The sun never sets.

Night attack group: 6949, 36135 "No, I haven't lost yet! I still have 400,000 troops! And the British are helping me!"

Yuan Shikai immediately called Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, granting them the right to command the front-line troops, and then asked someone to invite Ambassador Jordan to come over, but soon he changed his mind, "No, I want to meet Mr. Jordan in person!"

Regardless of the response of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, the People's Army is still preparing

The People's Army divided into three routes and forced a crossing of the 1,800-kilometer Yangtze River from Yichang to Shanghai. Li Dayan was the commander-in-chief of the Central Army, commanding the strengthened Fourth Corps, which had a total of 300,000 troops, more than 1,500 artillery pieces, and 1,200 heavy machine guns. And this was only the first wave of troops, with a larger number of reserve troops in the rear. The Fourth Corps was preparing to launch a strong attack from the Anqing, Wuhu, Jinling, and Jiangyin lines to annihilate the main force of Duan Qirui's troops and seize Jinling, the political and economic center of the National Government.

The Eastern Route Army had only 15 troops, the least among the three armies, but the heavy artillery force was greatly strengthened. Except for four captured 280mm howitzers deployed in Qingdao and Dagukou, the rest were allocated to the Eastern Route Army. In addition to liberating Shanghai, the main purpose of the Eastern Route Army was to block the Yangtze River waterway with large-caliber fortress guns and heavy howitzers. British and French warships in the Far East were parked on the sea outside Shanghai Wusongkou, threatening or waiting for an opportunity to hinder the People's Army from crossing the Yangtze River. The British and French fleets controlled the sea power in the Far East, and they were the main enemy of the Southern Route Army.

The strength of the Western Route Army was between the Central Route and the Eastern Route Army, with 22 men and less than 82 artillery pieces, but there were many 100mm and 120mm mortars, as well as some 82mm mortars. The 120mm mortar was a little weak and its range was not long enough, so it was an infantry weapon. The 100mm mortar was too heavy, so according to the opinions of the frontline soldiers and commanders, it was better to assign it to the division. The mm mortar had the right caliber, could be maneuvered by mules and horses, was powerful, and could be used as both battalion artillery and regiment artillery.

Except for the brave generals of the [Guards] and [Mongol Cavalry], most soldiers of the troops also said that the 82mm mortar was a bit heavy and it would be best if the weight could be reduced, even if the caliber was reduced. The 82mm mortar weighed more than 60 kilograms in total. After being broken down into three parts, the heaviest single part was close to 30 kilograms. It would be a waste of transportation capacity to use large animals to transport this weight, and it would be too heavy to use people to carry it, so it was not suitable for troops below the company level.

The army always wants the supporting artillery to be as powerful as possible and as light as possible, but this is an unsolvable problem. The 82mm mortar is powerful but a bit heavy. The 100mm mortar also has a trade-off between weight and power. The 120mm mortar has good power and range, but it weighs nearly 200 kilograms and must be transported by vehicles. Even the [Guards] find it difficult to carry this weapon with the infantry.

Despite these problems, the soldiers of the People's Army still liked these weapons very much. In war, having artillery and not having artillery were two completely different things. The combat goal of the Western Route Army was to destroy Feng Guozhang's troops, liberate Wuchang City, and the vast areas of Hubei and Hunan, and then, depending on the situation, either enter the Yunnan-Guizhou area to fight, or go up the Yangtze River to Sichuan.

Chapter 379: Running Wildly

【Reasons for war: unification of China】

[Unify China: Army morale +10%, Army morale recovery +10%;]

[Unify China: Navy morale +10%, Navy morale recovery +10%;]

The People's Army's central route was the first to attack. Li Dayan had no idea how many times he had done sand table simulations. Now he could draw the terrain of Nanjing and its surroundings with his eyes closed. At the beginning of the battle, he launched a forced crossing from several selected locations, using powerful artillery power to confuse Duan Qirui's troops.

