Chapter 72 The Alliance's Carefree Days

  The "Yu Weng" in the north holds a strong army and waits for the right price to sell, while the old fox in the south sees that he has been marginalized by the party members and has no power or influence. Unless the party members abandon him, no one can move him. With people like Cai Jizhong and Wu Zhaolun around, the actual control of the eight towns is still in his hands. Sun Wu and other party members are riding high on their great achievements and occupying the moral high ground, which can at least hold out until the Qing dynasty abdicates.

  As for himself... Yang Qiuning stood at the window, gazing out at the new recruits' formation on the large campus grounds, which was still slightly disorganized. A faint smile played on his lips, because he too was rapidly growing stronger at a speed that ordinary people could hardly imagine!

  After a night of persuasion, more than 700 prisoners brought back by Wushengguan agreed to surrender. The first batch of 3,000 new recruits recruited by the two towns was also completed. In order to maintain the nature of the troops, all the recruits this time were sons of workers and peasants, excluding those favorite party members, gangs, and unemployed vagrants. Compared with the complex old troops, these young people who have not yet formed their character are the future of this group. From now on, they need to be dispersed and receive a month of intensive training together with the surrendered soldiers. The training plan and program are all compiled by him personally. New training outline, in addition, also need to repeatedly accept ideological education, these important things will be arranged by Xiao Ankou personally.

  After He Xi rushed to take credit, Yue Peng also brought good news, first stopping the 41st Division's two regiments that were returning to Wuchang overnight and persuading more than half of them to join the Right Route Army. Then, without stopping, he hurried to Hanchuan to forcibly incorporate Liang Shi brothers' righteous army, eliminating unstable factors and dispersing them with old soldiers from the 41st Division to reorganize into three regiments, which have now separated from Hu Lao San's actions.

  The biggest problem in front of him was not the several Qing army garrison battalions in Xiangyang and other places, but Liu Ying from Jingzhou! In the parallel world, Liu Ying brothers rapidly expanded under the name of deputy governor of the Hubei military government, sweeping across both banks of the Han River with great momentum, and also participated in the second revolution as a loyal party member. Whether or not to take it down without bloodshed was related to whether he could continue to maintain the superficial peace in Hubei.

  Song Ziqing still has a long way to go, and it will take four days to reach Chongqing along the river. Adding the pursuit of the Sichuan-Hubei army, it's estimated that they won't arrive until the end of the month. What worries him most now is the military equipment; guarding Hanyang without sufficient arms is a joke.

  The original stock had about 9,000 Hanyang-made rifles, but Yue Peng took away 3,000 to 4,000. The training ground below also needed nearly 4,000 rifles. He Xi's spoils this time were also Japanese Type 30 rifles that didn't match the ammunition. When the new recruits who went north returned, they would face the embarrassment of having no guns to use. The ammunition was slightly better, and after Shen Shukai increased the procurement intensity, the material tension problem was temporarily alleviated. The production of pointed bullets gradually increased as workers became more skilled, and the craftsmanship and quality were improved under Su Hongsheng's personal supervision. After several days of testing, hand grenades entered the manufacturing stage yesterday. As for artillery, it's not even worth thinking about, even if Germany could deliver another batch, there wouldn't be enough artillerymen to go around.

  He Xi is now defending Wushengguan, with the heroic pass as a screen and machine guns as auxiliary. As long as the Beiyang continues to work hard but not effectively, it will be able to hold on for another half month without any problem. This means that the most needed time has finally been won after continuous deployment, even making people breathless.

  Make good use of this period, quickly take down the area north of the Yangtze River and occupy more than half of Hubei Province. It's best to take Chongqing and Guang'an according to plan, then you'll have a very good base. If the German side can respond early and complete the transaction, a glimmer of light will shine through the locked future!

  But... after all, what kind of road can he lead this group on? He still doesn't have a good grasp on that. The northern side is watching with keen eyes, the old fox has little tolerance for elegance, Sun Wu won't be willing to let others take away his peach, not to mention the big shots like Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren who are about to arrive! However... they're probably also having headaches over their own affairs now?

