Just when the East China Government officially implemented administrative management in Zhejiang Province, Yuan Shikai and Pu Wei finally fought.

In fact, although the two sides are at war and the atmosphere is tense, Yuan Shikai has always remained unmoved and is indeed very restrained. Britain, France and other countries do not advocate warfare, and they still hope to convince Yuan Shikai to surrender to Pu Wei. On the one hand, after the war begins, no matter who wins or loses, there will inevitably be significant losses, and it will not be worth the loss. On the other hand, Britain, France and other countries are not optimistic about Pu Wei. Although Pu Wei's territory, population, and number of troops are far more than Yuan Shikai, Britain, France and other countries know that this is just a paper data advantage. In terms of leadership, officers' ability, and the quality of the army, Yuan Shikai has obvious advantages. Therefore, when both sides really fight, Pu Wei's chances of winning are not big.

But Pu Wei couldn't help it, because during the Qing court, this group of royal family members had always been hostile to Yuan Shikai, and believed that Yuan Shikai had no ability at all. He just could flatter and please Empress Dowager Cixi, and was not stingy with money, and made good fortune. Only then did he get appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi and was given a high-ranking official position. Now his own side has strong strength, territorial area, population, and army are twice that of Yuan Shikai, so what else to hesitate to do? He fought directly and destroyed Yuan Shikai, and occupied his territory. Isn't it over? Once Yuan Shikai was destroyed, the entire south would be at his fingertips, so what are you waiting for!

Moreover, Britain, France and other countries did not advocate war against Yuan Shikai, which made Pu Wei and others very angry. They originally had no good feelings for Britain, France and other countries, but now they still need support from various countries, so they temporarily cooperated with them. In the hearts of Pu Wei and others, they were just using Britain, France and other countries. Now Britain, France and other countries actually thought that they could not defeat Yuan Shikai, which naturally made Pu Wei and others very unhappy. So Pu Wei negotiated with Shanqi, Zaixun, Pu Lun, Yulang and others and decided to attack Yuan Shikai immediately despite the opposition of Britain, France and other countries and fight a beautiful victory, so that Britain, France and other countries would not be arrogant in front of themselves in the future.

In this attack, Pu Wei's side will invest about 100,000 troops and attack in three ways. The main general of the army was Liangbi and Yinchang. The northern route attacked Xiushui, with about 30,000 troops, with Tieliang as the main general; the middle route attacked Yichun, with 27,000 troops, Qinghuai; the southern route attacked Yongxing, with 25,000 troops, Yonggui, Tieliang and Yinchang led 20,000 troops, and stationed in Changsha Prefecture, Hunan, to support the three troops. Although Pu Wei regarded himself as the follower of the Qing court, two forces now call themselves the follower of the Qing court. Therefore, in order to distinguish, Pu Wei's army was named after the reign of the year Deyou, and was called Deyou Army.

Among these three routes, the Northern Road is the focus of the attack. Because by capturing Xiushui County, you can directly attack Nanchang Prefecture, the capital of Jiangxi Province. After capturing Nanchang Prefecture, the entire Jiangxi Province can basically be captured in one fell swoop. The combat needle formulated by Liangbi, Tieliang, Yinchang and others is that the Northern Road Army will start fighting first. After capturing Xiushui County, the Central Road and South Road will launch another attack and attack Jiangxi Province on the whole line. Therefore, the Northern Road Army has the largest number of troops and Tieliang personally leads the army.

On Yuan Shikai's side, the second association was stationed in Xiushui County, commanding Duan Qirui. This was also the opportunity for Duan Qirui to be reused after being idle for many years and could lead the army to fight. Because Xiushui County is the gateway to Nanchang and its location is too important, it is necessary to have a capable general to garrison here. Among the generals under Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui is naturally the first. Only Wang Shizhen's ability can be compared with Duan Qirui. Others such as Feng Guozhang and Cao Kun are inferior. Therefore, Yuan Shikai left the past and reused Duan Qirui again.

Of course, to defend Xiushui County, there is no shortage of troops with only one cooperative. Therefore, Yuan Shikai also sent Duan Qirui two artillery standards (equivalent to regiments), with a total of 72 75mm field artillery pieces, all purchased from the East China Government. In addition, a machine gun battalion was equipped with a total of 27 Maxim machine guns. In order to strengthen Duan Qirui's troops, the total number of troops in Xiushui County is about 9,000.

Of course, Duan Qirui also knew that it was not easy for him to lead his troops again, so he was determined to perform well in this battle and fight a beautiful battle. After entering Xiushui County, Duan Qirui immediately surveyed the terrain, measured maps, designed and built fortifications, arranged firepower points, artillery positions, laying telegraph lines, etc.

The defensive position is centered on Xiushui County, occupying the high points and the important roads in the surrounding area. A total of 9 positions were arranged, and the two artillery standards were divided into 6 units, arranged in these 9 positions, and the Maxim aircraft was distributed on various positions. At the same time, Duan Qirui sent a large number of scouts to set up dark spots where the Deyou Army might garrison and set up positions, and made sufficient combat preparations. Now we are just waiting for the Deyou Army to attack.

