Insufficient balance

  After bidding farewell to his mother, Chen Jingyun took his personal soldiers and went back to the South Campus. As for that marriage, it had long been thrown out of Chen Jingyun's mind.

  As soon as he returned to the barracks, before Chen Jingyun could sit down and have a cup of tea, Lin Chengkun hastily found him.

  "Has there been any progress?" Chen Jingyun asked.

  Lin Chengkun shook his head: "No, it's just that someone else came to me this morning?"

  "Oh? What's with you, stop beating around the bush! If you have something to say, spit it out!" Chen Jingyun didn't like not having control when speaking.

  Seeing Chen Jingyun's face didn't look too good, Lin Chengkun also didn't dare to say much, and directly said: "This afternoon, I went to find that Liu guy according to your instructions, but that Liu guy was just a low-level role in their revolutionary party, and he couldn't make any decisions about the Guangfu matter. He said he had to wait until he reported the situation to his superiors before giving us feedback. However, on my way back, I met another person from the Guangfu Association!"

  "Guangfu Association?" Chen Jingyun was slightly stunned, but also remembered that the Guangfu Association was also an organization of the Tongmenghui. The Tongmenghui was a loose political grand alliance, their common goal was to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but other political views had great differences. And the larger sub-organizations of the Tongmenghui were Gongjin Association, Guangfu Association and Xingzhong Association.

  "Hmm, that person is called Lin Hao, and he's said to be a leading figure in the Guangfu Hui Fuzhou branch!" As soon as Chen Jingyun heard about Lin Hao, he suddenly recalled this person from his memory. According to his past memories, Lin Hao had actually come to win him over before. At the beginning of the year when the uprising broke out in Guangzhou, Lin Hao secretly came to persuade Chen Jingyun, trying to get him to lead the new army to respond to the uprising in Guangzhou. However, at that time Chen Jingyun didn't pay attention to those revolutionaries, and although he didn't capture Lin Hao, he also didn't give him a good face, directly driving him away.

  Before Chen Jingyun could ask, Lin Chengkun explained: "These Guangfu Hui people are just like the Gongjin Hui, they want to pull us into the revolutionary party!"

  "In other words, how much power do they both hold?" Chen Jingyun couldn't quite grasp the complex internal relationships within the Tongmenghui for a while, so he simply didn't bother. Anyway, they were all revolutionary parties, and when the time came, they would work together in cooperation. Compared to the internal struggles of the Tongmenghui, Chen Jingyun was more concerned about how much power they actually held.

  To launch a rebellion, Chen Jingyun alone cannot do it. Chen Jingyun's control is limited to the second battalion, which has only over 600 people. Although these 600 people can start a rebellion, they are not enough to control Fuzhou City. Once the rebellion starts, it is necessary to control the Engineering Battalion, Logistics Battalion, Artillery Battalion and other troops, as well as the third battalion of the 38th Regiment and the second battalion of the 37th Regiment that will arrive in Fuzhou City. To control these troops, one must rely on the revolutionary party members. After all, Chen Jingyun's direct control is only over the second battalion. Although the other two battalions of the 38th Regiment are also his troops, Chen Jingyun has been in control of the 38th Regiment for less than a year and has not yet fully controlled the other two battalions. If he wants to rely on them when the time comes, there will be too many variables.

  So, how much power a revolutionary party can control is a very important factor.

  Lin Chengkun said: "They didn't explicitly state how many people they controlled, but from the meaning of their words, there should be several hundred people. And Liu's surname mentioned that as long as we take down Fuzhou City, they can mobilize other troops to respond to the uprising. As for Lin Hao, he even explicitly stated that they can cooperate with us to take down Fuzhou City on the day of the incident."

  Chen Jingyun stroked his chin: "Right, how much of that 'Guangfu' stuff they mentioned earlier can we get out?"

  In these times, going to war costs money. Military officers may follow you in rebellion for the sake of their careers or various empty ideals, but ordinary soldiers below them do not have such high awareness. Without a pile of silver coins in front of them, don't think they will take up guns to fight, let alone rebel. In the Xinhai Revolution in history, among the many militia forces that supported the revolution, the vast majority came for the sake of rewards and benefits. After the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, the provisional government was indeed troubled by the various righteous armies' clamor for rewards, and Chen Jingyun did not want to follow in their footsteps.

  Lin Chengkun replied: "It seems that they really can't make decisions about this money, but judging from their conversation, it doesn't seem like they're wealthy masters either. I think this restoration is quite sufficient!"

  Chen Jingyun put down his fingers on the table, rhythmically tapping on the table, and in his heart, he was calculating that if this coup succeeded, it would be best. If not, it didn't matter. Anyway, when the time came for the uprising, they could plunder the treasury in Fuzhou City, as well as the homes of several high-ranking officials and noble families. It wasn't a lot to say, but they should be able to get their hands on several hundred million. The problem of military pay shouldn't be a big issue.

  "You go and talk to them again, yes, the Kuomintang will. The Communist Party has also talked about it, don't be too obsessed with the response of the Kuomintang, try to let them arrange a meeting with someone in power." Chen Jingyun said while thinking: "The current situation is tense, this matter cannot be delayed for too long, at most seven days, at least three days, there must be actual progress!"

  Lin Chengkun was slightly stunned after hearing this, and he didn't know why Chen Jingyun was in such a hurry. He immediately said, "You don't want the silver? And you're saying that you yourself will personally talk to them?"

