Chapter Fifty-six: Balloon Troop

  The Qing army's artillery fire began again, lasting for a full five minutes. The Republican army's front line was shrouded in smoke and flames, making it hard to breathe. However, the Qing army did not take advantage of the situation to launch another charge, and Zhao's suspended heart finally fell back into place.

  "The chief of staff has already crossed the river and set up a forward command post at the Temple of Return to the Origin!" Tian Jinfu took advantage of the smoke not yet dispersing, quickly rushed to the front line position, jumped into the trench, patted the mud on his collar, and said: "The balloon team has also crossed the river, is inflating, and will soon be able to perform calibration shooting tasks."

  "Go, to the headquarters!" Zhao Bei left the scattered trenches and led the staff towards the direction of Guiyuan Temple. Although the Qing army's machine guns and rifles no longer fired easily now, in order to be cautious, they still crawled for a long distance, circling around one trench after another.

  He rode out of the front-line camp, Zhao Beishang mounted his horse and led the guards to rush towards the Temple of Return to the Origin.

  When they arrived at the Temple of Return to the Origin, Blue Sky was gathered with several advisors revising the battle plan. Several square tables were pushed together, on top of which a large-scale military map had been spread out. Seeing Zhao Bei hurry over, Blue Sky stepped forward and said: "Commander-in-Chief, our army's first comprehensive attack has been repelled, neither the First Brigade nor the Second Brigade was able to occupy their predetermined objectives."

  "Where is the second echelon now?" Zhao Bei walked to the table, put down his whip and looked at the military map. In this battle of Hanyang, he personally commanded the first echelon to attack Hanyang, while Yang Wangpeng commanded the second echelon to advance towards Shilidian and Xujia Bay in the west of Hanyang City, protecting the flanks of the first echelon and sending a detachment to fan out and rush towards Qintai direction for firepower reconnaissance and tactical containment.

  "The second echelon's attack on Shili Puping was unsuccessful and has retreated to Qilima Temple. The Qing army set up an artillery position on Heishan, supporting Shili Puping and posing a great threat to our attacking troops. Our army launched several attacks but were repelled each time, unable to capture Heishan. In the end, it's because we lack heavy artillery, now all our big guns are concentrated on the Han Yang front line." Lantian Wei said, pointing at the map.

  "What about Qintai direction?" Zhao Bei asked again.

  "No news has been sent back yet. The Northern Army's artillery fire is too intense, although some shells were blown up by us, there are still some left on the ammunition cart, and some old cannons have been replenished from the arsenal, the artillery strength is still considerable, plus the Northern Army has many machine guns, a frontal assault is difficult to succeed, our army has suffered heavy casualties, and deserters have already appeared."

  "Qintai doesn't need to be attacked anymore, immediately order them to withdraw and take down Hanyang first. How many troops have crossed the river so far?"

  "About 60,000 people, of whom 40,000 have new-style rifles, and the rest are all 'mud guns'."

  This western expedition, the Republican Army has been recruiting and accepting defectors along the way. The starving people and the Hui ethnic minority have been joining the army in droves, greatly increasing the strength of the revolutionary forces, which had grown from 50,000 at the start to 90,000 now. Although they were severely short of weapons, their morale was high. Following Zhao Bei's orders, after occupying Wuchang, those without guns would stay behind in Wuchang city to maintain order, capture "Manchu running dogs", crack down on unscrupulous merchants and manufacture landmines, while only 60,000 men would cross the river to attack Hanyang.

  Zhao Bei had originally planned to take down Hankou with one swift motion, but as they advanced to the outskirts of Hankou, they discovered that they had encountered the Beiyang Army, and all strategic locations were under Qing control. Clearly, the Qing army's emphasis on Hankou was no less than that of the Republican Army.

  The Battle of Hanyang was probably the first tough battle the Republican Army had encountered since its founding.

  "Send someone to inform the 'Chu Guan' gunboat, re-sail to the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze River, use cannons to attack the Qing army's camp along the river in Hanyang, mobilize the Qing army to defend against it, and pay attention to the Beiyang artillery on the Turtle Mountain. When approaching Hankou, be extra careful not to fire shells into the concession, we cannot give the powers a pretext for armed intervention. If the enemy in Hankou does not open fire, my ship will not open fire either. Also, if those foreign warships still want to intervene, do not conflict with them, just avoid them." Zhao Bei said reluctantly.

  The battle is now intense, and the Hankou area along the Yangtze River is filled with civilians watching the war, many of whom are foreigners. It seems that in their eyes, this is like a play. Both the Yangtze River and the Han River have foreign gunboats coming and going, which several times blocked the main channel, preventing the revolutionary army's gunboat from entering the Han River to attack the Qing army. If they did not exist, those Beiyang troops would not be able to cross the Han River into Hanyang, and the Battle of Hanyang would not have been so difficult.

  The revolution of this era is indeed a difficult step, Zhao Bei thoroughly understands the concerns of those revolutionaries during the Xinhai Revolution, knowing that national sovereignty is being trampled on, but has no power to do anything about it.

  "This is a tough battle, we underestimated them. The Beiyang Tigers are not famous for nothing." Lan Tianwei sighed, although he had held military posts in the north before, this was also his first time witnessing the actual combat capabilities of the Beiyang Army.

