Volume 1 Wuchang Vortex Chapter 49: The Day of Rise (Part 4)
The sudden shout from behind scared Xiao Anguo so much that he broke out in a cold sweat. He grabbed the handle of his gun and turned his head to look, only to find that the person coming was the supervisor, Li Keguo from the Training Office.
Ever since there were rumors that the soldiers were going to mutiny, Li Keguo simply gritted his teeth and left his family behind and moved here alone. Tonight, after dinner, he felt a little bloated, so he took a walk in front. Unexpectedly, when he came back, he saw the warehouse door wide open and a large group of soldiers were loading things onto the carriages.
Xiao Anguo knew Li Keguo. Although he was not a die-hard fan, he was dedicated to his work. If he was seen by Li Keguo, he would definitely check the warrant again, and might even go back and call to confirm. So he quickly winked at Ma Kui, stood up and walked in front of him and said with a smile: "Isn't this the Governor's order to have the baggage carrier ship the military equipment and send it to the 31st Battalion entering Sichuan overnight? I'm afraid they will mess around, so I'm watching here in person."
"By the way, I have a warrant here. Lord Li, you should take a look at it to avoid misunderstanding." When Xiao Anguo pretended to reach into his arms to touch the official document, Ma Kui and two soldiers had already quietly walked behind Li Keguo.
Li Keguo didn't care at first, he was just a supervisory officer, anyone could come to take the military equipment as long as they had a warrant, but he saw out of the corner of his eye that several baggage soldiers were carrying three or four Hanyang-made rifles, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
According to regulations, weapons were not allowed in the Chuwangtai Armory. Except for a few dozen soldiers, even the engineering team stationed nearby could not enter the warehouse area without permission, let alone carry weapons. So it was very strange to see someone carrying a gun. Moreover, since it was transported, the guns and bullets should be stored in boxes and sealed in the car. How could someone openly carry three or four guns like this? This didn't look like a baggage soldier, but more like a bandit.
There had been rumors rife outside for some time, and the situation was very tense, which had already made him extremely nervous. When he saw this, he reached for his pistol without thinking.
It was said to be late, but it was fast. Just as he was about to draw his pistol, a baggage soldier who had been waiting for a long time suddenly knocked him down from behind, and another one was also quick to draw his pistol. Seeing that it was Li Keguo, Ma Kui finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly signaled the two men to cover their mouths and pull him closer to the warehouse.
After being knocked down, Li Keguo knew something was wrong. He saw dozens of guns pointed at him after he entered the warehouse, and he was so scared that his whole body was shaking. He hurriedly said, "Brothers, I know you are going to do something big today, but there are strict guards outside, and there are engineering teams nearby. Why are you doing this!"
"Stop talking nonsense, Captain. I think we should just kill him." The hot-tempered baggage soldier simply pulled out his bayonet from the side. The glaring bayonet frightened Li Keguo so much that he quickly changed his words and said, "Forget it, I didn't say anything and I didn't see anything. Brother, I haven't done anything evil. As long as you don't hurt my life, you can take it."
Ma Kui did not want to hurt Li Keguo's life. After thinking for a while, he said, "Master Li, we are brothers. We don't want to hurt you. As long as you escort us out of the camp later, we will let you go. How about that?"
How dare you refuse when they are staring at you? Li Keguo nodded several times and was about to speak when he suddenly heard the sound of gunfire coming from afar. Hearing the gunfire, Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo suddenly jumped up in excitement, and the soldiers clapped their hands in celebration! The two dared not delay and quickly ordered everyone to set off.
At this time, the engineering team stationed nearby had also jumped up. Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong desperately shouted to their people to assemble, and then jumped to a high place to take a look at the situation in the armory. However, when they opened their eyes, they saw intensive gunfire suddenly rang out in the armory, and hundreds of soldiers protecting dozens of carriages were rushing towards the armory door.
