On the official road from Nanjing to Dangtu, countless soldiers were lining up in a long line and slowly advancing, among which there were a few people riding tall horses, who were undoubtedly officers.

"Lao Zhang, are they just that?" Retreating to both sides of the road, one of the passers-by asked in a whisper as he pointed to the advancing soldiers.

Hearing his companion's words, Lao Zhang hurriedly raised his hand and instructed them not to say anything, and waited until he found that these soldiers were not paying attention to the two of them before he spoke. whispered, don't die..."After speaking, he pulled him back, so that the two of them were at least 2 or 30 meters away from the soldiers on the official road before continuing. "It must be that these guys are right, what are you begging for the Yan Army, hmph, it's not the lackeys of those landlords and officials..."Saying that, Lao Zhang glared at the Yan Jun on the official road, and the hostility in his eyes was undisguised.

The matter of courting Yuan Jun has spread all over the country, and Dangtu County is the first to bear the brunt, and it is naturally impossible for these people living in Dangtu County not to know the way.

It's just that for these 'Yan Army' who claim to be here to save themselves, the people of Anhui don't have the slightest good impression, and this is even more true when Tu is here. Although Dangtu and Wuhu were Yan Shao's starting places, they were not attacked by the gentry, but they still learned about what happened in other places through the newspapers.

Because of this, when Yan Shao sent troops to arrest those gentry, almost all the people in Anhui chose to support it, even some other gentry—————— after all, it is impossible for every gentry to be a bad person.

Now Bai Wenwei suddenly came out and said that Yan Shao was bullying the place. He wants to stand up and uphold justice for those officials and gentry, how can these ordinary people have a good impression of him. What's more, some time ago, several newspapers in Anhui also made it very clear that Bai Wenwei actually grabbed the position of governor. As for the others, they are completely poor and crazy, so they want to come to Anhui to find food...

Looking for food? How to find it, even if you think about it with your knees, in this case, the people will have a good impression of these people, so it's strange...

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I didn't know that there were two ordinary people staring at him hostilely next to the official road (in fact, even if I noticed it, I wouldn't care), Xing Jian'an was riding on a tall horse, and he didn't know what Lu Dao was thinking about.

It was at this time. In the distance, two horsemen suddenly galloped towards them.

The appearance of the cavalry immediately made the troops nervous, but when they found out that the soldiers on horseback were wearing their own uniforms, the soldiers relaxed. Give way to these two cavalrymen.

Passing through the middle of the soldiers, two cavalrymen came to Xing Jian'an. "Divisional Commander!" Grizzled, one of the soldiers wiped the sweat from his face and saluted Xing Jian'an with an embarrassed face.

"What's going on. Why are you so embarrassed. "There was no return of the favor. Looking at the embarrassed appearance of the two, Xing Jian'an frowned slightly.

Gasping for breath again, one of the soldiers said. "Report to the division commander, we have encountered a small group of enemy troops in front..."

"How's it going?" Xing Jian'an asked, but he didn't care much in his heart, because what he sent out was that the vanguard was a cavalry company, and the soldier had just said that they only encountered a small group of enemy troops.

As for the embarrassed appearance of the two soldiers. This was even more important to him, after all, he had only fought an encounter with the enemy. And after tossing and turning on horseback for so long, it would be strange if they were still fully dressed.

It's just that just when Xing Jian'an thought that he would hear good news, the words of the cavalry surprised him. “…… The brothers in front of us can't hold on anymore, and the company commander asked the two of us to escape back, hoping that you can send support as soon as possible, division commander..."

"What?!" At this time, Xing Jian'an was really taken aback. "Didn't you say that you encountered a small army of knowledge!"

"That's right..."Hearing Xing Jian'an say this, the two soldiers were also inexplicably ashamed.

It has become almost a well-known thing that the Confederacy's armies are poor, and because of this, troops like cavalry or artillery are almost always like treasures in the Confederacy.

