Insufficient balance

  After dealing with Sun Dao-ren, Chen Jingyun didn't stay long and left directly with the guards. As for the many former Qing officials who were caught, Chen Jingyun was too lazy to see them and ordered high-ranking officials to be detained, while mid-to-low ranking officials who were willing to surrender to the revolution could keep their original positions after cutting off their queues.

  He himself led the guard to personally inspect several recruitment points. Now Chen Jingyun is most concerned about the military power in his hands!

  So far, Chen Jingyun's controlled forces are not many, only the first division upgraded from the original second camp, plus the Qing soldiers who defected, with a total of about 1,200 people. In addition, there is also a guard battalion mainly composed of the original bodyguards and student soldiers, which is also small in number, with only about 400 people, more than half of whom are temporary defectors from the Qing army.

  As for the second battalion of over 700 people, the garrison battalion of over 300 people, the cavalry camp of over 50 people, and the artillery battalion of over 400 people, they were respectively controlled by Lin Wenyin, Xiao Qibin, Yu Shaoyong, Peng Shousong, and Huang Anyuan. For now, during the uprising stage, they could still follow Chen Jingyun's command, but once the situation stabilized, it would be hard to say. In order to gain control in the future, the more troops one had under their command, the better; as for quality, everyone was on the same level, and no one could say that anyone else's wasn't good enough.

  The Second Division has now been dispatched out of the city by Chen Jingyun, and the Constabulary Regiment is busy searching for mutinous soldiers and scattered Qing troops within Fuzhou City, while the Artillery Regiment remains stationed on Yu Mountain. This gave Chen Jingyun a great opportunity to expand his forces in a short period of time.

  After a night of fierce fighting, Feng Qinn was also a clever man who knew that his future was closely tied to Chen Jingyun's. As soon as he received Chen Jingyun's order, he immediately organized personnel to set up recruitment points in various parts of Fuzhou City. Although it was chaotic at night, Feng Qinn had already issued a notice to pacify the people according to Chen Jingyun's order. Some brave people had begun to take to the streets, and new soldiers wearing military uniforms and carrying long guns occasionally passed by on the streets. It wasn't until the civilians saw that these new soldiers were all bald that they believed it was a revolution.

  Looking at the notice again, those who could read were already reading it out loud to others. The content was mostly dull and unremarkable, basically telling people that Fuzhou City had changed owners, the Qing court was very bad, the revolutionary party was very good, the people didn't need to worry, and they should live in peace and prosperity. Although these clichés made the people worried, the signature at the end of this notice caused even more discussion: Commander-in-Chief of the Fujian National Army, Chen Jingyun.

  Only a very small number of people have heard the name Chen Jingyun, knowing that he is an officer of the New Army and also the young master of the Chen family in the south of the city. However, the vast majority of the people do not know who Chen Jingyun is, and they are whispering to each other: "Who is Chen Jingyun?"

  Chen Jingyun, who was being talked about by people, did not know that he had already become the focus of attention for the people in Fuzhou City. At this moment, he stood at the recruitment point, looking at the sparse crowd of applicants in front of him, feeling a bit worried. From now on, it can be said that Fujian has entered a chaotic situation. Although he had Sun Daoren's letter of surrender in his hand, no one could guarantee that those generals would listen to their own words. Moreover, apart from the new army, there were also various old troops such as the patrol battalion in different parts of Fujian, which were also troublesome. If they couldn't recruit enough troops in a short period of time, Chen Jingyun was worried about his own future fate.

  "What's the situation now?" Chen Jingyun walked up and Feng Qin immediately came to meet him. Before Feng Qin could even ask, Chen Jingyun took the initiative to ask.

  Feng Qin immediately said: "It's still early now, and the three recruitment points have recruited more than 170 people!"

  When Chen Jingyun heard the number 170, although he was not satisfied in his heart, he also knew that this result was already good. The main reason why it is difficult to recruit soldiers now is that a military riot broke out last night and the people have not reacted yet. Those who come to join the army are some people who know the news earlier.

