Yan Fu was very serious when he was a teacher in the Beiyang Naval Academy, although Li Yuanhong was admitted to the Beiyang Naval Academy in 1883, and it has been 24 years since 1907, Yan Fu still vaguely remembers Li Yuanhong's appearance. As a teacher, he wants to personally exterminate his own students, Yan Fu's mood is a little complicated.

Zhang Yu could probably see that Yan Fu's mood was not too high, he wrote down such a stroke in his heart, and asked Yan Fu for instructions: "Commander Yan, do you want to continue the pursuit?" ”

In the distance, four sailboats pulled up all their sails and fled to the south. Around Yan Fu's boat, more than a dozen ships of the Hubei New Army were either burning and sinking, or had been captured by the People's Party. The flagship that Yan Fu was riding on was the largest sailing ship of the People's Party, and a machine gun was set up on the center line of the bow, and most of the results were attributed to this machine gun.

"Isn't the interception force already here? Send a signal for them to intercept, and we'll chase it too. Yan Fu ordered without hesitation. This was the first real surface battle in which Yan Fu participated in more than a decade. The water detachment commanded by Zhang Yu has now been officially named the "Inland River Fleet of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army Navy", and Zhang Yu holds the post of deputy commander of the river fleet, and he also assumes the position of commander in normal times as deputy commander. When the battle really began, Yan Fu, the current principal of the military academy, temporarily assumed the position of commander.

Some people privately speculated that Zhang Yu would be unhappy, but in fact, Zhang Yu was not so boring. When he was the head of the water detachment, the water detachment was actually a Marine Corps, doing the work of the army. Compared with the water war, Zhang Yu had no intention of competing with Yan Fu at all.

After hearing Yan Fu's order, the captain of the flagship of the River Fleet immediately shouted in a loud voice, just like the captains of the official naval warships of other industrial countries in this era: "The left rudder is full!" The same loud voice echoed from the helmsman's position, "The left helm is full!" "The flagship, which had raised all the sails, began to slowly turn the rather large hull.

"All the right oars!" The captain did not rely only on the power of style, and artificial power was still very important in this period.

"No. 1 slurry position in place!"

"No. 2 slurry position in place!"

"No. 3 slurry position in place!"

“……”

A report was quickly heard from the position of the manipulator, and after a while, the commander in charge of the right paddle position had already run over, "Report, the right paddle position is all in place." ”

The captain stood on the side of the right side of the ship and looked at it, and then shouted: "Six rows per minute, rowing!" ”

The big ship had a big prize, and the oarsmen who were the oarsmen worked in groups of three, shouting the trumpet, and at the same time moving the oars in unison, and the oars made a splash, and after turning the bow, the oarsmen on the left received the order to row, and the speed of the flagship was noticeably accelerated.

This kind of momentum is completely incomparable with the warships that Yan Fu has experienced, but Yan Fu still feels the feeling of that year. Anhui has a rich water system, and there are not many landlubbers. However, these fighters did not receive more than half a year of formal training from Yan Fu. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army is full of vigor and vigor and has always been enthusiastic about mastering new technologies and new knowledge. In just half a year, the soldiers can already compare with the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Naval Division who have been trained for a long time. Although the level of education before becoming a soldier is not comparable, all other performances are above Beiyang. As a military educator, Yan Fu faced these two attitudes and had to consider whether there was something wrong with his previous education methods. Yan Fu also asked Chen Ke about this question, and Chen Ke's answer made Yan Fu feel very surprised, "Our soldiers are studying hard in order to be able to win, and the purpose and motive of the Beiyang Navy Division are not pure. Thinking too much about yourself. ”

Yan Fu naturally couldn't accept Chen Ke's words, "Wenqing, of course, it is common sense for people to think about themselves, so they have to have discipline and ......order."

