The red flags of the three towns of Wuhan are fluttering, the drums are noisy, baskets and baskets of braids are poured into the fire and burned to ashes, there are almost no men with braids on the streets, and a small number of old and young Manchu widows who refuse to cut their braids are hiding at home and dare not go to the streets, lest the hungry people grab the braids to change their steamed buns, and now the revolutionary military government has issued an order claiming that men's braids are not legal property and are therefore not protected by the law, so even if the braids are snatched away, there is no way to ask for help.

While those old and young people were hiding in their houses and cursing the revolutionary army and "Commander-in-Chief Zhao," the leader of the Republican Army was leading representatives of the military, government, business, and people from all walks of life in Wuhan to gather at the China Merchants Bureau Wharf in Hankou to greet several distinguished guests amid the sound of military music.

According to the list sent, those distinguished guests are not ordinary people, they are all officers of the fourth town of the Beiyang New Army, led by Wu Fengling, the commander of the fourth town, and the other few are Meng Enyuan, Li Houji, Zhang Shaozeng, Li Rui, Ma Longbiao, Yang Shande, either Wu Fengling's deputy or his senior staff officer, it can be said that the soul of the fourth town of Beiyang is here, if they are wiped out at this time, maybe the fourth town of Beiyang will be leaderless.

Of course, this is not possible, after all, they are guests, and it was Zhao Bei who nodded and asked them to come, now is not the time to hold a banquet.

Because Yuan Shikai has pulled the flag to rebel, set up another mountain, and the governors of various places have different reactions to this, some provinces have begun to recruit Qinwang soldiers and horses, now the base of Beiyang Zhili, Shandong and other provinces are empty, in order to press the ground, but also to protect their own safety, Yuan Shikai had to be transferred to the south of the Qing court Beiyang elite to withdraw to the north, first stabilize the rear and then say, so, the troops under the city of Huangzhou Beiyang fourth and fifth towns have been ordered to pack up, immediately go north to aid Tianjin, because there are not enough ships that can sail, A force can only go north through the Jinghan Railway, so it must pass through the areas already occupied by the Republican Army, Wu Fengling sent people to negotiate with the Republican Army, and Yuan Shikai also called to inquire.

According to Yuan Shikai's intentions, the fifth town will go east by boat to defeat Chang Gung, the acting governor of Liangjiang, who "does not obey the orders of the imperial court", and open up the Yangtze River channel, while the fourth town will immediately take a train north to return to Tianjin. Due to the efficient work of the Belgian company, the Jinghan Railway has basically resumed operation, and enough locomotives and carriages have been transferred from Xinyang to the south.

The north is unstable, if Yuan Shikai's usurpation action fails, the Qing court is very likely to make a comeback, so no matter what, it is necessary to "help" Yuan Shikai to stabilize the situation in the north, but of course you can't do a loss-making deal, Zhao Bei sat on the ground and raised the price, Yuan Shikai landed on the ground to repay the money, and finally the two sides agreed, Zhao Bei agreed to borrow the road, but the Beiyang Army needed to give the Republican Army six latest field guns and six machine guns as compensation, and by the way, some radios and field telephones.

The deal was fair, so Wu Fengling led the fourth town to Hankou.

Zhao Bei sent a telegram to southern Henan to inform Yang Wangpeng's Northern Expeditionary Army to give way, and at the same time organized representatives of Wuhan gentry and merchants, led everyone to rush to the dock, and welcomed the "heroes anyway" to return to the division in triumph, regardless of whether the two sides were killed at the beginning, now they are anti-Qing heroes, and it is understandable to shake hands and say joy, of course, Zhao Bei also made the necessary preparations, not only ordered Lan Tianwei to command the troops to be tightly deployed in Hankou, but also brought a large number of guards, lest the other party come to "capture the thief and capture the king first", after all, the other party is the Beiyang New Army, and its combat effectiveness ranks first in the country. What kind of thing Yuan Shikai is, Zhao Bei also knows very well.

Everyone stood on the dock and waited all morning, and when it was almost noon, they saw several steamships coming in drums, and the dragon flag was still hoisting, but there was still a red flag next to the dragon flag, which was the vanguard of the fourth town in Beiyang.

The Republican gunboat "Chuguan" greeted them, but did not fire a salute for fear of a misunderstanding, but only greeted them with a long whistle, and the steamships downstream also returned the salute with whistles.

Zhao Bei, who was discussing the military situation with the staff officers in the dock room, heard the news, hurriedly adjusted his military uniform, hung up the command knife, and led everyone back to the dock.

After several twists and turns, the steamships drove to the river in front of the wharf, slowly stopped, and anchored in the middle of the river, a sampan was lowered, and several officers rowed to the wharf on the sampan.

Zhao Bei led people to meet him, and when the Beiyang officers went ashore, the two sides saluted each other and introduced each other, as Zhao Bei expected, Wu Fengling really did not come in person, perhaps he was also afraid of the republican army, afraid that the other party would put down a Hongmen banquet and capture the king first.

Among the officers who came, Meng Enyuan and Li Houji were the leaders, who were responsible for specific liaison matters, and after the Beiyang Army landed, where to go ashore, which road to enter, and where to get on the train, they all had full authority to negotiate with Zhao Bei, and moreover, it was mainly Zhao Bei's opinion, and they had absolutely no objections, so it can be seen that the Beiyang Army was in a very urgent mood to return to the north, perhaps because Yuan Shikai was urging him to do so.

