Chapter 70: The Recapture of Two Towns and Conflict (Part 1)

  "Alright everyone, this second position is also taken by me, Wu. I hope you all don't mind. Although our 'Hubei Military Government' has been established and most department heads have been selected, please remember that we still haven't found a suitable candidate for the most important position..."

  "Humming~~~~"

  Wu Zhaolin had just stood up to thank the crowd in the house, but he was about to propose a motion to elect a person of prestige to take charge as the governor of the newly established Hubei military government when a knock at the door suddenly interrupted his speech.

  The room suddenly erupted into a low murmur of conversation, Wu Zhaolun furrowed his brow, before the meeting he had specifically instructed that unless there was some major military news, no one was allowed to disturb him, could it be...

  With a hint of panic in his heart, he showed no emotion on his face, and said in a low voice, "Come in." The door responded with a creak, and a young soldier who looked like a child walked in hastily. He was a student soldier from the Surveying Academy, and because they knew a lot of knowledge, Wu Zhaolun had recruited many people to protect them before the telephone and telegraph connections that were destroyed in the city were restored.

  "Great Commander...Ladies and gentlemen..."

  That student soldier rushed in and saw that the eyes of a group of people who were having a meeting in the house all fell on himself, and suddenly his tense tongue trembled, and he couldn't even say what he originally wanted to say!

  "What's going on? Spit it out!"

  Wu Zhaolin saw that he was holding a telegram in his hand, obviously there must be important military information, so he urged him to speak quickly.

  "Yes...yes, Grand...Grand Governor..."

  When he saw him, he didn't blame him. The student soldier was still a bit nervous, but his face also relaxed a lot, and he hurriedly raised the telegram paper in his hand.

  "Reporting to the Grand Commander and all the gentlemen, a telegram has just arrived from Hanyang!"

  "Oh?"

  "What?"

  The atmosphere in the house suddenly became tense, and even Li Han's face turned tense, not to mention Wu Zhaolun and others!

  "Bring it to me quickly..."

  "Yes, Grand Commander..."

  The student hastily handed over the telegram to him.

  Wu Zhaolin took a look and suddenly had a joyful expression on his face.

  "Congratulations to everyone!"

  The original telegram was very short, only a few sentences, but it also made him extremely happy. "It's all thanks to the first battalion, if they hadn't blocked the remnants of the 8th town for more than half a day and sent scouts to bring news of our Wuchang uprising, our comrades on that side wouldn't have been prepared. This telegram was sent by my comrades in Hanyang. After receiving the command of the First Battalion, Comrade Hu Yuzhen, party representative of the 42nd Regiment of the New Army, made a decisive choice to follow our uprising. They elected Captain Song Xiquan as their commander and have occupied the Hanyang Arsenal, with Wang Jingshan as the factory manager. They received over 3,000 workers, 7,000 rifles, 5 million rounds of ammunition, 150 mountain guns, and 6,000 shells. Not only that, but the high-spirited 42nd Regiment, after integrating the surrendered troops in Hanyang, has successfully defeated Zhang Biao's 8th town... As of the time the telegram arrived, more than half of Zhang Biao's troops had fled towards Hankou, and the rest were either captured or killed. Hanyang has been liberated!"

  "Hmm..."

  Inside the house, there was a warm and lively atmosphere. Even Li Han's face showed unusual excitement, but in his heart, he finally let out a sigh of relief. The position he was standing at faced the direction of Hankou. Through the window, Li Han's gaze wandered off in that direction, and he muttered to himself, "It's about time... it should be around this time..."

  The troops have set off for almost an hour, with the help of Karl, a seemingly influential Austrian arms dealer, it should be no problem to get through the German concession, at this time, it's also time to take down Hankou!

  "Our revolution is a most righteous deed, and this time Heaven is helping us too... I hope you gentlemen will work together with me, our sincere efforts will surely overthrow the corrupt Manchu rule..."