Duan Qirui was China's leading artillery expert. He had not yet entered politics and spent all day in the military camp training soldiers. His professional skills had not been abandoned. Duan Qirui commanded the British artillery equipped by the National Army to counterattack. On the Jinling defense line under his personal command, the British artillery suppressed the artillery of the People's Army, proving his value as an artillery expert. However, in areas that he could not take care of, the People's Army successfully crossed the river and outflanked from several directions.

"What? Wu Guangxin, what do you do for a living? How did the enemy break through?"

Duan Qirui said loudly with a tense face: "Who is the enemy on the other side? Cao Kun? When did Cao Zhongshan become so good at fighting? Wu Guangxin, hold on and don't retreat. Whoever dares to retreat will be shot by me!"

Slamming the receiver heavily on the phone, Duan Qirui cursed: "Damn Cao Laosan, why weren't you so good at fighting before? After joining the People's Party, you've become so powerful!"

Scolding cannot solve the problem. The Yangtze River defense line is nearly 37 kilometers long and it is impossible to defend it. Previously, the Nanjing National Government placed all its hopes on the British, but the People's Army blocked Jingjiang and Haimen with huge cannons. After the British Far East Fleet refused to withdraw from the Yangtze River waterway, it first fired at the British fleet, damaging three warships and killing 280 people, including the captain of a destroyer. After being attacked, the British Far East Fleet launched a counterattack, but under the deterrence of the mm howitzer, it had to withdraw from the Yangtze River.

Compared to the vast ocean, the Yangtze River is too narrow for the British Royal Navy to maneuver. The Royal Navy has a glorious tradition of "fighting every enemy", but only a fool would use warships to fight against artillery batteries. The French warships did not participate in the battle, but watched the artillery battle between the British warships and the Chinese. They had no privileges in the Yangtze River Basin, so they could naturally watch from the sidelines.

After receiving the news that the British Far East Fleet had withdrawn from the Yangtze River, Lin Yongchang

Did not relax their vigilance. On the system interface of [The Sun Never Sets on the Celestial Empire], Britain's favorability towards the People's Government has become -112, and it is possible to declare war on the People's Government at any time. From a rational point of view, it is impossible for the British to go to war alone with a land power on land, but there are too many unreasonable and irrational things in human history. Who knows what the British government will choose?

After all, the British Empire was the world hegemon, so it was not surprising that it would react in any way. The People's Government released a lot of goodwill, but on fundamental issues, the two sides had irreconcilable contradictions. Britain strongly demanded that the People's Party recognize the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing, that is, to turn Qinghai-Tibet into a buffer zone between China and British India. Naturally, Lin Yongchang could not agree to this, and the negotiations between the People's Government and the British Government failed again.

Duan Qirui was not very clear about the diplomatic relations between the People's Government and Britain. He only knew that the promised support from British warships was gone, and the People's Army surged in like a tide. Wu Guangxin, Qu Tongfeng and others were beaten back step by step, and he had to lead the army to put out fires everywhere.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

"boom!"

Shells continued to fall on the hastily constructed defense line. Duan Qirui could feel the ground shaking in his headquarters a few kilometers away. He knew the power of the 150mm heavy howitzer very well. It was impossible to stop the enemy with heavy artillery support with the strength of two regiments. He grabbed the microphone and shouted: "I am Duan Qirui, Commander Deng... Commander Deng? Signalman, why can't I get through on the phone?"

"Report to General Duan, the telephone line has been blown down!"

"Send someone to fix it!"

"Three waves of people have been sent over!"

Duan Qirui wanted to curse, but he held back, "Someone, go to Jinling City and ask the President for reinforcements!"

Nanjing is right on the Yangtze River and is the ruling center of Yuan Shikai. The main forces were gathered around it. While Yuan Shikai continued to ask Britain for aid and reinforcements, he allocated all the troops to Duan Qirui, forcing the "Beiyang Tiger" to hold on for a month at all costs.

After finally getting through to Jinling again, Duan Qirui asked on the phone: "What will we do in a month?"

Yuan Shikai vowed: "In a month, reinforcements from our British friends will arrive. As long as the British launch an attack, everything will be fine!"

