Volume 1 Wuchang Vortex Chapter 73: Beiyang's Probe

Yang Qiu was already very satisfied to get 10,000 Hanyang rifles and 150 rounds of bullets. He was not worried about how Ju Zheng would pass the "Organization Regulations of the Hubei Military Government of the Republic of China" without Sun Wu's early participation in politics.
Both Ju Zheng and Tang Hualong were smart and capable people, so they would never drive Li Yuanhong out of office and let Sun Wu take the throne at this time. They would also not risk civil strife against themselves when the army was approaching. What's more, they had the confession they provided. As long as they held Zhang Zhenwu down, Sun Wu would be unable to hold on alone. As for people like Liu Gong, their voices no longer had much effect at this moment.
Early the next morning, Zhang Wenjing returned to Hanyang with military equipment and news from last night's party congress. Just like in the parallel world, Ju Zheng used Mr. Sun's power to bully others and lied that the regulations had been drafted long ago by Mr. Sun Wen with his "divine foresight", and they had only made slight modifications based on the current situation. Sun Wu and Zhang Zhenwu were a little resistant at first, but they shut up after the confession was given to them.
The note was his confession to Ju Zheng. In the confession, the bandits who caused trouble on the night of the First Uprising said that they were instructed by Jin Lai Li, and all the guns and explosives were obtained by Jin Lai Li from a party member. Although he did not say who the party member was, everyone knew the relationship between Jin Lai Li and Zhang Zhenwu! This confession made Sun Wu's back chill. He knew that if this confession was leaked, Zhang Zhenwu would definitely be arrested as a bandit leader, and might even be used to completely strike down the Tongmenghui and the Literary Society, so that the Tongmenghui could intervene in Hubei and seize the credit for the First Uprising! Now Li Yuanhong's position as governor can no longer be moved, and the military power has been divided in half because of the appearance of Yang Qiu. If they cannot manage it well, I am afraid that all of them will really be "sacrificed"! So he shut his mouth wisely and watched the "Regulations" being passed.
After hearing this, Yang Qiu didn't know whether to laugh or be sad. Mr. Sun was defeated in ten battles, and together with the "God of War" Huang Keqiang, this pair of partners in the military were really... They finally succeeded, but both of them were not in the country. No wonder later generations like to describe the Wuchang Uprising as the biggest peach in the world. Even he was attracted by this big peach.
As the river ships docked one after another, the arms crisis that had worried everyone the most eased a little. Jiang Tai even rolled up his sleeves and personally directed the unloading of artillery at the dock. Although the 30 five-gun and seven-mountain cannons could not be compared with the Krupp artillery battalions of the 1st and 2nd artillery battalions, they solved the problem of insufficient artillery for the right-wing army. The dozens of artillerymen who arrived on the ship and voluntarily joined the right-wing army gave him the capital to form two more artillery battalions.
"Commander, the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony is about to begin. Who should we send?" Zhang Wenjing handed the list of military equipment to his deputy and asked, "Ju Zheng and Tang Hualong both asked you to attend in person."
Although this heavenly sacrifice ceremony was little more than a show, it was still very important in this era, so Yang Qiu thought about it and said, "The Guard Company and the First Company of the First Battalion of the Second Regiment will attend. Fan Liangshan and Ma Kui will go with me." Zhang Wenjing wrote it down and was about to turn around to make arrangements when he saw Ji Fucheng, who stayed behind in Hanyang, running over with a sweat on his forehead: "Commander! Urgent report from Wusheng Pass... The Beiyang attacked!"
"It's the Beiyang! Everyone, cheer up! Machine guns, save your bullets... Cannons, fire your cannons!"
A row of well-aimed bullets hit the edge of the battlement bunker, and tiny specks of dust exploded in front of the city gate. With sharp shouts and whistles, the eight guns, five rockets and seven cannons brought from the bunker at the pass began to roar. One shell after another flew over the city gate and landed at the foot of the pass. Reddish-brown fireballs immediately covered the slope in front of the north gate.
Inside the corner tower, the smile on He Xi's face gradually hardened. In the camera were thousands of Qing troops rushing over from both sides. Although most of them were from the Yijun patrol camp from Henan, the Zhili uniforms mixed in among them still caught everyone's attention. The Zhili uniforms, the low body during the charge, the skillful running of fast and slow movements, and the widely dispersed infantry lines, could they still maintain such skillful tactical movements in a mountainous area like Wusheng Pass? Apart from the Beiyang, could there be another army like this?
Although the Beiyang government launched an offensive, He Xi was not afraid of this scale. At present, in addition to the two main battalions of the first regiment at Wusheng Pass, Shi Xiaolou also led a team to agree to join the right-wing army, and used the soldiers who had been rushing from Henan to defect to form a regiment with four battalions. Yesterday, hundreds of students and young people came from Macheng, Xiaogan and other places. Originally, they were going to take the train carrying military supplies back to Hanyang for training, but now it seems that they can't leave for the time being. So he immediately distributed the weapons he brought to them, and then selected veterans to form five battalions, and took the opportunity of defending Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass on both sides to let them know what war is.
