Several warships sailed upstream, and the sunburst flags flying at the stern of the ships were particularly dazzling.

The two warships at the head were odd-looking, more suitable than gunboats, as passenger ships. The Sumida in front and the Fushimi in the rear, were ships of the same class, the hull was built by a British shipyard, transported to Shanghai for assembly, and belonged to the Japanese Third Fleet.

Japan's Third Fleet was reorganized from the garrison fleet stationed in China, and this fleet was stationed in central and southern China, and it was the vanguard of Japan's efforts to seize privileges in China. After the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan began to send a permanent fleet to China, after the Gengzi year, with the increase of Sino-Japanese trade, Japan was eager to expand its influence in China, but because the fleet in China at that time was mostly old-fashioned warships, large ships with deep draft, small ships with small horsepower, neither guaranteed navigation during the dry season, nor could they sail on the Japanese concession in Chongqing, so the Japanese military decided to build a new class of shallow water gunboats to patrol in the Yangtze River basin, so "Sumida" and "Fushimi" were incorporated into the garrison fleet, and as a "mobile consulate". The commanders of warships of this class are all of the rank of Junior Commander, which is the same rank as the captain of the destroyer.

These two new gunboats are specially customized for the situation of the Yangtze River channel, in order to sail to the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River during the dry season, the layout of this class of gunboats is quite strange, in order to reduce the draft, its large number of cabins are arranged on the deck, up and down two floors, like a hotel, which makes it look very much like a passenger ship, not like a warship, and because of this, its full load draft is less than one meter, this shallow draft advantage can allow it to sail on the Yangtze River at will, and in order to sail Chongqing through the Three Gorges, The horsepower of this class of warships is quite strong.

However, such a small warship also has shortcomings, it is not armored, and the firepower is not strong, there are only two 60 mm guns and a few machine guns, not to mention the confrontation with a gunboat like the "Chuguan", even the field artillery can easily deal with it.

But they were still able to show off their might on the Yangtze River, and of course it was not those small cannons, but the strong national strength and the ever-expanding ambitions.

When the five Japanese warships sailed in a column on the Hankou River, the "Sumida" broke away from the formation and anchored in the waters of the concession, while the other four warships continued to sail toward the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Soon after, a small steamer flying British and French flags sailed past the British Concession and landed on the Sumida, where several blonde and blue-eyed Westerners boarded the warship.

The first to board the ship was the British consul in Hankow, Fareis, who was followed by the counsellor and interpreter of the French consulate, and as representatives of the Hankow consular corps, their mission was to make contact with the Japanese fleet, to find out the intentions of the Japanese fleet, and to convey to the Japanese side the opinions of the British and French governments to prevent Japan from getting involved in the Chinese revolution.

Although Japan is an ally of Britain, its role is mainly reflected in the balance of power strategy in Northeast Asia, and Britain will never tolerate its tentacles extending its tentacles to the Yangtze River Valley, and as for France, it is not willing to see Japan further expand its advantages in China, after all, Japan is too close to China, and if Japan takes more bites, France will eat less.

The battle at Jinjipo in Jiujiang shows that the Japanese government seems to have an intention to meddle in the revolution, otherwise, it is difficult to explain why the Japanese fleet would cover the Qing fleet to rush through the Jiujiang blockade line, and now that the Republican side has regarded the Japanese fleet as a threat, it is difficult to guarantee that the two sides will not go into trouble.

An armed clash between the Japanese fleet and the revolutionary army at Wuhan would only add to the confusion of the already confusing situation in the Far East, and would also distract Japan from Manchuria and upset the balance of power in Northeast Asia, which was not what either the British or French politicians wanted to see, and they needed Japan to block the way of the Russians in Manchuria in order to force Russia to turn its attention to Europe and continue to watch over the increasingly presumptuous Germany as a pawn.

