Insufficient balance

  The new army in the south is indeed rotten to the bone, and there are so many high-ranking officers in Fuzhou who are revolutionaries. If Chen Jingyun is counted as a pseudo-revolutionary, then the 10th Regiment can be said to have already become a military force of revolutionaries. Among them, Lin Wenyin, Xiao Qibin, and Huang Anyuan being revolutionaries doesn't surprise Chen Jingyun much, as it can be guessed from their usual words and deeds. However, that Lin Zaomin is a revolutionary makes Chen Jingyun somewhat puzzled. In Chen Jingyun's memory, Lin Zaomin should be like the old Chen Jingyun, obsessed with military affairs and uninterested in politics, so how could he suddenly become a revolutionary?

  At this time, Lin Chengkun behind Chen Jingyun, however, leaned over to Chen Jingyun's ear and whispered: "It is said that Lin Zaomin is the elder brother of Lin Yimin! After Lin Yimin was killed in Guangzhou at the beginning of the year, he joined the Tongmenghui"

  The remaining three people, Chen Jingyun, were unfamiliar.

  As soon as he entered the door, Liu Tong, who had just greeted Chen Jingyun's arrival, said: "This is Chen Baozhen, I suppose everyone knows him?" Indeed, the name Chen Jingyun was no stranger to revolutionary party members in Fujian.

  "As for Lin Biao's troops, Xiao Guan led them, and Chen Biao should also be familiar with them, so I don't need to introduce them anymore!" Liu Tong said with a smiling face.

  Chen Jingyun was somewhat surprised in his heart, but he had already mentally prepared for the appearance of revolutionaries in the 10th town. He nodded and said: "We are all old acquaintances!"

  "This is great, Lin Zhaomin also stood up: 'Welcome Subei to join the revolutionary ranks, now my China is in a critical moment, it is exactly when we need a straightforward military officer like Subei to stand out and save our 40 million Chinese people.'"

  "For the future of the Chinese people, Zihua will naturally not fall behind others!" Chen Jingyun also said with great fanfare.

  At this time, Lin Zhaomin also introduced the others: "This is Mr. Zheng Zuoyan, the president of our Tongmenghui Fujian branch, and this is Mr. Wei Shengtian from Shanghai who has come to support our uprising, Mr. Wei was previously an assistant to Mr. Sun. The last one is Mr. Peng Shousong, who is in charge of liaison with the party! If Mr. Xu Chongzhi were here today, then all the members of Tongmenghui in Fujian would be present."

  Chen Jingyun gazed at the people present, thinking to himself: These should be the core high-level members of the Tongmenghui in Fujian. However, it was largely thanks to Chen Jingyun's efforts that these people could gather together tonight. The Tongmenghui had many factions, and among the seven people present, there were at least three different factions: Guangfu Hui, Gongjin Hui, and Xingzhong Hui. Although they all wore the cloak of the Tongmenghui in public, the organization had long since become a mere shell of its former self. In recent years, these revolutionaries' daily actions were merely united under the banner of the Tongmenghui, but in reality, they operated separately. For example, the uprising in Wuchang some time ago had nothing to do with Guangfu Hui or Xingzhong Hui; it was a solo effort by Gongjin Hui. Similarly, if Chen Jingyun hadn't thrown a wrench into the works, Guangfu Hui, Gongjin Hui, and even the relatively powerless Xingzhong Hui would have gone their separate ways.

  After the nonsense was over, Chen Jingyun took the seven people present as introducers and swore to join the Tongmenghui. After a brief initiation ceremony, Zheng Zuyan said: "Tonight, I got Zhu Huai to join, and I can wait for the day of Fujian's recovery!"

  "Director Zheng has spoken solemnly, Zihua's words are light and powerless alone, the great revolutionary cause still needs everyone to work together!"

  Lin Zhaomin shook his head and said, "Zi Hua doesn't need to be modest. Everyone in the 10th town knows that the second battalion of the 38th brigade is your own troops. With the second battalion, it's not a big deal, but Fuzhou city will fall soon."