After the artillery in the pass opened fire, the opposite side's shells also fell rapidly. The whistling sound of the shells breaking through the wind made the veterans breathe a sigh of relief. From the sound, it sounded like the same five-gun and seven-mountain cannon as their own, not the Beiyang standard German and Japanese-made seven-gun and five-heavy cannon. This showed that this attack was just a test by the Beiyang. If it was really a strong attack, the shells that fell would probably be the more powerful German-made shells.
The artillerymen were fighting back and forth, and from time to time, soldiers could be seen being blown away at close range . The bunkers reinforced with sandbags and stones for the past few days were repeatedly ravaged. Shi Xiaolou hid in a bunker, and his face no longer showed the dejection of a few days ago. Instead, his eyes were shining with excitement. Being able to fight against the Beiyang might be his biggest dream in his life.
Under the supervision and leadership of Beiyang soldiers, the Henan Patrol City Battalion did not rush around like they did a few days ago, firing a few shots and then retreating perfunctorily. Soldiers from the two battalions were sweating and marching up the hillside under the shells. Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, Shi Xiaolou took the lead in holding up the Austro-Hungarian Charlemann musket, which was pulled from the bodies of Beiyang horse-marked soldiers when cleaning the battlefield that night. Because Beiyang horse-marked soldiers slipped away quickly, only six were seized in total, and they were all distributed to the officers with the best marksmanship.
Experienced veterans could immediately feel the difference between this rifle and the Hanyang rifle as long as they put the buttstock on their shoulders, which made people secretly praise the Beiyang as the best-equipped army in China. When the sight was aimed at a Beiyang veteran, Shi Xiaolou fired the first shot. The 7.92mm round-head bullet made in Beidagu was about the same power as the Hanyang rifle, and did not have as much recoil as the German pointed bullet. But what surprised him was not this, but that the Beiyang soldier on the opposite side seemed to know that someone was aiming at him, and he actually lay down diagonally while pulling the trigger to avoid the fatal blow.
The crisp sound of gunfire was like a signal. The light and heavy machine gunners hiding in the bunkers opened fire first and fired fiercely. In particular, the two Maxim machine guns arranged on both sides of the pass, half buried in the ground and protected by thick sandbags, were the most frantic. The flames sprayed from them obliquely and crossed each other, making the Qing soldiers who were rushing here flee in panic. The hissing rain of bullets never stopped.
By the time Shi Xiaolou quickly ejected the shell and reloaded it, a large number of Henan Patrol Battalion soldiers had been hit by the machine gun. However, he was careful and discovered that only a few Beiyang soldiers were actually hit, because most of them were like the guy just now. After reaching the distance, they began to lie down and crawl while pushing their guns forward. It was undoubtedly a pipe dream to want to hit a crawling soldier at a distance of 300 meters.
“Reload…!”
The light machine gunner next to him shouted to remind his comrades. After he changed to a new 30-round magazine, a few shrill whistles were heard from the opposite side. The crawling Beiyang soldiers suddenly jumped up like tigers, and then ran diagonally towards the pass at a rapid speed.
"Be careful..." Just as the light machine gunner aimed at a Beiyang soldier, a long tongue of fire burst out from the bushes on the opposite slope. This time, Beiyang also deployed two Maxim heavy machine guns. Unlike the half-baked machine gunners of the right-wing army, the Beiyang machine gunners trained by German instructors were more skilled and could make full use of the firepower of the heavy machine guns to capture the gap that needed to be torn open.
Bullets flew by the heads of the light machine gun squad, and more hit the bunkers, causing a cloud of dust. The gap between light machine guns and heavy machine guns was fully revealed. In this frontal attack, they were completely passive. Seeing the bad situation, the two spare Maxim squads also joined in nervously. Four Maxims immediately suppressed the Beiyang machine gun team, and the Madsen light machine guns were finally free to suppress the Beiyang infantry at full speed.
In the distant valley, Wang Zhanyuan saw through the telescope that he had destroyed the last two Maxim machine gun positions hidden by the enemy. A hint of pride appeared under his mustache, and he carefully handed the Zeiss eight-fold telescope purchased from Germany to his groom.
Li Chun glanced at the expensive German military telescope, which was very popular among senior officers because Togo Heihachiro used it to command the world-shaking Battle of Tsushima a few years ago, and smiled, "Brother Zichun is really amazing. With one team and two battalions of the Yi Army, he was able to test the enemy's strength. I'm afraid he has a good plan now, right?"
