The first battle of the conquest of Jiangnan kicked off at the white sand beach twenty miles west of Wuchang City, but it was not the first regiment of the Marine Corps that landed on the white sand beach that fired the first shot of this battle, but the main force of the First Fleet of the Great Zhou River Defense that went down the river to protect the safety of the flank of the landing ground.

Soon after the main force of the First Fleet of Jiangfang continued to move eastward, it discovered the 10,000 defenders of Ezhou in the south of the Yangtze River who were rapidly advancing towards the landing ground five miles away from Baisha. Although he was ordered to intercept the attack of the Jiangnan army and naval forces on the landing site, seeing that the enemy army was approaching quickly and had an absolute superiority in troops, his landing force was likely to face the disadvantageous situation of engaging the enemy with superior numbers before it had time to establish a solid position at the landing site. Therefore, He Haisheng, the deputy commander of the First Fleet of Jiangfang who was in charge of the command of the fleet, made a quick decision, and on the one hand ordered the lookout posts to pay close attention to the situation on the water surface downstream, and on the other hand ordered the fleet to form a column and use the starboard firepower of each ship to carry out a fierce bombardment of the Jiangnan Army on the shore -- due to the limitation of ship type and tonnage, the guns of the battleships equipped with firearms of the First Fleet of Jiangfang adopted the original two-sided configuration scheme.

Although the First Fleet of Jiangfang was not equipped with firearms like the "Flying Dragon Army" naval fleet, 20 large inland river capital ships equipped with artillery of various calibers and 40 small and medium-sized river patrol ships equipped with a large number of ballistas and bows and arrows fired at the same time.

Although the main force of the First Fleet of the Jiangnan Defense Fleet had the advantage in firepower in the confrontation with the Ezhou defenders on the shore, first, its main task was to guard against the attack and harassment of the Jiangnan Army's naval forces on the landing ground, and second, when the battle between the two sides proceeded at any time, and after realizing their inferiority in firepower and range, the Ezhou defenders on the shore quickly retreated under the command of the deputy commander of the Ezhou Infantry Army, who led the troops, widened the distance between the two sides, and gradually broke away from the strike range of the ships of the First Fleet of the Jiangfang Army. In addition, in order to guard against the opponent's naval forces, the main force of the First Fleet of Jiangfang could not anchor on the spot to fight, because with the passage of time, its ships would keep sailing downstream under the impetus of the current. Therefore, that is, the work of a cup of tea, the first battle of the conquest of Jiangnan ended with the disengagement of the soldiers and horses of the two sides.

He Haisheng was very satisfied with his own record of causing at least 500 or 600 enemy losses with zero casualties, and the volley of guns and artillery on this side was equivalent to providing a necessary warning to the main force of the 1st Marine Regiment that was landing on Baisha Beach, so that it could be prepared against the sneak attack of the Jiangnan Army. Therefore, after the ship sailed out of the effective range of artillery fire, He Haisheng no longer paid attention to the defenders of Ezhou in the south of the Yangtze River who were still retreating away from the river, but focused all his attention on the river, ready to repel the possible attack of the enemy naval army at any time.

He Haisheng's side could immediately turn his attention from the encounter just now to the river, but the commander of the Ezhou defenders in the south of the Yangtze River who was suddenly attacked could not be as free and easy as him. Although in terms of losses, our side only lost less than 700 men in the encounter just now, but once the soldiers had just finished fighting, their morale was already low. Second, it is only five miles away from the white sand beach, and the loud sound of the Zhou army's naval army firing firearms has already reached the ears of his accomplices on the shore, and the other party must have been ready to deal with the sneak attack, which means that his sneak attack is likely to evolve into a strong attack. If this is the case, if he rushes to Baisha Beach with his men and horses at this time, it will be tantamount to sending him to death - although he has not fought with the Zhou army, especially the Beiping army, before this, the deputy commander of the infantry army of the Ezhou garrison in the south of the Yangtze River still has heard of the bravery of the Beiping soldiers and the sharpness of firearms. He didn't think that with his 10,000 soldiers and horses, who had just lost their spirit, they would be able to fight face-to-face with more than 1,000 and nearly 2,000 elite soldiers of the Beiping Army.

But it is not easy for this deputy commander to retreat without a fight and withdraw to Wuchang City with his subordinates. Not to mention that if you retreat without a fight, you will be ridiculed by your colleagues, and you will be regarded by everyone as a cowardly and incompetent general, and you will not be able to get by with your own face and reputation. Just not carrying out the order of Yang Shouzhong Yang is not something he can afford. When the time comes, he will lose his official position and leave his post and will not be able to raise his head for the rest of his life, and at worst, he will be in a different place and become a victim of the festival to make an example for adults. For a while, the deputy commander was in a dilemma, and he didn't know what to do.