  Look inside the house, morale is high and strong. Deng Yulin suddenly stood up and shouted loudly, but it was clear that he had no good feelings towards Li Han, this mysterious 'revolutionary speculator', so he directly ignored Li Han's merits and attributed everything to heavenly assistance.

  Li Han sneered and didn't bother to argue with these progressive people who were first in internal strife, letting it go in one ear and out the other, as if he hadn't heard.

  However, Sun Guoan beside him had some anger in his heart, "Hmph, these revolutionaries are nothing but this, deceiving people's kindness and speaking of heavenly help. It's really too much to deceive people, Li brother, didn't you offend these treacherous little people? Otherwise, how could it have led to such a situation..."

  Li Hangang was about to speak when suddenly several gunshots were heard outside the house, and the room fell silent. Everyone looked at each other nervously, thinking "Could it be that there are still Qing soldiers causing trouble in the city?"

  "What's all the commotion outside?"

  Wu Zhaolin gently stroked his eight-character beard and frowned, asking.

  "Report to the Grand Commander, a new soldier from the outside of the advisory bureau came and said he had military information to report, so he insisted on entering. We guards asked him what was going on, but he refused to say, only saying that he was under the command of General Li of the First Division and that the intelligence must be reported to him immediately! After our guards warned him several times and saw that he still didn't leave, we were afraid that this person might be a would-be assassin, so we fired a warning shot and tried to drive him away!"

  One of the guards went out to investigate and then came back to report to him.

  "This..."

  Wu Zhaolin was also stunned, and his eyes inquired of Li Han for a moment, but he didn't see anything on his face. Moreover, he wasn't familiar with Li Han, so he decided to wait and see what would happen next. However, he still nodded for someone to go and bring the person who had come to report the news.

  "Hmph... How arrogant and lawless. This is a solemn meeting, how can we allow this ignorant soldier to disrupt it? Men, take him away at once..."

  Wu Zhaolin seemed to be still hesitating, but Li Han had already caught sight of Wang Wenren, who had been eyeing him with disdain, and a hint of sarcastic smile played on his lips.

  "This place is indeed a den of chaos, with no discipline and disrespect for authority. It's to be expected. As the ancients said, what kind of general leads what kind of soldiers? I, Du Lanfang, am poorly educated, but isn't that what they say?"

  Look, someone has taken the lead and fired, tonight not only did they lose more than half of their brothers, but they also didn't gain anything. Instead, they still have to go and compete with other Red Gang bosses in the city for those two camps' patrol quotas. Du Lanfang, who had always been proud of himself, was furious in his heart. Anyway, that husband had already offended him, this opening sentence was much harsher than that young Wang Wenren.

  "It seems like I've been taken advantage of!"

  Li Han rubbed his nose tip and relieved a bit of fatigue, "To be honest, I'm also very curious, are you from the Gongjin Society?"

  Li Han glanced at Wang Wenren with a tilted head, his mouth corner full of disdain, since he had already offended them, then they were enemies.

  "When I was abroad, I often heard my overseas Chinese compatriots talk about how the revolution in our country had not succeeded in seven years, and that your party people were one of the reasons. Some elderly people said that party members are fond of internal strife and excluding others, they often consider themselves to be very high-minded, thinking that with just a little bit of knowledge, they are the pillars of the state. These people always compare themselves to the sages of old, and love fame, but in reality, they are nothing more than mediocre and unclean individuals. At first, I didn't believe it when I returned to China, but now I have also come to realize that there is some truth to this. When I took command of a regiment for the first time, some scoundrels and traitors jumped out and disrupted our military discipline, inciting our soldiers to riot. I was puzzled - could it be that only your party people are patriotic, while the rest of us are all scoundrels or slaves? If we don't listen to your orders, will you jump out and cause trouble?"

  Li Han let out a cold snort, his counterattack was extremely sharp, so sharp that the members of the Communist Party on the opposite side were instantly furious, with angry shouts and scolding voices ringing in their ears.