. Only then did the shelling stop. However, at this time, there were already dead and wounded on the artillery positions of the Hubei New Army. There are more than 1,000 people in the entire artillery standard, and now there is even more than one in ten. All the artillery was also blown up.

"Dada!" There was a sound of horses' hooves, and I saw Zhang Xun, the commander of the third town, and others quickly rushing here.

"What's going on?" Zhang Xun asked angrily.

"My lord, we were shelled by the Western Sichuan Army, the entire artillery mark is gone, and all the artillery has been destroyed!" The artillery standard replied, his face was dead and desperate.

"You shit!" Zhang Xun was furious, and the command knife in his hand was cut off, and the head of the artillery standard was cut off.

However, this has not helped. Without artillery fire support, the 7th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army could launch an offensive with impunity.

Subsequently, the 7th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army launched another attack, and the soldiers of the Western Sichuan Army, who were fully supported by artillery, attacked very fiercely. Soon broke into the defense line of the Hubei New Army. Zhang Xun wanted to mobilize reinforcements into the position to support the battle on the front line. However, the reinforcements were heavily shelled by the Western Sichuan Army, suffered heavy damage, and had to retreat.

By the afternoon, the Western Sichuan Army had completely occupied the front-line positions of the Hubei New Army and established a simple defensive line. At the same time, the artillery of the Western Sichuan Army moved forward again, focusing on shelling the heavy assembly area of the Hubei New Army, for which the Hubei New Army had to retreat on all fronts and retreat to the second line of defense.

Like the 7th Brigade, the attacks of other units of the Western Sichuan Army were also very smooth. When the various units of the Western Sichuan Army launched an attack, the Hubei New Army was simply caught off guard, and many artillery pieces were directly blown up, failing to form a powerful counterattack. Subsequently, with the strong fire support of the Western Sichuan Army, the front-line positions changed hands one after another. The towns of the Hubei New Army had to withdraw from their positions and retreat.

By the afternoon, the western Sichuan army had already pointed directly at the second line of defense of the Qing army, and the Hubei New Army suffered heavy losses, and the total casualties of the new army in five towns reached more than 20,000 people, almost losing the strength of one town. What is even more severe is that the defeat in the first battle caused the morale of the Qing army to plummet.