Volume 1 Wuchang Vortex Chapter 26: The Panic of the Puzzle Club
"What do you think is going on? I wore this outfit the day before, and now I'm covered in mud." At the gate of the camp, several soldiers standing guard whispered, recalling what happened in the morning.
"Don't mention it. If you feel you're at a disadvantage, just learn from that tough guy and fight him one-on-one."
"Stop, I don't dare to make Lei Meng drink mud soup with one move."
"You said that the baggage camp that pulls the wagons usually trains like this?"
"I guess so. Otherwise, how could he capture the bandit leader alone? I heard that there were more than a hundred bandits at the time, all armed with rifles, and there was also a machine gun blocking the road. He just rushed in alone, captured the bandit leader and seized the machine gun. Who would dare to do that without real skills?"
"Why do you think the baggage carriers are training so hard? Can they fight the enemy before us?"
"These freaks! Damn it! Usually we look down on their baggage camp and call them grooms. It seems that we are not as good as them. We deserve this scolding!"
"Next time I see a baggage camp, I will take a detour immediately."
"What the hell are you doing beating around the bush? He's already been promoted to a standard commander, so why are you beating around the bush? Do you want to learn from those worthless bannermen and quit their jobs?!" The soldiers gathered together, muttering and gritting their teeth. Before they could come up with anything, they saw a dozen soldiers in clean and tidy uniforms walking towards them, led by two captains.
When they got closer, both sides were stunned.
What dumbfounded Xiao Anguo was that these soldiers from the 42nd Regiment were all covered in mud, as if they had just been fished out of the mud, and they all looked extremely disheveled. However, the soldiers were jealous, because the guys on the opposite side were all wearing new clothes and pants, their military boots were polished to a shine, and even their braids were greased!
"What do you mean? You dress like this on purpose, are you trying to make fun of me?" The soldiers were immediately furious and shouted, "This is the restricted area of the 42nd Battalion, stop right there!"
After finishing the morning class and checking in at Chuwangtai, Xiao Anguo was worried about Yang Qiu going to the post alone, so he called Ma Kui, Bingwen, Hu Laosan and a dozen other soldiers from the baggage camp to reinforce his power. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the gate of the 42nd Battalion, he saw these soldiers sighing and looking embarrassed. He hurriedly walked up to them and asked, "Brother, is this the 42nd Battalion? What are you doing..."
"You are?"
"I am Xiao Anguo from the Chuwangtai Pingku. This is Ma Kui, the baggage supervisor. I have come to congratulate Lord Yang on his new post."
"You...you are from the baggage camp?" The soldiers were just saying that the baggage camp was a freak and they would avoid them when they met in the future. They didn't expect them to appear right in front of them. For a moment, they felt dizzy and as if they had seen a ghost. Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo were even more puzzled and asked, "Yes, I wonder if this brother has any advice for me?"
"I don't dare, I don't dare." The soldier, who was tormented all morning and now felt weak and achy, waved his hands in fear, thinking to himself, what's the big deal? The guy inside hasn't calmed down yet, and a few more people came to help. How can he live like this in the future? !
The soldiers jumped and ran back to report. When the others heard that they were from the baggage camp, they thought that they might be the adjutants of the scary new commander in the future, so the soldiers all crowded over and looked at them with strange eyes.
The huge mass of people and the muddy uniforms made Xiao Anguo and his men swallow their saliva. They wondered what Yang Qiu had done to anger God and man that made the soldiers look at them like this.
Fortunately, the soldier who reported the incident returned quickly, and everyone gritted their teeth and walked towards the officers' dormitory under a sea of scorching gazes. As soon as they entered the door, before they could even say hello, Xiao Anguo pulled Yang Qiu aside and asked, "My big brother, what's going on?"
"What's going on?" Yang Qiu was stunned by the question. When he walked to the door, he saw that all the soldiers had gathered around him. He laughed secretly in his heart and shouted, "What's going on? Are you all bored?"
When the soldiers heard the shouting, they all dispersed. Only Yue Peng and Zhang Wenjing, who were about to return to the dormitory, smiled at each other. It seemed that the first lesson in the morning was too horrifying. At least no one dared to contradict the new commander-in-chief at this moment.
Seeing that the soldiers all dispersed obediently as soon as Yang Qiu shouted, faster than mice seeing a cat, Xiao Anguo was even more surprised. It was only early in the morning! He quickly dragged Yang Qiu into the room and asked, "Brother, tell me quickly, how did you do it?"
Yang Qiu felt amused and quickly told Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui about the morning drill. When they heard it, they were dumbfounded. Not to mention that they had never heard of this kind of training method, the fact that such a drill did not lead to a riot was already surprising.
"No, it's too dangerous for you to be here alone. I think it's better to transfer some people from the baggage camp. After all, new officers can bring some old subordinates with them." Xiao Anguo was afraid that Yang Qiu would be unfamiliar with the place and be retaliated by the soldiers who had been through so much trouble, so he said without allowing any refusal: "It's settled."
"Okay, let's go with Hu Laosan and Bingwen." Yang Qiu didn't refuse this time, because he really needed a few assistants, but Xiao Anguo frowned. Hu Laosan was fine, but Bingwen...
Yang Qiu looked meaningfully at Bingwen, who was looking down and not daring to look him in the face, and said with a smile, "Bingwen is still young. If you train him here for a while, maybe he can become a general."
"That's also the baby-faced general."
