Chapter 21: Encounter with the New Revolutionary Army (Part 3)

  "Extra... Extra, the Hubei army has once again defeated the democratic forces, and its military strength is now directly aimed at Suizhou. Governor Duan Fang stated that within three days, they will definitely capture the heavily fortified city of Suizhou..."

  "Extra... Extra, yesterday Wuchang Russian concession police seized the list of Hui party members. Governor Rui Zheng led a nighttime pursuit to capture the rioting Hui party members in the city. It is reported that over 100 Hui party members have been arrested in Nancheng and Ji Bian prisons, including dozens of new army personnel involved in the case..."

  "Extra... Extra, the Huguang Governor's Office has issued a telegram ordering Wuhan's three towns to be on guard. General Zhang Biao of the 8th Division is currently in Hankou overseeing the inspection and drill of the public security forces. The garrison will soon conduct a rotation of troops within the city..."

  "Extra edition... Extra edition, the Governor's Office has ordered the 21st Mixed Brigade to garrison Nanhu Camp. The camp's firearms have been confiscated. It is said that during yesterday's disturbance, many new soldiers in Nanhu Camp attempted to join the rebels..."

  "Extra... Extra, the martial law in Wuhan's three towns starting from August 15th will be re-implemented. Hundreds of ships at the port were inspected. The curfew within the city will continue for the next three days. It is said that consuls from various countries in Hankou have sent people to the Governor-General's office..."

  "Extra... Extra, the evil horse thieves are still causing trouble after being offered amnesty. Five hundred brave warriors defeated over a thousand enemy soldiers. Last night, gunshots were heard non-stop outside Paper Workshop Town in Jiangxia County. The Lu family's troops launched a surprise attack on the Righteous Village at night and killed hundreds of enemies, including the leader of the horse thieves, Kui Sheng, who was shot dead 100 paces away from Lü Huá..."

  "Pretty big sister, would you like a newspaper? It's all about domestic news and interesting stories, and it's cheap!"

  Mrs. T'ien had just come out of the tailor's shop when she was spotted by a newsboy who was wandering along the street. The boy was quite sharp and saw that she was carrying many items, big and small, in her hands, so he took her for a rich lady. He thought that she wouldn't mind spending a few coppers on a newspaper, so he rushed over before his companions, who were eyeing him greedily, could get there first!

  "Huh?"

  Tian's eyes widened slightly, seeing that the one calling her was a fair-skinned young boy. Her heart felt some joy, and thinking that Mr. En might need something, she smiled and stopped, "Your mouth is really sweet, okay little brother, get me one portion...and if you help me deliver a letter, this two silver coins will be yours..."

  Smiling, he asked the newsboy for a copy of the Huguang Monthly Report. He opened it and saw that the city's defense troops were lined up and rushing by not far away. Tian didn't want to delay his benefactor for too long, so he took out a piece of silver and flashed it in front of the newsboy.

  "Alright... beautiful big sister, where would you like me to send the letter?"

  The little boy's eyes lit up. He had worked hard all day and couldn't even earn a few silver coins, so he immediately agreed with excitement.

  Tian's smile smiled and took out a letter from her hidden place, which was written with the pen, ink and paper borrowed from the tailor's shopkeeper, and also asked for an envelope to put it in.

  "Deliver it to Zhaojiawan in Dongcheng District, deliver it to a place called 'Daxing Wine House', give, take it!"

  After giving the broken silver to the child, along with some copper coins found in the newspaper, she took the newspaper and left after the child promised to deliver it. She had bought almost everything she needed, so Tian followed the crowd out of the heavily guarded East City Gate, left the official road, and walked for about ten or twenty minutes towards a hidden place before seeing a black car parked not far from a river creek!

  As soon as Li Han got out of the car with a bandage still wrapped around his left arm, he took out a wrench to remove the two military license plates from the front and back of the car. Tian didn't know what he was doing, but he was startled nonetheless. Although Li Han had already explained to him that his left arm was only grazed by a bullet and hadn't damaged any vital meridians or bones, and that he had applied some special medicine bought from foreigners that would ensure scabbing in two to three days and almost complete recovery within a week!

  However, unfortunately, Tian Shi was the first to see someone who had been shot and didn't care at all, and actually ran around! Heaven knows what her mood was like when she passed by Jiangxia County this morning and saw him entering the city alone with a bucket of gasoline. The oil barrel wasn't big, but it still made her worried for half a day, fearing that the bandaged gunshot wound would split open again!

  "Master, how did you manage to come out and exercise?"

