Chapter 53: The Day of Rising (8)

  In the inner courtyard of the Hu manor on Xiao Yang Street, the hand-copied Diamond Sutra in front of Hu Rui Lin was already disordered with its pages turned upside down. Everywhere he looked were servants packing things up, and the occasional explosion sounds made his face turn pale. Seeing the servant who had been sent to gather information return, he hastily stood up, his fingers rotating the Buddhist rosary as he asked: "What's the situation outside?"

  "Old master, it's not good! The county government office has been occupied! Now the rebels are attacking the police station and customs building, and there is also intense gunfire near the treasury. The docks, telegraph office, and telephone bureau have all been......" The servant spoke nervously, rambling on about where there was gunfire and fires, but not getting to the point. Infuriated, he interrupted him, "What's the panic?! Quickly say which troops are causing the disturbance?"

  This shout finally stabilized the family servant, who said: "Back to Master, it is a soldier of the 42nd Mixed Brigade, I heard that they were ordered by their Batulu General to take over Hankou and cooperate with Wuchang to carry out the Republic and restore the Han!"

  When he heard that it was Yang Qiu's troops, Hu Rui Lin immediately furrowed his brow. As a veteran member of the Hubei Advisory Bureau, he naturally knew this "Zhongyong Batu Lu", but he didn't expect him to lead the rebellion! This made things somewhat unfavorable, could it be that he was a party member who deliberately performed a trick to infiltrate? Before he could think further, the old steward had already brought his family over with their luggage, seeing everyone's tense expressions, they temporarily put down the matter and took the family to the concession to avoid the storm.

  Just as he was about to leave, a team of soldiers with real guns and ammunition blocked him and his family at the door. Although he was a constitutionalist, he was after all an official of the Qing government. This is... He was so frightened that he hurriedly said: "I am Hu Ruizhen, what are you all doing?"

  "Reporting to Lord Hu, it's currently not safe on the streets. I've been ordered to escort you back to the camp for rest." The officer saluted and immediately summoned his soldiers to surround them. Seeing no way out, Hu Ruilin was terrified and begged: "Sir, I'm just a member of the Advisory Council, not a Manchu!"

  "Don't be afraid, sir. Protecting you and the other members is our responsibility. General Zhang ordered us to escort you safely to the camp, where he has some matters to discuss with you." These words made Hu Rui Lin's heart skip a beat, but no matter how many times he asked the soldiers, they all said the same thing, so he could only follow them step by step.

  Next to the small building window, Miao Luo listened foolishly to the dense gunfire outside, her eyes already filled with shock and confusion. She never thought that Yang Qiu's big thing was actually launching a revolutionary uprising! The soldiers passed through the streets and alleys in teams, adding tension and unease to the air, but she was surging with emotions. Was the dream and era that Mr. Song and the party people had been searching for finally coming? What kind of person was he after all?

  Rui Yao was also secretly glancing at this inexperienced junior sister, inwardly astonished: "Sister, are you certain that the Yang Qiu who is now rebelling is the same Er Yue's lackey who saved you?"

  "Sister, I've said it several times already, he's not a running dog!"

  It seems that everyone has misunderstood him. At the beginning of his entry into Sichuan, he was just self-protecting. In that situation, even if it were you or me, we would probably still fight back. As for being awarded the title of Batulu later on, as a banner general, he had no choice. If he really wanted to be a slave to the Manchu rulers, he could have killed Mr. Song and Miss Miao in Chengdu that day, and his merit would not have been just limited to being a Batulu. In the imperial court, he would have had a position as well. Moreover, now that he is a banner general with great military power, Hanyang is just across the river from Hankou. If he really wanted to take revenge on those civilians, do you think it would be difficult for him to catch a few people? Even if he killed them in broad daylight, who in the three towns would dare say anything?