  What he said is not wrong, now the troops stationed in Fuzhou city have thousands of people, but those engineering battalions and logistics battalions soldiers' combat effectiveness can't be compared with regular infantry battalion like the second battalion.

  Chen Jingyun furrowed his brow and said, "If it were a few days ago, that would be fine, but now the 37th battalion has already arrived outside Fuzhou City. My third battalion will also arrive in Fuzhou tomorrow. If we don't make arrangements carefully, I'm afraid there will be too many variables!"

  As soon as this was said, the low-ranking people also frowned, because in the past, the development of the revolutionary party had been concentrated within Fuzhou City, and there had been too little contact with other troops dispatched outside, resulting in not many members being mobilized in other troops. If a mutiny were to break out, these two battalions temporarily summoned would indeed have too great a variable.

  At this time, Lin Zhaomin said: "Brother Chen, the third battalion under you may not be able to pull them into the revolutionary ranks, but it should not be difficult to stabilize them!"

  Chen Jingyun shook his head: "It's hard to say, if the first battalion comes, relying on my relationship with Zhuang Xianhe, the leader of the first battalion, it won't be difficult to stabilize them. However, Li Jimin of the third battalion and I don't have much of a relationship, although I've also infiltrated some people into that battalion this year, but after all, it's still not quite right!"

  "Is that Hu Jigao? Are you talking about the Hu Jigao who graduated from Zhenwu School?" At this time, Wei Shengtian, who had rushed over from Shanghai, unexpectedly said: "If it's really him, I can try to persuade him!"

  "Oh?" Chen Jingyun asked: "Could it be that Mr. Wei knows this person?"

  Wei Shengtian nodded: "In those years at Zhenwu School, I lived in the same dormitory with him, and our relationship was still good! It's just that I didn't expect that after not seeing each other for many years, he would quietly come to Fujian to become a military officer!"

  "If Mr. Wei Shengtian really knows this person and can persuade him, let alone mobilize him to rebel, even if it's just to stabilize him, then Fuzhou City can be taken down smoothly!" Chen Jingyun casually made a reckless statement, but military affairs are full of variables, and any guarantee is unrealistic. However, before the uprising, Chen Jingyun would not deliberately undermine their confidence for no reason.

  What's more important is that Chen Jingyun needs to establish a strong and powerful image in their hearts, thereby gaining the leadership of the uprising.

  At first, Chen Jingyun was thinking about how to ensure his own safety in this national chaos. However, after a few days passed and he found that the revolutionary party did not have as much power as he had imagined, his thoughts gradually changed from initially joining the revolutionary party to wanting to take control of this uprising so as to gain a foothold in the subsequent warlord wars.

  "Good! With Mr. Chen's words, I, Wei Mou, will not disappoint your expectations!" Wei Shengtian was about thirty years old, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and through the lenses, his eyes still showed a firm determination.

  Zheng Zuoyin also showed a cheerful expression: "Now that we have the second battalion of Subei, plus our comrades who have developed in the engineering battalion, logistics battalion, constabulary battalion, cavalry and other places, it's no problem to stir up a revolutionary storm in Fuzhou. If we can stabilize Li Jimin, even if the 37th Battalion's Second Battalion resists to the end, it won't hurt the overall situation. Moreover, now that the whole country is resisting the autocratic rule of the Qing government, I estimate that there are not many soldiers in the 37th Battalion who are also inclined towards revolution. It will not be difficult to mobilize them at that time!"

  Chen Jingyun agreed with the first half of Zheng Zuoyun's words, and he believed that joining forces with the revolutionaries to take down Fuzhou would not be a problem. However, he disagreed with the second half of Zheng's words. The 37th Regiment was one of Sun Daoren's most trusted units, with its commander Qin Yuanyan being a veteran of the old army and having followed Sun for over ten years. This relationship was much closer than Chen Jingyun's relationship with Sun Daoren. If the revolutionaries could win over the 37th Regiment, they would have rebelled long ago and wouldn't need to wait until now. Not to mention the 37th Regiment, even if the revolutionaries had infiltrated Chen Jingyun's own 38th Regiment for so long, they still hadn't achieved much. If it weren't for Chen Jingyun's own desire to revolt, the difficulty of winning over the Second Battalion would be no less than that of winning over Sun Daoren himself.

