Just as the League was busy wiping Zhao Bei's ass in Tokyo, the initiators of the Jiujiang anti-British telegram were inspecting the Jinjipo Fortress.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Two dull cannon shots, the air shook violently, and two 210-mm shells were thrown into the air, drew a graceful curve and then fell, smashing on the Yangtze River, splashing waves as high as two feet.

"It's not bad, if it's a flowering bomb, it must be more powerful." Zhao Bei put down the binoculars and praised sincerely.

"It's a pity that it's an old-fashioned rack back gun, the firing speed is too slow, and there are only six cannons, and the rest are small cannons." Wu Zhenhan said.

"Be content, it's also a fortress cannon."

Zhao Bei and his staff officers walked into the gun emplacement, came to a Krupp fortress cannon, stretched out their hands and touched the hot barrel, and glanced at the inscription on it.

"1888 is about the same age as ours." Zhao Bei said to the staff officers.

Everyone looked at each other and smiled, pointing fingers around the cannon, most of them had never seen such a large caliber of the cannon, it is by relying on these giant cannons, Jinjipo Fortress can become the throat of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Madang Fortress and Jiangyin Fortress in the lower reaches are collectively called "the key to the Yangtze River".

"I wonder if you participated in the Sino-Japanese War?" Stroking the cannon body, Zhao Bei was relaxed.

"Report! The six cannons have been reset, whether to continue firing or not, please give the order of the commander-in-chief! An officer ran over and saluted.

"You're the pipe band of the fortress artillery battalion." Zhao Bei couldn't remember this person's name for a while.

"Shen Shanglian of the Ministry of Employment! Now the commander of Jinjipo Fortress! The officer said loudly, also reminding Zhao Bei that he was now promoted.

"I'm glad you can lead an uprising. Listen to Wu Zhenhan, you graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officer school? Zhao Bei nodded. Soon after Wu Zhenhan's first echelon launched an attack, he led his troops to revolt, attacked the forts, and turned the muzzle to bombard the Qing army camp in Jiujiang, otherwise, Jiujiang City would not have erected the white flag so quickly.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief! The vocational department is the second batch of non-commissioned officers and students studying in Japan, and they have learned the artillery department. Shen Shanglian said.

"Oh? Are you also in the second installment? So, you and Lan Tianwei are classmates? Zhao Bei was surprised.

"Yes!"

"Are you from the Alliance?"

"It's not."

"Not? It doesn't matter, as long as you participate in the revolution, you are a revolutionary comrade. Zhao Bei said with a smile, walked to a cannonball, pointed to a half-human-tall cannonball and asked, "How much does this cannonball weigh?" ”

Shen Shanglian said: "The flowering bullets weigh 280 pounds each, the propellant pack is 90 pounds, and the solid bullets weigh ......."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a soldier shout: "Here we go again!" Not again! The gunboats of the Tartars are coming again! ”

Several people hurriedly walked out of the gun position, raised the telescope, and looked at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but saw a few wisps of black smoke coming from far and near, and the yellow dragon flag waving in the wind in the black smoke was the two small gunboats of the Qing army.

If it weren't for the Jinjipo Fortress, I am afraid that the shells of the Qing gunboats have fallen into Jiujiang City, although there are only six cannons in the fortress, but the caliber is large and the firing range is long, which is not something that the small gunboats of the Qing army can contend with, and they often bombard a few cannons and scare them away.

Zhao Bei raised his right hand wearing sheepskin gloves, pointed at the two gunboats, and said, "Concentrate firepower, use solid bullets to fire a salvo, and kill their majesty." ”

"Yes!" Shen Shanglian hurriedly ran to shout the password.

The artillery of the fortress quickly loaded the shells, adjusted the orientation and angle, and with a whistle, the six Krupp cannons roared, and the earth shook, and the six shells flew over, sandwiching the two small gunboats in the huge waves, and frightened them to turn the rudder in a hurry and run downstream.

Seeing that the few wisps of black smoke were gradually moving away, the staff officers were relieved, and the artillerymen cheered even more.

