Chapter 38: Revolutionary Guard

  The city of Jiujiang is particularly lively under the sun, although last night's battle destroyed some shops, but since the Republican Army quickly restored order in the city, by the afternoon of the second day after the recovery, the city has reopened, and citizens are rushing to buy food and salt, lest they be closed during future battles.

  Apart from the citizens, some robust men holding various weapons also flocked from the surrounding villages outside the city. Upon hearing that Jiujiang had raised the great king flag in the morning, the thoughts of the Hui Party's armed forces became active. Under the leadership of their leaders, they marched towards Jiujiang City, planning to take advantage of the chaos and make a big profit. However, when they approached the city, they were intercepted by the infantry and cavalry scouts sent out by the Republican Army. After reading aloud the order from Zhao Bei, the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, some undisciplined Hui Party armed forces had to return with nothing, while others who refused to leave empty-handed followed the soldiers' guidance and marched into the city in formation, preparing to join the "Revolutionary Guard" as auxiliary forces for future battles.

  Apart from the party members, many young students also joined the army in the city. Most of them were members of Jiangxi's secret revolutionary organization "Yi Zhong She". Their joining brought a batch of high-quality young intellectuals to the revolutionary army. Most of them were assigned to the newly established "Current Affairs Lecture Team", and only a few young people with better physical fitness could join the combat troops as grassroots officers such as clerks.

  However, the number of educated young people yearning for revolution was limited. The most rebellious spirit in this era belonged to the underclass who had no way out. Within a short period of one day, the "Revolutionary Guard" under the jurisdiction of the Republican Army expanded to 10,000 people. In addition to party members, many idle rural residents also joined the Revolutionary Guard.

  Due to the current lack of funds, the "Revolutionary Guards" do not have a military salary, and only have three meals a day, with no guarantee of quality. Clothing and weapons can only be temporarily self-provided. However, even under these circumstances, unemployed villagers from dozens of miles around are flocking to Jiujiang without end. Sometimes, several cavalry scouts holding flags would stand outside villages and easily recruit dozens or hundreds of young men. Nowadays, there are countless taxes and levies, making the people's lives more miserable by the day. Those with large families at home are worried about having no food to eat, but upon hearing that they can have three meals a day, they immediately follow along. Moreover, it is said that if they cut off their queues, they can receive several cents of silver as "queue-cutting money" every month. As a result, many abandoned queues were left on both sides of the official roads leading into the city.

  According to Zhao Bei's orders, the "Revolutionary Guards" were organized as a paramilitary organization, with a battalion, company, and platoon structure. A platoon consisted of 100 people, five platoons formed a company, and five companies formed a battalion, with a total of 2,500 people in a battalion. To strengthen their combat effectiveness, all company commanders and battalion commanders were appointed by Republican Army officers, and at least one company was selected to be equipped with rear-loading rifles, serving as the vanguard, directly under the command of the battalion commander.

  Members of the "Revolutionary Guards" once joined the army, they could no longer act arbitrarily, otherwise they would be considered deserters and subject to military law. In Zhao Bei's view, this paramilitary force was actually a reserve force that had to be trained according to the requirements of regular forces. When weapons and equipment were abundant in the future, these people could immediately become members of regular forces. Unlike the Autumn Harvest Uprising army, this force was established by him alone, and he would not allow anyone else to intervene, including the Gongzhixue She (a revolutionary organization). Therefore, there were no revolutionary organizations within the Revolutionary Guards, and in the future, only lecturers on current politics would be allowed to be active in the army.

  Apart from the ordinary people who were going to join the Revolutionary Guard, there were also some people wearing shackles on their feet. They were not ordinary prisoners, but officials of the Qing government and yamen runners. Some of them refused to surrender, but since they were too low-ranking, it was not worth killing them, so they were left to serve hard labor. Others were willing to surrender, but unfortunately, they had committed too many evil deeds in the past, causing great resentment among the people, making it impossible to release them. Therefore, they were also sent out as forced laborers to repair damaged houses and streets during battles.

  After the Republican Army occupied Jiujiang City, they opened the prison and released most of the prisoners. They also seized a large number of shackles, which were just enough for these officials to wear. Two people shared one pair of shackles, with one wearing it on their left foot and the other on their right foot. If they wanted to escape, unless the two cooperated tacitly, they would not be able to run far before being caught and beheaded.

  This was not the Republican Army intimidating these prisoners. Since dawn, the busiest vegetable market in Jiujiang City had become an execution ground for killing people. All pseudo-Qing officials who refused to surrender and reached a certain rank were taken to the vegetable market to be beheaded. The heads of the daotai, tixian, and zhixian rolled down one after another, and then they were hung on the city gate tower by the revolutionary army for display. Their property was also confiscated as enemy property. Some nearby prefectures and counties brought in many similar heads when they entered the city to make a name for themselves, which were all hung up. At that time, the whole city of Jiujiang was stirred, and the people rushed to see with their elders and children what those arrogant officials looked like now.