  "Good, let's continue to increase the recruitment efforts!" Chen Jingyun looked at the recruitment conditions and saw that the treatment was 8 yuan per month and 15 yuan for settlement fees. Thinking that they urgently needed soldiers now, he immediately said: "Raise the settlement fee a bit, raise it to 25 yuan! After the soldiers are slightly sufficient, we will lower it again!"

  It's urgent now, so it's necessary to spend a bit more money in these few days.

  Feng Qin took the order and indeed, after raising the family allowance to 25 yuan, more young men came to the recruitment point. At that time, the monthly income of poor people was only three or four yuan, or even lower. Not to mention the eight yuan military pay they could receive after joining the army, just for the 25 yuan family allowance, it was enough to attract those poor young men.

  In addition, Chen Jingyun also found that apart from these ordinary people, many young students also went to join the army. Chen Jingyun specifically instructed Feng Qin to distinguish between students and other intellectuals and ordinary soldiers, and not to let them become cannon fodder. These people are best suited to be trained as reserve officers.

  The conscription was presided over by Feng Qin, and Chen Jingyun also felt at ease. However, as soon as he returned to the headquarters, someone came to report that it was a military situation in the second regiment.

  Chen Jingyun opened it and looked at it for a long time. Then he closed the letter and fell into deep thought.

  The current situation outside the city is a bit chaotic, with Li Jimin's troops, Lin Wenyin and Peng Shousong's troops, and Yuan Fang's troops. According to Chen Jingyun's plan, first drive out the second battalion of Lin Wenyin from the city, let them fight for a while, even if they surrender, they will avoid being merged with each other because they have promised to promote themselves as a regiment. Then stabilize the situation in the city and start recruiting soldiers on a large scale.

  Only when there are soldiers, military pay and military equipment can we gain an advantage in the future struggle for power.

  The situation outside the city developed differently from Chen Jingyun's expectations. The letter said that Li Jimin's unit began to confront Yuan Fang's unit last night, and after receiving reinforcements from Lin Wenyin in the morning, they first tried to persuade Yuan Fang to surrender, but were rejected, and then launched several charges. Although the second and fourth battalions had more troops than Yuan Fang's forces, the battle was not going well, and they failed to take down the enemy even after half a day of fighting. It wasn't until Chen Jingyun sent his personal soldiers with Sun Daoren's handwritten surrender letter that Yuan Fang's attitude changed.

  However, Yuan Fang insisted on seeing Chen Jingyun and said that he would surrender only after meeting Chen. This led Lin Wenyin and Li Jimin to deliver this letter.

  After receiving the letter, Chen Jingyun meditated for a moment, then stood up: "Ma Cheng, assemble the troops and follow me out of the city. Lin Chengkun, you lead the guard battalion to defend the important places in the city. Also, order Xiao Qibin to lead the artillery team to follow me into battle."

  Chen Jingyun's arrangement required him to ensure that Fuzhou City was under his control, while he himself led the main force and artillery out of the city to avoid being trapped by Li Jimin or others. If the Yuan faction refused to surrender at that time, Chen would lead the superior forces to defeat them.

  After this hasty arrangement, Chen Jingyun led the 1,200 men under Ma Cheng and the artillery team under Xiao Qibin out of the city. By afternoon, Chen Jingyun finally saw a large group of people in the distance.

  "Ah, sir, you've finally arrived!" Li Jimin hastily stepped forward as soon as he saw Chen Jingyun.

  As soon as he heard the title of "adult" with a strong pre-dynasty flavor, Chen Jingyun didn't feel disgusted, but instead felt close to him. Why? It's because this shows that Li Jimin regards him as his superior, and also as his original superior. In other words, he acknowledges their subordinate relationship, which is very important.

  "Brother Li, you've worked hard!" Li Jimin was a few years older than Chen Jingyun, and in order to win people over, this one term of endearment "big brother" still came fairly naturally to Chen Jingyun.

  Li Jimin was also startled by Chen Jingyun's obvious respectful tone, and hastily replied: "It's not hard work, it's just that I have failed to live up to the trust placed in me by Your Excellency and have yet to defeat the enemy. Please punish me, sir!"

