Chapter 71: The Battle of the Jinghan Line (11)

The early morning in Hanyang was broken by a burst of dense gunfire, and Wang Jingluo, who was about to set off, was slightly startled, yesterday's battle went smoothly, and Wang Jingluo was not too satisfied. The main thing is that the opponent is too bad, and the defense line of the patrol battalion is often concentrated on a little bit, and if it breaks through, it can be fully broken through.

After receiving the order last night, Wang Jingluo did not dare to slack off, immediately reorganized the troops, seized the time to rest, and went north together in the morning with a comfortable brigade.

Grabbing the pistol, Wang Jingluo quickly rushed out of the temporary residence, listening to the sound of gunfire in the direction of the concession, when Wang Jingluo's heart tightened, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside. After a hissing sound, a group of people came in outside, and the first one was Fang Jianxiong.

Fang Jianxiong decided to personally lead his troops north to Xiaogan, but despite the resolute opposition of the General Staff, he still did not stop Fang Jianxiong's determination. In the end, he could only compromise, Han ** took over the defense of the provisional first division, and Fang Jianxiong led the three main brigades north.

Fang Jianxiong also heard the gunshots from the concession side, and when he came to see Wang Jingluo saluting, he saluted and replied casually: "Send someone to find out what happened immediately." Listening to the gunshots, it should be that Tian Jiyang's department is fighting with someone. ”

Fang Jianxiong seemed to be calm, but he actually chuckled fiercely in his heart just now. Imperialism wants to intervene in the revolution with arms? It's really hard to say whether this will happen or not, at least Japan is very enthusiastic. This point is related to Japan's national characteristics, and I feel that the squadron is too bad, and it can win any fight, so it fell into the mud pit of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Of course, Japan today is not the same as Japan that would have made its fortune from World War I. That would be Japan. It's so crazy that anyone dares to fight. This Japan still depends on the face of the British.

Wang Jingluo hurriedly sent people out, and the gunfire continued, and then he heard the sound of mortars.

In less than twenty minutes, the men sent out brought back a man from the 1st Brigade. The gunfire had stopped, and the person who came was the liaison officer of the 1st Brigade, who reported that the 1st Brigade was coming to turn. The vanguard passed through the perimeter of the Japanese concession and was suddenly attacked by the Japanese army in the concession. More than a dozen people were killed and wounded, and the vanguard company immediately counterattacked. Mortars were used to return fire. Hankow Huajie is a road near the concession, and the 1st Brigade takes a shortcut and passes through there. Without any notice, the Japanese troops in the concession suddenly opened fire.

"MLGBD Little Japan!" Fang Jianxiong listened to the report, although he knew that he couldn't act rashly at this time, he still couldn't swallow this breath, and immediately said: "Inform Hanyang and let the Guishan artillery aim at the Japanese warship." I'm going to see for myself what Little Japan wants to do. ”

In fact, when the Sichuan Road Protection Movement was out of control, Japan was already ready to move. On September 12, the Minister of the Navy, Minoru Fujisai, sent a telegram to Kawashima Honjiro, commander of the Third Fleet, saying, "In view of the current situation of the Sichuan uprising, it is necessary to send a gunboat from the Sichuan River to Chongqing to trace the river." "September 15th. Kawashima Imajiro ordered the Fushimi to go north, departing on September 17 and arriving in Yichang on November 1.

After the Wuchang Uprising, Kawashima Honjiro led the "Tsushima" ship in Jiujiang, and then traced the river upstream. October 12 to Hankow and the ship "Sumida" round. He also became the commander of the navies of the countries in this section of the river, and accepted the command of the consuls of various countries to defend the concession. Kawashima immediately appointed Captain Machida Komajiro Osaku as commander of the Marine Corps. With the change of the revolutionary shape, the Third Fleet adjusted its deployment, stationed in Hankou as the "Chihaya", "Sumida", and "Shikinami" ships, and two destroyers. Daye is the "Longtian" ship, and Jiujiang is the "Cirrus". Nanjing has two destroyers, "Tsushima" and destroyers, and Shanghai is "Qiujinzhou", and many destroyers are cruising on the Yangtze River. One of them is on the Wuhu River (kamikaze) and the other is on the Anqing River (Suma).

Fang Jianxiong was worried that once Japan intervened, it would probably be the beginning of a full-scale intervention in front of the column, and then the entire war situation would change dramatically, which was a scene that Fang Jianxiong did not want to see.

But if he was beaten and didn't fight back, Fang Jianxiong definitely couldn't bear it.

Quickly whipping up the horse, urging the dark clouds under his crotch, when Fang Jianxiong arrived at the scene, the two sides had already ceased fire. There was a tense confrontation across a road, opposite the heavily guarded concession, and on this side was the vanguard company of the 1st Brigade. Tian Jiyang took the first step and ordered a ceasefire, and was about to arrange a response, when the sound of horses' hooves sounded, and he looked up to see that it was Fang Jianxiong and his guard platoon.

