Chapter Eleven United in Their Hatred of a Common Enemy

  Everyone present looked at each other and smiled, and they also admired this person's insight.

  Zhao Bei sized up the captive for a few moments before asking: "Judging from your uniform, you shouldn't be from the Jiangsu New Army, right?"

  "I am a soldier of the 21st Mixed Brigade of Hubei New Army." The captive looked straight at Zhao Bei and said proudly, "Are you or are you not people sent by Anqing to make contact? If so, let me go, we're on the same path!"

  Zhou Bei slightly shook his head and said: "We indeed came from Anqing. But why should I believe you? Let's put it off for now, tie him up and ask questions."

  "Are you really from the Anhui righteous army? Do you have cannons too? Great! Quick, quick, fire at the tallest house in town! That's the fake Qing imperial envoy's headquarters, blow it up and the Tartars will be in disarray!" The captive glanced at the two mountain guns, then jerked his chin towards the east.

  "It's not just big guns, we also have machine guns. But whether to fire or not, it's not up to you to give orders." Chen Tieshan scolded from the side.

  Zhao Bei and several officers exchanged a glance, not easily believing the captive's words. After all, it was hard to distinguish between friend and foe, so it was better to be cautious. If they acted rashly, they might startle the snake in the grass and end up losing out.

  Seeing that the crowd did not seem to want to open fire, the captive became anxious and stamped his foot, shouting: "You are too suspicious! To tell you the truth, I am a member of the 'Group Self-Government Society' in the Hubei New Army. My name is Zhang Licheng, and I am a bugler in the new army! I am also a revolutionary comrade who opposes the Qing!"

  "What's this 'Qunzhixueshe'? I've never heard of it. But I have heard of the 'Rizhihui'." Wu Zhenhan said with a furrowed brow.

  "You certainly haven't heard of it! We are a secret organization, established just the other day. The day before yesterday, we heard that you occupied Anqing, everyone was very happy, and we knew that you would definitely send someone to contact us, but we didn't expect you to come over so quickly." The captive hummed.

  Zhao Bei, however, had a sudden thought. As someone familiar with history who had traveled through time and space, he naturally knew about the inheritance relationship between the "Qunchu Xueshe" (Mass Education Society) and the "Wenxue She" (Literary Society), the latter of which was one of the two revolutionary groups that led the Wuchang Uprising in 1911. It was clear that the current "Wenxue She" had not yet been established.

  "Let him go." Zhao Bei waved his hand, confirming the person's identity.

  Before the guards untied the ropes, Zhang Licheng hastily shouted: "Quickly, quickly set up the cannons! Blast the Tartar's camp, and we'll rebel!"

  "No! Not yet!" Zhao Bei shook his head. "Firing suddenly without any preparation, the Autumn Maneuver New Army will immediately disperse, and it won't be easy to regroup them. We came here not to kill the Qing Dynasty's officials, but to instigate the Hubei and Jiangsu New Armies to rise up together in revolt. We must keep this new army's strength entirely under the control of the revolutionaries, neither letting them disperse nor become opponents of the revolution. So, unless absolutely necessary, these cannons cannot be fired."

  "What do you mean?" Zhang Licheng rubbed his slightly numb arms and took a step forward, but was stopped by Tian Jinfu.

  "How many of you are from the 'Qunzhixueshe' here?" Zhao Bei asked back.

  "Not many, the members of our society who came with the army are just over a hundred people, most of them are soldiers. However, there is an officer in charge who is one of us." Zhang Licheng paused for a moment and continued: "Since we received news that Anqing had started the uprising, we have sent people to spread false information and rumors among the troops, saying that Jiangning has been recovered, and revolutionaries from Fujian and Guangdong have also risen up in response. We have also incited those soldiers who were dissatisfied with their officers to cause trouble. Now, whether it is the 9th Town of Jiangsu or the New Army of Hubei, they are all in a state of panic. Especially the 41st Battalion of the 21st Mixed Brigade of Hubei, which is our society's stronghold. Every squad has our people, and their revolutionary enthusiasm is very high. Once an uprising occurs, I won't say anything else, but at least the 41st Battalion will definitely be under our control."

  "Are you Hubei new army coming to exercise, by water or land?" Zhao Bei asked again.

