"Five-round clips can definitely open a breach!" facing the intense battle, Black Island Ren tried to lower his voice as much as possible. No matter how he suppressed his voice, the uncontrollable slight trembling still betrayed Black Island Ren's emotions.

This battle unfolded on the flat ground between two hills. The fighting between the Guangfu Society and the New Army was extremely fierce. Not long after the start of the second attack, the slaughter had already reached a white-hot stage. The 9th Division of the New Army was indeed well-trained, but their equipment was really insufficient. The number of Hanyang Type 88 rifles that could load five rounds was too small. Most importantly, this unit had completely no concept of direct aim. After the Qing army's three ranks of fire, the Guangfu Army's offensive momentum didn't diminish in the slightest. The Guangfu Army simply ignored their comrades falling in front, shouting as they continued to rush forward, reaching an extremely close distance in moments.

The Guangfu Army's dare-to-die squads focused on using bombs. On this point, the People's Party was even more so; they paid great attention to the use of grenades in battle. The Guangfu Army charged close to the Qing army, and bombs flew into the Qing ranks trailing sparks. The gunners following behind also continued to shoot at the Qing army. Because the distance was very close, even if the direct aiming level was terrible, as long as the muzzle direction and angle didn't deviate, they could always hit the enemy. Regardless of whether the wound location was fatal or not, the enemy would lose fighting capability. The originally orderly formation also showed great chaos.

This was already a critical moment. Black Island Ren, who had participated in a dozen battles, saw clearly that whether shooting or throwing bombs, as long as they could increase the firepower a bit more, as long as a few more volleys of bullets or a round of grenades came, the Qing army's formation would definitely be completely smashed. Then it would be close-quarters melee combat. The number of fighters in the Guangfu Society holding cold weapons was not small. The Qing army's rifles didn't have bayonets attached. Fighting with unbayoneted rifles against shining cold weapons, the result could be imagined. The People's Party had achieved complete victory like this in many battles.

But Black Island Ren was disappointed. The 9th Division of the New Army being called the Nanyang Model Army wasn't an empty reputation. Even in such a critical moment, the troops of the 9th Division could actually continue to load bullets and maintain a minimum volley fire. At this time, the accuracy was naturally extremely poor, but the volley could still knock down the Guangfu Army fighters charging at the very front. Even if a few Guangfu Army fighters had rushed in front of the 9th Division New Army and attacked the New Army soldiers fiercely with the weapons in their hands, their numbers were too few to cause a decisive impact on the war situation.

Black Island Ren saw with his own eyes a Guangfu Army fighter thrust a long spear into a Qing soldier's lower abdomen. In severe pain, that Qing soldier grabbed the spear shaft with force. The Guangfu Army fighter tried to pull out the long spear but simply couldn't do it. Just in this moment, several Qing soldiers who had finished loading bullets pressed their muzzles against this Guangfu Army fighter's chest and fired. This brave fighter was penetrated by several bullets. He first stiffened as if struck by lightning, then limply fell to the ground.

Such scenes played out repeatedly. The distance between the two armies became closer and closer, but every step the front line approached meant the Guangfu Army had to pay the price of a dozen lives. Meanwhile, shouting and gunfire also appeared on the two flanks of the Qing army. The flanking Guangfu Army troops had also begun to attack.

Black Island Ren had mixed feelings in his heart. Seeing through the Qing army's combat level, Black Island Ren roughly figured out a way to fight. But looking at it this time, the Guangfu Army's desperate attacks probably would find it hard to achieve the goal of defeating the Qing army. Just at this moment, the booming of the two cannons suddenly stopped. Since just now, the Guangfu Army's only two cannons had played a big role. Not referring to real lethality, but referring to the morale boost for the Guangfu Army's attack, as well as the blow to the Qing army's morale. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's artillery shooting level was so-so, but at least every shell exploded on the Qing position. This was also the fundamental reason why the Guangfu Army only had to face the very front line troops of the Qing army.

When the cannons were booming, everyone only cared about watching the fierce battle on the front line, so they didn't have any special feeling. Once the shelling stopped, many people immediately discovered the change.

"What happened?" Black Island Ren shouted.

The artillery captain shouted high: "Commissar, half the shells have been fired!"

This was agreed upon before the battle: only half the shells would be fired. After all, there were still battles later; if the shells were used up this time, what to do later? But the situation before their eyes had reached a critical moment. If they couldn't endure winning this battle, there wouldn't be any issues of future battles.

"Continue firing!" Black Island Ren immediately ordered.

Just as the sound of cannons rang out again, the First Company Commander and Second Company Commander came up at the same time, "Commissar, do you want us to attack and help? Fighting like this, it really won't do."

