Volume 1 Wuchang Vortex Chapter 66 Cooperation
By the time Tang Hualong and Hu Ruilin arrived at the Hanyang Right Route Army Camp, it was already getting dark. However, the scene in front of them still shocked them. They saw that the large parade ground was already full of horse-drawn carriages, barricades, military rations, raincoats, and huge machine guns! Ammunition boxes were even loaded onto the carriages in piles. The young recruits who had just joined the army during the day also rolled up their sleeves, looking at the old soldiers who were about to set off with envy, while working hard as temporary porters.
"What are you doing?" Tang Hualong couldn't help but ask the guard who was leading the way.
"The commander has already ordered the Northern Expedition. Brothers, we are ready to set off north overnight." Leading the two men was a soldier from the Old Eighth Town who had crossed the river from Wuchang a few days ago. In his eyes, neither the previously lifeless Old Eighth Town nor the Wuchang Left Route Army which was in chaos at the moment were as full of vitality and vigor as this side. Especially after the great victory at Liujia Temple during the day, everyone's morale was aroused, so when talking about this battle of restoration, which the officers called the Little Northern Expedition, even his brows were filled with heat.
But these words were like thunder in the ears of the two people standing beside him! Northern Expedition?! Oh my God, is this gentleman too fanciful? He wants to go to the Northern Expedition right now! Seeing the two people's surprised faces, the soldier laughed and said, "You two adults are wrong. It's not a national Northern Expedition, but a small Northern Expedition! Go north... to recover the whole of Hubei!"
They both breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that it was not a big northern expedition, but before their hearts could completely calm down, they were provoked by the last sentence "recover the whole Hubei" and started beating wildly again. What Hubei?! Tang Hualong didn't believe that Yang Qiu would cross the river to challenge Wuchang's authority at this moment, but the problem was that Wuchang was south of the Yangtze River and only occupied less than 10% of Hubei! If he went north now, wouldn't that mean... a hole in the ground! Hu Ruilin said a Yangzhou catchphrase in his heart. If this small northern expedition succeeded, 90% of Hubei would be named Yang!
But the problem is that he can only fight with two battalions of troops at the moment, and the party members in Wuchang have a large number of troops. Isn't he afraid that he will be wiped out after the army goes out? ! Tang Hualong, who already regarded Yang Qiu as a partner of the constitutionalists, heard about the small northern expedition, his face changed and he stamped his feet and said, "Unwise, unwise!"
The soldier glanced at the pale-faced Speaker Tang, and was very disdainful of the commander's doubts. Seeing Yang Qiu talking to Yue Peng under the street light, he immediately ran over and saluted to report: "Commander, Speaker Tang and Councillor Hu are here."
"Brother Jiwu and Councillor Hu, you are rare guests." Yang Qiu hurried over and took Tang Hualong's hand and said with a smile, "Brother, I was just talking about you two, and this time, it's really as if I mentioned the devil. "
"Although I am a few years older, I can't be as devoted to the country as Chen Hua at such a young age. It's better for me to be like Ji Wu and call him Master Hu." Hu Ruilin said modestly, "Chen Hua, I just heard from the soldiers that you are going to... a small northern expedition?"
The dispatch of the army cannot be concealed, and there is no need to lie on this issue, so Yang Qiu raised his head: "Defeating the remaining enemies in Liujia Temple is equivalent to completely recovering the three towns of Hanjiang. However, the Manchu Tartars still rule the vast Hubei region. Since we have started the revolution! We can't let them do whatever they want. We must quickly defeat these vampires who are attached to the people of Hubei and give the people a bright and clear world!"
These words were loud and powerful, making Tang Hualong feel treacherous. He was still putting on a show at the moment, but now it was time for the constitutionalists to find a backer immediately. Li Yuanhong's future in Wuchang was uncertain, so they could only bet on him temporarily. He put away his dissatisfaction and kindly reminded: "Brother Chenhua, I'm not saying discouraging words for you, but you only have two troops now, aren't you... rushing into things too hastily? Besides, I didn't help you with the military equipment today..."
