Chapter 48: The Pre-war Skirmish

  The coolies soon learned from Er Tou's mouth that the army loaded in the sealed train was the Second Division of the Beiyang New Army, with Wang Yingkai as the commander. This train only brought the vanguard, two battalions, and the main force was still behind. They were here to suppress the local area, guard the provincial capital, and if they could stop the revolutionary army in Hubei, they would sweep down along the river and wipe out the revolutionary forces.

  "This Beiyang Army is quite impressive, their military formation is neat and tidy, their guns and ammunition are of high quality, they look much more formidable than our Hubei New Army."

  "That's a pile of silver, our Hubei new army can't compare. See the foreign guns in their hands? Those are genuine Mauser rifles, authentic foreign goods. Haven't you heard? The Beiyang Army buys guns and cannons with the attitude 'if not the best, then the most expensive'."

  "This shell box is heavy, I'm afraid the shells inside are all big ones. One shot will probably blow up half a street."

  "I think, the revolutionary army of Jiujiang is probably no match for them."

  "Isn't it strange? The revolutionary army wasn't in favor of Yuan Shikai becoming the great leader of the republic? Why is the Beiyang Army still marching on now? Doesn't Yuan Shikai know how to appreciate this?"

  "What do you understand? The more it is at this time, the more Yuan Gongbao wants to send troops. Only in this way can he show his loyalty."

  "Never mind, neither of you understands. Although the Beiyang Army was trained by Yuan Shikai himself, it's not his private army after all. Wherever they are deployed, they still have to listen to the imperial court. Since Yuan Shikai entered the Grand Council last year, the six divisions of the Beiyang Army have been under the control of the Ministry of War. I'm afraid this Beiyang Army is just a force sent by the Ministry of War."

  "Nonsense! Yuan Kuan-pao is now concurrently Minister of War, it was just reported in the newspapers two days ago."

  "Cut! This is called 'open rise and secret fall'. Do you think the imperial court really trusts Han ministers?"

  "Shh! Silence! Don't say another word, or you'll lose your head!"

  ……

  The coolies were busy moving goods while grumbling, completely unaware that more than a dozen suspicious people had taken advantage of the fog to climb over the wall and sneak onto the platform. They were lying on the roof of the warehouse, gazing at the military ammunition on the platform. Although they were dressed similarly to the coolies, their eyes revealed that their interest in those munitions was far greater than that of ordinary coolies.

  "Big Brother Niu, it seems we're a step too late, the Beiyang Army has already arrived." A young man said to another young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes beside him.

  "Call me Camp Long." The young man waved his hand and whispered a few words to another person beside him, indicating that the men under him slipped down from the warehouse and squatted behind a pile of cotton bales. Then he said in a low voice: "I counted just now, there are not many people coming, probably only two or three thousand people. That number of people is nothing to our Republican Army. See those artillery boxes? If we blow them up, the Northern Army will become toothless tigers. At that time, we can wait for their skin to be peeled off. What do you think, Staff Officer?"

  The man beside him nodded and said, "In war, ammunition is the most important thing. Without it, an army is just a mob. The Beiyang Army has the latest equipment, but they may not be able to use the bullets and shells produced by the Hanyang Arsenal. Captain Zhu, if we blow up this batch of ammunition, our contributions will be invaluable. I took a stroll around the station earlier, counting the guards, there are only about one platoon, scattered all over the place. With the heavy fog now, taking them out won't be a problem. After blowing up the ammunition, it's not too late to blow up the bridge."

  These people conferred for a while, then dispersed and shouldered their cotton-padded bags, moving in different directions towards the platform piled with ammunition boxes. A few muffled sounds later, several Northern Warlord Army sentries standing guard nearby were quietly taken out, and their military uniforms were quickly stripped off and replaced by these young men.

  In less than ten minutes, those coolies who were still transporting military supplies and equipment found themselves shocked to have become prisoners.

  "Don't be afraid, everybody! We are the Republican Army!" The young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes stood on an ammunition box waving a handgun. "Now please trouble yourselves to put these shells back onto the truck and follow us onto the train for a ride!"

  These armed youths pushed the coolies to move the ammunition boxes on the platform back to the train, and the train driver and station master soon joined the ranks of the coolies. The dispatch room also fell into the hands of these young people. With the assistance of railway workers, several switches were pulled. Half of the shells on the platform were quickly moved away. The leading youth shouted: "Okay, leave the remaining shells here to be blown up! The staff officer stayed behind to command a team to blow up the military supplies, and the second team followed me."

  With a whistle, the train restarted and slowly pulled out of the station with dozens of cars.