  Seeing Miao Luo also defending Yang Qiu by her side, Rui Yao's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Could it be that her junior sister had taken a liking to him? She knew her junior sister well; although she had excellent martial arts skills, she had spent many years abroad and still had the innocence of a young girl. A few sweet words might just deceive her. Hurriedly asking: "Junior sister, during your convalescence these past days, did Yang Qiu...do anything to you?"

  "Ah!"

  Miao Luo didn't expect her to ask that, and for some reason, the scene of Yang Qiu tearing his pants that night suddenly appeared in her mind. Her cheeks instantly flushed with a layer of redness, and even her eyes became misty. She hastily changed the subject and asked: "By the way, we've been talking about me all along, do you have any news about my brother? I sent a telegram but haven't received any response."

  Rui Yao heard this and burst out laughing, her eyes shaking violently with the laughter, stopping only after a moment. She smiled and said: "Sister is probably confused from being injured, sending a telegram that doesn't make sense, just one sentence 'Peacock flies southeast', how can we find her?"

  "Only one sentence?" Miao Luo was stunned as soon as he heard it. He had clearly sent two cryptic messages to Yang Qiu, saying that he was in Wuchang, near the southeastern part of the riverbank, so how did it become only one sentence when it reached the outside? Could it be... That damned guy had deceived him again! Miao Luo suddenly shouted in a shrill voice: "It's all because of that damned Yang Qiu, he must have altered my telegram!"

  Jian Miao was scolding with a hint of smile, Rui Yao's heart sank even further and said: "Junior sister, you just returned from the US not long ago, still need to be careful, in such chaotic times it's best not to blindly trust others, who knows if this Yang Qiu is like those people below me, using revolution as an excuse to fish for benefits."

  "We kill the Tartars, overthrow the Manchu to restore the Han dynasty, how can we go around robbing and killing people? What's the difference between this and bandits?" Miao Luo automatically ignored the first half of the sentence, hearing that some gang members actually wanted to take advantage of the revolution to loot and rob, she stood up with a start. Chang Si in the side secretly sighed, another foolish girl who doesn't understand the depth and shallowness, nor knows the ways of the world.

  "Where did they go?"

  "Just now, some brothers who followed him back reported that he went to Dongjia Lane."

  "Dong Family Alley? Jinshang General Assembly!" Miao Luo suddenly covered her mouth and exclaimed, remembering the words Yang Qiu had told her to protect Dong Zhanggong that day. She rushed outwards in a hurry. Rui Yao and Chang Si didn't know what was going on, but seeing that she still wasn't very steady on her legs, they also called out to several trusted followers to rush out with them.

  At this moment, the Hankou Jinshang General Assembly was already in chaos. The loud rumbling sounds kept coming from the direction of the China Merchants' Bureau, and the crackling gunfire sounded like stir-frying beans, making people's hearts tremble with fear. Shen Shukai turned his head to look at the riverbank, Hankou was not Wuchang, Yang Qiu's two battalions on this side were already invincible! Moreover, the other side of Wuchang had also been booming with cannon fire, and there were flashes of fire on Turtle Mountain in Hankou. Wasn't this saying that he had taken a wrong turn?!

  At this moment, he was filled with regret. He really hadn't intended to embezzle the money; it was only because of the sudden rumor in Wuchang about killing Manchus on August 15th that he had entertained the idea of holding onto it for a while. Now thinking back, if he could have delivered the bullets and machine guns on time, things probably wouldn't be like this. Seeing the renowned He Shengyuan manager stunned, a large group of ticket holders and other shop owners who had been anxiously waiting rushed over to surround him: "Manager Shen, you're our mainstay! Quickly think of something!"

  He also knew that tonight was a big deal, and if something went wrong, the Han merchants would be finished. He suppressed his anxiety and worry and asked: "Everyone, don't panic, first tell me, what's going on outside?"