Chen Ke rarely interrupted Yan Fu's words, "Mr. Yan, the navy's so-called white glove honor and glorious traditions do not meet the needs of the people's revolution at all, and the people don't need that set of theories." To put it bluntly, the so-called glory of the Navy itself is based on a higher salary, and in order to support your family and earn more money, ordinary sailors from ordinary people have to accompany you like children to blow the conch. That's just nonsense. ”

Yan Fu knew that Chen Ke looked down on the Manchu army, but Chen Ke's "prejudice" actually extended to the naval tradition, and Yan Fu felt that this was particularly harsh.

Since he had said everything to this extent, Chen Ke didn't hide it, "Mr. Yan, let me ask a question, why did you scrub the deck to such a clean level?" ”

"The Navy needs that style. This should be the tradition of the officers of the Navy. Yan Fu replied almost without thinking.

"Mr. Yan, if you say that, I can only say that you are talking nonsense. Or maybe you're not telling the truth. If you say it is not good, it means that your attitude is unscientific. Chen Ke immediately refuted Yan Fu's answer, "In the earliest days, because navigation was not hygienic and the lifestyle was not scientific, diseases spread on the ship, and the mortality rate was very high. Later, the hammock was invented, and when it came to hygiene, the deck should be scrubbed frequently, and there were many hygiene requirements, and the problem of sickness and death was greatly solved. If we don't explain these things clearly to the comrades of the Navy, but blindly talk about traditions and honors, isn't that all nonsense! No one wants to get sick, no one wants to die of illness, and after explaining the scientific reasoning, we can understand why we should establish such a strict naval system. If you can understand it, you can implement it, and even if there is a problem with the implementation, and when you are criticized, the comrades will know what is right and wrong. It's not much better than talking about white teeth. ”

Yan Fu is indeed an educator, he is busy with official duties, and the curriculum is extremely full, and he has not been able to get involved in basic education. After listening to Chen Ke's evaluation, he suddenly realized. It is no wonder that the People's Party's navy is much better than the Beiyang Navy in terms of hygiene, and Chen Ke's words made Yan Fu understand the real reason.

"For the sake of their own status, the officers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty regarded these basic common sense as a way to maintain their identity, but in fact, it was not because the living space was small, there were many people, the environment was warm and humid, and bacteria were easy to breed, and everyone did not want to die because they didn't want to get sick, so the navy had to clean up very seriously? Don't say that being a soldier is to be a common man, and you don't clean your own home? To put it bluntly, the officers were either selfish or lazy and wanted to be oppressors, so they turned the originally simple division of labor system into a system of exploitation and oppression. And then come up with a bunch of so-called tradition and honor to fool people. The masses of the people, as well as the officers and soldiers, are not stupid, do you say that the people who work are stupid? How hard it is to work, those who do it themselves know best. If you use a bunch of to deceive the people who work, can you deceive them? Can people not give you sabotage? On weekdays, officers and soldiers don't have one heart, but at the critical moment, officers expect soldiers to have one heart with you? It's too much of a joke. ”

After this frank conversation, Yan Fu suddenly realized that he finally understood why the People's Party was able to have more serious discipline, since the officers had taught the knowledge to the soldiers, through the education of microscopes and modern medical knowledge, the soldiers had understood that the purpose of this strict discipline in the navy was for everyone's health, and the officers worked seriously with everyone. No one will object to discipline. If you say that you are lazy, no one is lazy, and the officers and soldiers are very equal in this regard, so the soldiers will naturally not object to the selection of officers who are not lazy and have a scientific attitude. Moreover, the officers of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army did not cover the sky with one hand, there were political commissars at the top, and there were soldiers' committees at the bottom, and if the officers could not prove their ability in military command, their position would also be in jeopardy.

Under the new military system, officers have no choice but to prove their qualifications by learning scientific knowledge, by establishing a more scientific attitude, and by improving their sense of responsibility and dedication. This positive cycle has greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. However, the external performance of this improvement of internal combat effectiveness is an excellent performance of "becoming more and more professional".

The flagship of the river fleet had many large sails, and it didn't take long to catch up with the four small galleons that had escaped. Yan Fu saw that an interception fleet had already appeared in front of him. Although only the People's Party fleet could be on the lake now, Yan Fu still raised his binoculars and took a closer look. As the commander of the fleet, since Yan Fu requires the officers and men to be scientific, he himself must have a scientific and cautious attitude. Sure enough, the flotilla in the distance was waving the BJP flag.

