On November 16, Li Xiehe, Li Yingshi, Zhang Chenghua and others respectively led the third, fourth, and fifth divisions of the Shanghai Army to arrive successively, with a total of more than 8,000 people, camped outside Moling Pass. On November 17, He Qiqi led more than 5,000 people to arrive in the first division of the Jiangxi Army, and on November 19, Zhou Chuandong led more than 18,000 people to arrive in two divisions of the Second Army in Zhejiang, and the ninth town of Nanyang in Zhenjiang was reorganized into two divisions under the jurisdiction of the Jiangsu Third Army, and the army of Lin Shuqing and others of the League was also incorporated into it, plus more than 3,000 people from some patrol battalions, this army had more than 13,000 people, and Xiao Zhenlei's third and fourth divisions of the Jiangsu Second Army had more than 25,000 people. In addition, Zhu Fusheng, Sun Qi and others from the Yangzhou patrol battalion, who had already taken refuge in Xiao Zhenlei, also brought 2,000 troops to the city, and the total strength of the coalition army reached about 70,000.

Such a huge force makes all the officers and future officers participating in this coalition full of confidence, and taking Jiangning is just around the corner, but Xiao Zhenlei knows very well that among these armies, it is estimated that there are only two divisions of the Second Army of Jiangsu and two divisions of the Second Army of Zhejiang, and there are very few recruits added to these two troops, and even if the combat effectiveness declines, it is not a big problem, and the combat effectiveness of the other divisions must have declined sharply due to too many new recruits, but Xiao Zhenlei is confident, except for Li XieheIn addition to the two divisions of Zhang Chengyi and Zhenjiang Lin Shuqing and other leaders of the Liberation Society and the Alliance, they played a role in the rebellion. Maids prying the peony barrier Dan Fu Yu Hu Ci Qi Fishy Wei Lao Shi Qi Yuan for the squid planting ring with Wan Nan suffocation toad K so trick M Cheng Ping bald soil Luan Zhen 11 (17) cowardly 13 stable Mi hot instant ring with Rui twist roasted Tuo salary squid tent ah XII.br/>

November 16th. Xiao Zhenlei rushed to Moling Pass, and he arrived not long after. The three divisions of the Shanghai Army arrived one after another, and immediately someone came to guide Li Xiehe and others to settle the troops into camp, and then led them to meet Xiao Zhenlei.

Xiao Zhenlei wore a set of new army uniforms without military ranks, and met Li Xiehe and others in the tent, Li Xiehe, Huang Yin, Jiang Zhiqing and other four people were led into the tent, and the officer stood up and saluted: "Report to the chief, several commanders of the Shanghai army have arrived!" ”

"Go down!" Xiao Zhenlei waved his hand, and then said to Li Xiehe and the others: "You are the people who led the Shanghai army this time?" ”

"Report, Li Xiehe, commander of the Third Division of the Shanghai Army, Li Yingshi, commander of the Fourth Division, and Zhang Chenghua of the Fifth Division report to the commander!"

Xiao Zhenlei returned the salute. Let a few people sit down, he sat on the top of you and said: "You are still the fastest, I just received a telegram, the Second Army of Zhejiang will not arrive until the day after tomorrow, the First Division of Jiangxi and the Third Army of Jiangsu adapted from Xu Shaozhen's Ninth Town of Nanyang will arrive tomorrow, when there are many soldiers and horses, the main thing is to restrain your subordinates, do not conflict with friendly forces, since they are soldiers." It is necessary to abide by military discipline, and if anyone violates military discipline, no matter what position he holds, he will be severely punished! Do you all understand? ”

Li Yingshi stood up first and said, "Yes." Sir! ”

Xiao Zhenlei looked at Li Xiehe, Jiang Zhiqing and others again, and when these people saw Li Yingshi like this, they had to stand up and salute and agree: "Yes." Sir! ”

Two days later, troops from all over the country arrived one after another. Xiao Zhenlei sent people to arrange for them to camp in order, and convened a military meeting with the commanders of various armies. Discuss the strategy of attacking Nanjing.