  Yang Qiu only then realized that, without realizing it, he was already able to slightly influence the overall situation in the world. However, he quickly gave up his fantasy and put down the curtain to pick up the plan for the rapid training of national defense army officers that he had been thinking about for a long time.

  The army officer crash course was a very common means of rapidly and massively cultivating grassroots officers and technical soldiers during the early Republic of China period. The expansion of troops had become unstoppable, and the increasingly large gap in grassroots officers made it imperative to accelerate the establishment of crash courses.

  It's okay, compared to starting from scratch, Hubei has too many advantages. The Hubei Military Academy, which trained officers like Wu Luqian and was famous nationwide, is the best resource. After the Wuchang Uprising, most of the students in the academy participated in the revolution, and the teachers and instructors were seen as part of the old military system by the party members, so they all lost their livelihoods at once. He found out and immediately had Zhang Wenjing recruit more than half of them with a high salary of 100 taels per person per month. Now these people have all arrived in Hanyang and are stationed in the newly built Moshui Lake Qili Temple barracks, and what needs to be decided now is which subjects to focus on.

  Command, artillery, surveying, engineering and battlefield medical care are currently the most urgently needed. The heavy machine gun wants to open a class but can't find an instructor, let alone scouts and other types. After thinking about it, he added communications and political training.

  The wireless telegraphy course will be taught by wireless operators drawn from the naval battalion, while the political training class is not for immediate use. He doesn't want to be controlled by the constitutionalists all his life, but this class can't be placed in Hanyang, otherwise Tang Huilong will definitely guess that he is trying to get rid of them. When he signed the documents for the National Defense Army Officer Crash Course, Zhang Wanjing happened to come in and see him, and his brow furrowed again: "Commander, if you keep doing this, I really won't have any money left!"

  Zhang Wanjing's hair has been growing out recently, and the first night was indeed a stroke of luck, but lately spending money has been like flowing water. The military expenses have doubled, the troops have expanded, new recruits' settlement fees, procurement of urgently needed materials, and the operating costs of the newly started Hanyang factory have already consumed nearly three million. If Traun agrees to sell arms, it will be another large sum, and the more empty his money bag is, the greater the pressure on this logistics chief becomes.

  Not to mention that at this moment it is completely a situation of putting in without getting anything out!

  The march north has just begun, and there will be battles against the elite Beiyang forces in the future. Even with the most optimistic estimate, it will take three or four months to collect taxes from the occupied areas. The customs department is also temporarily unable to collect money, as foreigners are now united in saying that they will wait until the end of the war to restart the distribution of customs tariffs, so he has been dreaming of digging up a golden doll these days.

  This complaint made Yang Qiu also raise his head, apart from taxes, he now hopes that Song Ziqing can send good news as soon as possible, and then develop to the Chengdu Plain in western Sichuan with Chongqing as the base. That is where the essence of the whole Sichuan lies. The sugar of Zizhong and Neijiang; the grain of Luzhou and Yibin; and even the self-flowing well salt area comparable to Yangzhou, in the parallel world, the total military expenditure of the Sichuan warlord in 1916 was only 6 million, but ten years later it reached a staggering 43.6 million! The increase over the past decade was almost seven times, all thanks to the self-flowing well. Apart from this, another large sum of money that can be thought of is the 8 million taels of silver in the Chengdu treasury, only these funds are currently very difficult to obtain.

  It is still unknown whether Germany will agree, but the independent Rong County, which has been controlled by the party, cannot be bypassed. Entering Chengdu... or bypassing the Paoge and the party! Thinking of this, he also felt a little discouraged. Why is the road so difficult to walk? Is he too soft-hearted? Is it better to directly go to war with the party? For the formal name that has not been fully obtained until now, is it too humiliating to try to restrain oneself?

  "Commander, Tang Yi Zhang has arrived, and he's brought someone named Ju Zheng with him."