Wang Zhanyuan is nearly ten years older than Li Chun, but they have a good personal relationship. When he heard him say that he had a good plan, he waved his hands and said, "Use two stun guns to fire crosswise and diagonally, and keep the remaining two in reserve. The light machine gun will provide close support. After the artillery fire is interrupted, it's very powerful! Judging from the tactics, they don't look like inexperienced rebels, but more like veteran officers of the Eighth Regiment. It's a pity that the machine gunners are inexperienced and choose to fire hundreds of rounds at a time. The firepower seems strong, but the bullet consumption is too high. It should have been equipped recently."
"Brother Zichun, I remember that the Eighth Regiment was not equipped with electric guns and light machine guns. Where did they get these?"
Wang Zhanyuan also shook his head: "I don't know either. I have already reported this matter to the adults. I think there should be news in the next few days."
"We are not afraid of machine guns. Their guns are not as good as ours. Their range and power are too small. We can still take them down if we grit our teeth." After Li Chun finished speaking, he suddenly turned his head and smiled: "By the way, Zichun, didn't the Military Control Commission ask your 3rd Association to help? Don't you want to do your best?"
"Who said I didn't try my best... I had a whole team!" Wang Zhanyuan laughed and pointed at Wusheng Pass in the distance: "Xiushan, you know that the railway dispatch is in chaos. Most of my 3rd Brigade can't get up. I'm afraid your 11th Brigade hasn't even entered Henan yet. You can't attack the pass without artillery? You can't attack!"
"Ha ha……"
Li Chun couldn't help laughing and said, "I guess only Brother Zichun would dare to take advantage of the situation like this! If he hears this, Yinwulou will be so angry that he will die."
Wang Zhanyuan snorted coldly: "He is the Lord's favor, not mine! I won't work for him in Yinwu Tower. If he has the ability to deal with my artillery, I will take Wusheng Pass without saying a word."
Li Chun did not comment on Wang Zhanyuan's words. Yinchang had saved Yuan Shikai, so he had always been called a benefactor by Yuan's servants, but they had never acknowledged it. He smiled and asked, "How is the Imperial Envoy now? He has been stuck here for five or six days. If he doesn't enter Hubei, we will not be able to clean up the mess."
"What else can we do? If we can't mobilize them, we can just withdraw half of Henan's 13th Patrol City Battalion. After three days of fighting, we not only failed to take the city, but also suffered hundreds of casualties. Now I heard that we are going to target the 29th Mixed Brigade, but Baofen is afraid that if the 29th Brigade is withdrawn, there will be no manpower on hand to respond to Henan's problems, so she has been dragging her feet and not handing it over."
"The Patrol City Battalion was the foundation of the Yi Army back then. It was still able to fight more than a decade ago, but now..." Li Chun was full of disdain for the Patrol City Battalion, but Wang Zhanyuan smiled prudently and said, "They are veterans after all. It would be good for them to train for a few days."
"Oh, right. I heard that Commander Sa has already arrived in Jiujiang. Zaixun and Yinchang both asked him to go north and bombard Wuchang immediately. Zichun, guess what his reply was?" The two men didn't seem to care about the battle in front of the pass at all. Li Chun even smiled and said as he walked, "He replied that the navy traveled overnight and the soldiers were exhausted and were resting. He said that when the army arrives, he will let the rebels know the power of his navy's ship guns."
"General Sa and Li Songqing have a teacher-student relationship, so they will not fight to the death. But we..." Wang Zhanyuan stepped closer and said, "I heard that British Ambassador Jordan has been speaking for you these days, but Zaifeng, that old bastard, is just dragging his feet and not letting you come out. Should we do something?"
Although Li Chun was younger, he was not confused about important matters. He quickly stopped him and said, "The court has already appointed you as the governor of Huguang, but he doesn't seem to be interested in the two lakes. Now the rebellion in Hubei is growing stronger day by day, and Zaifeng is more anxious than us. I estimate... the wind will change in two days."
"Lianghu...haha, these relatives are really capable of doing this!"
As the two men talked and laughed, shouts of killing were deafening in front of Wusheng Pass. A Beiyang team that Wang Zhanyuan had sent to test launched the last charge in a hail of bullets. The Henan Patrol Battalion that was transferred in also followed behind them, shouting and killing, and explosions. The screams and the sound of bullets formed a real picture of war. Many inexperienced soldiers of the Right Route Army were shot dead by the Beiyang veteran gunmen because they fired a little too high.
Although the Beiyang troops were brave, a single company seemed too weak to fight against the three battalions garrisoned at Wushengguan. Facing the dense hail of bullets, the Beiyang troops also suffered heavy casualties. However, Wang Zhanyuan did not care how many people died. He just wanted to test the situation before the battle officially started.
The first battle between the Right Army and the Beiyang ended in such a hasty manner. When Shi Xiaolou picked up a German-made Mauser that was more suitable for infantry, he and everyone else knew that after this test, the next time the Beiyang came again, it would probably be a really tough battle.
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