Chapter 28: Secret Letter

  "After failing the exam, I'll plant chrysanthemums? It's Huang Zhuo's 'After Failing the Exam, Planting Chrysanthemums', this...this is a rebellious poem!"

  The person next to him saw that he had taken over the letter and his face also became strange, suddenly curious, surrounded by a look, already understood the five flavors in his heart, suddenly exclaimed in a low voice!

  "It's Huang Chao!"

  When it comes to "Huanghuai's Later Poem", few intellectuals of this generation know that his poem was warned by the ruling authorities of China throughout history due to the poet himself, and was classified as a counter-revolutionary poem.

  Huang Chao, who is this man? His great title - the Great General Who Rushes to Heaven, was a leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty. He thoroughly broke off the last pillar that supported the rule of the Li family of Tang, causing two thousand million people in the central plains to die or be injured, and led to the complete destruction of the mighty Tang Empire, making him a 'great contributor'.

  A poem of reversal, plus the words "the great king's flag changes on the city wall", the content it expresses is already very clear! The people in the house understood in their hearts that it was probably a liaison person sent by other unconnected places in the city, only... they were also curious about how, if not for the arrest of several leading organs of the eight camps last night, Xiong Bingkun would have been just a small positive goal within the eight camps. He Liguang was able to contact them simply because he sneaked in and bumped into Jin Zhaolong who was on guard, which brought him over, but how did this person know that he was the temporary commander of the eighth camp who had just been elected this morning?

  "Dai Qian, this... who wrote this?"

  Everyone in the house was looking at the letter and talking in a low voice, thinking that perhaps there were new comrades willing to join the revolutionary ranks. However, Cheng Zhengying did not think so simply, seeing Xiong Bingkun's face still hesitant and indecisive, he took two steps forward and came to his side.

  "...I don't know, from what I heard, she seems like a delicate girl...and also, she even claims to be my cousin..."

  Xiong Bingkun smiled wryly, took out a pack of Da Ying brand cigarettes (worth 10 copper coins, about 0.08 to 0.1 taels of silver or 0.15 eagle dollars) from his pocket and lit one for himself, then handed one to Cheng Zhengying.

  "You also know I'm single and live with only an old mother at home. Where did this cousin come from? Even if she existed, how would she find her way here?"

  He furrowed his brow as he took the cigarette handed over by Xiong Bingkun, but didn't light it up. Firstly, he wasn't a heavy smoker, and secondly, he wasn't used to smoking such strong cigarettes. Compared to American and British tobacco, he was more accustomed to milder Japanese cigarettes. As for domestic and Southeast Asian cigarettes, to be honest, not only did they lack a pure taste, but also had many strange flavors. Although he wanted to support domestic products, without a doubt, Chinese cigarettes still had a long way to go compared to foreign ones.

  "It's no doubt that fellow citizens in the city should be aware of this, at this time no one dares to take this thing out and show off, if caught they will definitely be put in prison for strict investigation..."

  Xiong Bingkun took a deep breath, and two streams of smoke shot out from his nostrils. He furrowed his brow, "However, the new army in this city doesn't have female soldiers, I'm afraid it's just an ordinary family that someone asked for help. But who could it be..."

  Xiong Bingkun had to pass on the letter and carefully looked at it again. Next to him, He Liguo and Cheng Zhengying were thinking that today's situation in the city was complicated, and their eight battalions became prominent because of guarding the Chu Wangtai military arsenal, but they could find Xiong Bingkun so quickly, there must be some insiders in the battalion... But... who would it be?

  His heart grew more and more anxious, but Xiong Bingkun suddenly discovered that the back of this letter felt a bit strange. He quickly turned it over and saw that on the back of the high-quality paper used for writing letters, there was actually a place with wax on it. No wonder it felt strange when he touched it!

  "Wait..."

  Xiong Bingkun suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and the pursuers in Pinchen's mouth, those who came with He Liguon, a woman who pretended to be his cousin sent him some letters, these things turned around in his mind one by one, and gradually an idea became clear!

  "Quickly... who among you has a knife, give it to me..."

  He hastily put the letter on the table, and Xiong Bingkun thought that ordinary people would not notice it, they would only pay attention to the content in front of them, and even if they felt something was behind it, they would think that it was just wax that had accidentally stuck to it during writing, and would never suspect that there might be more content hidden underneath.

  "I have a knife... for..."

  He Liguo beside him saw the urgency on his face and didn't bother to ask, immediately took out a small knife from his breast pocket and handed it to him. "Thanks..."

