Insufficient balance

  After Chen Jingyun sent Li Lianyang to deliver ammunition to Lin Wenyin, he continued to lead the troops towards Yushan direction. On the way, they also encountered several patrols, none of which were small in number. After a burst of gunfire, they dispersed, and Chen Jingyun didn't have time or energy to capture prisoners, so after dispersing them, he rushed directly towards Yushan direction.

  Soon he saw the flames ahead and the gunfire sounded clearer!

  "Report to the commander, the vanguard has encountered the enemy!" At this time, a messenger came running over to report.

  "How many enemies are there? Are they the patrol battalion or the Eight Banners troops?" Chen Jingyun hastily asked.

  "It's a patrol battalion, with quite a large number of people, probably over three hundred. When we encountered them, they were advancing northward!"

  Chen Jingyun immediately ordered the deployment of combat formations after listening, and with the troops advancing to attack, the gunfire in front quickly became dense. In no time, someone came to report that they had broken through the enemy's defensive line! And also discovered friendly forces on the opposite side.

  "Ally?" Chen Jingyun was somewhat puzzled. According to his control of the situation, the friendly forces within the city were only Xiao Qibin's and Lin Wenyi's troops, but they shouldn't be appearing here, right?

  Only after inquiring carefully did they discover that the friendly troops were actually Wei Shengtian and others, and only when Chen Jingyun walked in did he realize that most of these people were young students with tender faces.

  "If it weren't for Zihua arriving tonight, I'm afraid we would have all sacrificed our lives for the country!" Wei Shengtian's glasses were already cracked, and his leg seemed to be injured, making it difficult for him to walk.

  Chen Jingyun said in surprise: "How can Mr. Wei be here? I remember sending someone to inform you, asking you to withdraw first!"

  Wei Shengtian shook his head and said, "The country is in danger, I, Wei, am a scholar with no ability to tie up a chicken, but I can also fire a gun." He then added, "These people are all comrades who have been developed by our Tongmenghui at ordinary times!"

  "Are they all students?"

  "They're all students from Fuzhou Middle School!"

  "They're just kids!"

  "They and you and I are no different, all of us are revolutionary warriors!"

  Regarding Wei Shengtian's words, Chen Jingyun felt speechless. In his view, fighting and rebelling were things that should be done by professionals, not students who should be sitting in classrooms. He wasn't taking pity on the young lives, but rather thought their lives shouldn't end tonight. Chen Jingyun believed these students should focus on studying well and then use their knowledge to serve the country.

  Looking at the fervent eyes exposed among those students, Chen Jingyun also didn't say anything else and immediately said: "Now that things have come to this point, let them follow my main force!"

  At once, Chen Jingyun equipped these students with uniform firearms and formed a temporary student army. Although Chen Jingyun could not persuade Wei Shengtian and the others, as the highest commander on the battlefield, he had the right to put these children in the rear.

  Apart from these captured soldiers, dozens of prisoners were also seized. In fact, the insurgents did not kill or injure many soldiers of the patrol camp, at most killing and injuring dozens of people. After the defeat of the patrol camp, most of them fled in all directions. As for those more than 40 prisoners, those who were willing to join the insurgent army had their queues cut off and were assigned to various departments. Those who were wounded or unwilling to join the insurgent army also had their queues cut off, and their weapons and ammunition were confiscated and guarded.

  After this obstruction, when Chen Jingyun led his troops to arrive at the outer circle of Yuanshan, it was already 11 o'clock in the evening.

  "When we arrived, the enemy was not on guard. They occupied the mountain and began to counterattack. Due to our army's lack of ammunition, we lost control of the mountain. After receiving the ammunition support called in by Commander, our army immediately launched a counterattack and has now occupied the outer perimeter of the mountain! Currently, my unit has suffered heavy casualties." Xiao Qibin spoke clearly and calmly, without any signs of urgency or distress, his military uniform was straight and wrinkle-free.

  "Good work!" Chen Jingyun said with a smile: "I've brought enough troops and ammunition, uh, and shells! Now your artillery battalion can finally be used!"

  Previously, due to the lack of shells, although Xiao Qibin brought all the big guns from the artillery camp, after firing only a dozen or so shells, he used the gunners as infantry. Now Chen Jingyun has brought the urgently needed shells, which made Xiao Qibin's face burst with joy: "I'll go organize the bombardment right away!"

  "It will all depend on your artillery later!" Chen Jingyun said.