  He said that he would have to kneel down and apologize, but Chen Jingyun couldn't let him do so. He took a step forward and helped him up: "Commander Li, we are now revolutionary soldiers, and the old rules no longer apply. Besides, you held off Yuan's forces for an entire day, that's a meritorious deed!"

  Li Jimin had already learned from Lin Wenyi that he was promoted to Tuanzhang, or the former Biao Tong, but hearing it from Chen Jingyun's own mouth made him even more delighted: "Sir!"

  At this time, Lin Wenyin, who was watching from the side, had a somewhat strange expression on her face and opened her mouth to say: "Commander, I heard that you brought the First Regiment and Artillery Regiment. I suggest taking advantage of the remaining daylight to launch an attack as soon as possible and strive for a one-shot victory!"

  Lin Wenyi's words, however, caused Chen Jingyun to frown. To be honest, although he admired the revolutionary party members' ideals and dedication, having too many of them around him was not a good thing considering his current situation.

  Although I'm not satisfied in my heart, on the surface I didn't change color at all: "Uh-huh, I think so too!"

  At this time, Ma Cheng stepped forward and said: "Isn't it said that Yuan Fang wants to see the commander?"

  Li Jimin seemed to have come to his senses and said, "Oh, right! After the commander's personal soldiers sent a letter of surrender earlier, Yuan Fang replied that he was willing to surrender, but he wanted to see the commander!"

  "Since I've come, let's meet!" Chen Jingyun thought: "If he can surrender, that would be best. If not, prepare to attack!"

  After the arrangement was made, Yuan Fang seemed to be unafraid of his own danger and directly brought two bodyguards through the formation to Chen Jingyun's command center.

  Chen Jingyun saw Yuan Fangyi come in and stood up with a smile on his face.

  As soon as Yuan Fang arrived, his eyes fell on Chen Jingyun, and he took two steps forward to salute: "Sir, I have been ordered by Generalissimo to report for duty!"

  On the left, one sentence is for the adults, and another sentence is for control. This made Lin Wenyin on the side very dissatisfied. In his view, it's already a revolution now, everyone is a revolutionary army, how can they still be the same as before? Can't he think that Chen Jingyun is under Sun Daoren's command?

  Chen Jingyun was also somewhat surprised by Yuan's words, but after hearing them, he thought of many things, especially about the power issue in the future. To be sure, Chen Jingyun was not a regular revolutionary party member, but rather someone who joined the Tongmenghui at the last minute, and neither he nor Lin Wenying and others considered him a true revolutionary party member. From this, it can be seen that Chen Jingyun did not have much prestige in the hearts of the people in the Tongmenghui, but Chen Jingyun also had an advantage, which was his high-ranking military officer status and the actual military power in his hands. Since he wanted military power, he had to win over these military officers who held military power, so he immediately said: "Good! Since you have already surrendered to me, your unit will be the Fifth Regiment of Fujian National Army from now on."

  "Yes, Commander!" Yuan Fang also changed his title at this time, from which it can be seen that he is not a pedantic person either. However, his face was very calm and did not show any particularly excited expression towards Chen Jingyun's promotion and increase in rank.

  To be honest, Chen Jingyun's appointments are not very substantial at present. Chen Jingyun has appointed seven regimental commanders, namely Ma Cheng of the First Regiment, Lin Wenyin of the Second Regiment, Li Lianyang of the Third Regiment, Li Jimin of the Fourth Regiment, Yuan Fang of the Fifth Regiment, Yu Shaoyong of the Guards Regiment, and Xiao Qibin of the Artillery Regiment. However, among these regiments, only Ma Cheng has around 1,200 men under his command, while the others have only 300-400 or 500-600 men, which is not even enough to form a full-strength battalion.

  Yuan Fang surrendered in an unexpected way, and the soldiers under his command naturally followed suit. As a result, the city of Fuzhou was basically under the control of the Fujian Nationalist Army both inside and out.