Chapter 65: Advancing North

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  "Let it go, let it go!"

  Tang Huazhong's heart was filled with even more resentment, and he said in a low voice: "He monopolized the two towns, took half of the fat from my E territory into his own hands, not to mention that he also got a gun factory for free! Poor Zhang Zhidong spent countless efforts, all swallowed by him in one mouth! Just now, he even sent a barbarian to Wuchang to demand money, military equipment and supplies, opening his mouth with ten million! He also wanted tens of thousands of quick guns and hundreds of large cannons! The wolf's ambition is not enough to describe it!"

  Hu Rui Lin looked at Tang Hualong with a complex expression, and sighed: "Ji Wu, I originally thought that as an outsider, I wouldn't get involved in these mundane disputes. But since we are related by marriage, I still want to remind you of one thing: in chaotic times, it's crucial for military leaders to be careful not to clash with each other! Not only should they avoid clashing, but also support each other well! Yang Qiurong's road army is newly established and seems vigorous on the surface, but actually lacks depth. If you help him now, once he gains a foothold... who in the country would dare to move against you? As for wealth... haha, with fame comes fortune naturally! When he returns from his campaign, quickly go see him, don't miss this opportunity."

  Tang Hualong knew that his relative had some skills, and this remark really hit the nail on the head. At this moment, the biggest weakness of these constitutionalists was that they had no military power. Yang Qiu's initiative to extend an olive branch was indeed a rare opportunity! Hu Ruilin saw that he had listened in, and just as he was about to say a few more words, he suddenly heard loud shouts coming from the front.

  "We won! We beat Liu Family Temple!"

  The shouting was like a bright lamp in the dark night, and also like a thunderclap in chaos, sweeping away more than half of the gloom that covered tens of thousands of hearts. People who knew each other and those who didn't, patted each other's hands, shouted, and released their pent-up anxiety and tension. In an instant, the entire Hankou was immersed in the cheers of victory.

  Moments later, thousands of meters of firecrackers were laid out on Tongchuan Avenue, and everyone was gazing into the distance, waiting for the triumphant return of the warriors.

  "He's coming! He's coming! He's coming!!!"

  The neat and uniform horseshoes and footsteps sounded like drumbeats, captivating all the heartbeats. Outside Tongji Gate, a rolling torrent marched in with neat and tidy steps into Hankou! The old man spoke in a low voice, but was still driven out, saying that not even a single bullet would be given to the Right Route Army! Is this what you call a comrade army?! Lei Meng's fiery temper flared up as soon as he saw Yang Qiu, and he pointed towards Wuchang, cursing wildly: "That guy with his face wrapped in gauze, Sun Wu, and that old man who coughs whenever he speaks. Oh, right! And that Zhang Zhenwu, none of them are anything! I told them that the military situation in Hankou was urgent and we needed guns and ammunition, but those three bastards said they could give us bullets, but only if we handed over the gun factory to them!"

  Su Xiaohu and some other officers with unclear backgrounds immediately became indignant and grumbled, even Song Ziqing and others who had expected this outcome looked unhappy. They had thought that at the very least they would be allocated a few thousand guns and bullets, but not a single one was given! Only Yang Qiu seemed to have not heard anything, staring at the map. Lei Meng saw him not speaking and thought he was blaming himself, so he rolled up his sleeves and was about to go find someone: "Commander, this time it's my fault for messing things up. Let me take some brothers to Chu Wangtai to grab a batch back! I don't believe we can't wipe them out!"

  "Halt!" Yang Qiu stood in front of the map, his body forever in the standard military posture, shouting at him: "I know you have grievances, everyone here has grievances, but what we need now is unity and cooperation to resist the great enemy! Remember? Repeat it!"

  "Remember, unity is strength! Resist the great enemy together!" Lei Meng shouted loudly after hesitating for a long time.

  "Go and spread the word to all the soldiers! Then go and invite Old Su, I have important matters to discuss with him." Seeing Lei Meng running away in frustration, Yang Qiu's expressionless face swept across the military officers: "Lei Meng didn't get the aid, but that doesn't mean we won't fight! We've sworn an oath to defend Hubei, so we can't give up on our promise just because of a little setback! Our gun factory is still ours, what are we afraid of not having enough military equipment? Besides, I've already asked He Shengyuan to send a telegram to Shanghai to purchase another batch of military equipment. The machine guns from last time were bought by them, who knows, maybe in a few days there will be good news! We have Hanyang to defend, and the vast river surface as a barrier. Even if we can't buy more, the existing cannons and machine guns are enough to block tens of thousands of people!"

