The sudden shelling instantly disrupted the marching formation of the Guangfu Society. Lieutenant Colonel Remington saw clearly from the bridge: the long snake-like column first paused for a moment after the shelling began, and in the blink of an eye, centering on the impact points of the shells, the entire column scattered like a frightened colony of ants.

The main and secondary guns on the warship opened fire fully. The rate of fire was not fast; every shell was fired towards the dense crowd. In less than ten minutes, more than forty shells were fired.

"Cease fire!" Lieutenant Colonel Remington ordered. The destroyer didn't carry a large amount of ammunition. Although he had his own ideas, Lieutenant Colonel Remington knew that if he fired all the shells, he wouldn't be able to report back to the base when he returned.

The shelling stopped instantly. Although it couldn't be heard clearly on the bridge, the miserable cries of wounded soldiers on the riverbank and the screams of those fleeing could be faintly heard. With a sneer mixed with smugness on his face, Lieutenant Colonel Remington ordered the warship to advance at full speed. Breaking through the surface of the Yangtze River, the warship's speed increased very quickly.

"Deputy Captain, is that a Red Cross flag?" Lieutenant Colonel Remington asked suddenly.

The deputy captain also raised his telescope. In the chaotic crowd on the riverbank, people wearing white military medical uniforms were running towards the shelling point under the lead of a white flag with a red cross. Against the background of chaos, this Red Cross flag was so eye-catching that the deputy captain suddenly wanted to order the warship to go back and see what was happening.

"It is indeed the Red Cross flag of the Medical Society. Could it be that there are foreigners among these Chinese rebels?" the deputy captain replied. The British also used the Red Cross flag in their medical department, so this symbol was quite familiar to the people on the warship.

The sneer on Lieutenant Colonel Remington's face disappeared. This discovery was truly beyond his expectations. If other foreign powers had intervened in China's civil war first, then the efficiency of the British intelligence department would inevitably be too low.

"Go to Nanjing and dock." Lieutenant Colonel Remington issued the order.

The blow given by the shelling to the Guangfu Society was too heavy. Although there were only forty-odd shells, they caused hundreds of casualties in an instant. In the troops, the ones most stimulated were the artillery members of the People's Party troops. The five-hundred-man aid team included not only medical personnel and guard troops but also members of technical arms such as artillery and surveyors. The People's Party was already a force that paid great attention to military training. Although the artillery units didn't have many shells, they tried their best to maintain live-fire shooting. To improve the troops' feeling for the battlefield, when artillery conducted live-fire training, infantry also tried to experience it as much as possible.

The high level of the British warship's shelling left the artillerymen in the troops dumbfounded. Under direct aiming conditions, the speed of fire and the precision of the impact points were something the People's Party artillerymen couldn't even achieve in their wildest imagination, let alone hit such a level themselves. Everyone swallowed their saliva and looked at each other. On the faces of other comrades, the artillerymen seemed to see the word "inconceivable."

Regardless of how the People's Party viewed this shelling, the Guangfu Society troops were completely in chaos. Some were scared into fleeing far away, while others were inexplicably grief-stricken and indignant, shouldering their guns and wanting to chase up to shoot at the British ship. But the ship on the river surface looked like it wasn't moving fast, yet it broke through the river surface going against the current, and soon left the Guangfu Society warriors relying on two legs far behind.

Tao Chengzhang and others were lucky not to be in the firing range, but with the entire marching column in such chaos, he knew they simply couldn't continue marching. Having no choice, Tao Chengzhang could only order the troops to return to the starting point.

After a lot of tossing about, the troops finally returned to the starting point. Tao Chengzhang immediately convened a military meeting. Although cadres gathered continuously, no one spoke. Cadres who hadn't seen the miserable state of the shelling location all had looks of confusion. The intervention of the British was truly unexpected; the sudden appearance of a strong enemy left the Guangfu Society feeling at a loss. Cadres who had seen the miserable state of the shelling location had a kind of grief and indignation besides confusion. With flesh and blood flying and severed limbs and broken bodies at the shelling point, the vast majority of Guangfu Society cadres instinctively vomited due to the thick smell of blood. War far exceeded the imagination of these cadres. These people either had pale faces or stiffened their bodies subconsciously; some even started biting their nails in public. The slight creaking sounds finally gave the venue some noise.

"We won't go by the riverside," Tao Chengzhang suppressed the shock in his heart and said in as calm a voice as possible. "We will avoid the British warships and attack from the south."

"Duke Tao, the British fired on us. Could it be that the foreigners in Shanghai are preparing to attack our Zhejiang?" A cadre asked with a trembling voice.

Hearing this, many cadres couldn't help shivering. They were not afraid of the Qing army because before setting off, Guangfu Society comrades in Shanghai had also inquired about the news of the Shanghai Qing army. The Shanghai Qing army was startled three times a day and only thought about self-preservation now; they had no plan to move out at all. But these comrades were not clear about the movements of the foreigners.

