Chapter 47: Hankou Railway Station

  Thick fog fills the air, cold wind cuts to the bone.

  "Clang clang ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clang clang ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"

  A train slowly pulled into the station, with rolling black smoke and white steam spreading out, making visibility even worse.

  Before the train had come to a complete stop, the foreman on the platform was yelling and cursing at the coolies huddled around the stove, his whip cracking as he shouted.

  "Lazy bums, get up for your old man! Unload the goods!"

  The coolies stood up, rolled up their sleeves and waited on the platform. As soon as the train stopped, they could open those stuffy freight cars and unload all sorts of goods: American kerosene, Japanese flowered cloth, Indian medicine, even German arms - all were transported to Hankou by this railroad, then loaded onto ships and transshipped to neighboring provinces. Now that the country's gates are wide open, all sorts of new gadgets are pouring into China; if one considers broad knowledge, probably only overseas students can compare with these coolies at the train station.

  This is Hankou Liujiayao Railway Station, now the terminal of Beijing-Hankou Railway.

  The construction of railways in China began during the Tongzhi period, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War had not yet ended. British and French businessmen had repeatedly proposed to the Qing court to build railways, but due to issues related to inland trade rights and the livelihoods of porters, as well as opposition from conservative forces, China's first railway was not built until 1876, between Shanghai and Wusong, known as the "Wusong Railway". This railway was initially controlled by British businessmen, with Jardine Matheson holding a majority stake. However, due to continued opposition from conservative forces in the Qing court, the right to build this railway was actually obtained through deceitful means by British merchants from the Shanghai Daotai. The construction of the railway faced significant obstacles from the start, and shortly after its completion, it was forced to be sold back to the Qing court. After redeeming the railway, the Qing court immediately dismantled it entirely. However, Shen Baozhen, a leader of the Westernization Movement who oversaw the dismantling, used a clever tactic to secretly transport the dismantled rails and equipment to Taiwan, where they were later used by Ding Richang to build railways.

  However, due to the obstruction of conservative forces, Ding Richang's Taiwan Railway was not built after all. In the following years, the Westernization Group and the conservative forces clashed several times, and it wasn't until the stimulation of the Sino-French War that the Qing court began to seriously consider the issue of railway construction. In 1886, under Li Hongzhang's leadership, the Kaiping Railway officially started construction, and China's railway industry entered the public eye with difficulty. After the First Sino-Japanese War, as national power weakened further, China was no longer able to undertake railway construction on its own. Following the Boxer Rebellion, China's railways became a new object of partitioning by the powers.

  As the main artery of north-south transportation, the Beijing-Hankou railway had been planned by the洋务派 faction for a long time, but it wasn't until 1898 that construction officially began. Due to a lack of funds, the construction of the railway relied entirely on loans from Belgian financiers. Moreover, the engineering contract was flawed, ultimately resulting in the Beijing-Hankou Railway falling completely into foreign hands. From construction to transportation, personnel management, finance, scheduling and administration, all aspects were controlled by the Belgian company, setting a very bad precedent for railway borrowing.

  From the time it was opened to traffic until now, the Beijing-Hankou Railway has been under Belgian management. Even station masters and bridge managers were all hired from Belgium. Although the Qing government had negotiated with the Belgian side on the issue of redeeming control over the railway, this matter was indefinitely shelved due to the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution.

  A few days ago, after the news of the revolutionary army arriving in Hubei came, the train head and most of the carriages at this Hankou station were transferred to Xinyang, Henan by the Belgian station master to prevent them from falling into the hands of the revolutionary army. In the past two days, the number of departures from the train station has been reduced to one per day. People who can run in the Wuhan area have already fled to other places, and the train station is empty and quiet.

  The train puffed and stopped, with dozens of tank cars lying on the tracks like dead snakes. What was surprising was that this train had an unusually large number of cars, almost reaching the limit of the locomotive's power.

  The coolies hastily walked up and pulled open the sliding door of the locked carriage, only to find that there was no lead seal on the door. Just as they were wondering about this, a torrent of abuse in the style of Zhili and Shandong came from inside the carriage:

  "Damn it! This place is even colder than Tianjin Wei, don't get lost and end up in Northeast China!"

  "Ah! This is the south, cold and wet in winter, but it's not as dry and cold as our north. The fog is so thick that you can't even see the platform."