  In Zhao's words, revolution is just killing people! Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to comrades! We must use revolutionary terror to intimidate all reactionary forces!

  Apart from those stubborn and corrupt officials, several major grain merchants were also rounded up because they had hoarded grain and refused to follow Commander-in-Chief Zhao's orders to sell at a fair price. They too were classified as "stubborn elements" and their property was confiscated. Some of them immediately surrendered on the execution ground, promising to hand over the hidden grain, and were released on the spot with their property returned. Others who resisted to the end met the same fate as those officials, becoming sacrifices for the Qing dynasty. This measure proved effective: the high grain prices in the city dropped within half a day, which also reassured the people. The Republican Army's prestige was greatly enhanced, and Commander-in-Chief Zhao became known among the people as their "savior".

  The heads were hung on the city gate tower, and the headless corpses had to be dealt with as soon as possible. This task was assigned to those prisoners wearing foot shackles, who transported them out of the city and buried them in a mass grave outside the South Gate.

  "This official was a loyal minister of the Great Qing in life, and a loyal ghost of the Great Qing in death! You treacherous officials, each and every one of you deserves to be executed! The iron-strong empire of the Great Qing is not something that can be shaken by the likes of you..."

  A burst of scolding came from the crowd at Caishikou, but it stopped abruptly.

  The crowd erupted in another cheer, and apparently, another head with a hat on it had fallen off. A moment later, two headless corpses were dragged out of the crowd by several soldiers and placed on a wheelbarrow.

  The ones responsible for pushing the cart were Zhang Biao, the original commander of the 8th Division of the Hubei New Army, and Duan Jin, the younger brother of the imperial commissioner Duan Fang. As "heinous culprits" and lackeys of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the two men could not be pardoned, so they were also assigned to a labor battalion to atone for their crimes through hard work. As for when they would be beheaded, that was up to Commander-in-Chief Chao to decide.

  "Bang!"

  "Go!"

  A member of the Revolutionary Guard standing beside the car waved a horse whip in his hand, driving the two forward like cattle, and the red armband on his left arm was particularly eye-catching, with four big characters "Iron Blood Republic".

  Zhang Biao and Duan Jin didn't dare to be careless, and hastily pushed the cart, "creaking" towards the city gate, but the two men's legs were connected by a pair of fetters, making every step a struggle.

  Out of the city, they came to Luozanggang, where a team of laborers had already dug a hole. The two men lifted the cart and threw the two headless corpses into the pit.

  "What a pity, a fifth-rank official." Duan Jin glanced at one of the corpses and judged the person's rank by the badge on their chest. It was unknown whether it was intentional or an oversight by the revolutionary army, but before beheading these court officials, they had not even stripped them of their official robes. Duan Jin stubbornly believed that this was done intentionally by the rebels to humiliate the imperial court and its authority.

  "Duan Ye, let's go back." Zhang Biao pushed Duan Jin, these past few days of hardship had made him disheartened and lazy, he had become much more honest.

  "Zhang Biao, look." Duan Jin pointed to a distant place.

  Zhang Biao looked over and saw several members of the revolutionary guard squad responsible for monitoring them squatting in a circle more than a hundred steps away, smoking and chatting, although they all had wooden sticks inserted into their belts, but apparently relaxed their vigilance.

  "Let's run," said Duan Jin.

  "Run?" Zhang Biao lifted his foot with shackles on it. "You won't run far."

  Duan Jin pointed northwest and said, "Look, what place is that?"

  Zhang Biao took a few glances and shook his head, saying: "Is that a town? Can't see clearly. It's two or three miles away from us, even if we run over there, we can't hide for long."

  Duanjin whispered: "That's the British concession! Jiujiang has only one foreign concession! It's right on the Yangtze River. We'll run over there, and no one will dare to come in and catch us."

  "Really?" Zhang Biao was taken aback upon hearing this.

  "Less nonsense! Follow me." Duan Jin glanced at the few Revolutionary Guard soldiers, pulled Zhang Biao, and the two rolled down the mass grave, running along the bottom of the pit to the other side, then climbed up the edge.

  "You step out with your left foot and I'll step out with my right foot. We need to be in sync," Zhang Biao said.

  The two of them hastily ran northwest, but after just a few steps, Duan Jin's footsteps became disordered. Unlike Zhang Biao, he had never practiced the military's marching posture and couldn't keep up with Zhang Biao's pace.

  "Bad! They've seen us!" Zhang Biao hastily said.

  But then the several revolutionary guards who were originally squatting on the ground smoking opium had stood up, waving their wooden sticks and rushing towards them in a chaotic manner. Although those few people didn't have guns, they did have daggers, and stabbing to death two Manchu running dogs wouldn't be difficult.