Volume 2: Famous all over the world Chapter 1 Resignation
October 21st.
The city of Wuchang in the early morning was already in a new look. After the grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven to stabilize people's hearts, this ancient city gradually returned to peace. Because history had been hit hard and the shells were still circling in the north, the people who had not yet experienced the cruelty of war seemed to think that this kind of rebellion was not a bad thing, and the shops that had been half-closed for several days slowly opened their doors.
Yang Qiu, who was walking towards the Advisory Council under the protection of a squad, was very clear that under this silence there were undercurrents. Yinchang was timid and continued to stare at Wusheng Pass in Xinyang every day. The Beiyang government did not harass again after launching a test. Imperial edicts came one after another in the Forbidden City. Yuan Shikai was still bargaining with the Qing Dynasty. There was Wu Luzhen in the north, Cai E in the south, and Jiao Dafeng in Hunan who was going to launch an uprising tomorrow. In the age when information was not well developed, these things were more like hidden currents. They seemed insignificant as they trickled by, but when they came together they were enough to overwhelm everyone.
This is the advantage of being a time traveler, he can have the entire process of events that historians have spent years painstakingly listing in his mind, but he doesn't have the mind or ability to take care of those things now. He just hopes that Song Ziqing can bring good news as soon as possible, so that he has a chance to break out of this cage.
Qiu Wenbin was the first to see Yang Qiu walking into the Advisory Council, and he subconsciously straightened his back. The latter also paused after noticing him, stared at him for a moment, and finally turned around and walked into the building. The new version of the "Organization Regulations of the Military Government of the Republic of China" finally confirmed the status of the Right Route Army. On the surface, the two armies finally no longer had to draw their swords, and the soldiers' minds gradually turned to the increasingly approaching war.
The staff room was bustling with noise. At that moment, the staff department did not have as many advanced means as those of later generations. The new army in Wuchang was not even equipped with a radio. It was just a group of officers gathered around a map, adjusting deployments and formulating combat plans based on the delayed information coming from all directions.
"Yang Qiu has met Li Du."
"Chen Hua is here." The old fox was still so friendly. Ju Zheng nodded, and the officers all greeted the young upstart who transformed himself from a Baturu of the Qing Dynasty to a revolutionary hero overnight.
Yang Qiu didn't like this kind of empty formality, so he just dealt with it reluctantly and asked, "Li Du, has Commander Sa replied?"
Speaking of the navy, Li Yuanhong's expression was not so natural. He sent a letter to Sa Zhenbing, but he has not received any reply so far. He began to worry whether the navy was determined to fight this battle. Yang Qiu knew that the old fox's "timid" problem had come back again. He smiled bitterly and encouraged him: "General Sa is very righteous and will definitely understand that overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and realizing a republic is the only way out for this country! Even if... we don't have to worry too much about the navy. At present, the Guishan Fort is under the control of our army. I have also ordered the construction of another artillery position in the east. 36 cannons block the river. We may not be afraid of them."
Li Yuanhong thought that Yang Qiu was young and arrogant and didn't know the power of the navy's naval guns, so he said, "Chen Hua, you are still too young. The power of the navy's naval guns is much stronger than that of the army's guns. Think about the Battle of Dadonggou... Oh! Let's not talk about it."
Seeing him sighing, Ju Zheng quickly changed the subject: "Chen Hua, a telegram just came from Shanghai saying that Yuan Shikai had rejected the Qing court's appointment as the Governor-General of Huguang yesterday. Everyone is discussing what he is up to?"
"What else can we pay attention to? We're just waiting for the right price." The speaker was Cai Jimin. He was very famous in the army. Huang Xing later praised him as "a giant among the soldiers in central Hubei." When he was in Sichuan, Yang Qiu had thought of returning to Wuchang to win over him and Wu Zhaolin and others. Unfortunately, a series of mistakes made him take the most difficult path, so he pricked up his ears when he heard him speak.
Cai Jimin didn't know what Yang Qiu was thinking, so when he saw him looking at him, he continued, "Yinchang was blocked outside Wusheng Pass by Commander Yang and couldn't move forward. The Beiyang Army made a hasty test attack and nothing happened. This is not the Beiyang Army that everyone knows. Feng Huafu and his men must have received Yuan Shikai's care, so they deliberately did not work hard. The army has been unable to enter our Hubei Province, so the most anxious is naturally the Qing court, so in the end they will definitely promise him a high position and generous salary to let him come out of retirement."