  A ticket porter wearing three emeralds on his hand hastily said: "Manager Shen, you don't know that the situation in Wuchang has already gotten out of control. It's said that the rebel soldiers have surrounded the Governor's Mansion and set up cannons! As for Hanyang, it's unknown, but here in Hankou...". Another ticket porter took over: "Apart from the soldiers and bandits, all the local rascals and hoodlums have also gathered together. It's said that they're going door-to-door extorting money, and if you don't give them any, they'll shoot directly. I heard that more than a hundred people have already died."

  "Have you ever sent someone to contact the police station, the city garrison and the stationed troops?"

  "Contact has been made! Those who went have returned to say that the city garrison is surrounded by a large army, and the police station was swept away early on. Over 100 people were taken back to the military camp for detention. The customs office, prefectural government, and treasury have all been occupied! As for the troops you mentioned..." The shopkeeper smiled wryly: "They politely replied that they are currently engaged in battle and have no time to maintain law and order, telling us to hold out until tomorrow morning."

  "You see, we only have a dozen or so guns here, and they're all short-barreled. How can we hold out until dawn?! Dongjia Lane is where our Shanxi merchant tickets are concentrated. Just in silver alone, there's at least tens of millions, and if you add the exchangeable silver notes, it's at least double that amount. If something goes wrong, how will everyone live afterwards?!"

  "Hurry up and gather everyone together, and transport all the silver to the concession area!"

  "You're really good at joking, the guns haven't even fired yet and the soldiers have already blocked all the roads to the concession, now the roads out of the city are also blocked, even the docks are sealed off, the telephone bureau is full of soldiers! That Yue Guanbing has sent someone to report that from now on Hankou only allows entry but not exit, those who disobey will be executed without exception!"

  "Right! Now Hankou is just a dead end, if things go on like this, we'll probably... all die without a place to be buried!"

  Upon hearing this, Shen Shukai also furrowed his brow and glanced at Dong Zhanggui beside him. The latter hastily leaned in and whispered: "Manager, I think it's best we don't get involved in this matter. These Hankou soldiers are all under Yang's command now. How could the city garrison possibly not be able to spare a few troops? This is probably......"

  Shen Shukai had already guessed a bit, and after being reminded by Dong Zhanggui, he understood even more clearly that there were still some unresolved issues between him and Yang Qiu. Now that the other party had taken the initiative to remind him, the amount of silver in circulation on the account books of He Shengyuan was only a few tens of thousands of taels, and even if there were losses, it wouldn't be a big problem. This was already a great kindness, and if he were to ruin the other party's good deed again, wouldn't that be truly making an enemy?

  Just then, a bailiff rushed in from outside the door and shouted excitedly without waiting to be asked: "Something's gone wrong, sirs! Someone just said that the bandits have taken away the people of Han-Ye-Ping, and even the manager of Hankou has been taken away! They also robbed tens of thousands of dollars in cash from his home! The people we sent out came back and said that the army is now attacking the Commercial Bureau again, and even the gate was blown off!"

  What!

  Shen Shukai's scalp suddenly exploded, what is Yang Qiu going to do! It's no problem for him to go to the Commercial Bureau, where there are at least tens of millions of family assets, but what about Han Ye Ping? That's the number one red-hatted merchant in the Qing Dynasty, Shen Xuanhuai's golden egg-laying hen, and more importantly, this involves the Japanese! Bandits? How can bandits provoke the Japanese?!

  Before they could figure out what Yang Qiu was trying to do, four or five dark objects flashing with sparks suddenly flew in from outside. Shen Shuyi was experienced enough to immediately recognize that they were grenades.

  In the midst of terrified screams, the courtyard was like a boiling pot, with continuous explosions rumbling on, and more than a dozen escorts were blown to the east and west before they could react. The people present were all businessmen, who had never seen such military tactics, and were instantly frightened into sitting paralyzed on the ground.

  "Everyone is inside!"

