The sun is high, and there is a slaughter in Anqing City.

Wearing gowns and white cloths, the handymen of Shantang drove the mule cart and slowly advanced on the street with expressionless faces, picking up the corpses along the way one by one, neatly stacking them on the mule cart, after a night of wind blowing, these corpses had already frozen stiff, and appeared in front of people's eyes in a strange posture, with broken limbs and broken arms, and bursting brains, which made people unbearable to see.

Along with these miscellaneous servants of the good hall, the patrol police and officials in the city also carried out the aftermath of the incident, and they carried out the notices of the revolutionary military government to the people in hastily printed, posted them along the streets, and summoned the chiefs and chiefs of each street to relay to them the orders of the Anqing City Defense Headquarters, ordering them to pacify the streets and alleys, and organizing Ding Zhuang to patrol the streets to find out the spies and deter the scoundrels.

There was a faint sound of artillery in the west of the city, that is, the revolutionary army's western expeditionary troops were still fighting, but the information inside and outside the city was cut off, but they didn't know what the battle situation was.

There was also a rumbling cannon sound in the south of the city, that is, the artillery of the revolutionary army in the city was engaged in an artillery battle with the Qing gunboats on the Yangtze River, and black smoke rose from time to time in the south of the city, which was the shells that fell into the city, and the residents in the south of the city did not dare to stay at home, and went to the north of the city to avoid the artillery fire.

The people, who had been trembling all night in terror, secretly opened the door and looked out into the street through the crack in the door, and the street was full of refugees. After seeing the patrolmen carrying foreign knives walking by, the people breathed a sigh of relief, since even the patrolmen and officials had already taken to the streets, then, in other words, order had been restored in the city, and in any case, they could finally go out to buy rice and noodles.

Although there are still some corpses on the street that have not been cleaned up, but the people can't take care of much, the heads of the families have carried rice bags out of the door, facing the cold wind, walking briskly along the corner of the street with their heads down, walking towards the nearest rice shop, praying in their hearts that the rice shop will not close, and the price will not rise, after all, the chaos in this city does not know when it will stop, and if you can go out less, you can go out less, buy it at a time to eat a month's rice flour, and then the whole family can lock themselves in the house.

When people rushed to the rice shop in the sound of cannons, they were surprised to find that the door of the rice shop was not only wide open, but also two soldiers with foreign guns stood at the door, and a notice with the same content was posted on the most conspicuous shop:

"The order of the revolutionary military government of the Chinese Liberation Army! The revolution began, and everything was new. I hope that the military and the people of the city will work together to build a republic! In order to reassure the people, from today onwards, all rice shops in the city shall not close their doors and strike the market, and the face price of rice shall not be higher than the price of the previous day, and this notice shall not be torn up at will. Violation of this decree will be regarded as hostile to the revolution! Anyone who is hostile to our revolutionary army is a Manchu lackey, and his property is the property of the enemy, not protected by the revolutionary military government! This order will come into force immediately! Commander of Anqing City Defense, Duan. ”

Although this notice was issued by Duan Zhixuan, the commander of the city defense, it was actually Zhao Bei's opinion, considering that Anqing had just been recovered, and stabilizing the people's hearts was the top priority, so Duan Zhixuan readily accepted Zhao Bei's opinion and issued this notice, and at the same time promised to supply official grain to the grain merchants in the city at a parity price.

The people stood in front of the notice and discussed, hesitating, anxious, helpless, and many emotions were intertwined, making them a little at a loss, and some lonely and unheard people even just knew that the original Anqing City had changed its owner, and the original "Qing Governor" had become what kind of "city defense commander", and what was the "revolution"? It's even more confusing. People only know a little about the fact that last year, after the mutiny in the patrol police academy was suppressed, it is said that Xu Zhuangshi, who planned the "rebellion", never forgot the word "revolution" before he was executed.

"I made a fuss last year, and now I'm going to make trouble again. In my opinion, the way of the world is about to change. ”

A man who looked old sighed with his hands folded, and everyone came back to their senses, regardless of whether it was the "Qing Governor" or the "City Defense Commander", as long as the people had something to eat, it was enough, so they rushed into the shop, and in the shouts of the shopkeeper and the guys, they rushed to buy rice and white noodles.

"Neighbors, neighbors, work! Don't squeeze, don't grab! There is no shortage of rice and white flour, and now this Commander Duan who is sitting in the city has personally said that the official warehouses in the city are not sealed, and when they go to buy rice, they will sell it to us. You can buy it, you can buy it! Don't squeeze! A small shop can't fit so many people. The shopkeeper shouted hoarsely, but at this time, who would listen to him?

