Chapter 61: Zhang Biao Escapes

  "Does anyone know if there's a place around here that sells kerosene?"

  After realizing that the big guns under his command couldn't last as long as he had calculated, Li Han changed his mind. Zhang Biao still had some use for the Eighth Town, but although he didn't want to eliminate him at this time, nor did he have the ability to do so, in order to implement future plans, he also needed to consume part of Zhang's strength, otherwise future plans would be difficult to carry out.

  It is said that in the early hours of dawn, Cai Jiemin thought of this tactic, wrapping cotton clothes around oil-soaked rags and igniting them to guide the artillerymen who had been waiting on the Chu Wang Tai for most of the night, forcing Zhang Biao and others to abandon their escape from Wuchang.

  However, at this time, unlike the original history, the Nanhubei Artillery Battalion, which was originally supposed to take on this heavy responsibility, had become the Eighth Artillery Battalion that had defected ahead of schedule. Zhang Biao also decided to abandon Wuchang City ahead of schedule because Zongdi Rui was captured...

  "This..."

  "In response to your question, I just found a fire oil shop on a street nearby..."

  Li Han burst out laughing, "Very good, the 2nd and 4th battalions will follow me to fetch oil, the rest of you must guard the surrounding streets and alleys, ensure that those Qing troops from the 8th town do not escape in the southeast direction..."

  "Yes!"

  After another round of instructions with Chen Mu-kun, Zhang Bing-qian and others, Li Han quickly led two companies of soldiers to take separate actions, rushing along the streets towards their respective targets. Along the way, they encountered several intact telegraph poles and wires, regardless of whether they were telegraph or telephone lines, all of which were cut off by his order. Firstly, this was to sever the Qing army's command and communication links, making the Qing soldiers in the city even more chaotic; secondly, he did not want to let those pig-tailed people in Beijing know about it tonight, although he knew that if Zhang Biao escaped, the news of the uprising might be leaked out.

  Although the city was ablaze with flames and scattered fighting between Qing soldiers and revolutionary troops everywhere, because they had red armbands symbolizing the uprising on their arms, and there were not a few of them, they did not encounter any resistance. On the contrary, they took advantage of the situation to absorb several groups of five or six, ten or so scattered insurgent soldiers.

  Under the guidance of the familiar street soldier, a group of people quickly arrived at the foreign oil store he mentioned. Seeing that the door was tightly closed, they knocked for a while but didn't see anyone come to open it. Knowing that time was precious, he directly ordered someone to break down the door and requisitioned all 30 barrels of fire oil inside. He also ordered people to find some tinder and cotton cloth.

  Look at the owner of the oil shop, with a pale face, blocking his family. Actually, after the sound of gunfire at dinner time, almost everyone in the city knew that a military coup might have occurred, and every household closed their doors and windows, not daring to come out to investigate. When Li Han led his soldiers into the oil shop, the owner thought it was a group of rioting soldiers causing chaos, and nearly forced his wife and children to hang themselves. Fortunately, these "rioting soldiers" did not kill or rape, but only took some foreign oil and left. Because they were unclear about the price of this barrel of fire oil, Li Han left 100 silver coins behind. After rewarding the soldiers with the silver coins obtained from Rui Cun, he had already spent most of it, leaving only a few silver tickets and boxes of small goldfish, estimated to be worth around 200,000 to 300,000. However, he did not dare to keep them on him casually. In the end, he thought for a moment and ordered someone to bring paper and pen to write a receipt, telling the owner that if it was not enough, he could go to the revolutionary military government in the city the next day with the receipt to get the money. Only then did Li Han lead his soldiers away...

  Seeing that the group of "rioters" had no intention of looting or harassing women apart from taking oil, the owner of the oil shop finally breathed a sigh of relief. After seeing the group of people walking away in the distance, he hurriedly called out to his family members to help him block up the broken door with wooden boards again. Although this group of "rioters" still had some sense of reason, after all, they were rioters and might suddenly lose control and do something despicable at any time.

  As for Li Han's IOU, he didn't even bother to look at it before throwing it away. To be honest, the common people of China have been oppressed for thousands of years. Have you ever seen a rebel or official who would reason with you? This time, the shopkeeper was already secretly thanking Buddha that his property wasn't stolen and his life wasn't lost, so how could he dare to ask for the remaining money?

