Zhao Bei led the staff officers to walk around the deck of the warship, ran to the cabin, touched the east and looked west, as a pseudo-military fan, it was also a pleasure to be able to have close contact with the warships of this era.

But excitement is excitement, and worry is also there. The navy is a technical service, unlike the army, the hair rifle is a soldier, the navy is also an aristocratic service, not a poor country can afford to raise, the Qing court dug everywhere, and finally raised a Beiyang fleet, but the later war showed that the navy can not buy warships to dominate the sea, if there is no ability to carry out continuous technological updates to the navy, no matter how huge the navy will become a live target for the enemy fleet.

To put it simply: it takes a lot of money to raise the navy, and now the Republican Army doesn't have that much silver.

Just when Zhao Bei was worried about the navy's expenses on the "Haichen," a gunboat flying the dragon flag was cruising slowly downstream less than five miles away from him.

Admiral Sa Zhenbing stood on the bridge of the ship, holding a telescope and looking at the "Haichen" upstream, his melancholy expression making him look much older.

"If the flagship is changed to the 'Haichen' in time, maybe the 'Haichen' will not leave me." Sa Zhenbing was still annoyed by his sluggishness.

After all, it is one of the few capital ships in the Chinese fleet, after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court rebuilt the navy, and finally accumulated five large ships, all of which start with the word "sea", three years ago the "Haitian" ship has been lost, and now the "Haichen" ship has said goodbye, how can this not make Sathidu worried?

"Haichen" was originally Sa Zhenbing's ship, and only after running aground did the flagship be changed to a "Chu" gunboat, after the "Haichen" floated, Sa Zhenbing was busy dealing with Yuan Shikai, and failed to return to the "Haichen" seat, and as a result, the group of revolutionaries was cheaper.

Originally, after the downstream Qiligou learned the news that the "Haichen" had hoisted the white flag, some staff officers under his command suggested shelling the "Haichen" and coercing it to turn the rudder and return home, but this suggestion was rejected by Sa Zhenbing. Gunboats bombarding cruisers, that's self-deprecation, what's more, the essence of the Chinese Navy is just that, it can't be lost anymore, and if it loses again, China really won't have a navy.

Sa Zhenbing recalled what he saw in Xiamen two months ago, when the US "Great White Fleet" traveled around the world and passed through Xiamen, and Sa Zhenbing was ordered to lead a ship to meet him. The displacement of any American battleship exceeds the total displacement of China's main fleet, and the gap in national strength is so shocking that even if the Beiyang Fleet is still there, I am afraid it will be a sigh of hope.

Although the "Haichen" and other ships are so small compared with the battleships, after all, this is all the maritime forces that China can rely on, and the Italian fleet came to forcibly lease Sanmen Bay, if it were not for these Chinese cruisers waiting for battle, I am afraid that China would have drawn another piece of a country within a country on its territory.

Sa Zhenbing was full of sorrow, put down the binoculars, sighed, and asked the adjutant beside him: "'Haichen' hasn't returned the signal yet?" ”

The adjutant shook his head and said, "No return signal." It was already dark, and they might not be able to see the flag, and there was no light signal to respond. ”

Of course, Sa Zhenbing did not know that the backbone of the uprising on the "Haichen" was not a naval officer and sailor, but a group of party members, and he now knew nothing about the situation on the ship.

Sighing heavily, Sa Zhenbing ordered: "Call the signal again, tell them, 'Wait for yourself', if you change your mind, I will still wait for them in Qiligou, and I will never embarrass them." ”

In vain, the gunboat waved another set of flags, but there was still no reply, so it had to circle the river, stretch its mournful whistle, and sail downstream in the twilight.

……

It was late at night, and the street lamps in the British Concession in Hankow were lit up as usual, although it was a time of war, but there was no trace of war in this country within a country, but there were many more pedestrians on the streets, most of them were war refugees, although the war in Wuhan was over, but the repatriation of these refugees required time and patience.

Wu Luzhen pushed open the window, looked at the patrols patrolling the street, took out a paper cigarette from the cigarette can and stuffed it into her mouth, but before the fire was lit, the door behind her rang.

Before he could answer, the door had been pushed open from the outside, and a middle-aged man walked into the guest room and asked, "Shouqing, where are you going?" ”

Wu Luzhen smiled faintly and said, "Chenchen, how do you know that I am leaving?" ”

The man was stunned and said, "Do you really want to leave?" Just now I saw Bai Lang packing for you, and when I asked, he said what you ordered, but he didn't tell me where you planned to go. ”

Wu Luzhen said: "I guess you have also heard about the 'Haichen'? ”

"Humph! Now the foreigners in the entire concession have come to see the warships, can I not know? These rebellious ministers ate as the court's servants, but they were in cahoots with the Revolutionary Party. ”

"You and I know each other, I won't lie to you, I'm going to join the Republican Army." Wu Luzhen said lightly.

