The specific allocation of troops is that the First Regiment, Second Regiment and Firepower Strengthening Battalion are responsible for encircling and annihilation of the Qing army in Henan, and the Third Regiment is responsible for restraining the Qing army in Hubei. Of course, the detailed combat plan will be decided based on actual conditions. After all, the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing and cannot be predicted. This is because this battle is carried out within the sphere of influence of the base area, so the Volunteers have enough time and opportunity to find suitable fighter jets.

After such a large combat policy was determined, all the troops of the Volunteer Army immediately took action. The First Regiment, Second Regiment, and Firepower Strengthening Battalion were all stationed in Xuzhou and Chenzhou Prefecture areas. The Third Regiment was also stationed between Cangtai and Huyangdian at the junction of Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture, and sent a large number of reconnaissance personnel at the intersections of various important places, and organized local civilian troops to strengthen tactical training, establish field hospitals and material replenishment stations.

In addition to the army, the local governments in the base area were not idle, actively assisting the army and strengthening propaganda and mobilization work. Since the base area was not established for a long time and had not experienced major battles before, although the land reforms promoted by the base area government were deeply loved by the base area, they generally lacked confidence in the face of this two-line attack by the Qing army. Moreover, there were many landlords who lost their land in the base area. They were naturally extremely dissatisfied with the base area government. When they heard the news of the Qing army's expedition and suppression, they felt that the opportunity to counterattack had come. In intentional or unintentional, they tried their best to exaggerate the strength of the Qing army. The overseas Chinese had not been long, and a few people even claimed to have connections with the imperial government, which also caused panic in the base area.

The base government is of course starting from propaganda. On the one hand, it promotes the volunteer army. The base government has full confidence to defeat the Qing army and defend the base. On the other hand, it encourages the people from the interests. Because once the Qing army wins, every farmer will lose the land allocated to the land. Therefore, for their own land, they must do their best to support the Volunteer Army in combat.

As expected, this is indeed effective. For Chinese farmers in this era, land can basically be regarded as the lifeblood. Before the arrival of time travelers, most farmers in this area had almost never had their own land for their lives, and some were even tenant farmers for generations. Therefore, fighting for their own land is the best way to incite farmers.

However, in addition to agitation, those who incite, promote the sentiment of failure and exaggerate the strength of the Qing army were also suppressed without hesitation, and more than 50 people were arrested in succession for spreading rumors, affair with the Qing court, and colluding with the Qing army.

After this rectification, it took only 4 or 5 days to stabilize the situation in the base area. Of course, the current stability is also temporarily stable. Once news of the defeat comes from the battlefield, even if it is just a small defeat, it is enough to shake the current situation. In this sense, it makes sense that the combat policy has listed the Qing army in Henan as the primary target of attack.

But no matter what, the people's emotions were aroused, and the base government immediately organized the people to form a transportation team to transport ammunition and medicine to the combat troops. It is now late September, and most of the crops in the fields have matured or are close to maturity. The base government also organized farmers to step up harvesting, because once the war begins, there will definitely be no time to harvest them. In addition, the villages in the area bordering the Qing court will be relocated as a whole, and all the food, materials and property will be taken away without leaving any for the Qing army.

The rest are easy to deal with, but they encountered considerable resistance to moving out of the village. Although the base government promised that during the closer process, they would protect their lives and provide compensation. After the war, they would be moved back to their original place. If the houses were damaged in the war, the government would also contribute to their repairs, etc. At the same time, it also vigorously promoted that after the arrival of the Qing army, they would definitely burn, kill, loot, do everything wrong, and there would be only a dead end to stay in the village.

However, China's traditional concept is that it is difficult to leave homeland, so there are still a large number of residents who are unwilling to leave their homeland. Because of this, many people still keep a lucky mentality, believing that the Qing army will not come, or that they will not do anything to themselves even if they come. Of course, there are very few people who plan to surrender immediately after the Qing army arrives, so they push left and right and are unwilling to move away.

The base government did not force this. After all, most people still chose to follow the government's arrangements and move to other areas for temporary residence. Those who insisted on not leaving would let them die. Anyway, the government explained the benefits and interests thoroughly, which could be considered as a way to be benevolence and righteousness. The path they chose would bear the consequences.

Just as the base area was actively preparing for war, the Qing army finally dispatched. This time, the expedition and suppression of the base area was mainly the Qing army in Hubei, and the Qing army in Hubei was mainly the 8th Town and the 21st Mixed Association. Among them, Zhang Biao, the commander of the 8th Town, decided to dispatch about 3,500 troops from its headquarters; Li Yuanhong, the 21st Mixed Association, dispatched about 2,000 troops to participate in the war, and these more than 5,000 troops were also the main force of the expedition and suppression. Governor Zhao Erxun appointed Zhang Biao as the commander-in-chief of this expedition and suppression, with Li Yuanhong as the deputy commander, and dispatched troops and generals. A total of about 5,000 troops were collected in various parts of Huguang as auxiliary troops. In addition, there were 8 75mm caliber field artillery, 10 75mm caliber mountain artillery, 16 57mm caliber mountain artillery, more than 1,200 mules, horses and animals, and more than 300 vehicles.