  It was probably his fate that the shopkeeper did not think of it, but the letter he casually threw away was picked up by a group of people next to him. However, at that time, he didn't care and put it in the wardrobe. Half a year later, after Li Han became the inspector of Sichuan and Hubei, the group found out this letter and kept it. Twenty years later, Li Han had already been in power for many years and was now middle-aged. He took out the letter and auctioned it off, selling it for a high price of one million, unexpectedly becoming a beautiful thing.

  Never mind...

  "Humming~~~~"

  "Hurry...hurry up and defend, the 8th Regiment inside is about to break out..."

  "Boom boom~~~~"

  Li Han waited until he heard the angry roar of commands from that side, and saw that the firepower had suddenly increased by more than double. There were only about 1,400 to 1,500 insurgent soldiers outside the Eighth Town Command, and no one knew what was going on at Chu Wangtai. After sending out the first wave of reinforcements, not a single soldier came from Chu Wangtai again. The ones who joined the battle sporadically were all new insurgent troops who had dispersed in the city.

  "Hurry...hurry up and mix these fire oils with cotton cloth and pour them near the headquarters..."

  Li Han, who rushed into the battle, did not forget to order his machine gun team to suppress a position with firepower, and then ordered someone to pile up the cotton cloth soaked in fire oil near the command department. Although the defenders inside didn't understand what he wanted to do, they also knew that something was wrong, and after paying the price of more than ten deaths and injuries, they finally piled up the fire oil along with the cotton cloth near the command department.

  "Everyone backed away... backed away..."

  Knowing that the big gun's accuracy is limited at night, especially during the previous correction period, it was inevitable to have misfires. After seeing the fire oil and other objects piled together, he ordered the surrounding soldiers to retreat. Only after everyone had withdrawn from the alley entrance did he put on his night vision goggles, aim at the pile of goods, and fire a shot.

  "Hmmmmmm"

  A raging fire accompanied by bucket after bucket of oil being ignited, instantly the revolutionary artillery unit inside Chuwangtai, which had been unable to determine the location of the enemy's cannons, sent someone to ask the general headquarters and then adjusted their cannon muzzles decisively, firing at the building where the huge flames were rising!

  "Boom~~~~"

  "Boom~~~~"

  "Boom~~~~"

  75mm mountain guns and 105mm Krupp cannons sounded in unison, the huge momentum overwhelming all the gunfire and shouting within the city at the moment the artillery started, becoming the only sound that could be heard in the city, symbolizing the roar of revolution!

  "Back away quickly..."

  "Boom~~~~"

  One shell fell on a nearby street due to deviation, and several soldiers hiding in the corner of the wall were killed instantly. Seeing that the artillery team's accuracy was severely lost due to the dark night, Li Han felt that his plan had been completed as the command center was within hundreds of meters of the possible range of the shells. He waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to retreat from the range of the shells, but in his heart, he was thinking, should I prepare for the next step?

  "Come on, old chap... can't delay any longer, let the brothers retreat quickly..."

  The firepower on the east side of the headquarters, which had originally been extinguished, suddenly intensified, and also shocked Zhang Biao and others who were urging their subordinates to collect their belongings inside the headquarters. Zhang Biao led his men to the eastern wall defense line and saw that the insurgent soldiers were desperately throwing fire oil towards the defensive position. Just as he was about to speak, the soaring flames indicated the direction for the artillery team at Chu Wang Tai, and the thunderous and even more powerful cannon sound immediately returned to this area! In just a moment of stunned silence, four or five massive shells exploded inside the headquarters.

  In the fiery light, the headquarters that had been ordered to shut down all lights and plunged into darkness was suddenly illuminated, guiding the direction of the insurgent artillery. After a slight mistake, more accurate shells poured in one after another, carrying a sharp whistling sound towards this black building symbolizing imperial power and official authority, quickly taking away life after life. The court's authority and dignity were rapidly disintegrating in the soaring flames and dense cannon fire.

  "Someone's coming..."

  "Yes, sir..."

  Withdrawal