"What? You...... Are you going to rebel too? The middle-aged man was shocked.

"Chenchen, you are a red ribbon banner person, naturally you have the same heart as the court, I am a Han Chinese, and I also have a heart to restore the Han Dynasty, now that the general trend of the revolution is in front of me, I will not miss it. In fact, when I was in Japan, I was determined to be revolutionary, and I was also a member of the League, as early as the year of Gengzi, I joined the Xingzhong Society and participated in the Self-Reliance Army. ”

"What? Are you a member of the Confederate? You...... You've made me so miserable! Thanks to me, I still want to promote you. The middle-aged man was shocked and angry, and his face turned iron-blue.

This person is none other than the Qing court's appointed "President of the First Army to Fight Thieves" Liangbi, he is the banner man of Manchuria with the yellow flag, the red belt Jueluo, the word Chenchen, he studied at the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School in his early years, and is one of the few military talents among the banner people. As for that Wu Luzhen, he is an alumnus of Liangbi's Japanese Non-commissioned Officer School, but it is the first session, and Liangbi is the second session, Wu Luzhen is Liangbi's senior, and the two are also close friends.

Liangbi was ordered to lead the army to conquer the republican army, considering that the fourth and fifth towns of Beiyang under his command were Yuan Shikai's descendants, he was afraid that he would not be able to control the troops, so he adopted the method of "using Han to control Han", and transferred a large number of Han officers from the War Department and Beiyang Military Academy to the First Army, trying to replace the original Beiyang New Army generals with them. Unexpectedly, when he went to Huangzhou, Yuan Shikai rebelled, and the fourth and fifth towns in the first army sequence of the Qing army immediately responded to the order of the old master, coerced the patrol battalion, and did not advance.

Seeing that it was a mutiny, Liangbi's order could not be carried out, so he had no choice but to leave the barracks overnight with a few cronies, take a British merchant ship to Hankow, and hide in the British concession.

Liangbi originally planned to hide in the concession for a few days, and then take the British gunboat to Pukou, if he could not master the Jiangfang Army, then he would turn back to Beijing, but after staying for a few days, the news came that the fifth town of Beiyang had been ordered to go east to crusade against Chang Gung, the governor of Liangjiang, and then the fourth town of Beiyang also took advantage of Hankou to go north for reinforcements, and the British consul also refused to send another gunboat to escort Liangbi. But he was surprised to learn the news that Wu Luzhen was about to leave the concession from Wu Luzhen's mouth, so he hurried to inquire.

"Chen, you treat me with sincerity, I know this." Wu Luzhen sighed. "But that's a private friendship, not a substitute for justice."

"Righteousness? What is 'righteousness'? Liangbi asked with a sneer.

"Justice is the creation of a republic and the destruction of the monarchy." Wu Luzhen's words changed. "Do you know who the chief of staff of the Republican Army is? It is Lan Tianwei, the second batch of international students at the Non-commissioned Officer School, and I am your classmate, and I also worked with him when I was teaching at the Hubei Jiangben School. It wasn't until I read the newspaper the day before yesterday that I realized that Lan Tianwei was also a member of the League, and how many secret revolutionaries like me and Lan Tianwei were among the officers studying in Japan? You don't know, I don't know, but one thing is very clear, that is, the Qing court has run out of energy, the revolutionary party in the south has revolted, Yuan Shikai in the north has rebelled, and the people of the world are looking to the wind and shadows. Minister, listen to my advice, there is no need to bury this dynasty, conforming to the general trend of history is the right way, you are the banner man, the republican army may not be willing to accept it, otherwise, I will definitely pull you with me when I leave. ”

"I was born a person of the Qing Dynasty, and I am a ghost of the Qing Dynasty when I die, and I will never be with the rebels!" Liangbi smashed his fist on the wall, glanced at Wu Luzhen, turned around, waved his hand, and said, "Everyone has their own ambitions, since you have made up your mind, I won't force you." You take your Yangguan Road, I cross my single-plank bridge, we will meet again in the future, we will be enemies, you are so self-sufficient! ”

After speaking, he strode out of the room, and his roar came from the corridor: "I don't believe it, our banner people in the world for more than 200 years will give it up so easily!" ”

"If you don't let it, you have to let it." Wu Luzhen leaned against the window, muttered a sentence to herself, and then lit the paper cigarette.

A man wearing a Beiyang military uniform walked into the room with a suitcase and said, "My lord, shall we leave here?" There are also a few staff officers who also want to go with the adults, do you want to bring them with you? ”

"Bring it on. Bai Lang, give me that letter, now that Liangbi knows where I'm going, there's no need to leave him any more letters. Wu Luzhen snorted, walked to the door, turned on the light switch, and left the room with Ma Ben.