  He had already taken down a piece of iron sheet with a black bottom and was holding it in his hand to admire, Tian rushed over to his side after hurrying for several steps, wanting to support him back to the car to rest!

  "Never mind, I'll finish these things first, and then go into town later!"

  Li Han politely declined her kindness, opened the car door, stuffed the removed license plate under the floor mat inside, then frowned and lightly waved his still numb and sore left arm, quickly walked to the back of the car, and took down the other license plate as well!

  "The anesthetic's effect doesn't seem to have worn off yet!"

  Last night, his left arm lost a lot of blood, making him feel dizzy now. Li Han felt that since he injected half a dose of anesthetic into his left arm before going to bed last night, the effect of the drug had not completely worn off until now, at least for his left arm. Li Han secretly congratulated himself in his heart, fortunately, he was worried that he might encounter some unexpected situation in the middle of the night, so he only gave himself half a shot, otherwise, he estimated that he wouldn't be able to get out of bed all day today!

  He took out a can of white spray paint from the car and painted over the possible military markings on the six tires that might have raised suspicions, only then did he let out a sigh of relief. After the paint dried, unless someone intentionally tried to scrape it off, even if someone felt there was something unusual about the car, they probably wouldn't think anything of it.

  Wiping the sweat from his forehead, a serious expression appeared at the corner of his mouth. "So, let's go according to plan and find that Chu Wangtai arsenal. As long as we can find it, we'll be able to find Engineering Battalion 8. If we can get in touch with Xiong Bingkun and others, we'll make it to the big uprising tonight!"

  "Besides, Tian girl. My name is Li Han, I'm a rough man, you can call me by my name or whatever else you like, just don't mention anything about 'master' again, it makes me feel uneasy all over!"

  Seeing the young girl with several large packages in her arms, Li Han felt a little guilty. To be honest, he had brought her along last night mainly because he was unfamiliar with this era and wanted to learn more about it from her.

  Let's just say that if there was no Tian Shi, and without the asphalt roads that connect to all directions, even with the little gasoline in his car, he wouldn't be able to reach the outskirts of Wuchang overnight. Moreover, this woman is quite thoughtful, she had previously asked to go into the city to buy some food, and just now she glanced at the things the girl bought, four big bags, three of which were for him, all of them being common clothes from the end of the Qing dynasty. Li Han suddenly realized that the girl was indeed considerate, and remembered how he was stopped by a police officer in Jiangxia County that morning because of his strange outfit. This getup on him really isn't suitable for wearing into the city!

  However, after seeing how obedient this woman was, he felt even more guilty in his heart. He had originally planned to send her all the way to Wuchang and then part ways with her, and after tidying himself up, he would try to establish some connections with the new army that was preparing for a rebellion. But now, seeing how exceptionally obedient she was, it seemed that this clever woman had already figured out what he was planning, which made him even more unable to speak!

  Thinking that this woman was also a benefactor in his life, the silver tickets he put in his pocket were all real gold and silver. Now, he even handed over a 100-tael Shanxi merchant's silver ticket to Tian Shi, asking her to exchange it for some loose change! If this silver ticket was fake, then wouldn't the bag of loose silver coins and copper coins he had just thrown back into the carriage be fake too?

  It was also this thought that Li Han temporarily extinguished the idea of breaking up with her, after all, in this chaotic world, she was a gentle and beautiful woman who not only looked good but also had some savings on her body. It's likely that she had just been rescued from the tiger's den and would soon enter the wolf's lair!

  "Never mind, I'll just help her find a good husband in the future!"

  He nodded to her, and Li Han took over the breakfast she handed over, and saw a pot of red date chicken soup specially cooked by Tian Shi to help him replenish his blood, as well as some braised chicken liver and duck liver. He felt even more guilty in his heart. However, he was soon delighted to see that there was also a copy of the latest news on the car, which was urgently needed for him who was eager to understand the revolutionary situation!

  In a hurry, he grabbed something to eat and then picked up the newspaper beside him to read!

  "Has martial law been declared in the city?"

  As soon as he picked up the newspaper, he saw the big headline on it and immediately started thinking. After all, it had been many years since he left school, and he had long forgotten modern Chinese history before the Xinhai Revolution. Now he could only vaguely remember some of the major events that took place over the years, or the large uprising (Railway Protection Movement) that occurred in his hometown of Sichuan before the Xinhai Revolution, which was quite familiar to him.