"Brother Jiwu, don't blame yourself. I believe the issue of military equipment will be resolved naturally after Governor Li takes office." Yang Qiu waved his hand and said, "My decision to march north today was not rash. The arrival of the northern army is a foregone conclusion. There are still thousands of Qing troops entrenched outside the three towns. If we can't defeat them as soon as possible, we can't concentrate on dealing with the Beiyang enemy! Although Chenhua only has these brothers who are willing to follow us to death, we are soldiers. We can't stop fighting just because we are outnumbered! So please ask Brother Jiwu and Brother Zihu to take me to tell the people of the three towns, please rest assured that Chenhua's determination to protect the three towns will never change."
Seeing that he was determined to launch the Northern Expedition and even the soldiers began to line up to march out, the two men knew that they could not stop him. They could only take one step at a time and hope that Wuchang would not take any drastic actions and cut off the thread that they had worked so hard to pull off.
Yang Qiu took in every detail of the two men's expressions. He knew best how much these constitutionalists desired power, especially military power. For this reason, Tang Hualong in the parallel world had racked his brains to seduce Ju Zheng and, in the name of Sun Yat-sen, had drawn up the "Wuchang Military Government Organization Regulations", which ultimately allowed Li Yuanhong to monopolize power and eventually exclude party members. The fruits of the first uprising won by the Literary Society and the Progress Society all became the fruits of others' gains. Strictly speaking, even the murder of Zhang Zhenwu was caused by this.
So after seeing off the soldiers, he immediately changed his expression to one of worry, turned his head and deliberately asked Zhang Wenjing: "The northward advance has already begun, and the victory report will surely be reported back soon. Have you finished the list of civil affairs of each county that I asked you to draw up?"
List of civil affairs departments in each county?
Zhang Wenjing was scratching his head. How could he not know about this? Fortunately, he reacted quickly. Seeing the two people beside him suddenly pricked up their ears, he guessed what Yang Qiu was going to do, so he said in embarrassment: "Commander, you know that we are all soldiers with guns. How many of us can... Hey!"
"Idiot!" Yang Qiu deliberately cursed, pointing at Tang Hualong who was standing beside him with shining eyes, and said, "Chairman Tang and Councillor Hu are both senior councillors, and both are top officials in civil affairs. They have so many such talents in their pockets. Why don't you take the initiative to ask for advice?!"
Tang Hualong didn't want to miss such a good opportunity, so he pretended to be modest and said, " Thank you for the compliment . I don't have that ability, but... I do have some things to show for my civil affairs."
"Did you hear that? Learn more!" Yang Qiu pretended to glare at Zhang Wenjing, who secretly laughed and bowed: "Wenjing doesn't understand civil affairs, I hope you two adults will be generous enough to give me some pointers."
Yang Qiu also smiled and said, "Brothers, please don't keep it to yourself. Civil affairs are really a headache for Yang Qiu. Why don't you bring out any talents you have? Hubei is in urgent need of them."
Tang Hualong and Hu Ruilin knew that it would be difficult for them to obtain military power, so they had been planning to take charge of civil affairs. When they heard what he said, they immediately patted their chests and promised to recommend talented people to help him manage the government. Yang Qiu had no choice. Compared with the deep-rooted Beiyang, he was really too bad in this aspect, so he had to temporarily get along with these constitutionalists, but he couldn't watch the atmosphere being corrupted again. Finally, he said with a stern face: "The selection of civil affairs depends on you two. You must ensure the logistical needs of our army's march north this time! But Chen Hua has something to say in advance. Now it is already a new government. The people you recommend must not cause any trouble. Moreover... they still have to accept military control before overthrowing the Qing Dynasty!"
"Don't worry, Chenhua. With the enemy at our doorstep, we must face the national crisis together and will never do anything to drag down the army." After Tang Hualong finished speaking, he hurriedly took Hu Ruilin to say goodbye, preparing to come up with a list overnight that would reassure both them and Yang Qiu.
Looking at the two people disappearing in the darkness, Yang Qiu's eyes turned cold: "Remember! The police, tax collectors, and customs must be our people! This is absolutely not negotiable!" Zhang Wenjing nodded heavily.
The aftermath of the Liujia Temple incident had not yet dissipated when the news that the right-wing army was setting out again caused a commotion, especially in Wuchang, which was separated by a river. Although everyone wanted to advance northward, since Li Yuanhong had not yet officially taken office as governor, the army was leaderless and could only watch the three arrows of the right-wing army march northward.
"No, it must be changed!"