Duan Qirui expressed doubts and thought that what President Yuan said seemed to be something he had seen in the newspaper. Yuan Shikai also revealed a piece of good news, "Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing have agreed to a ceasefire."

Everyone knows that the lips and teeth are cold. Seeing the fierce momentum of the People's Army, not only the Guangzhou government was trembling, but even Yunnan and Sichuan put aside their prejudices and extended a helping hand to the National Government in Nanjing. The troops of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong and Guangxi marched towards Nanjing. The warlords in Sichuan stopped fighting among themselves and prepared to gather 100,000 troops to go out of Sichuan to assist Feng Guozhang's group. But they were too slow. When the troops from the south and Sichuan were still on the way, Li Dayan's Major General Cao Kun had already rushed in from the torn defense line and directly entered Nanjing City, raising the hammer and sickle flag at the Presidential Palace in Nanjing.

Cao Kun's heroic performance not only shocked Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui and others, but also exceeded the expectations of Li Dayan, Wu Peifu, Wang Hu and others. Cao Kun has always been very cunning and is well-known in the army for his ability to build relationships. It is not true that he is good at fighting. At least he is not comparable to the rising stars such as Wu Peifu and Wang Hu. But this time, Cao Kun led half a division of troops and ran more than 160 miles in one day and one night. He rushed directly to the city of Jinling through the gap in the national army's defense line. It took half a day to defeat tens of thousands of defenders and occupied the entire city of Jinling. Yuan Shikai, who was in charge of the overall situation in Jinling, fled in a hurry, taking his guards all the way south, and it was said that he was going to take a British warship to Hong Kong.

Li Dayan was very wild in fighting. He might not be so delicate in defense, but he was extremely fierce in attack. After discovering that Cao Kun's troops were approaching Jinling City, he decisively put all his cavalry and reserve troops into the battle to encircle Duan Qirui's troops. The progress of the battle was better than Li Dayan expected. Many people in the National Government revolted on the battlefield, including some old Beiyang and Li Hongzhang's old subordinates, which accelerated the collapse of Duan Qirui's group.

Li Jingfang organized a maintenance meeting in Nanjing and warmly welcomed the People's Army into the city. After hearing the news, the Nationalist Army surrounded in Yizheng and Danyang lost all their fighting spirit. Many generals and officers of the Nationalist Government were Li Hongzhang's old subordinates. Li Jingfang was Li Hongzhang's successor, and even Li's eldest son had surrendered. So why were they fighting? This was not a resistance against foreigners.

In addition, many of Zhang Zhidong's former subordinates were unwilling to work for Yuan Shikai and were half-hearted in fighting. When they saw that the situation was not right, they revolted on the battlefield, which made Duan Qirui so angry that he scolded them repeatedly.

Chapter 380 The fight started

"Tap, tap, tap", the sound of wooden clogs stepping on the floor rang out rapidly. Takahashi Korekiyo rushed in holding a telegram. Before he could stand still, he shouted loudly, "The People's Party is fighting with the British! The Duke... uh, Your Excellency the Duke, Mr. Kotoku..."

In the room, Ito Hirobumi was discussing something with Kotoku Shusui and others. Hearing this, he raised his eyebrows and said to the others, "You go back first, collect the data, and then hand it in." Seeing Kotoku Shusui also stood up, he said, "Kotoku-kun, stay for a moment."

Because he supported the Taisho Emperor to ascend the throne and stabilized the country

Thanks to this, Ito Hirobumi became prime minister again and was promoted from earl to duke. The situation in Japan is not very good now, and it has not completely emerged from the chaos, but the meritorious officials who participated in the reform have received their dividends, just like the last reform.

When there were only three people left in the room, Ito Hirobumi rubbed his brows and temples and said, "Finally the fight has started. What's the specific situation?"

Takahashi Korekiyo was not surprised or excited at all when he saw Ito Hirobumi surrender. He was very impressed by his energy cultivation skills and said, "The People's Party used huge cannons to bombard the British fleet. The British Far East Fleet has withdrawn from the Yangtze River!"