  These words made everyone's heart a lot clearer, especially after seeing the power of machine guns and new-style cannons today, they also added a few points to their confidence. Yue Peng stood up first: "The commander is right, what we need to do now is not wait for support, the Northern Army's heavy troops have already arrived, so currently the most important thing is to speed up the clearing of the four fields and strive to clear the remaining enemies around before the Northern Army arrives!"

  "The imperial court reacted quickly this time, we must first dampen their morale, in my opinion......" Everyone was amused by his words, even Yang Qiu hooked the corner of his mouth and deliberately said: "So what we lack most now is not ammunition, but old soldiers who can fight!"

  As soon as he swept his gaze over them, Yue Peng and Song Ziqing knew that this was probably Yang Qiu's testing gaze. After some thought, the former spoke up first: "Old soldiers are not unavailable, the 41st battalion is in Yichang, the third battalion is in Yueyang, at this moment when the three towns are in urgent need, they should already be on their way back, most of them are neutral soldiers, now we have a name, everyone is also an old man from Hunan Province, it should be possible to recruit them over, even if not all can be brought back, at least one battalion of old soldiers can be gathered."

  Song Ziqing also said: "Apart from these two battalions, there are many garrison battalions in Yichang, Jingzhou, Xiangfan and other places. Among them, the two battalions of Liu Yunyu and Xie Baosheng are the strongest. Although the garrison battalions are not as good as our new army, many old soldiers inside were dispatched from the eight towns these years, and the quality of the soldiers is much stronger than those new soldiers who don't even know how to hold a gun. If we can defeat them quickly, at least we can recruit three or four battalions of old soldiers."

  "It's not bad, does anyone have any additions?" Yang Qiu nodded and looked at He Xi and Jiang Tai again. Everyone thought for a while but couldn't think of any other troops that could immediately increase their combat power. In the end, Zhang Wenjing had to say: "Commander, don't test us anymore."

  Yang Qiu smiled slightly and walked to the map, her finger suddenly moved upwards. When her fingertip was about to enter Sichuan, Song Ziqing's eyebrows jumped violently twice, and he reacted by clapping his hands: "Right! How did we forget them!"

  Zhang Wenjing suddenly understood and immediately said: "The 31st Regiment of the Sichuan Army has three regiments, the 32nd Regiment has one regiment, plus a logistics team and an artillery team, which is almost three thousand people! Moreover, they are all our old soldiers from the eight towns! At this moment, the internal chaos in Wuchang has not been settled, and there is little contact on the way. It is certain that they have not yet received the signal to launch an attack. As long as we can control them in front of us, under the name of our Right Route Army's pledge to protect Hankou, it will be a great help to recruit them!"

  Yang Qiu indeed intends to join the Sichuan team again. In that time and space, the Hubei army that entered Sichuan did not kill Rui Fang until they lost Han Yang and retreated to Zizhong. But now the war between Yang and Xia has just begun, it's a good opportunity to take action! The question is who should go to collect them?

  "I'm on good terms with several officers from the 41st Regiment, and at the very least I can bring back a hundred or so soldiers." After speaking up, Yue Peng immediately looked towards Song Ziqing. The latter knew that he couldn't hide his true intentions from him, and smiled: "Since Sub-Commander An is going to receive the 42nd Regiment, then I'll take care of the troops entering Sichuan. I have a few brothers in the 31st Regiment with whom I get along quite well, and I believe I should be able to bring back some soldiers."

  "I don't know what you're talking about!" Yang Qiu cut in, his tone firm and resolute: "Right now, Hubei only has two routes of troops. My Right Route Army is in charge of the area north of the Yangtze River! Either surrender or... be defeated!"