  A Northern Army staff officer who was buying cigarettes at the station exit heard the whistle and subconsciously ran back to the platform, staring blankly as the train left the station. Before he could understand what was happening, a rifle bullet flying from the top of the carriage blew his military cap off.

  The bewildered Beiyang staff officer didn't even bother to pick up his military cap, turned around and rushed towards the exit, but was stopped by a rifle-wielding sentry just a few steps away from the gate.

  "What...what are you stopping me for?" The staff officer asked with a livid face.

  His only response was a heavy rifle butt, and he immediately fainted. Before he fell to the ground, another soldier had already grabbed this unfortunate staff officer and dragged him aside.

  The soldier who had struck the staff officer with his rifle butt turned around, stared at the old cigarette vendor, grinned and said in Anhui dialect: "The Beiyang Army has strict discipline. Any soldier not wearing a military cap will be beaten unconscious and locked up."

  The old man was so frightened that he couldn't speak, and as soon as the soldier turned around, he immediately gathered his cigarette stall and fled in a hurry.

  ……

  At the same time, several young people who stayed at the train station quickly stuffed a few heavy zha medicine packages into the pile of ammunition. A short fuse was quickly ignited. Shortly after the young people ran out of the station, a loud explosion shook the sky, and Hankou Liujiatang Railway Station was shrouded in thick smoke. The entire Wuhan city was shocked by this thunderous sound.

  Soon after, two loud explosions were heard in the northern suburbs of Hankou.

  Chen Kuilong, the acting governor of Hubei and Hunan provinces, was shocked by these explosions. After the news of the explosion at Liujiatun railway station was confirmed, another shocking message came: The three bridges and two bridges on the Beijing-Hankou Railway, which were not far from Zhangguangcun, were all blown up. A train with dozens of cars overturned on the track leading to Yidaoqiao Bridge, and the locomotive was blown to pieces. According to the account of a laborer who ran back, the people who blew up the two bridges and three bridges were members of the Republican Army, and they also destroyed Liujiatun railway station. They took away many railway workers as well.

  Apart from this, the warships of various powers also sent telegrams, saying that the revolutionary army in Jiujiang had already arrived at the riverbank near Wuchang and was landing and gathering.

  ……

  All signs indicate that Wuhan Sanzhou has become the next target of the Republican Army, and war is inevitable.

  Chen Qilong hastily led his men to Hankou, where he personally met with Wang Zhaoyuan and Lu Yongxiang, who were leading the vanguard of the Northern Expeditionary Army's Second Division southward. He urged them to quickly lead their troops across the river, defend Wuchang, and dispatch a portion of their forces to protect the arsenal and ironworks in Hanyang.

  Wang and Lu were worried about losing the military supplies, but the Hanyang Arsenal was crucial, so they didn't dare to slack off. When the thick fog dispersed slightly, they hastily led their troops to board ships and cross the river. However, when their fleet sailed into the middle of the river, they were suddenly intercepted by a warship flying a dragon flag, which refused to let them pass and then bombarded them, causing heavy losses.

  Just as the Beiyang officers and soldiers were cursing loudly, the gunboat with the "Chu Guan" plaque quickly lowered the dragon flag. Amidst the cannon fire, a red flag rose up, with four golden large characters: Iron Blood Republic.

  It wasn't until then that the Beiyang Army officers and soldiers realized they were being bombarded by warships of the Jiujjiang Uprising Army.

  Before they could come to their senses, they heard again the rumbling cannon fire coming from Wuchang city.

  The Republican army's western expeditionary force, which had been sailing upstream from Jiujiang, anchored at Tianxin Zhou last night and landed at Xujia Peng on the south bank of the Yangtze River in the early morning today under thick fog. They quickly moved southeast and soon approached the city of Wuchang, defeating the patrol troops outside the city. Then they set up big guns at the Tangjiao New Army Barracks and heavily bombarded the walls of Wuchang, engaging in fierce fighting with the flag soldiers defending the provincial capital.

  ……

  The vanguard battle known as the "Wu Shen Yang Xia War" was launched, and before the "Chu Guan" launched an attack, the Republican Army Special Warfare Brigade had already landed on the "Republican No." under the command of Regimental Commander Zhu Daniu. The substitute gunboat with a British flag hung four hours in advance, and immediately cut off all telegraph lines and telephone lines near Hankou, officially opening the curtain of war with their special warfare tactics.

  As the Special Task Force had successfully destroyed two bridges on the railway line, the railway traffic on the Beijing-Hankou Line was interrupted. If they wanted to reinforce Wuhan, the Qing army had no choice but to march on foot for over a hundred miles, and all heavy artillery also had to slow down their advance.