A slippery war horse came to the scene like a wind, and when Fang Jianxiong turned over and dismounted, Tian Jiyang had already run up and saluted: "Handsome!" Fang Jianxiong raised his hand and saluted back according to the rules: "How are the casualties?" ”

"Eight soldiers were shot, two were seriously injured, the others were minor. The devils didn't fall well, and the first took 60 mortars and gave them two guns. Tian Jiyang said quickly, and Fang Jianxiong didn't suffer a loss when he heard it, so he said: "Go to someone, just say that I am here, I want to see the person in charge of them, ask them what they want to do, why are they firing at our army?" ”

The meeting was also chaotic in the concession, and the sound of gunfire outside in the early morning remembered that the British consul Graham was the leader of the concession area, and he got up soon after the gunfire rang out, and sent someone to inquire about the situation. Ten minutes later, the news came that a revolutionary army had crossed a road outside the concession, and the Japanese marines in charge of defending that section thought they were attacking the concession and opened fire to stop it. Immediately returned fire from the revolutionary army, the revolutionary army even used artillery to bombard the Japanese army, causing more than ten casualties. If it were not for the Chinese on the other side of the initiative to cease fire, the situation would probably get out of control.

"Damn Japanese monkeys." Ge Fu scolded fiercely, the Japanese and Russians have a strong armed interference in the Chinese revolution, if it weren't for the reaction of other powers, they would have done it a long time ago. Whitehall's order to the envoy to China was to support Yuan Shikai in coming to power, to ensure that the peace talks between the north and the south were smooth, and that the political situation in China was generally stable, so as to ensure the interests of the British Empire.

In light of this, the Foreign Secretary sent a strong signal to Japan to follow in Britain's footsteps and remain neutral. In fact, the Japanese government also demanded that the navy and army in China do the same.

Graham soon met Vice Admiral Winslow of the Navy, the current commander-in-chief of the teams. After briefing on the situation, Lieutenant General Winslow said: We must ensure that the situation does not escalate, so as not to harm the lives and property safety of the people of the countries in the concession. After all, this is a war between the Chinese, and whoever comes to power, as long as it does not harm the interests of the British Empire.

Soon someone from outside sent news that Fang Jianxiong, the supreme leader of the Hankou Revolutionary Army, rushed to the scene of the incident and asked to meet with the representatives of the concession. Ge Fu undoubtedly did not like Fang Jianxiong, the warlord, because he actually shouted that British warships could not go ashore. In the current situation in Europe, Britain could not make a big move in China, because it would be a joke for the Germans. Therefore, the blockade of the Yangtze River waterway is already a pole. The Shanghai consul took over the Shanghai-Nanjing Road on his own initiative, and the strong dissatisfaction of all circles in China had it not been for the timely handing over of the railway rights to the Shanghai Military Government, which almost led to a strong boycott of American goods that were the rear guide of the United States in the year of anti-Chinese exclusion. China was too big for the British Empire to colonize, and Japan and Russia wanted to expand their interests in China, but this was not in the interests of the British Empire.

After going around in a circle, Ge Fu unexpectedly found that not to mention that he was a consul, even if it was the British government, it might not be able to do anything to this Fang Jianxiong? The Germans, in particular, strongly opposed the punishment of Fang Jianxiong, a warlord. Ge Fu knew very well that Fang Jianxiong purchased a large amount of machinery and munitions from Germany every year, and was the largest customer of the German Lihe Foreign Company.

Ge Fu was even worried that Fang Jianxiong, who was already pro-German, would completely fall to Germany once he was forced to be in a hurry. Judging from the current situation in China, although Fang Jianxiong is a rising star, he already has the power to compete with Beiyang, and even took the initiative to attack, and he can recover Hankou, which is really incomprehensible.

Yesterday, the minister sent a telegram: try to promote a ceasefire between Fang and Yuan! Do not provoke the party unless necessary.

This kind of thing happened today, and Ge Fu also felt a little headache. In any case, the face of the British Empire must be preserved.

After exchanging views with Winslow, Graham responded urgently. The warships on the Yangtze River immediately prepared for battle, and all the ** teams in the concession should also be ready for battle. After the arrangement was carried out, Ge Fu let people go out and invited Fang Jianxiong into the concession.

Fang Jianxiong waited outside for more than ten minutes before a consulate staff member came out, brought an interpreter, and his chin turned to the sky when he spoke: "Mr. Consul asked me to lead Fang Jianxiong in to speak." ”

Lord Yang's rudeness angered Qi Erzhu beside Fang Jianxiong, took out his pistol, and danced: "Ni scolded the next door, how did you talk to our handsome?" ”

As soon as he shouted, the entire platoon of guards neatly took out their box guns, and all of them were eager to try, and the officers and men of the First Brigade were also indignant, and the bolts of the guns rattled and rattled, and there was a great sense of opening fire at the first order. The frightened foreign lord stepped back again and again, his face was like dirt, and he shouted repeatedly: "What do you want to do? This is the concession! ”

Fang Jianxiong raised a hand and glanced back expressionlessly, the scene was a little calmer. Only then did he step forward and glanced at the foreigner with disdain: "I'll correct your mistake first, the land under your feet is Chinese." There must be a reasonable explanation for the fact that our army was marching on our own land and was shot in the concession, otherwise I would not be able to convince my soldiers that it would be bad for everyone if they did something out of the ordinary. I'm just waiting here for Mr. Consul to come out and give me an explanation, when to explain clearly, when to leave. ”

When the interpreter heard this, he didn't know how to translate, but he didn't dare to translate. Look at this, look at that, hesitate. Fang Jianxiong impatiently said to the translator: "You can translate, I'll do it myself." As he spoke, he stepped forward with a cold look in his eyes, and the guard platoon behind him cooperated and raised his gun at the same time.

Fang Jianxiong was able to condescendingly repeat what he had just said in English, and regardless of the British, he turned around and returned to the formation. In fact, Fang Jianxiong didn't want to irritate foreign devils too much, but he relied on not buying foreigners' accounts to gain prestige, so he had to continue to carry the banner of nationalism. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )