Chapter 48: The Artillery Eighth Brigade Guards the Zhonghe Gate

  Li Han has already understood what he is thinking, but he is afraid that others have long been prepared to win over this future commander-in-chief of the uprising. It can be said that if he had not mistakenly entered this time and space, causing a butterfly effect, Wu Zhaolin would not be in such an embarrassing position today, with hundreds of revolutionary soldiers killed or injured at his hands. Even if Xiong Bingkun and others support him to take power, there will still be a lot of controversy within the party!

  Those revolutionary troops who failed to gather at the arsenal at this time, or rather their leaders, will probably regret it later. They not only lost the opportunity to replenish their weapons and ammunition but also relied solely on their existing firearms, which might not be enough to break through the heavily guarded military strongholds in the city even with great sacrifices.

  Moreover, having read the biographies of people like Wu Zhaolin from later generations, he knew that from a conspiratorial perspective, the upcoming reorganization was more about dividing interests than actual reorganization. People like Xiong Bingkun gained promotions to various positions, such as battalion commanders, company officers, or even regimental commanders, while Wu Zhaolin gained everyone's support and secured the position of commander-in-chief of the uprising.

  He, of course, wanted to get a share of the spoils, even if he couldn't make another move. His team had already brought in several hundred more people and received free guns and ammunition. By the time the Hubei military government was established tomorrow, it would be good to have some familiar faces. In his heart, he knew that after today, it wouldn't take long for the Yuan regime to return. Before the peace talks between the north and south, continuing to stay in Wuhan would not only mean experiencing a power struggle but also having fewer good days. So, he had already made up his mind to stay away from Hubei, this place of trouble, and occupy Sichuan as his base, which was the best strategy.

  "Cough...cough..."

  Xiong Bingkun did not expect that he had already understood the inner workings of the world, and in his heart, he felt even more indebted to him. Thinking about it, Huang Guoyun led the troops to come and quell the rebellion, but as a result, some of the rebel soldiers' morale plummeted, and the good situation was ruined. At that time, several of them were furious, wanting to shoot him with their guns, but due to the chaos, Li Han, who had better marksmanship, shot him instead, thus ending the chaos in the new army and creating the current situation. Previously, they were suppressed by Wu Zhaolun's artillery fire at the city gate, and it was Li Han who seized the opportunity to push forward with the big guns that lifted the siege. It can be said that after this encounter, he had a good understanding of his abilities in his heart, unfortunately...

  "I just heard that there are still three battalions of soldiers and horses on the side of the governor's office. With only two battalions of the 29th and 30th regiments, it's probably impossible to hold out for long. The situation here is already settled, so I don't think we'll need to use Li anymore. After thinking about it, I've decided to bring this battalion of soldiers to support them."

  Li Han's urgent tone also carried a hint of helplessness, which made Xiong Bingkun's face flush slightly with guilt. Fortunately, the night was already deep, so even Li Han didn't notice the unusual color on his face.

  "Never mind..."

  He let out a sigh, "It's also our incompetence, alas. I saw Brother Li's exceptional abilities, and then I saw Commander Sun and others either injured and recovering or suffering from villainous plots. The revolutionary army in the city was in disarray, so I wanted to recommend Brother Li as our commander-in-chief. However, many comrades who came from other places didn't understand his abilities and obstructed him several times, leaving me helpless... Brother Li is dedicated to our revolution, and now that Chu Wang Tai has been captured, he's worried about the situation in the city. I admire him... The situation in the city is more difficult than military equipment. Although Brother Li is skilled at leading troops, it's usually only a hundred or two hundred people, which can't change the overall situation. How about this? My camp has also arrived with several hundred soldiers. I'll order someone to gather three hundred men and provide them with guns and ammunition later. Then, we'll go support our revolutionary comrades in the city..."

  Xiong Bingkun was also a decent man, he knew his own position, although now with some prestige, but soon he would hand over more than 300 revolutionary troops to Li Han's command, and there would naturally be no shortage of voices later on, however, he still did so, which made the cunning Li Han feel secretly ashamed in his heart.

  However, after receiving a supplement of 300 troops, the possibility of his plan succeeding increased again, so he did not refuse and directly agreed.

  After the most tumultuous and chaotic period, after reorganizing the 300 revolutionary soldiers arranged by Xiong Bingkun, he wasted some more time, following the previous principle of three, dispersing all 300 people into the previously organized troops. Considering the commander's lack of experience, he hastily expanded one battalion to eighteen people, thus forming three companies, nine platoons, and twenty-seven full-strength squads. The remaining ten vacancies were filled by selecting ten soldiers who had received decent private school education or military academy education, preparing to lead them personally, in order to impart some command experience of the later republican army.

