Chapter 48: The Day of Rise (Three)

  Inside the dormitory of the Eighth Engineering Regiment, the beds and floors in each room were already piled high with white towels and other distinguishing items.

  Xiong Bingkun anxiously glanced at his pocket watch. According to plan, they were supposed to take action during the evening drill, as all the soldiers would be gathered and easily stirred up. But unexpectedly, Zhang Biao suddenly ordered the cancellation of all troops' evening drills, causing the plan to be postponed once again.

  But what he was most anxious about wasn't this, but bullets!

  As an old man of the literary society, he is not as arrogant as those outsiders like Sun Wu. In recent years, they have been secretly developing their grassroots, working diligently and conscientiously. Even though many people left after the big shift, there are still many comrades in Wuchang City, plus two or three thousand people outside, which is no problem. Especially with the engineering corps in front of him, nearly half of the soldiers are already comrades under his efforts, so now he doesn't lack people, only lacking bullets!

  Wuchang City is a military stronghold, unlike Hankou and Hanyang where the 42nd Division has already become a super-large tiger. Moreover, because they are on duty, they can leave three bullets behind, but their bullets have all been taken away. Fortunately, Yang Hongsheng said that he had some at home, but until now, they haven't been retrieved, making him somewhat anxious.

  The news of Liu Fugui and other martyrs' heroic sacrifice had already moved everyone to tears, even those soldiers who hadn't joined the party were mostly sympathetic. This was the best moment to take action, only... bullets!

  No bullets are nothing, although Chuwangtai also has brothers doing internal response, but the remaining flag people and Ku soldiers are not vegetarian. What to do? Seeing everyone's face getting more and more serious, Xiong Bingkun knew he couldn't wait any longer, so he gritted his teeth and said: "Get ready."

  At the sound, the soldiers who had been waiting for orders all jumped up like hunting dogs, and white cloths were quickly tied to their arms. The eighteen-star flag that had been pieced together with great difficulty was also opened, and due to a lack of bullets, many people simply pulled out their bayonets.

  Just then, Yang Hongsheng finally arrived. Not only did he come, but a soldier who had volunteered to steal bullets from the military officer also returned, and the 150 bullets finally made Xiong Bingkun breathe a sigh of relief.

  The sound of bullets being loaded caused a commotion, and an officer passing by the door immediately walked in. As soon as he entered, he saw Xiong Bingkun and the soldiers wiping their guns, drawing their swords, and wearing white armbands. He immediately understood what was happening and, frightened, hastily said: "Brothers, I know you're going to do something big tonight. I won't stop you or report you, just please don't harm me. If I've wronged you in the past, please forgive me."

  Xiong Bingkun recognized the officer, who was called Fang Dingguo. He wasn't usually too bad, so he said straightforwardly: "We are all Han people and will absolutely not kill each other."

  Fang Dingguo finally let out a sigh of relief, thought for a moment, then pulled out his pistol and handed the bullets to Xiong Bingkun. Without saying a word, he walked outside and just as he reached the bottom floor, he saw Luo Ziqing.

  Luo Ziqing was a first-class officer in the Engineering Corps, a 27-year-old military man in his prime, and also one of the few officers who had studied in Germany with Yue Peng. In fact, he had already known that something would happen tonight, so after seeing his face, he immediately made a gesture to the upstairs, Fang Dingguo dared not speak, but only nodded.

  Luo Ziqing patted his shoulder in comfort and also went downstairs, seeing Xiong Bingkun and others immediately asked with a serious face: "Tonight's incident, is it to eliminate the Manchu and kill officials?"

  "The massacre is a must, killing officials to seize power, we won't slaughter indiscriminately if you don't resist!" Xiong Bingkun saw that Luo Ziqing didn't dare to be presumptuous, knowing that this man had real skills and never insulted the soldiers. Moreover, he often publicly defended them, and his prestige was quite high among the younger generation of the New Army, including the eight battalions. If he wanted to stop it, he believed that the remaining half of the soldiers would not participate."

  Seeing Luo Ziqing staring at himself without speaking, Xiong Bingkun gritted his teeth and said: "Brother Jiwu (Luo Ziqing's courtesy name), you have either drunk foreign ink or are a genuine graduate of the German Military Academy. With your skills, you should have been a banner commander or a coordinator long ago. But the Manchu rulers are blind to talent and only know how to make money and harm people, even putting that scoundrel Yang Autumn on the throne! Now that the Manchu rulers' luck has run out, it's time for us Han people to restore our dynasty. In my opinion, you might as well join us in rebellion! As long as you say a word, we'll all listen to you and from now on, no matter how we're beaten or killed, we won't fight back!"

  "I have something to attend to tonight, you all take care." Luo Ziqing fell silent for a moment, walked to the bedside and looked at the somewhat rough eighteen-star flag, his eyebrows furrowed tightly, but when he reached the door, he suddenly stopped: "We are all sworn brothers... if possible... don't harm everyone's life."

  Luo Ziqing didn't answer, should have been commanding officer, Xiong Bingkun secretly thought it was a pity, to know that at this moment all the people preparing for the uprising were soldiers, and not a single military officer could be found. Everyone relied on a hot-blooded and heroic spirit, but there wasn't a single good fighter who truly understood how to fight, so they also had some secret anxiety in their hearts.

  But time is not waiting for anyone, the name list has already fallen into Rui Cheng's hands. Who knows when the next moment the city patrol and military police will rush in, so let's just temporarily forget about this matter and continue preparing with everyone.

