Insufficient balance

  Inside the county government office in Wanning City, Xu Jingqing and a group of generals gathered together! And every single one of them had a worried look on their face, the reason was simple, that is, the Second Division of the National Army would arrive outside Wanning City soon.

  "Big brother, why don't we just surrender?" At this time, a young man said so, but as soon as the words fell, he was interrupted by a middle-aged man wearing a horse jacket: "Surrender? How to surrender, we have already sent three batches of envoys to the National Army to ask for surrender, but what's the result? They are still coming this way without stopping!"

  "Is it really going to be a fight like this?" Someone also expressed dissent: "We have only over 2,000 people under our command, and what kind of troops we have is clear to everyone. Are we more powerful than those from Nanping, Funing or Quanzhou?"

  "Hmph, no need for you to say that!" The middle-aged man said coldly: "Can't we just wait for the National Army to come and recruit us?"

  "Didn't Li Jimin of the National Army say that if Big Brother is willing to surrender, they are willing to accept soldiers joining the National Army?"

  "Nonsense! According to your argument, all the younger brothers below have been taken away by the National Army. What about us who are present here? Are we going back to farming?" Another older general stood up immediately.

  Seeing the numerous chaotic scenes below, Xu Jingqing's mood was also bad!

  He is not a person who does not understand the situation, and as early as when Nanping was taken down by the National Army, he knew that the southern situation had been decided. However, he did not declare his surrender to the military government for a long time. The reason is very simple!

  That's what they heard that the National Army's policy of treating surrendered Qing troops was not consistent, especially for officers. For soldiers who defected, those who were willing to join could join the National Army. However, the treatment of different types of troops varied: new armies were treated best, and officers below the rank of commander who were willing to surrender would generally be accepted and immediately assigned to various units. High-ranking officers would be sent to Fuzhou for screening, and if they were willing to continue serving in the military, they could enter the general staff department as advisors or join combat troops as deputy commanders, such as deputy regimental commanders, deputy brigade commanders, or team advisors. The National Army was expanding rapidly at that time, so there were plenty of positions available for them. However, the treatment of patrol camps and training camps was not as good: except for soldiers and low-ranking officers, mid-to-high-level officers could only serve as advisors, and it was unthinkable to give them command authority over troops. This was mainly due to concerns that the commanders of the old armies had basically abandoned the rules of modern warfare and lacked systematic military training, and also due to concerns about the loyalty of the old army commanders.

  These conditions were nothing for some of the old military leaders who sincerely surrendered and wanted to be a lodger, but they were extremely unfavorable for Xu Jingqing, who still wanted to keep his military power and continue to lead troops. The envoys explained this several times. The first time was when they tried to preserve the entire patrol camp, compiling it into a regiment, with each general remaining in office. Li Jimin would not have agreed to this condition even if he had been confused, and the envoy was driven out before he could finish speaking. The second time, the requirements were lowered, and they did not ask to preserve the entire patrol camp, only asking for Xu Jingqing to be given a regimental establishment. However, Li Jimin still refused to listen.

  The third time, Xu Jingqing lowered his demands again, saying that as long as he could give his brothers a meal, they would be willing to surrender. Although the words sounded miserable, in reality, he still wanted to continue leading his troops!

  What kind of goods is the patrol camp? Li Jimin was very clear, not to mention that these generals wanted to continue leading soldiers, those soldiers had to be screened. In the past twenty days since the uprising, the National Army has accepted more surrendered Qing troops, but they were all unconditional surrenders or voluntary reversals, and no one has ever talked about conditions with the National Army, let alone for military power.

  So forget about getting Li Jimin to agree with that.

  "We've come all the way from afar, if we still agree to such conditions, wouldn't it be a waste of our journey!" Li Jimin stood outside Yongning City and spat on the ground after speaking.

  In the northwest of Fujian, there are many mountains. The road from Nanping to Ouning is very difficult to walk on, and Li Jimin almost collapsed from exhaustion. After finally arriving in Ouning, he saw that Xu Jingqing did not intend to surrender, so Li Jimin did not rush to attack. Instead, he ordered his troops to rest for half a day before sending out small-scale units to launch probing attacks, while the main force slowly advanced on the front line.

  With just a small place like Wanning, Li Jimin's two regiments and five battalions were deployed, almost surrounding Wanning!

  There were 1,500 Manchu soldiers in the city, and more than 500 local militiamen were hastily recruited, making a total of around 2,000. Xu Jingqing looked at the Nationalist Army outside the city, which was deploying its battle formation in a disorderly manner to prepare for the attack, making him even more anxious.

  The Jianning Prefecture governor beside him was pale: "General Xu, what's to be done?! What if the army is defeated and the city falls...?"

  Before the words were finished, the two old muzzle-loaders placed on the city wall had already been loaded with gunpowder and a large iron ball. Perhaps the soldiers operating the cannons were too tense, and they actually ignited the fuse without receiving military orders. With a loud bang, the solid cannonball was fired out.

  Li Jimin, who was holding a telescope to observe the enemy army, suddenly heard a gunshot and was taken aback, his face showing confusion. How did he not know that Jianning's patrol camp had cannons?! However, when he looked in the direction of the shot with his telescope, he found that there was no explosion.

  It was only then that I realized that the Qing army's hands were not mountain cannons or field cannons, but an old-fashioned muzzle-loading cannon.