Tieliang is the most knowledgeable man among the powerful Manchu clans. He is indeed a bit real. He knows that before the ground attack, he must first carry out artillery fire strikes. Therefore, this time he attacked Xiushui County, he also brought nearly 100 various artillery pieces, but the caliber sizes are different. There are 47mm Haqikas guns, 75mm field guns commonly used by various countries, and a small number of 82mm and 88mm field guns. At the beginning of the attack, the Deyou army first dispatched more than 60 artillery pieces, divided into three artillery positions, and launched artillery attacks on the three peripheral frontier positions in Xiushui County.

However, Duan Qirui was prepared for this, because he had already surveyed the terrain around Xiushui County in advance, as soon as the artillery fire of the Deyou Army sounded, the location of the artillery positions of the Deyou Army could be determined from the sound and smoke. So Duan Qirui also immediately ordered the artillery battalions of the three positions to open fire immediately to attack the artillery positions of the Deyou Army.

In fact, the artillery of the Deyou Army also knew that after the artillery was over, they had to withdraw from the position immediately, but they did not expect that Yuan's army's reaction was too fast. One artillery formation retreated one step slower, and was shot by Yuan's army, losing 16 artillery pieces, including 4 88mm artillery pieces, 5 82mm artillery pieces, and 7 75mm artillery pieces. All of them were larger-caliber artillery pieces in the Deyou Army. Because these artillery pieces were heavy and difficult to move, they retreated one step slower and suffered a devastating blow. At the same time, more than 600 soldiers were killed.

Of course, Yuan's position was also bombarded by Deyou's army. Although the anti-aircraft bombardment design was considered when building the position, it also caused nearly 300 casualties.

However, one of the artillery positions was destroyed by the enemy and 16 artillery pieces were lost. It was obvious that Deyou's army suffered a great loss. Tieliang was naturally very annoyed and immediately ordered an attack on Yuan's position.

However, at this time, the Yuan army had an artillery mark. Before the Deyou army launched an attack, it immediately opened fire and bombarded. As a result, before the Deyou army had captured the position, hundreds of casualties were killed or killed. When the Deyou army advanced to the position, it was immediately hit by the Yuan army's intensive firepower. Each position was equipped with 3 Maxim aircraft, plus the general machine guns equipped by each team, and at least 10 machine guns were on each position. In addition, it was a number of grenade launchers that could replace artillery and launched a fierce attack on the Deyou army.

As a result, Deyou's army was beaten to death and suffered heavy casualties. In front of these three positions, more than 1,500 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured in the attack on this day, and even the Yuan army's position was not touched. The Yuan army's casualties were only more than 600.

After the battle on the first day, Duan Qirui was extremely excited. He did not expect that the battle on this day would be so easy, so he hurried to report the victory to Nanjing. He soon received a commendation telegram from Yuan Shikai, giving high praise to Duan Qirui and his army on the first day of the war.

However, when Duan Qirui summarized the war on this day, he suddenly discovered a problem. In addition to Duan Qirui's full preparation before the war, the weapons bought by the East China Government for Yuan Jun were also one of the main factors. Not to mention the Maxim machine guns, general machine guns, grenade launchers used in the defensive positions, and wooden handle grenades that were not used in large quantities this time, it was the artillery battle in the early stages of the war. The 75mm field gun provided by the East China Government not only had a fast firing speed, but also was convenient to move. 7 or 8 people could move for a short distance without any horse traps at all, so they could be arranged quickly and withdrawn quickly.

It can also be said that if it weren't for the weapons bought by the East China Government for Yuan Jun, the battle on this day would never have been so easy. But once the East China Government stopped buying weapons to Yuan Jun, the combat effectiveness of Yuan Jun would be greatly reduced. Duan Qirui also thought that the East China Government would definitely not buy their best weapons to Yuan Jun, and would definitely leave a hand. If Yuan Jun and the People's Army were fighting in the future, the dilemma of Deyou Jun today would probably fall on Yuan Jun. Thinking of this, Duan Qirui couldn't help but feel a little scared. Compared with Pu Wei, who was so maiden and jumping clown like the monkey, the East China Government is a truly powerful and terrifying existence. However, Duan Qirui thought about it, he was just a commander now, and he could take care of so many things! The person who should be really troubled should be Yuan Shikai. If he got his own worry, he should fight the war before him first.

In the following three days, under the command of Tieliang, the Deyou Army launched continuous attacks on Xiushui County, and also changed the direction of the attack, trying to find another way to break through the position of Xiushui County. However, under the strict defense and dense firepower of the Yuan army, the position was almost impeccable. No matter how Deyou Army attacked, except for causing heavy losses to its own army, there was almost no progress. Xiushui County's position was still as solid as a rock and unbreakable.
Chapter completed!