Xing Jian'an is the commander of the fourth division, and there is only one cavalry company in their division, and because of this, these cavalrymen have always prided themselves on being elite, and now these elites have encountered a unit smaller than their own, not only have they been beaten and lost their armor, but they can't even run away, which makes them not ashamed.

It's just that since Xing Jian'an has already asked, these two cavalrymen can't help but answer. "The firepower of those enemy troops is too strong, at the beginning we didn't expect them to have so many machine guns, and as a result, we suffered a big loss, and by the time we reacted, they were surrounded by them and couldn't run away..."

As he spoke, the cavalry told him what had happened, and it turned out that their cavalry company had been ordered to go first and listen to the reality of the enemy. As a result, in the process of rushing forward, they happened to encounter a reconnaissance company, which at this time had 152 men and a cavalry company had 78 men, which means that the strength of the reconnaissance company was almost half more than that of the cavalry company. But combat effectiveness has never been calculated like this, plus these cavalry have horses, and they usually don't take these two-legged infantry in their eyes, so after seeing it from a distance, the company commander of the cavalry company immediately ordered to catch up and win this first credit.

The reconnaissance company was also startled when he saw that he had just run into a cavalry company as soon as he went out. However, the company commander was quite calm, knowing that his more than 150 people could not fight against the cavalry on flat ground.

Therefore, relying on the distance between each other, he took his men and ran to a hill in the distance. It's just that two legs can't compare with four legs after all, and before they can run up the hills, the cavalry on the opposite side has already caught up.

There was no way, and in desperation, the company commander could only order the people under his command to resist on the spot.

The confrontation between infantry and cavalry, at least in the eyes of the people of this era, should in any case be the latter superior, after all, with equal firepower, cavalry is much more mobile than infantry.

Not to mention the cavalry, even the people in the reconnaissance company felt the same way.

It's just a firefight. The result was a big surprise to both sides.

The mobility of those cavalry was indeed fast, relying on the mounts under their hips, but in a moment they had already rushed to a distance of less than a hundred meters from the reconnaissance company. And at this time the talents of the reconnaissance company were just ready ...

The problem is that those war horses provide them with very conspicuous targets while giving them high mobility, so when the 9 light machine guns of the reconnaissance company fire at the same time, almost in the blink of an eye, the more than 70 horsemen were swept down—————— although it was a machine gun, it was really difficult to hit the horse off...

When the remnants of the cavalry finally rushed to the front of the reconnaissance company, they were greeted by nearly a hundred grenades, and the remaining cavalry company was immediately devastated. The company commander, who had already been frightened, did not dare to continue to rush at all. Hurriedly fled to the side with his subordinates.

The reconnaissance company commander reacted very quickly, although he was also very surprised by this result, but after seeing that the cavalry wanted to run, he hurriedly chased after his subordinates.

The worst result was that the men of the cavalry company were stationed on the hills. The men of the reconnaissance company were responsible for the storm.

The company commander of the cavalry company did not think about rushing out of the city with the high speed of the war horse after regaining calm, but the problem was that in the process of charging, many cavalry horses were swept by machine guns, and now at least nearly half of the cavalry is without horses, plus wounded soldiers. If they want to run. It is estimated that only half of the people can run out, and the rest can only be left as prisoners of the Anhui Revolutionary Army below...

Although the soldiers below didn't say anything, the company commander knew very well that if he really planned to give up on them, those people below would probably be the first to turn their faces. There was no other way, he could only send two cavalry to forcibly rush down and come to Xing Jian'an for help, while the rest of the people were guarding according to the danger. Even though it's just a small hill...

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"This group of waste, they can't even do a little thing..."Hearing that his cavalry was actually surrounded by a group of infantry. Xing Jian'an immediately scolded.

It's just scolding and scolding, and it must be saved, not to mention that the cavalry company commander is still his cronies.

The most important thing is that his cavalry company was beaten like this, and he always had to save face.

It's just that when he arrived on the hill with his troops, the reconnaissance company that the cavalry said had already withdrawn without a trace, and only twenty or so cavalrymen were still standing on the hill.

