Chapter 26: The Flustered Yizhi Society

  "What's going on? I was still wearing these clothes yesterday, look at this mud." At the entrance of the big camp, several soldiers on guard were whispering to each other, recalling what had happened that morning.

  "Don't mention it, if you feel wronged, go learn that rolling knife meat and have a one-on-one with him."

  "Stop it, one move and Lei Meng will be drinking mud soup, I don't dare."

  "You say, are the logistics troops of Nala's chariot always trained like this normally?"

  "It must be, otherwise how could he single-handedly capture the bandit leader? I heard that at the time, there were over a hundred bandits, all with long guns and even a machine gun blocking the road. He just charged in alone, caught the bandit leader, and seized the machine gun. Without real skills, who would dare to do that?"

  "What's the point of the logistics battalion training so hard? Can they really rush ahead of us and fight with the enemy?"

  "These freaks! Mad! Normally we look down on others' logistics department, calling them horsemen, emotionally we're not even as good as they are, this scolding is deserved!"

  "Next time I see the logistics camp, I'll take a detour."

  "Go around your butt, everyone has become a standard already, how can you go around? Are you going to learn from those useless flag people who don't do their job?! The soldiers were gathered together, muttering and grinding their teeth. Before they could come up with a plan, they saw over a dozen soldiers in clean uniforms walking towards them under the leadership of two officers."

  As they walked closer, both sides were stunned.

  Xiao Anguo was stunned to see that these 42 soldiers were all covered in mud, just like they had been pulled out of the mud. They looked disheveled and embarrassed, but the soldiers' eyes were red with envy as they gazed at the opposing group, who were all dressed in new clothes and trousers, their military boots polished to a shine, even their queues were oiled!

  "What's the meaning of this? Are you deliberately dressed like that to make a joke?" The soldiers immediately flared up and shouted: "42nd Battalion, halt! Who goes there?"

  After finishing the early lesson and going to Chu Wangtai, Xiao Anguo was worried that Yang Qiu would go alone, so he called up Ma Kui, and also brought Bingwen and Hu Lao San and more than a dozen logistics camp soldiers to give him prestige. Unexpectedly, just as they walked to the entrance of the 42nd Battalion's barracks, they saw these disheartened and disheveled soldiers, and hurried over to ask: "Brother, is this the 42nd Battalion? What's going on here?"

  "Who are you?"

  "Chu Wangtai Pingku Xiao Anguo, this is the logistics officer Ma Kui, who has come to congratulate Yang Daren on his new appointment."

  "You... you are the Logistics Battalion?" The soldiers were just saying that the Logistics Battalion was a freak and would avoid them when they met, but unexpectedly they appeared right in front of them. For a moment, they only felt dizzy and saw ghosts. Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo were even more surprised, and they repeatedly asked: "That's right, what instructions do you have for this brother?"

  "I don't dare, I don't dare." The soldiers who had been tossed around all morning and were still sore and aching were frightened into hastily waving their hands, thinking to themselves what kind of situation was this? And the one inside hadn't even stopped yet, now several more helpers have arrived, how are they going to get through these days?!

  The soldiers rushed back to report, and the others, upon hearing that they were from the logistics battalion, might become the dreaded new deputy commander in the future, so all the soldiers squeezed over, staring at them with strange eyes.

  The sea of black heads surging forward and the uniform muddy military uniforms made Xiao Anguo and others swallow their saliva, thinking in their hearts that Yang Qiu had done something that angered both heaven and man, making the soldiers look at them with such hostility.

  Fortunately, the soldiers who reported quickly came and went, and everyone walked towards the officer's quarters with a scorched gaze. As soon as they entered, before even greeting each other, Xiao Anguo pulled Yang Qiu and asked: "My big brother, what is going on?"

  "What's going on?" Yang Qiu was taken aback by the question, and only when he walked to the door did he see that all the soldiers had gathered around. He secretly found it amusing and loudly asked: "What? Are you all bored out of your minds?"

  The soldiers heard the shouting and scattered, only Yu Peng and Zhang Wenjing looked at each other and smiled, it seemed that the first lesson in the morning was really too frightening, at least no one dared to disobey this new battalion commander again.

  When Yang Qiu shouted, the soldiers dispersed quickly, even faster than a mouse seeing a cat. Xiao Anguo was even more surprised and hastily pulled Yang Qiu into the house to ask: "Brother, tell me quickly, what did you do?"

  Yang Qi couldn't help but laugh inwardly, and quickly told them about the morning exercise. Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui were shocked after hearing it, not to mention that they had never heard of such a training method before, just the fact that such a commotion hadn't triggered a riot was already astonishing.

  "It won't do, it's too dangerous for you to be here alone. I think we'd better get some people from the logistics camp over here. After all, new officials can bring some old subordinates with them when they take office." Xiang Ankou was afraid that Yang Qiu would not be familiar with the place and would be retaliated against by the soldiers who had been through hardships, so he said without allowing any refusal: "It's settled then."

  "Alright, let's go with Hu Lao San and Bing Wen." Yang Qiu didn't refuse this time either, because he really needed a few assistants. However, Xiao An Gu furrowed his brow, Hu Lao San was fine, but Bing Wen...

  Yang Qiu looked at Bingwen with a profound gaze, who was hanging his head in shame and not daring to look up straight. He smiled and said: "Bingwen is still young, let him train here for a while, maybe he can become a general."

  "That's also General Babyface."

  Haha......