The fundamental interests of Britain and France are in Europe, for the balance of power in Europe, it is necessary to tie Russia to the chariot of Britain and France, for the Slavic Empire that has been expanding frantically for more than 200 years, if you want to keep it in Europe, you need not only a piece of incense bait, but also a sharp sword against its back, forcing it to turn around and look directly at the fierce gaze of the German Empire—————— Balkans is the incense bait, and Japan is the sword.

Of course, this is only the British and the French themselves, how the Far East pattern will develop does not seem to be under their complete control, with the rise of the Republican forces, the Far East pattern has added another element of uncertainty, the words and deeds of the commander-in-chief Zhao, it seems to be challenging this balance of power in the Far East.

……

While the diplomats of the Western powers and the Japanese diplomatic envoys were plotting the pattern of the Far East on warships, not far from them, a young Chinese man was also looking at the changes in the Far East from his own perspective.

Through the binoculars, Zhao Bei saw the familiar Rising Sun Flag, and a nameless fire burned in his heart, and he endured it without giving the order to open fire.

Those Japanese gunboats were all small warships, much smaller than the "Chuguan," but these small gunboats dared to run rampant in China's territorial waters, and it was clear that no one was in sight.

This is the Hanyang Guisan Qingchuan Pavilion, and the Yellow Crane Tower on the other side of the Yangtze River stands between the river, standing on the pavilion, you can overlook the Yangtze River, it is the commanding height of Hanyang.

On the hillside behind the Qingchuan Pavilion, the Republican Army has built two artillery positions, dug anti-artillery bunkers, all field artillery and mountain artillery are scattered, and through test firing, the ballistic characteristics of the artillery have been mastered, and several preset fire strike areas are also marked on the map, once Zhao Bei gives the order to open fire, the artillery can cover the Yangtze River channel with the most fierce firepower, and the artillery on Wuchang Snake Mountain can flank the warships on the river. In order to confuse the enemy ships, Zhao Bei also ordered his troops to build many fake artillery forts, which were equipped with wooden cannons to cover the real artillery forts.

Putting down the binoculars, Zhao Bei raised his head and looked at the hydrogen balloon suspended in the sky.

Due to the lack of radio stations, the military liaison between the three cities of Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou now depends on the balloon, and several officers who graduated from the military academy and the naval flag language officer jointly compiled a set of flag language codes, and the flag language soldiers in the city played the flag language at the head of the city, and the flag language soldiers on the balloon relayed the flag language, so that the republican army of the three cities could communicate with each other.

Originally, there were electric wires laid on the Yangtze River and the Han River, but after the revolutionary army occupied Wuchang City, the Qing army took away all those electric wires, and now the concession has declared "armed neutrality", and it is very difficult to buy telephones and wires.

The Qing fleet was already cruising in Tianxinzhou, and now there were hostile Japanese gunboats on the river, and although the road across the river was no longer safe, the balloon was suspended in the sky, and it was unlikely to be shot down unless enemy planes or anti-aircraft guns appeared. Considering that the enemy fleet was too strong, in order to preserve its strength, three alternative gunboats and five small steamers of the Republican Army had been ordered to sail to the shallow water of the upper reaches of the Han River to be on guard, leaving only one "Chuguan" to cruise near the Han River pontoon bridge, and protect the two fragile pontoon bridges together with the artillery on both sides.

At this time, the flag soldiers on the balloon were playing the flag in the direction of Hanyang, and the two flag officers sitting on the top of the pavilion took the code book to quickly translate the flag language, wrote it on the paper, lifted the tiles, and threw the paper to Lan Tianwei.

Lan Tianwei walked behind Zhao Bei and said: "Wuchang asked, the Japanese ship has entered the artillery coverage area of Snake Mountain, and further forward is the fifth mine deployment area, is it the first to attack?" ”

Those mines were made by the arsenal, laid by naval officers and men at night, fixed to the bottom of the main channel with anchor chains, increased buoyancy with pontoons, and hidden at a depth of two meters below the surface of the river. This kind of electric fire and earth mine first appeared in the American Civil War, and it has achieved good results, and there is no need to question its combat effectiveness, but the problem is that it is not only a combat issue, it involves the entire strategic layout and the future of the revolution.