The Beiyang Army came from afar, although it was to suppress the revolution, but now the two sides have shaken hands and made peace, the necessary etiquette is indispensable, and the representatives of the gentry and businessmen are also looking forward to finding a bigger backer, and the welcoming crowd is also extraordinarily enthusiastic, Hubei Speaker Li Yuanhong took the stage to deliver a speech, greatly praising Yuan Shikai, and then there was a greeting, plus the necessary introduction, as well as a reception banquet, and when the Beiyang side and the Republican Army officially began to agree on the withdrawal route, it was already afternoon.

The Beiyang army was like an arrow, and Zhao Bei also wished that they would leave Hubei immediately, so the route of the retreat was quickly agreed. Due to the serious damage to the Liujiamiao railway station in Hankou and the accumulation of a large number of road repair equipment, it was impossible to accept a large number of troops to board the train at the same time, so they could only board the train at the north station.

According to the agreement, the Beiyang Army Brigade went ashore from the Siguandian Wharf and the China Merchants Wharf respectively, and under the leadership of the Republican Army liaison officer, it first assembled in the area of Liujiayuan on the Jinghan Railway, and then advanced north along the railway, walked nearly 100 miles and got on the train at the Hukou Railway Station and headed for Zhengzhou, Henan.

Meng Enyuan, Li Houji and others declined Zhao Bei's invitation to the Yellow Crane Tower dinner, hurried to the wharf, commanded the troops to land, and at the same time sent people to send the cannons, machine guns, radios, and field telephones promised to the Republican Army to Zhao Bei.

Stroking the six cannons, several guards whispered to Zhao Bei: "Commander-in-chief, we might as well take advantage of their half-crossing to invite an attack and kill them by surprise." If nothing else, just for those tube-retreat cannons, we shouldn't miss this opportunity. ”

This suggestion was very lethal, and Zhao Bei was even shaken.

Now China, the national treasury is empty, the military equipment is extremely backward, although the new army in the south is equipped with some new rifles, but the heavy weapons are very scarce, especially the artillery, most of the equipment in the army is the old type of artillery back from the gun, the whole artillery mount retreats, before the cannon is reopened, the cannon must be reset, and the angle must be adjusted, which seriously affects the firing speed and accuracy, on the other hand, the Beiyang New Army, worthy of the Qing court's heavy money to build the troops, all the tube retreat rapid-fire guns, fast shooting speed, high accuracy, long range, Moreover, the shells and warheads are mostly filled with fierce medicine, which is amazingly powerful, and it can be said that the reason why the Beiyang Army's combat effectiveness is strong is very related to artillery.

However, Zhao Bei thought about it carefully, and finally gave up the idea of seizing artillery, the generals of the Beiyang Army are not fools, they will not enter the territory of the Republican Army without making any preparations, once the two sides start a war, even if the Republican Army can defeat the enemy, it will suffer heavy losses, it is really not worth it for a few cannons, not to mention, now that the North and the South have entered a state of truce, peace talks are about to be held, and at this time he provokes a war, which will undoubtedly be a heavy blow to his prestige, and the prestige that he has accumulated will also be in vain," I am afraid that the hat of the "republican vanguard" will also be flattened.

Sure enough, the next performance of the Beiyang Army proved that Zhao Bei was not unfounded, and the Beiyang Army was indeed prepared.

The first to land was an infantry group of more than 4,000 people, and after going ashore, they were divided into two routes, left and right, divided into the north and south of the wharf, all of which were loaded with bullets and bayonets, and spread out in battle formations in sheds and platoons, or squatting on the ground, or occupying the roofs. After the infantry is deployed, it is the baggage soldiers, assembled in the open space of the wharf, set horses, trailers, in an orderly manner, and finally the artillery, all the cannons not only unloaded the gun jackets, but also erected the ruler, installed the gun mirrors, as long as the shells can be fired, more ruthless is that the Beiyang Army is advancing by land and water, in addition to coming by boat, there are 2,000 cavalry along the north bank of the Yangtze River, but they did not enter Hankou, and stopped at the Liujiamiao Railway Station.

"Look, this is a well-trained army, compared to the Beiyang Army, although our Republican Army is not a rabble, it is far behind." Zhao Bei stood on the roof of the stack house at the wharf of the Siguandian Palace, and praised it.

In the Xinhai Revolution, the reason why the Southern People's Army could not defeat the Beiyang Army was not without reason, the lack of heavy weapons was on the one hand, but it was undeniable that there was also a gap in the tactical literacy of the soldiers, and it was still the People's Army in 1911, and now it is 1909!

Just as the staff officers of the republican army stood behind Zhao Bei and whispered protests, several long whistles were heard on the Yangtze River, and several Qing gunboats marched westward and sailed to the Hankou River to cruise, and it was the "Chu Yu" and "Chu Tai" ships that were still confronting the republican army a few days ago.

"How did the warship climb to Wuhan? After Tianxinzhou ran aground, it finally floated, didn't the military briefing a few days ago say that it had gone downstream? How dare you wander upstream? What the hell is Wu Fengling doing? Could it be that he wanted to attack and occupy Hankow? What do scouts eat? ”

Zhao Bei's heart sank, and he hurriedly snatched the field phone that had just been connected to the communication line from the staff officer, and loudly ordered the artillery to be on alert, and at the same time asked Lan Tianwei to come to the dock to discuss. Now that there is a lack of communication equipment, the scouts are unable to transmit reconnaissance information back in time, so Zhao Bei is the only one who is troubled by this?

It's hard to start a business.