Yangzhou hospitals were overcrowded, full of anxious people.

Just one day ago, on February 17, 23, this day happened to be the second day of the Lunar New Year, and although the people were living in difficulty, they were still enjoying a rare New Year's time, but who knew that an unprovoked disaster befell them.

Five British warships suddenly opened fire on the city of Yangzhou, and huge shells exploded between people's houses, destroying countless houses, and people who were celebrating the Spring Festival at home suffered an unjustified disaster.

The bombardment lasted for more than half an hour, and the British poured hundreds of shells into the city, killing more than 2,000 people and injuring more than 5,000 people.

In fact, just before the British warships bombarded Yangzhou, they had already launched an artillery bombardment of a camp of the Feng army. After Zhou Zijian led the Feng army and seized Pukou, he wantonly collected ships in the north of the Yangtze River and prepared to cross the river to attack Nanjing.

One unit happened to be on the front line of Yangzhou, and while collecting the ships, the British fleet sailed by and opened fire on the Chinese ships, three fishing boats were sunk, more than 20 soldiers died, and the camp on the shore was also shelled, and more than 50 soldiers died in the shelling.

But even so, the British were still not satisfied, they went against the current, and launched a bombardment of innocent civilians, and all the major hospitals in Yangzhou were overcrowded, and the trauma medicine, burn medicine, and surgical equipment were all sold out. Many people have to undergo surgery without anesthetic.

The terrible cry is the most haode accusation! After Yang Yuting and Liang Qichao came to the hospital, they immediately frowned, and they were also stunned by the situation in front of them.

The hospital's morgue was already full of corpses, many of which had to be placed outside. There were children of three or five years old, and old people of sixty or seventy years old, with hideous wounds on their bodies, distorted faces, and painful expressions written on their facial features.

"Beasts are not as good as beasts!" When Yang Yuting saw this scene, his eyes immediately stood up: "Zhou Zijian, you come over to me!" ”

Zhou Zijian hurriedly came to Yang Yuting's face: "Report to the minister, the humble position is here." ”

"If you don't fire, will you let the British attack our people?"

As soon as Zhou Zijian heard this, his face immediately turned red. He bowed his head in pain: "Despicable, incompetent." ”

"Lingge, you are leading the troops, why are you confused!" Liang Qichao said on the side: "Brigade Commander Zhou, they just arrived at the riverside, and the heavy weapons haven't followed. How do you tell them to fight back. ”

Yang Yuting shook his head: "War will not break out when you are all ready. It began with the shelling of civilians by British warships. The war has already begun, and as a soldier, you have to use the weapons in your hands to protect the safety of the people, and it is a dereliction of duty to let the British warships retreat calmly! ”

I heard Yang Yuting's words. Zhou Zi's fitness body was also shocked, and he had already heard something different from Yang Yuting's words.

"Minister, are we going to war with the British?"

"Declaring war is something that only a vice president can decide, but as a military man. We must be happy to take revenge, and any provocation must be fought back, and the murderer must be punished! ”

"Understand, let's prepare."

Yang Yuting nodded, and said: "I also brought two bomber squadrons this time, don't think that if there are a few broken ships, you dare to run rampant on the Yangtze River, we are not the Manchu Qing Dynasty!" ”

In fact, in order to deal with the British warships, not only the air force was dispatched, but the army also urgently mobilized twelve 240 millimeter shore defense guns, which were on the train heading south at this time, in addition, the underwater Liliang of the Feng army was also dispatched, and six submarines left Jiaozhou Bay and sailed to the mouth of the Yangtze River.

These submarines are all loaded with mines, and they are even ready to blockade the mouth of the Yangtze River. As China's most important golden waterway, once the Yangtze River estuary is blocked, China will definitely suffer serious losses. But at this time, the dignity of the country is the most important, and the British warship that caused the accident must not let them escape easily, otherwise they will not be able to explain to the people who died unjustly.

Of course, this order was also issued by Zhang Tinglan himself, based on Jun's historical experience, Zhang Tinglan knew very well that once the Feng army set foot in the south, it would inevitably cause the jealousy of the foreign powers. A unified China is not what they want.

In the Northern Expedition in history, the great powers also jumped out, the Nanjing tragedy, the Hankou tragedy, and the Jinan tragedy...... The armies of the great powers desperately slaughtered the Chinese people, and the crimes are already too numerous to mention.

Great Britain, the United States, Japan, France, Italy all took part, and everything they flaunted paled in the face of bloody facts. It's just sad and lamentable, that a certain eternal perfect person with an empty space before and after, actually apologized to the murderer of his compatriots, and crawled at the feet of the powerful.

Zhang Tinglan is not surprised at all that the British caused the Yangzhou tragedy, in fact, since he captured Weihaiwei and cleaned up the pro-British Shili, there will be a contest between China and Britain sooner or later. Now it seems that the temporary concessions of the British at the negotiating table are not really giving in.