  Someone asked Zhang Wenjing to take care of Hu Lao San and Bingwen, while other soldiers from the logistics department were also curious about the situation outside and went out to chat with the 42nd battalion soldiers. When they saw that only he, Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui were left in the room, Yang Qiu asked: "Xiao Dage, I want to ask you something, do you know the person in charge of the gun factory?"

  Xiao Anguo's eyebrows jumped, and he thought Yang Qiu was going to start a gun factory, so he whispered: "I'm telling you, brother, this is a matter of losing one's head!"

  Yang Qiu hastily laughed and said, "Big brother, where did you go? I have eight heads now, but I don't dare to move the gun factory. It's just that after being a soldier for so long, I don't know what the inside of the factory looks like. Moreover, my handgun bullets are almost used up, and this caliber of bullet is very hard to buy. We need to find someone to custom-make them."

  "Is that so?"

  "Really?" Seeing Xiao Anguo's surprise, Yang Qiu hastily asked: "What's wrong? Where did I go wrong again?"

  "Hey, brother!" Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui burst out laughing, leaving Yang Qiu confused. The former explained: "You're the 42nd Division Commander! This entire area of Hanyang is under your jurisdiction, don't bother with anything else. Anyone who wants to enter or exit needs to get your approval first. If you want to order a few bullets... why go through so much trouble? Just directly ask the arsenal manager for the model or sample!"

  Yang Qiu was taken aback, not expecting the 42nd squad's privileges to be so great. But thinking again, he felt it wasn't right and asked: "That's not right, I've already called back all the squads for collective training, who's in charge of patrolling normally?"

  "It's the security team of the Arsenal Factory, with about 500 people. In theory, these people are under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office, but the Governor's Office doesn't want to manage such trivial matters either. So in recent years, they have all been following the 42nd Regiment, and some outsiders even call them the 4th Battalion of the 42nd Regiment." Ma Kui saw that Yang Qiudidn't know, so he explained it to him in detail.

  Originally, the civilian militia and security teams during the late Qing period were not independent. Although they were nominally self-organized armed groups, in reality, they all had to be subject to the control of the local garrison troops. Especially after the year 1900, in order to regain military power, the imperial court strengthened its supervision over these organizations, and most of them were handed over to the local army or prefectural government for management. The gun factory was the imperial court's most important arsenal, so apart from the 42nd Division being stationed nearby, a security team was also specially organized, and all of them were trained and equipped according to regular military standards.

  Yang Qiu did not expect that there would be so many paths inside, and he regretted not asking Zhang Wenjing and the others earlier, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a fool of himself.

  "Exactly, you've used up quite a few bullets on me. Later, I'll go with you to the factory to find someone in charge and have some more made. We can take a look around together." Xiao Anguo pulled out his Mauser 1896, fiddled with it for a bit, and smiled: "This gun isn't bad, but it does use up bullets."

  "So this gun is not practical in the army, it can only be used for self-defense, and its power is......" Yang Qiu was about to say more about the shortcomings of the Mauser pistol when he heard someone shouting at the door. He opened the door to see over a dozen flag-bearing soldiers crowded together, and after seeing him come out, they said in a fierce tone: "Commander, we've made up our minds, we want to leave immediately."

  "Alright, go find Zhang Wenjing to get the silver." Yang Qiu nodded with a pleased expression, then scanned the surrounding soldiers and asked loudly: "Who else wants to be an escaped soldier?"

  "Deserter?"

  The soldiers' faces turned green with rage, and they wished they could drag Yang Qiu out and give him a good beating. Those who had thoughts of applying for transfer didn't dare to move now, knowing that this was the new army! Transferring and deserting were two different things! The flag people's soldiers had the support of Governor General Rui Ceng of Huguang, but who could they turn to? Moreover, even if they were to propose a transfer, who knows what kind of big hat would be pressed onto their heads?!

  "Shameless!"

  Representative Qiu Wenbin of the Yiying Society, who was holding a retirement application, clenched his fist tightly. The representatives of the second and third camps next to him also looked unhappy. Unexpectedly, this newly arrived Lieutenant General had blocked the way for soldiers and officers outside the flag people to retire, making those who wanted to leave dare not leave.

  "Qiu big brother, this traitorous running dog is obviously trying to block our retreat!"

  "Yes, it's better to find an opportunity to kill him."

  Second Lieutenant Zhao Chengwu looked at Yang Qiu from afar, his heart full of discontent. He hated to say: "Just now he kept talking about learning and wisdom, it's clear that he knows us, if we don't leave soon, he'll get us killed!"

  "Didn't we agree not to kill him for now? If we did, it would cause trouble for everyone."

  "This is one time, that's another time. What about last night when brothers took action? The soldiers from the Yi Zhi She beside them were also very tense. Who was Yang Qiu? He was the newly appointed Zhongyong Batulu of the Qing government, who killed Wang Tianjie, a righteous warrior, on the street and caused the death of hundreds of Sichuan brothers. What's more, he was even assassinated by comrades last night, and now the governor has ordered his arrest throughout the city. If they continued to stay here, their lives might not be guaranteed."

  "No, wait until tomorrow morning, who knows what will happen. I think it's better for you, Brother Qiu, to cross the river now and find Liu Gong to ask him what to do. We can't just watch everyone being bullied by this evil thief and die in vain."

  Everyone took turns making remarks, which made Qiu Wenbin's heart even more confused. When he saw Yang Qiu re-entering the house, he gritted his teeth and said: "Alright, I'll go see Liu Gong now. But when I come back, no matter what happens, you must endure it."

  Having said that, he immediately found an opportunity when no one was paying attention and walked out of the camp.