Anjiang Town Guardian Mansion, Wen Lou, Wang Zhenyu was delighted to look at his own son. Deputy officer Zhu Cihang had just reported the telegram of victory sent by Li Zongren from the front line and asked if he should continue to attack Changde.

  Wang Zhenyu couldn't bear to look at his sleeping son again, walked two steps back with his hands behind him, and didn't respond to Li Zongren's telegram. Instead, he said to Zhu Cihuan: "Little Zhu, you've been by my side for almost a year now, right?"

  "Reporting to the general, it has been thirteen months."

  Wang Zhenyu burst out laughing: "You remember it so clearly, looks like you don't like this job, just counting down the days."

  Zhu Zhihan's face turned red and he didn't know how to respond.

  Wang Zhenyu patted his shoulder and said, "You are also a captain in the army. After this Changde battle is over, you will go to the third period of the military academy for reporting. After coming out, just go down and lead the troops. In the future, it's up to you how far you can go."

  Zhu Zhihan excitedly saluted Wang Zhenyu and said: "I will never disappoint the commander's high expectations."

  Wang Zhenyu nodded in satisfaction and said, "Go to Wang Huai's place and send a telegram to Li Zongren. Tell them to hold their ground at Taoyuan and wait for the Second Brigade to arrive. Don't think I don't know, before departure, this kid secretly took 40,000 hand grenades from the military depot in Luzhou Warehouse. If these are also used, taking down Changde City would be as easy as reaching into a pocket. Tell him that attacking the city is secondary, attacking the heart is primary, and patiently wait for Xiao Bai's Second Brigade."

  Li County, Lizhou Town Guard Mansion, Wang Zhengya looked at the telegram sent by his son with incredulity, reading it word by word, deeply afraid that he had misread or misunderstood.

  With 8,000 troops to attack the enemy's 5,000, but ended up losing many soldiers and generals, suffering a crushing defeat. The commander was incompetent, to say nothing of exaggerating the enemy's strength in order to shirk responsibility, it's really a case of "a foolish child bringing ruin upon me!"

  Wang Zhengya couldn't control his anger and scolded loudly: "He thinks I, his father, didn't attend military school, what a scholar! What's called simultaneous firing of hundreds of cannons, what's called retreating in an orderly manner, what's called not shooting within 50 meters? Is he talking about the Hunan Western Army? Still calling it the Ferocious Tiger Troop, does he think this is the Japanese army? Incompetent is one thing, but also shameless?"

  All the officials and assistants comforted Wang Zhengya, winning or losing is a common thing in the military, don't be too hard on yourself. Only Qingheng picked up the telegram that had been thrown to the ground and read it for a long time, he felt that this Wang Yuwen was not exaggerating. A year ago in Changsha, with only the 9th Brigade's 4,000 men, Wang Zhenyu defeated Mei Xing's 5th Division of 10,000 guns. At that time, the combat power displayed by Wang Zhenyu's troops shocked and frightened the entire Changsha, otherwise Tan Yankai would not have sent him out of the border like a plague god.

  As for the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Division, Qīn Héng is a number, whether it's training level, discipline, soldier quality or weapons are all above Wáng Zhēngyǎ's Cháng Dé Military. And from the telegram, more than a year later, Wáng Zhèn Yǔ's department is even more formidable, and they've even started playing with big guns, this thing only needs to make one sound, that's a matter of tens of thousands of taels of gold. At first, when defeating the Fifth Division in Changsha, they didn't have this equipment, relying on hand grenades. And from Wáng Yùyǎn's telegram, it can be analyzed that Wáng Zhèn Yǔ's department did not use hand grenades this time.

  Qing Heng let out a sigh, and Wang Yu said that he had defended Changde, judging from the situation, it was clear that the other side had held back its strength, and there was obviously a bigger battle plan waiting.

  At this point, Qing Heng suddenly had an unstoppable thought: maybe he should change to a new boss...