  Of course, in the end, whether it's the 37th or 38th division, they will all eventually take the road of revolutionary uprising. Just wait until the situation in Hubei stabilizes and the powerful figures in the southern provinces can no longer see a chance for the Qing court to win. Without even needing to be won over, they themselves will prepare to rise up in revolt. This is basically the pattern that has been followed by the southern provinces throughout history. In the early stages of the Xinhai Revolution, they all adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and as soon as they saw that the Qing court was doomed, the various powerful figures immediately changed their flags and declared revolution!

  Heaven knows how many of them were real revolutionaries.

  At this time, Peng Shousong interjected: "Everyone, why don't we launch the uprising ahead of schedule? If we suddenly launch the uprising now, it will not be a problem to control Fuzhou City, and we can also avoid the possible reaction of the 3rd Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 37th Brigade!"

  Everyone present also showed a flash of excitement: "Right! If we launch the uprising now, won't it be even more advantageous!"

  But Chen Jingyun shook his head and said: "Impossible!"

  "Why?" Zheng Zu Yin asked in puzzlement.

  "After the Wuchang Uprising, Sun Daoren had already ordered the soldiers to hand over their bullets, and two days ago, Song Shou commanded Sun Daoren to transfer the Ping Shan military arsenal to Cheng Jinrui of the patrol camp. Without bullets, how can there be an uprising? Are we going to let the soldiers go on an uprising with empty guns?" Chen Jingyun said, feeling somewhat depressed, because it was he who had suggested to Sun Daoren that they collect the soldiers' bullets, as at that time Chen Jingyun was afraid that the revolution would start too early and the revolutionary party would also overthrow him. As for the military arsenal, it was because the situation was getting more and more tense, Song Shou was getting more and more worried, so after collecting the new army's bullets, he also took back the military arsenal from the new army."

  Everyone present was also depressed when they heard this!

  After a while, Wei Shengtian suddenly stood up: "I can call Shanghai to let them urgently transport a batch of bullets over!" However, as he said this, he became somewhat discouraged: "But from what I know, the comrades in Shanghai don't have many bullets either!"

  Chen Jingyun interjected, "Not many are needed, even just a few tens of thousands will do! At the time of the uprising, even if we mobilize the second battalion, engineering battalion, and logistics battalion, we still can't gather more than 1,000 rifles. The engineering and logistics battalions have very few guns, mainly relying on the second battalion. Calculating at a minimum of ten rounds per rifle, with 10,000 rounds of ammunition, we can complete our initial battle plan. After taking over the arsenal, there will naturally be sufficient military supplies to replenish."

  But Wei Shengtian shook his head: "It's hard to get 10,000 shots, even if we can mobilize them, it will take at least half a month. If it's three to five thousand shots, it might be possible to get them within three days!"

  "In that case, it's unrealistic to launch an uprising in the next few days! In the next few days, I will also try to mobilize some military equipment! However, Mr. Wei's bullets are also needed, just in case!" Chen Jingyun said, but Lin Zhaomin retorted: "How can we mobilize? The arsenal is now controlled by the old army's patrol battalion, and those old soldiers don't have many people who are inclined to revolution, it's not easy to do anything!"

  Chen Jingyun thought for a moment and said: "I'll think of a way, please give me a few days!"

  Chen Jingyun said so, and the following people could only nod in agreement.

  Because if a rebellion is to be launched, the main force will be Chen Jingyun and his second battalion. Although the revolutionaries can also mobilize several hundred people at that time, their combat effectiveness is far inferior compared to the second battalion, which is a regular infantry battalion stationed in Fuzhou for a long time. It is precisely because of the importance of the second battalion that the revolutionary party has been trying its best to win over Chen Jingyun.

  Chen Jingyun continued: "On the day of the uprising, in addition to bullets, we also need military pay. I plan to give each soldier a double salary when the time comes, and before departure, they will be given a month's worth of silver, and it is also necessary to use military pay to win over and surrender other soldiers!"

  "After saying this, he looked at everyone in the room: 'This amount of money absolutely cannot be less!'"