[It's on the shelves, thank you to the editor and all the book friends for their support ()!] Ask for a commuter pass! 】

In the longevity garden of Huanshang Village, Zhangde Mansion, Yuan Shikai took the ginseng tea handed by his subordinates, and the negotiations with the north in the past few days made him a little tired, when should he make a move, and what conditions to force the imperial court to come up with these are not yet decided, so it is particularly sad and needs to use supplements to boost his spirit.

The aroma of ginseng tea seemed to make him regain a lot of energy, handed the telegram he had just received to Yang Shiqi, sighed and got up and walked to the map, his fingers went left and right along the Yangtze River and the Han River, and said, "Look at it!" Yichang, Jingshan, Zhongxiang, and Tianmenzhao will lose this momentum in ten days. ”

Yang Shiqi took the telegram and glanced at it a little, since he "retreated" to Zhangde, he has not left and followed him, and he can be regarded as this henchman, so he is very clear that he is afraid that Hubei will be too erosive, involving Huguang and even Jiangxi and Lianghuai downstream, which will eventually lead to the party becoming bigger in the south and it is not conducive to future bargaining. Therefore, he couldn't make up his mind about whether to take Wusheng Pass first and put a little pressure on that side, and said: "The move of the chaotic party is not too unexpected, and it is inevitable that the big war will be cleared of the four fields." Fighting Zhang Biao first, and then occupying Wusheng Pass are all this intention, and sending people and horses to the north at this moment must be afraid that we will break through the pass and enter the left and right. ”

Yuan Shikai nodded in agreement, but his eyebrows hadn't let go yet: "If these strokes are all from Li Songqing, I won't be surprised, but the meaning of the telegram is all done by Yang Qiu!" What does Xingcheng think about this person? ”

"He is a man who knows the soldiers, but unfortunately his qualifications are too shallow, and the previous events have always made the party members wary of him, and the slightest mistake will inevitably try their best to contain him. Although there was a gun factory in hand, most of the Ordnance of the Hubei Army was stored in the Wuchang Chuwangtai, and there was not much to get in a hurry. However, if he really joins forces with Li Songqing, it will also take some effort. ”

"That's going to have to be connected." Yang Shiqi was about to speak, when he heard such a sentence coming from behind him, there are not many people who can enter and leave Yuan's mansion without reporting at this moment, so he hurriedly turned his head to look, only to see Yuan Keding walking in with a man in his thirties, slender and elegant, after seeing him, Yuan Shikai immediately got up to greet him, and laughed: "Brother Huizi, I've been waiting for you for a long time ()!" ”

After hearing about the Wuchang riots, he immediately resigned from his idle post in the Cabinet Statistics Bureau, packed his bags and rushed here, and saw that Yuan Shikai seemed to be fatter, and said with a smile: "Gong Bao is too polite, Du has nothing to do every day in Beijing, and I heard that you often have fresh fish here, so I came to nag for a few days." ”

"There are not only fish, but also wine and friends, but I'm afraid that you won't be used to this kind of idle life."

"Are you used to it?"

Both of them are exquisite, and after looking at each other and smiling, Yuan Shikai immediately ordered Yuan Keding next to him: "Why don't you go and let the kitchen prepare it." The old man's longevity garden hasn't been so lively for many days. ”

Yang Du smiled politely, walked to the map and saw the marks carved by his fingernails on the left and right of the three towns, and said: "Gong Bao is afraid that Hubei will be completely eroded and unable to clean up?" ”

"The blue son is really as careful as a hair." Yuan Shikai nodded, narrowed his eyes and pretended to be worried: "Yesterday, Bu Wu (Xu Shichang) came to see me, saying that Yin Chang couldn't take the Wusheng Pass for a long time, and seeing that Hubei was festering out of control, the Queen Mother and the emperor were also very anxious, and they were planning to change the general to let me go out of the mountain to serve as the governor of Huguang, but this leg disease has not been good, and I don't know when I will be able to re-mount the horse to kill the enemy, I am afraid that I will wait until the south of the mountain." ”

These words made Yang Du's teeth a little sour, this person in front of him is a really eloquent person, he has been training from a small station to the steady step by step, and the Beiyang vein is now flourishing and has become a force of its own, I don't know how many times better than a plate of scattered party members, but after so many years, there are no outsiders present who still like to behave, the habit is really bad! After a few sentences, he put aside his thoughts for the time being, and returned to the topic just now: "Hubei erosion is a foregone conclusion, but I don't think it can be condensed into an iron plate and work together." ”

"Huizi means the Right Army?"

Yang Du nodded and said: "The party lacks organization, and they can't control the situation as soon as possible after the move, so that Yang Qiu's self-proclaimed Right Route Army becomes bigger, and finally he gritted his teeth and admitted it, can he really tolerate him?" Now Wuchang and Yangxia seem to be two factions, Yang Qiu has a geographical advantage, and ninety percent of Hubei is on the Yangxia side ()! During this time, the whole country was frequently telegraphed in the name of the central government, and there was a faint posture of leading the group, how could it tolerate a person who did not know the bottom by his side.