  Finally! I'm back at last...

  Wen Bang knocked on the door, bringing news that Ju Zheng and Tan Renfeng had finally returned from Shanghai. Yang Qiu immediately stuffed the stack of documents back into the drawer, wondering what this one of the few big shots in the Tongmenghui who had developed in Hubei would bring to him.

  As he walked steadily towards the reception hall, Ju Zheng was also holding a teacup and curiously looking at the new recruits on the large training ground. He saw them lined up in neat formation, each person about a few meters apart, practicing bayonet fighting, shouting loudly with every strike. Many of the soldiers were clearly exhausted, swaying unsteadily, but still gritting their teeth to persist. The officer in charge didn't order them to rest, instead continuously shouted "A soldier's duty is to follow orders and obey" "We are the national defense army" "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime" "Train hard for the people and the country, kill the enemy".

  But this thrilling scene did not excite him, instead he felt a little dazed. Because he had not expected that his recent trip to Shanghai would cause him to miss the most important moment, the sound of gunfire from the Engineering Corps set off a rapid whirlwind throughout China, as a senior member of the Tongmenghui, the success of the Wuchang Uprising was certainly welcome, but the sudden and unexpected changes at the center of the vortex left him at a loss.

  The biggest change is Yang Qiu's unexpected rise, this young man who was previously slandered for becoming the last "Zhongyong Batulu" of the Qing dynasty suddenly transformed into a revolutionary pioneer! What on earth is going on? To get to the bottom of these things, he didn't care about the fatigue of the journey, and immediately let Tan Renfeng go see Li Yuanhong to persuade him to formally take over as governor after himself, then he pulled along Tang Hualong, with whom he had a good relationship, to come to the Hanyang Barracks, hoping to catch a glimpse of Yang Qiu.

  "Chen Hua arrived late and hopes Mr. Ju Zheng and Brother Ji Wu will forgive him."

  Upon hearing the sound, he hastily got up to take a look and saw a young man in his early twenties with a strong and handsome appearance, tall and sturdy build, wearing a crisp military uniform, accompanied by an officer, appearing at the door. As the two entered, a strong and rugged military aura suddenly made him slightly stunned.

  Tang Hualong naturally couldn't wait for Yang Qiu to remain a pure military man forever, and smiled intimately: "Chenhua is busy but still came to see us, should say sorry to bother you."

  "Brother Ji Wu is really good at talking." Yang Qiu's eyes never left the man in front of him, who was famous for his stubbornness and still held the title of anti-communist reactionary. Seeing him, she was slightly taken aback and smiled secretly to herself. Like most party members at this moment, he had not yet undergone the baptism of political turmoil in the early years of the Republic, and was far from being unmoved by fame or fortune.

  "When I was in Shanghai, Tuo Chu mentioned you several times, saying that your martial arts skills are impressive and that you're also well-versed in military strategy, which makes me feel envious."

  "Mr. Ju praised, brother I am the authentic Red Top Son Batu Lu, a few days ago someone assassinated me on the street and couldn't eat my flesh." Yang Qiu smiled slightly, just about to invite the two to sit down, but Mr. Ju suddenly bowed deeply.

  Yang Qiu was somewhat surprised, and just as he was about to reach out to help him, he had already stood up and said seriously: "Firstly, in Chengdu, we saved Xun's life, and then responded to the great righteousness by rising up with a banner. We captured Rui Ceng, seized Zhang Biao, won the first battle at Liujiatang, blocked Wu Shengguan, and when the revolution was leaderless in Wuchang, we fought to gain time to consolidate the revolutionary results! Such merits are not just worthy of a bow, even if it's necessary to kneel three times and kowtow nine times, it should be done!"

  "Mr. Ju Zheng is overpraising me, I said it on the day of the oath in Hankou that soldiers should obey orders to protect their homes and defend their country, but...". Yang Qiu secretly felt strange, what was Ju Zheng trying to do by lifting himself up so high? He hastily made a gesture with his eyes to Tang Huilong: "Although Commander Lei on the Wuchang side has already sent out a telegram nationwide, he has not given any orders yet, and my brother is anxious, that's why I had to take action."

