At this moment, Li Yuanhong received the reward from the spy and found traces of enemy troops stationed not far ahead.

Li Yuanhong immediately led his army to the scene and observed carefully. Although most of the traces of the camp were cleared, Li Yuanhong was born in a new-style army after all, and he could see some tricks from it. Judging from the scope of the camp area, the troops stationed here were about 2,000, and they were orderly and well organized, showing their strong military qualities, which were obviously not as simple as ordinary bandits.

However, Li Yuanhong estimated that he now had 2,000 troops under his command, so he could have the power to fight against this bandit army. Moreover, he had Zhang Biao's army behind him, so he was not afraid of the enemy's reinforcements. So he ordered the entire army to pursue him.

Because the enemy's marching traces were very clear at this time, the Qing army in Hubei was also very easy to pursue. The army chased forward for more than two hours and walked nearly 20 kilometers, but found that the enemy's marching route was along the border between Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture and headed east. If you continue to chase, you will only be further and further away from the target of Tang County. This comes the Qing army in Hubei faces two choices. One is to give up the pursuit and continue to march towards Tang County. However, with an army of 2,000 people on the side, can the Qing army in Hubei successfully capture Tang County? The second is to continue chasing the enemy until it catches up with the enemy. After annihilation of the enemy, then turn back to attack Tang County. The advantage of this is to relieve the worries of attacking Tang County and weaken the strength of the enemy. But when will it take to catch up with the enemy? What if the enemy intends to lead the Qing army in Hubei?

Li Yuanhong couldn't help but hesitate. Although Li Yuanhong was a new-style soldier and did have some talent, he was quite indecisive and had a soft ear and a heart. He was known as a "clay bodhisattva". Therefore, facing such a choice, Li Yuanhong could not make up his mind for a while, so he immediately ordered to stop the pursuit, rest on the spot, and sent someone to notify Zhang Biao to come to meet and negotiate.

An hour later, Zhang Biao led the brigade to come. After the two gathered together to discuss, they believed that they should pursue the enemy bandits first, because Bijing in Tang County is a county town and an important gathering point for this group of bandits. Therefore, the bandits will set up heavy troops in Tang County and may not be able to easily capture them. If they cannot be captured for a long time, the enemy bandits will be difficult to deal with. It is better to annihilate the enemy bandits first and then attack the city. At the same time, Zhang Biao also asked Li Yuanhong to go into battle lightly and leave artillery and supplies and other weapons in the brigade, so that the marching speed can be accelerated. After catching up with the enemy bandits, there is no need to rush to annihilate the enemy bandits, but to drag the enemy bandits and wait for Zhang Biao to lead the brigade to come and then work together to annihilate the enemy bandits.

The next day, Li Yuanhong left the artillery and baggage, and only brought 6 58mm mountain cannons, and then led the entire army, a total of about 1,500 people, to continue chasing. Sure enough, after getting on the road with light equipment, Li Yuanhong's army's marching speed was much faster. In one day, he chased for more than 50 kilometers. At dusk, the spies reported that they found the enemy bandits in front and attacked the headquarters.

After hearing this, Li Yuanhong hurriedly ordered the entire army to prepare for battle.

The commander of the Third Volunteer Regiment was a time traveler named Liu Hecheng. Before coming to the base, he was just a deputy battalion commander. However, he participated in all the battles that the East China government had experienced before. It can be said that he fought step by step from the grassroots level and had rich combat experience. After receiving the task of restraining the Qing army in Hubei, Liu Dipeng also carefully considered that if he completed his mission successfully, he would not only attract the Qing army, but also teach the Qing army a lesson.

The total strength of the Qing army in Hubei was far above itself, so of course it could not be strong against it. We must find a way to divide the Qing army in Hubei to defeat one by one. First, we must test the enemy's background. Therefore, in the first three days, Liu Hecheng adopted the tactic of avoiding war and deliberately exposed some traces of marching and camping. First, we were to lead the Qing army in Hubei to pursue and stay away from Tang County; second, we were to let the Qing army in Hubei divide the army, because if we wanted to catch up with the Volunteer Army, the Qing army in Hubei had to divide the troops and travel lightly, so that we had a chance; third, we were also to look at the reaction of the Qing army through pursuit to judge the strength of the Qing army, so as to use different tactics to deal with it.

If the Qing army in Hubei is quick and quick, it means that the Qing army in Hubei is arrogant and arrogant, and you can consider setting up an ambush in the middle; if the Qing army in Hubei is cautious, afraid of hands and tail, and slow, it means that the Qing army in Hubei is timid and can use bluffing or sneak attack tactics to deal with it.