"Question them in the language of the flag." Yan Fu ordered.

The flag bearer began to wave the signal flag in his hand, and after a while, the observer nervously reported, "Commander Yan, the interception fleet on the other side is on the other side, and they said that they came to intercept it according to the plan." However, news came from the Chaohu Canal an hour ago that two steam clippers from the direction of the Yangtze River wanted to pass through our interception line, but they had been captured after being injured by us. They don't know the specific situation, so please be careful with the fleet, there may be a new enemy fleet attacking the base area. ”

"What?" Yan Fu was taken aback. It is likely that these two steam clippers came to give orders, and the Manchu Qingshui Army had a small number of its own ships, so it stands to reason that the Manchu Qingshui Army could not invest too many naval forces in such a battle far from the Yangtze River. After settling down, Yan Fu quickly made his own decision to annihilate Li Yuanhong's troops first. He shouted to the communications officer: "Let the interceptor fleet first participate in the battle to capture these four ships, and never allow the enemy to escape." ”

The battle itself was nothing special, and when the machine guns on the flagship of the river fleet smashed the sails of the four ships full of holes, the men on all four ships immediately chose to surrender. The New Army Navy served as soldiers for food, and at the critical moment, since the People's Party allowed them to surrender, no one refused to bury them for the sake of the Manchus.

When Yan Fu's main fleet converged with the interception fleet, and then rushed back to the confluence of the Nanqi River and Chaohu Lake, the figure of Li Yuanhong's naval steamship was also faintly visible.

The BJP had a whole day to prepare for this interception, so everyone's preparation was extremely thorough. Several boats sank directly in the deepest part of the river, and many cement blocks and sandbags were piled up on both sides of the river. Yan Fu believes that there is no need to build any barrages, in order to attack water targets, the People's Party's "unconscionable cannon" uses a special waterproof ammunition packaging, after testing, this kind of multi-layer silk and tung oil sealed ammunition can also explode in the water, such a narrow river, after the explosion of the shells in the water, the damage to the hull is also not small. As long as you can sink a few more enemy ships, the river will naturally be blocked.

If we talk about the grandeur and beauty of the artillery battle in the fierce "naval battle," the People's Party's troops can be described as "the scum of the soil." If Yan Fu evaluates it with a scientific attitude, the People's Party is based on a complete understanding of water warfare, and the "limit of practicality."

Sure enough, the Hubei Navy did not think that the rudimentary facilities of the People's Party could stop them at first. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army demanded their surrender with loudspeakers, and the navy responded with naval gunfire in response. And the speedboats and boats began to charge first. The artillery positions in ambush in the reeds were immediately fired according to the shooting elements that had been measured long ago, and the boats were quickly sunk.

The artillery unit immediately changed its position, adjusted the parameters according to the new shooting elements, and waited for the big ships of the Hubei Navy to start the assault. As long as you can sink a large ship, the entire river will be completely blocked. In order to achieve this goal, the first target in this round of shooting is the big ship rather than the small boat. The officers and men of the artillery unit were all tense one by one, their eyes constantly patrolling the signalman and the gunner, and all of them were waiting for a decisive order. It's just that this time the wait is too long.

"Li Yuanhong asks for surrender?" Yan Fu looked at the officer of the New Army Navy standing in front of him suspiciously.

"Yes, Mr. Yan. Lebanon was ready to surrender. The naval officer of the New Army looked at Yan Fu worriedly, "But Li Xietong said that you have to come to our fleet in person to prove your sincerity." And keep us safe, and we will surrender. ”

"Yes." Yan Fu replied without thinking about it.

"Mr. Yan, do you really dare to come?"