Since the news came out that the Japanese fleet had covered the bombardment of the Jinjipo fortress by the gunboats of the Qing army, the fighting spirit of the republican army was high from top to bottom, and many people even wrote a petition for war, demanding a decisive battle with the Japanese fleet, and the military spirit could be used.

Zhao Bei hesitated for a moment and said, "Inform the artillerymen and try to refrain as much as possible." If the Japanese ships do not fire, we should not fire first, we do not have many shells, the artillery factories have not yet resumed work, the shells must be spared, and the foreign powers must avoid interfering in the revolution. Ask Hankow again, is there any new news? ”

As a result of his intervention, history has changed, will Japan directly intervene in this revolution by force? After all, it is 1908, and the international situation is not exactly the same as in 1911, and there is no history to refer to. But in any case, since he has been pointed at the nose by the opponent's cannon, he can't retreat.

The flag was played, and the news was quickly returned, Lan Tianwei hurriedly walked back to Zhao Bei's side, and whispered: "There is news from Hankou, there is bad news and good news. The bad news is that according to the news of the foreigners' newspaper, the first army of the Qing army has left Jiujiang and is rushing towards Qizhou, and the speed of the march is very fast, and it must have arrived in Wuhan before the second army in the north, and the Qing fleet in Tianxinzhou has turned around and sailed downstream, leaving only one gunboat to protect the stranded 'Haichen', which looks like it should be going to escort the first army of the Qing army. The good news is that we learned from the telegraph office in the concession that the Shinanfu, Xiangyang, Yichang, and Shenyang Mansions have all been recovered, and the local Hui Party forces have captured the official offices and the telegraph office, sent a telegram, and attached themselves to our Republican Army, and some Hui Party leaders have even elected the commander-in-chief to be the 'Great Han General'. ”

"General Han? It's up to them to figure it out. Zhao Bei took the map and studied it for a moment. This morning, Yang Wangpeng of Jingzhou also sent a telegram for the recovery, so it seems that Hubei has almost completely recovered. With that, he turned around and walked to the stairs.

"Where is the commander-in-chief?" Lan Tianwei followed a few steps.

"Power up!" Zhao Beitou walked down the Qingchuan Pavilion without looking back. "I want all Chinese to know that Hubei has been completely recovered!" This is no longer the place of the Manchu Dynasty! Let everyone know how fragile the foundation of the Manchu dynasty was! If not now, but when? ”

……

On December 15, 1908, Zhao Bei sent a telegram to the whole country, announcing that Hubei would break away from the rule of the Qing court, establish a military government, and appoint himself as the governor of Hubei, abolish all the maladministrations of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, abolish all the privileges of the banner people, and set up military and political sub-offices in various parts of the province to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign businessmen, unite all the forces that can be united, gather in Wuhan to support the revolution, and fight the Manchu Dynasty to the end!

This electrification history is called "Hedian".

……

The recovery of Hubei Province was like a shot in the arm, which made the whole of southern China shake up, and the flames of revolution became more and more vigorous, and in just half a month, several southern provinces rebelled one after another, and the Qing army was exhausted:

On December 17, the Gongjin Society, which had rebelled in Hunan, united with the local Hui Party, attacked and occupied Xiangyin and Changde in northern Hunan, and then moved south, quickly captured the prefectures and counties near Changsha, and attacked Changsha after receiving guns and ammunition from Hubei, but due to the strong defense of the city, in order to defend the city, the Qing army was defeated, and the rebel army retreated to Changde.

On December 19, under the leadership of Xiong Chengji, the Anhui rebel army led the Qing army by the nose and went around in a circle, and then seized Luzhou, an important town in northern Anhui, and then sent a telegram announcing the recovery of the whole Anhui province.