Just when the rice grabbers and rice sellers were in a mess, Zhao Bei, the initiator of all this, was sitting in front of the stage, watching the clerk's writing seriously, while raising his head from time to time and loudly scolding those at the back of the line who were not used to queuing.

He's recruiting and expanding his team here.

Due to the smooth attack of the Western Expeditionary Army outside Anqing, and the Qing army camp on the south bank of the Yangtze River was not moved, and the city defense affairs of Anqing were handed over to Duan Zhixuan to deal with the whole power, so Zhao Bei seemed to be a little idle, in addition to arranging manpower to assist in patrolling the streets, pressing the ground, and further restoring the normal order of life in the city, Zhao Bei's most concerned thing was the expansion and rectification of military strength.

Although he has relinquished the post of left wing commander, but his troops have not all been handed over, and now there are more than 200 people under his direct command, all of whom are new officers and soldiers who have rushed to the governor's yamen with him, and he will take these people away and go to Taihu County to contact the new army in Hubei and Jiangsu, in addition, he also intends to continue to expand his strength, after all, strength is the first in troubled times, and if he does not expand the team to 500 people, then the ordnance he picked up will not be useful.

"Name? Where is your hometown? ”

Zhao Bei asked a burly young man standing in front of the point general's platform, this person was also like everyone else, he came to join the army to eat, the slight difference was that this person was dressed in linen and filial piety, and there were tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Big bull. Native. The young man raised his head, looked at Zhao Bei and said.

"What's your last name?"

"Zhu."

"Zhu Daniu. Why become a soldier? Zhao Bei looked at the clerk and wrote down his name and place of origin.

"Revenge!" The young man's answer was also somewhat different.

"Oh?" Zhao Bei looked at the audience, looked at it carefully, and saw that the young man had an angry face, and his clenched fists were still trembling.

"To whom do you take revenge?"

"Find the court dog official for revenge!" The young man spread his hand and wiped the corners of his eyes. "The imperial dog official burned my family's boat and burned my father and mother to death, I want to kill the dog official to avenge them!"

"You're a boatman?" Seeing that the young man nodded, Zhao Bei motioned to the clerk to write down this person's profession, and specially told him that he must write that this person had a blood feud with the Manchu court. Among his newly recruited subordinates, many of them were born as such shipwrights, because the Qing army burned their ships when they retreated, cutting off their way of life, so many people came to join the army with hatred, for such people, Zhao Bei is especially welcome, in his opinion, only desperate people will insist on going with him, even if thorns are everywhere, they are also indomitable.

"As far as you know, are there any hidden ships around here?" Zhao Bei asked again.

Zhu Daniu thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I only hid in the upstream harbor fork with some small boats that escaped fish donations. A few days ago, the imperial court dog official Qiu Cao New Army also forcibly requisitioned a lot of civilian boats, but now they are still parked in the area of the Luoma River. ”

"A boat? A boat will do the same. Can you get me a dozen of these boats? I'm going to get it by tonight. ”

"Yes! I know the boat bosses. Zhu Daniu nodded.

Zhao Bei pointed his hand to the side and said, "Go there and measure your height, and I will make you a military uniform in the future." measured the height, and then led the army's salary, four taels or five dollars of official silver. ”

"Master Xie." Zhu Daniu thanked him and walked to the side of the general's platform, and his own officer measured his height.

Now that the revolutionary army has not enough uniforms, Zhao Bei has decided to make some military uniforms as soon as possible and issue them to his descendants, but it is too late to do this yet.

Not only are the military uniforms insufficient, but the weapons of the revolutionary army are also very scarce, Xiong Chengji took away most of the guns and cannons during the expedition, and now there are less than 2,000 new rifles left in the city, in addition to thousands of old-fashioned front-loading guns in stock, only six cannons, two mountain guns, and four field guns, operated by an artillery team, erected on the roofs of several foreign merchant houses in the south of the city, specifically to suppress the firepower of the Qing gunboats on the Yangtze River, fortunately, the two gunboats are small boats, and the number of naval guns on the ships is too small to form suppressive firepower. Moreover, it was not clear where the artillery positions of the revolutionary army were, otherwise, it would have been impossible to frighten the other side with only those six infantry artillery.

It seems that the Qing ship pipe belt is still hesitating, otherwise, the shells would have flown to the north of the city a long time ago, and they would not have exploded only in the south of the city, Anqing is not a big city, and the large-caliber naval guns on the gunboats are enough to cover the whole city.