The atmosphere in the small meeting room of the Wuchang Advisory Council was tense. The party members summoned overnight by Liu Gong and others looked unhappy. Sun Wu, whose face was wrapped in gauze, slammed the table, and the fierce look in his eyes could be seen through the river. For him, these short three days felt as difficult as three years, because too many things were beyond his expectations!
First of all, due to insufficient internal preparations and his accidental injury, the uprising had to bring up Li Yuanhong after it succeeded. This put him, who had long coveted the title of governor-general, in a dilemma. In addition, most of the , and Yang Qiu even threatened him with military force! In addition, the loss of control in Hankou and Hanyang led to Yang Qiu's unexpected rise, and the inexplicable birth of the Right Route Army greatly weakened the revolutionary forces, especially the richest Hankou and Hanyang, which had a complete ordnance factory, making it impossible for him to realize many of his ambitions.
What's even more infuriating is that Yang Qiu is still pushing his luck. Not only does he control the arsenal, but he also shamelessly sends people to ask for military equipment and military supplies! In addition to today's battle at Liujia Temple, the Right Route Army and its incongruous Flying Tiger Flag have become the well-known symbol of the revolutionary army in the two towns on the other side, and even spread to Wuchang. Instead, the Eighteen-Star Flag has become much darker.
This is really hard to swallow!
"Sun Wu..." After calming down, Liu Gong felt that what he did in the afternoon seemed to be too much. After thinking for a while, he said, "Do you think we should provide a batch of military equipment over there?"
Sun Wu exchanged glances with Zhang Zhenwu next to him, and said through gritted teeth, "No! Yang Qiu is already showing some signs of competing with us. If we provide him with so many more weapons, he can quickly expand his army to tens of thousands of people. Who can stop him at that time?"
"You can't say that." Xiong Bingkun was an officer after all, and he knew the current situation very well: "The two Beiyang towns and three associations, plus the other subordinate armies, have at least 30,000 to 40,000 troops! In addition, the Beiyang has always been elite, with many generals and brave soldiers. We can't stop them in a one-on-one fight. If Hankou falls, I'm afraid Wuchang will be difficult to save!"
"It is precisely because he cannot defend Hankou that this is the best opportunity to contain him. As long as Hankou cannot be defended, he and his right-wing army will be condemned by thousands of people! We can conserve our strength and wait until he and the Beiyang are fighting to the death before taking action. By then, we will be able to completely control the three towns in one fell swoop and mobilize the whole country!" As soon as Sun Wu finished speaking, Xiong Bingkun stood up and shouted, "No! There are hundreds of thousands of people in Hankou alone. You are playing with human lives. Who will believe us in the future if this gets out?"
This sentence also resonated with many party officers present, especially the old members of the literary society, because most of them were native Hubei people. Unlike foreign organizations such as the Tongmenghui, they naturally did not want to see the hard work they had worked for several years being destroyed.
Although Sun Wu disliked this bunch of "mud legs", the Literature Society controlled the most important guns at the moment, so he had to suppress his anger and said, "I am not saying that we should give up Hanyang and let the Manchus ravage it. I just say that when they can't hold it, we will immediately send troops to replace them, so that the people will know who is the one who really cares about them."
Xiong Bingkun didn't believe Sun Wu, but since he had said so, he naturally couldn't continue to blame him. He said, "Anyway, I still say the same thing. The three towns are interdependent, like a tripod. If one is missing, the whole situation will inevitably fail!"
"Zai Qian is right. We should not give up Hankou lightly unless we have no other choice." Liu Gong was afraid that things would get awkward, so he stepped out to act as a peacemaker and changed the subject, saying, "By the way, why haven't you seen Bo Kui yet?"
"We don't know either. He disappeared after being chased by the Patrol Camp on Xiaochao Street that night. We didn't see him when we opened the cell." Zhang Zhenwu said, "Maybe he fled back to Yichang for temporary shelter. I think we'll know when the 41st Battalion returns tomorrow."
"Nonsense, a commander-in-chief who was appointed is not in his position at such a critical moment, really... Never mind, let's not wait for him, let's talk about the governor first." Sun Wu took the opportunity to talk about it, "I have been in Hankou these days, and there have been news coming from Jiang that Li Yuanhong is very popular among the old officers. How can this be possible?! The success of the uprising is the result of our many years of hard work, and we can't let an old officer snatch it away."