Black Island Ren gritted his teeth and sighed: "Too late. When you rush up there, the Guangfu Society's troops will likely be wiped out. Chairman Chen let us protect the medical team, not let us charge into enemy lines."

"Just watch so many people die in vain?" The Second Company Commander couldn't bear it.

"They shouldn't have fought this battle in the first place." The First Company Commander's attitude was quite proper. The People's Party didn't have much interest in attacking large cities. If they couldn't control the vast countryside but merely controlled a city, the commanders of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had countless ways to annihilate the army inside the city. In the military academy, what everyone learned was the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside." Chen Ke told everyone about various other strategies and tactics, all for the purpose of proving the correctness of this set of strategies.

Just as they were speaking, suddenly a burst of cheers erupted from the crowd watching the battle. Black Island Ren and the others hurriedly looked at the battlefield, only to see that two Qing army units leaning together actually collapsed instantly. From the smoke not yet dissipated at the unit positions, it could be seen that two shells had actually miraculously hit these two units at the same time.

"There's a chance!" Black Island Ren and the two company commanders shouted almost simultaneously.

Sure enough, the Guangfu Army didn't let this opportunity pass at all. They swarmed into this large breach from the already quite weak front line troops. Amidst the flashing of swords and guns everywhere, melee combat formally began.

Heaving a long sigh of relief, the commanders of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army watching the battle knew that the current situation had entered a favorable phase for the Guangfu Society. In melee combat, cold weapons naturally held a great upper hand. The Qing army front line units now not only had to face frontal attacks, but attacks from the flanks also made it impossible for them to maintain formation. If a line collapsed from the side, a chain reaction was almost inevitable. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had even conducted repeated tests on this. If the Qing commander was a smart person, he would now either throw all his forces into a desperate gamble or start attempting to retreat. After all, the troops hadn't completely entangled with the Guangfu Society yet. Retreating still had a chance.

The Guangfu Society had invested more troops. Looking down from the hillside, streams of troops converged into a human river, rushing towards the Qing line that had already started to scatter. On the entire battlefield, shouts shook the heavens and earth. Seeing the dawn of victory, all Guangfu Society fighters went crazy. Occupying an overwhelming numerical advantage, when the Qing front line began to disintegrate in chaos, every unit launched fierce attacks.

The expressions of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army commanders returned to calm. This battle allowed everyone to reach a consensus. No matter what, do not fight this kind of battle. apart from meaningless consumption of human lives, one really couldn't see the necessity of this kind of battle. Even now, with the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army shaking the world, the total regular troops were actually only over twenty thousand. If they had consumed like this since the army founding period, these twenty thousand people would have died out long ago.

"Stop shelling," Black Island Ren ordered. At this time, the Qing front line began to collapse rapidly under the fierce attacks of the Guangfu Army. The middle troops also tried to shoot with machine guns, but because the crowd was mixed with fighters from both sides and hard to distinguish, they stopped after barely firing a few shots. Just as the situation was rapidly tilting towards the Guangfu Society, another New Army unit appeared on the hillside occupied by the New Army opposite. They quickly deployed on the hillside. At first, it was infantry; not long after, artillery and machine gunners also appeared on the hillside. They didn't stay put and watch; cannons and machine guns also began to fire. With their addition, plus the Guangfu Army having fought for a while and their physical strength declining somewhat, after the frontal New Army threw down their weapons and ran for their lives behind the position of this newly appeared New Army, the Guangfu Army's pursuit was quickly hit by artillery and machine guns. After one or two attempts, the Guangfu Army's attack had to stop. Dragging many weapons left behind by the New Army, the Guangfu Society at least occupied the battlefield just now.

The wounded began to be transported back to the hospital side. The unit had already built a field hospital in the rear. Black Island Ren and the others took up the work of transporting the wounded. Nearly ten thousand Guangfu Army troops facing over a thousand enemies resulted in over four hundred wounded. As for the dead, because they hadn't been transported over, they couldn't be counted yet. According to observation, the commanders of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army generally believed the casualties on the New Army side were around three hundred.

"Didn't they say our Anhui folk customs are fierce? How come the Zhejiang people look more fearless of death?" The commanders discussed in low voices.

"So-called fierce folk customs, that's being brave in private fights but cowardly in public war. Actually, us Huaibei people are most afraid of the government." Commander Liu Zhengxiao from Anhui spoke quite frankly. "Asking me to charge straight like the Guangfu Society, I can't do it."