In order to arm himself as soon as possible, Zhao Bei suggested that Duan Zhixuan, the commander of the city defense, gather the blacksmiths of the whole city and order them to make all their efforts to build spears and broadswords, in order to make up enough spear shafts, the whole city's large and small carpenter shops have been searched, and even the wax spear rods used by the martial artists in the troupe have been used to make up the numbers―――――― people armed with cold weapons are always more effective than those with bare hands.

In addition to building cold weapons, Duan Zhixuan also ordered to collect the whole city's fire, and the guys and masters in the firecracker shop also gathered to make earthen bombs with firecracker fire yao and iron cans, after last night's fierce battle, the revolutionary army from the commander-in-chief to the gang leader army all had a strong interest in this powerful melee weapon, considering that the black fire yao explosion was not strong, Zhao Bei also suggested that iron nails be installed in the iron cans to enhance the lethality, this suggestion, Duan Zhixuan happily accepted, after all, Zhao Bei" One bomb determines the world", and the bomb he designed can be trusted by Duan Zhixuan.

Zhu Daniu finished measuring his height and walked up to the point of general to receive his salary.

Zhao Bei pointed to the black and thick braid on the back of Zhu Daniu's head and said, "Zhu Daniu, now that we have made a revolution, shouldn't your Manchu pig's tail also be cut?" ”

Zhu Daniu looked at the back of Zhao Bei's bare head, then looked at the clerk's long flowing hair, raised his hand and touched his braids, and asked hesitantly: "Do you have to cut your braids to be a soldier for the military master?" ”

"Cut it or not, it's up to you! But in the front, if you cut your braids, you are a regular army, and in addition to the military salary of four taels or five cents per month, there is another half of the 'head shaving money'. If you don't cut your braids, you can only join the 'Revolutionary Guards', and you only get two taels of silver a month, but you don't have money to shave your head, and you don't even have to get a military salary when military spending is tight. It's up to you to do it yourself. ”

Zhao Bei walked up to Zhu Daniu and patted the other party on the shoulder, only then did he realize that the other party didn't seem to be wearing a cotton jacket, so he took off the tweed coat that he copied from the yamen and put it on for this slightly trembling young man.

The so-called "regular army" and "revolutionary guards" are just Zhao Bei's own establishment, which has not yet been reported to Xiong Chengji's metropolitan governor for approval, but according to Xiong Chengji's meaning, after the revolution, he will order the military and civilians in the city to immediately cut their braids and grow their hair, but they are opposed by the majority of the people in the headquarters, so they will give up, after all, now that they have just recovered, the people in the city are unstable, and if they act earnestly to provoke a civil uprising, it is not what the revolutionaries want to see, not only the braids of the people cannot be cut immediately, but the braids of the revolutionary soldiers must also be considered in the long run. However, since it has been revolutionary, then this braid is hung on the back of the head of the revolutionary army, after all, it is inappropriate, so Zhao Bei took matters into his own hands, and used the method of "shaving money" to attract revolutionary soldiers to cut their braids voluntarily, as for those who are unwilling to cut their braids, or those who are at both ends of the first rat, Zhao Bei is not reluctant, after all, he does not want to provoke a mutiny―――――― such a mutiny occurred during the "Xinhai Revolution", however, those who refuse to cut their braids cannot be incorporated into his descendants.

The so-called "lineage" is to be loyal to oneself, if you don't even want to get closer to yourself with a hairstyle, but how can you be called a lineage? Of course, considering that this trip was to contact and instigate the new army in Hubei and Jiangsu to respond to the uprising, this braid might come in handy, and it seems that it is not appropriate to cut them all.

"Scissors! I cut it! Zhu Daniu touched his tweed coat, and his heart was hot.

"Good. You are a true revolutionary. Revolution requires giving up everything! Zhao Bei said with a smile. Using this way of cutting braids, he has expanded his descendant troops to nearly 200 people, almost the size of two teams, for the descendant troops, he naturally will not be stingy, the best and latest rifles captured are equipped with these officers and soldiers without braids, and the only machine gun is also controlled by them.

"Now, go and find me a ship at once, and make sure you find a ship long enough to carry five hundred men before dark. This is my warrant, take it out of town. Zhao Bei assigned a task to Zhu Daniu.

Zhu Daniu retreated, but refused to take away the tweed coat, Zhao Bei had to let him, just turned around, and saw Wu Zhenhan hurrying with two soldiers and several servants from a distance, due to the needs of the task, Wu Zhenhan did not cut the braid for the time being, but the braid was coiled up and stuffed in the military cap, the braid of the new officers and soldiers was generally shorter, and it could not be seen in the military cap.

Due to the new policy at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the establishment of patrol police, and the elimination of government officials, these officials were smashed their jobs, and they were holding their breath in their hearts. Ordered them to help maintain order in the city.

