Chapter 47: The Day of Rise (2)

  "What time is it?"

  "It's still early, it's only half past 5 pm, and I won't get off work until midnight. What's wrong, can't you resist taking two more puffs?"

  "Ma De, it's really no fun guarding like this every day. When can we finally have a peaceful smoke without worrying?"

  "Alright, staying here is safer than being outside anyway, and we haven't lost any pay."

  Inside the sentry tower in front of the main gate of the Chu Wang Tai arsenal, several flagmen on duty were listless. Although the arsenal soldiers were not regular troops, their pay had never been owed to them. The outside riots collected bullets, but they didn't lack a single grain, after all, the arsenal behind them was a major event.

  One of the guards saw that there was no one around, and quietly pulled out a cigarette from behind his back. The others immediately came to life, hastily crowding together in a heap to smoke.

  "I say, have you heard? Over there... something's going to happen." A soldier from the depot pointed at the barracks of the 8th Engineer Battalion not far away: "If it really breaks out, what are we going to do?"

  "What's going on? Do they have bullets? The bullets are all locked up!" Another armory soldier pointed to the large warehouse behind and then to the new fortifications that had been built in the past two days, saying disdainfully: "Look at this high wall and big gate, without bullets we can't stop a few thousand people, it's no problem."

  "I'd rather die than be stopped by you, I still want to live a few more days! I've heard that Sun Wen has sent his own brother and even mobilized 3,000 White Armor soldiers."

  "What the hell, still a matchmaker, just nonsense." Several gatekeeping soldiers laughed and joked when they suddenly heard a faint creaking of wheels in the distance, and were startled, hastily throwing away their pipes and shouting: "Who?"

  "The logistics battalion has been ordered to transport ammunition to support the 31st Brigade, hurry up and open the door, don't delay the big matter." Upon hearing that it was the logistics battalion, the warehouse soldier hastily dispatched one person to check, while the others stood guard with their guns at the ready. One of them even ran to the HMG (Harquebus Machine Gun), and from a distance, Ma Kei couldn't help but think it was laughable - this kind of machine gun required at least three people to operate, now there was only one, and he was still struggling to load the canvas belt after fiddling with it for half a day, purely trying to intimidate them.

  The soldier sent by the depot walked up with his rifle on his back, and upon closer inspection, he found that it was indeed a logistics battalion, with over 100 people and more than 40 large horse-drawn carts. Seeing that they were all unarmed in accordance with military regulations, he put down his guard and asked: "Officer, I don't know......"

  "The 31st battalion has been deployed, the Governor ordered us to send military supplies to Chengdu urgently. Ah, I was thinking of taking a few days off to relax and have a few puffs... now who knows when we'll be back? Alright, let's give our brothers a treat first." As soon as Ma Kui took out a box of opium, several soldiers' eyes lit up, they hastily accepted it and bowed their heads saying: "Sir, please wait for a moment, I'll go report right away."

  With the help of the opium, the soldier ran quickly to report and soon arrived at the small house next to the armory. Inside, Xiao Anguo was drinking with two warehouse managers, but his heart was already anxious and sweating profusely, thinking of a way to escape when he heard the soldier come to report that the logistics camp had come to collect military supplies. Suddenly delighted, he raised an eyebrow and cursed: "What nonsense, who would come to collect at this late hour?"

  It's already past six o'clock, and with the recent rumors of war being intense, the officers in charge of each battalion had long since sent their soldiers back to their barracks. The two men in charge next door were also secretly stunned, wondering how they could still be coming to receive military equipment so late.

  "What the hell!"

  Xiao Anguo feigned anger and slammed the peanuts on the table, then walked towards the gate with two attendants. When he saw Ma Kui at the door, they exchanged a glance, and Xiao Anguo asked in an official tone: "Who are you? Why have you come to the military arsenal so late? Leave quickly."

  "You look quite like one." Several insiders who knew the inside story almost burst out laughing when they saw the old camp commander speaking in an official tone, but fortunately, Ma Kui's eyes were narrowed and he was choked back. He then hastily pulled out a forged order and handed it over through the door: "Ma Kui of the logistics camp has seen Lord Ku Ping, below is the order from the Governor-General, to take bullets and send them to Sichuan overnight, this is the Governor-General's order."

  "What's wrong with Sichuan? What happened in Sichuan?"

  "Ah, never mind. When the 31st Division crossed the river, they encountered a blockade by violent mobs. Although no one was seriously hurt, many of our equipment and ammunition were lost. Now we have to deliver 1,000 guns and 50,000 bullets overnight. Damn it! They fight, but we're the ones who suffer. We can't even say goodbye to our families before leaving. This life is really unbearable!" Ma Kui grumbled a few sentences, intentionally venting his frustrations, which made everyone ask questions one after another.

  Playing a role requires thoroughness, so Xiao Anguo thought for a moment and said: "Although you are all my former brothers, the arsenal is a serious matter, I need to call Admiral first to verify."

