Chapter 27: Liaison

  "Bang!"

  Cheng Zhengyin was so excited that the teacup in his hand shook and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces!

  Xiong Bingkun's face also became excited, and he hastily instructed Jin Zhaolong, who was standing guard at the door, to be careful. "Jin Zhaolong, you go out and be vigilant, if there is any wind or movement outside, notify us immediately!"

  "Yes, Captain!"

  Jin Zhaolong's face also became serious, he had always been meticulous in his thinking, although not like the people inside who were once educated abroad or graduated from various military academies across the country, only a few years of private school education, he still knew what was important and what was not! Otherwise, the more than 200 rebels of the 8th Regiment would not have assigned him to be one of the leaders to guard the meeting.

  The door was gently opened and closed again, but at this moment, the atmosphere in the house suddenly became serious!

  Xiong Bingkun furrowed his brow and lit a cigarette for himself, raised his head to glance at the comrades in the house, and many people's faces began to tremble with excitement!

  He hesitated for a moment, then saw He Liguo, who was standing beside him, had caught his breath. So he asked aloud: "Brother He, would you please tell everyone in detail about the situation in the city and with your South Lake Artillery Team? Yesterday, Commander Sun's men accidentally caused trouble, which made the situation inside the city deteriorate severely. Our Eighth Engineer Battalion was put under house arrest. We wanted to send someone out to scout several times, but there are always people patrolling inside the camp. Even if you go to the toilet for a bit longer than usual, you'll be taken away and interrogated. Alas... now our Eighth Battalion already has many comrades who have been thrown into prison by the Qing court's minions and subjected to severe torture... I don't know how many more comrades will have to sacrifice themselves for the revolution... We also want to resolve this difficult situation in the city as soon as possible, but we can't contact other comrades in various parts of the city at all. Moreover, the guards on Chu Wang Tai have been replaced with new people, and it's impossible to get enough weapons for an uprising..."

  There was a sudden sigh in the room, and several people began to scold in a low voice.

  "Ah, I met with comrades from other camps in the city earlier. Let me introduce the situation in the city first. Since yesterday's incident, the list of rebel comrades has been leaked too much, and most of them are our commanders and leaders. As for the various camps in the city, it's not necessary to say that those three have already fallen into the hands of evil people... I'm sure you've seen their photos..."

  He Ligu's words were cut off mid-sentence, and he suddenly became enraged, cursing loudly, but his hands gently covered his face, and through the gaps between his fingers, a faint glimmer of tears could be seen.

  A moment of silence fell inside the house, and everyone knew that the three heroes he mentioned were Liu Fubai, Guo Chufan, and Yang Hongsheng, who had been brutally murdered by the wicked people. They all died heroically in the early hours of this morning at the East Gate of the Huguang Governor's Office. After their death, not only were their bodies casually thrown outside the East Gate, but no one was allowed to come forward to collect their bodies. Moreover, they were brutally photographed by the Qing dynasty executioners at the moment of their tragic death, and the photos were distributed to various new army barracks in the city as a means of intimidating the party members within the new army.

  It was something that those corrupt and decadent Qing officials, who were only thinking of ways to exploit the people, could not have anticipated. Not only did this move fail to intimidate the new army in the city, but it also strengthened their determination to overthrow the Qing government by force due to its vicious and despicable nature. As a result, since morning, various camps in the city had been secretly contacting each other, which led to He Ligong's trip.

  "Let's not talk about that, although the various camps in the city have been subject to some control, because many new troops are involved, Na Rui-cheng is also afraid of provoking our armed resistance, so he only arrested some comrades whose names appeared on the leaked list. It's just...because most of the people who leaked the information were the main leaders and officers of each camp, we lost command and could only hastily elect some new leaders. He Xiang is one of the brothers who came to consult with the 8th camp, dare I ask, are you ready?"

