Chapter 51: The Day of Rising (6)

  As soon as the Wuchang cannon sounded, the soldiers in the Hankou barracks immediately responded with a loud shout. More than a dozen flag-bearing soldiers rushed into the command center, began to gather their belongings and prepare to board ships to reinforce Wuchang. When he finished gathering his things, he found that the soldiers outside were still standing on the parade ground, laughing and joking, with their rifles slung over their shoulders. Enraged, he drew his pistol and shouted: "What are you doing? Do you all want to rebel?! Hurry up and form ranks to go back to Wuchang to rescue the commander-in-chief!"

  "What a majestic and powerful figure."

  The cold words made Guo Xing's face change drastically, and he turned his head to see that Yue Peng had already brought dozens of soldiers standing beside him, with all the gun barrels aimed at him and the Qi people's soldiers.

  "Yue Peng, do you want to rebel?!"

  "The Qing court is lawless, and you should have been eliminated in the year of Gengzi. Letting you live until today is already being polite." Yue Peng coldly smiled and waved his hand, a row of guns swept over, and Gu Erxing didn't even have time to react, including him, more than a dozen banner soldiers were all killed.

  Yue Peng stepped on the fresh blood, his eyes gleaming: "No need to say more! Tonight it's not just me, Yue Peng, who is rebelling, but all the Han people under heaven are rebelling! General Zhang has already taken over Hanyang. If anyone wants to follow me, come out and line up; those who don't want to will each receive 20 taels of silver, leave your guns and bullets behind, and go back to serve your masters well."

  "Sir, what are you talking about? We're all willing to follow you, it's just that..." The soldiers thought of Yang Qiu's reputation and hesitated again. Yue Peng understood everyone's thoughts and said firmly with a wave of his hand: "Trust me, I'm telling you, General Zhang is not a Qing dynasty running dog. You'll find out what kind of person he is in the future. I only say one sentence, in my life, I, Yue Peng, have only admired him."

  He spoke so solemnly that, combined with his already high prestige among ordinary soldiers, all the soldiers stayed, except for a few older officers who didn't want to get involved anymore and left the camp after leaving their guns and bullets.

  "Call General Biao, the 42nd Regiment is ready for orders!" Yue Peng said, looking at his watch. He calculated that Zhang Wenjing should be on his way back now and was about to send someone to meet him when a soldier came to report: "General Guan, there's a group of gangsters in Dongjia Alley waving revolutionary flags, smashing shops and killing dozens of people."

  The soldiers were already in a state of agitation, and upon hearing that the bandits dared to run right up to the regular army's face, they became even more enraged. Yue Feng's expression also turned solemn, thinking to himself that he had been "spoken" to by Yang Qiu once again. He immediately said: "Ke Shao! Gather all the bullets at once and deal with them yourself. The other teams will remain in place, General Zhang's bullets... should be arriving soon."

  Yue Peng's heart was racing with anxiety, and the same was true for the soldiers inside the 42nd Division's camp. Although they had been eager to take action, the bullets in their guns told them that rushing out now would likely result in heavy casualties. After all, each of the three towns had a garrison, as well as police and other ruffians who were loyal only to Rui Cheng and Zhang Biao - although they might not be good at fighting, they excelled at bullying the innocent. If only there were bullets, everyone would not be afraid...

  "Susu Xiao Hu, the arsenal should have bullets." He Xi turned his head to look at Su Xiao Hu, who had already been promoted to security captain. The latter hastily scratched his head and said: "I heard my dad say that recently, after work every day, the Han Yang side of the city patrol camp will send people to take away the finished bullets and guns, and only they know where they are taken."

  "Sir, let me bring some men to attack the city garrison." Lei Meng's eyes lit up as he jumped up and said.

  "The Xun Chengying is worse than us, but each battalion in Sanzhen has a HMG blocking the door, and we don't even have enough bullets now, can't do it so recklessly." He Xi indeed knows the situation of each battalion in Sanzhen very well.

  "Mother, are we just going to wait like this? The eight town heavy camps don't know when they'll arrive either." Lei Meng heard that there were machine guns and lost his spirit, sat down on the side with a huff, scratching his head. He Xi's eyes lit up instead, and he quickly looked at Yang Qiu and asked: "Sir, does the heavy camp have bullets?"

  Lei Meng said with a proud smile: "Not only that! The commander has already ordered the logistics camp to transport the bullets, but I don't know if they have crossed the river in this chaotic situation."

  He Xi's eyes immediately sparkled, and he clasped his fists in admiration: "So the adults had already made preparations, haha... He Xi is truly impressed this time." Yang Qiu smiled slightly, but in reality, he was also worried about Ma Kui and others making mistakes. If that happened, all their plans would need to be readjusted, and then they'd have to wait for the gun factory to produce new goods.

  Just when they were most worried, the phone suddenly rang. After answering it and listening for less than two sentences, Bingwen excitedly clenched his fist and shouted loudly: "Sir, General Yue Peng said that the third battalion is already waiting, and the second battalion is on its way back." As soon as he finished speaking, the camp gate also burst into cheers.

  "Brother, aren't we late?"

  Because the boat was small and the horse cart could not get on board directly, after arriving at the dock, all the soldiers of the logistics camp carried ammunition boxes and ran all the way. Everyone was panting, and the soldiers who had been waiting for orders in the big camp came over with a "hula" sound. Yang Qiu even brought the officers to give Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo a tight hug in public: "If today's task is accomplished, you two will be the greatest heroes!"