  "It's not that exaggerated, the Beiyang Army is just better equipped and has higher quality junior officers. " Zhao Bei shook his head. "To be honest, we are short of ammunition, our troops expanded too quickly, training can't keep up, especially the quality of junior officers is a big problem, many people simply don't know how to fight."

  The staff was silent, many of the grassroots officers of the Republican Army were promoted from soldiers, with enough revolutionary passion, but most of them were not familiar with military command, and could not well implement and execute the orders conveyed by their superiors. The battle was completely dependent on a burst of courage, plus the Beiyang Army crossed the river an hour earlier than the Republican Army, and most strategic locations were controlled by them, making this battle difficult to fight. The ammunition problem was even more serious, although some rifles and artillery were replenished after Wuhan was taken, there were not many bullets, with only a few dozen bullets per gun on average, which could only be used in the most intense battles.

  Zhao Bei picked up a pencil and drew a line on the map, saying: "Change the original attack plan, transfer some field artillery from the Hanyang artillery position to Qili Temple, establish an artillery position, and have the second echelon dig fortifications on the spot. Set up a blocking position at Qili Temple, leave half of the troops to defend it, and transfer the rest back to the east to join forces with the first echelon. Concentrate our forces to attack Hanyang, make full use of the firepower advantage of our naval guns, strive to capture Hanyang before nightfall, and then launch a night attack on the Beiyang Army artillery position at Guishan. Capture the northern part of the city, including the large drill ground and the Qintai, and strive to annihilate the Beiyang Army outside the arsenal, protecting the factory equipment to the greatest extent possible."

  Orders were passed down one by one, and the staff officers rode horses in different directions. Some even had to change ships. The scarcity of communication equipment directly affected the full play of combat effectiveness.

  At this time, the balloon team had already raised a huge hydrogen balloon into the sky, controlled by two mooring ropes, floating in the air over 100 meters high, and the entire battlefield could be seen.

  This is a British-made hydrogen balloon, currently the only balloon of the Republican Army's Balloon Corps, used for artillery spotting. The basket under the balloon can hold six people. It was originally equipment of the Beiyang Army, but during the autumn maneuvers at Taihu Lake, it was specially allocated to the Hubei New Army to let the southern new army units gain experience. After the Huangmihong Uprising, it became a war trophy of the Republican Army, but due to the lack of hydrogen tanks, it had not been used until the Battle of Hanyang began. In order to provide targeting instructions and correct firing trajectories for the artillery, Zhao Bei approved its deployment in combat. To improve efficiency, Zhao Bei specially equipped it with a field telephone, with the phone line directly connected to the headquarters.

  Zhao Bei and Lan Tian looked up at the balloon, neither of them speaking. If there were long-range heavy artillery, the artillery positions could be set up close to the balloon, and the coordinates could be transmitted in a timely manner to the artillery commander's hands, so that the infantry casualties could be minimized as much as possible.

  "After the war is over, we should first get some heavy artillery, long-range heavy artillery. Secondly, it's wireless radios, the more the better, and it would be best if they could be equipped to the regimental or battalion level units." Zhao Bei finally spoke out his thoughts after a long while.

  "That can only be bought from abroad, we ourselves cannot make it." Lan Tianwei sighed.

  At this time, the orderlies' staff returned to headquarters one after another. Each department had received new orders and began to regroup, gathering into a fist, preparing to launch a fatal blow against Hanyang City.

  But the Qintai direction did not report back for a long time, just as Zhao Bei was about to go to Qintai in person, the staff member who went to deliver the order returned to the command center in disarray, with a face full of gunpowder and a clear palm print on his cheek.

  "Commander-in-Chief. The vanguard troops of our army who are tactically containing Qintai have refused to retreat and are now concentrating their forces to attack the Qing army at Qintai, vowing to take Qintai in one fell swoop!" said the staff officer, covering his face.

  "What? Refuse to retreat?" Zhao Bei was quite displeased. "The Qintai direction is just a firepower reconnaissance! Hanyang has not been taken, and Qintai is in a situation of being attacked from both front and back. Now launching a strong attack on Qintai is making fun of the soldiers' lives! Who is the commander of Qintai? How many troops are there?"

  Lan Tian looked at a staff officer who flipped through his notebook and said, "The one in command of the attack on Qintai is Deng Gang, with a force of 2,000 men."

  "Was it Deng Gang?" Zhao Bei grunted, pointing to the palm print on the staff officer's face and asked: "What exactly happened? Was this slap from Deng Gang?"

  The staff officer touched his cheek and said: "The department went to convey the retreat order, but Deng Gang thought that there were not many defenders on the piano platform, and it was possible to take it down at once. He not only ignored the department's advice, but also gave the department a slap in the face, saying 'afraid of death' and then led his subordinates to launch a charge, resulting in being swept by the Northern Army's machine guns and bombarded by the Guishan artillery.

  "Hum! What a great phrase 'afraid of death', it seems like he's the only big hero in the Republican Army!" Zhao Bei picked up his whip from the table, his face stern as he adjusted his military cap. "I'll go take a look at Qintai. Xiuhao, you stay here to oversee the overall situation. Tian Jinfu, assemble the guard troops!" With that, he strode out of the temple, heading in the direction of Qintai under the escort of the guard troops.