Shifting blame after a defeat was common knowledge, but this was the first time Duan Zhigui had encountered a situation where observers couldn't even clearly explain what had actually happened on the battlefield. Some said the People's Party artillery was fierce, with cannon fire completely covering the battlefield. Others said the People's Party had hoarded a massive number of machine guns, killing the attacking Beiyang troops in one fell swoop. Some just hemmed and hawed, simply not knowing what had actually happened on the battlefield.

Having lost over a thousand men in one go, Duan Zhigui was both shocked and furious. Encountering such a bunch of useless subordinates, he wished he could shoot them all. However, with morale currently shaken, Duan Zhigui knew he couldn't do that. He shouted angrily, "Get out! All of you, get out!"

Sitting in the train compartment, sweat rolled down Duan Zhigui's forehead. He turned and shouted to his personal guard, "Go! Set up a shade canopy outside." Not long after, Duan Zhigui was sitting under the canopy. Although the weather was still just as hot, the breeze outside made it feel much cooler.

The staff officers of the 2nd Division's brigades gathered around the table in front of Duan Zhigui. Several maps were spread out on the table, and everyone had a gloomy expression. The Beiyang 2nd Division had undergone reorganization after retreating to Anyang last year. Although it was still called a "Division" [Zhen], its organization was already that of a "square" division with a strength reaching twenty thousand men. A loss of over a thousand men was less than two battalions. It had a limited impact on the Beiyang Army's strength. But the fierce battle had lasted less than an hour, and the Beiyang Army had lost so many men. The officers of the 2nd Division all felt a sense of bewilderment.

"Lord Commander [Tongzhi], how about we walk back to Anyang now?" a staff officer suggested.

"No!" Duan Zhigui rejected it without a second thought. "I had a hard time getting these dozen or so trains from the Grand President. How can we leave them to the rebel party?"

Once Duan Zhigui started, someone immediately followed up, "The rebel party has already occupied the railway. If we leave the trains to the rebel party, what if they take the trains and head straight for Anyang?"

The staff officer didn't dare to make another sound. He thought to himself, *The People's Party has already occupied the railway. Even without the trains, they can still head straight for Anyang.* But these words could not be spoken again. Given Duan Zhigui's angry appearance, anyone who said too much would definitely not have a good end. Superiors taking their anger out on subordinates was the most common thing in the Beiyang Army. At times like this, saying nothing was the way to protect oneself.

After shutting the staff officer up, Duan Zhigui didn't have a better plan either. Now the Beiyang Army was blocked in the wild, miles from anywhere. There were already People's Party troops in front, and there would definitely be pursuing troops behind. Duan Zhigui's mind was a mess. It wasn't just Duan Zhigui; the other Beiyang officers didn't have any good ideas either. A group of people stared at each other in awkward silence, watching the sun about to set.

It wasn't this group of Beiyang Army men who broke the deadlock, but the mosquitoes and insects that began to come out at dusk. After Duan Zhigui was bitten several times in a row, he finally gave the order, "Have the brothers guard the trains well. We will camp here. Everyone, get on the train, let's discuss this properly."

Back on the train, Duan Zhigui gloomily picked up the teacup brought by his personal guard and took a sip. The water tasted very strange. Duan Zhigui instantly flew into a rage, "What kind of water is this?"

The personal guard was frightened out of his wits. He hurriedly explained, "Excellency, we left in a hurry this time and didn't replenish the water on the way. This is all the water left."

Because they had been traveling by train the whole way, Duan Zhigui hadn't paid attention to such things as drinking water. Receiving the news of the People's Party's advance, Duan Zhigui had immediately ordered the troops to move north, and had even less time to replenish supplies. Hearing the guard's words, Duan Zhigui completely understood the reason. But after understanding the problem they were currently facing, the flames of rage in Duan Zhigui's chest burned even more fiercely. The guard's words seemed to be accusing Duan Zhigui of incompetence in command.

"Get out! Get out!" Duan Zhigui kicked the guard out of the private compartment. Seeing the nearly maniacal Duan Zhigui, the other officers glanced at each other and dared not speak even more.

"Gentlemen, right now we shouldn't even think about walking back. Either we clear the railway and take the train back, or we hold our ground here and wait for reinforcements." After saying this, Duan Zhigui felt a bit thirsty. He subconsciously reached for the cup, only then remembering that the water in it tasted terrible. Plus, he had just kicked the guard out. To maintain his image, Duan Zhigui forcibly retracted his hand and continued in a dry voice, "Send people to find water now. We can't let the brothers go thirsty."

Although it was called a military conference, in the Beiyang context, it meant a few high-ranking officers formulating a plan for subordinates to execute. If the execution was good, naturally the officers had planned well; if the execution was poor, then the subordinates were too useless. In this situation, how could they possibly discuss any result? After more than an hour of thirst, Duan Zhigui had the guard outside bring him water. Not long after, Duan Zhigui drank the terrible-tasting water but complained no more. Instead, he started talking about the possibility of digging wells on the spot in the dark.

The military conference of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was also proceeding tensely. First was the summary of the day's battle. Annihilating over a thousand men was a total count. In reality, less than a third were killed on the spot; seven or eight hundred Beiyang soldiers who were wounded or couldn't run away were taken prisoner. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's casualties were less than fifty, and most of the wounded had light injuries. They could continue to fight after being bandaged up. On the contrary, the comrades who sprained their ankles during the pursuit had more serious injuries.

All the problems predicted before the battle had appeared during the fighting. Because of the great victory, everyone could still laugh when these were mentioned at the military conference. Some things really couldn't be solved simply by training or ideological education.

The battalion Mu Husan belonged to had performed the best, with great results and few casualties. Comrades asked Mu Husan to share his experience.