"Xiangpu (Cai Jimin's pen name) is right. We must continue to strengthen our concern for Wusheng and not take it lightly. As long as we can hold on for ten days or half a month, our brothers in other provinces will surely respond to the uprising. Then the pressure on Hubei will be much less." Tan Renfeng can be considered a veteran party member. When he spoke, everyone nodded.
Yang Qiu wanted to see how capable this military giant really was, so he asked, "According to Xiangpu, how should we deploy next?"
Cai Jimin seemed to have a plan in mind. He walked to the map and said, "From what I see, we must strengthen Wusheng Pass again. At the moment, there is only Brother Wei San's group there, half of whom are newly recruited soldiers. They are definitely inexperienced in facing the Beiyang. Even with the strong pass, they may not be able to stop them. Instead of waiting for the Beiyang to break through the pass, it is better to take the initiative to attack Xinyang. As long as we can drive Yinchang out of Xinyang and wait for other provinces to respond, Hubei will be safe."
"No!" As soon as Cai Jimin finished speaking, Yang Kaijia stood up immediately. Before the uprising, he was a die-hard supporter of Zhang Biao. Later, he changed sides when he saw that the general situation was set. Therefore, after he stood up, many party officers showed disdainful expressions, but he seemed not to see them and continued: "Our army is no longer the old Eighth Regiment. Recruiting so many new soldiers is already a burden. Going out to fight rashly on an expedition will only expose flaws, so this move is absolutely not allowed."
"Yes, Governor Li!" Zhang Jingliang took the opportunity to stand up and said, "We must not go out to fight. In my opinion, we should just defend the pass. After all, the Beiyang army has lived in Zhili and Henan for a long time. If we fight on the home front, we may still have a chance to win. If we go out..."
Zhang Jingliang looked very concerned about the safety of Hubei, and his tone was sincere. If Yang Qiu didn't know his background, even he might not believe that he would betray. No wonder the party members in the parallel world were deceived by him and collapsed.
Li Yuanhong also had a worried look on his face. If it weren't for the situation, and if he wasn't reluctant to give up the reputation of the first governor, he wouldn't want to fight the Beiyang army to death. The reputation of the governor is good, but a dead governor is worse than a dog, so he didn't agree with Cai Jimin's expedition, but he had just secured his position, and he still needed the help of the party members to get through this hurdle, so he turned his eyes to Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu shook his head and said, "The Northern Army's firearms are fierce, especially their artillery, which is a hundred times stronger than ours. A rash attack will only increase casualties. I think we should first strengthen Wusheng Pass, then use Xiaogan as a shield, Dahongshan and Huanshui as two wings, and deploy heavy troops to force the Northern Army to be unable to move south quickly. We can take the opportunity to consume and annihilate their manpower, and then look for opportunities to defeat them after they are exhausted."
His words drew the approval of Li Yuanhong. Just as he was about to express his opinion, there was a commotion outside. Before he could ask, he saw Zhang Zhenwu rushing in with four or five party members. Seeing Yang Qiu, he pointed his finger and said, "Come here, arrest him!"
Several well-prepared party soldiers were about to start arresting people. Lei Meng, who was guarding outside without receiving orders to come in, suddenly became anxious. He pulled out his pistol and rushed in, shouting, "Who dares to do it?"
When he shouted like that, there was a sudden chaos in the staff room. The guards and soldiers waiting outside all came in. Finally, even the security team of the Advisory Council led by Qiu Wenbin rushed in. However, because everyone didn't know what was going on, they all stood quietly waiting for the situation to become clear.
Yang Qiu was even more surprised. He looked around and felt that it was not as if someone had deliberately set up a trap to kill him. Just as he was about to ask, Ju Zheng had already walked over and stopped him, saying, "Chunshan, what are you doing?"
Zhang Zhenwu waved his pistol with an excited look on his face: "Sir! We have all been deceived by this bastard! He keeps saying that he is defending the revolution, but at the same time he sent a large army northward in an attempt to split the Yangtze River and establish a separatist regime! Yesterday he forcibly surrendered the Jingshan Volunteer Army and killed Liu Tie and his cousin Liu Jie! He even arrested Brother Liu Ying!"
