Chapter 49: The Day of Rise (4)

  A sudden shout from behind made Xiao Ankou's whole body break out in cold sweat, and he grasped the gun handle to turn his head, only to find that it was Supervisor Li Keguo from the Training Department.

  Since the rumor that soldiers were going to mutiny, Li Ke had resolutely left his family behind and moved here alone. Tonight, after dinner, he felt a bit bloated, so he went out for a walk in front of him. Unexpectedly, when he came back, he saw that the warehouse door was wide open, and a large number of soldiers were moving things onto horse-drawn carriages.

  Xiao Anguo was familiar with Li Ke's character, although he couldn't be described as fanatically loyal, but he was diligent and conscientious. If Li saw him, he would definitely re-examine the hand order, and might even go back to make a phone call to confirm. So Xiao hastily made eye contact with Ma Kui, then stood up and walked forward, smiling: "Isn't this the Governor's hand order for the Heavy Camp to transport military equipment? It's being sent to the 31st Battalion in Sichuan tonight. I'm afraid they'll make a mess of it, so I've come here personally to supervise."

  "Ah, I have the warrant here, Lord Li, take a look, to avoid misunderstandings." As Xiao Anguo pretended to search his chest for documents, Ma Kui and two soldiers had already quietly moved behind Li Ke.

  Li Ke had not paid attention to it originally, he was just a supervising official, as long as there was an order, anyone could come and take the military equipment, but when he saw several logistics soldiers carrying three or four Han Yang-made guns on their backs, his heart suddenly sank.

  According to the regulations, no weapons are allowed in the Chu Wang Tai arsenal, except for a few dozen guards. Even the engineering troops stationed next to it are not allowed to enter the depot area without permission, let alone carry weapons. It's strange to see someone carrying a gun on their back. Moreover, since they were transporting them, the guns and bullets should have been packed in boxes and sealed in the vehicle. But now, one person is openly carrying three or four guns on his back, which doesn't look like a logistics soldier, but rather like a bandit.

  Rumors have been circulating outside for some time, and the wind has been howling, making him extremely nervous. Seeing this, he didn't think twice before grabbing his handgun.

  It was slow, it was fast, just as he was about to pull out his pistol, a heavily armed soldier who had been waiting for a long time suddenly pounced on him from behind, another one also quickly pulled out his spare gun and handed it over to Li Ke. Ma Kui finally let out a sigh of relief, hastily gesturing to the two men to cover their mouths and pull him close to the warehouse.

  After being knocked down, Li Ke immediately knew it was not good. Seeing that dozens of guns were aimed at him after entering the warehouse, he was so frightened that his whole body trembled and hurriedly said: "Brothers, I know you want to do something big today, but outside is heavily guarded, and there are engineering teams nearby, what's the point of this?"

  "Cut the crap, let's just get this over with." The irritable porter suddenly pulled out a bayonet from beside him, and the glinting blade scared Li Ke into hastily changing his tune: "Forget I said that, I didn't see anything either. Brothers, I'm usually not a bad guy, as long as you don't hurt me, take whatever you want."

  Ma Qiu didn't want to hurt Li Ke's life either, so he thought for a moment and said: "Lord Li, we are all brothers in our own family, we don't want to hurt you either. As long as you escort us out of the camp later, we will let you go, how about that?"

  They were all staring at the back of their heads, how dare they refuse? Li Ke hurriedly nodded a few times and was about to speak when he suddenly heard the sound of gunfire coming from far away, as dense as fried beans. Upon hearing the gunfire, Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo suddenly jumped up excitedly, and the soldiers applauded! The two didn't dare delay any longer, and quickly ordered everyone to mount their horses and set off.

  At this time, the engineering team stationed next to them had also jumped up. Luo Bingxun and Ma Rong shouted loudly for their men to gather, then jumped onto a high place to take a look at the situation inside the arsenal. As soon as they opened their eyes, they heard intense gunfire coming from inside the arsenal, with hundreds of soldiers protecting dozens of horse-drawn carts rushing towards the gate.

