Volume 1: Turbulent Times Chapter 30: Astonishing Words

  Please support, recommend and collect!

  "Gentlemen, I, Zhao, am now in a state of utter confusion. Everyone, please speak up and let's get the agenda out. Zhao Hengru looks disheartened and dejected, and with the shocking wound from earlier, everyone is feeling a sense of despair."

  The leader of the 31st Regiment, Tao Deyao, was an old subordinate of Zhao Hengti. After being shocked, he immediately got up with a burst of anger.

  "Sir! Zhu Zhuowen, relying on the backing of Chen Qimei's faction, is simply lawless! This matter cannot be let go easily. I immediately assembled the 31st Brigade to search for him throughout the city and will definitely catch this guy!"

  "Right, right, right! The 32nd Regiment fully supports Colonel Tao. This matter cannot be dropped like this." He Sui nodded repeatedly on the side. In fact, he and Zhao Hengyu didn't have much of a relationship, and they usually kept their distance from each other. But today's incident was different. Zhu Zhuowen had made a ruthless move, and the people below were getting restless. If they didn't severely punish him, it would be hard to guarantee that the next person to get shot wouldn't be themselves. Since Tao Deyao was taking the lead in charging forward, He Sui thought he might as well show his support.

  As soon as he opened his mouth, the other team leaders immediately reacted and expressed their support one after another, but in fact, they only offered verbal support without any substantial help.

  Everyone is not stupid, Zhu Zhuowen's back is Chen Qimei, and who is behind Chen Qimei is clear in everyone's heart. When gods fight, ordinary people suffer, it's better to stay away. Li Jun, Zhang Huafu and a few others have already had the idea of slipping away quietly, but they haven't spoken out yet due to emotional face.

  They talked loudly for half a day, and except for Tao De Yao's firm attitude, everyone else was talking nonsense. Even Huang Kaiyuan, the most timid one, suggested that he would go to Shanghai as the representative of the Eighth Division to discuss with Chen Qimei, and it is really unknown whether he is naive or wants to use this excuse to leave Nanjing and hide in the Shanghai concession to avoid the storm.

  In the back house not far from them, Fang Zidao had been hiding inside listening to the movements outside. The more he listened, the more uncomfortable he felt in his heart, and he couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile.

  "What a joke! This kind of army dares to fight against the Beiyang Army? It's simply ridiculous!" The Eighth Division, touted as the KMT's strongest division, is like this, let alone those other motley "revolutionary armies". Sun Yat-sen's so-called "Second Revolution" is just a huge joke. Fang Zidao estimates that with the current situation, even if the Beiyang Army just approaches, these troops without any fighting spirit will be lucky to last one round.

  From the bottom of his heart, Fang Zidao really looked down on these slack and sloppy "revolutionary armies", including the elite Eighth Division in front of him, which was just a silver-plated wax gun head, only looking shiny on the surface. However, no matter what, he had to keep the Eighth Division, not only because it was the task given by Song Jiaoren for this trip south, but also because it would be a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Beiyang clique and restrain Yuan Shikai in the future. Thinking of this, Fang Zidao raised his hand to look at the time, feeling that it was almost time, he called over a soldier arranged by Zhao Hengti and whispered a few words in his ear.

  Zhao Hengru listened to the discussion below for half a day, but no results were achieved. His face became increasingly ugly. These main officers of the Eighth Division all had their own ideas of self-protection. How could he not see it? As they spoke, several people below seemed to have said what they should say, and there was nothing new to be gained from further discussion. They all turned their eyes to Zhao Hengru in the upper seat, looking as if they still wanted him, the division commander, to make a decision.

  "Damn it! Normally, everyone is the boss, who takes their superior seriously? Today something happened and they use me as a shield, okay! You guys are quite righteous!" Zhao Heng didn't know that they had their own calculations, except for Tao Deyao, he hated the rest of them to the point of grinding his teeth, just wanting to slam the table and scold them to vent his anger. At this time, Zhao Heng's deputy approached him a few steps and whispered to him that it was time to change the dressing.