  Chen Jingyun nodded: "As for the money, they can give as much or as little as they want. If they really can't afford it, that's okay. As for meeting in person, of course we need to see each other!"

  Actually, there isn't much room for discussion on this matter. After all, this is not a business cooperation, but a rebellion. The process of negotiation is nothing more than me probing you and you probing me, fearing that if one of us is not careful, we will be sold out by the other side. Once there is a foundation of trust, there's no need to discuss much about cooperation, just directly make a plan to jointly rebel. As for betraying allies or preserving strength, these things won't appear among revolutionaries in the short term. After all, although the current revolutionaries have many factions and differences, they are still united on the common goal of overthrowing the Qing dynasty.

  After Chen Jingyun's intention, Lin Chengkun had continuous talks with Gongjin Hui and Guangfu Hui people for the next two days, and met more core members of the revolutionary party. Because Chen Jingyun was more proactive than in the previous few days, this round of talks went very smoothly, and within just three days, he had established contact with high-level officials from both Gongjin Hui and Guangfu Hui.

  In just three or four days, the situation in the country can be described as turbulent. The Hubei militia occupied Wuchang on the first day and then occupied Hankou and Hanyang on the second day. In less than 36 hours, the Hubei militia had already occupied the three towns of Wuhan and simultaneously launched a large-scale recruitment campaign, expanding its forces by more than double in just a few days.

  At the same time, the Qing court's reaction was not slow. On the second day after the Wuchang Uprising, on October 12th, it ordered Yan Chang to lead the land army and Zaiyi to lead the naval force to Hubei to suppress the uprising. Two days later, Yuan Shikai was appointed as the Governor of Huguang to take charge of suppressing the rebellion in Hubei. However, Yuan Shikai claimed that he had not recovered from his foot injury and refused to take office.

  On the same day, the Second and Fourth Divisions of the Ministry of War arrived at Hankou by train, preparing to gather forces to attack Hankou.

  On the 15th, the revolutionaries of the Revolutionary Party launched an uprising in Xinyang, attempting to respond to the revolution, but were successfully suppressed by the Qing army. On the same day, Ma Ji's troops arrived at the Hankou River Bank.

  At this time, the Qing army had completed its initial assembly in the outer suburbs of Hankou. From the 11th when Wuchang fell to the 15th, within a short span of four days, the Qing court relied on the railway to assemble nearly 10,000 troops from outside provinces. This reaction speed was already considered very rapid under the traffic conditions at that time.

  In the following days, the Qing army and the people's army each had their own attacks and defenses, repeatedly pulling back and forth from Zhangkou to Liujiatang. On the 18th, the consulates of various countries in Hankou declared neutrality, calling the Wuchang Uprising an internal war in China, and stating that they would "strictly maintain neutrality".

  While the situation in Hubei was chaotic, other provinces in China were also turbulent, with small-scale disturbances breaking out one after another. However, since the situation in Hubei had not yet become clear, the actual power holders in various places were still in a wait-and-see attitude, and for a time it could be said that everything was calm and peaceful. At least, the time when each province responded to the uprising was much later than Chen Jingyun had anticipated.

  Of course, the newspapers in various places were not calm, and all kinds of news flooded them. Sometimes they said the Qing army was defeated, sometimes they said the Ming army was defeated, and there were all sorts of confusing news.

  In Fujian, like the southern provinces, it maintained a calm surface, but beneath that flowed a turbulent undercurrent. Under Chen Jingyun's instructions, Lin Chengkun and the revolutionaries made frequent contact, and after both sides understood each other's initial intentions, Chen Jingyun also met separately with Li Hao and Liu Tong, the two liaison officers of the revolutionary party. Later, Chen Jingyun discovered that the Guangfu Society and the Gongjin Society were actually negotiating with him separately, throwing aside their mutual connections. After deliberating for half a day, Chen Jingyun decided to meet simultaneously with the core members of both the Guangfu Society and the Gongjin Society.

  They were originally unwilling to intervene in the internal conflicts of the revolutionary party, but now Chen Jingyun wants to unite with the revolutionary party to launch an uprising. If they can unite the forces of Guangfu Hui, Gongjin Hui and Xingzhong Hui, the chances of success will be even greater. Another important point is that after uniting these people together, one can take advantage of the internal contradictions within the revolutionary party to achieve what one wants: the leadership of the uprising!

  On the evening of the 18th, Chen Jingyun finished inspecting the military camp and did not rest in his uniform as he had done for several days. Instead, he changed into casual clothes and quietly left the camp with Lin Chengkun, without even bringing his personal guards.

  Two people walked at night and stopped in a small alley. Chen Jingyun gave Lin Chengkun a signal, and Lin Chengkun slowly entered the alley and knocked on the door of one of the small courtyards. After a while, the courtyard gate was opened, and a man wearing a western suit came out.

  As soon as he came out, he saw Lin Chengkun and Chen Jingyun, and after showing a joyful expression on his face, he said: "Come in quickly!"

  After the two entered, the man stretched his head to scan the small alley outside and quickly closed the door after finding no one else. He then led Chen Jingyun and Lin Chengkun into the main hall.

  As soon as he entered the main hall, Chen Jingyun found that there were not many people in the main hall, about seven or eight. More importantly, among these seven or eight people, he actually knew four! These four people are Lin Wenyin, the head of the engineering battalion, Xiao Qibin, the head of the artillery battalion, Lin Zhaomin, the commander of the 40th regiment, Huang Anyuan, the cavalry officer, and Yu Shaoyong, the head of the constabulary battalion.