Volume 1 Wuchang Vortex Chapter 47: The Day of Rise (Part 2)
"What time is it?"
"It's early. It's only halfway through the You hour. It won't end until the Zi hour. Why can't you resist the urge to smoke a few more puffs?"
"Damn, it's really boring to be guarded like this every day. When can I smoke a few puffs every day without being so nervous?"
"Come on, it's better to stay here than outside, and the salary won't be reduced."
In the guardhouse in front of the gate of Chuwangtai Arsenal, several Bannermen soldiers on duty were listless. Although they were not considered regular troops, they were never owed wages. When there were troubles outside, their bullets were confiscated, but they did not lose a single bullet. After all, the armory behind them was of great importance.
A soldier in the warehouse saw that there was no one around and quietly took out his pipe from behind. The others immediately became excited and quickly crowded together to smoke.
"I say, have you heard? There's going to be an uprising over there." A soldier who had just taken a puff pointed to the barracks of the left team of the 8th Engineer Battalion not far away and said, "If a fight really breaks out, what should we do?"
"What kind of uprising? Do they have bullets? The bullets are all locked inside!" Another soldier pointed to the large warehouse behind him, and then pointed to the new fortifications that had been built in the past two days, and said disdainfully: "Look at this high wall gate. It's no problem for us to hold off thousands of people without bullets."
"If you want to stop me, stop me. I still want to live a few more days! I heard that the guy named Sun Wen sent his brother and also mobilized 3,000 white-clad soldiers."
"Fuck you, you're still talking about Red Lady, what nonsense." When the soldiers guarding the gate were smoking happily, they suddenly heard the sound of squeaking wheels in the distance. They were immediately startled and quickly threw away their pipes and shouted, "Who?"
"The supply battalion has been ordered to transport ammunition to support the 31st Regiment. Open the door quickly and don't delay the important matter." Upon hearing that it was the supply battalion, the warehouse soldiers hurriedly sent one person to check. The others were on guard with guns in hand. One person ran to the Hotchkiss machine gun. Ma Kui, who was far away, wanted to laugh secretly. It would take at least three people to operate this kind of machine gun, but now there was only one person. It took a long time to load the canvas bullet belt. It was purely a scare tactic.
The soldiers who were sent to the warehouse put their guns on their backs and walked closer to take a look. They found that it was indeed the baggage camp. There were about a hundred people in more than 40 large horse-drawn carriages. Seeing that they did not carry guns in accordance with military regulations, they felt relieved and asked, "Captain, I wonder..."
"Something happened to the 31st Battalion that entered Sichuan. The Governor ordered us to quickly deliver military supplies to Sichuan for emergency. Damn it! I wanted to take advantage of these few days to smoke a few puffs. I don't know when I can come back. Well, let the brothers have a good time first." Seeing Ma Kui take out a box of opium, the smokers' eyes lit up immediately. They hurriedly took it and nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, sir. I will go and report it."
With the help of the opium, the warehouse soldier who reported the news ran very fast and soon arrived at the hut next to the armory. Although Xiao Anguo was drinking with two warehouse managers, he was already sweating with anxiety. When he was thinking about whether to think of a way to escape, he heard a soldier coming to report that the baggage battalion had come to collect the weapons. He immediately raised his eyebrows with joy, but cursed: "What are you talking about? It's so late, who will come to lead the army?"
As it was already past six o'clock and the situation was tense recently, the officers in charge of each battalion had already sent the soldiers back to the barracks early. The two managers nearby were also stunned, wondering why they were still coming to collect the weapons so late.
"what the hell!"
Xiao Anguo pretended to be angry and threw the peanuts on the table . He walked towards the gate with two managers. When he saw Ma Kui at the door, he immediately exchanged glances and asked in an official tone: "Who are you? Why are you here at the ordnance center so late? Leave immediately."
"You're pretending quite well." Several baggage soldiers who knew the inside story almost laughed out loud when they saw the old battalion commander speaking in official language. Fortunately, Ma Kui glared at them and they held back their laughter. He quickly took out a forged warrant and handed it over through the door: "Ma Kui from the baggage battalion greets Lord Kuping. We are here on the orders of the governor to get the bullets and send them to Sichuan overnight. This is the governor's warrant."
"Sichuan? What happened to Sichuan?"
"Oh, let's not talk about it. The 31st Regiment was blocked by the mob when crossing the river. It was not a big deal as long as the people arrived, but a lot of baggage and weapons were lost. This required us to deliver a thousand guns and fifty thousand bullets overnight. Damn it, they are fighting and we are suffering. They just leave without telling us about it. This job is really unbearable!" Ma Kui said a few nonsense words and deliberately complained, and everyone kept asking questions.
