Chapter 43: The Fall of Chu Wang Tai

  "Thank you, sir, for helping us..."

  But Li Han was still recalling the information he had seen about this person in his mind, when a young military officer wearing a new army uniform behind Yan Zhong's back - Xiong Bingkun surpassed him and directly grasped his hand excitedly.

  This short and slightly chubby-cheeked young military officer was Xiong Bingkun, the man who left a legendary name in history.

  Li Hanqiang suppressed the excitement in his heart, and his hands trembled slightly as he grasped it. "Hello, I'm about the same age as Brother Xiong, so I won't mind if I follow everyone else and call you 'Dai Qian brother' too...I don't know how..."

  Although he was excited in his heart, Li Han quickly restrained himself and smiled as he began to chat with him.

  Xiong Bingkun was also a magnanimous person. Seeing him being so easy to get along with, his heart also warmed up slightly, and he nodded in agreement.

  "Alright, you and I are of similar age, so I'll call you Brother Li. If it weren't for your help today, perhaps there wouldn't have been the success of my eight battalions, nor would there be the upcoming Wuchang and entire Hubei uprising's success. In any case, the first meritorious deed of this uprising belongs to you, Brother Li...you deserve it..."

  Xiong Bingkun said with emotion that when he heard that the Governor's Mansion had sent two more troops to come to Chu Wangtai to reinforce its defense, he was already frightened for a long time. However, he never thought that this was the butterfly effect brought by Li Han. Instead, he was even more grateful to have received the firearms donated by him, otherwise, with only those few privately stored weapons, they would have been powerless to resist!

  "Hehe, there...there..."

  But Xiong Bingkun didn't know these things, how could Li Han not know what was going on? For the time being, he could only force a smile and humbly cover it up.

  However, Xiong Bingkun and others really thought he was being humble, and their faces showed even more respect. Yan Zhongzhi also chimed in with a few casual remarks. It wasn't until then that Xiong Bingkun furrowed his brow in concern: "Alas, when we discussed this earlier, I never thought it would come to this. Not to mention the hundreds of soldiers we've captured, but just the issue of commanding the hundreds of officers in the camp has left me at a loss..."

  "Hmm, this is indeed a difficult problem. When I saw that sudden killing of one army earlier, my heart was also in a state of panic. If it wasn't for Brother Li suddenly standing up and resolving the situation with Huang Guoyun, and reasonably guiding the morale of our revolutionary soldiers, the consequences would be unthinkable... Alas, yesterday's uprising was leaked, and most of the commanding officers of the various camps in the city were captured by that old scoundrel Rui Ceng. Now we can't even contact General Sun and others... It's difficult, just looking at our eight battalions, if each place fights separately without a unified command, it will inevitably affect the uprising..."

  The one who answered the phone was Cheng Zhengying, his eyes were slightly purple, it turned out that he had been hit by a rifle butt by a soldier with a gun earlier, and only now had just stopped crying, but his eyes had become red and swollen, even looking at things now was a bit blurry!

  "This..."

  Upon hearing the two people's emotions, Yan Zhongzhi obviously thought of something, but he seemed to have some concerns, so he just hesitated for a moment and didn't continue the conversation.

  However, Xiong Bingkun happened to turn his eyes in this direction and saw that he seemed to have some idea, but didn't quite understand why he didn't say it out loud. But he indeed had a revolutionary heart, so he immediately spoke up and asked: "What's wrong, Brother Yan? Do you have any ideas?"

  Having said that, she looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for his response!

  He nodded, but Yan Zhong still hesitated for a moment. After seeing the expectant looks on everyone's faces, he thought for a while before finally speaking up: "Actually, my idea is quite simple, it's just that none of you have thought of it yet! I had previously exchanged ideas with Brother Li and knew that he used to be an officer in a foreign country, receiving formal military command education from Europe and America. And seeing how easily he handled the previous chaos, his abilities are not to be doubted. Therefore, my idea is... if Brother Li doesn't mind, later on, I'll let him assist me as a consultant, so that everyone can learn some Western-style military command methods..."

