At 4 o'clock in the morning on February 2, 1907, with a loud bang, a big hole was blown open on the city wall in the northeast of Anqing City. The people of Yue Wanghui on the city wall were persuaded by the revolutionary army to go down to the city together and flee for refuge, but there was no Qing army near the blast, and the direct casualties were very small. A huge shock wave spread along the city wall, shaking the Qing army in the distance and losing its combat effectiveness.

The moat of Anqing City absorbed most of the shock wave, and the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army did not encounter this problem, but the flying fragments of masonry and stone posed a considerable threat to the soldiers. As splinters of various sizes flew in all directions like a storm, shattering all the obstacles in their tracks, the shock made the warriors near the moat rejoice. Everyone thought it was strange that they had to secretly dig some kind of bunker in the ground in the middle of the night, and there was a bamboo shield on the bunker. Everyone has experienced a lot of bombing the wall, and this is the first time that such an exaggerated approach has been made. When some people raised questions, Brigade Commander Hua still made a special explanation, which was a strict order from Chairman Chen Ke. Since it was Chairman Chen's order, everyone did it with joy and sincerity, regardless of whether they could understand it or not. Now it is clear to everyone that without these bunkers, it is absolutely impossible for everyone to be exposed to such a gravel attack.

Within a minute of the gravel falling to the ground, a sharp charge horn sounded. "Comrades, for the sake of the revolution, follow me!" Commanders at all levels were the first to jump out of cover, and the warriors followed their commanders forward, towards the gaps that were still shrouded in thick smoke.

At the same time, the troops led by Zhang Yu also began to storm the east gate.

"Captain Zhang, shall we wait a little longer before attacking the city?" Staff Officer Wu Qixian asked before the battle began.

Zhang Yu's gaze crossed the staff officer's face like a knife, "Where is there so much nonsense, blowing up the city wall is blowing up the city wall, should we hit the east gate or continue to fight!" ”

Wu Qixian only felt that Zhang Yu's eyes were full of disdain, as if to say, "If you are afraid of death, don't say anything." ”

This wordless ridicule made Wu Qixian's face flush, and he was seen through the idea of being afraid of death, and that strong sense of shame immediately rebounded into a fierce courage, "Commander Zhang, let me take the commando team up." ”

"Next time." Zhang Yu replied coldly.

Both the northeast and southeast attacks in the city went smoothly, and the enemy in Anqing City was almost crushed at the touch of a button. In the face of the war, these new officers and men were very slow to react, even more so than the landlords' armed forces in the enclosure. But this was the result of the post-event military summary meeting. When the battle was going on, where could the fighters of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army think so much, it was only a good thing that the enemy was moving slowly. The troops rushed violently and headed straight for the goal of the first stage.

The Anqing arsenal was in the northeast of the city, and before the war, Chen Ke gave a death order to take the arsenal no matter what. This attack on Anqing almost depleted the ammunition reserves of the troops. In the foreseeable future, it will be impossible for the troops to rely on large-scale purchases of ammunition, and the Anqing arsenal is the largest source of ammunition.

"Kill!" "Shoot or kill!" Hua Xiongmao's men rushed forward. The grenadiers, each with a grenade in hand, rushed to the front of the line with a commando team armed with rifles. Although they shouted "surrender the gun, don't kill", as long as the enemy in front did not surrender immediately, the grenadiers directly went over with a grenade. Although everyone has long forgotten about their life and death, this concentration also makes the battle more intense. "Shoot or kill" has become almost a battle cry.

After entering close combat, the grenades of the troops are used to the same extent as rifle fire, and in the dark there are many shadows, and it is too difficult to determine the position of the enemy. But it's easy to pinpoint the location of the enemy's muzzle flame in the dark, and a grenade can be used to deal with the enemy in no time. Each officer and soldier of the Anhui New Army was able to carry two of the 8,000 grenades prepared for the battle. The troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army were like a torrent, easily destroying all the obstacles that dared to stand in front of them, and rushing towards the goal.