  As Xiao Qibin went forward to command the artillery, Chen Jingyun also led the crowd to formally take over the defense line!

  At one o'clock in the midnight, Chen Jingyun launched an attack. With Chen Jingyun's order, the artillery battalion's shells began to whizz towards the Qing army's position. Under the cover of fierce artillery fire, the battle to capture Yuanshan became a foregone conclusion. Chen Jingyun's troops only launched one charge and the Qing army retreated in defeat.

  After occupying Yu Shan, Chen Jingyun set up his command center at Guanyin Pavilion on Yu Shan, while Xiao Qibin also commanded the artillery battalion to transport cannons up the mountain.

  The Eight Banners and the Xunfang Camps did not immediately launch a counterattack, nor was Chen Jingyun in a hurry to attack the Banner areas. The Eight Banners had too many troops, and it would not be a good idea to rashly enter the Banner areas for street fighting. At the same time, the insurgent soldiers had been fighting fiercely for half the night, and they had also made continuous forced marches, resulting in extreme physical exhaustion. Now was exactly the time when they needed to rest and replenish their strength.

  After Xiao Qibin transported the artillery battalion up the mountain, Lin Wenyi and Peng Shousong also rushed to Yushan with their troops.

  Inside the Guanyin Pavilion on the mountain, the lights were shining brightly. Chen Jingyun looked at the military officers below, who all had tired expressions, and revealed a faint smile. Ordinary soldiers needed rest and could rest, but these military officers couldn't.

  "Feng Qin, you tell us about the current situation!" Chen Jingyun said first.

  "Yes!" He then stood up and walked to the map on the wall behind him, saying: "According to reports from various departments, so far we have occupied and controlled Ping Mountain Arsenal, the Governor's Office, Huaxiang Town Command Center, Panshan Telegraph Bureau, Cangqian Mountain Embassy District, Daqing Bank Branch, Zhongzhou Water Pavilion Water Bureau, Yushan, as well as all important government offices. Currently, the garrison has been ordered to start patrolling the city and searching for scattered soldiers and fleeing Qing troops."

  "Now we are facing more than 3,000 enemy troops within the flag boundary, of which about 2,000 are Jieying Camp, about 300 are Xunfang Camp, and over 1,000 are ordinary Eight Banners soldiers. So far, no heavy machine guns or artillery have been found among them! As for our usable forces, we have a total of around 1,300 people. Although the number of troops is not as many as the enemy's, our artillery battalion has been replenished with shells and deployed on the mountain, and there are also heavy machine gun teams. In terms of firepower, we have an absolute advantage."

  "The Qing army has not launched a counterattack on the mountain so far, but instead occupies the Water Department City Tower and forms a standoff with our army! That's the current situation!" After finishing speaking, Feng Qin sat down at the desk.

  "What questions do you have?"

  "At this time, Xiao Qibin said: 'Due to the tight schedule, my artillery camp still needs time to prepare and cannot complete the artillery support in a short period of time.'"

  Lin Fei Tai said in a low voice: "Now the vanguard and the enemy are confronting each other, and there is an open area in between. If your artillery camp cannot provide support, then our attack will be much more troublesome!"

  Lin Wenyin said, "I think we shouldn't rush into it for the time being. After all, the Banner area is not an ordinary stronghold, but a residential area, and inside are all Bannermen. Even if we break in, I'm afraid we will suffer heavy casualties."

  Chen Jingyun tapped his fingers on the table after listening: "Xiao Guandai, how much more time does your artillery camp need to complete the artillery preparation?"

  Xiao Qibin secretly calculated and said after a while: "At least it will take an hour!"

  "One watch is two hours, now it's 2 am, then just wait a bit longer and attack at dawn! Chen Jingyun knocked on the table while continuing: "Also, currently the logistics camp, military band and other miscellaneous troops are few in number and complex to command, so let's assign them to Lin Fei Tai's unit and Chen Wei Hua's unit for battle, also to avoid chaos."

  Lin Wenyin and Xiao Qibin as well as Peng Shousong sensed something, but after all it wasn't their own troops, so they didn't say anything.

  Although everyone was discussing the attack plan for tomorrow morning under the oil lamp again, after initially confirming the plan, the officers of various departments began to return to their troops.

  After the meeting was over, Chen Jingyun had intended to close his eyes and rest for a bit, but he couldn't fall asleep no matter what, so he continued to study the Fuzhou map under the lamplight.