  "What's going on? Is this... the brother of that camp? Why didn't anyone inform us?" Ma Rong's eyes were wide with shock, staring blankly at the soldiers who had beaten up several gatekeepers and made them cry for their fathers and mothers. Before he could understand what was happening, these soldiers who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere were like bandits, directly loading the Haicheng machine gun from the entrance onto a horse cart, not even leaving behind the bullets and Hanyang-made guns that the gatekeepers had left behind. Then they rushed wildly towards the direction of Xunsi River.

  "Could it be that we've been ambushed by bandits?" Looking at the soldiers who had appeared out of nowhere and were loading machine guns at an extremely fast speed, disappearing into the distance in just a few short minutes, Luo Bingxun was stunned. However, he reacted quickly, seeing that there were no longer any soldiers guarding the gate, and hastily shouted: "Quickly, seize the ammunition!"

  The engineering battalion stationed at Chuwangtai had only one left team, and nearly half of them were not party members. So Luo Bingxun and Ma Rong brought more than 60 soldiers without bullets, originally thinking that they could take advantage of the situation, as long as they rushed into the warehouse, they could quickly organize, but unexpectedly Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui made a fuss, and the remaining dozens of soldiers in Chuwangtai were awakened. When they arrived at the front to check, it was when the two led their troops to rush inside.

  The guards were poorly trained, similar to the outside patrolmen, but at least they had guns and bullets. Moreover, even if the guards were careless, they wouldn't drop their guns. When they saw someone rushing in, not knowing what had happened earlier, they "automatically" launched a "resistance" battle against the "invaders".

  The sudden gunfire and flames startled Luo Bingxun and Ma Rong, who did not expect the usually useless depot soldiers to dare open fire on their regular troops. Just as they were about to return fire, they realized they had no bullets. In an instant, dozens of men were shot, with blood flying everywhere, more than half dead or wounded.

  Even if the engineering troops were not the best fighters in the new army, they were still regular soldiers. As long as they had bullets, who would dare to fight back? But at this moment, they didn't have a single bullet. The logistics soldiers were originally just pretending to do their job and would definitely surrender when the real fighting started. However, unexpectedly, the enemy couldn't even break through the front gate, and from start to finish, not a single shot was fired. Suddenly, they excitedly shouted and cheered, thinking that this time they could achieve great merit, maybe even get promoted to division commander like Yang Qiu, so they fought with extra desperation.

  Luo Bing-shun and Ma Rong were about to cry, in less than a dozen minutes, just one camp gate had cost them more than thirty brothers, with most of the men and horses they brought dying or injured, without even seeing a single bullet, suddenly becoming so anxious that their eyes turned red and their ears became hot, hating that they could not tear those Kuomintang soldiers to pieces.

  The sound of gunfire from the rear warehouse made Li Ke's face turn pale, Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo saw this and didn't want to make things difficult for him either. They returned his gun and said: "Lord Li, the Manchu dynasty's fate is already sealed, why must you still sacrifice yourself for them? We brothers don't want to make things difficult for you today, leave now."

  Li Ke didn't say a word, numbly nodded, and saw the convoy heading towards Xunsi River. He originally wanted to ask where they were going, but thought that even if he asked, they probably wouldn't tell him, so he gritted his teeth and headed back. Although he already knew he couldn't save the arsenal, as a supervisor, he should at least report back and fulfill his last responsibility.

  So he ran back to the camp gate, and before he could figure out what was going on, a black shadow flashed beside him, and he was pressed to the ground again, unable to move. The pistol he had just retrieved was snatched away from him once more.

  "Captain, we have the gun." The soldier searched out the gun and, without even looking at it, knocked Li Keguo unconscious with one punch and threw the gun to Luo Bingxun.

  After receiving the gun, Luo Bing's courage increased greatly. He shouted loudly and suddenly flashed his body towards the nearest Kuomintang soldier, firing several shots in a row. The Kuomintang soldier, who was still excited about his supposed great achievement, hadn't even reacted before he fell to the ground.

  Ma Rong saw the situation and immediately took over the rifle to launch a counterattack. As soon as he saw that the other side also had guns and bullets, Kubo was suddenly frightened and forgot that his side had ten times more guns, hastily retreating while fighting.