Liu Ying was arrested? Liu Tie and Liu Jie were both beaten to death! Yang Qiu was confused. He ordered Yue Peng to speed up the advance to the north, but he never expected that he would use such a heavy hand.
What kind of accident happened?
When they heard that Liu Ying was arrested and Liu Tie was dead, not to mention officers like Cai Jimin, even Ju Zheng and Tan Renfeng suddenly opened their mouths wide. The room suddenly exploded. Only veteran officers like Li Yuanhong and Zhang Jingliang sat quietly. It was unknown whether they hoped to see a conflict between the two factions or to resolve the crisis.
The sudden accident made Yang Qiu's brain work rapidly. Among the figures of the Xinhai Revolution, the Liu Ying brothers were not very prominent, but their backgrounds were no less impressive than Wu Luzhen and his ilk. They studied together in Japan and joined the Tongmenghui, and studied in a Japanese military school. Later, when the Tongmenghui split, they joined the Tongmenghui led by Sun Wu. They had connections with Sun Wen, Huang Xing and others, and they also had deep connections with the Pao brothers!
In the later Yangxia War, they swept across both sides of Hanyang and relieved a lot of pressure on the three towns. If Li Yuanhong had not been afraid of his threat and did not let him attack Xiangyang, he might have unified Hubei by advancing northwards at this moment. Later, he participated in the Second Revolution and was one of the few people in the Hubei Officers Corps who responded.
The most important thing is! He had just established a relationship with Ju Zheng and was ready to embrace the Tongmenghui to pave a way out for the future, but before he could finish his words, he forcibly incorporated the other party's armed forces and killed people! Will this affect future cooperation? But to be honest, he was happy to see Liu Ying destroyed, because the Liu brothers were the only real party armed forces left in Hubei. After defeating him, both Sun Wu and Ju Zheng would lose their biggest external aid, so they would have to rely more on the two armies. The question is, will they choose Wuchang, or his side...?
When he ordered Yue Peng to speed up the advance northward, he had thought about simply taking Jingshan by force. However, he did not expect that the Liu brothers would be injured by mistake, and the signal soldiers sent back must have been delayed, which led to the people sent by Liu Ying arriving in Wuchang first.
Zhang Zhenwu is a reckless person, and he is famous for being reckless and straightforward among the three warriors of the First Uprising, but he would definitely know the consequences of breaking into the staff room with a gun! So Sun Wu must be standing behind him! Because Sun Wu is the only one who least wants to see the Liu brothers destroyed, so he wants to catch himself off guard and suppress the growing right-wing army. This is almost the same as the method he used in the parallel world to suppress the Yangxia branch of the military government with the literary society as the team!
Seeing that he had not spoken, Zhang Zhenwu thought that he had admitted the accusation and said angrily: "Yang Qiu, you killed my revolutionary patriots in Sichuan before, and now you are launching a northward advance under the pretext of recovering the entire province, killing innocent people! If I don't punish you severely today, won't the world laugh at my revolution..."
"Snapped!"
Before he could finish shouting, everyone saw Yang Qiu suddenly step forward and slap him hard in the face!
The crisp and loud slap made the whole audience gasp. Even Li Yuanhong couldn't figure out why Yang Qiu didn't explain first but slapped Zhang Zhenwu hard. But this slap made him feel happy. He had been bullied by Zhang Zhenwu's arrogance these days. Now seeing the five red fingerprints on his face getting deeper, he wanted to slap them himself.
Zhang Zhenwu never expected that Yang Qiu would dare to hit him first. He was so angry that just as he was about to raise his gun, a pistol was pressed against his forehead. After taking over the gun factory, Su Hongsheng began to continue imitating the M1911 pistol, and as required, he reduced the caliber to 9mm which was more suitable for Chinese people to use. Therefore, the guards and soldiers around Yang Qiu were all equipped with two guns, one person holding one across the middle, and almost locked everyone in the room at once.
With the muzzle of Lei Meng's gun pointed at his head, Zhang Zhenwu didn't dare to speak. Seeing this, Ju Zheng hurriedly shouted, "Stop, stop! Chen Hua, tell me what's going on? Did you give the order to kill Brother Liu Ying?"