"Have China and Britain declared war?"

"not yet."

After that, Takahashi Korekiyo moved the telegram around, looking very excited. Ito Hirobumi closed his eyes and thought for a while, then opened his eyes and asked Takahashi Korekiyo, "Takahashi, do you think that China and Britain will fight?"

Takahashi Korekiyo immediately shouted: "According to intelligence, there has been no major change in prices in the UK, and there has been no major fluctuations in the stock market. The British have not made up their minds yet!"

"Well," Ito Hirobumi turned around and asked Kotoku Shusui, "What do you think of this matter, Kotoku-kun?"

"The British Empire is going downhill. They have lost their pioneering and enterprising spirit. Although the British Empire will remain the world hegemon for a long time, their control over the entire world is constantly declining."

"The world hegemon is declining. Who can replace it and become the next hegemon?"

Ito Hirobumi asked, and without waiting for the two to answer, he spoke on his own, "It won't be China, and it's even less likely to be Japan. With Japan's current size and strength, it's just a pipe dream to want to dominate. We just need to do our own thing."

He smiled and said to Takahashi Korekiyo: "The People's Party has started fighting with the British. Let the navy be prepared. If China and Britain declare war, according to the East Asian Security Treaty, we will also declare war on Britain."

Takahashi Korekiyo was very surprised, "Are we really going to declare war on Britain?" He had traveled to Europe, Britain and the United States, and was both yearning for and afraid of the British Empire.

"This is a good thing. If a war really breaks out, the money owed to Britain can be written off. This is a great thing!" Ito Hirobumi said with a smile: "Don't you think so, Takahashi?"

Takahashi Korekiyo shook his head repeatedly, "The combined fleet cannot stop the British Royal Navy, Duke, I think we should think twice before doing anything about this."

Ito Hirobumi laughed and said, "Not taking risks is the biggest risk! Since we have chosen this route, we must go on unswervingly. We cannot be indecisive! Mr. Kotoku, please convey my words to Chairman Lin. Japan will firmly stand on the side of China. If Chairman Lin decides to declare war on Britain, Japan will also declare war on Britain!"

Kotoku Shusui said seriously: "I am the Minister of Agriculture and not in charge of diplomatic affairs. Please ask the Prime Minister to convey the message to China through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!"

Takahashi Korekiyo said in shock: "Duke, please think twice!"

"I have made up my mind! There is no need to think about this matter anymore!" Ito Hirobumi stood up and said loudly: "Let the army and navy be prepared. This kind of opportunity does not come often!"

"Opportunities like this don't come around often!"

On the battleship "Izumo", Admiral Heihachiro Togo shouted sternly: "The army has launched a military coup and imprisoned His Majesty the Emperor. We the navy must step forward, restore order, and return power to His Majesty the Emperor Meiji! It's a black card, board!"

"It's a black card, it's onboard!"

"Onboard!"

"Onboard!"

Inside the captain's command room, Togo Heihachiro and other naval officers raised their hands and cheered. After three cheers, Togo Heihachiro said to Akiyama Shinjiro: "Akiyama-kun, your brother died at the hands of the Chinese. Ito Hirobumi surrendered to the Chinese and became Lin Yongchang's running dog. His life is in your hands!"

Akiyama Saneyuki looks very similar to Akiyama Yoshifuru, but he looks much cleaner and stronger. When he was a child, because his family was poor, his parents wanted to send Akiyama Saneyuki to a temple to be a monk. It was Akiyama Yoshifuru who begged him, saying that he would make a lot of money to support his younger brother, so Akiyama Saneyuki was not sent to be a monk. Later, Akiyama Yoshifuru found a job and used most of his salary to support Akiyama Saneyuki's studies. When Akiyama Yoshifuru arrived in Tokyo, he took Akiyama Saneyuki over, raised him up, and sent him to the Naval Academy. It can be said that Akiyama Yoshifuru is a true elder brother who is like a father. He is not only a brother, but also a "father".