"My experience is that the Political Commissar emphasized again and again at the mobilization meeting: if you don't want to die, you have to eliminate the enemy first. If you want to eliminate the enemy, you have to dare to fight and charge. You must obey orders, you must be brave. Really, speaking of other experiences, they are all those problems we talked about before the battle. Firing prematurely, training results failing to be successfully applied on the battlefield."

Hearing Mu Husan's introduction, the comrades laughed again. This battle had truly exceeded everyone's expectations. The Beiyang Army had indeed shown bravery; if their tactics had been appropriate, the Beiyang Army shouldn't have been annihilated so quickly. So a comrade raised a question, "Does the Beiyang Army only know this one kind of tactic, or were we just lucky—a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse?"

"From the intelligence we've collected, the Beiyang Army really only knows this one kind of tactic," the Regiment Commander laughed.

"If they really only know this one kind of offensive tactic, that would be great," Mu Husan sighed. "If they knew too much, we'd be in trouble."

While they were speaking, a communications officer ran in and handed intelligence to the Regiment Commander. After reading it, the Regiment Commander was overjoyed. "Comrades, the other troops of our division have arrived at the designated locations. The Beiyang Army has been completely surrounded by us!"

As soon as this news came out, the comrades in the unit got excited. "Now the Beiyang Army is completely finished." "Annihilate the Beiyang Army, liberate all of Henan!"

The Regiment Commander knew of Mu Husan's conduct at division headquarters. Seeing that Mu Husan wasn't smiling, he asked, "Battalion Commander Mu, do you have any thoughts?"

"Maybe I'm worrying too much, but looking at the current situation, I wonder what Army Headquarters plans to do?" Mu Husan replied.

"How so?" The Regiment Commander was very interested in this.

Mu Husan replied, "Right now, just trapping the 2nd Division is enough. The key is whether or not to take the opportunity to seize Anyang. Only if we can seize Anyang will we have achieved our goal. However, Regiment Commander, I'm overthinking it. I will work hard to complete the mission in the upcoming battles."

The Regiment Commander smiled, "Battalion Commander Mu, the position you are defending is very important. The Beiyang Army will very likely make your location their main attack target. You must defend it well."

"Yes!" Mu Husan replied.

After the meeting adjourned, Mu Husan carefully inspected the night duty issues. Only then did he return to the command post to rest. He hadn't been lying down for long when someone shook him awake. "Battalion Commander Mu, the Regiment Commander wants you to go to Regimental Headquarters for a meeting."

Inside Regimental Headquarters were the Regiment Commander, Battalion Commanders, and two ragged, bruised, and swollen teenage civilians. The Regiment Commander said, "Comrades, these two are civilians who were coerced by the Beiyang Army. Let them explain the situation."

Under the Regiment Commander's pleasant persuasion, these two teenagers finally began to speak about their situation. They were apprentice tailors from Anyang. A few days ago, they were kidnapped by the Beiyang Army and taken into the army to sew shade canopies for the Beiyang troops. Naturally, the Beiyang Army couldn't be polite to tailors; any slight dissatisfaction was met with punching and kicking. Besides the shade canopies, the tailors were also made to mend the Beiyang Army's clothes.

Today, the Beiyang retreat was blocked and water sources were scarce, so they were digging wells overnight. The lords of the Beiyang Army naturally refused to dig pits themselves in the dark, so the tailors were gathered together and turned into coolies. Since it was pitch black, these two apprentices, who could no longer stand the beatings, fumbled their way out to escape. They thought they could escape the tiger's den, but they hadn't run far when they were caught directly by the sentries set up by the People's Party.

Having spoken to this point, the two teenagers began to cry. The Regiment Commander tried to comfort them with a few words but couldn't stop them. Handing the teenagers over to the guards to take down for rest, the Regiment Commander said, "What does everyone think?"

"Let's launch a night raid," the 3rd Battalion Commander said. "The Beiyang Army doesn't even have water right now. A night raid could throw them into chaos."

"What's the use of throwing them into chaos? Besides, if our troops carry out a night raid, I'm afraid we'll be the ones in chaos," the 4th Battalion Commander said.

The Regiment Commander, Battalion Commanders, and Political Commissars all smiled bitterly. The quality of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was far from being able to effectively conduct night raids. The 4th Battalion Commander was telling the honest truth.

"The Beiyang Army is preparing to dig wells, so the possibility of them launching an attack on us tonight has decreased. We can probably take a good rest," Mu Husan stated his view. "I think we should rest well and fight again tomorrow during the day."

"The Beiyang Army is short of water; we can't just let them dig wells so easily, can we?" The 2nd Battalion Commander wanted to make full use of the Beiyang Army's predicament.

"Digging wells depends on luck. Even in the daytime, one might not necessarily succeed, let alone in the pitch dark. The Beiyang Army hasn't established a specialized well-digging team like us, so what is there to fear?" The Regiment Commander supported Mu Husan's opinion. "Hurry back and rest. The fighting continues tomorrow."

Mu Husan left Regimental Headquarters and fell asleep immediately upon returning to battalion headquarters.

Early the next morning, the troops cooked and ate according to wartime discipline. Then they waited for orders.

After 8:00 AM, scouts sent back news. The Beiyang Army had begun to advance toward the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's defense line. Soon, traces of aircraft appeared in the sky. Another half hour passed, and more detailed intelligence was transmitted back; the total number of Beiyang troops attacking this time was around 5,000.

Not long after, the Beiyang side raised artillery spotting balloons. Almost simultaneously, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's spotting balloons also ascended. The Beiyang Army's artillery immediately began firing. A new day of battle had unfolded.