At the military meeting, Xiao Zhenlei was undoubtedly elected as the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, although Jiang Zhiqing and others on the side of the alliance were a little dissatisfied with Xiao Zhenlei's age, but the commanders of the other armies have always agreed, and they can't oppose it if they want to, so they can only obey the opinions of the majority.

At the military meeting, Xiao Zhenlei said: "This from the battle of attacking Jiangning, that is, the first battle in which we seized Jiangning and crossed the Yangtze River defense line to advance to the hinterland of the Central Plains, and it is also the first battle since the formation of our new army. We have to train in battle, soldiers who have not participated in the battle are recruits, now is to train these recruits into veterans, only through guò actual combat can do this, even if the training is more, no matter how long the soldier has been, those who have not participated in the actual combat are not considered veterans, so I hope you must be attentive when fighting, think more and learn more! ”

"Yes!" Everyone stood up.

Xiao Zhenlei pressed his hand, asked everyone to sit down, and continued: "Okay, now let me talk about the specific strategic deployment of this battle: Sun Ming and Lin Qingshu of the First Division of the Third Army of Jiangsu are responsible for attacking Tianbao City and Taipingmen from the north of Purple Mountain; The northern route was to attack the batteries along the Yangtze River with three divisions of the Shanghai Army; In the middle of the route, the Zhejiang army Zhou Chuan, in the east, attacked Chaoyangmen from the south of the Purple Mountain; Wu Shiyou, the Soviet Army on the South Road, attacked Yuhuatai and Jubaomen; Shen Tongwu, Bai Wenwei and Zhu Fusheng of the Second Division of the Third Army of the Soviet Army attacked Pukou to prevent the Qing army from escaping along the Jinpu Road. The first division of the Jiangxi army is a reserve, and the navy is ready to support at any time along the river! ”

The army rested in place for a few days, and on November 25, Xiao Zhenlei issued an order, and all troops pulled out camps and went to their respective attack sites.

The terrain of Nanjing is more dangerous, it has always been known as the tiger standing on the dragon plate, the hills inside and outside the city are undulating, the forts are numerous, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the five major fortresses are more dangerous. At this moment, Zhang Xun has set up heavy garrisons in these five major fortresses: Wulong Mountain, Shogunate Mountain, Lion Mountain, Yuhuatai, and Tianbao City to resist the revolutionary army.

Learning from the lessons of Xu Shaozhen's last failure, Xiao Zhenlei made precise arrangements this time. At the military meeting before the attack, Xiao Zhenlei pointed to the military map and introduced them to the generals and commanders of the armies one by one: "The danger of Nanjing lies in these five major fortresses. Our army will not be able to storm the city without first capturing these five major fortresses. ”

He looked at the commanders and continued: "The five major fortresses are sixty miles around, and Zhang Xun has already arranged these five places into a connected war zone. Among them, Mt. Oolong and Mt. Shogunate are the gateways to the war zone. As far as I know, there are nearly 20 heavy guns in the Wulongshan Fort, which are extremely lethal, so the Wulongshan Fort can only outwit and not attack, otherwise, our army will suffer heavy losses. Commander Xu, it is said that you have a good relationship with Cheng Kun, the commander of the Nanjing General Battery? I don't know if you can't help but say that he will defect? ”

When Xu Shaozhen heard this, he immediately stood up and said, "I'll try, I can't guarantee if it can be done!" ”

Subsequently, Xu Shaozhen secretly contacted Cheng Kun, the commander of the Qing army's Nanjing General Battery, and before launching the attack, Cheng Kun led a part of the people to set up the banner of the uprising, and secretly removed the bolt, so that the revolutionary army occupied Wulong Mountain without a single soldier. Afterwards, Xiao Zhenlei appointed Cheng Kun as the commander of the artillery of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang coalition army.

