The infantry of the Hubei New Army always believed that war was about bombardment with cannons and exchanging fire in formation. They had undergone considerable training in this regard, and both strategy and tactics were completely centered around this idea of war. The battles they were accustomed to were carried out simultaneously in units of at least a hundred people.

The combat mode of the vanguard troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was completely different. The two companies first deployed relied on prepared positions for harassment ambushes. Except for the side facing the river where there were no ambush positions, on other positions communicated by individual bunkers and temporary communication trenches, the troops fired in units of squads and platoons. Every shot was directly commanded by the squad leader. Although the bullet density was not high, the gunfire never stopped; now south, now north, gunfire was everywhere.

Facing enemies hiding in the dark from all directions, the Hubei New Army formed a formation similar to the hollow square of the early musket era, centered on the road. Artillery and baggage were in the middle, surrounded by infantry formations on all four sides. Commanders stood in the center of the safe formation, commanding the infantry to fire in formation. The soldiers of the New Army squatted in the front row and stood in the back row. Rows of rifles looked quite neat. It must be said that the Hubei New Army was well trained. With the commander's order, the soldiers began to fire in rows. It had a flavor of strict discipline.

The power of a volley of at least a hundred people naturally goes without saying. The reeds at the dense fire concentration points were broken at the waist, and dust rose from the ground. Since setting out to exterminate the "chaotic bandits," the land forces of the Hubei New Army had no chance to appear on stage. Now it was finally their turn to fight with real swords and guns. Excited looks of going onto the battlefield for the first time appeared on the faces of the New Army soldiers. Although they had trained many times, everyone was still a bit flustered. When loading bullets and shooting, their hands trembled a bit. Listening to the sound of comrades firing in rows, the intense gunfire made the blood of these young soldiers boil. Unknowingly, shooting had become a subconscious action. Load, aim in the direction where the enemy seemed to be hiding in front, pull the trigger.

The result of this confrontation was obvious. Although the group shooting of the Hubei New Army had great momentum, their line shooting was too rigid. Each line occupied too broad a front. Although there were many people, the real attack points were very few. The concentrated attack points of each round of shooting did not exceed 8. The number of troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was only more than four hundred people in two companies, but the 32 squad leaders of these two companies invested in the battle. The firing surface covered almost the entire array of the New Army, and there were at least 32 concentrated firing points. Moreover, one side stood together for formation shooting, while the other side hid in bunkers to shoot. Both sides used Hanyang 88 rifles to shoot at each other at a distance of 200 meters.

Liu Xiushan was a platoon leader of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army participating in this attack. His platoon actually had to be responsible for a front nearly 100 meters wide. According to the education of the military academy, Liu Xiushan arranged his four squads into a concave shape. The two squads that usually trained most effectively were located in prominent positions, and the other two squads were arranged behind. The army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army attached the most importance to three links: first, bayonet and grenade charge; second, digging trenches; third, basic shooting skills. Usually, the soldiers had to do water conservancy projects, and everyone was proficient in civil engineering. And various rifle postures were practiced for hours at a time. The training model guns used in the early stage were much heavier than real guns. Various movements were required strictly and strictly again; not a trace of deviation was allowed.

Usually, Liu Xiushan always pointed to the large banner on the training ground and shouted to the soldiers: "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime!" The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army stressed systems and quantification most. As a platoon leader, Liu Xiushan never knew there were so many training contents, and various assessments were never interrupted. At first, he was dizzy with busyness. When he slowly got used to it, he had to consider how to complete the training content of his platoon. Various cultural and scientific knowledge training was carried out without interruption.

In the past, the intensity of battles was not too strong, and targeted training was enough. Now he finally felt how great the role of usually so much training was. Although Liu Xiushan knew that the thickened part in front of the individual bunker could block bullets, after the bullets of the Hubei New Army hit like splashing water, the front of some bunkers that were not dug thinly was forcibly drilled through by bullets. The bullet density at the impact point of the New Army's formation shooting was really too high. After two rounds of shooting, four soldiers around him with insufficient concealment were killed or wounded immediately. Everyone hugged their rifles and hid in the bunkers, daring not raise their heads under the bullets of the Hubei New Army.

Liu Xiushan could be elected as a platoon leader; his courage was not small. His heart was also thumping wildly, scared by the dense gunfire. But as soon as he heard the direction of the gunfire turn to other directions, he heard the deputy platoon leader responsible for observing the enemy situation shout: "Platoon leader, the enemy has turned." Liu Xiushan hurriedly raised his head and looked out, only to see people falling down from time to time in the formation of the Hubei New Army. The New Army had turned their muzzles and fired in other directions.