  Although he didn't know much, he read three messages from this title. Firstly, yesterday's disturbance has begun or has happened, in other words, Sun Wu and others may have already escaped, after losing unified command, it seems that the new army in the city who were originally preparing to revolt will start to riot, however, there are still many capable people in this era, and soon someone will start contacting the new army in the city to set a time for the uprising. Secondly, with the pressure from the consuls of the powers in Hankou District, although the night curfew may not be lifted, the martial law in the city is likely to be reduced by several levels, it's sad to say that this is the sorrow of this era, a world-class great power, even the central government has to accept the pointing and criticism of foreigners, it's almost no different from a colony; and finally, once the new army in the city succeeds in their uprising, the revolutionary fire will be known to the people after tomorrow, at that time, the revolutionaries in various provinces and places will surely be greatly encouraged, domestic chaos is approaching, and the corrupt and incompetent Qing dynasty may have to ask the northern giant - Yuan Shikai to come out of retirement! In other words, a great era is about to arrive!

  He carefully read through the entire page of news, even forgetting to eat anything. After finishing reading, Li Han furrowed his brow and sank into deep thought for half a day. With the help of some already vague memories in his mind, he roughly clarified the revolutionary situation for the next period of time. Unconsciously, the corners of his mouth were filled with smiles!

  He flipped through the newspaper and continued to read, Li Han took the opportunity to supplement a lot of information. Gradually, some information that had been put aside in his mind for years without being used also gradually became clear!

  But anyway... hehe, when Li Han saw a piece of news in the margin of the newspaper, he suddenly burst out laughing. These newspapers, it seems that even the ones from the late Qing dynasty can't be entirely truthful and are mixed with some false information to entertain the masses and earn some operating expenses!

  It turns out that the praise of Lu's family's bravery in the night raid on the bandits' stronghold was a bit too explicit, although it is true that Kui Sheng was originally a bandit, but after all, he had been pardoned by the imperial court. It is unknown what kind of connections the Lu family has, but they were able to get the newspaper to speak well of them, which really made Li Han give them a thumbs up. This person from the late Qing dynasty understood the importance of controlling public opinion, and whoever came up with this idea in the Lu family is definitely the number one figure!

  "Ah... sir, what's so funny?"

  He saw him focusing on reading the newspaper, even forgetting to eat breakfast. Tian Shi, who was eating a crispy pancake with the newly bought hot and sour soup next to him, also stopped moving. He hesitated for a moment, wanting to continue calling him "En Gong", but thinking that Li Han didn't like it, he changed his mouth to call him "Mr."

  "See for yourself!"

  At first glance, Li Han also knew that this woman, as the personal maid of the original Zhao family's old lady, had also learned some things with the old lady. Perhaps this complex Chinese character newspaper, which even he found quite difficult to read, was much easier for the girl to read!

  "Is this... okay?"

  Tian was apparently a bit curious, but when he saw the newspaper handed over by Li Han, he was stunned and didn't dare to take it.

  "Take it and have a look, I've already finished reading!"

  Li Han smiled and nodded for her to take it away, "Let's rest a bit after dinner and then head into the city, I still have something to do!"

  After finishing speaking, she stuffed the newspaper into her hand and picked up the pastry placed on the car's front tray, eating it with chicken liver.

  "Hmm~~~"

  What sound?

  The two people in the car, who had just calmed down, were suddenly shocked. Li Han hastily swallowed the food in his hand and didn't even bother to wipe his hands. He grabbed the weapon he had placed beside him.

  The lady on the side seat, Tian, after all a gentlewoman, changed her expression and said, "Sir, is that gunfire? Could it be hunters hunting?"

  "Absolutely not!"

  Joking, Li Han is a first-rate good hand at playing with guns. Under the influence of his deceased grandfather, he is an iron-clad military enthusiast. There are dozens of old-fashioned firearms collected in his home. After careful identification, it was clear that the gunshot was not from an automatic, semi-automatic, or even a submachine gun, handgun, nor was it the sound of the old bird guns or muzzle-loaders used by the villagers yesterday. "It's an old flintlock! I believe no hunter would be extravagant enough to use this kind of firearm for hunting, which even new armies may not be fully equipped with!"

  She saw her face turn pale again. Li Han sighed and said, "You go hide in the back of the car for a while, I'll drive over to take a look!"

  Tian's cleverly nodded, her thin body trembling slightly, but still very cleverly hid in the back carriage. Li Han had already told her before that this car was a treasure, not to mention ordinary bullets, even small-caliber recoilless guns could withstand it for a few rounds, and even if something unexpected happened, it could block it for a while.

  He quickly put on his bulletproof vest, buckled up his helmet and placed the gun in the nearest place within reach. He stepped on the gas and drove towards where the gunshot came from!