Republic of China: My great warlord, many children, many blessings.

Immediately, Duan Zhigui waved his hand, and the guard hurriedly handed a telegram to Shen Hao.

"Look, this is a telegram that Hu Jingren sent to President Yuan."

The document contains detailed records of Xiong Kewu's troops and a map showing their troop deployment.

Shen Hao took the telegram and began to read it.

"On August 4, after Xiong Kewu declared independence, he established a General Headquarters, under which were the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Military Affairs."

Xiong Kewu appointed himself Commander-in-Chief, Yang Shukan appointed Minister of Civil Affairs, Liu Zhifan appointed Minister of Military Affairs and Chief of Staff, and Dan Maoxin appointed Deputy Chief of Staff and Commander of the Central Route Army.

The total force consisted mainly of two regiments from the original Shu army and two brigades from Xiong Kewu's Fifth Division, totaling nine thousand men, which were combined into four detachments: a Sichuan River naval force and a bomb squad.

Long Guang, Lü Chao, Li Shuxun, and Liu Zhifan were appointed as commanders of the four detachments, Yu Jitang was appointed as the commander of the Sichuan River Navy, and Zeng Ziyu and Yan Deji were appointed as captains of the bomb squads.

After the war began, the two armies engaged in a bloody battle along the Longchang-Luzhou line.

Xiong Kewu's troops, numbering 180, have achieved successive victories and captured most of Luzhou.

After reviewing the intelligence, Shen Hao said, "Although Xiong Kewu's troops are quite powerful, they are short-handed, with only 9 men. They will definitely fail."

Duan Zhigui laughed and said, "Of course, but the President has ordered the four of us governors to send troops at the same time, so we must speed up the process and wipe out this force as soon as possible to ensure the complete collapse of the Tongmenghui."

Shen Hao nodded and said, "Okay, I agree to this, no objections."

"Alright, then we'll attack from Hechuan."

Xiong Kewu also received the news immediately.

His face was grave.

It was already difficult enough to defeat Hu Jingyi, the governor of Sichuan.

Now things are really complicated; not only do we have to face Governor Hu Jingyi of Sichuan.

They also faced encirclement and suppression by Duan Zhigui, the governor of northern Hubei; Zhang Fenghui, the governor of Shaanxi; Cai E, the governor of Yunnan; Tang Jiyao, the governor of Guizhou; and Shen Hao, the governor of Guangdong, who led the Second Division.

It's like Xiong Kewu fighting against five provinces all by himself. How the hell is he supposed to fight like that?

He had no hope of victory left.

He then ordered the first detachment to take Luzhou in the shortest possible time.

The Second Detachment was tasked with guarding Hechuan and defending against the Shaanxi, Hubei, and Guangdong armies on the northern route.

The Third and Fourth Detachments defended the southern route, and were tasked with repelling Cai E in Yunnan and Tang Jiyao in Guizhou.

However, morale is not high.

With less than 10,000 men, fighting across five provinces, and with such poor equipment, how could they possibly win?

Shen Hao led the Second Division troops under Chu Yunfei and Duan Zhigui to support Sichuan, and the situation quickly reversed.

208. Meeting of the Six Governors: Shen Hao's First Merit

Shen Hao told Qingqing, Yao Yulan, Yao Yuying, Wang Keqin, and the four women to wait for him in Wuhan.

He took Cheng Shuzhen and Hong Guniang to support Sichuan.

After all, the two women were not weak or delicate.

He led a large army to Zaoyang County, Xiangyang.

They encountered resistance.

For a moment, Shen Hao really didn't know who the other person was.

Half an hour later, the scouts returned.

"The governor is Bai Lang's rebel army."

Shen Hao frowned: "Damn it, wasn't Bai Lang wandering around Henan and Shaanxi? How come he's suddenly in Hubei?"

Bai Lang, courtesy name Mingxin, was a native of Daliuzhuang, Baofeng, Henan Province, and a famous leader of a peasant uprising during the rule of the Beiyang warlords.

This guy, as Duan Zhigui emphasized yesterday, is extremely powerful despite being a peasant uprising leader.

In 1911, Bai Lang launched an uprising and soon began to raise the banner against Yuan Shikai.