  "Indeed......" Tang Hualong took the opportunity to say: "Since the First Uprising, soldiers have not been trained, generals have not followed orders, and some people are still vying for power and profit. They know that the position of governor has already been decided, but they still harbor illusions. If Chen Hua hadn't taken the initiative to attack, I'm afraid...... Ah!" Hearing him deliberately sigh, Zhang Wenjing couldn't help but secretly laugh. Who doesn't know that the ones who want to fight for power the most are these constitutionalists? If it weren't for Li Yuanhong's position as governor not being fully settled, plus the temptation of the civil rights in northern Hubei at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, I'm afraid they wouldn't have come to support the Right Route Army either.

  Yang Qiu added fuel to the fire and continued: "The Qing government is tyrannical, foreigners are rampant, Chen Hua was born in Hubei, he naturally does not want his hometown to continue to be chaotic, so he followed the great righteousness and led his brothers to join the revolution. But if this continues...the hearts of the soldiers will probably all turn cold."

  The two of you, one word and one sentence, made Ju Zheng secretly frown. Although he had just returned, he was not completely unaware of the situation here. Sun Wu and Zhang Zhenwu were very dissatisfied with Li Yuanhong's appointment as governor, and they had been looking for an opportunity to replace him. They lacked a suitable candidate with moral integrity, so they hadn't taken action yet. The two men's words were more like a warning that the governor would trigger great changes, rather than just venting their grievances.

  Of course, Ju Zheng did not want to replace Li Yuanhong. After all, he was a Hubei native and did not wish to be beholden to others after the success of the uprising. Moreover, there was another consideration - whether the Tongmenghui could regain its leadership among the various factions.

  Actually, Yang Qiu's words just now were also intentionally trying to stir up the spark in his heart. In a parallel world, Ju Zheng was deceived by Tang Huizong and came up with the "Wuchang Military Government Organization Regulations", which strengthened the governor's power and excluded the Tongmenghui and Literary Society. Apart from being too politically immature, he also wanted to use this to make the Tongmenghui regain its initiative. In fact, he almost succeeded in the end, but unfortunately Huang Xing was not up to par, and his defeat led to the Tongmenghui having to flee to Shanghai and Hubei to compete for national discourse power. So when he saw him, his face changed constantly, and he continued to fan the flames: "If Mr. Sun were in the country, it would be better. We could hold him up as the Grand President, with Governor Li as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and use Hubei to control the whole country, calling on patriots to rise up and thoroughly overthrow the Qing dynasty, so that others wouldn't keep talking about how things aren't right."

  Jū zhèng tīng dé xīn kǒu pēng pēng luàn tiào, gù zuò lěng jìng wèn dào: "Chén huá yào tuī jǔ Sūn xiān shēng chū rèn dà zǒng tǒng?!"

  Translation:

  "Juren's heart was racing with excitement, but he pretended to be calm and asked, 'Does Chen Hua want to recommend Mr. Sun for the position of President?!'"

  Yang Qiu smiled slightly, this time the Wuchang Uprising had almost nothing to do with the Tongmenghui, now he himself threw out such a big sweet head, even if he didn't have experience, he should be able to understand, nodding his head: "Except for Mr. Sun, who else in the world can take on this heavy responsibility? If someone wants to usurp... hum! Intentionally cold-laughing twice: "First ask my brother about the tens of thousands of guns in my hands!"

  Tens of thousands of guns?! Zhang Wenjing's stomach almost cramped up beside him, at this moment the right route army didn't even have a full 10,000 guns, but in the commander's mouth it became tens of thousands, this speed was faster than the airplanes that were just starting to become popular in Europe. However he truly admired Yang Qiu, as long as they could hold off Ju Zheng and tie up the Tongmenghui with this big tree, the future problems of the right route army would be completely solved, if things went well maybe it could even become a central directly affiliated army!