This was just a delaying tactic for them, in the north close to the base camp of the Feng army, the British shili was thin, and there was no benefit in resisting hard, so the British chose the battlefield on the Yangtze River.

"After all, there is still a fight!" Zhang Tinglan hurriedly brought Tang Shaoyi and others over, and the important members of the cabinet gathered together again, everyone's faces were a little solemn, and they competed with Shijie Boss, which required great courage and courage, and everyone present was all worried.

Zhang Tinglan looked very relaxed: "Ladies and gentlemen, it is true that Britain is very powerful, but as the saying goes, when the water is full, the moon is full and the moon is profitable, and the British have long exceeded the limit of expansion. A few years ago, if it weren't for the Americans, Britain's painting skin would have been punctured long ago. Don't look at them with their teeth and claws, but they're just paper tigers, and they don't care at all. ”

"We now have two main tasks, the first is to show the UK a tough stance that they must pay for the tragedy; The second is to use this tragedy to fully expose the conspiracy of the autonomy of the southern provinces, who are nothing but lackeys of foreigners, who are actually splitting the country under the banner of autonomy of the provinces. ”

As a mature politician, it is natural to miss any opportunity to completely defeat the other party. The autonomy of the southern provinces is based on the will of the people, and Zhang Tinglan, in order to resist the will of the people, can only play the banner of safeguarding national unity.

But with the direct intervention of the British, the nature of this matter changed again, and Zhang Tinglan could stand on a more favorable moral high ground and attack Southern Province. In front of the bloody afterimage, who would believe that they can represent the will of the people, they can think about the people!

These elites in the cabinet also quickly understood Zhang Tinglan's intentions, and secretly applauded, this is indeed the most haode method. The Cabinet quickly mobilized, and the Propaganda Department and the Foreign Office jointly took action to reveal the truth of the tragedy and mobilize the people to launch anti-British demonstrations to put pressure on the British government. At the same time, some people in the southern province were tied up with the British, saying that they slaughtered their compatriots with the help of foreigners, and they were acting as tigers and willing to act as lackeys.

Of course, these lively and lively war of words are just to build momentum, and the real solution to the problem is still strong force, if we cannot take out the British fleet and cross the Yangtze River, everything is in vain.

For this reason, Zhang Tinglan also transferred a large number of troops to the south, and the main force of the first division in Shandong went all out to the south, and Ma Zhanshan's cavalry division had already moved south quickly with the 12th and 13th divisions.

Yang Yuting was also promoted to the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, Jiang Deng was elected as the deputy commander-in-chief, and these two cadres were responsible for the crusade against Southern Province, and Zhang Tinglan also sent them a secret telegram to be sure to sink all the British ships that caused the incident, and if the British tried to expand the results of the battle, then the Feng army would go all out to meet the battle.

Zhang Tinglan is putting on a jiashi, and the tiger and the fly are fighting together. Rong Zhen, a staff officer who has been by Zhang Tinglan's side, has a different view.

"Vice President, these troops have been mobilized in Jiangsu, and there is only one sixth division left in the Beijing-Tianjin area, I am worried that the troops will be empty and there will be danger!"

Zhang Tinglan didn't care: "Liaodong and Shandong are controlled in our hands, the armies of the great powers can't enter, and there is Yan Xishan watching over Shanxi, and nothing can happen, and there is a main division in Dongjiaomin Lane, which is enough." ”

Although Rong Zhen still has some questions, it is difficult to say anything when he sees Zhang Tinglan so insistent.

In fact, the British also know that the Feng army is not what it used to be, they can interfere with the Northern Expeditionary Army in history, but they are still afraid of the Feng army, in fact, not only the British, but even other powers, the United States did not act with the British, and France and Italy did not want to wade into troubled waters, they just waved their flags and shouted behind them to cheer for the British.

The British also had no choice, the lost face had to be regained, and the southern army was too vegetable, so they had to rush to the front line. After the five warships bombarded Yangzhou, they did not withdraw immediately, and they still patrolled the river without fear.

After replenishing food and fuel in Nanjing, he continued to come out, and the time was exactly 23 February, and Cao Kun had already sent a telegram to the British, hoping that they could help defend the Feng army to the south, and buy time for the southern province to send troops, and the British also agreed to this request.

On the morning of the 23rd, the British warship appeared on the river again, but the situation today was a little different, and the river was calm and terrifying, as if shijie had suddenly fallen silent.

But suddenly, there was a roar in the air, and the British sailors looked up sharply, and a huge group of planes appeared in the distance.

"Airplane!" Exclamations were heard.

As an old-school navy, the British were not at a loss, they set up anti-aircraft machine guns, ready to fight, but in their hearts, there were still doubts about whether the Chinese dared to attack the British.

Three planes skipped by, no bombs were dropped, and the British sailors breathed a sigh of relief: "Coward! ”

But before he finished his words, the three planes had already turned their heads, forming a net with the follow-up planes, and the bombs fell mercilessly! (To be continued......)