  Cili County government office, Bai Chongxi was sitting in the hall, unattractively gnawing on a cooked large chicken leg. This task is really too bitter, if not replenished, it would be unbearable.

  It took three days of hard work to walk a hundred miles of mountain roads and climb to the banks of the Lishui River, where they changed into those shaky private boats and sailed downstream. Then, with lightning speed, they occupied the empty Cili County.

  Wang Zhengya obviously did not expect that an army would appear in the rear of his own army after crossing mountains and rivers, so Cili did not have a strong defense, only one place had a reserve team, which was all stupidly disarmed by Bai Chongxi, without even playing a precautionary role.

  Bai Chongxi is now facing two problems. According to the original combat plan of the General Staff, he should immediately rush to the side and rear of Changde, cutting off the retreat route of Wang Yuzeng's troops who are currently fighting Li Zongren in this area. However, a secret agent from the Military Intelligence Bureau's Changde station provided our Commander Bai with new intelligence that there were only over a thousand garrison troops in Lixian County and that the main force led by Wang Zhengya was also in this location.

  Bai Chongxi went through the commander's instructions in his heart again, attacking the city was secondary, and attacking the heart was primary. He brought the brothers of the Second Brigade to climb mountains and wade through rivers to get here, wasn't it just to end the war as soon as possible and achieve the commander's plan to control Changde?

  After a moment of contemplation, Bai Chongxi made a decision that made the chief of staff Yang Wanguo jump with rage: the whole army would follow the Li River downstream and head straight for Lixian County to capture Wang Zhengya alive.

  On August 2, when Bai Chongxi's mountainous second division appeared outside Lixian County with the White Tiger flag, Wang Zhengya immediately fell into collapse. He immediately sent a telegram to Beijing requesting reinforcements, but unfortunately it was already too late.

  But it was precisely because he believed that he was on the winning side, so Wang Zhengya refused to surrender to the Xiangxi Menghu Army. He even rebuked Qīnghéng who advocated for surrender: "Absurd! We can't do any better than this. Let's break through and join forces with my son (Wang Yùyī), hide in the mountains, and wait for the arrival of the great president's army from the south. Why should we surrender to Wang Zhenyu, who is destined to fail?"

  "Sir, if you surrender now, at least you'll be able to keep something. But once the Northern army arrives, you'll lose everything."

  Wang Zhengya was almost in a state of frenzy and couldn't listen anymore, only ordering Yu Guangming to strengthen the defense.

  You stomped your feet and turned around to leave the town's guardian mansion, with a resentful heart saying: "Refusing to listen to advice, bringing about one's own downfall."

  As soon as Marquis Wen left the town's garrison headquarters, he instructed his deputy: "Go and invite Mr. Gong to come to the mansion for a small gathering."

  The deputy officer saluted and immediately went to handle it.

  On August 3rd at dawn, Yu Guangming opened the gates of Lixian County under the order of Feng Yuxiang, and Bai Chongxi's troops poured in.

  A few minutes ago, Wang Zhengya was arrested at the residence of Qinghefu.

  Qing Heng's people invited Wang Zhengya to a small gathering at his residence, saying that he had a good strategy to repel the enemy. Wang Zhengya was indeed worried and couldn't think of a solution, so without much thought, he brought eight guards with him to Qing Heng's house: "Brother-in-law, who is this wise person who wants to see me and can help me repel the enemy?"

  "Brother, you go sit in the living room first, someone will be right there."

  Wang Zhengya didn't expect anyone else, so he had the guards wait outside and entered the living room with his personal aide. Then, he suddenly sat down. It seemed like he remembered something: "Sister, why hasn't she come out to see me today?"

  Qing Heng also walked into the living room at this time, and when he heard these words, his face changed in an instant: "Big brother, I had no choice tonight either, please don't hold it against me."

  Wang Zhengya heard this and was momentarily perplexed, staring at the peculiar-looking Qingheng in astonishment: "What do you mean by that?"