"Report! The troops have arrived at the arsenal. ”

"Report! The troops have taken the east gate. ”

"Report! The troops had already arrived at the Yamen of the Anhui Provincial Government and the Yamen of the Anqing Prefect. ”

"Report! The troops are seizing the walls of the northern city. ”

"Report! ……”

The correspondents rushed over and conveyed the news to Chen Ke one by one. Chen Ke's expression was grim, as if he didn't realize that this was good news. Tao Chengzhang next to him was first surprised, and then ecstatic. "The revolution has succeeded!" He couldn't help but mutter. Most of these words were said by Tao Chengzhang to himself, and a small half was listened to by Chen Ke.

Chen Ke's face remained gloomy, as if he hadn't heard.

"Don't throw grenades anymore. The arsenal is full of gunpowder, and if it detonates, something will happen! "Hua Xiongmao is already on the front line.

The arsenal was quite open around it, and there were very few new troops left in the arsenal, only a dozen new troops were still stubbornly resisting at the door. But they just shot out like crazy, and the accuracy was so poor that they didn't aim at all. It was more like shooting and emboldening than trying to block the offensive of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.

Hua Xiongmao gave a second order, "Send someone to shout and tell them to surrender immediately." If we don't surrender, we will bombard the arsenal with artillery and kill all these people inside. ”

This contradictory order was immediately carried out, and the commanders told the grenadiers to retreat, and several loud commissars had already stepped forward and shouted: "Listen brothers, brothers in the powder magazine, surrender at once." If you don't surrender, we'll coax you with cannons. As soon as the ammunition in the powder magazine explodes, you all go to the western heavens. Why is this so painful? We, the People's Party, give preferential treatment to prisoners, and as long as you surrender, we will never beat you or kill you. Drop your guns and surrender. We the BJP give preferential treatment to prisoners. ”

This persuasion had a certain effect, and after hearing it, the other side at least the frantic shooting stopped.

"Brothers in the arsenal, if you have any requests, speak up and listen. We're going to build an arsenal, so let's not talk about useless things. If you want to surrender, what guarantees do you want? ”

The soldiers of the revolutionary army who were preparing to attack waited anxiously, and the soldiers felt that they had been waiting for a while, and they were already anxious and couldn't help shouting: "You turtle grandsons, are you willing to surrender and say a happy word." ”

As soon as these words came out, the other warriors who were also anxious also became noisy. "Live or die, say a happy word. We don't have time to wait for you. ”

Hua Xiongmao couldn't help but smile bitterly when he saw the soldiers behaving like this. In fact, it has been less than a minute since the shouting and persuasion began.

"We surrendered, are you really not going to kill us?" From inside the arsenal came a terrified voice.

"We are here to catch Enming's full dog." You are all born as soldiers and eat food, what are we going to do to kill you? As long as everyone lays down their arms and surrenders, we will never kill the prisoners. When this battle is over, we will release everyone. ”

There was silence in the arsenal again.

Hua Xiongmao pointed to the rather sturdy fence next to him, "Throw a bunch of grenades there." "Before the war, the program for the manufacture of cluster grenades provided by Chen Ke was also implemented, which was developed for the charge of the enemy's heavy group. The quantities manufactured are very limited. And it didn't come in handy until now. Listening to Hua Xiongmao's order, a burly grenadier stepped out of the crowd, he pulled the fuse, like throwing a discus, rotated 360 degrees on the spot, and five grenades tied together drew an arc of forty or fifty meters and went straight to the wall of the arsenal. The warriors instinctively all prostrate on the ground. After a loud bang, debris flew wildly. When everyone looked up, in the midst of the smoke and dust, a big crater was blown out of the wall.

Hua Xiongmao raised his hand, "Commando prepare." ”

The soldiers with rifles half-crouched on the ground at this command, and with a wave of Hua Xiongmao's palm, they rushed towards the door of the arsenal.