Yang Qiu did not wave his hand to ask the guards to remove their guns. Anyway, it was already like this, and he did not want to give anyone a chance to shoot him secretly. He turned his head and said to Ju Zheng: "Mr. Ju Zheng, before answering your question, Yang must first ask you, should the future Republic of China have warlords everywhere, or should the military and the government be unified?"
"Of course it is the unification of the military and the government." Tan Renfeng answered on the side.
"Since the military and the government are unified, what's wrong with me ordering the army to march north and incorporate the local rebel forces? Although I don't know why there were accidental injuries, the day before yesterday, Li Du took office and notified the whole country that our army was only divided into the left and right routes, and no deputy governor was appointed! Liu Ying did not respect the orders of the military government, and continued to do his own thing. He kept sending telegrams to the whole country in the name of deputy governor, forcing the unknown soldiers and civilians to obey him! I want to ask, is this his own action, or..." Yang Qiu glanced coldly, and seeing Sun Wu who had already arrived at the door, he said angrily: "Someone is trying to split Hubei, intending to cooperate with the Qing army from inside and outside!"
Ju Zheng was somewhat dissatisfied with this big hat, but seeing that Yang Qiu seemed to be really unaware of this matter, he was relieved for some reason. As long as he did not personally order the killing, there was still room for maneuver. It was not that he did not know the importance of Liu Ying, but it was not easy to promote the substantive unification of the three towns. If this matter forced Yang Qiu to take another path, perhaps the Beiyang Army would be able to kill at the door of Wuchang tomorrow!
But Liu Ying and his brother did die because of Yang Qiu. If it is not handled properly, the party may split again. What should be done? Thinking of this, he immediately turned his eyes to Li Yuanhong. The latter did not want to deal with this matter. His power was unstable at this time. He needed the party members and Yang Qiu to restrain each other. Only in this way could he sit firmly in the position of governor. When he got the power, he would eliminate them one by one. So he did not want the two factions to conflict immediately. Otherwise, he would just give each of them fifty lashes?
Seeing that Ju Zheng and Li Yuanhong were silent at the same time, Sun Wu thought something was wrong and immediately stepped out and said, "Li Governor! Sir! This matter is of great importance. Now the whole country is looking at us in Wuchang and Hubei! If we don't punish this man severely, who will take our party members seriously in the future? Do we have to kill him if we want to?!"
It is said that among the three Wus, Sun Wu is witty, Zhang Zhenwu is reckless, and Jiang Yiwu is loyal. At this moment, these words really regained the momentum. Unfortunately, Yang Qiu had already made up his mind. Before he could speak, he said decisively: "Mr. Ju Zheng, Governor Li! I don't want to argue anymore today! The truth will come out one day! Since Sun Wu said that my soldiers abused force and killed patriots by mistake, then I will take the responsibility! You all bear witness for me. From now on, I will resign from the position of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs and the position of Director of the Yangxia Branch Office! Please ask Sun Wu to serve as the Director of the Branch Office to manage Yangxia, and Yang himself will immediately lead the troops to Dahongshan to fight against the Beiyang!"
Resigning as the deputy minister of the military department might not be a big deal, but resigning from the position of the director of the Yangxia branch government and letting himself be the director of the branch government! Isn't this a godsend? Sun Wu's face flushed with excitement, but Li Yuanhong thought that Yang Qiu was going to lead the troops to leave Hubei. He stood up and said seriously: "Chen Hua, you have to think clearly, the righteousness cannot be violated!"
"Yang's heart for the country and the people is known to all! The Right Route Army is not capable of being slaves to the Manchu emperor! If I die unfortunately, you two don't have to make things difficult for me." After Yang Qiu finished speaking stiffly, he turned his head and glared at Zhang Zhenwu coldly: "This slap is to remind you! The success of the revolution does not mean that you can break military discipline! The next time I see you pointing a gun at your superiors... I will kill you without mercy!"
After he finished speaking, he waved his hand and walked out with Lei Meng. When he passed by Sun Wu, he deliberately paused for a moment before striding away.
Qiu Wenbin saw Sun Wu's tightly clenched fists and his back that seemed never to bend, but he had no idea how much impact the incident just now had on this suddenly rising young man. Facing Sun Wu's counterattack, his steps became firm again.
