On June 16, 1908, a secret meeting was being held in the governor's palace in Kunming, and at the top of the table was Xiliang, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.

The Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou was one of the nine highest-ranking feudal ministers of the Qing Dynasty, in charge of the military and civilian affairs of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

Xiliang, the word Qingbi, Bayute, Mongolian blue flag people. In March of the 33rd year of Guangxu (1907), Xiliang was transferred to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.

The failure of the Hekou Uprising launched by Huang Mingtang and other revolutionaries at the beginning of the year was caused by Xiliang personally leading his army to suppress the outskirts of Kunming.

All the officials attending the secret meeting were the governors of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the chief political departments, the city guards, the generals, and the commanders.

"The imperial decree has arrived, for the traitors at the mouth of the river, the imperial court let us quickly exterminate them, but did not send reinforcements, this time the traitors can only be dispatched from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, so the governor ordered the Guiyang new army battalion to draw 2000 new troops, and the Kunming battalion to transfer 3000 new troops under the command of General Yang Zhenhong, on June 23, a joint army went south to take the estuary, cut the grass and eradicate the roots, Yunnan Governor Yamen instructed the political secretary and the grain storage road to prepare sufficient food and wages, there must be no mistake." Xiliang, who is almost old, still seems a little resolute.

Lin Qiping, the governor of Yunnan, sighed and said: "Your Excellency, the last time I exterminated the revolutionaries, I have exhausted all the money and grain in stock, and the imperial court has not yet allocated a penny or a single grain, so it is really difficult to raise enough money and grain for sending troops this time. ”

"Then requisition from the grain merchants and money banks in Kunming City, the war is imminent, no matter what means you use, even if it is robbery, you have to raise the money and grain for the troops." Xiliang, who had always been approachable, suddenly said angrily.

"I'm angry old man, I have just been the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou for less than two years, and my ass has not yet sat softly, and there are two revolutionary party rebellions in the territory, how will the imperial court look at it, how will the emperor and the queen mother look at it, those who eat dry rice every day in Beijing still don't know if they are participating in me, you also give me some eye medicine, looking for scolding!" Xiliang scolded to himself.

Subsequently, there was a burst of chickens and dogs jumping in the city of Kunming, and the Yunnan Governor Yamen took the people from the Yamen of the Political Department and the Yamen of the Grain Storage Road to collect money and grain everywhere.

In the camp of the New Army on the outskirts of Kunming, General Yang Zhenhong, who commanded the New Army, was making operational arrangements for the southward movement to quell the rebellion.

"This time to the south to quell the rebellion, our Kunming New Army battalion will transfer 3,000 troops, and it is planned to transfer the 71st and 73rd bids from the 37th Association, the 56th standard from the 39th Association, and 10 rifled steel cannons made by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau from the Artillery Association, and all departments will immediately enter a wartime state, distribute ammunition, and immediately go south as soon as the 2000 New Army in Guiyang arrives." Yang Zhenhong said in a deep voice.

"Yes"

Yang Zhenhong's eyes swept around his subordinates, and saw that Cai Yi, who was the chief instructor of the New Army, was still standing aside, and then said in a deep voice: "At present, there is still a shortage of a pipe band in the 2nd Battalion of the 71st Standard, so Instructor Cai will immediately take up his post and go south with the general." ”

"Yes" Cai Ye, who was originally silent and a little melancholy, immediately replied happily.

Cai Yi, born in 1882, was born in Songpa, and studied at Tokyo Datong High School, Yokohama East Asia Commercial School, and Tokyo Army Non-commissioned Officer School. During his study abroad, he was already influenced by the advanced ideas of the West, and after returning to China, he was sent to Yunnan to train the new army because of his experience at the Tokyo Army Non-commissioned Officer School.

At this moment, he was a little excited, but it was not the excitement of being promoted to a battalion pipe band, he had always wanted to join the revolutionary party, and he was worried that he would not have the opportunity to contact it.