  "What about our cannons? Are they not ready yet?"

  The second division had six 75mm mountain guns, although the road from Nanping to Ouning was impassable, Li Jimin still dragged them over for insurance purposes. After all, there were only six guns, and the second division could still carry them even if they were anti-.

  Someone immediately replied: "The artillery company is ready and can fire at any time!"

  "What are we waiting for? Open fire!" Li Jimin ordered the artillery attack without hesitation!

  Li Jimin had just finished speaking when a series of loud explosions came from the rear, followed by several ear-piercing whistling sounds in the sky. The next instant, several explosion sounds came from the short city wall of Yuanning! One of the shells happened to land not far from Xu Jingqing and exploded.

  Xu Jingqing only felt a loud noise coming over, and his face felt a bit warm. He stretched out his hand to touch it, but found that he had touched a piece of tender flesh. At this time, he saw that someone several meters away had already been blown in half...

  Looking at the prefect of Jianning Prefecture next to him, he had already fainted from fright.

  Before Xu Jingqing could react, another round of cannon fire whizzed by, and a group of soldiers from the patrol camp who had never experienced such intense bombardment were still standing there, but immediately several people ran back.

  At this time, several officers rushed over: "Sir, it's no good, the National Army's artillery fire is too fierce, let's withdraw back into the city!"

  Xu Jingqing did not answer directly but asked: "How are the casualties of our brothers?"

  "The last two rounds of cannon fire were too intense, the brothers didn't have time to hide, and although they hid afterwards, there were heavy casualties, with 20-30 dead and nearly a hundred injured!"

  Upon hearing this number, Xu Jingqing closed her eyes.

  The other side is so formidable with just a bombardment, and when they launch an assault on us under the cover of artillery fire, we will be completely doomed!

  Forget it! How can I, for the sake of my own future, let thousands of brothers die?!

  After closing his eyes for a good half a moment, Xu Jingqing finally opened them and said in a weak tone: "Raise the white flag, surrender!"

  Xu Jingqing chose to surrender at the last moment, and the Second Brigade took down Ouning without a single casualty, while Xu Jingqing's 2,000-strong patrol battalion suffered over 100 casualties, all of whom were killed or injured by artillery fire at the beginning. These surrendered soldiers were dealt with according to previous rules: those who were willing to join the National Army and met the physical conditions joined the National Army, while those who were unwilling or did not meet the requirements were given a silver dollar each and dispersed. As for the mid-to-high-level officers, they were first detained and then slowly screened.

  However, Xu Jingqing strongly requested to see Li Jimin, but Li Jimin was busy reorganizing the surrendered troops at that time and had no time to deal with him. So he directly sent Xu Jingqing to Fuzhou, as for how to handle him, it's up to the governor.

  The news of the second expedition's recovery of Jianning Prefecture was soon transmitted back to Fuzhou, and a telegram also arrived from Shaowu!

  However, this telegram was actually sent from a small-scale unit dispatched to Shaowu before the uprising in Nanping. The telegram stated that Xu Chongzhi launched an uprising in Shaowu on the second day after the restoration of Fuzhou, but was suppressed by the 2nd Battalion of the 40th Regiment. Xu Chongzhi was killed that night, and the 2nd Battalion left Shaowu for Jiangxi afterwards, destroying the telegraph office before leaving, resulting in no news from Shaowu for a long time.

  It is said that Xu Chongzhi's rebellion failed and he died, Chen Jingyun was shocked for half a day and couldn't speak.

  If there is one person in Fujian who gives him a headache, it must be Xu Chongzhi. This man's prestige in the Tongmenghui and the New Army far surpasses his own; if he hadn't been sent to Shaowu by Sun Daoren at the time, then the commander-in-chief of the Fujian uprising army would have definitely been him. Even after the recovery of Fuzhou, Chen Jingyun was always worried that Xu Chongzhi would set up a military government in western Fujian and oppose him.

  But now it's said that he died, and even under the suppression of the Qing army! Chen Jingyun did not feel happy at first, but a deep sympathy, and after sympathy, there is also admiration!

  Before the Xinhai Revolution, many people fought and bled to overthrow the feudal Qing dynasty. Although some of these individuals had immature political beliefs and sometimes behaved in ways that were not particularly glorious, one thing is undeniable: without their sacrifices, which awakened this nation and this ethnic group with blood, China might still be mired in darkness!

  It's just like Sun Yat-sen, who was all talk but no action. When the Tongmenghui members were fighting and bleeding in China, he hid abroad and called it "fundraising". When he returned to China, he shamelessly claimed that he didn't bring back a single penny. It's also like Huang Xing, who lost battle after battle, and under his command, thousands of brave men fell under the Qing army's gunfire, but he always managed to escape alone. And it's also like Song Jiaoren, who disregarded China's actual situation and only had democracy on his mind.

  However, this cannot deny their great contribution to the Republic. Without them, the people of the nation might still not know what revolution is!

  "Mr. Xu was brutally murdered for the revolutionary cause of China, which is a shame for our nation! Since the Wuchang Uprising, too many people have died for their republican ideals! Not only were there people like Xu Chongzhi, but also people like Jiao Dafeng and even more ordinary people who remained unknown. This group included passionate students and soldiers from the new army. Their names may be forgotten, but their achievements are known to all."

  That's how they made the Republic!