  The situation is even more dire, with Sun Wen leaving after the Huanghuagang uprising and Huang Xing losing heart and hiding in Hong Kong, causing the Tongmenghui to decline in power and gradually lose its leadership voice among the heroes. Just like this time, the Wuchang Uprising was all thanks to the Literary Society and Gongjin Hui, now they even control the military power, who would still listen to the Tongmenghui? Originally, the Tongmenghui internally was very dissatisfied with the split, always believing that the whole country should have one voice, now Hubei has taken the lead in rebelling and even absorbed the elite troops of the Southern Army's 8th Division and 21st Mixed Brigade, making the Tongmenghui even more absolutely weak. This will have a great impact on whether they can seize power in the future, so Yang Qiu is now throwing away a huge embroidered ball! If Yang Qiu and his National Defense Right Route Army are pulled under the name of the Tongmenghui, wouldn't that be saying...

  This time his heart was really messy, and he even thought of introducing him to the party immediately with Yang Qiu's help. He suppressed his surprise and asked cautiously: "Zhenhua, I heard that you haven't joined any party, why... do you want to recommend Mr. Sun as the president?"

  Yang Qiu struck a pose of his most ardent fan, stood up and waved his hand vigorously, saying: "To be honest with you, sir, Zhenhua has always admired Mr. Sun's spirit of perseverance in overthrowing the Qing dynasty and revitalizing China, but unfortunately, he had never had the chance to meet him. If this young man knew where Mr. Sun was now, he would have to follow him through mountains and rivers."

  "Does Chen Hua really want to see Mr. Sun?"

  "That's for sure! Zhenhua wanted to sit down and listen carefully to Mr. Sun's teachings, but unfortunately, the Qing dynasty has not been overthrown yet, only my Hubei province was the first to be liberated, I don't know if there will be an opportunity!"

  Jūzhèng finally couldn't help but laugh and said, "Zhēnhuá doesn't need to be disappointed either. Mr. Sūn has already set off from America. He plans to visit England and France first to seek support, and after a while, he will come back. At that time..."

  "Is that true? Mr. Sun is coming back?" Yang Qiu feigned surprise, interrupting and waving his arm vigorously: "Great! As long as the master returns, we'll invite him to Hubei, where nine provinces converge, a perfect place to command the whole country and issue orders to heroes everywhere! With Hubei's prosperity, if we can stabilize Hunan and Sichuan, we will surely be the first to launch a nationwide Northern Expedition and completely overthrow the Qing dynasty!"

  Tang Hualong's eyes sparkled with excitement as he listened, and he had never thought about competing for the presidency before. But if Wuhan could be made the capital of the whole country! Wouldn't that be...? He hastily agreed: "Zhenhua is right, since we've had a revolution, we should have some new atmosphere! The north has many remnants of the Manchu dynasty and isn't suitable as the capital. Wuhan is at the crossroads of nine provinces and is famous throughout the country for its wealth and prosperity. With the production of military equipment in Hanyang, what's to worry about the big things not succeeding?"

  Yang Qiu secretly smiled, without eliminating the Beiyang government, how can we talk about the Central Government? But now he really needs a big backer, so he excitedly said: "Brother Ji Wu's insight is truly brilliant! Since the revolution has started, there should be a new atmosphere. Now that Mr. Sun is coming back, I think we should immediately send a telegram nationwide, with Director Li temporarily acting as the Commander-in-Chief of the national army, controlling the country's revolutionary forces, planning and coordinating to achieve the goal of promoting the First Uprising across the country and ultimately overthrowing the Qing dynasty."

  Seeing Ju Zheng nodding vigorously, Tang Huailong immediately took out the "Wuchang Military Government Organization Regulations" that he had asked Huang Zhongkai to draft. Yang Qiu felt a chill after reading it, as this regulation, if passed, would signal the formal comeback of the old fox from the south! But he couldn't hesitate now, so he proposed adding content about joining the Yangxia Military Government Branch and the National Defense Right Route Army, and also suggested renaming it to "Regulations on the Organization of the Hubei Military Government of the Republic of China", which would be more proper.