Before leaving, Zhao Erxun also held a banquet in the Governor's Office to entertain the two commanders, and personally toasted them. He promised that after victory, he would ask for merit from the court. Of course, Zhao Erxun was afraid that the two would underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, so he also handed over the truth to the two, saying that behind the bandits was supported by overseas Chinese and beat the bandits. In recent years, overseas Chinese have become increasingly arrogant, openly proclaimed themselves as kings, established officials, and did not take the court seriously. Therefore, they beat this bandits, which would destroy the arrogance of overseas Chinese, and the court would also be happy.

Zhao Erxun was one of the nine governors of the Qing court and was a chief official in the border area. In terms of rank, he could be regarded as a position and a minister. Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong were just the commander and the coordination were all far apart. Therefore, they were quite flattered to be able to get such courtesy from Zhao Erxun. In fact, to be fair, both of them admired the overseas Chinese's actions of fighting the Eight-Nation Alliance and protecting overseas Chinese. Because of this, Li Yuanhong, who was originally from the Beiyang Navy, later served as the second round of the Guangjia ship of the Guangdong Navy. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Guangjia ship was incorporated into the Beiyang Fleet and participated in the Dadonggou Navy. Because it was stranded and unable to sail, Li Yuanhong, who fought with the Guangjia ship, jumped into the sea and escaped, and served in the Navy for a total of 12 years.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Li Yuanhong joined Zhang Zhidong's disciple and was highly appreciated by Zhang Zhidong. Zhang Zhidong trained a new army in Hubei and also entrusted Li Yuanhong with important tasks. Although Li Yuanhong is only a 21-year-old coalition alliance, the Liuchu Fleet and the Four Lakes Thunderbolt Boat, which are also in charge of the Hubei Navy, have a status in the Hubei military industry not weaker than Zhang Biao. It was because of the time he served in the Beiyang Navy that Li Yuanhong's knowledge and vision were higher than ordinary soldiers. When overseas Chinese first landed, Li Yuanhong highly praised overseas Chinese, believed that this was the blessing of the imperial court, and such a strong army came, and he would probably not be bullied again from now on.

However, the subsequent performance of overseas Chinese disappointed Li Yuanhong. Overseas Chinese only care about their own power, hold their own troops, be proud of their merits, and domineering, and domineering. They did not take the imperial court seriously at all. Of course, Li Yuanhong was just a small cooperative regiment. Whether he admired or was dissatisfied with overseas Chinese, it had no practical significance. This time he would have something to do with overseas Chinese. Li Yuanhong was quite eager to try it. One was that as Zhao Erxun said, it was awesome to the overseas Chinese; the other was that he had been practicing military forces in Hubei for several years, and he also wanted to try the results of military training, and he should have achieved some results.

After leaving the Governor's Office, Li Yuanhong and Zhang Biao also gathered together to seriously discuss the combat plan of this expedition and suppression. Although this time it was not directly enemies with overseas Chinese, this group of bandits should not be underestimated, because the bandits are now very popular and are very popular in the local area, and their weapons and equipment are also very well-equipped. Moreover, the Xiangyang and Nanyang areas are mountainous, with deep forests and dense trees, so they are very good at ambushing the army. The two have also carefully studied the expedition and suppression process in the past, and they were both ambushed by bandits and suffered tragic defeats. Therefore, they must not be regarded as ordinary bandits.

In the end, the tactics developed by the two were that Li Yuanhong led the army to the front, and Zhang Biao led the brigade of troops and supplies as the rear team, and set up an army on each side of the left and right wings, and the main team maintained a distance of 5-10 kilometers to prevent the bandits from sneak attacks. Li Yuanhong's front army and the brigade kept a distance of 15-20 kilometers. Once they found the enemy, they could fight with them, and they could win, and if they could not win, they defended on the spot and waited for the brigade to reinforce. If the enemy fled, they would firmly hold on to the enemy and wait for the brigade to catch up and fight with the enemy. If the enemy did not come to fight, then Li Yuanhong would lead the army to attack Tang County, and after the army arrived, they would attack Tang County. If Tang County could be captured, then all the bandits in Xiangyang Prefecture could be eliminated. From the standpoint of Hubei, it would be considered a great achievement.

After Li Yuanhong led his army to set off, he did not dare to be careless and sent a large number of spies to search on both sides of the army to prevent the army from being buried. The marching speed was not fast, and he could only travel 20-25 kilometers a day.
Chapter completed!