On the same day, the first part of the Republican Army evacuated Jiujiang, under the leadership of Wu Zhenhan, the commander of the first echelon, conquered Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, and sent a telegram announcing that Jiangxi was free from the rule of the Qing court.

On December 20, Huang Xing, chairman of the League, set up an uprising headquarters in Hong Kong, and the next day, the Guangdong general Zengqi was killed by a bomb from the revolutionary party, and in the afternoon of the same day, a new army in Guangdong mutinied in Yantang, dragged artillery to attack Guangzhou, but due to the lack of shells, it turned back halfway, and was immediately defeated by Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangguang, and the rebel army retreated to Shipai, intercepted a train on the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, and went south by car to the border of Hong Kong, boarded a cargo ship without any signs in Mirs Bay, and sailed to the open sea. It was then escorted by a Japanese cruiser and sailed to Fujian.

On December 21, Zhang Taiyan arrived in the Shanghai Public Concession from Japan, issued a statement in Zhang Yuan, announcing his withdrawal from the Alliance, and then sent a joint telegram with Tao Chengzhang, who actually presided over the affairs of the Liberation Society, announcing the formal reorganization of the Liberation Society, and the establishment of the Liberation Government, on the same day, the Zhejiang New Army uprising, the United Party attacked the provincial wall of Hangzhou, the next day Hangzhou was recovered, the "China Liberation Army" was officially established, and Tao Chengzhang was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Liberation Army and the governor of Zhejiang.

On the same day, the remaining troops of the Republican Army took the initiative to evacuate Qizhou, and the Qing army's "First Army of Thieves" occupied Qizhou without blood, and the President of the First Army, Guan Liangbi, immediately sent a telegram to the Qing court to "report the victory", and sent Beiyang cavalry to outflank Jiangbei and watch over Huangzhou.

On December 25th, Henan generals and green forest leaders gathered in Yangshan, Song County, western Henan, and elected Wang Tianzong, a member of the alliance, as the "old shelf", officially pulled the flag and rebelled, calling himself the "Han Army of Western Henan", and coerced more than 10,000 people to cross Funiu Mountain and advance to Nanyang Mansion. On the same day, the Shaanxi Elders' Association instigated a patrol battalion to launch an uprising in Shangzhou, southern Shaanxi, and the United Party formed the "Henan-Shaanxi Allied Army", elected Liu Zhenhua, a member of the alliance, as commander, and then marched eastward into western Henan.

On the same day that the Henan Hui Party pulled the flag and rebelled, the commander of the Second Army of the Qing Army and the minister of the Qin Mission, Shengyun, issued a document in Xinyang, southern Henan, officially swearing to march south.

On December 26, the Tsarist Russian envoy to China called on the Qing court's foreman, Minister of Military Aircraft, Yi Xuan, and put forward 25 demands on the "special interests" of Russian businessmen in Mongolia and North Manchuria, and replied within a time limit. The next day, the US Government sent a note to the Russian Government requesting a "satisfactory interpretation" of the 25-point demands. On the same day, a special envoy of the Japanese Government called on the regent of the Qing court, Zaifeng, and submitted a memorandum on the issue of "various cases to be negotiated in the three eastern provinces," demanding that the negotiations be concluded as soon as possible and that the "special status" of Japanese businessmen in the South Manchurian region be established.

On 27 December, the British envoy to China, together with the envoys of France, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, submitted a joint note to the Qing court, declaring: In view of the fact that the situation in southern China has seriously gotten out of control, in order to protect the safety of foreign businessmen in China and the rights and interests of all countries, and to maintain peace in the north, the armies of various countries will jointly increase the number of troops in the concessions, and at the same time "strongly recommend" that the Qing court take measures to stabilize the people's minds as soon as possible and appoint a "highly respectable" minister to preside over the political refresh, otherwise, all countries will stop all negotiations on loans to China.

……

In the midst of all the disturbances, the Gregorian New Year is approaching.