The play must be played out in full, so Xiao Anguo thought for a moment and said, "Although you are all my former brothers, the armory is a serious matter, and I need to call the admiral first to verify it."
"Of course." After Ma Kui finished speaking, Xiao Anguo immediately walked towards the barracks behind.
Although the Qing government was incompetent, in order to ensure the smooth movement of the army, telephones were installed throughout the three towns, so communication was extremely simple. However, Xiao Anguo could not really make a phone call. After returning, he picked up the phone and said a few nonsense words to the empty machine, then walked back: "It is true, open the door."
As the soldiers were about to open the gate, a steward felt something was wrong and hurriedly stopped them and asked, "Master Pingku, can you show me the Governor's order?"
"What, you don't believe it? Then why didn't you call to verify it just now? Instead, I was made to run around in a sweat!" Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui's hearts skipped a beat at the same time. The former pretended to be angry and then exchanged glances quickly.
"I dare not, but this matter..."
"Forget it, forget it. We are all brothers." Xiao Anguo knew that this guy was not going to get away with it, so he gritted his teeth and reached into his bosom for the warrant, while his other hand quietly grasped the gun handle. Ma Kui and the soldiers outside all held their guns tightly. Although they did not bring rifles, they had quite a few pistols, not to mention a few Mausers, so they all grasped the gun handles, pretending to wait and see and leaned against the gate, ready to seize the gate immediately if anything happened.
At this critical moment, Ma Kui suddenly felt a flash of red light in the corner of his eyes. He turned his head and saw a big fire on the other side of the hill. He shouted quickly: "There's a fire! Look, there's a fire."
Xiao Anguo was also startled, but luckily he was quick-witted and pretended to be terrified and shouted, "Isn't that a cannon target? How could it go off accidentally? Old Wu, call them and ask them what happened. It's dry and the wind is blowing towards us tonight. It will be bad if it comes over."
The manager was also startled when he saw the fire. He forgot to look at the warrant and hurried back to make a phone call to inquire about the situation.
Later it was learned that the fire started by the 1st Artillery Battalion stationed outside the city . Since the Mixed Logistics Team was temporarily transferred to the 42nd Battalion in Hanyang, the Kuomintang gave them the task of setting fire as a signal.
Seeing the inconvenient steward leave, Xiao Anguo breathed a sigh of relief and immediately said to another steward, "You stay here and tell me if anything happens. I'll take them to the ordnance. The situation ahead is urgent and we can't miss anything."
The rest of the managers did not suspect anything. After all, if the rebels really came, they would not bring a large cart, and according to the rules, they were not allowed to bring guns. So they simply handed the task of guarding the door to the warehouse soldiers and returned to the cabin to drink.
The armory was some distance from the main gate, so when they got there, Xiao Anguo immediately handed the key to Ma Kui and stood there with his pipe, "I'll be on the lookout. Remember to take more bullets. The pile on the right corner is for machine guns, and on the left is for pistols. Look carefully, take all Hanyang-made ones, don't take the Japanese ones."
More than a hundred baggage soldiers entered the warehouse, and they were no different from mice entering a rice warehouse. After identifying the models, they immediately began to load the trucks.
Since bullets were of paramount importance and it was unclear whether the gun factory could get replenishment, and the purchased ones were delayed in arriving, everyone took almost all bullets. After seeing the carts being filled up quickly, the soldiers quickly selected their rifles according to the plan and loaded them with bullets. Finally, the baggage soldiers even pried open several ammunition boxes, stuffed their pockets with bullets, and each of them carried three or four Hanyang rifles.
Magui saw a lot of cannons and shells in the corner, and wondered whether he should pull a few over. But after thinking it over, he gave up. After all, he only had so many people. He didn't dare to bring the rest of the main force because he was afraid of arousing suspicion if they all came over, and he also had to take care of the steamers on the river.
The guns of more than a hundred people were left on the steamer by the river, so if each person took three guns, it meant that they had nearly five hundred guns in total. There were 500 bullets in a box, so they had more than 400 in total. They also got a lot of bombs, which was enough to hold out for a while.
After loading the car and quickly covering it with a tarpaulin, Ma Kui hurried to the side to check the movement outside while pricking up his ears waiting for the voice that Yang Qiu mentioned.
Xiao Anguo, who was squatting outside smoking a pipe, was already anxious. Seeing the time passing by, but the gunshots Yang Qiu mentioned had not yet sounded, he didn't know what to do! Because according to the plan, he had to wait for the gunshots to sound and then rush out in the name of the revolutionaries. If he didn't hear the gunshots, then he could only take the second step and force it!
Just as he kept looking in the direction of the engineering camp, a voice suddenly came from behind.
"Master Pingku, this is..."