  What a smooth talker he is! The person involved couldn't help but admire him in his heart, thinking that if this man didn't become an official, it would be a waste of his talent.

  Indeed, most people in the camp had seen his previous calm and composed demeanor, as well as his ability to regain morale, but this was not the 29th Regiment that he was familiar with. Li Han was an outsider, after all, and some people might have ulterior motives for proposing such an idea. Although many of the new soldiers who participated in the uprising were genuinely eager to overthrow the Qing dynasty, the concept of regionalism had been deeply ingrained in the Chinese people for thousands of years. Even among the new army, there had been instances where soldiers from Hubei and Hunan had bullied those from other provinces like Sichuan and Guizhou. Therefore, he chose his words carefully, fearing that some of the people present might harbor strong regional prejudices, and if they were to join forces to ostracize Li Han, who was not only their benefactor but also the first hero of the uprising, it would be a grave mistake on his part!

  Xiong Bingkun's face stiffened slightly, he wasn't a fool either, his mind only turned once and he understood the meaning of Yan Zhong's straightforward words!

  Indeed, he is not a person who is enthusiastic about power, and if it were not for the previous eight camp representatives having problems, he would be just an ordinary small positive goal. However, although he is not enthusiastic about power, he also knows that among the comrades who have participated in the Progressive Association or the newly appointed revolutionary army commanders, there are indeed several people with serious regional concepts. Therefore, when facing this problem, although he also intends to let Li Han, a professional, come to command them, he is also afraid of chaos and refusal to obey orders at that time.

  The atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward!

  "Hmm... Elder brother's words make sense!"

  Just as the atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward, Cheng Zhengying was the first to speak up and agree. With a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, Cheng Zhengying saw that everyone's gaze had fallen on himself, and he continued: "Let's just follow Brother Yan's proposal, we'll divide our troops into two routes. Brother Li will be in command of one route, with Brother Yan assisting him. We'll lead another team to infiltrate the inner circle of comrades, striving to thoroughly capture Chuwangtai... Meanwhile, Brother Li and his team only need to wave flags and shout near the North Gate, making a fake attack, while we take advantage of the chaos to quickly turn around..."

  "But our eight battalions, although also having a force of nearly two hundred people, the left battalion officer Wu Zhaolun is skilled in training soldiers, his team doesn't need us to add many more, and can rely on the city's grain and artillery, we will inevitably have another tough battle if we go, at this time dividing troops... isn't it a bit inappropriate?"

  Someone asked.

  Cheng Zhengying smiled, "No, everyone's misunderstood! What I mean is that we've just captured hundreds of soldiers, many of whom are familiar to us from the 8th battalion. They're not revolutionaries, so they didn't join us. And those two teams that surrendered to us must know they'll be executed by the brutal Qing government after this. If we incorporate them into our ranks now, there's some risk, but it will quickly boost our combat strength... So why don't we pick a few dozen from our revolutionary army and have Li lead them? Then he can choose over a hundred strong ones from the captured soldiers. They only need to pretend to attack the north gate, just to distract some of the defenders' attention. The real fight is still on our side..."

  "Alright then... I suppose it's okay..."

  "It's alright, let it be..."

  Seeing that he had come up with a compromise, Xiong Bingkun and others did not want to disappoint this person who had made great efforts for the sake of justice. After seeing the head of the revolutionary army, Xiong Bingkun, nodding in agreement, the others also benefited from his kindness. After all, most of the guns they held were supported by Li Han, so they agreed to go along with it.

  Then each shed selected three to five people, and he gathered more than 40 non-Hubei or regionless soldiers, and also let him select 150 prisoners of war. With great difficulty, they barely made up the number of two hundred. Xiong Bingkun and others also incorporated the remaining 120 people. Except for a few seriously wounded prisoners who were left at the Eighth Camp to guard, they reorganized the assembled soldiers into several sheds. After hearing the sound of gunfire from Chu Wangtai gradually becoming sparse, they knew it was not good. Xiong Bingkun and others left Li Han and two others who were still reorganizing, and led the team away first!