When Togo Heihachiro mentioned his late brother Akiyama Yoshifuru, Akiyama Saneyuki's eyes suddenly became moist. He stood up and said in a loud voice: "Hai!"

Togo Heihachiro was very satisfied with Akiyama Saneyuki's performance. He looked around and said, "With the support of our British friends, our plan will be foolproof! Once we overthrow Ito Hirobumi's Japanese People's Party, we can put the Empire of Japan back on the right track! We can also sign an alliance treaty with Britain. With the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the Empire will surely be able to re-enter Korea!"

Gyeongbokgung Palace, North Korea.

The minister dressed in traditional Korean clothes hurried in and said with joy: "Your Majesty, great joy, great joy!"

Li Xi had lived here for several months. Hearing this, he smiled bitterly and said, "What kind of happy event could there be? Could it be that one of the concubines is pregnant?"

The minister took two steps forward and whispered, "The Chinese and the British are fighting!"

"Ah, a fight with the British?" Li Xi was surprised at first, but soon returned to his original expression, "So what? What does it have to do with us? I am no longer the emperor, and you are no longer a minister! Even if the Chinese and the British fight, we can only eat idle meals here."

The minister took another step forward and lowered his voice and said, "The British intend to restore your Majesty's throne! Now the Chinese troops are all in the south. If your Majesty stands up and raises his arms, won't there be followers like clouds?"

"Isn't this... too risky?" Li Xi was not the kind of person who liked taking risks. Of course, it would be great to be the emperor of Joseon again, but what if he failed?

The minister vowed, "With the help of the British, everything will be safe, and Kim Jae-hee is inclined to follow His Majesty!"

Kim Jae-hee was born into a noble family and is now the President of the North Korean People's Republic. He has always been very caring towards Lee Hee, the last and founding emperor of the country. Not only did he arrange for him to live in Gyeongbokgung Palace, he also allocated a large sum of money as living expenses for Lee Hee and his concubines, princes and princesses.

Chapter 381 Sichuan

Duan Qirui felt desperate. He had tried his best, but was still easily defeated by the People's Army. The hundreds of thousands of troops under his command were either defeated or surrendered, and now only a few hundred remnants were left with him. Looking at his exhausted and bloodstained subordinates, and listening to the Anhui accent's voices outside persuading them to surrender, Duan Qirui sighed and said, "We have already been loyal to the President. Now that things have come to this, it is useless to continue to resist. Let's... let's..."

He uttered those three words with difficulty, "...surrender!"

The adjutant said bitterly: "If the president had delegated military power earlier, we wouldn't have been beaten so badly by the enemy..."

"Shut up!" Duan Qirui shouted with a sullen face, "I am responsible for the poor command. What does it have to do with the President? You have hoisted the white flag. If you can't fight, can you surrender?"

After the white flag was hoisted, the People's Army's attack quickly stopped. Yuan Shikai had fled, and the National Army lost its fighting spirit. Many troops, especially those newly formed troops and those not directly under Yuan Shikai, often collapsed at the first touch. Duan Qirui's headquarters resisted for a while longer, but it was meaningless. After the supply line was cut off and they were surrounded, there was no reinforcement to rely on, and failure was only a matter of time.

The officer sent by the People's Army to accept the surrender was a young man. Although he was covered in fireworks, he still couldn't hide his heroic spirit. "General Duan, the two armies fought before because they each served their own masters. Now that Nanjing has been taken and Yuan Shikai has fled, the battle is over. I hope you can come forward and call on other troops to lay down their arms to avoid unnecessary casualties."

Hearing the familiar accent, Duan Qirui asked, "Are you from Anhui too?"

The young officer shook his head and said, "I am from Xiao County, Jiangsu."

"That's not far away, so we're half fellow villagers. What's your name, young general?"

"I am Xu Shuzheng!"

"How is the situation with Feng Guozhang?"

Xu Shuzheng laughed, showing his white teeth, "I don't know, but even if I knew, I wouldn't say it. Our People's Army has discipline."