  Jū zhèng zì rán yuàn yì gǎi zhè ge míng zì, zhōng guó wén rén de dì yù guān niàn gēn shēn dì gù, hé kuàng tā hái xiǎng jiè cǐ zhuā zhù yáng qiū hé tā de yòu lù jūn, ràng tóng méng huì chóng zhǎng quán guó huà yǔ quán de hǎo jī huì.

  After the three men finished their discussion, Juzheng thought for a moment and said: "Chenhua, it's really not feasible for the Righteous Army and Wuchang to be incommunicado. Tomorrow, Lord Li will hold a grand ceremony to inform heaven and earth that he is restoring the Han dynasty. You must come and attend."

  Yang Qiu smiled and glanced at Zhang Wenjing, who was sitting beside him. The latter immediately handed over a confession: "Mr. Ju Zheng, Speaker, you are both pillars of the military government. This matter is for our commander to take charge of. If we cannot guarantee the commander's safety... the Right Route Army will never cross the river!"

  Tang Hualong hastily took over and flipped through it, and after finishing reading, he was even more delighted in his heart. This is simply a great gift from heaven! So he deliberately slammed the table: "Nonsense! Simply nonsense! What's the difference between such despicable behavior and bandits like Qīng Pí?"

  Jūzhèng looked at it and also frowned secretly, didn't expect that there were so many things inside, Jiǎng Yǔwǔ and Zhāng Zhèn wǔ also made a mistake, how could they use Jīn Huàn such a rascal? If because of this matter Yang Qiū had estrangement with the alliance too, wouldn't the previous discussion be all in vain? So he said: "Chénhuá don't worry, that day's Sìchuān matter I have already told you about it, our alliance will definitely give you a clear and just answer."

  Mr. Ye smiled slightly: "With Mr. De's guarantee, I can finally get rid of the Qing dynasty's dog thief hat. But this Jin liar, under the pretext of revolution, slaughtered thousands of Han people, destroyed over a thousand shops, and is really unforgivable! A small gangster, daring to be so blatant, and still has explosives to use! Who gave him the guts and military equipment?"

  Juzheng and Tang Hualong understood his meaning, this confession was a big gift. As long as they used it to shut up Sun Wu and Zhang Zhenwu's mouths, the passage of this rule would be easy. So he immediately guaranteed: "Chenhua, rest assured, you can cross the river, I and Jiwu will guarantee with our lives that there will be no more trouble."

  "That brother will wait here for news of the two." Yang Qiu raised his cup and toasted again, then suddenly asked with a smile: "By the way, there is one more thing to trouble you two. Now my Right Route Army is in urgent need of military equipment, I wonder..."

  "Chen Hua, you can send someone to Chu Wangtai tomorrow to pick up the guns and ammunition you need. If anyone dares to stop them again... don't blame me for being impolite!" Before this matter came up, Ju Zheng had already thought it through. After finishing speaking, he pretended to be hesitant and said: "It's just that... I also know that Hankou is the main battlefield, but Wuchang should give Director Li a bit of face. Can you reduce some on your side?"

  "Since the master has said so, it's only reasonable for Yang Qiu to comply." After finishing speaking, he turned his head and said seriously: "Wen Jing, send someone to fetch... 100,000 rifles from Hanyang, 1.5 million bullets, 30 cannons, cannonballs, gunpowder, and a certain amount of military supplies." Yang Qiu pretended to suddenly remember something and slapped his forehead, looking at Tang Huilong: "Almost forgot, also 300,000... military funds and 100 skilled artillerymen!"

  "Hmph..."

  Tang Hualong almost spat out the tea in his mouth onto Ju Zheng's face, but he needed Yang Qiu now, so he could only grit his teeth and agree to allocate funds as soon as the military government was fully established.