Chapter 66: Dispute

  In the late Qing dynasty, due to the intensification of imperialist aggression and the corrupt rule of the Qing court, anti-dynasty struggles broke out across the country. Qinzhou was one of the areas with the most intense "Hui" struggle activities. In 1900, Ming Tang joined the local peasant revolutionary organization Hongmen Sanhehui (Three Dots Society), with over 3,500 members, and became the master in charge of documents due to his early education in a private school. Later, he organized anti-Qing armed struggles based in Zhen'nan Pass's Qi Village, and accepted Sun Yat-sen's leadership, becoming an important general of the revolutionary army, and joined the Tongmenghui in 1907. In 1906, he was appointed by Sun Yat-sen to establish a revolutionary organ in Taoyuan Prefecture, Left State, Vietnam, to contact revolutionary scholars and prepare for an armed uprising back home. In September 1907, he led the Zhen'nan Pass Uprising, but failed due to lack of support and retreated to Vietnam. In 1908, he was appointed as the commander of the revolutionary army, participating in the Yunnan Nan Kai Uprising and the Hekou Uprising, but retreated to Vietnam again due to being outnumbered. He later went to Hong Kong to work for the Tongmenghui branch, and organized armed forces on the Guangdong-Guangxi border.

  As soon as he mentioned Huang Mintang, Li Han had a vague impression in his mind. He vaguely remembered that the uprisings in Guangdong and Guangxi at the end of the Qing dynasty all involved him, and they were all helping Huang Xing. But how did he end up in Wuchang? And why was the timing so coincidental?

  Look at the doubt on his face, Wu Xinghan, who was about to leave, had to stop and explain again, "It's also a coincidence, a few days ago, in order to coordinate with the Gongjin Association's uprising plan, they also took action on the Guangdong-Guangxi side. However, due to the recent tightening of gun sales along the coast of Guangzhou and the French Indochina side, they could only go north to Chongqing, contact some guns with the Japanese, and today they just happened to be stuck at my place on their way back."

  He apologized to him and returned to his seat, because Wu Zhaolun, who was temporarily in charge of the overall commander-in-chief and other titles, had strolled in with the accompaniment of Xiong Bingkun, Cheng Zhengying and several others.

  "Rise!"

  The staff officer on duty next to him shouted loudly, but only a few people, including Li Han, Wu Xinghan and Cai Jimin, really responded. Whether it was the Gongjin Association or the Huidang, as well as the captured Qing army forces, they didn't give him much face. After dawdling for half a day, they finally stood up.

  "...Sit down..."

  He waved his hand to signal a group of people to sit down. Wu Zhaolin's eyebrows jumped, and the situation in this city had just become favorable for their revolutionary party. This group of guys started to become somewhat arrogant and self-satisfied. Did they really think that relying solely on Wuchang City, they could contend with the Manchu Qing dynasty, which had controlled the entire China for hundreds of years and had a treasury worth tens of millions?

  "Victory is not enough, defeat is too much!"

  He sighed secretly in his heart, as for what the Progressive Party would be like, he had participated in the Daily News Association in his early years and although he did not participate in the Progressive Party, he was also very familiar with it. However, there were people who were patriotic and revolutionary at heart, even those who had studied abroad were not uncommon, but most of them were short-sighted, party-oriented, young and arrogant, self-satisfied. This is also why after the chaos in the Daily News Association, he gradually drifted away from the crowd of party members and began to try to take the road of constitutionalism to strengthen the country.

  "That must be Li Yi!"

  Although he felt annoyed at the rudeness of the people in the association, he didn't want to bother with them. His eyes scanned the room from left to right, until they landed on Li Han, who was sitting to his lower right. His gaze suddenly locked onto him, and his expression became much more complex.

  "What a strange guy!"

  He secretly praised him, but he didn't quite get along with Li Han. Who made Li Han born with a strong physique, plus his black special forces uniform, and the man sat upright in his seat, exuding a fierce military aura. No wonder Du Fanglan was furious with him, also because she dared not provoke him without knowing his background.

  The difference between the old and new can be seen from here, just look at Wang Wenren who still can't wait to stare him down with his eyes.

  "Gentlemen, it is now entirely due to your efforts that we have been able to thoroughly grasp Wuchang city in the shortest possible time. Especially the first battalion commander Li Hanhun's military tactics were like a god, and he captured that traitor, Hubei Governor Ruicheng, for us. The Qing dynasty soldiers who dared to resist in the city were also greatly shocked. However, I reckon that the Manchu will not wait idly by while our revolutionary forces grow stronger. Once they react, Wuchang will face an even more dangerous situation. Our immediate tasks are: first, to set up a command and coordination agency; second, to quickly reorganize the army, and soon we will need to send a unit to cross the river and attack Hanyang in the west and Hankou in the north. Only by quickly capturing the three towns of Wuchang can we meet the coming battle; third, to pacify the people's hearts, grant amnesty to prisoners, and rescue our comrades who have fallen into enemy hands; fourth, to quickly contact fellow revolutionaries in various places and call on everyone to respond to our uprising together, so as not to waste this opportunity. Now, I have gathered you all here to discuss these four matters."