Duan Qirui was silent for a while, then sighed and said, "We used to have discipline as well."

With the surrender of Duan Qirui, the organized resistance of the National Government near Nanjing came to an end. At the same time, Feng Guozhang was surrounded in Wuchang. Feng Guozhang was the last of the "Three Heroes of Beiyang" and was famous in the army for his fierce fighting. But the Hubei Army was too useless. After only two days, some of them surrendered to the People's Army. Surrender is like an infectious disease. Once it starts, there will be a large number of them. There was a gap in the strength of the two sides, and the gap in combat effectiveness was even greater. As a result, Feng Guozhang had to fight against an enemy that was ten times his size. No matter how brave he was, he could not beat an enemy that was ten times his size.

After being surrounded in Wuchang, Feng Guozhang was filled with resentment and fear. A few years ago, he fought against the People's Army in Shandong. At that time, the Beiyang Army was slightly better in combat effectiveness, mainly because their equipment was better. But now it is different. The equipment of the People's Army has been greatly improved, and the cannons are fast and accurate. The British weapons equipped by the National Army are very good, and the rifles and cannons are first-class, but the number is simply not as good as the opponent. The People's Army kept interweaving and flanking, and sometimes the British artillery was destroyed by the People's Army's infantry artillery before it could be deployed.

Feng Guozhang rushed into Wuchang City when he saw the situation was not good. Most of the cannons were lost, and the combat effectiveness was reduced by half. It was heard that the situation in Nanjing was even worse, and there was no need to expect President Yuan to send reinforcements. At this point, Feng Guozhang looked around and found that the only people he could count on were those in Sichuan. But as everyone knows, although the troops of the princes in Sichuan were large in number, their equipment was very poor. Not to mention cannons, there were not even many heavy machine guns.

Rely on them? Feng Guozhang was not so reckless. Seeing more and more cannons outside the city, and hearing the news that President Yuan had fled and Duan Qirui had surrendered, Feng Guozhang simply surrendered. This is how civil wars are, if you can't win, just surrender. They are all Chinese, and the soldiers' will to fight to the death is not that strong, and the same is true for officers and generals.

As soon as the reinforcements of the princes in Sichuan entered Hubei, they heard the news that the two major military groups of the National Army had been destroyed.

The central army immediately turned around and ran in the direction of the attack. The People's Army's Western Route Army took advantage of the situation and rushed into Shuzhong. Because the roads in Shuzhong were difficult to pass, it was difficult to pull in heavy artillery. Zhao Erhu abandoned all the heavy artillery, not even the field artillery, and relied on heavy machine guns, mortars and some mountain artillery to kill all the way to the city of Chongqing, and then encountered real resistance.

As the saying goes: Shu is in chaos before the world is in turmoil, and Shu is not at peace when the world is at peace. It is probably because the geographical environment of the Land of Abundance is too good, with fertile fields and dangerous mountains and rivers. Such a land of four barriers is naturally easy to become a separatist force. Every time the world is in turmoil, heroes in Shu will come out and rule for decades. This time, the chaos has only started for a few years, and the heroes in Shu have not yet decided the winner. More than a dozen forces, large and small, have joined forces and fought each other. They finally got together to fight, but they still failed.

The failure of external expansion immediately triggered internal conflicts. The two major forces, the Chongqing Military Government and the Chengdu Military Government, accused each other, saying that the other side did not work hard enough, which led to the unprecedented defeat. In the past, the princes in Sichuan fought internally, that is, the soldiers shot guns outside the city, and the officers fired cannons on the mahjong table. After the fight, everyone is still good friends. Those on the stage are mostly fellow townsmen, classmates and comrades. Fighting is just like that. Although the battle is fierce, the casualties are not large, and the loss of weapons and equipment and the consumption of ammunition are not much.