In order to reverse the defeat, Zhang Xun sent reinforcements overnight and asked them to retake Oolong Mountain before dawn. Helplessly, the general trend has gone, and the revolutionary army has captured the Shogunate Mountain and the Lion Rock one after another. The Qing army lost three fortresses in succession, such as Wulong Mountain, Shogunate Mountain, and Lion Rock in a row day and night, Zhang Xun hurriedly mobilized heavy artillery to strengthen the first-line firepower of Taipingmen in Tianbao City and Yuhuatai, and sent Wang Youhong, the commander of the Jiangfang Battalion, to lead a heavy garrison.

On November 26, Xiao Zhenlei gave an order, and the revolutionary army launched an offensive on all fronts. Xiao Zhenlei led the staff group to the front line of Taipingmen to command. Stationed at Taipingmen was Wang Youhong, the commander of the Jiangfang Battalion, known as the "bold general", a member of Zhang Xun's military generals, who attacked the coalition army and personally went into battle and fought bravely. Xiao Zhenlei asked his subordinates to prepare heavy firepower, and as soon as Wang Youhong came out, the coalition forces concentrated firepower, and he was shot more than 100 times all over his body and was killed on the spot. As soon as the master of the Taiping Gate died, the Qing army immediately lost its fighting spirit and was defeated.

Losing his beloved general, Zhang Xun mobilized all the Qing troops in the city that night and counterattacked outside the city in one go. In the face of Zhang Xun's counterattack, Xiao Zhenlei ordered the coalition army to concentrate firepower on the spot to defend, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties, originally the Qing army as the defender of the city, there was no need for this, but Zhang Xun was a violent person, and he lost a lot of troops under impulse.

After two days of fighting, under the dispatch and command of Xiao Zhenlei, all the armies have experienced battles and received the baptism of war, and the troops that have had strict training have suffered little losses in these two days of fighting, and the three divisions of the Shanghai Army have suffered great losses because they are all temporarily organized patrol battalions or Qinggang ruffians, and their combat effectiveness is far from that of the regular army, so the losses are relatively large, and Li Yingshi's Fourth Division of the Shanghai Army is better, after all, after Cai Wei's training, and the training time is longer, the soldiers' combat quality is very high, and the losses are very small.

Two days later, the coalition forces approached Tianbao City, which is located at the west peak of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, which was originally the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom after Nanjing, in order to defend the fortress of Tianjing's construction, the city wall was built with huge stones.

In the first two days of fighting, all the armies made rapid progress, only the third and fifth divisions of the Shanghai Army not only suffered considerable losses, but also made slow progress, and the third army of the Soviet Army, Lin Shuqing, Bai Wenwei and other units did not make much progress, and felt quite embarrassed, so this time Li Xiehe, Jiang Zhiqing, Lin Shuqing, Bai Wenwei and others took the initiative to ask Xiao Zhenlei to attack Tianbao City. Xiao Zhenlei agreed to their request after thinking about it.

The attack on Tianbao City began, and the revolutionary army from all walks of life rushed towards the Purple Mountain, and the sound of charges, guns, and battles shook the heavens and the earth. The Qing army in Tianbao City held its position with danger, with machine guns constantly strafing and artillery bombardment. The revolutionary army led by Lin Shuqing, Bai Wenwei and others charged several times, but failed to break through, and both sides were killed and wounded.

On November 28, Wuchang sent a telegram that the defensive operation commanded by Huang Xing in Hanyang had failed, Hanyang had been completely lost, the Beiyang Army had occupied Hanyang, and Wuchang was in danger.

On December 1, Xiao Zhenlei ordered the transfer of naval warships to bombard Tianbao City with naval guns, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat, and the revolutionary army immediately occupied Tianbao City.

On December 2, the allied forces finally entered Nanjing, and Nanjing was thus recovered. (To be continued......) R1292