  Zhang Wenjing nodded in agreement: "The commander is right, the chaotic situation of guns and troops in various places will only be detrimental to us in the future. What we are facing now is the elite Beiyang! Any unstable factors should be destroyed immediately! There are about six camps of righteous army in Jingzhou and Hanchuan, and at least three camps can be left after reorganization. Moreover, except for the three towns, other places, especially rural areas, are still poor and miserable. As long as propaganda is carried out, many young people will be willing to come out and join the army. These rural youths who are hardworking and enduring hardships are the best soldiers! If we can recruit 41 battalions of two camps, plus these righteous armies, we can continue to advance towards Yichang, Xiangfan, Anlu and Yingcheng, and expand propaganda and recruitment along the way. We can quickly gather an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people! In this way, a large left-wing cluster will be formed. Even if Beiyang crosses Wushengguan into Hubei, the flank will not be at peace, and they will be held back by a large number of troops, unable to concentrate their forces on this side of Hankou!"

  Before everyone could continue speaking, Yang Qiu's gaze turned to Song Ziqing and Wang Guangxiong: "Ziqing, Guangxiong! Your mission is the heaviest! You immediately take two gunboats and an infantry company along the Yangtze River northward into Sichuan, think of a way to incorporate the Hubei army brothers' troops in Sichuan, then... immediately capture Chongqing and Guang'an for me!"

  Chongqing, Guang'an!

  The meeting room suddenly fell silent, everyone looked at each other, and saw the shock in each other's eyes. Just now, everyone was wondering why they brought the Navy camp, but now they finally understood! Song Ziqing's eyes lit up: "Commander, you... really think ahead."

  Yang Qiu stood straight, like a sharp spear. He was clearer than anyone else that no matter how fiercely they fought, unless they had the ability to immediately launch a northern expedition and eliminate that person, two months later this country would definitely have a nominal central government, no matter how unreliable it was, but after all, it was a central government! So this period of time was the best opportunity for expansion, and he must take advantage of this period of time to establish a solid large base! And Sichuan was one of the core bases in his mind! So even if Hubei was struggling, he had to withdraw troops to occupy Chongqing as a future military outpost! So he said immediately: "I know you're wondering why I'm in a hurry to enter Sichuan when Hubei is not yet stable. Now I just say one thing! We are not the Hubei army now, we are the national defense army! It's an army that wants to overthrow the corrupt Qing dynasty and fight for a new country! So our vision cannot be limited to Hubei, our future is to protect the entire country!"

  Yue Peng and Song Ziqing exchanged a glance, both seeing the fervor in each other's eyes. Even Jiang Tai and Su Xiaohu straightened their backs. Protect the entire country! Become a true national defense army! Isn't this the highest dream of a soldier?

  Yang Qiu slowed down his speech: "Wen Jing, now that we're at war, the treatment of soldiers needs to be improved. Previously it was two taels per month, now increase it to five taels per person for ordinary soldiers, ten taels for company officers and below, and twenty taels for battalion officers and above. When recruiting soldiers, also give them five taels as a settlement fee immediately."

  "Ma Ge, you immediately recruit 3000 soldiers, all the trains and ships on this side will be under your command, and the arsenal will also be handed over to you for production supervision. It is necessary to guarantee the logistical needs of this expedition! Xiao Ge, the training of new recruits in the three towns will be handed over to you. Clear out the prisoners, find medical treatment for the wounded, give 10 taels of silver to those who want to leave, and disperse those who are willing to stay with the new recruits for training. Yue Peng, Zi Qing! The new recruits on your side should also be trained while fighting, and ideological education must not be relaxed!"

  Xiao Anguo nodded in agreement, then looked around at the people who were about to set out for battle and said with concern: "Brother, the enemy army is approaching our borders, and we are going to launch such a large-scale campaign to recover our territory! I'm afraid our military equipment... Why don't I go across the river and try to persuade them with some gentle words? If that doesn't work, I can give them some money..."

  "No more! We don't have that much time to waste on idle chatter!" Yang Qiu shook his head, he had to seize every minute now! He absolutely couldn't stop! If this uncoordinated army stopped, there would be discord, so he decided to take advantage of the current momentum and first retake Hubei! No matter how difficult it was, he could only keep fighting on! Only in this way could his troops gradually merge into a true whole, and an iron-clad national defense army appear!

  So he slapped his palm heavily on the map of Hubei, which occupied 90% of the land north of the Yangtze River. His words were powerful and resounding: "This time we march north, not only to recover the whole of Hubei, but also as a starting point for the future recovery of the southwest! It is also a battle for our national defense army to establish its reputation! He Xi will fight for us for 20 days! If you don't want to see the soldiers on Wushengguan die in vain, then go and fight with all your might within 20 days! Recover Hubei completely before the Beiyang Army arrives!"