At this moment, a shout mixed with coughing and crying came from the arsenal: "Ahem! Ahem! Sir, don't hit with artillery, we surrender, we surrender! ”

"Everyone, be careful, get them out!" Hua Xiongmao ordered.

"Report, the arsenal has been captured!" When the news reached the headquarters, Chen Ke, who had been gloomy about his face, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Tao Chengzhang was a little curious, the People's Party was not short of equipment, and the battle lasted for almost two hours, and the sound of gunfire and explosions never stopped. Only after capturing the arsenal did Chen Ke look a little relaxed.

"Report, the Anqing Armory Institute has been captured."

"Has the equipment been damaged?" Chen Ke finally took the initiative to ask.

"The equipment was all intact, including the Mint's silver vault." The correspondent straightened his waist and said proudly.

Chen Ke stood up, the gloomy look on his face had been swept away. "From now on, the command will move into the city. The location is in the Anqing Arsenal. ”

The defensive system of the new army in Anqing has collapsed, and the new officers and soldiers have never seen such a fierce enemy. If they are asked to sum it up, these thieves are "inch by inch". The Forces nouvelles have no actual experience in warfare, and the closest they can get to war is all kinds of drills. And the drill has a scale. Or capture the flag, or get somewhere. Moreover, the results of the drill are also the affairs of the officers, and everyone's competition is just to get more benefits after the drill is over.

When the war really came, the Anhui New Army knew that war was going to kill people. And the enemy is not at all a fellow soldier of the new army who is training against him. The enemies are those who come and kill themselves. When bullets and grenades rained down on the enemy, and when their comrades in the New Army were knocked down like mowing grass, these officers and men of the Anhui New Army could not find any reason to fight to the death with the enemy. They follow their death-running instincts almost exactly, backwards, backwards, backwards.

And the enemy is approaching and closing at a faster pace. The New Army companions who fell behind were either killed or surrendered. The soldiers, who were lucky enough to escape death, lost their morale and fled to the rear, familiar places. When the dawn faintly illuminated Anqing City, most of Anqing City had already fallen into the hands of the enemy. The Forces nouvelles either surrendered or fled to their last stronghold, the camp of the Anqing New Army.

Yu Dahong, the co-commander of the Anhui New Army, was completely blinded in this nightmarish night. The thieves who were originally just harassing outside the city suddenly began to storm onslaught, and then the west city was lost, and Yu Dahong's order to mobilize troops in the east had just been transmitted, and with a loud bang in the east, Anqing City almost shook. After a while, news came from the east of the city that countless thieves had invaded the city?

How many thieves are out there? Yu Dahong couldn't figure it out, judging from his war experience, if he wanted to break through a big city like Anqing, even if there were tens of thousands of soldiers and horses outside the city, it would not work without two days. But the dense gunfire and explosions did not stop at all, and the thieves suddenly entered Anqing City. Yu Dahong suddenly had an unreasonable thought, could it be that the thieves outside were invulnerable?

But the matter has come to this, and Yu Dahong has no other way. He hurriedly ordered the hardcore troops who remained in the barracks to quickly drag the machine guns out, set up barricades in the streets, and defend them no matter what. The thieves came so fast that they didn't even have a chance to escape. At this time, Yu Dahong put down everything and began to deploy according to the military knowledge he had learned, preparing for the final battle.

As the sky became brighter, the defense line built by Yu Dahong's personal command of the pro-guards was probably completed. He had already sent someone to take the Governor of Anqing, Lord Enming, and his men into the barracks. Enming was so frightened that he couldn't even speak after seeing Yu Dahong. Yu Dahong completely ignored his superiors. At this time, if this Lord Enming was hysterically pointing fingers at the battle, Yu Dahong felt that he might as well surrender.