Liu Xiushan looked at the New Army formation completely exposed within range and roared loudly: "Fire!"

Some soldiers immediately obeyed the order and began to shoot, but some soldiers were obviously frightened; they looked at Liu Xiushan hesitantly. Liu Xiushan said nothing, dragged these soldiers by their collars to pull them up, and ordered the soldiers to continue shooting. Looking at other positions, there were already casualties on other positions, and the squad leaders also dragged up the soldiers who dared not show their heads and began to continue shooting.

"Medical team, go down the communication trench to carry the wounded down." Liu Xiushan shouted. The so-called communication trench was a shallow trench built according to the terrain. If a person crawled, most of the body could be covered. The medical team hurriedly moved out. They moved to the position with skilled movements. The bodies of the unfortunately sacrificed soldiers were moved back first. After brief wound treatment for those wounded soldiers, lightly wounded soldiers continued to stay and fight, and the medical team took the seriously wounded soldiers down first. Liu Xiushan's platoon had four squads, plus the platoon leader, deputy platoon leader, and signalman, totaling more than fifty people. In less than ten minutes of fighting, twelve comrades were completely lost. The People's Party attacked nearly five thousand people of the Hubei New Army with a force of nearly five hundred people in two companies. The firepower gap was really a bit too large.

After Liu Xiushan's platoon engaged in shooting, the Hubei New Army soon turned the shooting target back. This time Liu Xiushan dared not resist hard anymore. Seeing the muzzle direction turning to his side, Liu Xiushan shouted loudly, "All take cover."

Hearing this shout, the soldiers immediately hugged their guns and sat with their backs against the trench. A moment later, with dense gunfire, the impact of bullets concentrating on the bunker came from the ground. Due to effective command, only one soldier in Liu Xiushan's platoon was injured in this round of exchange of fire.

The casualties of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army were not small, while the casualties of the Hubei New Army were even greater. At the beginning, the Hubei New Army still had a burst of courage to dare to shoot at the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. But after the comrades around them were knocked down one after another, the remaining New Army soldiers immediately became fearful in their hearts. Moreover, the casualty ratio of rifle exchange fire was roughly three to one or even five to one. Fewer were killed directly, and more were wounded. In the military discipline of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, it was emphasized not to shout after being injured. Because shouting could affect morale most. Since soldiers were not allowed to shout, naturally it was impossible to let soldiers wait in vain after being injured. In addition to the deputy squad leader being responsible for temporary treatment, the medical team of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had to engage in treatment work immediately.

The Hubei New Army had absolutely no consideration in this regard. Soldiers could only lie there after being injured. Although the hierarchy in the Hubei New Army was strict, the wounded were people after all. Especially those seriously injured, consciously feeling severe pain in the wound after injury, blood gushing out. Pressing the wound with hands, after a while their palms were like soaking in bloody water. They felt they were doomed, so how could they care about so much? Wailing, asking for help, hugging uninjured comrades to ask for help. These various behaviors greatly weakened the fighting will of the Hubei New Army. And greatly affected the shooting efficiency of the Hubei New Army. Looking at piles of wounded on the ground, New Army soldiers naturally had to consider whether they would become these wounded.

But the battlefield is not a training ground. Once the battle started, everyone had no time to think so much and fought completely according to training. Standing shooting in the New Army was easy to be hit, and the horizontal formation of the hollow square prevented the firepower from being fully utilized. The actual firepower of the five thousand New Army invested in the battle did not exceed 2000. The casualties of the first-line troops far exceeded the casualties of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. When the casualties of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army were more than seventy, and the combat effectiveness loss exceeded 10%, the casualties of the New Army had reached more than 400, and the casualties of the first line had reached 20%. Coupled with shaken morale, the fire density immediately weakened. The firepower of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army did not weaken at all. As long as they could fight, officers and soldiers all fired fiercely. So the casualties of the New Army increased even more.

Encountering this situation, the New Army could generally choose the mode of line replacement. However, troops that can execute this tactic are those well-trained troops that have experienced the test of war. Deploying troops under the enemy's fierce fire, the first-line troops have to bear great damage, and the second-line troops cannot adapt to facing the enemy's shooting immediately at the beginning. This kind of tactical command existing on paper, only the PLA could execute in Chinese history, but the PLA would never choose such a tactic.

It was impossible for the Hubei New Army to have such military literacy. Their hollow square immediately began to fall into chaos. Li Yuanhong showed the command ability he should have at this time. "Shelling!" Li Yuanhong ordered loudly.

