Chapter 50: The Fierce Battle at the Governor's Office (Part 1)

  "Come on, be strong, hold on... you must persevere..."

  "The other brothers in the city will rush over to support us soon, we must hold on..."

  "Hurry... send a few more people over to the fourth team's side, the gap in the east alley is getting bigger and bigger, hurry up and block it..."

  "Be careful on your side too, hurry... don't let them rush over..."

  "Pulling a corpse... A corpse is blocking the way..."

  "Cough...cough..."

  A fit of shortness of breath, coughing sounds, gazing at the Qing soldiers rushing in from all directions, Cai Jimin's face flashed a hint of sorrow, his right arm shot, his throat already hoarse from shouting. As he looked on, another soldier fell to the ground, about to lose his voice! As the Qing soldiers in the city reacted after being caught off guard by the uprising army, accompanied by the orders issued by Zhang Biao from the Huguang Governor's Office and the Drill Practice Department, first one battalion of patrolmen, then half a battalion of police, followed by two battalions of soldiers outside the city led by Li Yuanhong also reacted. Although the Nanhu Artillery Battalion was desperately resisting, the situation was not ideal, at least for the time being, no troops could be spared from the Nanhu side to support the 29th and 30th regiments' two battered revolutionary army battalions defending the Governor's Office!

  Due to the butterfly effect brought by Li Han, Zhang Biao had two camps transferred from outside the city in the afternoon to strengthen the defense of the Du Xun Gong and Huguang Governor's Office. The soldiers of these two camps were Zhang Biao's confidants, with complete weapons and several machine guns. How could the flesh and blood of ordinary revolutionary armies withstand it? Adding Rui Cheng's cunning and the continuous persuasion of the Qing army behind him, the 29th camp's soldiers also gave up. However, there were still many flag people among the coerced 30th battalion, these nominal Han military personnel had long regarded their Han identity as less important than that of the flag people after more than 200 years of unequal Manchu-Han policies under the Qing dynasty. Therefore, it really caused a disturbance, and Cai Jimin was also caught off guard, killing and wounding some revolutionary comrades before defeating them...

  "Tsai, the second team is about to be breached..."

  "Hurry... hurry, there are only over twenty people left on the Second Battalion's side..."

  "Tsai Kung, Xiaodong Road has fallen, we have retreated to Nanyuan Road junction..."

  "Tsai Gong, Liu Team Officer..."

  Bad news kept coming from all directions, Cai Jimin, who had no more troops on hand, could only stare at the Chu Wangtai arsenal where the gunfire had already stopped. He shouted hoarsely: "Everyone hold on a little longer, just a bit longer! Listen, the gunfire in the direction of Chu Wangtai has stopped, it's our people, the comrades inside the city have taken down Chu Wangtai! Just one more...our reinforcements will arrive soon...Quickly, we must fight for time for our other comrades in the city..."

  Yan Zhongzheng, who was shot in the shoulder, supported Cai Jimin as he struggled to get up and encouraged him, saying: "The gunfire from Chu Wangtai has been extinguished for some time. Calculating the pace, if we hurry, there should be troops arriving soon... unless... unless something unexpected happens..."

  "No, it's impossible!"

  As soon as a thought flashed in his mind, he immediately dispelled it. Thinking about the remaining combat-effective Qing troops in the three towns of Wuhan, even if the patrol battalion and police battalion were included, there were only six battalions left. The artillery battalion on Turtle Snake Mountain was clearly not going to move, so almost all the troops that Rui Cun and Zhang Biao could mobilize were already inside Wuchang City. The patrol battalion had already clashed with them at Xiaodong, and the two battalions attempting to enter the city to provide support from Nanhu had been blocked. But if so, why hadn't any reinforcements arrived yet?

  Yan Zhong straightened up with a wry smile, his spirit somewhat dazed from the multiple injuries and excessive blood loss. Seeing the two soldiers who had been taking care of them wanting to come over and support him, Yan Zhong straight shook his head indicating that it wasn't necessary. Noticing Cai Jimin lowering his head as if thinking of a countermeasure, he let out a light hiss, signaling not to disturb Cai Jimin who was deep in thought.

