"Jingmen and Xiaogan are surrounded by steep mountains and crisscrossed rivers. They are very suitable for building shuttle forts for effective defense, which can save a lot of military power. We build fortresses here and assume a posture of not being able to get out. If the Beiyang Army comes to attack

, we can also stay safe and sound at Pingsuobao Fortress and deal with the situation in the south with all our strength." Ji Chunsheng continued.

"We are going to carry out the Northern Expedition in the future, so why bother building fortresses? We are building infrastructure everywhere now, aren't we very short of money?" Xu Yunyuan whispered.

"We can repair it slowly. Maybe by the time we launch the Northern Expedition, these Shuobao fortresses will still be far from adequate!" Chen Tianhua understood and explained.

"Yes, that's it. We have to do it in a decent way." Ji Chunsheng praised: "If we do this, the foreigners will not fail to see that they will be eager to condemn Yuan Gongbao for violating the armistice agreement. When they are anxious, we

Extortion will be much easier."

"That's right!"

Chen Tianhua applauded, "This is to allow Yuan Gongbao from the north to break the contract first and seal the mouths of foreigners. After next spring, we will start the Northern Expedition. This has a good reason."

"When the south is completely unified and all aspects are fully prepared, we will launch the Northern Expedition next year and give Yuan Gongbao and the others a big surprise." Ji Chunsheng sneered:

"If we start the Northern Expedition, it won't be easy if we want to give in!"

Chen Tianhua smiled, "It's not easy, it's simply impossible!"

"Commander, now that you have made up your mind, all preparations for war will begin, and the staff headquarters will issue orders according to the original plan." Ji Chunsheng asked for advice.

Chen Tianhua nodded and said:

"Go ahead and make arrangements. Notify the Hanyang Arsenal to speed up the production of ordnance and ammunition. Transfer the main force of Luo Erhu to Jingmen to defend the Xiaogan area. The Hubei-Hunan Railway can be mined and Xiangdi. There will be no problem for the time being. Leave a small amount.

Wherever the troops are, that's all."

"clear!"

"Yun'er, let your Xie Dong and Hu Ke in Shanghai keep an eye on Chen Qimei from now on and report any situation at any time." Chen Tianhua ordered Xu Yunyuan.

"I understand!" Xu Yunyuan also cheered up.

…

Jin Tianlong and Jin Chengyi, father and son, led more than 10,000 Taihu Gang elites to advance amphibiously on both land and water. They settled in Mudu and Zhenze Town, Suzhou respectively, preparing to join the Shanghai army Chen Qimei to attack from both front and back to capture Gusu City.

Since the Taihu Gang was severely injured by Chen Tianhua a few years ago and their vitality was damaged, the Jin family and his son have been dormant for several years. Now they have basically recovered. They use Chen Tianhua to take care of the Taihu area and prepare to make moves in the surrounding area.

Just at this time, he received a handwritten letter from Chen Qimei of the Shanghai Army, inviting him to jointly capture Suzhou Prefecture, and then the entire southern Jiangsu, so that they would be equally divided.

With this agreement, Jin Tianlong and his adopted son Jin Chengyi made a plan and decided to cooperate with Chen Qimei's Shanghai Army to open up the channel from Taihu Lake to Shanghai. In the future, they would have an outlet to the sea, and they could do business with foreigners.

The key is to seize the city and territory from Chen Tianhua's Republican Army. They have a feeling of gratification.

The Suzhou City Wall was originally the Suzhou City Wall. It was built near the water. With water and land running parallel to each other, it is tall and majestic.

After the entire territory of Su Province was recovered, Li Xinghong sent Yang Shanxin's brigade to station throughout southern Jiangsu. Suzhou Prefecture was the seat of the governor's office in the Qing Dynasty, and the city walls were repaired and rebuilt.

After Yang Shanxin and others settled in, they temporarily built several shuttle castles and reinforced key castles. Gusu City became stronger and more majestic than before.

In order to deal with the attack from the Taihu Gang, Yang Shanxin sent the Butcher's First Regiment and the Bald Guy's Second Regiment, a total of more than 3,000 soldiers to guard Gusu City, and the other half of the troops were stationed in Wuxi, Changzhou and other counties in southern Jiangsu.

More than 3,000 soldiers from two regiments were stationed in the fortress and the four surrounding shuttle forts, ready to attack.

According to the intelligence, Yang Shanxin knew that the Taihu Gang elites came this time to form a pincer attack with the Shanghai army. He could only rely on strong guns and artillery. Because the troops were a little small, it was inconvenient to attack, but holding on should not be a big problem.

Yang Shanxin himself is a fierce general in the old Zhejiang Army. He has been following Li Xinghong before. When Li was a company officer at the Hangzhou Canal Wharf, he was the platoon leader.

It's well known in the military.

This time when he was stationed in southern Jiangsu, Li Xinghong sent one of his counselors, Xiao Xuan, to follow Yang Shanxin as chief of staff.

Xiao Xuan is a native of southern Jiangsu and is very familiar with the folk customs and environment of this area. He used to be the staff of Governor Zhang Renjun. After surrendering to Li Xinghong, he still devoted himself to helping Li Xinghong, assisting Li Xinghong in advising military aircraft and making suggestions.

After receiving the military report from Jinling Headquarters, Yang Shanxin didn't take it seriously. He had never taken water bandits seriously. Thinking about how they were still afraid of the Taihu Gang when they dealt with Lu Wenhu in western Jiangxi and the Yunze Gang in Dongting Lake?

After he released the reconnaissance team, the city did not take too many precautions.

At the end of July, Gusu City was still the same as usual, with lazy soldiers leaning on the fortresses, bored, while in the fields outside the city, farmers in twos and threes were busy in the fields.

Due to wartime needs, all the trees within a few miles in front of Gusu City were cut down. Standing on the top of Suobao Observation Tower, you can see far away without a telescope.

Gusu City is very large. It is the largest city in Su Province except Jinling City. The city wall is twelve meters high and about four meters wide. Various industries in the city are very developed. It is separated from the main city by a few hundred meters in front.

On the left and right stand two large Soobao acropolis, each of which can station about 500 soldiers.

The Acropolis of Shuobao and the main city of Suzhou are on the corner of each other. Its defense is impeccable. Without ten times the strength of the troops, it is basically impossible to easily capture such a heavily defended fortress.

The main force of Yang Shanxin's brigade were soldiers from Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi brought from western Jiangxi. They fought bravely and had strong combat effectiveness.

One-third of the troops are the Qing troops who surrendered in the Jiangning Battle. After training, their combat effectiveness is still good. Most of these soldiers have actual combat experience.

They knew how to rely on strong city walls and the light and heavy weapons they had, mainly heavy artillery. Therefore, the soldiers were not afraid at all, and even tried their best to cause Taihu Gang some trouble.

In the watchtower in Gusu City, the lazy sentry suddenly stood up straight, put his hand on the awning over his eyes, and looked nervously into the distance. At the end of the telescope, a group of large and small warships with black crows were rushing rapidly.

The land was drawn towards Gusu City.

"There is an enemy situation!" the sentry shouted.

The signal soldier next to him quickly shouted a series of flags to the personnel on the ground.

In front of the command post, figures moved together, "Dudu... Dududu..."

Suddenly, the sound of shrill horns echoed over Gusu City one after another, lasting for a long time.

The local people who were still working in the fields were not used to the horns of enemy attacks. When they heard the horns, they were still looking around. Only when they heard the shouts of the soldiers on the city wall did they react, hurriedly packed up their farm tools, and headed into the city.
Chapter completed!