  Around 3 am, the Qing army launched a small-scale counterattack, which was quickly repelled. However, half an hour later, the Qing army launched another large-scale counterattack, catching the insurgent army off guard. Peng Shousong's troops suffered heavy casualties, with dozens of men fleeing in succession. It wasn't until Chen Jingyun dispatched a student soldier team to reinforce that the defensive line was stabilized again.

  When the time reached 5 am, although the sky was still dark, Xiao Qibin had already informed the artillery regiment to start sporadic shelling.

  At 5:30 in the morning, Chen Jingyun officially ordered a large-scale bombardment. Xiao Qibin began directing artillery to conduct prolonged and intense shelling of the Shuiguan City Tower and the Qiying direction, even blasting the General's Mansion inside Qiying into rubble.

  After a half-hour artillery preparation, Chen Jingyun ordered the launch of the general offensive. The insurgent army quickly approached the Shuodu City Tower. The defenders of the Shuodu City Tower were Qing troops who had been through a night of fierce battle and half an hour of bombardment. They were already on the verge of collapse. When the insurgents launched their general offensive, they finally raised the white flag at 7:00 in the morning: "The general has fled, cease fire and negotiate!"

  But the commander Lin Fei Tai in front thought that they were fighting with a white flag on one side and shooting stubbornly on the other, which was not sincere about negotiating, but rather thought it was a trick of surrender, and immediately ordered to continue attacking.

  As the rebel army continued to attack, the Qing army on the city wall of Shuidoucheng raised a second white flag: "Requesting a ceasefire and surrender". Lin Feitai didn't think much of it at first, but then Chen Jingyun also came down from the Guanyin Temple command post with his guards to inspect the front line and boost morale. When he saw that the enemy had indeed hung out a white flag, he took a closer look through binoculars and confirmed that they were requesting surrender. He immediately ordered: "Temporary ceasefire!"

  After a moment of contemplation, he continued: "Have someone go and shout out the message. If they really want to surrender, let them show sufficient sincerity!"

  It wasn't long before someone with a loud voice went to shout, and soon Chen Jingyun received a response. The Qing army sent a team of people carrying guns over and asked to see Chen Jingyun.

  "See me? What's good to see, if you want to surrender, throw away your guns and come out in order!" Chen Jingyun said so, but still let people call the Qing army envoy over.

  Before long, a guard led in a dispirited Qing army officer, who came in and bowed his fist: "Wu Zhenxiang has seen the commander!"

  This man had just blown himself up at the door, and Wei Shengtian on the side suddenly spoke out: "Wu Zhenxiang! Xǔ Chóngzhì's student?"

  Wu Zhenxiang nodded immediately: "Mr. Xu is indeed my teacher!"

  When Chen Jingyun heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little amused. Xu Chongzhi was the leader of the Tongmenghui in Fujian, yet his student was serving the Qing army and fighting against the revolutionary forces.

  However, Chen Jingyun was not curious about his identity and immediately said: "You said you wanted to see me, now that you've seen me, what do you want to say?"

  He was suddenly reminded of his purpose by Chen Jingyun's words: "I have been ordered by Vice-General Ming Yu to come and request your surrender!"

  "It's easy to surrender, just put down your weapons and come out!" Lin Fei Tai said immediately.

  Wu Zhenxiang's face turned pale: "Before we put down our weapons, we need a guarantee from the commander!"

  Chen Jingyun didn't like this person very much, but on the surface he still didn't show it. The enemy army surrendering voluntarily was naturally the best outcome. Although at present his side had the upper hand, no one knew how many casualties would be needed if they really launched a fierce attack. He immediately said: "Speak, what guarantees?"

  "As long as the commander guarantees not to harm the civilians, we are willing to lay down our arms and surrender!"

  Wu Zhenxiang's words made Chen Jingyun ponder, to be honest, he didn't say that he wanted to massacre the Qi people on a large scale, nor did he plan to do so, so Wu Zhenxiang's condition wasn't anything. If he didn't agree, the Qi people might fight to the death, and it would take a lot of casualties to capture the Qi border. After weighing it slightly, Chen Jingyun said in a low voice: "As long as the Qi civilians don't pick up their weapons to resist, I'll spare their lives!"

  After getting Chen Jingyun's guarantee, Wu Zhenxiang immediately returned to the banner area. By 8:00 in the morning, the Qing army began to surrender.