  Xiong and Cheng looked at each other, nodded firmly, "Please rest assured, Brother He, that the brothers in this house are all from my 8th camp who dare to die for the revolution. They are all true revolutionary comrades. Also, please inform us of the uprising time of other camps in the city, so we can make preparations and arrange for the comrades in each shed to get ready!"

  He nodded, took a cigarette from Xiong Bingkun and lit it after saying thank you. He Liguang took a puff, "Our plan is to start the uprising at around 8 o'clock after dinner. At that time, as long as there is a gunshot in the city, all the new armies in various parts of the city will respond. The southern camp on our side will take down the Zhonghe Gate at the first time and contact the artillery battalion to set up roadblocks to block the 32nd battalion. The cavalry regiment and the 11th battalion will enter the city. However... the 31st battalion on the left flag is a bit dangerous, they have a battalion of constabulary, and are also responsible for cutting off the Guangzhou-Hankou railway, and their barracks are just next to the 21st mixed brigade's barracks. That old thief Li Yuanhong is best at buying people's hearts, we haven't been able to develop many brothers in the 21st mixed brigade, I'm afraid they will be in danger when the time comes. There is no news from the artillery battalion for the time being, but two brothers who came with us have already gone to contact them, and the engineering team has also been notified, and they will launch a strong attack on the Wusheng Gate at that time, drawing the attention of the Qing army on the Fenghuang Mountain. The Snake Mountain is a bit troublesome, we don't know if our brothers there have been exposed or not, and we can't contact them until now, but one of our comrades has already gone to contact them. There is also the Hubei Governor's Office, where there is a battalion of elite soldiers, who may suppress our comrades in the city who have no guns at any time. Zhang Biao's drill ground is also nearby, and it is said that because of yesterday's exposure, he brought a battalion of guards from outside the city last night to reinforce the defense. Although their training is not as good as ours, after all, they have better weapons than us, I'm afraid our brothers in the cavalry regiment can't hold them back for long... Alas! If it weren't for the fact that one of our sharpshooters was killed, we could have arranged for him to go and assassinate Rui Cun at the right moment... What a pity! What a pity!"

  He let out a deep sigh, the godly shooter in his mouth was actually one of his brothers from his own family. The two had a very good relationship, and even though one joined the new army, the other followed suit. Yesterday, he was arranged to assassinate the Governor of Huguang, Rui Ceng, under the cover of night, but because his name appeared on the leaked list, he was taken away, and this morning, he heard the bad news. His heart still ached with sorrow, and his hatred for Rui Ceng deepened even more. He had volunteered for this dangerous liaison mission in order to overthrow the Qing dynasty as soon as possible and avenge his brother!

  Everyone in the house was still watching him, and He Lige also knew that this was not the time to be sad, so he collected his thoughts, took another puff of the cigarette in his hand, and continued to say, "However, compared to the safety of our brothers in the city, your mission is even more important! I heard that after Old Rui took away our weapons, they were stored in the Chu Wang Tai arsenal. Once we rise up, we will inevitably need a large amount of military supplies to arm ourselves. I hope you can take down Chu Wang Tai as soon as possible so that we can arm our brothers in the city!"

  After finishing, he solemnly stared at Xiong and Cheng, only to see that Cheng Zhengying's face was furrowed with worry, while Xiong Bingkun beside him looked the same. However, after thinking for a moment, he nodded his head with difficulty!

  "Don't worry, He brother, even if I have to sacrifice this worthless life of mine, I will definitely take down that Chu Wangtai and retake the armed forces for the thousands of comrades in the city..."

  Old bear...