Yan Fu smiled and said, "Before four o'clock this afternoon, you must surrender, if you don't surrender, we will attack." If I alone can save so many lives, why wouldn't I dare? Don't you think that our navy can't do without me, even if I'm on your ship, when it's time to attack, our troops will still attack. ”

Li Yuanhong didn't expect his teacher Yan Fu to arrive on his boat so soon, and when he saw his teacher and opponent, Li Yuanhong felt a little caught off guard. He didn't want to fight at all at this time, and the complete destruction of the land battle had frightened Li Yuanhong's courage, and now he saw the large sails in the lake far from the mouth of the river, as well as the obstacles on the river, especially the sunken ships in the water that only exposed their masts, Li Yuanhong knew that he had completely fallen into the trap of the People's Party. Li Yuanhong's only concern now is his own life and death, so he sent a small boat with a white flag to ask to see Yan Fu. In fact, what Li Yuanhong wanted was not for Yan Fu to board the ship in person, even if he could bring back Yan Fu's message to ensure his safety, Li Yuanhong would surrender. Surrender or anything, as long as you can get out of this hellish war, Li Yuanhong can accept anything.

After choosing the words for a while, Li Yuanhong followed the rules of the Beiyang Navy Academy back then, and said uprightly: "Yan Jiaoxi, I ask for surrender." ”

Yan Fu stepped forward and grabbed Li Yuanhong's hand, "Song Qing, it's good for everyone." Since it has reached such a point, there is no need for everyone to die for nothing. ”

Li Yuanhong knew that Yan Fu was a trustworthy person, and he said anxiously: "Yan Jiaoxi, after we ask for surrender, everything will be handed over to you Yan Jiaoxi." ”

In full accordance with the norms of the People's Party, Yan Fu said: "Our army treats prisoners preferentially, will not rob everyone's belongings, and will not insult and beat everyone." If you are willing to join our People's Party and join in the revolution that overthrew the Manchus, we welcome it. If you don't want to, we'll release you too. ”

"Release us?" Li Yuanhong and the officers around him thought they had misheard. Just now, he was fighting for life and death, and now he can be released after surrendering, is there such a good thing in this world? Not to mention that Yan Fu actually said that he would not confiscate his personal property. These people have gotten a lot of good things from Anqing these days, and the amount of gold and silver they carry with them adds up to a lot. Yan Fu actually let go of such a large amount of wealth, this practice really made these people unbelievable. If Yan Fu falls into the hands of the Hubei New Army now, Yan Fu will definitely not have to think about this kind of treatment.

Li Yuanhong was originally bent on surrendering, but when he heard such conditions, he was afraid. "Mr. Yan, you're not kidding, are you?" Li Yuanhong asked cautiously.

"Song Qing, our People's Party has the military discipline of our People's Party. What I have said above is our military discipline, and since it has been established, we naturally have to abide by it. Moreover, you have traveled all the way by water, and there is no harm to the people in the base area, if you have harmed the people, then you will not be able to be released so easily. You have to pay off your debts to the people. ”

"Mr. Yan, we didn't commit any crimes in autumn along the way, and we didn't commit any crimes in autumn." Li Yuanhong hurriedly explained.

Yan Fu smiled: "Don't worry, I know." You've traveled so fast that we've seen it. ”

After listening to Yan Fu's explanation, Li Yuanhong was finally relieved. The Hubei Navy has reached such a point, although many people are unwilling, but they are not willing to work hard. The famous Yan Fu personally came to negotiate the surrender, and everyone stopped talking. The only thing that puzzled them was that Yan Fu asked the doctors in the fleet to gather immediately and participate in the treatment operation. "Your army has suffered too many casualties, and we don't have enough doctors, so the military doctors in the fleet hurry up for me to participate in the treatment, and I can save more people."

Although I don't know why Yan Fu behaved so "compassionately", I can't find fault with this reason. What's more, these people have all surrendered now, and they don't dare to raise any questions about Yan Fu. Of course, these people are still very reluctant in their hearts, if it weren't for those army forces fighting so badly, how could their navy army be captured so easily! There was a kind of utterly egoistic indignation among the people in the trolls.

Prisoners were contained, equipment was handed over. It was a tedious task, and it was barely completed in the evening. Yan Fu first pacified Li Yuanhong and other officers in the temporary camp where the prisoners were held, and then led them to the headquarters in Hefei.

