Chapter 40: Republican Steamed Buns

  The sunset sank to the west, casting a reddish glow over the horizon, while the city of Jiujiang remained bustling.

  On the crowded streets, some soldiers were carrying large baskets forward while beating gongs and shouting.

  "Republic buns! Republic buns! One pigtail for five big buns!"

  People curiously looked over and saw that the big basket was filled with large steamed buns, each one bigger than a bowl. Unlike ordinary steamed buns, these had words written on them: "Iron Blood Republic". Immediately, several beggars cut off their own braids, brought them forward, and exchanged them for five large steamed buns. Only after eating did they realize that the four characters on the steamed buns were written with red sugar and honey, sweet and not inferior to sugar packets.

  Soon, teams of people shouting "Baozi for braids" appeared on the streets throughout Jiujiang City, making the city even more lively. Baskets and baskets of baozi were distributed in exchange for braid after braid, which were then piled up on the street, doused with kerosene, and set on fire. The smell of burnt hair filled half the city.

  The crowd erupted in cheers, and one by one, the queues were voluntarily thrown into the fire, burned to ashes. A few conservative people only dared to shake their heads and sigh against the raging flames, not daring to openly resist, because this was an action of the revolutionary army. Whoever dares to resist is a Qing dynasty running dog, and will be punished without mercy. Fortunately, the revolutionary army did not order the forced cutting of queues, otherwise some officials in the city might have had to consider fleeing the city.

  "Oh no! My braid! Where's my braid? Who stole my braid?"

  "You scoundrel! Cutting off my queue to exchange for a bun? Aren't you asking for a beating?... Come, someone, beat him!"

  ……

  Some people who were unwilling to exchange their queues for a bun soon found that their queues had become the target of some hungry refugees, and after a period of chaos, those men who still insisted on keeping their queues fled in disarray, and suddenly there were many more people without queues on the streets.

  Among these people without queues, two young men were particularly eye-catching. Not only did they not have queues, but their clothes were also very distinctive. It is said that this was called a "student uniform", a type of Western-style clothing specifically for students at new-style schools. The two "students" were both in their twenties, one wearing a student cap and the other younger and without a cap. Both had an air of curiosity on their faces and a smile at the corners of their mouths as they looked with satisfaction at the queue-wearing men rushing wildly through the streets.

  "Hey! Young students, going to join the army? First take a look at our revolutionary pamphlets." A robust man wearing an "Iron Blood Republic" armband walked up to the two young men and pulled out several pamphlets from his backpack, handing them over.

  Two young men took over the booklet, looked at it, smiled at each other, and one of them said to the strong man: "We have seen these booklets abroad. The 'Revolutionary Army', 'Warning Bell', 'Fierce Return' here, as well as your 'Hong Xiuquan Biography' and 'Heavenly Evolution Theory' which you don't have, many of these revolutionary textbooks were compiled by overseas students, both of us can recite them."

  The sturdy man stared with his eyes wide open, looking incredulous, and sized up the two of them for a few moments before snatching back those little booklets and putting them into his backpack. "Since you can recite from memory," he said, "you don't need these."

  As the strong man turned to leave, a young man hastily asked: "Old fellow, judging from your attire, you are from the Revolutionary Guard, aren't you? Could you please tell me how to get to the Republican Army Headquarters?"

  The strong Han pointed and said: "Walk along the street, when you reach the fork in the road ahead, turn right, then after two streets, turn left again, and you will arrive at the command center."

  Two young men thanked and walked forward together, chatting as they went.

  "If I were to say it, the revolutionary party of Jiujang is not resolute enough! If it were me, I would directly order them to cut off their queues. Whoever doesn't cut it off, I'd chop off their head! In the past when the Manchu people entered the pass, they could shout 'Keep your hair and lose your head, keep your head and lose your hair'. Why can't we shout 'Keep your queue and lose your head, keep your head and lose your queue'?" said the young man wearing a student hat.

  Another young man laughed and said, "Ya Qing, you're too impulsive. The common people have had queues for over 200 years, how can they be willing to cut them off so easily? If you really do this, I'm afraid it will provoke a riot."

  "First of all, revolution is about being radical! Without radicalism, it's not a revolution at all." The young man wearing a student hat retorted. "In my opinion, the people from the Guangfu Hui are still less revolutionary than us Gongjin Hui, and even less so than the Tongmeng Hui."

  "You're so quick to separate the Progressive Association and the Alliance? Don't forget, we are also cadres of the Alliance."

  "The Tongmenghui is disintegrating, and it's hopeless to expect anything from them. If we want a revolution, we still have to rely on us radicals; otherwise, why would we have come out and established our own organization? If the Tongmenghui were as solid as a rock, how could the Guangfuhui have stolen the limelight? Last year, the Guangfuhui broke away from the Tongmenghui for this very reason. The people in the Tongmenghui are all talk and no action, with high-sounding phrases but no real substance; they're good at playing politics, but if you ask them to lead a revolution, it's doomed to fail. Moreover, the Tongmenghui's slogan of 'equal land rights' was raised at the wrong time and is not conducive to uniting the gentry."

  "But can unite the party, in the countryside who is not a poor man wanting to own several hectares of good land? I always feel that we should change that slogan to 'equal human rights', it's a bit inappropriate. On this point, you are not radical at all."

  "What's wrong with it? What slogans should be shouted at what time. Now is the national revolution, and it has not yet reached the time of social revolution."

  Two men walked and talked, asking people along the way, and soon arrived at the Daotai government office. They looked up and saw a white sign with black letters in front of the office: "Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Government of the Reorganized National Government of China".

  The guard stopped the two of them and searched them, but fortunately did not detain them because of their short hair, however they were also not allowed to stay at the entrance of the commander's department.

  Just then, someone shouted loudly: "The Commander-in-Chief has arrived! Attention!"

  The guard hastily ushered the two men to the side of the road and stood in front of them with his rifle at attention.

  Zhao Bei rode his horse to the front of the headquarters, surrounded by guards, and before he could dismount, someone shouted from the side: "Commander-in-Chief, we are revolutionary comrades of the Tongmenghui, we have something to say to you!"

  Zhao Bei turned his head and saw two young men wearing student uniforms, so he jumped off the horse and gave a signal to Tian Jinfu behind him. The two guards walked over, searched the two young men, and brought them before him.

  "Are you from the Alliance Society?" Zhao Bei sized up the two men, feeling that one of them looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him before in historical photos. However, there were too many people on the streets claiming to be from the Alliance Society these days, so it was hard to tell whether these two were really members or not. After the Republican Army recovered Jiujiang, many students from new-style schools joined the army, some of whom claimed to be members of the Alliance Society. Whether they were true or false, it was hard to say, but as long as they were young intellectuals, Zhao Bei welcomed them all, believing that both guns and pens were indispensable forces in the revolution.

  "My humble name is Sun Wu, styled Yaoqing, and nicknamed Mengfei." The young man wearing a student hat introduced himself, then pointed to his companion and said, "He's called Peng Hanyi, styled Shuxian. We're both cadres of the Tongmenghui."

  "Sun Wu? You said your name is Sun Wu?" Zhao Bei was slightly stunned, this person was actually one of the famous "Three Wus" during the Xinhai Revolution period, no wonder he looked familiar.