But it's a different story when fighting with the People's Army. Those guys are really willing to kill. After the first battle, half of the Chongqing Military Government's heavy equipment was lost, and its strength and prestige were greatly reduced. Because it is close to Hubei, Chongqing would rather fight outside, rather than hundreds of thousands of people fighting in the Sichuan Basin. There is no way out of this internal strife, and it must develop outward. Chengdu also knows this truth, so it pinched its nose and joined forces with the Chongqing Military Government to form a coalition of princes, but it was worried that Chongqing would become too powerful, so it dragged its feet when sending troops, wanting to hinder Chongqing.

Now, Chongqing is in trouble, and the enemy outside has killed them at the gates of the city. However, Sichuan has also lost its geographical advantage. If the People's Army enters Sichuan in large numbers, won't these powerful people in Sichuan be wiped out in one fell swoop?

Everyone knows that the situation of relying on the Sichuan Basin for separatism cannot last long. Many separatist forces in Sichuan have been destroyed in history, and there is no exception now. But the feeling of being a local emperor is so great. You can sleep with whoever you want and kill whoever you want. The feeling of life and death is so wonderful that no one wants to give up power.

After Chongqing was attacked, the princes in central Sichuan felt the pressure of being in danger, and they united unprecedentedly, each sending out their best troops. More than 100,000 troops from central Sichuan gathered in Chongqing, not only blocking Zhao Erhu's attack, but also repelling the People's Army and regaining a lot of lost territory.

Chapter 382: Clear Weather

The People's Army was repelled by the Sichuan Army, which was normal. The Sichuan Army continued to arrive, and later, Zhao Erhu found that the number of the opposing divisions exceeded 15. The increase in the number of people was one aspect, and on the other hand, the Sichuan Army was completely different from before. When the firefight at Shipai took place, the Sichuan Army collapsed at the first touch, and was completely a mob.

But when they arrived in Chongqing, with the same generals and the same equipment, the Sichuan Army fought very bravely, often charging with entire battalions and regiments. After being repelled, it would not take long for fresh troops to launch another attack. Even though Zhao Erhu had fought against both the Russian and Japanese armies, he only had 5,000 to 6,000 troops, and most of the heavy firepower was left behind. Facing the wave after wave of attacks from the Sichuan Army, he felt very exhausted.

After holding out for two days, he not only felt exhausted, but also sensed danger. The reinforcements of the Sichuan Army continued to arrive, and the artillery shells of his side were almost exhausted. If this continued, the soldiers would have to fight the Sichuan Army with bayonets. If the forces were equal, or the opposing forces were only two or three times his, it would not be impossible to fight with bayonets, as the People's Army was quite good at hand-to-hand combat. However, the number of the Sichuan Army was already ten or twenty times his.

So Zhao Erhu had no choice but to retreat. As a brave general who had defeated several times the Russian army, Zhao Erhu was deeply ashamed of being defeated by the Sichuan Army, but being defeated is being defeated. He first retreated to Fuling, the place where pickled mustard tubers were very famous. In Fuling, he fought a battle with the Sichuan Army that had caught up with him. After repelling the Sichuan Army, Zhao Erhu continued to retreat. From Fuling, he retreated to Fengdu, and from Fengdu to Zhongxian. In Zhongxian, Zhao Erhu received a brigade of reinforcements, so he stopped retreating.

The Sichuan Army chased them from the west, and their fighting enthusiasm faded a lot. They didn't collapse at the first blow, but they were not as brave as they were in Chongqing. Zhao Erhu commanded his troops to fight a few more battles with the Sichuan Army, and couldn't help but sigh that he really couldn't understand these Sichuan people. It was still the same army, with the same equipment, why did the fighting power fluctuate so much? There were more than a dozen forces in Sichuan, big and small, with a total of 500,000 or 600,000 troops. If they were all as good at fighting as they were in Chongqing, it would not be an easy task to liberate the entire Sichuan.

The People's Army is an army that is good at summarizing and learning. Zhao Erhu was chased by the Sichuan Army from Chongqing to Zhongxian County. All political commissars and officers had to write summary reports. As a division commander, Zhao Erhu also had to take time out every night to write reports, including the battle process, the weapons and equipment, tactics, and morale of both sides.

"..