  Xiong Bingkun took the knife and carefully scraped off a piece of wax from the back of the envelope, being careful not to damage the paper. Gradually, as he had expected, several lines of clear small characters appeared!

  "As expected..."

  "What... Tai Gan, there... has... words..."

  The people around all gathered together, and suddenly it was like a pot that had been opened, no one thought that there would be more words under the wax seal on the back of the letter.

  Everyone gathered around and stared, instantly stunned.

  "This... Brother Dai Qian, these characters are a bit too small, aren't they..."

  He Liguang rubbed his somewhat sour eyes and looked at them for a while, but because the handwriting was too small, he couldn't see clearly.

  "It's okay... I have an idea..."

  Cheng Zhengying, who was beside him, suddenly seemed to remember something and smiled, pushing aside the people next to him and squeezing out. He came to a corner of the house, lifted up a stone slab on the ground, and took out a small cloth package from underneath.

  "Is it a telescope? Damn, why didn't I think of that?"

  Xiong Bingkun knew what was in the cloth package, and his face immediately showed a look of sudden realization. Cheng Zhengying smiled silently and opened the small cloth package, taking out an old-fashioned monocular telescope from inside, disassembling it and removing a magnifying lens from the top to hand over to him.

  "If you can discover the secret behind this envelope, it's best. I'm Zheng Zhongzhi. Because I met a fellow overseas Chinese who helped me escape from the Qing soldiers' pursuit. I believe that if what Zhang and others said is true, He Xiang has already infiltrated the camp, and by now, you should have found him too! In short, we captured several soldiers from the 8th battalion and learned about the situation inside the camp. The person who helped us is also a progressive person who strongly supports the domestic revolution, so he decided to help us. You temporarily hide, and I will go buy some guns and come back to help our comrades in the camp take down Chu Wangtai this afternoon. Just don't expose yourselves before that... This letter was written by the overseas Chinese who saved me, a talented person who has worked as a mercenary abroad and is skilled in shooting enemies from 100 paces away. After hearing about our predicament, he voluntarily offered to use his savings of 10,000 taels to buy guns and ammunition for our uprising. Please burn this letter after reading it... to avoid premature exposure..."

  "What..."

  Xiong Bingkun carefully read the contents on the back of the letter with the help of his glasses, and immediately turned to He Liguang beside him, "May I ask, Brother He, do you know a comrade named 'Yan Zhongzhi'?"

  "This..." He Liguang was slightly stunned, "I know, this person is one of the three who covered our escape from the Qing soldiers' pursuit earlier... What? Is this letter related to him? No, that's impossible..."

  "He was lucky enough to have met a noble person who helped him. You can see for yourself..." He said, handing the letter and the mirror piece over to He Liguang.

  Cheng Zhengying, who was beside him, saw that he had seen the letter and the worry between his eyebrows had dissipated a bit, so he stepped forward and asked, "Dai Qian... what's going on?"

  "Earlier, when Pin Xiang sent a message over, he told me that He Xiong and the comrades who had previously contacted him were ambushed by Ruan Rongfa's pursuing soldiers. However, halfway through, a large black sedan suddenly appeared and defeated the pursuers. After Ruan Rongfa received the report from the remaining soldiers, he was furious and sent three teams of soldiers to surround and annihilate them, but it seems they managed to evade them... The letter I saw was the one that Yan Zhongzheng had someone else help deliver after escaping. It's said that they encountered a noble person who helped them, saved their lives, and even promised to provide us with 10,000 taels of silver to purchase military equipment and guns to aid in our uprising... If we can make it in time, perhaps tonight before the uprising..."

  However, as he spoke, his voice also became much softer. Although Wuhan is adjacent to the Hanyang Arsenal, the imperial court also knows that once these firearms flow into the hands of civilians, whether it's the horse bandits, water bandits or the Huabei Party, they will all be detrimental to their rule. Therefore, they are particularly strict in governing these areas.

  Of course, the local trend of selling guns has not diminished. Firstly, the Qing government had long been corrupt, and the local garrison and patrol troops all had a tradition of selling firearms; secondly, it was the foreigners who truly dominated this land, at least 90% of the guns circulating in the domestic black market came from their concessions in China, only...only that Wuchang is about six or seven hours' journey away from the foreign concession area in Hankou, and they would have to waste some time on the way, it's unknown whether they could make it to the uprising tonight...

  Hope I can catch up...

  The two of them exchanged a glance, and once again worry crept into their hearts!