  The decline of the revolutionary party is now evident, perhaps due to Li Han's misstep leading to a butterfly effect. In response, one battalion of soldiers from the Qing army was left behind when Yuan Shikai entered Sichuan, and many revolutionaries were shot in the initial chaos. Fortunately, they were outnumbered, and Cai Jiemin made the decisive choice to suppress them, defeating them in the shortest time possible; otherwise, if they had been attacked from both sides, they would have been surrounded by enemies on all sides!

  "What's going on? Why hasn't the reinforcement army arrived yet?"

  Cai Jimin was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on his face.

  "Tsai, why don't we retreat while fighting and head towards Chu Wang Tai? We are short-handed and have no artillery. We even lack sufficient hand grenades... The brothers are almost unable to hold on..." Seeing that he had lost his composure, Yan Zhongzhi offered a suggestion. As the sound of gunfire drew closer, everyone knew that if reinforcements did not arrive soon, they would truly become corpses!

  Cai Jimin shook his head without hesitation, "No way, if we withdraw now, the South Lake side will be left to fight alone. Even if we escape temporarily, what about the nearly thousand soldiers on the South Lake side? If we retreat, we'll truly become sinners of the righteous cause... Let's not discuss this matter again..."

  "But..."

  Yan Zhongzhi was about to speak, but suddenly saw that Cai Jimin's face had turned iron-gray, hesitated for a moment, and finally swallowed it back into his stomach, no longer speaking.

  The mutineers of the 29th and 30th battalions were originally fewer in number than the Qing garrison, and they also encountered repeated attacks from the banner troops of the 30th battalion. They were surrounded by several times more Qing soldiers than themselves. As a result, casualties mounted continuously. Even Yan Zhongcheng, who had been most optimistic about the revolution before, became pessimistic now!

  "Zhang Zhi, what do you think?"

  Cai Jimin, who had been bowing his head in thought, suddenly lifted it up and only then remembered that due to the shortage of manpower, all those who could hold guns had gone to key positions on various streets and alleys except for two soldiers left behind to protect them.

  Yan Zhong was shot several times in the morning, although none of them were fatal, and Li Han had given him some special medicine. However, after experiencing several hours of bumpy roads, his already weak body was hit by another bullet in the shoulder during the previous flag soldier's repeated attacks, and he couldn't even hold a gun now. Cai Jimin was also unable to move, as he needed to be ready to respond to problems coming from three directions at any time, and two soldiers were required to protect them. With his orders being transmitted by word of mouth, he couldn't leave either, resulting in no one available around him now!

  But thinking that he had only heard of the name and did not know what he looked like, he could only shake his head and give up quietly.

  "What a pity! Little Yan, who has been with me for many years and never boasts, mentioned that Li Han not only has an incredible shooting technique but can also behead someone from hundreds of steps away without hesitation. If we couldn't find him now, we could have protected him to see if he could sneak into the governor's office to assassinate Rui Cun, Zhang Biao, and others, and the current crisis would be resolved!"

  Cai Jizhong is not an ordinary person, perhaps he hasn't heard of the beheading tactic, but since he has studied many military books left by his ancestors, he also understands the principle of "capturing the king first" on the battlefield.

  Regret filled his heart, but just then a loud cannon shot rang out "Boom!" and Cai Jimin felt something hit him in the face. He picked up a piece of broken stone from the ground, took a look at it, and threw it away. Only when he raised his hand did he discover that blood was flowing from his face.

  "What's going on? Where did the artillery come from? Quick... quick... ask the brothers over there if there are any casualties, everyone be careful to take cover..."

  Cai Jimin was a regular military academy graduate of the Hubei Army (Special) Primary School, and over the years, he had also come into contact with artillery in the army. He was quite familiar with artillery and silently calculated the power of the cannon that had just fired. He carefully listened to the sound of the shell explosion and suddenly changed his expression. It couldn't be wrong; it was a 27-caliber 60mm rapid-fire cannon. Although its firepower wasn't strong, he had unmistakably heard the sound of eight cannons firing simultaneously!

  Is it necessary for a group of revolutionaries to die in order to prove their sincerity?

  A painful tear rolled out of the corner of his eye, and Cai Jimin closed his eyes unwillingly!