  After everyone arrived, Wu Zhaolin didn't beat around the bush and directly got to the point, entering the conference topic in a concise manner. However, he still subtly exaggerated Li Han's abilities, which changed the atmosphere of the meeting, making some people who had been deceived by Li Han look at him with a few hints of discontent and jealousy, as if they were looking at a Buddha-like figure with no expression on his face.

  The taste of being flattered to death, Li Han has thoroughly savored it.

  The atmosphere in the room suddenly became solemn, and even the voices of those who had been loudly discussing in unison lowered. After all, what he said was a matter of life and death, and even those who were keen on power did not dare to gamble with their own lives.

  "We also beg Your Excellency to give a clear order; how dare we disobey!"

  Xiong Bingkun was the first to stand up and respond, Li Han saw that his expression was different, but for a while he couldn't read what had happened.

  "We will reconsider..."

  Cai Jimin was the second to speak out and reconsider, Li Han was a step slower and had no choice but to be the third to follow suit, then continued to pretend not to see anything, as if he hadn't seen the awkwardness in the room at all.

  With the support of three out of five banner commanders, Wu Xinghan, who was not a banner commander but controlled 800 patrolmen as the commander of the Patrol Brigade, also stood up to support him. At this moment, the commander of the 32nd Banner of the Qing army, who had surrendered, also got up and supported him. The only ones left were Deng Yulin, the commander of the Artillery Eighth Banner, who remained silent, and a group of young commanders from the Gongjin Association.

  Look, the situation in the house suddenly became unfavorable to himself and others. However, a group of young leaders from the Gongjin Association still held back Jiang Ming, the commander of the 8th Artillery Regiment, who was about to stand up and make a statement. Jiang Ming had no choice but to sit down again. He had previously agreed to join the uprising solely to save his own life, which the Gongjin Association people were well aware of. As a result, although he still held the title of commander of the 8th Artillery Regiment, most of the officers in the regiment had been replaced by members of the Gongjin Association. It was not an exaggeration to say that he had become a mere figurehead. In comparison, Sun Guoan, the commander of the 32nd Regiment, was in a similar situation, but at least he still had two fully-staffed battalions under his command. Even though many members of the Gongjin Association had infiltrated the 32nd Regiment, he could still speak up for himself. After all, if things really got out of hand, it would not be just him who would suffer.

  Jiang Ming now has some regrets about sending his good friend He Liguo to She Shan Pao Ying. Although He Liguo came from the Literature Society, he didn't join any revolutionary organization. If he hadn't taken away a group of loyal soldiers under him, things wouldn't have ended up so embarrassingly. In his heart, he cursed Deng Yulin, who had withdrawn his support after using them, and the people from the Gong Jin Hui.

  "We support the Grand Commander's intention."

  Seeing that the forces supporting Wu Zhaolin were gaining the upper hand, a group of old Jianghu in the Revolutionary Party suddenly understood the actual strength of the forces within the city and directly kicked out the Tongmenghui which they had never gotten along with, openly declaring their support for the temporary Grand Governor Wu Zhaolin.

  Wu Zhaolin's face smiled, seemingly unaware of the gloomy faces of a group of Tongmenghui members. Earlier, Deng Yulin led several people to rush into the temporary command center at Chuwangtai and forcibly took away Wang Wenren, along with Li Han and dozens of new soldiers who had been transferred over, even wanting to take away the newly transferred Governor of Hubei, Rui Cun, clearly not taking this temporary commander seriously.

  Wu Zhaolun was furious, but what made him even angrier was that the guards and soldiers around the command center, except for the one battalion of left-wing soldiers he had brought with him, suddenly turned their guns on him after hearing Deng Yulin's order, clearly this leader of the Tongmenghui had much more prestige in the revolutionary army than he did.

  If it wasn't for Xiong Bingkun bringing troops back to replenish ammunition at this time, he would have stopped the conflict. However, the actions of the Gongjin Hui people also greatly embarrassed him. Except for Li Han and his first battalion, who were ostracized by everyone, even the captured Qing soldiers in the city had vaguely heard about this news.

  Xiong Bingkun also maintained Wu Zhaolun's prestige in the eyes of Gongjin Association by acting as a peacemaker, but as a result, he was ostracized by the people of Gongjin Association. Deng Yulun, although not speaking, looked at him with an unpleasant expression.