  He also found Xiong Bingkun and opened a batch of orders, and after replenishing the arsenal, Li Han thought that he had taken advantage of this opportunity, although he couldn't compare with Xiong Bingkun, who was about to take over as the commander of the first battalion. He could only look up to Wu Zhaolin, who was about to be promoted to the commander-in-chief of the uprising. However, he had managed to mix in and become the commander of a battalion of over 500 people, and whether he could command them effectively would depend on his abilities. Moreover, the 500 new soldiers under him, who had received professional training, were not something that could be replaced by a mere 10,000 taels of silver. Once they were truly under his control, they would become the backbone of his future conquests in the country!

  After the reorganization was completed, Li Han drew out a fine military sword that had just been taken from the arsenal and led the way, carrying a machine gun weighing dozens of kilograms, rushing towards the area with the most intense gunfire in the city.

  Li Han had just passed by, and the revolutionary representatives of the Engineering Battalion, 29th and 30th Regiments on Chu Wang Tai were studying military affairs. Xu Shao Bin sent someone to bring even better news to Chu Wang Tai, that the entire Artillery Battalion No. 8 at Nanhu had risen up in revolt. Under the leadership of Gan Dai Jiangming, Zhang Wending, Cai Demao, Shang Anbang, Liu Bozhang, He Liguo and others, along with Deng Yulin, they had entered the Zhonghe Gate.

  Not long after the outbreak of the uprising, He Liguo's artillery regiment, which was originally stationed outside the city, immediately picked up their weapons and rushed out of the camp, intending to force the Eighth Artillery Regiment to join the uprising. However, halfway through, they encountered another group of people, led by Deng Yulin, a man with a reputation in the Gongzhonghui.

  At dawn today, Deng Yulin wanted to escape from the city after the incident, but unexpectedly, when the dawn was approaching, the Wenchang Gate in the west of the city was still strictly searched, and it was impossible to carry ammunition out of the city. Deng Yulin turned around for several laps nearby, but couldn't find a way to leave the city, so he had no choice but to throw away the explosives and bullets he carried with him into the ditch, and then mixed with the horse team that went out of the city gate to buy melons, fruits and vegetables at dawn.

  After leaving the city gate, he hurried to contact the Nanhui Artillery Team. When he arrived at the artillery team, he found that the camp door was closed and there were multiple checkpoints around it, indicating that many people in the city were worried about the Nanhui Artillery Team. Unable to contact the Nanhui Artillery Team, he could only sneak into the 8th Artillery Battalion where he had stayed before, and went to Cai Hanqing's house, waking him up. Cai Hanqing then gathered representatives of the Gongjin Hui and Wenxue She, including Meng Fachu, Wang Heyan, Du Ding, Wang Guangju, Zhang Fuguo, etc., and held a secret meeting in the horse shed.

  In the stable, a row of horses tied to the carts were leisurely eating grass. When they saw strangers coming, they stared with wide eyes, perked up their ears and twisted their buttocks vigorously to one side. Deng Yulin and several others squatted down in the midst of the smell of fodder, horse dung and swarms of mosquitoes biting them, nervously studying the military situation. Deng Yulin briefly introduced the course of events and said seriously: "Comrades' name lists, various documents have been searched away by the Qing army, we have no way to retreat now. The planned uprising in the city has failed, where our artillery team goes, please decide, comrades?"

  Several representatives discussed and negotiated, with Cai Hanqing representing all the soldiers of the artillery battalion saying: "There's nothing to say, we failed yesterday but we can try again. Our 8th Artillery Battalion will rise up in revolt together with the revolutionary party of the whole city." Deng Yulin loudly said: "Good!" and immediately took out the orders from the General Command to let everyone pass them around under the lanterns. Comrades looked at the orders, nodded their heads in unison to show obedience. Everyone discussed a few more specific opinions: first, load the breechblock and primer of the cannons, prepare for the uprising at any time; second, assign four horsemen to each large cannon, wherever the cannon is placed, it will be pulled there by the horsemen.

  After the meeting, each representative returned to prepare. Unexpectedly, after dawn, the 32nd battalion next to the residence received orders to patrol with the military camp outside the city. Except for He Liguang, who had escaped early, even the procurement officer had to be accompanied by a special member when entering and leaving. Considering that artillery must have infantry cover to take action, the representative of the artillery team dared not act rashly and could only notify some key members to wait quietly in hope of contacting comrades in various parts of the city!

  This wait is already a whole day.