"That's because we train a lot. In the beginning, when everyone rushed forward, who didn't keep their body straight? Cat waist, small steps, fast run—how many times did we practice? When just practicing, we had to use white lime to mark every footfall point on the ground. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know how to take a step." The commanders recalled the old days.

Black Island Ren recalled the old days and couldn't help smiling bitterly. At that time, as the commander of the whole army and combat training officer, Chen Ke told everyone how to stand, how to walk, how to run, how to crawl. Not only teaching, but holding meetings to discuss. Through repeated training summaries and combat summaries, tactical actions and tactical concepts gradually combined. The things Chen Ke first proposed had been modified a lot. In the military training that started more than two years ago, the comrades were drilled to the point of feeling life was worse than death. Now, even if you killed the comrades, it would be impossible to make them not follow tactical actions.

"I think there's no way to help the Guangfu Society improve their combat level now. What does everyone think?" Black Island Ren asked.

"That's right."

"Indeed can't help."

"We haven't practiced methods to make their kind of tactical actions more effective."

"I feel the Guangfu Society doesn't have the concept of tactical actions."

The comrades replied all at once.

Everyone agreed with Black Island Ren's view. The comrades didn't say it explicitly, but in their hearts, they all confirmed one notice: "Do not talk nonsense to the Guangfu Society on military matters."

"If the Guangfu Society keeps fighting like this, how long can they fight?" A comrade asked in a low voice.

Liu Zhengxiao answered irrelevantly, "I just wonder how Chairman Chen actually views the result of the Guangfu Society."

No one echoed this sentence. The comrades could hear the timidity in these words. If they kept fighting like this, don't look at the Guangfu Society having ten thousand people, they wouldn't last too long. This concern wasn't unique to Liu Zhengxiao; every comrade was somewhat worried about this.

Chen Ke, far away in Fengtai County, was currently facing inquiries from the Military Commission comrades. Everyone was not optimistic about the future of this Guangfu Society battle. Chen Ke didn't look unoptimistic at all; he originally didn't believe the Guangfu Society could win.

"According to the intelligence we obtained, there are over forty thousand Qing troops in Nanjing City. Some Qing troops certainly have no combat effectiveness, but this doesn't equal the Guangfu Society being able to win. Looking at it now, the gentry of Jiangsu haven't supported the Guangfu Society."

Just as Chen Ke's voice fell, Zhang Yu asked, "Then the Jiangsu gentry are preparing to follow the Manchus?"

"The Preparatory Constitutionalism is about to start immediately. The Jiangsu gentry haven't reached a desperate dead end yet. What good does rebelling against the court do? If we hadn't wiped out the Beiyang Army this time, perhaps the Jiangsu people would still rise up and make some noise. Now they are just worried about the scourge of war; how would they be willing to act rashly?" Chen Ke replied.

"Then if we release Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui, won't the Jiangsu people think we are colluding with Beiyang?" Zhang Yu continued to ask.

Hearing Zhang Yu finish, Chen Ke smiled, "Comrade Zhang Yu, army expansion has to wait a bit longer. Now is not yet the time for major army expansion. Our source of troops is in the Dabie Mountains, not in the newly liberated areas."

Zhang Yu originally wanted to steer the topic to army expansion in a roundabout way, but Chen Ke exposing it all at once made him feel much more relaxed. "Chairman Chen, currently the troop strength in Anqing is seriously insufficient. And the Military Commission is considering demobilization. I feel the timing isn't right."

"Currently, a large portion of fighters don't meet our army's requirements. Why must we keep them in the army?"

"Do those masses in the Dabie Mountains meet the army's requirements?" Zhang Yu never simply echoed Chen Ke's words.

"You're right, many of the masses in the Dabie Mountains do meet them. They face more cruel class oppression and have conducted more spontaneous struggles. Many comrades in our troops joined the army just to eat. In this current stage full of crises, we cannot aim merely to form a National Defense Army; what we want is a revolutionary army. If the troops don't hate the old system to the bone, if the purpose of joining the army isn't to protect the fruits of the revolution, combat effectiveness will be greatly discounted. Our troops are not just an army; they are also a propaganda team, a work team." Chen Ke's answer was also very straightforward.

In recent days, the Military Commission comrades had heard Chen Ke say this many times, but they were quite puzzled by it. Chen Ke had never been to the Dabie Mountains area; his result without sufficient investigation made everyone feel it wasn't very reliable. Chen Ke's words very definitely accused many people in the base area of not being "revolutionary." Although ordinary masses had no obligation to risk their lives for the revolution, these words sounded awkward no matter how one listened. The People's Party relied on the common people of the old base areas to have today; Chen Ke's statement always gave people an impression of being "ungrateful."