The reconnaissance company commander did not become arrogant because of the previous battle, although the outcome of the battle was somewhat unexpected to him, but after seeing two cavalry escape, he already knew that he had no chance to eat the cavalry on the hills.

Therefore, after trying to lead people to rush once but did not rush up, the company commander decisively chose to give up and retreated in the direction of the Cihu River with a few captured prisoners. There, the Anhui Revolutionary Army had already built a defensive line, from which they had previously come.

The company commander knew very well that if he continued to stay and had to deal with the cavalry above, he would probably never be able to get out of it when the reinforcements caught up. Although they were asked to come out and listen to the reality of the enemy army, this time they captured a few prisoners and came back, so it was not considered a mission failure—————— and they were able to defeat a company's cavalry with a company's strength in battle, which was a credit to some extent.

When the men of the reconnaissance company rushed back to the Cihu River, Yan Shao was in a meeting with officers at all levels in the headquarters of the Cihu River defense line.

To be honest, it is impossible to deal with 80,000 or 90,000 people with almost 20,000 people without being nervous, so when the news reached the headquarters, the atmosphere in the headquarters was immediately lifted.

It was a small victory, but it bode well for many to get such a victory at the beginning.

However, compared with them, Yan Shao, Fu Xiuming and others were more concerned about the process and outcome of the battle.

In normal encounters, due to the superiority of equipment, the casualties of the reconnaissance platoon were only 10, of which only 2 were killed, and they were all paid in the process of strong attack. In contrast, the reconnaissance platoon captured 4 prisoners in the battle, and at least half of the enemy's casualties, and possibly more...

This result was unexpected by everyone except Yan Shao.

"It seems that the machine gun is indeed very useful, if that's the case..."Yan Shao began to think about taking the initiative.

Although he was confident that with the 20,000 revolutionary troops deployed in the Dangtu defense line, he would definitely be able to stop Bai Wenwei's 'Yan Army'. But 20,000 against 80,000, the pressure is too great after all, especially the morale of the soldiers under his command. There are too many recruits in the revolutionary army now. Therefore, Yan Shao needs to have a victory to boost the morale of the army for himself.

"How many people are in Bai Wenwei's vanguard this time..."Thinking so in his heart, Yan Shao opened his mouth and asked Tang Li who was standing aside.

In a war, the importance of intelligence can be imagined, so it is impossible for the Special Affairs Bureau not to send people to follow. Originally, Caterina wanted to come with her this time, but the problem was that there were too many things in the Special Affairs Bureau, and now she was the only one in the bureau to deal with it. So Caterina sent Tang Li over, anyway, they were all old people in the Wuhu period, so they didn't have to worry about any problems.

"This time, Bai Wenwei sent three divisions of the First Army. and the 13th and 15th Divisions, which had just been reorganized, and the reconnaissance company should have encountered Bai Wenwei's Fourth Division, which was the main force of the attack this time, according to the information we obtained. This division has just over 8,000 men. It's a division of less than 10,000 people, and in terms of strength, it may be called good in the Alliance, but outside"

After listening to Tang Li's introduction, Yan Shao nodded, and then looked at Fu Xiuming on the side. "Can we transfer a brigade of troops and cross the Cihu River to attack Xing Jian'an's Fourth Division head-on?!"

Yan Shao didn't think about eating this army, so it didn't mean that he didn't dare. The problem is that the distance between Dangtu and Nanjing is too close. If it is a rapid march, half a day is enough. It is not easy to eat a division at such a time, even if it is a division that is not satisfied, and if you fail to eat the enemy army within the specified time, when the other side's reinforcements have caught up, and there is no defense line and fortifications, it will not be easy to defend against 80,000 or 90,000 people with 20,000 men...

"Is it just a head-on attack?" After listening to Yan Shao's words, Fu Xiuming lowered his head and asked after a deep groan.