"Brigade Commander, where to shell?" The artillery commander asked immediately.

Hearing this question, Li Yuanhong almost pulled out his pistol to execute this unqualified artillery commander. But he also knew it was wrong to lose his temper at the artillery commander. Hollow squares can be effectively shelled when facing hollow squares. And shelling should have started before the battle began. But in this battle, these "Yan-Chen Bandits" opposite were so cunning. They set up ambush positions in advance. The bandits hid in trenches to shoot, and the artillery team simply couldn't find the specific location.

Looking at the bewildered artillery commander, Li Yuanhong shouted loudly, "Shell towards the general direction, correct while shelling."

With the rumbling sound of cannons, the artillery of the Hubei New Army finally began to shoot indiscriminately.

Liu Xiushan heard the rumbling sound of cannons and then finally felt the violent vibration produced after the shell explosion. Compared with the momentum of shelling, the dense bullet exchange just now like flying locusts simply felt like light rain.

"Retreat." Liu Xiushan issued the order without thinking.

The Military Commission did not believe that a desperate onslaught could completely eliminate the Hubei New Army. Chen Ke agreed with this conclusion, but Chen Ke did not agree with everyone's thinking. Most comrades thought the Hubei New Army could fight, and it was too unlikely to solve Li Yuanhong with the same military strength on both sides. Chen Ke believed that the Hubei New Army's morale was okay now, and ammunition was sufficient. If there was a decisive battle, the casualties of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would be relatively large. New Armies like Li Yuanhong's couldn't become braver with each setback, so adopting the "16-Character Decisive Battle Method" to weaken the combat effectiveness of the Hubei New Army to the maximum extent first, and finally annihilating it in one go was the best way.

So in the combat plan for the first engagement, it was emphasized that once the Hubei New Army started shelling, as long as a melee was not formed, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would begin to retreat. Of course, it was impossible for the Hubei New Army to fire indiscriminately at both the enemy and us mixed in a melee.

As soon as Liu Xiushan's order was given, the troops immediately began to retreat according to the training mode. The ambulance team had already transported the wounded and the bodies of some sacrificed soldiers. According to the rule that the forefront troops retreat first, each squad at the forefront withdrew with the bodies of soldiers, and the troops retreated in echelon.

The Hubei New Army was already in chaos at this time. After the shelling started, various units also began to shrink their arrays to rectify discipline. Plus the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army cooperated very well to stop shooting and start retreating. In an almost completely "tacit" state, the battle ended.

The actual combat time of this fierce and short encounter was less than half an hour. Added to the previous battle between the New Army scouts and the reconnaissance troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, according to the statistics after the end of the entire Anhui Campaign, up to this point, the Revolutionary Army lost nearly a hundred people. While the casualties of the Hubei New Army approached nine hundred.

Staff officers and officers dared not mention the topic of continuing to attack Hefei anymore. The weapons and equipment, fighting will, and ambush combat mode displayed by the "Yan-Chen Bandits" in this battle greatly exceeded their imagination. Moreover, they were unfamiliar with the people and place in Anhui. After losing almost all scouts, they no longer had the strength to inquire about news remotely.

Looking at these depressed subordinates and listening to the screams and wails of wounded soldiers not far away, Li Yuanhong ordered decisively, "Troops begin to occupy various key points for defense, and quickly send people to open up the passage back to the landing place."

Not too long after, the sun reached the western horizon, and the red setting sun dyed the battlefield blood red. The cavalry unit temporarily acting as scouts sent people back to report to Li Yuanhong that they were ambushed by the "Bandit Army" five *li* away. No further proof was needed; the dense gunfire in the distance could already prove that Li Yuanhong's retreat route had been completely cut off.

"Did the Bandit Army use cannons?" Li Yuanhong's face was reflected blood red by the sunlight, and the sweat sliding down his face also shone with red light.

"The Bandit Army used land mines. That land mine is powerful. One land mine can kill ten brothers." The cavalryman said here, his voice already carrying a crying tone. "We didn't dare to arrange the team so densely anymore. As a result, many brothers exploring the road were killed by the ambushing Bandit Army, and the headquarters couldn't advance at all."

Li Yuanhong looked at the staff officers and officers surrounding him, one by one with faces full of "red light," and said a sentence with a slightly trembling voice, "The whole army attacks the Bandit Army behind; we must annihilate the Bandit Army completely."

Almost at the same moment, Chen Ke received the news from the carrier pigeon: "The Water Detachment Special Task Force has completely blocked the Nanfei River exit by sinking ships."