  At this time, a man came in from the side door of the living room and smiled at Wang Zhengya: "I am Gong Peng, the station master of Changde Station of Xiangxi Military Affairs Bureau. I'm glad to welcome King Town Guardian back."

  Wang Zhengya was about to become a pig if he didn't understand what was going on. He pointed at Gong Peng and then looked at Qing Heng, who had already retreated to the door: "Bastard, you even schemed against your own uncle, you traitor."

  Wang Zhengya's deputy immediately knew something was wrong, and the trained him immediately reached for his gun. As a result, a sturdy young man suddenly rushed out from behind the curtain, and an evil dog pounced on the deputy, knocking him to the ground, and two heavy punches knocked him unconscious.

  Wang Zhengya saw that the situation was not good, and he rushed straight to Xing Heng. Since Ming Datou had already subdued the deputy officer, how could he give Wang Zhengya this opportunity? With swift movements, he drew out the deputy officer's gun, cocked it, and pressed it directly against Wang Zhengya's temple. Under conditioned reflex, Wang Zhengya was forced to stop his forward motion, then stood still with a wooden expression on his face.

  Meanwhile, outside, the people ambushed by Qinghe had already subdued the other seven guards.

  Wang Zhengya smiled wryly and sat down on the sofa with a thud, no longer speaking.

  On August 4, Bai Chongxi's troops marched south and joined forces with Li Zongren's troops to surround Wang Yuzhen's six thousand cavalry.

  Looking at the surrender order issued in his father's name, he looked again at the tens of thousands of Xiangxi fierce tigers surrounding the city, and then looked at his own panicked subordinates.

  "Wang Yu Yin let out a long sigh: "As a son, how can I abandon my own father? Go, send someone to contact the other side. As long as they don't harm my father, our army is willing to surrender."

  On the morning of August 5, Wang Yuzhen personally led his troops of six thousand to surrender to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. With this, the ten-day Battle of Changde came to an end, and Wang Zhengyan issued a declaration of independence and a call to arms against Yuan.

  This telegram was not sent to Yuan Shikai's desk, because Yuan Shikai's attention was all focused on the southeastern battlefield, and he did not care about these trivial matters.

  On August 6, Wang Zhenyu personally arrived in Changde by boat and warmly received Wang Zhengya and his son, as well as the surrendered generals. Wang Zhengya was appointed as the director of Qianyang Administrative Office, replacing the retired old man Zhu Zhida. Wang Yuying lost the opportunity to lead troops and was ordered to serve as the principal of Qianyang No. 1 Middle School. Qingheng was transferred to serve as the deputy director of the staff office of Xiangxi Defense Command, with the rank of lieutenant general. The Changde army would select 5,000 people according to the situation and send them to the new recruit base in Lixian County for retraining, while the rest would be disbanded and return home.

  As for the eight counties under Changde, including Lixian, Shimen, Jinshi, Taoyuan, Changde, Anxiang, Hanshou and Linli, they all followed the old system of Xiangxi to return power to the people.

  Wang Zhenyu also ordered that within the borders of Changde, armed forces were limited to a period of fifteen days; if they refused to reorganize, they would be immediately suppressed.

  At the same time, three large-scale military agricultural production bases were established in Changde. With the continuous increase of troops, the food problem has attracted high attention from Wang Zhenyu.

  Wang Zhengya lost control of Changde and eventually had no choice but to obediently go to Qiancheng to take office.

  Wang Zhenyu was very satisfied with the performance of the 1st and 2nd Mountain Divisions in this battle, and formally awarded Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi the rank of Lieutenant General. As for subsequent plans, the two divisions waited for the arrival of Liu Xing's 2nd Division and then returned to Jingzhou Prefecture to rest and await orders.

  After everything was arranged properly, Wang Zhenyu stood by the Yuanjiang River and said to his fifth brother Wang Zhenbang: "Changde has entered my hands, from now on I have...".