The Qing army's attack on the first day was extremely fierce. The Qing army in Hubei was probably full of anger and had high fighting spirit. They launched charges again and again on the positions of the Volunteers. However, the Qing army's charge was stubbornly blocked by the Volunteers, and a fierce firepower net was organized, which led to the Qing army's casualties and defeat.

The battle started in the morning and continued until dusk. The positions of the volunteers remained standing. In the afternoon, the spirit of the Qing army was finally gradually exhausted by the cruel battle. After all, although the Hubei New Army was an army trained according to the modern military system, it also had a lot of feudal characteristics, not a standard modern army; secondly, the Hubei New Army lacked practical experience, and it was easy to fight against the wind, but it was difficult to fight against the wind.

At this moment, the Volunteers took advantage of the failure of the Qing army's attack and launched a counterattack against the Qing army when they retreated. The soldiers of the Volunteers jumped out of the trenches for a long time and rushed over the retreating Qing army. As a result, under the pressure of the Volunteers' astonishing momentum, the retreating Qing army suddenly became panic, and the retreat turned into a defeat. Fortunately, the Qing army's position was also quite tightly defended, so it was not dispersed by the Volunteers' counterattack. However, the attack on this day was completely interrupted. In the battle on this day, the Qing army suffered more than 350 people and more than 400 others were injured, causing considerable losses.

This result also shocked Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong. Although the two had no hope to completely break the Volunteer Army's position in one day, they should have gained some gains. At least several local positions can be broken. After all, the Qing army has an absolute advantage in military strength. Of course, the Volunteer Army must have their reasons for defending this line of defense like this. Although Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong are not famous generals, they are also people who have learned military tactics after all. Of course, the bandits' military strength is more than these 2,000 people. If other troops arrive, they can encircle the Qing army in Hubei here.

Of course, the Qing army is still very good now. After all, the road for the Qing army to retreat to Hubei is still smooth, but Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong are a little unwilling to accept it. If they return to Hubei like this, the future of the two will be basically over. Moreover, it will take more than 10 days to enter Henan. The enemy bandits have only more than 2,000 troops to deal with him. Therefore, they still have some luck mentality, thinking that the reinforcements of the enemy bandits may not come so quickly, and in today's battle, the enemy bandits will not be completely injured and may have the position in danger. As long as they add more force, they can break through the enemy bandits' positions.

So after midnight negotiation, the two finally decided to fight for another day. If they could break through the enemy bandits' positions, they would go to Xinye to rest and wait for an opportunity to act; if they could not break through the positions on this day, they would retreat to Hubei.

This time, the Qing army no longer retained anything, but went all out to do its best, and at the beginning, it did not save shells, opened fire with all its might and bombarded the Volunteer's positions.

For a moment, the shells fell on the Volunteer Army's positions like heavy rain, which also made the officers and soldiers of the Volunteer Army realize that the Qing army might have to fight to the death this time. The Qing army's artillery lasted for more than 30 minutes. Although the Volunteer Army dug trenches fortifications, used the trenches' counter-sloping surface to protect themselves and defend against enemy artillery fire, the Qing army's artillery was too fierce, and the time for the Volunteer Army to arrange positions was limited, so the excavated trenches were not perfect. The Qing army's artillery attacks did cause certain losses to the Volunteer Army.

The fierce shelling also played a certain role in boosting the morale of the Qing army. In order to make the soldiers fight to the death, Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong also set up a supervision team, and of course set up a heavy reward. In short, all the strength of the Qing army will be displayed today.

After the artillery bombardment, the Qing army launched a ground attack on the Volunteer Army's positions again. Looking from the hillside where the Volunteer Army was located, the Qing soldiers were like ants, almost covering the entire hillside.

Although the Qing army's artillery destroyed part of the fortifications on the position, the Volunteers still stood firm on the position. At this time, the Volunteers also tried their best, and all the rifles, mortars, and * were dispatched to give the Qing army a fierce attack. The Qing army's attack was repelled again and again, but under the command of Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong, the Qing army relied on the advantage of large troops. As soon as the Qing army retreated, the Qing army immediately took it, one round after another, almost never interrupted, and did not give the Volunteers a breathing plan. The artillery fire made the battlefield full of gunfire, and it was almost impossible to distinguish the front lines between the enemy and us. The gunshots, cannons, and * were completely connected.

It should be said that the Qing army's crazy attack at all costs had achieved certain results. After all, the Volunteers lacked enough troops. Under the Qing army's repeated attacks, they finally couldn't stand it. Several times the Qing army attacks were attacked into the position and had close-range fights. But despite this, the soldiers of the Volunteers still stood firm on their positions and did not retreat. They repelled the Qing army's attacks many times. Some positions even experienced repeated struggles between the two sides and changed hands several times, while the bodies of soldiers on both sides lie all over the entire position.