  "From Wuchang we boarded a ship and sailed to Huangzhou, then from there on it was all overland. In order to facilitate our march, the Engineering Corps specially built a simple road leading directly from Huangzhou to Taihu Lake. Originally, after the fall of the Qing dynasty, our Hubei New Army should have returned immediately after the autumn maneuvers, but before we even set out, news arrived of the Anqing uprising and our army was ordered to stay behind and keep an eye on the Jiangsu New Army." At this point Zhang Licheng burst out laughing. "The Qing officials treated us like bandits, and the entire Jiangsu New Army was seething with resentment - those stupid Qing officials were really clueless! As a result, the Jiangsu New Army also became disheartened and demoralized, their morale could be manipulated."

  "This is called the wind whispers! The mountain rain is coming, and the Qing court also knows that their days are numbered." Zhao Bei nodded to his subordinates to take out a military map, spread it on an ammunition box, drew on the map with a pencil, measured it with a ruler, threw away the pencil, and asked Zhang Licheng: "I want to send someone to contact your comrades, can you bring my people into the barracks?"

  "As long as we put on military uniforms, it's no problem to sneak into the camp. Don't forget, I'm a bugler, just like the cook, and it's easy to get in and out of the camp gate. Now the camp is in chaos, and the officers can't control it." Zhang Licheng nodded in agreement with Zhao Bei's suggestion, glanced at the bullets in the cartridge boxes hanging from the waist of the guards, and reminded them: "It would be best to bring some bullets too. Yesterday our bullets were all confiscated by the corrupt officials, now we are empty-handed, only with bayonets. Unlike your Anhui New Army, our Hubei New Army is equipped with Hanyang-made rifles, old-fashioned guns, using 7.9mm cartridges. If you don't have this kind of bullet, give us some handguns."

  Zhao Bei hummed and said, "We came prepared, bringing five different types of rifle bullets, several thousand 7.9mm rounds, and some homemade explosives, which we'll also give to you."

  "What are we waiting for? Let's go back to the camp, set a signal and take action at the same time! With thousands of bullets, this scene is enough to kill all the fake Qing officials in the military camp." Zhang Licheng rolled up his sleeves, with an excited face.

  "Who went to contact the new army of Hubei and Jiangsu?" Zhao Bei raised his head and swept a glance at his subordinates.

  "I'm going!" Wu Zhenhan stepped forward.

  "I'm going!" Tian Jinfu and Chen Tieshan also stood up.

  Zhao Bei hesitated for a moment, pointed with his hand and said: "Tian Jin, you go! The situation is unclear now, be more careful."

  Tian Jin Fu rolled up his sleeves and smiled: "Don't worry, sir. With my skills, twenty big men are nothing to me!" This wasn't just bragging - Tian Jin Fu was agile and skilled in Southern Fist, or else Zhao Bei wouldn't have made him the head of the guard.

  Zhao Bei pulled Tian Jin Fu to one side, whispered a few words in his ear, and then ordered the guards to strip several other prisoners of their uniforms and exchange them with Tian Jin Fu and his two subordinates. The men filled their pockets with bullets, tucked small pistols into their waistbands, and picked up bundles of firewood, hiding explosives inside. They followed Zhang Li Cheng as he climbed over the mountain ridge, passing through a quiet forest to reach the foot of the mountain, carrying firewood and swaggering into Huangni Port Town from the iron bridge.

  "Wu Zhenhan!" Zhao Bei lay on the mountain ridge, looking at Tian Jinfu and others sneaking into the military camp with binoculars, before turning his head to whisper a sentence.

  "Yes!" Wu Zhenhan replied.

  "Order the artillery to measure the distance and angle, calculate the firing elements of the cannon, wipe the cannonballs clean. If there is any leakage of information, fire immediately, bombard the highest building in the town, and at the same time bombard the wooden boats loaded with cannons and shells on the river, then shift the firepower and shell all the military camps within range."

  "Yes!" Wu Zhenhan ran back into the valley.

  "Knock knock knock......knock knock knock......"

  Under the manipulation of the artillery, the two brand-new Shanghai-made Krupp 75mm mountain guns slowly raised their muzzles. The lightweight body made it easy to move, and once fired, the effective range of 4,300 meters was enough to envelop the entire Huangni Port town in a hail of gunfire.

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