"Isn't this the strategy we agreed on before the uprising?" Zhan Dabei, who had just been released from Hankou Prison, said, "If something happens to you, we will nominate Li Yuanhong to temporarily serve as the governor-general. After we gradually gain control of the military and administrative powers, we will depose him. Besides, before the uprising, we had already invited Huang Xing and Wu Luzhen to Hubei to preside over the plan. As long as any one of them comes, we will have a candidate for the official governor-general."
Sun Wu secretly hated that he had said so before the uprising, but he was not really dead! These people were using this excuse to evade him, obviously because they were afraid that the Tongjinhui would take power. He quickly said, "Well, we don't have to wait for them to come. The first uprising was successful in Wuchang, in Hubei, so of course they should be chosen from among us."
Xiong Bingkun heard the hidden meaning of Sun Wu's words and immediately objected: "We had a dispute over leadership before. Now that the uprising has succeeded, we can't bring up the past again. Let's wait until Huang Xing or Wu Luzhen returns to Hubei. Moreover, the army is unstable at the moment and there is a powerful enemy at hand. We need someone who is familiar with the art of war to lead us. Neither you nor I are the candidates to lead us through this disaster. Besides, the notice to reassure the people has been posted and the national telegram has been sent out. Isn't it too late to talk about these things now?"
Unexpectedly, Xiong Bingkun was so disrespectful to him. Sun Wu's eyes behind the gauze became even more stern, and he said, "If you don't understand military affairs, you can't lead troops? With my revolutionary spirit, I may not be afraid of Beiyang. Besides, Yang Qiu has already raised his troops to launch a small northern expedition. If we don't come up with a candidate to lead the troops, how can we convince the people?"
His words were really a bit unreasonable, even Cai Jimin was a little annoyed, and said: "Yang Qiu has already issued a notice to only serve as the commander of the right wing army, and he also recommended Li Yuanhong as the governor, leaving the left wing army vacant! Looking at his troops today, there are only one group of soldiers who can fight, and the rest are recruits who can't even use guns. Seeing that the Manchu army is about to arrive, even if he wants to seize power, how can he compare with the tens of thousands of elite soldiers on our side? Li Zuodong just told me that Liu Ying in Jingshan has already raised the title of deputy governor of the Hubei Army of the Republic of China, and even issued a notice to denounce the Qing court in this name. It hasn't been long since we issued it, and he hurriedly followed up. What's going on?!"
This made Sun Wu embarrassed. Everyone knew that Liu Ying was his man. It was agreed in the previous meeting that Sun Wu would be the Grand Commander-in-Chief and he would be the Deputy Commander-in-Chief. But now the situation has changed. Li Yuanhong has become the Grand Commander-in-Chief, so his title as Deputy Commander-in-Chief is naturally unworthy of the title. Zhang Zhenwu, who was standing next to him, saw that Xiong Bingkun and Cai Jimin both supported Li Yuanhong, and he became even more dissatisfied. He pulled out his gun and stood up and said, "I support Sun Wu. We are in the revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish a republic. How can we appoint old officials? I will kill him now!"
Deng Yulin, who was sitting in the far corner, was really fed up with the quarrels and muttered, "Go ahead. If you are not afraid of a split in the army tomorrow morning and all the soldiers crossing the river to Yang Qiu's side, then go and kill him."
After he said this, Zhang Zhenwu really didn't dare to take action. Everyone knew that the morale of the army , and the soldiers would draw their guns and start shooting at the slightest disturbance. Hundreds of people had died in Wuchang City in the past three days, even several old officers had died. If the riot continued, the other side would probably benefit.
Fortunately, Mr. Liu was a smooth person and immediately pulled Zhang Zhenwu to sit down and said, "Alright, alright, stop arguing. The nomination of Li Yuanhong is temporarily settled. We will discuss it after Huang Xing and his men arrive. Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, let him sit down even if it is just an empty title to stabilize the morale of the army first."
Since Mr. Liu said so, everyone had no choice but to stop discussing the matter for the time being, but the dirty tricks between the Literature Society and the Progress Society deepened a lot. Just as the atmosphere was about to become dull, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, and Li Zuodong walked in excitedly holding a telegram: "Ju Zheng and Tan Renfeng are coming. This is the telegram we just received, saying that they have arrived in Jiujiang and will be here in a few days at the latest."
Hearing these two names, Liu Gong finally breathed a sigh of relief. Sun Wu also looked at the dark night outside with shining eyes as if he was making some important decision.
