Chapter 56: Comprehensive Attack (Part 2)

  Inside Wuchang city, the stationed troops are mainly divided into three parts: Left Banner, Right Banner and She Shany. The Left Banner consists of the 31st Regiment and the 41st Regiment. The Right Banner is made up of the 29th Regiment and the 30th Regiment. Since the national power has seriously declined, people have increasingly felt that the Manchu rulers carefully designed the military deployment in various places to threaten the Han Chinese who hold military power. She Shany is also a key location for river defense, with one part of the artillery camp stationed there. However, the 31st Regiment under the Left Banner is under the jurisdiction of Zhang Biao's 8th Town, while the 41st Regiment belongs to Li Yuanhong. Although both regiments are led by Han Chinese, people who know the situation can easily find out that the two men are not on good terms, and outsiders can hardly understand the intricacies between them. Looking at the two regiments of the Right Banner, the 29th Regiment is composed of carefully selected Han Chinese troops, but the 30th Regiment has many Manchu nobles' sons.

  Such a "clever" military deployment, people with discerning eyes can see the deep distrust of the Qing court towards the Han people, so they have to resort to all sorts of means, and their purpose is to let these armies restrain each other, in order to prevent the new army from making trouble.

  However, such a "delicate" arrangement will inevitably cause the Qing army's command to become chaotic and disunited when the end of the world arrives, with different orders being given, and instead becoming a great help to the revolutionary army.

  The 21st Mixed Brigade Headquarters was located in a barracks within the large camp of the 41st Division of the Left Route Army, where Commander-in-Chief Li Yuanhong stood frowning and deep in thought after just finishing dinner.

  Suddenly, a gunshot was heard in the city, and then a part of the 31st battalion of the Left Flag, which was guarding the side, rushed out of the camp towards the direction of the governor's office. Originally wanted to call to ask about the situation at the governor's office, but when he picked up the phone, he found that the telephone line in the camp had been cut off by the revolutionary party hiding in the camp, in other words, his 41st battalion had lost contact with the city.

  Fortunately, at this time, the 31st Division, which had not been in harmony with him before, sent a contact to inform him that the 8th Engineering Battalion stationed in the direction of Chu Wangtai was making trouble under the cover of night, and the adjacent 29th and 30th Divisions also responded accordingly. Moreover, they also dispatched a unit to rush directly to the Governor's Office. The 31st Division had received an order from Commander-in-Chief Zhang Biao to quickly stop the rebellious troops rushing to the Governor's Office, but who would have thought that when they were halfway there, the 31st Division suddenly became chaotic? It turned out that the gang members had infiltrated the camp and reversed many new soldiers. Seeing that the 31st Division was trying to stop Cai Jimin and others from attacking the Governor's Office, a group of people who had wanted to rise up in the Left Flag barracks under the pressure of Li Yuanhong's 21st Mixed Brigade endured it until the 31st Division walked a long distance. Only then did they take advantage of the chaos and rise up, defeating the unguarded remnants of the 31st Division in one fell swoop.

  The soldier who came to warn was from the 31st Division, a defeated soldier. His bad news had just arrived not long ago, and Li Yuanhong received several more pieces of bad news in succession. First, the Engineering Battalion's 20th Company of the 21st Mixed Brigade rebelled, followed by the mutiny of the 21st Heavy Artillery Regiment. The artillery battalion he sent to suppress it quickly turned against him.

  Within less than an hour, bad news came one after another in the city. After he finally got in touch with his men outside the city, he heard another piece of bad news that the 8th Artillery Battalion, belonging to the 8th Division, had not only entered the city but also set up a defensive line at Zhonghe Gate. All his troops outside the city were blocked outside Wuchang City... Before he could digest this bad news, it was reported that the rebel artillery battalion bombarded the headquarters of the 8th Division, and... Li Yuanhong vaguely heard the news brought by the defeated Qing soldiers that Zhang Biao, the Governor-General of Hubei and Hunan, seemed to have abandoned the city and escaped but was caught by a group of rebels who had been lurking there. He has now fallen into the hands of the rebel army...