"Of course." Yan Shao smiled, if the distance between Dangtu and Nanjing could be another hundred kilometers, no, fifty kilometers, Yan Shao would be interested in eating the division in front of him, but unfortunately it didn't, so he just wanted to teach the other party a lesson, and use this to improve the morale of the troops.

"If that's the case, isn't there a way, judging from the intelligence just reported, the firepower of the enemy and ours is very different, and the strength of a brigade may really be able to beat the people of Jian'an..."

Fu Xiuming thought about it and replied, he also has his own considerations, although the loyalty of the troops is undoubted, but with 20,000 people against more than 80,000 people, most of the troops are recruits, it is impossible not to be nervous, if you can win a battle at this time, at least you can solve the morale problem of the troops.

Fu Xiuming can think of it, and others naturally want to get it too.

Therefore, after only more than 10 minutes of deliberation, the plan was approved.

"Which unit do you think is more suitable?" Touching his chin, Yan Shao asked Fu Xiuming and the others.

"It's still a brigade..."After thinking about it, Fu Xiuming replied. The 1st Brigade is the original Anhui New Army, and its combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions.

After listening to Fu Xiuming's words, everyone else nodded in agreement.

Although the other officers did not want to admit it, the 1st Division was indeed the most effective unit in the revolutionary army, and if it were not for this, Yan Shao would not have deployed it in Suzhou, specifically to prevent Yuan Shikai's Beiyang.

Since everyone recommended a brigade, Yan Shao naturally would not refuse.

After it was decided, Yan Shao quickly issued the order to Liu Guangyuan, the commander of the first brigade.

The troops in the defense line were all prepared early, plus the time was urgent, Liu Guangyuan didn't say anything after receiving the order, just ordered the troops to prepare ammunition and three days' supplies, and then crossed the Cihu River with the troops...

For the later events, even Yan Shao, who was the most optimistic about the battle situation, only thought that Liu Guangyuan's first brigade could give Xing Jian'an's fourth division a head start, because the time he gave Liu Guangyuan was very short, only 2 hours, and after 2 hours, no matter what the results were, he must get out of the battle as soon as possible...

You must know that Lu Dao is behind Xing Jian'an's fourth division, and he is still followed by at least 4 divisions, if he can't get out of the battle after 2 hours, when the other party's reinforcements catch up, Liu Guangyuan will have to face five times his own strength...

But what happened next seemed a bit unexpected...

On March 3, after crossing the Cihu River, Liu Guangyuan's 1st Division and 1st Brigade encountered the 4th Division of the 1st Army of the Criminal Construction and Security Department, and the two sides exchanged fire.

In the first 20 minutes of the firefight, the two sides fought very conservatively, but in these 20 minutes, Liu Guangyuan found that the enemy's firepower was far weaker than his own. After discovering this, Liu Guangyuan decisively ordered the Second Regiment to charge the Criminal Construction and Security Department with the machine gunners in the regiment as the core.

Because it was an encounter, there were no trenches and no fortifications, so in the face of the overwhelming firepower of Liu Guang's distant area, it only lasted a few minutes and the perimeter of the criminal construction and security department was torn out a few times.

Liu Guangyuan was also taken aback when he saw that the second regiment tore out a few holes so easily, but he still decisively ordered the first regiment to follow the reinforcements and help the second regiment launch an attack on the Ministry of Criminal Construction and Security.

In the face of raindrops of grenades and tongues of fire, the Ministry of Criminal Construction and Security, which was stronger than the rabble, only held out for more than ten minutes before its morale collapsed. Although Xing Jian'an also made a variety of efforts, and even led his own soldiers as a supervising team and shot more than 20 deserters, more than an hour later, more than 8,000 people of the Criminal Jian'an Department were still defeated by Liu Guangyuan's brigade in one fell swoop.

Not to mention Fu Xiuming and them, even Yan Shao was extremely surprised by such a record, and the degree of smoothness even made him feel that his follow-up plan was not needed at all? (To be continued......)