"How?" Zhao Bei hurriedly greeted him and asked.

"Fifty carts have been collected." Wu Zhenhan stood up and saluted. Originally, Xiong Chengji planned to transfer him to his command, but he politely refused, only willing to follow Zhao Bei, and Zhao Bei also reciprocated by promoting him to be his deputy.

"Fifty?" Zhao Bei frowned. According to his plan, when going to instigate the new army troops in Hubei and Jiangsu, he must bring at least 500 troops, considering the heavy ammunition carried by the army, the means of transport are indispensable, from Anqing to Taihu County, the most convenient is to take the waterway, a small river called "Luoma River" flows into the Yangtze River not far west of Anqing City, although the river is not big, but it can be passed by small boats, in fact, the baggage troops of the Qing army participating in the autumn exercise are from that river to Taihu County.

However, considering that the Qing army burned the ships, Zhao Bei had to make two preparations, if he could not collect enough ships, then he could only go to Taihu County by land, along a simple road, which required enough vehicles, so he ordered Wu Zhenhan to lead the officials to collect vehicles from the big families in the city.

But fifty carriages is too little, and now most of China's carriages are two-wheeled vehicles, and the carrying capacity is very small, which cannot meet the transportation of ten days of supplies for a force of 500 people. Taihu County is about two hundred miles away from Anqing City in a straight line, and even at the speed of a rapid march, it will take at least a day or two, and considering that it may not be possible to instigate the autumn exercise troops to respond to the uprising, then it is necessary to prepare enough food and ammunition on the way to escape, of course, at that time, you can't run to Anqing again.

"Those big families put their noses on their noses and faces, and they don't take the revolutionary army seriously. If you want me to say, just kill a hundred people! A servant pouted.

Zhao Bei glanced at the man and said, "Revolution is to unite the majority and isolate a very small minority. Now that the revolution has just achieved its initial victory, both officials and gentry are waiting and watching, and the more they are at such times, the more cautious they must be. If you can't mobilize them, pay to buy vehicles from them! I don't believe it, there is a huge city of Anqing, and there are not even a hundred carts. ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard a person behind me shouting: "Sir, the boat is enough, the boat is enough!" ”

Zhao Bei turned his head to look and saw that the person who shouted was Zhu Daniu, who had just left, and according to the time, he probably hadn't even stepped out of the city gate at this time.

When Zhu Daniu ran to his side, Zhao Bei hurriedly asked, "You didn't go out of the city, why did you get enough boats?" ”

Zhu Daniu gasped and said, "As soon as the villain arrived at the gate of the city, he saw someone outside the city shouting to enter the city, but the soldiers guarding the city did not let them enter the city. I ran to the outside of the city to ask, only to know that their boat was snatched by the imperial court dog officials last night, and crossed to the south bank, this morning, while the dog officials slept soundly, these boatmen quietly sailed the boat upstream, went around to avoid the gunboats, and hid in the grass on the north bank, they wanted to go back to the city to find their families, but they couldn't enter the city, the villain asked clearly, the big and small boats were no less than twenty in total. ”

"You're right? Are there really twenty boats? Zhao Beiyi grabbed Zhu Daniu's shoulder.

"That's right. Wrong, you cut off my head. Zhu Daniu raised his hand and wiped it on his neck. I told the fellows that if they were willing to get out of the boat, I would let them into the city. The boats were parked near the mouth of the Muma River and were well hidden. ”

"Good, good! You've done a good job. Not only will I not cut off your head, but I will reward you for being an official. Zhao Bei said with a smile and glanced at Wu Zhenhan beside him. Baishan, you take people to Beicheng, find those boats first, and then let those boatmen go into the city to reunite with their families, if you are willing to join the rebels, accept them, if you don't want to, don't force them, anyway, we have recruited a lot of boatmen. By the way, don't forget to ask them about the movements of the Qing army on the south bank. ”

"So, when are we leaving?" Wu Zhenhan asked hurriedly. Regarding Zhao Bei's task, he, as a deputy, is still very clear.

"Let's go as soon as possible! Accomplishing the task at an early date will be beneficial to the revolution and to you and me. You go to the ship, and I'll arrange the transshipment and loading of the baggage. In any case, we must not give up this opportunity, and whether this revolution can succeed or not, perhaps, depends on us. Zhao Bei said meaningfully, turning his head to look at the west of the city.

There is black smoke billowing and cannons rumbling, and the Qing army entrenched in the west of the city is still resisting stubbornly, but the decline has appeared, if everything goes well, there is no need to wait until dark, the passage to the west can be opened, and Zhao Bei can also set off.

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