  Outside Dongjia Alley, Jin Liuxu sat in his carriage, surrounded by nearly four hundred thugs and hooligans he had gathered along the way. He knew this was his last chance! The troops were busy occupying strategic locations and didn't have time to deal with him, so he had to act quickly. As long as he got what he wanted and loaded it onto the ship, who could find him in such a vast world? So, pointing at Dongjia Alley, he shouted: "Brothers, this is our last chance! The Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, the Hankou ticketing office, and the silver vault are all here. Let's charge!"

  The bandits, whose eyes had already turned red from the temptation of wealth, rushed in like madmen. The bodyguards could only rely on the high walls and large courtyards to desperately resist, but there were too few bodyguards and insufficient firearms. In the blink of an eye, the three outermost ticket offices were breached, and box after box of silver coins and various banknotes further stimulated the bandits.

  After several violent explosions, the revolving library established by Hankou Jinshang General Chamber of Commerce was finally blasted open. Jin Liuxu naturally had to take the lead, on the one hand dispatching people to block those escorts who were still hiding in the alleys and preparing to resist and retrieve the treasury, while he himself led the charge into the treasury, several hundred boxes of silver coins and ingots making him swallow hard with excitement.

  The various shopkeepers hiding inside saw the vault being blasted open, and Jin Liuxu was leading people to transport the reserve silver of each shop's ticket number. They all went mad and didn't care about anything else. Orders were given to kill a bandit for a reward of 3,000 yuan, and there were also promises of heavy rewards for retrieving the silver.

  The escorts were all risking their lives for money, and upon hearing about the generous reward, they gritted their teeth and charged forward. Although He Shengyuan had already taken away various amounts of silver from the General Assembly's revolving fund in different names, after all, they were from the same clan, so Shen Shukai didn't have time to think twice and let two escorts who had been protecting him closely and were holding the self-loading pistol Yang Qiu had sent go help.

  When he saw these guys still dared to fight back, Jin Liuxu grabbed a bomb and rushed up. This homemade bomb was learned from Sun Wu, and when the boat carrying explosives sent by the party arrived that day, it happened to need the help of the Yangtze River gang to transport it, so he secretly intercepted some and made more than a dozen for future use. Just now, he had just thrown out the explosives, and before they even hit the ground, he saw a black shadow suddenly jumping down from the wall of the adjacent courtyard. The black shadow not only had agile movements but also had unparalleled bravery, and actually kicked the explosives with one foot.

  Boom... The explosives were kicked to his back, Jin Liang was startled, got up and found that the black shadow did not stop, directly pulled out two pistols and rushed into the bandits. Several bandits who didn't expect to be attacked from behind were shot dead.

  "Damn it!"

  Jin Guai Di was originally a fierce bandit, and upon seeing the situation, he pulled out two handguns and rushed forward. Before he could even raise his guns, he heard two cries of surprise beside his ears.

  "Jin Mingsheng, you dare!"

  "It's you!" Miao Luo immediately recognized Jin Dui as the person who shot at him that night. The latter did not expect her to know Rui Yao, and even more surprisingly, they were together interfering with his business. His heart suddenly sank, so he decided to take drastic action, raising his gun and firing at the two of them.

  Miao Luo came back to rescue Shen Shu Kai and others. Unlike last time, he was well-prepared. As soon as he saw Jin Liang Zuo raise his gun, Miao Luo immediately spun around with his left foot and flew up lightly at the same time, his right leg suddenly sweeping out in a swift kick. Jin Liang Zuo hadn't even fired his gun yet when he was kicked back several steps. By the time he raised his gun again, Miao Luo had already fired first.

  Two loud slaps, Jin Guan only felt a pain in his lower back, and after realizing he had been shot, his ferocity was fully unleashed. While dodging, he loudly shouted: "Brothers, catch these two stinky bitches who surrendered to Yang Qiu's traitorous Han people! After catching them, you can deal with them as you please!"

  Dozens of bandits guarding the carriage rushed up after hearing the news. Rui Yao cursed and hid behind a stone pillar, and several bullets whizzed past her ears. On the other side, Miao Luo was also surrounded by rioters with red eyes and couldn't lift his head. Chang Si saw the situation and quickly led his men to abandon the carriage, but they were driven back by a burst of gunfire after just a few steps.