The battle lasted for a whole morning. Although the Volunteers resisted vigorously, two positions were lost due to insufficient troops, and the entire regiment lost more than 700 people, which was approaching the cordon line of one-third of the losses. Although the Qing army suffered greater losses than the Volunteers, the number of Qing army was far greater than that of the Volunteers, so there was still still the strength to fight again. If the Qing army continued to attack in the afternoon, there was indeed a great possibility to break through the Volunteers' defense line.

But the Qing army's attack ended here. In the afternoon, the Qing army did not launch another attack, so the Third Regiment also got a rare respite. The reason why the Qing army failed to insist on attacking was that the reinforcements of the Volunteer Army finally arrived at the battlefield, and they came from two aspects. The Second Regiment was stationed about 10 kilometers east of the Qing army, and the First Regiment went directly to the south of the Qing army, cutting off the Qing army's way back to Hubei. The three regiments formed an inverted triangle, trapping the Qing army in the core.

Under such circumstances, the Qing army in Hubei naturally did not dare to attack the position of the Third Regiment again, and could only be forced to turn into defense. Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong completely gave up on continuing the attack, just how to break through the siege of the Volunteers and retreat back to Hubei. However, due to the failure of the previous two days of attack, the Qing army in Hubei not only suffered huge losses, but also exhausted troops. Therefore, Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong decided to let the soldiers rest overnight and launch another breakthrough tomorrow.

In fact, at this time, although the volunteers formed an encirclement of the Qing army in Hubei, the first and second regiments had just arrived at the battlefield. Not only did they consume a huge amount of physical strength, but they also did not build a defensive position in Hubei. Although the Qing army suffered a lot of losses, they still had more than 70% of their combat power in general. Although the soldiers were tired, they did not have the power to fight again. After all, it is the time for the Qing army in Hubei to be at risk. If the general can motivate the entire army and launch a resolute breakthrough at this time, the chance of success is very high. Although they will suffer some losses, they can still retain most of the troops. Unfortunately, Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong are not decisive people, so the last chance of the Qing army gave up.

The battle situation changed greatly. The first and second regiments made full use of the time of the night and built a simple position without relying on it. Although it was not ideal, it also had a certain amount of resistance and also seized time to rest and recover its physical strength. Therefore, when the Qing army in Hubei launched an attack on the position of the first regiment in the morning of the next day, the Volunteers had made full preparations.

This time, the Qing army in Hubei still used artillery to open the way, because yesterday's battle proved that intensive artillery firing was a very effective tactical method. After the previous battle, the Qing army in Hubei still had about half of the artillery shells left, and at this time, the Qing army in Hubei would of course not retain it anymore. Zhang Biao ordered all the artillery shells to be shot. First, the attack on the Volunteer Army was increased; second, after the artillery shells were shot, the Qing army could also reduce its burden and break through with light. Of course, the Qing army did not forget that there were two volunteer troops eyeing each other, leaving 1,000 troops to block the two groups.

So the Qing army in Hubei concentrated all its more than 30 artillery pieces and launched violent artillery bombardment on the positions of the Volunteers. However, just after the Qing army in Hubei was launched for 5 or 6 minutes, the sound of artillery sounded on the positions of the Volunteers, and the shells fell on the artillery positions of the Qing army.

In fact, the Volunteer Army had only one field artillery company, equipped with 6 75mm caliber field artillery pieces. Of course, the number was much smaller than that of the Qing army in Hubei. It was definitely impossible to fight artillery battles with the Qing army in Hubei, but it was absolutely possible to seize an opportunity to attack one. Therefore, before the war started, the field artillery company was ambushed near the position, and there were 6 artillery pieces, so it was much easier to conceal it.

After the Qing army's artillery opened fire, the position of its artillery positions was exposed. The Volunteers had already carefully surveyed and mapped the area and drew accurate detailed drawings. Once the enemy's artillery positions were discovered, various shooting units could be calculated immediately. Therefore, six 75mm caliber field artillery immediately calibrated the shooting parameters and launched bombardment on the Qing army's artillery positions.

Although the Volunteers had few artillery guns, the firing speed was fast. After only one minute of shooting, nearly 100 shells were fired, and then they quickly evacuated the artillery position. This was also the benefit of few artillery guns, and it was quick and convenient to move.

In fact, the field artillery company of the Volunteer Army did not need to evacuate the position at all, because in the previous round of artillery attacks, more than 70% of the artillery shells fell on the Qing army's artillery positions, which was enough to destroy the Qing army's artillery positions.
Chapter completed!