There were no artillery in the barracks of the Anqing New Army, only six machine guns with six beads. Now the machine guns are all dragged out and used to defend several interfaces. Sandbags for training were brought out and piled up at the entrance of the street to form barricades. The approximate position has been erected. From dawn to now, the routs fled into the last defensive positions. Yu Dahong glanced at it, and there were less than five hundred people left. The Anhui New Army, which once numbered nearly 4,000 people, now has only so many left.

Soon, some thieves dressed in dark blue appeared at the corner of the street. Yu Dahong raised his binoculars and looked at the opposite side, only to see those thieves in dark blue clothes hiding in street corners and other places where they could hide in a very orderly manner, each of them had rifles, and the style was actually the same as that of the new army. The posture with the rifle turned out to be completely unremarkable.

"Are these people really a rebel new army? However, this dress looks like a military uniform, and it looks like a short coat for ordinary people. It's weird. Yu Dahong was very puzzled.

There were more and more people wearing dark blue clothes, separated by an empty street, and soon after, Yu Dahong saw the red flag in his telescope, the river wind was very strong in winter, and Anqing was by the Yangtze River, and the wind blew the red flag. The peculiar symbol on the top is very conspicuous. Yu Dahong carefully identified it, it was a yellow symbol that looked like a sickle and a hammer crossed together. He seemed to have seen it, and when he thought about it carefully, it turned out to be the flag of the fleet that Yan Fu brought not long ago.

"Could it be that Yan Fu actually rebelled?" Yu Dahong thought puzzled.

At this moment, someone on the street corner shouted: "Brothers of the Anhui New Army, you have been surrounded." Lay down your arms and surrender, we of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army give preferential treatment to prisoners! ”

"Zhao Chengli, beat that person to death for me." Yu Dahong said to a personal soldier beside him.

Zhao Chengli was originally a "gunner" on the rivers and lakes, and a gun made it extremely accurate. Later, when he committed a crime and was arrested, Yu Dahong heard of this person's name, released him from the prison, and hired him as a personal soldier with a lot of money. Hearing Yu Dahong's order, Zhao Chengli stepped forward without saying a word, raised his rifle and aimed for a while, only to hear a gunshot, and the person who shouted fell backwards in response.

"Good!" All the new officers and soldiers who could see it could not help but shout. was suppressed by the thieves on the opposite side and fought for half the night, and now they suddenly saw Zhao Chengli's accurate marksmanship, and the new officers and soldiers were all in good spirits.

Although the thief was killed, the blue-clad soldiers seemed to be enraged, and they hid a little, and then a group of men had already attacked along the wall.

"Machine gun!" Yu Dahong said.

The Six-Bead Heavy pushed onto the magazine and began to design towards the men in blue. With the sound of "spit, spit, spit, spit", bullets began to fly sideways in the street, deep pits were punched out on the walls, and the white wall skin was cut off by the bullets, turning into powder and flying. The men in dark blue were overwhelmed at first, but their leaning against the wall didn't work, and several people were knocked down in an instant. To the surprise of the new army, the group was not frightened at all, but some people no longer dodged, pulled out a thing from their waists, and went straight to the side of the new army. A gunshot rang out, and the man fell. It was Cho Seung-li who fired the shot.

Even so, the blue-clad thieves didn't give up, and they tried to crawl forward while they threw themselves on the ground, rolling from side to side.

"Let's fight together!" Yu Dahong said.

The soldiers of the new army joined in the shooting, and under the dense rain of bullets, the thieves were shot one after another and stopped moving on the ground.

Yu Dahong calmly watched the battle, until there were no more people in motion on the street, and there was no blue figure on the other side of the street, he ordered: "Just give me a fight, everyone guard." The trolls will be back soon. That's when we can win. ”

After speaking, Yu Dahong rushed in another direction. Gunshots began to sound there, too.

The battle unfolded in broad daylight, and the Forces nouvelles did not necessarily have the upper hand.