  "That's natural," Ma Kui said, and Xiao Anguo immediately went back to his tent.

  The Qing government was incompetent, but to ensure the smooth movement of troops, telephones were installed in all three towns, so communication was extremely simple. However, Xiao Anguo couldn't really make a phone call. After going back and speaking nonsense into the receiver for a few sentences, he returned: "It's true, open the door."

  Just as the soldiers were about to open the gate, a manager felt something was wrong and hastily stopped them, asking: "Lord Pingku, may I take a look at the Governor's warrant?"

  "What, you don't believe me? Why didn't you go make a phone call to verify earlier? Now I've run all the way here and gotten myself all sweaty!" Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui's hearts skipped a beat at the same time. The former quickly pretended to be angry, then swiftly exchanged a glance with the latter.

  "I dare not, it's just that this matter..."

  "Never mind, never mind, they're all brothers." Xiao Anguo saw the situation and knew that this guy couldn't get through, so he gritted his teeth and reached into his pocket for a hand signal. His other hand secretly grasped the gun handle. Outside, Ma Kui and the soldiers all gripped their guns tightly. Although they didn't bring rifles, they had plenty of handguns, not to mention the few Mauser pistols they had obtained. They all pretended to be watching from a distance, leaning against the gate, ready to immediately seize the gate at any moment if something happened.

  At this critical moment, Ma Kui suddenly felt a red light flashing in the corner of his eye, turned his head to look and saw that a big fire had started on the other side of the mountain, and hurriedly shouted: "The fire is spreading, quick, look, the fire is spreading."

  Xiao Anguo was also startled, fortunately he quickly pretended to be terrified and shouted: "Isn't that a cannon? How can it misfire? Old Wu, hurry up and call them to ask what's going on. The weather is dry tonight, and the wind is blowing in our direction, if it comes over here, we're done for."

  The housekeeper was also startled by the firelight and forgot to look at the warrant, rushing back to make a phone call to inquire about the situation.

  It was later learned that the fire was started by the 1st Battalion of Artillery, stationed outside the city. Since the mixed heavy artillery team was temporarily transferred to Hanyang's 42nd Division, the task of setting fires as a signal was handed over to them.

  As soon as the obstructive official left, Xiao Anguo let out a long sigh of relief and immediately said to another official: "You stay here and guard, if anything happens, inform me immediately. I'll take them to the armory, we can't afford to delay at this critical moment."

  The remaining guards did not suspect anything, after all, the rebels would not come with a big cart, and they still followed the rules without bringing guns. So he simply handed over the task of guarding to the armory soldier and returned to the small house to drink wine.

  The arsenal and the gate were some distance apart, after arriving later, Xiao Anguo immediately handed over the key to Ma Kui, and stood up with a dry smoke: "I'll keep watch, remember to take more bullets, the pile on the right corner is for machine guns, the left side is for pistols, aim well, all are made in Hanyang, don't take those Japanese ones."

  More than 100 heavy-duty troops entered the warehouse, and the mice entered the rice warehouse without any difference. After identifying the model clearly, they immediately started loading the vehicles.

  As bullets are the most important thing, it's not clear whether the arsenal can be replenished or not, and the purchased ones have not arrived yet. So almost everyone is taking bullets. As the big truck was about to be filled up quickly, the soldiers swiftly chose their rifles according to plan, loaded the bullets, and finally, some of the logistics soldiers even pried open several ammunition boxes, stuffed bullets into their pockets, and each carried three or four Hanyang-made guns on their backs.

  Ma Kui saw that there were many big guns and shells in the corner, thinking of pulling a few over, but after some thought, he finally gave up. After all, he only had so many people, and the remaining main force was afraid to come over and cause suspicion, and also had to take care of the steamship by the river, so they didn't dare bring it.

  More than 100 people's guns were left on the steamboat by the river, so now each person took three, which is equivalent to bringing nearly 500 guns. With 500 rounds of ammunition per box, they also took more than 400 boxes, and got a lot of grenades. Calculating that it should be enough to hold out for a while.

  After covering the car with a tarpaulin, Ma Kui hurriedly ran to the side, checking the outside movement while perking up his ears waiting for the sound Yang Qiu mentioned.

  Xiao Anguo, who was squatting outside smoking a dry cigarette, was getting anxious to death. As he watched the time tick away second by second, but still hadn't heard the gunshot Yang Qiu had mentioned, he didn't know what to do anymore! Because according to plan, they had to wait for the gunshot to sound before rushing out in the name of the revolutionary party. If they couldn't hear the gunshot, then they could only resort to Plan B!

  Just as he was constantly looking towards the direction of the engineering camp, a voice suddenly came from behind.

  "Lord Pingku, this is......"

  。

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  Recommended book: [bookid=2280042,bookname="Reborn Aristocrat"]

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