Now they have blocked the Wusheng Pass one step earlier, so they can safely and steadily clear the private Quartet and order the heroes, but if the Wusheng Pass is broken, what will be the situation if the imperial army enters Hubei? The party members have traveled overseas for many years and lack a foundation, so they had to pick up Li Songqing as a last resort. Now the people who control the Hubei army are all the previous Zhengmu, and the team is waiting for the small officials in the army, and all of a sudden from bringing dozens of hundreds of soldiers to the standard and cooperating with thousands of people, just coordination can make them worry to death, how to fight! ”

Yang Shiqi didn't like Yang Du very much, and felt that this person had too many flowers and intestines in his stomach, but he still recognized these words, and said: "What Huizi said is good, Yang Qiu can only fight three or four standard people, and the recruits have recruited four or five thousand, but the armament is insufficient and lacks training." I'm afraid that the party will still be eager to borrow our hands to get rid of him, so as long as the left and right armies cannot coordinate for a day, Hubei will be a plate of scattered sand. ”

"Brother Xingcheng is scheming and admired." After Yang Du finished speaking, his finger suddenly pointed to Sichuan: "Du is most worried now that Yang Qiu will go west to Sichuan!" ”

"Sichuan?!"

Yuan Shikai's eyes, which were still a little dazed just now, suddenly burst into a glimmer of essence, and Yang Shiqi shook his head and said, "Is the skin too worried?" It is difficult for him to be safe and stable at the moment, how can he enter Sichuan. ”

"Just because you don't touch it now doesn't mean you won't touch it in the future. Brother Xingcheng can forget that at this moment, he is constantly gathering veterans in the name of going north, and a battalion of men and horses has arrived in Yichang. In addition, Wushengguan was locked, and the Hubei squires of the imperial court army could not be seen changing banners one after another, and Badong was just around the corner! Take Badong and enter Sichuan all the way smoothly, if Wuchang forces him to be in a hurry, he may not turn around and enter Sichuan. ”

Yang Du's analysis made Yuan Shikai also secretly worried, and asked: "Listening to the words of the skin, should Huafu immediately help Yin Wulou win the Wusheng Pass?" ”

Yang Du nodded: "Now that the party is taking advantage of Wuchang's momentum, they have repeatedly telegraphed the whole country in the name of Wuchang Central Committee, and in the long run, the whole country is afraid that they will forget who is the real hero!" Du feels that Hubei is precisely the place where Gongbao and Beiyang stand up! Regardless of Wuchang or Yangxia, if you defeat Wushengguan, they will not be able to spread to Siye, Gong Bao, you can also use this to put pressure on Li Songqing, only if it hurts, it hurts ()! Some people will die. ”

Yang Shiqi said: "But the palace guard has already taken care of Huafu and fought slowly, not to mention that once the pass is broken, the happiest one must be in the north, at that time." ”

"Haha." Yang Du smiled wildly: "Brother Xingcheng is too obsessed, how can one city and one place influence the overall situation?" The party has failed to do anything several times, and at this moment it is not easy to succeed in Wuchang, and they also take this opportunity to control the elite Hubei army in one fell swoop, how can they be content to fight with us in one place, they will definitely mobilize all their forces to raise things in various places! So there is still chaos in the south, the most important Lianghuai and Nanjing have not moved, and when they respond to the palace security there, you are proposing to control the cabinet, and Zaifeng does not dare not agree. ”

"The old man only asked you to find a way to quell the rebellion as soon as possible, what nonsense are you talking about." Yuan Shikai squinted his eyes and interrupted the two, and said with a smile: "The battle between the two armies must be a loss of life, and the old man doesn't want us Han people to fight first, so he has already summoned Liu Chengen to see Song Qing, and you will tell him later, let him go and meet Yang Qiu by the way, I am also very curious about this young hero." ”

"Since Bu Wudu has already come to intercede, and let the old man be the governor of Huguang, he can't do nothing." After Yuan Shikai finished speaking, he picked up a pen and paper and patted his knee: "Xingcheng help me draw up an excerpt." ”

"It's better to let Du write." Yang Du volunteered to start grinding ink, Yuan Shikai remembered that he also wrote a good hand, and said with a smile: "Look at the old man's memory, you and that Tan Weisan in Hunan are both Yan Ti everyone." ”

"I don't dare to compare the word Du with Mr. Weisan, he is the real demeanor of everyone."