  Xiao Anguo burst out laughing and said, "Don't delay any longer, we've brought over 400 boxes of ammunition, 500 Hanyang rifles, 100 hand grenades. Oh right, there's also a machine gun and the entire logistics battalion of 617 people, all here! Now that side is already in a fierce battle, the commander will give the order soon."

  "Xiao Ge, arrange for the ammunition to be distributed, thirty rounds per person first." Yang Qiu didn't notice that Xiao Anguo had changed his form of address, and immediately gave a direct order on the drill ground: "He Guandai, you lead one battalion, the city of Hanyang County and the patrol battalion are now under your command. Bring machine guns and more explosives, be careful not to act rashly."

  He Xi, who had originally been deprived of his direct command by Yang Qiu and was about to be left in the position of a mere figurehead, was stunned. He hadn't expected that the first order would be for him to continue leading the troops, and on top of that, he was given the only machine gun, leaving him momentarily unable to react. Seeing him dazed, Yang Qiu suddenly bellowed: "This is an order!"

  He Xi suddenly came to his senses, looked at Yang Qiu and bowed deeply, his eyes red as he said: "Sir, just listen to my good news! The brothers of the First Battalion, follow me to kill the Tartars!"

  "Ji Fu Cheng, Lei Meng, you take the engineering team and the law enforcement team, I want you to capture the Guishan Battery. If they are willing to surrender, that's best. If there is any resistance, kill them without mercy!"

  Ji Fu Cheng was over 40 years old, with a thick beard all over his face. He was the officer of the Mixed Brigade Engineering Team. After the artillery camp incident, he was transferred to listen to Yang Qiu's command along with the logistics team. He thought he would be excluded, but unexpectedly, Yang Qiu called him second, and he hastily pulled Lei Meng, who had been impatient for a long time, to rush towards the Guishan Battery.

  Su Xiaohu

  "Arrived!"

  "The arsenal is handed over to you, remember that those who understand technology and workers should not be hurt!"

  Su Xiaohu excitedly jumped up to answer, but seeing the expectant eyes of everyone behind him, he scratched his head and lowered his eyebrows, turning back to ask: "Sir, does this count as... several regiments?"

  "How many battalions?" Yang Qiu glanced at the young security guards queuing up to receive ammunition behind him, and seeing their eager eyes, immediately understood what they meant. He drew his own pistol and handed it over to Su Xiaohu: "From now on, temporarily formed 42nd Independent Battalion, Su Xiaohu as battalion commander."

  Su Xiaohu had long wanted a new handgun, but Su Hongsheng refused to agree, saying that Yang Qiu would not agree and would never make another one. When he saw the handgun, he became excited, his face flushed red, and shouted: "Brothers of the Independent Regiment, go kill the Tartars!"

  As one by one, they all received their tasks. Fan Liangshan, who had come with Ji Fucheng, became somewhat anxious and shouted: "Sir, although we are logistics soldiers, even a useless old man like the city patrol can take down three of us! Sir, you also originated from logistics, won't you be unfair?"

  Yang Qiu smiled and said, "Your task is even more important." Then he turned to Ma Kui and said, "I'm sure the military arsenal in Hanyang is still within our territory. Now that it's open, I don't care if we stir up trouble! You're all responsible for this matter. Besides, although Hanyang is not as prosperous as Hankou, it's also a bustling place. We currently don't have a single coin, and the county town's treasury...

  Ma Kui led the divine meeting, leaving a team to guard the camp after, and with Fan Liangshan pulled out the mixed heavy cavalry team's horse-drawn carriage to execute their mission in a grand manner. Beside him, Xiao Anguo saw that everyone had left and anxiously scratched his ears: "Sir, don't forget about me."

  "Big brother, you and I are brothers, not outsiders, so I have something more important for you to do." Looking at the turbulent Wuchang city, Yang Qiu's eyes gradually turned cold: "I'm going back to Wuchang now, this place is left to you."

  "Now... return to Wuchang?!" Xiao Anguo's urgent words made everyone jump up, and they hastily stopped him, saying: "Brother, the fighting over there has already become fierce, you..."

  "Big brother, Hanyang and Hankou are just a minor illness. With the bullets you brought, we're the strongest here! Taking them down is easy as pie. But if we don't take out Ruiqing and those gunboats, once they start firing at us, we'll be in danger!" Yang Qiu's words were half-true, half-false. In another world, Ruiqing had escaped with several million taels of silver and continued to resist on the ship with Zhang Biao, causing great trouble for the militia later on. During the first half of the Yangxia War, he used the ship's telegraph to coordinate with the Beiyang Army, resulting in heavy losses for the militia. Moreover, as the governor-general, as long as he wasn't caught, the officials and militiamen in both places would be unstable."

  "Brother, I believe in your abilities! Escaping from the militia and rushing to the Governor's Mansion is also believable, but can you really solve Chen Delong and his naval forces just by crossing the river? You few people, can't even break into the Governor's Mansion! Moreover, if he escapes, no one knows which road he will take." Xiao Anguo wanted to persuade again, but Yang Qiu had already taken over the original Mauser rifle from Bingwen, winking: "I have a way to deal with these, big brother just needs to hold on here, I'll be back within an hour at most!"

  Yang Qiu finished speaking and immediately took Bingwen and a dozen agile soldiers to set off. As soon as they reached the door, they heard a shout from behind: "Sir, it's Lord Li's phone call."

  Yang Qiu and Xiao Anguo exchanged a glance, curled up the corners of their mouths and smiled: "Reply to Commander-in-Chief, all 42 troops are waiting for his orders, and please assure him that no matter what... I, Yang Qiu, will be his external support."