At this time, he was 36 years old, but he still looked very young, and in Yang Zhenhong's eyes, he was a young man who had never led a soldier.

"Oh, young man." Yang Zhenhong looked at Cai Ye, who was a little happy, and thought that he was happy because he promoted him.

Cai Yi cleaned up his mood and began to think silently: "There is a centurion named Tang Jiyao in the second battalion of the 71st standard, who also studied in Japan, and then I will contact him. ”

Cai Yi originally wanted to launch an uprising during the first estuary uprising, but he was just a small instructor, although he was responsible for training the Kunming 7000 new army, but he had no soldiers, and he was not allowed to go out when he countered the rebellion, so after the failure of the first estuary uprising, he extinguished the small fire in his heart, but this time it gave him a good opportunity.

"This decadent feudal Manchu regime, Lao Tzu is reversed." The small flame in Cai Yi's heart grew a little stronger.

June 25, the estuary.

With the handover of the last batch of new equipment, 10 Madsen light machine guns, 3 Maxim heavy machine guns and 3 75-mm Krupp mountain guns were newly arrived, and the 11 large boxes of gold, silver and jewelry stored in the warehouse were about 900,000 yuan.

Firmman also came to the mouth of the river with the last convoy of arms, and the main purpose was to transport the 900,000 foreign goods.

Watching Firman happily carry away the 11 boxes that no longer belonged to him, Huang Zhongting was still very uncomfortable, and sighed silently, "If the old one doesn't go, the new one won't come, and there will be these things in the future", and simply comforted himself.

Huang Zhongting cleaned up his mood, and at this time, Li Desheng, the commander of the guard company, hurriedly came over.

"Young army commander, urgent military situation, the Qing army is coming, Battalion Commander Huang and Battalion Commander Xu are waiting for you at the staff headquarters!"

Huang Zhongting didn't say a word, and immediately rushed to the staff headquarters of the former Hekou County Ya and now the Revolutionary Rebel Army.

Huang Zhongyuan, Xu Guichuan, Liao Zhongyi and others from the General Staff Department are all there, and these people are a little uneasy.

Xu Guichuan shouted at this moment for fear that the world would not be chaotic: "Fight, must fight, Camp Commander Huang, are you afraid, if you are afraid, transfer your 5 Krupp Mountains to me, I will fight and kill this group of dogs." ”

At this time, Xu Guichuan was still thinking about his 5 mountain guns, Huang Zhongyuan shook his head helplessly, sighed and said: "The fight is definitely going to be fought, the key is how to fight, although only 5,000 Qing troops came this time, but they are all new troops, not ordinary flag soldiers who besieged us before, in addition to heavy weapons, light weapons are equal, and the number of people is one to five." ”

Xu Guichuan was about to respond, but when he saw Huang Zhongting walking in with a steady pace, he immediately held back what he wanted to say, and the staff department instantly quieted down.

Huang Zhongzhi immediately got up and said: "Young army commander, this time the Yunnan-Guizhou Governor's Mansion dispatched 5,000 Qing troops to encircle and suppress us, and the soldiers have arrived in Wenshan Prefecture, and it is expected that the troops will be able to come to the city in 3 days." ”

Huang Zhongting said with some surprise: "5,000 people, why are there so few, there were tens of thousands of sieges against us before, and they have no soldiers available?" ”

"The number is less, but it is more serious, these 5,000 Qing troops are all new troops, all trained in accordance with the Western-style army, and the equipment is also excellent, the rifle is uniformly used by the Hanyang Arsenal imitation German 1888 style 7.9 mm caliber rifle, and the Mauser 1988 rifle we use is not much different, and it is also equipped with a small number of machine guns and rifled steel cannons made by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, we only have some advantages in heavy weapons." Huang Zhongyuan felt that the 5,000 new troops were more threatening than those ordinary soldiers.