"What's going on? Are these... brothers from that battalion? Why didn't anyone notify us?" Ma Rong was dumbfounded, staring at the soldiers who beat several soldiers guarding the gate until they cried and hid. Before he could understand, these soldiers who came out of nowhere carried the Hotchkiss machine gun at the door directly onto the carriage like bandits, and even took the bullets and Hanyang-made machine guns left by the soldiers in the gate, and then ran all the way towards Xunsi River.
"Could it be that we were attacked by bandits?" Seeing these soldiers loading machine guns at a very fast speed, who disappeared from nowhere in the distance in just a few minutes, Luo Bingshun was even more dumbfounded. However, he reacted quickly and saw that there were no soldiers guarding the gate, so he quickly shouted: "Quick, grab the bullets!"
The engineering battalion stationed in Chuwangtai had only one left team, and nearly half of their soldiers were not party members, so Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong only brought more than 60 soldiers without bullets. They originally thought that they could take advantage of the situation and quickly organize themselves as long as they rushed into the warehouse. However, they did not expect that Xiao Anguo and Ma Kui's commotion would awaken the dozens of remaining soldiers in Chuwangtai. When they rushed to the front to check, they saw the two men leading the team rushing in.
The warehouse soldiers were poorly trained, and were similar to the patrolmen outside, but at least they had guns and bullets. Moreover, no matter how careless the warehouse soldiers were, they would not drop their guns. When they saw someone rushing in and had no idea what had just happened, they "consciously" launched a battle to resist the "invasion."
The sound of gunfire and the flash of fire scared Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong. They didn't expect that the usually rubbish soldiers in the warehouse would dare to fire at their regular troops. They were about to raise their guns to fight back when they remembered that they had no bullets. Dozens of people were immediately beaten to a bloody mess, with more than half of them killed or injured.
Even though the engineering battalion was not the most capable among the new troops, it was a regular army after all. As long as they had bullets, the soldiers in the warehouse would not dare to fight back. But at the moment, they did not have a single bullet. The soldiers in the warehouse were just going through the motions and would definitely surrender if a real fight broke out. However, they did not expect that the other side could not even rush in through the gate and had not fired a single shot from beginning to end. They screamed with excitement and thought that they could make a great contribution this time. Maybe they could be promoted to commander like Yang Qiu, the big dog thief. So they worked especially hard.
Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong were on the verge of tears. In less than ten minutes, they lost more than thirty brothers in just one camp gate. Most of the troops they brought were killed or wounded, but they hadn't even seen a bullet. They were so anxious that their eyes turned red and they wished they could tear those soldiers into pieces.
The sound of gunfire coming from the reservoir behind him made Li Keguo look ashen. Seeing this, Ma Kui and Xiao Anguo did not want to embarrass him. They returned the guns to him and said, "Master Li, the Manchus are doomed. Why are you still working for them? We brothers do not want to embarrass you today. Let's go."
Li Keguo didn't say anything, but nodded numbly. Seeing the convoy heading towards Xunsi River, he wanted to ask them where they were going, but he thought they wouldn't tell him even if he asked, so he simply gritted his teeth and walked back. Although he already knew that he could not protect the armory, as a supervisor he should always report and fulfill his final responsibility.
So he jogged all the way back to the camp gate. Before he could figure out the situation, he felt a dark shadow flash beside him and he was pinned to the ground again, unable to move. The pistol he had just retrieved was snatched away before he could even warm it up.
"Captain, we have a gun." After the soldier found the gun, he knocked the unfortunate Li Keguo unconscious with one punch without even looking at it, and threw the gun to Luo Bingshun.
After receiving the gun, Luo Bingshun became much braver. After shouting "Cover", he suddenly dodged and fired several shots at the nearest soldier. The soldier, who was fighting excitedly and thought he had done a great deed, fell down before he could react.
Upon seeing this, Ma Rong immediately snatched the rifle and launched a counterattack under the hail of bullets. When he saw that the enemy also had guns and bullets, the soldiers in the warehouse were immediately frightened and forgot that they had more than ten times as many guns as the enemy. They quickly retreated while firing.
Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong were already furious after being beaten, so they immediately led their men into the armory, grabbed the nearest guns and bullets and chased after the soldiers in the armory. The soldiers were also furious, and a moment later the entire Chuwangtai was filled with screams and gunshots. Since the armory area was closed and there was only one gate for entry and exit, when Xiong Bingkun and his men arrived later, nearly a hundred soldiers in the armory and the management staff who did not participate in the resistance were all slaughtered, so that they didn't even know who the previous wave of soldiers were.
Li Keguo woke up slowly and touched the back of his head, feeling really sad. He had been hit twice in one night. What was this?
The guns were gone, the warehouse door was wide open, and the sound of gunfire and screams from inside was endless. He was too scared to stay any longer and planned to temporarily retreat to the suburbs to hide for a while. But as soon as he got up, he saw Wu Zhaolin and the remaining soldiers rushing over. He was so scared that he thought he was also a party member and quickly fled into the woods.
Wu Zhaolin had just returned from outside when he heard loud gunfire. After returning to the camp, he found that only a small half of the soldiers were left. He heard that Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong had brought people to rob the armory, and was thinking about persuading them. Unexpectedly, he saw Li Keguo fleeing into the woods before he even entered the door. He had no way to ask and had to continue walking towards the warehouse area.
When he arrived at the warehouse, he was heartbroken to see the corpses all over the ground, because those were all his soldiers!
At this time, Luo Bingshun and Ma Rong had already seized the armory. When they saw Wu Zhaolin coming, they were no longer afraid of him because they had bullets. They said, "Captain, the Qing Dynasty is doomed We are in need of a leader for today's uprising. I see that you are always opinionated. Why don't you join us in killing the Tartars and restoring the Han Dynasty?"
Wu Zhaolin had also participated in the Rizhi Society in his early years and had also "revolutionized", but the situation was unclear got involved easily and failed, it would be terrible. So he waved his hands and said, "I can't do it, I can't do it. You have so many heroes in the party, and you need a small leader like me to lead them."
Seeing that he was about to leave after he finished speaking, Ma Rong was so angry that he drew his gun and blocked his way, shouting, "Don't leave. If you don't agree, I will kill you immediately!"
This shout made Wu Zhaolin shudder in his heart, and his eyes became complicated when he looked at Ma Rong. At this moment, the engineers led by Xiong Bingkun finally arrived. Seeing Ma Rong pointing a gun at Wu Zhaolin, he was immediately displeased. He regretted Song Ziqing's departure just now, so he shouted hurriedly: "What are you doing? Brother Wei San is a rare talent in the army. We are now leaderless and need someone to take charge of the situation. What are you doing!"
Xiong Bingkun had no choice but to say this. After all, he was just a squad leader and lacked both qualifications and command. Many soldiers had just disobeyed him, and he was anxious to find someone. He happened to see Wu Zhaolin who was thinking of asking him to lead everyone, but he didn't expect Ma Rong to point a gun at him, so he was very angry.
Ma Rong was also very angry. In terms of official rank, he was one level higher than Xiong Bingkun, but he was scolded by him. He felt a little embarrassed, but he endured it for the sake of the overall situation.
Xiong Bingkun began to persuade Wu Zhaolin, but Wu Zhaolin had no choice. He knew that if he didn't agree, he would probably lose his life today. After thinking about it, he said, "I can be the temporary commander, but I'm just a captain. I don't have enough experience to command tens of thousands of soldiers in three towns. If you succeed, you must choose someone else."
Seeing this, Luo Bingshun and Xiong Bingkun nodded hurriedly. At this time, students from the Army School also arrived under the leadership of Li Xiping. Seeing that more and more people got bullets, Wu Zhaolin gritted his teeth and knew that they could not escape tonight.
Just fight!
"boom……"
Just when everyone was happy that they finally had a decent commander, a cannon shot was heard from afar. Everyone shouted excitedly. The heavy firepower artillery target finally entered the city!
The thousand-year-old Wuchang entered a fierce battle.