  After leaving half of his guards for himself, Li Yuanhong decisively withdrew more than half of the Qing soldiers from the third camp that he could still command, and led by his confidant, marched south to Zhonghe Gate to attack the Nanhu Camp troops who had already entered the city, in order to respond to his subordinates outside the city. However, what he did not expect was that as soon as one camp of Qing soldiers left, the defeated army took advantage of the emptiness of the Left Flag Camp's defense and launched a counterattack, forcing Li Yuanhong to defend against their attack with only one camp of soldiers, while thinking about what to do next.

  At around eight o'clock, a young soldier with a flag suddenly emerged from the revolutionary army on the opposite side. His name was Zhou Rongtang, and he was from Anhui's Xuan City, a member of the Hubei Gongjin Association. At that time, he was a horse-feeding soldier in the new engineering battalion, but because he was good at riding horses and had fast legs, he also had another identity - a liaison officer sent by the temporary general command of the revolutionary army to contact various battalions.

  When he saw someone waving a flag to indicate not to shoot, Li Yuanhong also waved his hand to signal the soldiers beside him not to shoot, wanting to hear what he had to say. Who would have thought that as soon as he climbed up the wall of the 41st marker defense camp, he heard him loudly shouting: "The revolution has succeeded, Han compatriots come quickly to support, and attack the governor's office together!"

  "How bold"

  "You scoundrel!!!"

  Look, Li Yuanhong's eyebrows wrinkled in the camp, and the guards around the command post rushed up instantly. After a fight, they captured Zhou Rongtang and brought him before Li Yuanhong!

  "Compatriots... brothers, the revolutionary army in my city has taken down the governor's office, captured alive the Huguang Governor Rui Cun, and now the main force within the city is already attacking the Eighth Town. You are all sons of the Han family, we don't fight among ourselves, don't sacrifice yourselves for those barbaric Tartars who occupy our land, humiliate our sisters, and kill our comrades. Think about how the Tartar tribes have treated us Han people over these hundreds of years... which one of them doesn't view us Han people as slaves or servants..."

  "How dare you..."

  Look, many soldiers around him were clearly moved by his words. Li Yuanhong, who was flustered and at a loss, hastily signaled the guards beside him to cover his mouth. Seeing him struggling desperately, he quickly drew his sword and stabbed the captured man in the abdomen. However, Zhou Rongtang's will was unyielding, not only did he not die immediately, but he also managed to struggle free from the cloth stuffed into his mouth and continued to shout "Long live the revolution!" The panicked guards beside him hastily hacked him down with their swords, eventually chopping this revolutionary hero into several pieces.

  However, he had just turned around and saw that the face of a guard not far away was different, and hurriedly asked: "Zou Yuxi... do you want to rebel?"

  Look, he tried to rush out of the camp gate to respond to the revolutionary army. Li Yuanhong hastily signaled the guards beside him to open fire and kill this person, and then borrowed the killing to slightly shock the military heart. However, even he himself was probably also clearly aware in his heart... The rebel situation within the city has already taken shape, and continuing to stay in the city is likely...

  Later, Li Yuanhong ordered again that the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 41st Regiment stand on the wall of the camp. "If someone comes to attack, open fire."

  After a while, he heard the sound of gunfire outside and gave another order: "If someone comes to attack, do not return fire, just use good words to persuade them to leave."

  After a while, the cannons sounded again. Li Yuanhong gave another order: "If someone comes to attack, you will come down from the wall of the camp and retreat to the barracks."

  Later, the cannon fire became more intense and shells began to hit the headquarters where Li Yuanhong was located.

  "Gentlemen, it's urgent! Let's temporarily avoid this for now!" The attendants and deputy officers on both sides saw that the situation was already lost and thought of escaping with their lives, all urging Li Yuanhong to dodge the storm.

  Helpless, Li Yuanhong could only nod in agreement. He first went to the home of his chief of staff, Liu Wenji, to change into plain clothes and then to the nearby home of the commander of the Third Regiment, Xie Guoshou, where he hid.

  After Li Yuanhong and the officers fled, the remaining one or two hundred soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 41st Regiment, under the leadership of Wang Shidong and others, rose up in unison and followed the mutinous troops of the 31st Regiment to attack Zhang Biao's unit of the 8th Division...

  The uprising within the city has been settled!