  Luo Bing-shun and Ma Rong were already furious, immediately leading people to rush into the arsenal, grabbing the nearest guns and bullets and chasing after the soldiers. The soldiers also turned red-eyed, and soon the entire Chu Wang Tai was filled with screams and gunfire. Because the warehouse area was closed off, with only one large gate for entry and exit, by the time Xiong Bing-kun led people to arrive later, nearly a hundred soldiers and management personnel who did not participate in the resistance were slaughtered clean, to the point where it wasn't even clear which wave of soldiers had arrived earlier.

  Li Ke woke up with a start, rubbing his occipital bone in distress. He had been hit twice that night, what kind of thing was this!

  The guns were gone, the warehouse door was wide open, and the sound of gunfire and screams could be heard inside. I was so scared that I didn't dare to stay any longer, preparing to temporarily flee to the outskirts to hide for a while. Just as I got up, I saw Wu Zhaolin leading the remaining soldiers rushing over, and I was so frightened that I thought he was also a party member, and hastily escaped into the woods.

  Wu Zhaolin had just returned from outside when he heard the sound of gunfire, and after returning to the camp, he found that only a small number of soldiers were left. He was told that Luo Bingxun and Ma Rong led people to rob the arsenal, and he thought about coming to persuade them. Unexpectedly, before entering the door, he saw Li Keguo escape into the woods, and there was no way to ask questions, so he had to continue walking towards the arsenal area.

  When he arrived at the gate of the storehouse, the corpses all over the ground made his heart ache, these were all his soldiers!

  At this time, Luo Bingxun and Ma Rong had already occupied the arsenal. Seeing Wu Zhaolun arrive, they said: "Company Commander, the Qing dynasty's luck has run out. Today we are short of a leader for our uprising. I think you usually have your own ideas, why not join us in killing the Tartars and restoring the Han dynasty?"

  Wu Zhaolin had also participated in the Daily Knowledge Society and had "made revolution" before, but now the situation was unclear. If he got involved carelessly and failed, it would be disastrous. So he hastily waved his hand and said: "I won't do, I won't do. You have so many heroes among your party members, why do you need me, a small-time squad leader, to lead?"

  Just as he finished speaking and was about to leave, Ma Rong angrily drew his gun and blocked him, shouting: "You can't go! If you don't agree, I'll kill you on the spot!"

  This loud shout made Wu Zhaolin's heart skip a beat, and Ma Rong's eyes became complicated. Just then, Xiong Bingkun led the engineering troops to arrive, seeing Ma Rong pointing his gun at Wu Zhaolin, he was immediately displeased. Earlier, Song Ziqing had just left, making him regretful, so he hastily shouted: "What are you doing? Brother Di San is a rare talent in the army, and now we are in a situation where we need someone to take charge of the overall situation, what kind of attitude is this?"

  Xiong Bingkun said that it was also helpless, after all, he was just a class monitor, and neither his seniority nor his appeal were sufficient. Just now, many soldiers didn't listen to him, and he was in a hurry to find someone to lead everyone. It happened that Wu Zhaolun was thinking of finding him to lead everyone, but unexpectedly Ma Rong pointed a gun at him, so he was very angry in his heart.

  Ma Rong was also very angry, in terms of official rank he was one level higher than Xiong Bingkun, yet he was scolded by him, his face couldn't hold up, but for the greater good he endured it.

  Xiong Bingkun began to persuade Wu Zhaolun, and Wu Zhaolun himself had no way out. He knew that if he didn't agree today, his life would probably be lost here. After some thought, he said: "I'll act as the temporary commander, but I'm just a team leader, my seniority is not enough, I can't command tens of thousands of soldiers from three towns. If things go well later, you must choose someone else."

  Luo Bing-shun and Xiong Bing-kun hastily nodded in agreement, at this time the students of the Army Academy also arrived under Li Xi-ping's leadership, seeing more and more people getting bullets, knowing that tonight was unavoidable, Wu Zhao-lin gritted his teeth.

  Let's get it over with!

  "Boom......"

  Just as everyone was excited to finally have a decent commander, a cannon shot rang out in the distance, and everyone cheered loudly, the heavy firepower artillery had finally entered the city!

  Wuchang has entered a fierce battle for a thousand years.