The rebel army also employed tactics such as avoiding the enemy's strength and attacking their weaknesses, feinting to the east and attacking in the west, rapid maneuvering, long-distance raids, and surprise attacks.

After fighting across five provinces—Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Shaanxi, and Gansu—it can be said that Yuan Shikai's hundreds of thousands of troops were helpless against Bai Lang.

Since this guy is with the Tongmenghui, his purpose in blocking Shen Hao here must be to alleviate Shen Hao's pressure on Sichuan.

Thinking of this, Shen Hao said, "Give him a good beating, let him know who he shouldn't mess with."

Chu Yunfei saluted and said, "Yes."

No one expected that a battle involving 20,000 to 30,000 people would take place in such a small county as Zaoyang.

Shen Hao had just received two hundred boxes of mortar shells, which was more than enough. Of course, he wanted to show Bai Lang what real power was.

Chu Yunfei located the enemy's main force and immediately ordered, "Use all the shells within half an hour, leave nothing behind."

"Yes"

In an instant, the area where Bai Lang's army was located was filled with the sounds of artillery fire and screams of agony.

Bai Lang was completely stunned. He had been invincible in this area with his several cannons and heavy machine guns, but this was the first time he had ever suffered such artillery fire.

For a moment, I lost my composure.

Bai Lang looked through the binoculars and realized something was wrong.

"Damn it, we've been tricked. This isn't Duan Zhigui's army; this is Shen Hao from Guangdong."

Damn it, these bastards are deliberately trying to screw me over.

No wonder everyone says Shen Hao is a great fighter; he's definitely much better than those guys we fought before.

"General, let's go quickly. I heard that Shen Hao always bombards the enemy with artillery shells before sending his men into battle."

Look at their assault company, each of them has a light machine gun, they have powerful firepower and are well-trained. It's not worth it to fight them head-on.

If we really go toe-to-toe, we will undoubtedly lose.

"If you deplete our savings, the Tongmenghui won't give us any subsidies, and you'll be in danger then."

Bai Lang said, "Those guys are really cunning. They retreated, but they suffered such heavy losses. We have to make up for it."

"General, we can turn our guns around and attack the river mouth. The local garrison there is poorly equipped, and the river mouth is also quite wealthy, enough to make up for our losses."

"We'll deal with Shen Hao once we're fully equipped."

Bai Lang nodded and said, "Withdraw."

"Yes"

Through his binoculars, Chu Yunfei discovered that Bai Lang's troops had all withdrawn.

He was momentarily stunned, then immediately ordered a ceasefire.

"Someone, go up and see what's going on!"

"Yes"

A moment later, the scout returned.

"Reporting to the division commander, Bai Lang's troops have completely retreated, leaving only a few hundred corpses and some seriously wounded personnel."

"Yes, bury it on the spot; we can't let the plague spread."

"Yes"

Chu Yunfei hurriedly told Shen Hao about the battle situation.

Shen Hao was somewhat surprised to receive this news.

I originally thought that it would be a fierce battle since the other side had been so arrogant under Yuan Shikai's command for so long, but I didn't expect that the other side would run away as soon as we made contact.

Shen Hao said, "Don't pursue a desperate enemy. Our main task now is to aid Sichuan. We can't waste time here."

Chu Yunfei, you lead a regiment on a forced march to provide support; the main army will arrive shortly after.

"It is the Governor-General."

Sichuan is such a lucrative market, and Shen Hao wants a piece of the pie too. If he goes too late, he won't get anything.

On August 10, Chu Yunfei led the Second Division to occupy Qijiang and approach Chongqing.

Xiong Kewu's stronghold, Chongqing, is in dire need of attention.

Meanwhile, Tang Jiyao's Guizhou army captured Zizhong and Neijiang, while Wang Lingji's troops occupied Nanchong, Dingyuan, and Hechuan.

Cai E's Yunnan army under Ye Quan advanced to Yibin.

Zhang Fenghui's Shaanxi army then advanced to Kuizhou.

Shen Hao arrived in Chongqing on August 15.

Duan Zhigui, the governor of Hubei, stayed with Shen Hao.

He didn't care about fighting; as long as he followed Shen Hao, he could eat meat.

There's no other reason than that among the armies of the five provinces, Shen Hao's troops were the fastest at fighting.