Zhao Bei still frowned, and said to Wu Zhenhan: "The Qing army can divide its forces to attack Jiujiang City, it seems that their pressure in Anqing has become less." I wonder what happened to them? ”

"There is no artillery battery in Anqing, if the Qing army bombards it with gunboats, it will not be able to support it for a few days." Wu Zhenhan agrees.

"I hope that Xiong Dudu can deal with it flexibly, and don't stick to the lonely city, if it really can't work, he will fight north, attack and occupy Luzhou, or go to the mountains." Zhao Bei turned his head and looked at the gun position. "Fortunately, the range of the guns of the Qing gunboats is not as far as ours, otherwise, we would not be able to hold Jiujiang."

"It's a dry season now, the big ships of the Qing army can't get in, and the guns of the small ships are too small, and the range can't compare to the fortress guns." Wu Zhenhan said.

"Can't be too optimistic, the firing speed of these six fortress guns is too slow, if the enemy ships rush up, they can't stop it, if Anqing is lost, the Qing army concentrates its forces to attack Jiujiang, and it is still a great threat to our army's westward expedition." Speaking of this, Zhao Bei looked up at the Yangtze River.

"The dry season of the Yangtze River will not end until the beginning of spring, and before that, we will have at least a month or two to attack Wuhan. Now we have thousands of sailing ships, large and small, that can guarantee the transport of troops and baggage. Baishan, how is the repair of the gunboat we captured? ”

The gunboat was originally the "Chuguan" of the Qing army, which was originally ordered to sail from Wuhan to Anqing to reinforce the Qing army, but late at night on the night of the restoration of Jiujiang, this gunboat docked at the Jiujiang wharf, intending to refill coal, just so that the rebel troops who took over the wharf met them, so they even took the boat and made the trophies of the rebel army. At that time, the gunboat pipe belt tried to lead the ship to escape, but as soon as the anchor chain was cut, the cannon of the rebel troops hit the stern of the ship, breaking the steering gear, and this was not done, and the gunboat has been docked on the dock for repairs for the past two days. Through the interrogation of the sailors and officers on the ship, the rebels also figured out the strength of the upstream Qing army's naval division.

The "Chuguan" is the last large river gunboat in the upper reaches of the Jiujiang River, and if it enters Hubei now, the revolutionary army will not be blocked by the upper fleet, and the only thing to watch out for is the gunboats downstream that are gathering to attack Anqing.

In addition to the regular gunboats, the rebel forces also captured a ferry, which was a very small paddle steamer, wooden hull, driven by a horizontal steam engine, which was originally a pleasure boat of the Taoist master, and also raised a Peking Opera troupe on board, and the rebel troops incorporated the troupe into the propaganda team, and then mounted the field gun on the cruise ship, converted it into a small gunboat, named "Republic", so that the rebel army had two gunboats, although it was cold, but it was better than a sailboat.

Wu Zhenhan said: "It's almost repaired, but there are fewer people driving the boat, so we have to add some sailors." The ship was captured, but not all of the Qing sailors on board were willing to participate in the revolution, first, because they had some concerns, and second, because the sailors' salaries had always been rich, and it seemed that there was no need to put their lives on the line for that little money, so only more than 40 of the 80 officers and soldiers on the ship were willing to participate in the revolution, and the rest of the "Manchu lackeys" were also sent to the hard labor team.

Zhao Bei thought for a moment, and said to Tian Jinfu, the captain of the guard standing behind him: "Yiren, you will select a platoon of reliable subordinates, form a frigate gendarmerie, board the ship and act as sailors, and we must ensure that the 'Chuguan' is completely in our hands." What do I mean, you see? ”

"Understood! It is to keep an eye on the gunboat, lest the sailors on the ship turn against the water. Tian Jinfu said.

"It's good to understand." Zhao Bei patted the captain of the guard on the shoulder and whispered, "However, remember next time, don't be so loud." ”

Chief of Staff Lan Tianwei hurriedly ran over with a few people, still holding a letter in his hand.

"Commander-in-chief, Anqing has sent someone to contact us! This is the letter of the Governor of Xiongdu. Lan Tianwei handed the letter to Zhao Bei and pointed to the people behind him. They were messengers sent by the Governor of Xiongdu, and they came by foreign ships. ”