Chen Ke did not meet Li Yuanhong, and after annihilating Li Yuanhong's troops, Chen Ke put his next target on Anqing. When the Hubei New Army attacked Anqing and Chizhou, a total of 7,000 troops were dispatched, Li Yuanhong brought out more than 5,000 people from Hefei, less than 2,000 people remained in Anqing and Chizhou, and the Hubei New Army actually in Anqing did not exceed 1,000 and a half at most. Such a small number of defenders were guarding a large number of weapons, ammunition, and supplies. Even for the sake of these materials, Chen Ke believed that it was necessary to attack Anqing a second time.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army fought Anqing once half a year ago, and it was not a problem to attack Anqing again. The question is how to deal with Anqing after laying down Anqing this time. Anqing guards the Yangtze River and is a very sensitive city. If the People's Party formally occupied Anqing, it would be in a state of constant war with the Manchus. The Manchu Qing until now, had an overwhelming advantage over the water army. Coupled with Anqing's downstream in Wuhan, there is no guarantee that the British will also intervene. But if you don't occupy Anqing, there are also many problems.

As soon as Yan Fu entered the conference room, he saw Yang Guigui, the head of the first regiment, and Xiong Mingyang, the political commissar and head of the second regiment, arguing like a fighting. Yang Guigui's face was full of weasels to greet the chicken's sincere expression, "Your second regiment has already contributed to this charge, and you still have the problem of large-scale refitting of the troops, let us go to the regiment this time." ”

Xiong Mingyang also had a smiling expression, "Captain Yang doesn't have to worry about us, everyone has a problem with changing clothes." You see, the third and fourth regiments also have to change their costumes. It is not enough for the troops to rely on training alone, they have to fight. ”

As soon as Ji Baixiong, the commander of the third regiment, and Mao Taiping, the commander of the fourth regiment, heard that Xiong Mingyang was pulling a united front, they immediately expressed their support for Xiong Mingyang. "That's it, isn't it the five hundred new army from before? Our two regiments were definitely able to win in the past. You two have worked hard with the troops, and we just want to try out the new equipment. ”

Xiong Mingyang was quite dissatisfied with these two guys who "ate inside and climbed outside", and this kung fu was too much.

Ji Baixiong was not moved by Xiong Mingyang's dissatisfied eyes at all, "Our army originally had little cultivation in Hanyang, and if we carry it back and forth, it will inevitably waste too much manpower." Two of our regiments went to the battle, just in time to receive equipment. It's very efficient. ”

The young man was full of vigor, and Yan Fu only smiled after listening to this dialogue. However, Chen Ke's face was solemn, and he didn't look like he had won a battle at all. Mao Taiping was more discerning, and he seriously said to Chen Ke, who could decide who would send troops: "Chairman Chen, our four regiments will definitely be able to complete the task, please hand over this Anqing battle to us." ”

In response to such a sincere request for battle, Chen Ke also replied with the same sincere attitude: "Only one battalion of your four regiments is equipped with rifles. There are no more than 1,200 rifles in the full fight, and there are 1,500 people in the Hubei New Army defending the city, only your four regiments went, Commander Mao, don't you think the casualties will be too great? ”

Hearing this, the four regiment commanders all knew that Chen Ke actually had his own ideas, and everyone didn't dare to laugh anymore, and almost stood up together.

Chen Ke said: "The first group and the fourth group will go, and they will leave tomorrow." The divisional artillery battalion will go with you. Your two regiments have a total of 8,000 people, you must be fast, the faster you get to Anqing now, the fiercer you fight, the smaller our losses. ”

"Yes!" Yang Guigui and Mao Taiping replied at the same time.

"Besides, have you figured out who will guard Anqing?" Chen Ke then asked.

"This ......" the four regiment commanders were silent. They only thought about the exploits of seizing Anqing, and did not think about what to do next after defeating Anqing.

"Now I'm convening this meeting to discuss this. However, Commander Yang and Commander Mao don't need to participate, you should hurry up and organize the march of the troops. ”