Because the Volunteers are familiar with the terrain and have a large number of militias and the support of the people, the whereabouts of the Qing army in Hubei have always been under the control of the Volunteers. However, the Qing army in Hubei is neither anxious nor slow to pursue, nor to advance or slow, and also sent a large number of spies to check in front and left and right, and maintain a distance of no more than 20 kilometers from the brigade behind, showing quite strong qualities, which shows that this Qing army has received relatively strict training and has a certain combat effectiveness, which also makes the Volunteers basically inadequate to take advantage of.

However, after the fourth day of pursuit, the Qing army finally couldn't hold back the air and left artillery supplies and set off on the road with light equipment. Not only did it reduce the number of people, but it also accelerated the marching speed. After another day of pursuit, it opened a distance of nearly 30 kilometers from the Qing army behind. Liu Hecheng also realized that the fighter was coming. Although it was not time to organize an ambush position at this time, even if it was a head-on battle, Liu Hecheng thought he was 670% sure. Because he now had a slight advantage in the number of people, and he took the initiative to attack, which was a certain suddenness.

The battlefield chosen by Liu Hecheng was in Jiepaikou area of ​​Tongbai Mountain. The three battalions were divided into three routes and launched an attack on the Qing army in Hubei. This was also the first time that the two sides had formal battles after the Qing army launched a clearance.

Li Yuanhong was also prepared for being attacked by the enemy bandits, so he was not panicked after hearing the news. He immediately ordered the Qing army to organize defense on the spot and sent someone to notify Zhang Biao behind him, asking him to come to reinforce immediately.

After Li Yuanhong gave the order, the Qing soldiers immediately looked for bunkers to hide, prepare and set up positions, and Li Yuanhong also found a place to set up his own command center. However, before the Qing army was fully prepared, the Volunteer Army had already come over. The first thing to attack the Qing army was a round of artillery attacks. The 18 60mm mortars of the 60-mortar company of the Third Regiment opened fire together, and hundreds of shells were fired in a short time.

In fact, this series of explosions did not hurt the Qing army, because the volunteers had not found the position of the Qing army's position at all. First, the time was rushed and there was no time to observe and correct it; second, the Qing army itself had not arranged a position yet, anyway, it was enough to hit the shells in a rough direction. However, this round of artillery bombing caused great shock to the Qing army. Even Li Yuanhong was scared to death. The round of artillery bombings was not much different without 20. Does this group of enemy bandits actually have so many artillery? He only has 6 mountain cannons and has not been assembled yet. How can he fight this battle? Can he carry Zhang Biao to come for reinforcements?

After the shelling, the volunteers immediately launched an attack on the Qing army, and the Qing army was inevitable, so they could only grit their teeth and face it. The two sides soon collided like two floods, entering a fierce hand-to-hand combat. The soldiers of both sides used bayonets to fight against the bayonets, and fought against the white and blades. In a blink of an eye, they intertwined each other and fought a desperate battle.

At this time, the tactics were not very meaningful. They competed with the personal combat strength and courage of the soldiers on both sides, as well as the team cooperation ability of the squad. Although the total number of the Volunteer Army was above the Qing army, the artillery did not participate in this kind of hand-to-hand combat, so the number of people participating in the war in the Volunteer Army was not much higher than that of the Qing army. In fact, to be fair, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army in Hubei was indeed not bad. The soldiers' personal qualities, morale, and courage were not inferior to those of the Volunteer Army. But after all, they were hasty to fight. Moreover, the just-in-one round of artillery attacks also had a certain impact on the Qing army in Hubei. More importantly, although the firepower support weapons of the Volunteer Army were not as good as those of the People's Army, the basic weapons were the same. The army was equipped with a large number of Type 96 pistols. In this melee battle, the Type 96 pistols can play a great role.

Under such a few levels of not a big advantage, after half an hour of fierce fighting, the Volunteers gradually gained the upper hand, so everyone became more and more brave. Although the Qing army in Hubei was well-trained, it was not a real strong army after all, and it was okay to fight with the wind. Once the battlefield fell into an unfavorable situation, it could no longer withstand it and was killed by the Volunteers and retreated one after another.

At this time, Li Yuanhong was taking his own guard to watch the battle on a small hill, because he didn't need to command the battle at this time. Seeing that the Qing army was defeated, they retreated one after another. Moreover, many soldiers were defeated and fled to their own hills. Li Yuanhong couldn't help but be shocked. At this time, he naturally did not dare to stay on the hills for a long time, and hurriedly led his guards to escape down the hills.

After Li Yuanhong fled from the battlefield, the Qing army finally fell into a complete defeat and fled in all directions. Fortunately, the Volunteers were not pressing for it. They only chased after 2 or 3 kilometers and then stood still and stopped. Liu Hecheng also ordered the entire army to simply clean up the battlefield, accommodate the bodies of the dead soldiers, simply treat the injured soldiers, and bring the guns and weapons abandoned by the Qing army, and immediately evacuated from the battlefield. The first battle after the Qing army entered the suppression ended with the victory of the Volunteers.
Chapter completed!