  Next to Cheng Zhengying, he saw that he had definitely agreed, and suddenly a hint of urgency appeared on his face, and even the crowd in the house was the same. This outsider may not know, but are they not clear about their current situation? The danger of the situation is higher than other places in the city, after all, this place is adjacent to the Chu Wangtai military arsenal, where there are enough guns to equip all the new troops in the city, and even more than 100 large and small cannons purchased by the imperial court from Germany. These eight battalions are different from ordinary battalion departments, with five teams (1 team = 3 rows = 9 sheds) instead of four, because one team is an artillery team due to the reason of guarding Chu Wangtai military arsenal, in addition to the full reserve of food and materials inside. If it's a siege... I'm afraid... I'm afraid that without thousands of people, it's impossible to take down... even ordinary alerts need to be stricter than the governor's mansion, let alone they don't have enough weapons, it's impossible to take down the heavily guarded Chu Wangtai military arsenal.

  "No need to say more, I've already made up my mind...." Xiong Bingkun naturally knew what the few people in the house were thinking. Although he didn't have absolute certainty, it was still much better than having no possibility at all. It's just that...it couldn't be avoided that there would be a sacrifice to make....

  However, he had already decided to do such a dangerous thing himself, so when faced with the inquiring eyes of the people in the house, he smiled wryly and pulled out a pack of Da Ying brand cigarettes (worth 10 copper coins, about 0.08 to 0.1 taels of silver or 0.15 eagles) from his pocket and lit one for himself, then handed one to Cheng Zhengying. Cheng Zhengying, who rarely smoked, also took the cigarette and lit it, his eyes somewhat dazed, looking at Xiong Bingkun's eyes flashing with a hint of admiration and... reluctance, as if... he had also thought of it.

  The room suddenly fell silent, except for the occasional sighs and the sound of puffing on a cigarette, there were no other sounds!

  "Bang! Bang!"

  Just as the house fell into a brief silence, a light knock came from the side wall window. Xiong Bingkun, who was closest to it, cautiously approached with a guarded expression on his face.

  "Captain, the brothers from the guard post just came to report that a girl claiming to be your cousin has arrived with a letter for you, brought in by one of the patrol soldiers!"

  Outside the window, Jin Zhaolong's deliberately suppressed low voice came through. The window was opened a crack, and then, one by one, envelopes with no words on them were handed in!

  Xiong Bingkun furrowed his brow, and indeed, there was an uncle in his family when he was young, but after his father's death, they lost contact. He heard that the family had a daughter, but more than a decade ago, the whole family went to Guangzhou for business, and he himself had been keeping a low profile all these years, so how could they possibly find him?

  "There's something fishy going on here!"

  A slight movement in his heart and he understood that there might be something strange, thinking about it, he took over the letter, turned around and signaled to the people inside the house who were already equipped with guns and being cautious, nothing happened, only then did he turn back, not hurrying to open the envelope, but instead stuck to the wall, asking Jin Zhaolong, who was on guard outside the house, "What about that girl who came to deliver the letter?"

  Because of the disturbance last night, the surveillance of the new army in various parts of the city has not been lifted yet. Especially the correspondence and personnel movements between various places are being checked by special personnel. According to Jin Zhaolong's words, it seems that the soldiers on patrol duty were probably their own people, otherwise a letter would have fallen into the hands of Dai Guan Daitou Ruan Rongfa, who knows when it could be received.

  "The brother of the patrol team said she had already returned with high vigilance, but that brother was more clever and sent someone to follow her. I believe there will be news soon!"

  "Ah...good!"

  As soon as the words were spoken, a neat footsteps came from outside the door. Xiong Bingkun knew it was the guard patrol team inside the camp. Jin Zhaolong's thoughts were meticulous, and after hearing the sound, he quietly went around to the back of the barracks and hid in the dark. Obviously, they weren't their people. After the patrol walked away, he came back to the window again, "Captain, be careful, I just heard that the pursuers sent by Ruan Rongfa to investigate the team that came with He brothers have returned..."

  "What?"

  Xiong Bingkun was shocked and his sudden cry of surprise drew the attention of everyone in the house!

  "What's wrong? Captain!"

  "Brother Bear, what's wrong?"

  "Brother Dai Qian, this is..."