"Ha ha……"
Someone was called in to find Zhang Wenjing to settle Hu Laosan and Bingwen. The other soldiers of the baggage camp were curious about the situation outside and went out to chat with the soldiers of the 42nd Battalion. Seeing that only he, Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui were left in the room, Yang Qiu asked, "Brother Xiao, I have something to ask you. Do you know the manager of the gun factory?"
Xiao Anguo's eyebrows jumped, thinking that Yang Qiu had moved the gun factory, and he whispered in fear: "Brother, this is a matter of losing your head!"
Yang Qiu laughed and said, "Brother, what are you thinking? I have eight heads but I dare not touch the gun factory now. I have been a soldier for so long that I don't know what the factory looks like. Besides, the bullets in my pistol are almost used up. Bullets of this caliber are hard to buy and need to be specially made."
"That's it?"
"Yes." Seeing Xiao Anguo's surprise, Yang Qiu quickly asked, "What's wrong? What did I do wrong?"
"Brother, you...haha!" Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui laughed at the same time, leaving Yang Qiu confused. The former explained, "You are the commander of the 42nd Battalion! The entire area of Hanyang is your defense zone. No matter what, everything needs your approval before entering or leaving here. If you want to order a few bullets...do you have to go through so much trouble? Just go to the gun factory and ask for the model or sample."
Yang Qiu was dumbfounded. He didn't expect the 42nd Battalion to have so much power. But after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong and asked, "That's not right. I have already called all the battalions back for training. Who is in charge of patrolling during normal times?"
"It's the gun factory security team, with about 500 people. In theory, these people are under the jurisdiction , but the Governor's Office is unwilling to get involved in these trivial matters, so most of them have followed the 42nd Regiment in recent years, and some people outside call them the 42nd Regiment and the 4th Battalion." Seeing that Yang Qiuzhen didn't know, Ma Kui explained it to him in detail.
It turns out that the militia and security teams in the late Qing Dynasty were not independent. Although they were nominally spontaneous armed organizations, they were actually under the control of local garrisons. Especially after the Boxer Rebellion, in order to take back military power, the imperial court increased its supervision over such organizations, and most of them were handed over to local troops or government offices for management. The gun factory was the most important arsenal of the imperial court, so in addition to the 42nd Regiment stationed nearby, a security team was also specially formed, and all of them were trained and equipped according to the regular army.
Yang Qiu didn't expect that there were so many tricks in it. He regretted that he didn't ask Zhang Wenjing and the others just now, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a joke.
"It just so happens that the gun you gave me consumes a lot of bullets. I'll go with to the factory to find the manager to order some bullets, and we'll go take a look at it together." Xiao Anguo pulled out the Mauser 1896, gestured a few times and said with a smile: "This gun is good, but it consumes a lot of bullets."
"So this gun is not practical in the army. It can only be used for self-defense. It is also not very powerful..." Yang Qiu was about to talk about the shortcomings of the Mauser pistol when he heard someone shouting at the door. He opened the door and saw more than a dozen bannermen soldiers huddled together in a mess. When they saw him coming out, they said in a harsh tone: "Sir, we have made up our minds and want to be transferred immediately."
"Okay, let's go find Zhang Wenjing to get the silver." Yang Qiu nodded happily, then glanced at the other soldiers standing outside and asked loudly, "Is there anyone else who wants to desert?"
"deserter?"
The soldiers' faces turned green, and they wanted to drag Yang Qiu out and beat him up. Those who wanted to apply for transfer didn't dare to leave. You have to know that this is the new army! Transfer and desertion are two different things! The bannermen soldiers have the support of Huguang Governor Rui Cheng, but who can they turn to? Besides, even Admiral Zhang and Lord Li acquiesced. If they really applied for transfer, who knows what big hat they would be put on their heads!
“Shameless!”
Qiu Wenbin, the representative of the First Battalion's Educational Society, who was holding the retirement application, clenched his fists tightly. The representatives of the Second and Third Battalions next to him also looked unhappy. They did not expect that the new commander-in-chief would block the retreat of the soldiers and officers other than the bannermen with one sentence, which made those who wanted to leave dare not leave.
"Brother Qiu, this Manchu running dog is obviously trying to block our retreat!"
"Yeah, just find a chance to kill him."
Zhao Chengwu, the representative of the Second Battalion, looked at Yang Qiu from afar with a bad taste in his heart. He said angrily: "Just now he kept talking about learning and enlightenment. It's obvious that he knows us. If we don't leave, he will kill us sooner or later!"
"Didn't we say we won't kill him for now? If we kill him, it will cause trouble for everyone."
"This is a different time, and besides, didn't a brother take action last night?" Several soldiers from the Yizhi Society nearby were also very nervous. Who is Yang Qiu? The loyal and brave Baturu, who was just canonized by the Qing Dynasty, killed the righteous man Wang Tianjie in the street and killed hundreds of Sichuan brothers. Moreover, he was assassinated by his comrades last night. Now the governor has ordered the arrest of people on the street. If these people continue to stay here, they may not be able to save their lives.
"No, who knows what might happen tomorrow morning. I think it would be better for you, Brother Qiu, to cross the river and ask Mr. Liu what to do. We can't just watch everyone get bullied and die in vain by this evil villain."
Everyone was talking back and forth, which made Qiu Wenbin even more confused. Seeing Yang Qiu return to the house, he had to grit his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll go see Mr. Liu right away, but after I come back, no matter what happens, you have to endure it."
After saying that, he immediately found a chance when no one was noticing and walked out of the camp.