  。

  Lu Ziqing walked out of the dormitory and saw Fang Dingguo still standing there in a daze, knowing that he was really scared, and since there were no bullets left in the gun, he removed three rounds from his handgun and handed them to him: "Go home and get some rest, even if the sky falls, it won't affect us."

  Fang Dingguo still had the mind to sleep, seeing him wanting to leave, he hastily pulled him back and asked: "Zi Qing, where are you going?"

  Actually, Luo Ziqing had also been at a loss for what to do. Having studied in Germany, he thought about protecting his country and home. Now that the country was no longer a country and his family was in danger every day, he didn't know how to respond either. He just remembered that flag with only 18 stars always felt awkward, and he secretly sneered: "The deputy commander of the 42nd Division, Yue Peng, is my good friend. I heard he's now in Hankou, which is far from Wuchang. I'll go there first to take a look at the situation."

  Fang Dingguo had also wanted to flee to Hankou, but his family was in Wuchang City, so they had to part ways. Luo Ziqing looked back again, suddenly feeling a fatigue and heartbreak he had never experienced before, took a deep breath and disappeared into the darkness.

  Fang Dingguo and Luo Ziqing have left, which makes Xiong Bingkun feel both regretful and relieved. He hastily finds his sworn brother in the army, Tao Qiyuan, because Tao's older brother is a straight shooter who often offends people due to his rigid personality. Xiong fears that things might get out of hand and kindly reminds him not to take the lead when the incident occurs.

  Tao Qiyuan was moved in his heart, and immediately prepared to go find his brother to persuade him not to take the risk. Unexpectedly, as soon as he went downstairs, he saw his brother Tao Qisheng leading two guards upstairs, so he hastily blocked his way and said: "Brother, don't go up there, if it's really not possible, you should just go back and rest."

  Although Tao Qi Sheng also disliked the Manchu, he always felt that soldiers should have a soldier's appearance and should not interfere with politics, so he pushed away his brother and rushed upstairs.

  But he walked through the wrong door and didn't come to Xiong Bengong's dormitory, but instead rushed to Jin Zhaolong's side. As soon as he entered, he saw Jin Zhaolong wiping his gun, with several soldiers wearing white armbands next to him loading bullets into their guns. His face suddenly turned serious and asked: "Tonight is not your turn on duty, why are you armed?"

  "There's no other meaning, just in case." Jin Zhaolong knew that Tao Qisheng was the elder brother of Tao Qiyuan, and also knew that Tao Qiyuan was the sworn brother of Xiong Bingkun, so he didn't want to kill him either, and responded perfunctorily.

  "Protect your fart!" Tao Qisheng jumped up excitedly: "I said, as a soldier, we should not interfere with politics. We just need to be good soldiers. What's the difference between you and those bandits and rebels?!"

  Jin Zhaolong was suddenly enraged and jumped up, furrowing his brow and shouting: "Tao Qisheng, I'm giving you a chance to save face because of your brother, don't be shameless! I'm going to rebel, what can you do about it?!"

  Tao Qisheng didn't bother to argue with him, and instead told the guards behind him, "Take away his gun." Upon hearing this, all the soldiers standing nearby stood up, pointing their guns at the guard, who was so scared that he didn't dare move. The dormitory fell silent in an instant, the tension reaching a boiling point.

  Seeing the guard not moving, the soldier dared to raise his gun and face him. Tao Qisheng was so angry that he took a step forward and grabbed Jin Zhonglong's gun. Afraid of accidentally firing and causing trouble, the two men suddenly started wrestling.

  Tao Qisheng was tall and majestic, after many years of hard training he was much more powerful than the lazy guys like Jin Zhaolong. In just a few moves, he shook off the soldiers and grabbed the gun. Seeing that the gun was about to be taken away, Jin Zhaolong panicked and shouted: "Fire! What are you waiting for?"

  The loud shout suddenly woke everyone up from their daze. Soldier Lu Zhengying raised his gun and aimed at Tao Qisheng's head, firing a shot.

  Bang!

  No one had thought that on the night of October 10, 1911, at seven o'clock, the first shot in Wuchang was actually fired at his own brother, who was also a fellow party member.

  The sudden gunfire in the dark night was like a bugle call, and all the soldiers who were preparing rushed out of their barracks. Downstairs, Tao Qizheng heard the gunfire and his whole body trembled, and when he ran upstairs, he found that his brother had fallen to the ground with his head covered, blood constantly flowing from his body, dyeing the entire corridor red.

  Looking at his brother, Tao Qisheng, who was still breathing, stretched out his bloody hand and grasped his hand with a sudden burst of energy, but because his throat and eyes were full of blood, he couldn't make a sound for the time being and could only hum and sob.

  Tao Qizheng pulled his brother with all his might, shouting desperately for the medical soldiers, but at this time, who still had the energy to care about him? One after another, the rebel soldiers ran past him, and no one even gave him a second glance. This result made him feel like he had become a wooden person, with a blank mind.

  The revolution had not yet begun, and his brother fell in a pool of blood. This result was something he never thought of in his dreams, and the one who killed him was still those brothers he used to call.

  As he saw his brother's face turn black, Tao Qizheng knew that his brother was beyond saving. He glanced at Jin Zhaolong and Lu Zhengyi outside, who were inciting the soldiers to fire into the air, grabbed a gun and wanted to take revenge, but as soon as he moved, he found that his brother still held his hand, with fingernails almost digging into his flesh, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't let go.

  "Go back... go home, don't be a soldier anymore." Tao Qisheng's fingers slowly loosened as the sound of gunfire erupted outside!