After pondering for a long time, in line with the idea that "whether to fight or not to fight is a matter of principle, and to fight well and badly is a matter of strength," the deputy commander decided to fight this battle after some consideration. After all, the strength of the Zhou army, especially the Beiping army, is there, even if he loses this battle, when he returns to Wuchang City, Yang Jiedu may reprimand, perhaps blame, and even cut his military power, but it is unlikely that he will want his own head because of losing to the "first army in the world", and he will have a chance to make a comeback in the future. So, after reorganizing his troops and horses as quickly as possible, the deputy commander waved his hand and led nearly 10,000 horses and horses towards the direction of Baisha.

The distance of five miles is not too far, and it takes only one meal to complete the hurried march. It was only after being intercepted by the main force of the First Fleet of Jiangfang just now, and considering whether to advance or retreat and the time wasted by regrouping, when the defenders of Ezhou, south of the Yangtze River, rushed to Baisha, the two infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and one cavalry battalion of the First Marine Regiment of the "Flying Dragon Army" had not only completed the landing, but also built improvised fortifications on the east side of the landing ground leading to Wuchang City, thus building a relatively complete defensive position. This sneak attack battle, which was originally pinned on by Yang Shouzhong, the defender of Ezhou in the south of the Yangtze River, has completely evolved into a hard-fought positional offensive and defensive battle.

With less than 10,000 local men and horses, who were basically infantry, they attacked nearly 2,000 marines of the "Flying Dragon Army," who relied on simple fortifications, had relatively complete defensive positions, and could also be supported by long-range fire from nearly 30 warships. After only two and a half times - the third attack was only half carried out before it was abandoned due to the fear of the soldiers - and the larger-scale attack, the deputy commander of the Ezhou garrison in the south of the Yangtze River abandoned the corpses of nearly 1,000 of his men in front of the position and more than 300 wounded soldiers who could not afford to be seriously injured, and retreated towards Wuchang City with the rest of his men and horses. Behind them, the cavalry battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment of the "Wyvern Army" crossed their own positions, urged their horses to gallop, and chased after each other's butts. In the end, excluding those soldiers who were killed, captured, and escaped, the Jiangnan Army that was lucky enough to withdraw to Wuchang City, including the deputy commander, was left with less than 4,000 people, not even half of the troops when they were dispatched.

The defenders of Ezhou in the south of the Yangtze River suffered a great loss in the land battle, and their naval forces also failed to bargain on the river. Just when the 10,000-strong infantry army launched an impossible attack on the landing site, the Ezhou naval army, which had been ordered to advance with it by land and water, also met with the main force of the First Fleet of the Great Zhou River Defense down the river ten miles away from Wuchang City. In the face of the First Fleet of the Great Zhou River Defense, which had the upper hand, and especially in the face of the 20 inland river capital ships of the First Fleet of the Great Zhou River, each equipped with nearly 20 guns of various calibers, the Ezhou Naval Army, which had 260 ships of various types, had an absolute superiority in numbers, and its fate was no different from that of their land brothers.

The 20 main ships of the First Fleet of the Great Zhou River Defense were divided into two groups, and taking advantage of the superiority of their ships and guns, they swept across the river from both sides of the Ezhou Naval Fleet, one on the left and one on the right, one in front and one behind, and fiercely bombarded them with broadside fire. In just one round, more than 100 ships of the Ezhou Navy were sunk and damaged. This round of firepower not only demoralized the Ezhou naval army, but also completely disrupted its combat formation, creating good conditions for the other ships of the First Fleet of Jiangfang that followed to besiege the remaining ships of the enemy. After nearly an hour of scuffle, except for less than 30 ships that escaped back to Wuchang City, the other ships of the Ezhou Navy in the south of the Yangtze River were either sunk or captured, and their defeat was even worse than that of the soldiers and horses on land. It can be said that after this war, the Ezhou naval army in the south of the Yangtze River no longer exists.

Yang Shouzhong, the commander of the Ezhou garrison in the south of the Yangtze River, ordered the whole city to mobilize and strengthen the vigilance, and sent messengers to Jinling for help.

Before the afternoon of February 12 of the lunar calendar of the third year of Jianlong, the main force of the Western Route Army of the Southern Expedition of the Later Zhou Dynasty was landed, and Wuchang City was immediately surrounded.