  ……

  The coolies were astonished to find that the goods in these covered freight cars were not ordinary goods, but live people, all dressed in military uniforms, holding rifles, and many had large backpacks on their backs, with blankets rolled up on them, exactly like those Japanese soldiers in the concession.

  "The Beiyang Army! The Beiyang Army!"

  "Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army!"

  Some insightful coolies immediately recognized the identity of this army from the edging on that military cap, without being reminded by others. The crowd swarmed to one side, tucking their sleeves and whispering to each other, speculating why this army, originally stationed in the north, had come to Hankou.

  It's actually just a matter of time before people find out that the revolutionary army from Jiangxi has already crossed into Hubei, and in recent days, rumors have been circulating one after another in Wuchang: Qizhou has fallen to the enemy, Huangzhou has fallen to the enemy, General So-and-so has died for his country, Director So-and-so of the provincial government has met with disaster, Mr. So-and-so has surrendered to the enemy... These rumors have shocked the officials of the Qing dynasty in Hubei and Hunan, making them anxious and sleepless. Seeing those officials in a state of panic, the people's pent-up emotions were suddenly relieved, although no one dared to say it out loud, but everyone was secretly hoping that the revolutionary army would arrive soon and bring peace to this land.

  Due to the uprising of more than 10,000 new troops participating in the Taohu Autumn Exercise, there are now less than 4,000 new troops left in Hubei. According to the news from foreign gunboats, the self-proclaimed "Republican Army" of Jiujiang Revolutionary Army has at least 50,000 people, with high morale and strong fighting spirit, and is recruiting and surrendering along the way. The bandit forces are very fierce, and it is hoped that those patrol camps will not be able to stop them. When the revolutionary army comes, the patrol camp is either "attached to the thieves" or surrenders, and for a time, the military rule of the Qing dynasty in Hubei has collapsed.

  Due to concerns that the remaining Hubei New Army troops in Wuchang would rise up again, the Hunan-Hubei Governor-General had already transferred this unreliable force out of the city and dispersed its organization, replacing it with a patrol camp to guard the city. The more than 5,000 Eight Banners soldiers originally stationed in Jingzhou entered Wuchang yesterday, setting up large cannons on the city walls to defend the provincial capital. The Jingzhou general, En Cun, made a bold statement, vowing to live and die with Wuchang.

  Originally, there were not a few gunboats anchored on the surface of Wuchang River, but some days ago, Anqing soldiers rebelled, and most of those gunboats were ordered to go east to reinforce the Qing army in Anqing. Now, only two small barges are left on the surface of Wuchang River, temporarily equipped with large cannons, serving as gunboats, but no one has confidence in their combat effectiveness.

  These days, the price of rice has also soared a lot. As the revolutionary army approaches one step closer, the price of rice goes up with each passing day. The people in the three towns of Wuhan are worried and rumors are rife. Many wealthy families have already fled to the countryside or concession areas to avoid the war, leaving behind only the poor who continue to struggle for survival. Whether there is a battle or not, this meal money still has to be earned by oneself.

  The coolies stood there in a daze, and the foreman was also stunned, not knowing whether he should urge the coolies to move forward and carry the "goods". As he turned his eyes blankly, his ears were suddenly pulled tight, and he was dragged aside by an officer.

  "These, these, and these carriages are all loaded with ammunition. Be careful when unloading them and put them on the platform. If anything goes wrong, you will be executed in front of the troops!" The officer pulled the foreman's ear and pointed to the last few carriages.

  "Yes, yes." The foreman didn't dare say half a "no". He could only nod and bow. After the officer lost his temper, he waved his whip and directed the laborers to open the carriage and transport the goods.

  While the crowd was busy, the soldiers in the carriages had already jumped off and lined up on the platform. They then left the station. By the time the foreign station master arrived with two others, only a few officers and some sentry soldiers were still standing there.

  The soldiers who walked out of the train station began to sing a song with simple and easy-to-understand lyrics that were catchy.

  "Order to the soldiers, listen carefully: a poor family produces filial sons, a country in difficulty sees loyal ministers. The imperial court levies taxes and borrows foreign debts, sparing no expense to nurture elite troops. One soldier's food and clothing cost over 100 taels, not even a seventh-rank county magistrate can compare; if one does not exert oneself for the country, heaven, earth, ghosts, and spirits will not tolerate it. Since ancient times, many generals and ministers have risen from the ranks, in the future they will return home with honor and glory."