  "Change the medicine?" Zhao Heng was slightly stunned, and he quickly nodded, greeted everyone present, and pretended to get up with difficulty, supported by his deputy officer, and went into the inner room first.

  Zhao Heng suddenly walked away, and most of the people present let out a sigh of relief. Several even wanted to take this opportunity to leave and return to their barracks to make arrangements. Who knew that Tao Deyao was like a firecracker today, pulling along Huang Kaiyuan, who was the first to try to slip away, and repeatedly asking this "old leader" to come up with a solution.

  "Bo Qing, why are you dragging me into this? I've already said everything I could! " Huang Kaiyuan's face was as gloomy as a bitter melon. He glanced in the direction Zhao Hengyi had left and lowered his voice to say: "Bo Qing, you know what kind of person I am, so why are you making things difficult for me? Besides, even if we catch Zhu Zhuowen, what can you do? Can you really behead him? Honestly, whether or not you dare to do such a thing, I, Huang, don't. If Commander-in-Chief (Huang Xing) were still here, maybe we could have a showdown, but under the current circumstances, you know as well as I do... It's better to leave some leeway for the future, Bo Qing! Life is more important than anything else!"

  "Is that so, Bo Qing? The masters have no intention, can you take charge? Are you more powerful than the masters? Spare yourself." Liu Jianfan had the same idea in his heart as Huang Kaiyuan and echoed beside him: "I heard that Hunan is currently short of troops for defense, a few days ago, Tan Du invited my eighth division to dispatch some troops to cooperate with the defense. In my opinion, this is an opportunity, why not wait until the master returns..."

  "Right, right, this is a good idea!" Zhang Hua and several others' eyes lit up at once. This move was the most clever way to leave Nanjing, on the one hand it could avoid trouble, on the other hand it would not bring about a bad reputation of destroying the revolution. For a while everyone secretly pondered this.

  "Haha, what are you all discussing?" Just then, the sound of boots echoed from the doorway. It was Lin Hu, the commander of the independent regiment, who had arrived. He was dressed neatly and walked in with big strides.

  "Director Lin!"

  Lin Hu was just a regimental commander, but in the 8th Division, he was one of the few who could sit on an equal footing with two brigade commanders. His independent regiment had always been the strongest in combat among all regiments. In front of Lin Hu, the other regimental commanders were no match for him in terms of seniority or strength. Moreover, Lin Hu had never gotten along with these Hunan and Guangxi folks, and he was a loner who was used to being arrogant and self-important. So when everyone didn't see Lin Hu at today's meeting, they didn't think it was strange. Who would have thought that this annoying guy would suddenly show up?

  "Huh? Where's Zhao Heng? Why isn't he here?" He walked straight to the front, pulled out a chair and sat down with a loud thud, scanned the crowd and asked.

  "What a bastard!" Tao De's face turned iron-green with rage, cursing in his heart. You Linhu was just the commander of the 8th Division, how could he be so presumptuous? Zhao Hengyu was the commander of the entire division, and yet he dared to address him by name? And with such a casual tone? Where was the respect for authority?

  Lin Hu's attitude, not to mention Tao De Yao, even Wang Xiaoqiang and others couldn't stand it. Not being able to stand it was one thing, but having scruples in their hearts was another. The atmosphere was chilly, and no one spoke up.

  "After the teacher left, I changed the medicine." Li Shimao was a relatively smooth talker. Seeing that no one liked to talk to Lin Hu, and Lin Hu's face getting increasingly ugly as if he was about to get angry, he forced himself to explain.

  "Change medicine? Change what medicine?" Lin Hu was taken aback.

  Li Shimao briefly mentioned Zhao Heng's gunshot wound, and then said that they were discussing the matter, just as Captain Lin arrived, so why not discuss it together.

  "Deserved it!" Who would have thought that Lin Hu would not only be unafraid, but instead blurt out these two words: "Letting Zhao Hengdi do revolution is giving him an honor, if he doesn't make a revolution what's the point of being a military commander? He's just taking up space and not doing anything useful! If I had to say it, this shot was well done! Good! If this one shot could wake up all the civilians, I think its significance would be comparable to the first shot in Wuchang back then!"