Yang Du was rare to be modest and concentrate on grinding ink, and when he was ready, Yuan Shikai immediately straightened his waist: "The war in Hubei is unfavorable, all because of the poor railway and the lack of soldiers. Therefore, I asked Wang Shizhen, the deputy commander, to assist in Hubei military affairs. Duan Zhigui, who was transferred to the alternate Dao Dao, and Lu Jin and Yuan Naikuan, non-commissioned officers of Shandong, went to the front line to listen to the transfer. The front-line soldiers and ordnance were recruited from Shandong, Zhili, and Henan, and 25 battalions of the Hubei Patrol Army were formed to be used, and they quickly contacted various countries to purchase ordnance to supplement the front line. ”

"Gong Bao, Wu Shengguan" When the fold was written, Yang Shiqi was just about to ask whether Wu Shengguan was fighting or not, when he heard a rush of footsteps behind him, Yuan Keding had already walked in, waving a telegram: "Father, it's not good ()!" Just now, Hunan sent a telegram that Changsha party members Jiao Dafeng and Chen Zuoxin instigated the new army to rebel and have entered Changsha City! ”

Just now Yang Du also said that the trouble in the south was not over, and the news of the accident in Hunan came not long after the words fell, so that Yuan Shikai and Yang Shiqi couldn't help but glance at each other, and the latter smiled slightly and sat down very quietly: "It's just the beginning." ”

Yuan Shikai took a deep breath and put the teacup on the desk: "Hua Fu has arrived in Xinyang yesterday. Go tell him, and let the old fellows move! We should also shake our spirits, don't let people laugh at our lack of people in the Northern Army. ”

The sound of the collision between the bottom of the cup and the table in the Yangshou Garden is particularly crisp, as if a chess piece has fallen! It heralded the official start of one of the largest battles of the Xinhai year.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Before the Wusheng Pass, several artillery officers kept checking the preparations in front of the position, and the local master hired the boxes of Japanese-made shells on the train to the rear of the position, and the loaders began to install fuses for these murderous big guys.

Unlike Jiang Tai digging bunkers in Liujiamiao before, these Beiyang artillery did not prepare bunkers at all, and only bulldozed the gun positions, not that they were lazy, but at this distance, Krupp seven lives and five tubes retreated artillery without worrying about the few guns on the Wusheng Pass.

Little by little, the muzzle of the cannon began to rise, refracting a touch of cold light.

"It's all memorized for Lao Tzu!" The grassroots officers in Beiyang spoke vulgarly, but with a compelling arrogance: "The imperial court has appointed the lord as the governor of Huguang!" The land of Huguang will be our Beiyang in the future! Now those chaotic parties in the south want to take advantage of this independence and drive the adults away! Can we say yes? No! This battle is for the emperor and for the adults! Got it? ”

Seeing these Beiyang soldiers and ruffians one by one, Yin Chang, who supervised the war, was full of taste, but who made the situation stronger than people? Hunan is starting to make a fuss, and his Qincha may come to an end in a few days, so just turn a blind eye, anyway, Yuan Gongbao will not do anything to him when he is in power. As for the Qing Dynasty, let's talk about it, I don't have that much ability ().

"Load the shells!"

In the sharp copper whistle, the two Beiyang artillery battalions loaded a full 36 Krupp seven and five major guns at the same time, and after the shells loaded with Japanese Shimose gunpowder weighing ten catties were stuffed into the barrels, Wang Zhanyuan and Li Chun, who were appointed to play the vanguard, looked at each other and smiled.

"Three-shot proofreading! Frontal battlements shot quickly. The accurate password showed the quality of the Beiyang artillery, and the first round of artillery was fired as soon as the voice fell.

The caliber of seven and five can only be regarded as light artillery in Europe, but it is already a real heavy artillery in China, except for the fifteen wild artillery that decorates the façade of Jiangfang and the Forbidden City, this caliber can already be proud of the group.

Clusters of cannon flames swelled out, and before the neat and uniform artillery screen disappeared from the retina, the sound of explosions had already sounded all over Wusheng Pass, and strange yellow gunpowder smoke rose from the air from the three passes at the same time.

The 2 artillery battalions of the 3rd Beiyang Mixed Association and the 11th Beiyang Mixed Association, which were completely trained by German instructors, gave full play to this kind of German export-oriented tube-retreat field gun, and after the three rounds of calibration were slightly adjusted, the artillery fired shells at a speed of six rounds per minute to a distance of 3,000 meters, and the control of the shell landing point was also very accurate, and even several foreign observers praised it again and again.

Nissan's shells filled with Shimose gunpowder are also much more powerful than Hanyang-made black powder shells of the same caliber, and the explosion will produce a completely different yellow toxic smoke, which can provide the artillery with very clear coordinates, and the flame will not be extinguished quickly.

In an instant, the "dry thunder" over Wusheng Pass was rolling! Each shell will bring up countless rubble, in just a few minutes the pass has been covered by poisonous yellow flames and smoke, large pieces of the city wall were pierced by shells, rubble and corpses kept rolling down the cliff, the whistling shrapnel will be untouched soldiers flying, the roar of the explosion drowned out the shouts of the officers in the pass, even the sharp copper whistle is dwarfed, so that the soldiers of the Wehrmacht understand for the first time what is the real Beiyang Army!

On the afternoon of November 22, when the turmoil in Changsha had not subsided, and South China did not know where the changes were, the battle for Wushengguan also officially began! However, Yang Qiu knew very well that the battle after being knocked down by him had actually just begun.