  "Miao Niang, are you alright? Hurry up and go find Yang Daren's soldiers to come!" Dong Zhanggui was sharp-eyed and saw Miao Luo, no longer bothering to hide anything, hastily shouting to remind her to go find Yang Qiu for help.

  Miao Luo, although proud and arrogant, especially after that night with Yang Qiu, had been deliberately keeping his distance, but now that lives were at stake, he could only grit his teeth and prepare to go find Yang Qiu's troops for help. Just as he took a step forward, the sound of dense gunfire erupted all around him, and when he turned his head, he saw over a hundred soldiers emerging from who-knows-where, filling up the entire Dongjia Alley in the blink of an eye.

  Jin Zui Di was no match for the soldiers, his men were a motley crew, many of whom were still using cold weapons. They might have been able to hold their own against the police, but now they were up against seasoned troops who had undergone rigorous training for two months according to modern military standards! As a result, corpses soon littered the streets, and the remaining bandits fled in terror, only to find that the soldiers had already sealed off all escape routes around Dongjia Alley. In the end, they could only surrender one by one.

  "Yang Qiu, you and I are irreconcilable!!"

  Seeing the soldiers protecting the huge sum of money he had looted overnight, Jin suddenly realized that he might have been used by Yang Qiu! Although he didn't know how he found out about his plan, this deal was clearly ruined. With Rui Yao and Miao Luo's relationship, he couldn't stay in Hankou and Hanyang anymore, so he took a deep breath and slipped into the darkness, grabbing a wooden log to swim towards Wuchang.

  After the soldiers quickly controlled the entire Dongjia Alley, Shen Shukai and others finally breathed a sigh of relief. Miao Luo and Rui Yao also brought their subordinates out at this time, but they had just walked to the side of Dong Zhanggui when they saw a young military officer walking over.

  "Who is Shen Shukai? Who is the manager of Heshengyuan's Shen Shukai?"

  "Shen Shu-kai..." Just as Shen Shu-kai was about to bow his head in gratitude, the young officer slammed the butt of his rifle into his arm! He bellowed: "By order of General Zhang! Take all of He Sheng-yuan's people into custody!"

  As soon as the order was given, the soldiers rushed to arrest more than a dozen of He Shengyuan's men and bodyguards. Those who resisted were met with gun butts. Miao Luo knew best about Yang Qiu and He Shengyuan's relationship, so he hastily stepped forward and shouted: "How can you arrest people randomly? They are not bandits."

  "Sorry, miss, I'm just following orders!" This sentence not only confused Miao Luo, but also the shopkeepers who were lucky enough to survive behind him. Only Dong Zhang was scared white and fell to the ground.

  "Dong Zhanggui, I have come under the orders of Commander Biao to fetch some items."

  Dong Zhanggui stood up and glanced at Shen Shukai and the other apprentices, knowing that this time it was likely to be a difficult pass. Now the only thing he could do was to handle the remaining errands well and see if he could struggle for a thread of life. The other shopkeepers originally wanted to ask what was going on, but thinking of their own money, they had to shut up. When they walked out of the alley and prepared to retrieve the silver from the warehouse to check the losses, they found that the horse-drawn carriage that the bandits had brought earlier to load the silver had disappeared, and the shop door was also covered with seals.

  The seal is temporarily fine, but... where's the money?! The shopkeepers all burst into a pot, knowing that this is a revolving capital of several million taels! Just as everyone was rushing to get out, the soldiers blocking the road held up their guns: "By order of General Zhang, Hankou is now under martial law. From now on, no one is allowed to leave their homes before dawn. Those who disobey... will be shot without mercy!"

  Everyone's heart sank at the sight of the gun muzzle, and they finally understood one thing.

  The weather in Hankou has changed!