Looking at the terrified comrades, Tao Chengzhang knew he must speak. If he allowed the atmosphere of panic to spread, let alone attacking Nanjing, he feared the team would dare to scatter on its own. Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Tao Chengzhang said, "I said long ago, when we start the revolution, if foreigners do not come to help the Manchus, we will treat them all with courtesy. Where our military force reaches, whether they are missionaries, merchants, or travelers in China, they must be protected well; or if they do not wish to live long in the place where we are fighting, we will send them out of the border. When we have pacified the Manchus, we will establish treaties of special preferential treatment; no matter which country, interests will be shared equally. If someone helps the Manchus, not to mention foreigners, the more they are Han traitor spies, the more we must kill them to extinction. Foreigners go without saying. But what we kill are foreigners who fight us."

This was the content in the "Statutes of the Longhua Society," which most of the attending cadres had read. Hearing Tao Chengzhang repeat it like this, quite a few people understood in their hearts. Tao Chengzhang's attitude was very clear: "If you want war, I will give you war."

But one warship gave the Guangfu Society such a big blow. If they continued to fight...

"Comrades, British warships can't drive onto the shore no matter what. If we encounter British ships by going along the river, then we won't go along the river. I said just now, avoid British ships and attack from the south."

"What if the British come ashore to fight us?" Cadres were quite worried about the British sending troops.

Hearing these timid words, Tao Chengzhang roared in anger, "If they fight us, we fight them! What are you afraid of? So many hundreds of brothers were killed and wounded by the British; are we just going to pretend we didn't see it?"

After saying this, Tao Chengzhang stood up abruptly. "From the moment I dedicated myself to the revolution, I, Tao Chengzhang, have never been afraid of death. Whoever is afraid of death, stand out for me and get out with your people right now. My Guangfu Society cannot tolerate cowards who fear death!"

Xu Xilin originally had thousands of thoughts in his heart too. Hearing Tao Chengzhang roar like this, a surge of hot blood also rushed up. He also stood up abruptly. "Being killed by the Manchu Qing is a death; being killed by foreigners is also a death. Anyway, it's all death; what is there to fear? If you gentlemen are afraid, then follow behind our Guangfu Army Dare-to-Die Corps and let us go first. Whether it's the Manchu Qing or foreign devils, whoever blocks in front of us, either we die or they die! This battle must be fought!"

The crowd was originally indecisive and lost their bearings. Seeing Tao Chengzhang and Xu Xilin make up their minds, the original fear went away, and fierce courage immediately gained the upper hand. Cadres stood up one after another and shouted, "Fight! Fight them! Avenge our brothers!"

The Restoration Army adjusted the direction of attack. The troops chose a route far from the riverbank and re-selected the attack route from the southeast direction. This shelling not only didn't suppress the offensive spirit of the Guangfu Society, but because they completely lost their scruples, after the troops reorganized their mentality, the will to fight became even stronger.

The next day, under the leadership of Xu Xilin, the Guangfu Army Dare-to-Die Corps mixed with other troops daring to fight continued to advance towards Nanjing. The first to confront them were the troops led by Wang Youhong.

Wang Youhong was not just a talker. After he did his best to make the various Manchu Qing troops in Nanjing reach a consensus to hold fast to Nanjing and resist the Guangfu Army's attack as much as possible, he personally led the troops to the front line. The mixed force under his command was not only the River Defense Battalion but also troops from the New Army Ninth Division.

The Ninth Division had infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineer, and logistics branches, as well as medical, balloon, military band, and telecommunications teams. Compared with the old armies of that time, namely the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army, it could be called complete. The infantry's firearms were mostly purchased from foreign countries, including Japanese Type 38s, German Mausers, and a small number of Hanyang-made rifles. The artillery used by the artillery corps included Japanese flat-trajectory guns and German recoil-operated guns.

The Ninth Division was rated for 12,512 men. (Town means Division) It governed the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Brigades. The Seventeenth Brigade governed the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Infantry Regiments; the Eighteenth Brigade governed the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Regiments; there were also one Cavalry Regiment and one Artillery Regiment, plus Engineer and Logistics Battalions; later there were three Gendarmerie Battalions, with a Gendarmerie Commander established.

New Army Ninth Division Commander Xu Shaozhen was "exiled" to Wuhu. When he left, he took away the Thirty-third Regiment with the most revolutionaries. The remaining Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-sixth Regiments all fell under Wang Youhong's command.

Learning that the Restoration Army was lunging menacingly from the southeast, Wang Youhong took the Thirty-sixth Regiment and stood at the front. He set up a position on a hill blocking the main road. The balloon of the Balloon Observation Unit rose high. After this behemoth rose into the sky, even the New Army soldiers who often saw observation balloons couldn't help looking up. The encouragement to morale was undoubted.

On the opposite side, the gathering Guangfu Army troops seemed to turn a blind eye. Under the leadership of officers, the Guangfu Army soldiers raised their weapons and launched the first round of assault.

Wang Youhong was right on the front line. He drew his command saber with a swoosh and shouted, "Fire!"