  Facing a group of people's inquiries, Xiong Bingkun raised his hand slightly, indicating to wait for a moment before speaking. He didn't even have time to look at the letter in his hand, and hastily asked while sticking to the window, "Pinchen, what's going on?"

  "A team of over 20 people, heard that seven or eight have died. It's said that when they were just catching up, they encountered a sudden iron-plated car, and in an instant, five or six people were killed... Ruan Yongfa has already dispatched two teams to go there, the team that just went also saw the situation and wanted to rush over, now three teams have gone, I'm afraid... I'm afraid the situation outside is not good..."

  "Alright... got it, also be careful with some things outside..."

  It is...

  His face turned gloomy, and according to He Liguos words, there were more than a dozen people outside, but only four or five guns, and not many bullets. If they couldn't find a place to hide quickly, they might fall into the hands of evil people again!

  "What to do... calm down... let's read the letter first..."

  Although he was worried in his heart, he still calmed down and tore open the envelope on his hand.

  The letter was not long, or simply put, only one poem with a changed title. Xiong Bingkun was able to suppress the heroes and become the leader of the Engineering Regiment Revolutionary Army, without mentioning the means, just talking about his talent, he was excellent. Mei Tou's eyebrows were slightly lowered, reciting the poem on the paper, suddenly, her face turned better!

  "What's wrong? Dai Qian!"

  Everyone in the house had been on guard before, and Jin Zhaolong's voice was small outside the window to prevent unexpected events, only Xiong Bingkun with his ear against the window could hear clearly. So, even Cheng Zhengying, who was closest to him, did not hear what they were saying earlier and thought it was just related to the letter in his hand.

  This is also a capable person, although he has not studied abroad or attended a regular military academy, but in 1908 he joined the revolutionary organization - Gongjin Society. He was one of the first batch to join the Literary Society and an old revolutionary in the Wuchang New Army. For thousands of years, Chinese people have attached great importance to seniority and ranking, and revolutionaries are no exception. Although Xiong Bingkun had talent and learning, if it weren't for Cheng Zhengying's help, he wouldn't have been able to establish his prestige and become a leader in the revolutionary army. He also worked hard to contact many Gongjin Society comrades who had lost their mainstay, which enabled Xiong Bingkun, who had just joined the Gongjin Society this year, to become one of the leaders after the Wuchang New Army was beheaded.

  Therefore, for him, Xiong Bingkun gave enough respect. In daily life, the two were not only close in relationship, but also often consulted each other on decision-making and planning. At this time, seeing that he had spoken up, without thinking it through, he casually handed over the letter in his hand to Cheng Zhengying.

  "What beautiful handwriting!"

  The moment he received the letter, Cheng Zhengying only glanced at the words on the paper and his eyebrows furrowed immediately. He also noticed that this letter was a bit strange! Although he hadn't attended a regular military academy, he had studied in a private school for several years, especially with good calligraphy skills, which made him unparalleled within the engineering battalion. Usually, when someone needed help with a letter or something, they would come to him for assistance. China has always emphasized "observing characters like people", so after just one glance, he could tell that the person who wrote this letter was a well-educated woman. However, some of the fonts were not familiar to him, neither regular script nor running script, but seemed simplified, which made it difficult to recognize, yet not impossible!

  But when he fully understood the content of this letter, his face also became strange, because this letter was wrong, it was a poem that he was most familiar with, but only changed the name of the poet. Of course, these are not the most important things, the most important thing is still the title of the new poem, which is not difficult to bear, and after careful consideration, it is clear that it is the seven words "The Great King's Flag Changes on the City Head", plus this poem has been called a counter-poem by the ruling class for generations, suddenly, the content that the letter writer wants to express has already jumped out of the paper!

  The flag on the city wall changes greatly after the failure of the imperial examination

  Wait until autumn arrives on September 8th

  After I bloom, all flowers wither

  The fragrance of flowers wafts through Chang'an

  The whole city is dressed in golden armor