According to post-war statistics, a small number of the 30,000 Qing troops in Baonian were killed and wounded, and the 15-minute shelling only caused more than 6,000 casualties, after which more than 10,000 were captured by the revolutionary army without reaction, more than 10,000 knelt on the ground and surrendered voluntarily, and a large number fled into the mountains and forests on both sides. The Battle of Heyuan finally ended, and after this battle, there was no Qing army of more than 2,000 men in Guangdong, which provided an extremely favorable environment for the revolutionary army to occupy the entire territory of Guangdong. The more than 20,000 captives were all integrated into the engineering corps, where they were paid for their crimes by building railways, highways, and water conservancy projects, and their freedom was returned on the condition of their time and labor enthusiasm.

The large-scale fighting in Guangdong ended for the time being, but the threat of war remained, and the revolutionary government of Guangdong faced a siege on three sides on land, with the Qing army in Jiangxi in the north, the Qing army in Guangxi in the west, and the Qing army in Fujian in the east. The three brigades of 30,000 revolutionary troops had a little difficulty controlling the surrounding areas of Guangzhou, not to mention that there were heavy troops that had to be stationed in the Huizhou heavy industry base. The provisional government declared that Guangdong was temporarily under military control and that there was a large-scale conscription, but its decrees only covered the area from Guangzhou to Huizhou, and the rest of the country remained under the control of the Manchus.

"We will take the First Division of the Revolutionary Army as the basis, levy 70,000 new soldiers, and integrate them into the First Army of the Revolutionary Army." Lü Yi handed the conscription plan to Lü Liang, "The main difficulty we face is that the factory workers, construction workers and peasant households under the Ziqiang Group add up to more than 1.32 million, but they perform their own duties, especially the workers, who have been carefully cultivated by us and cannot be moved lightly. Therefore, we can only recruit new recruits from other regions, but there are very few people who respond these days, and we should be suspicious of our new team. ”

Lu Min asked: "Aren't we stipulating higher treatment, can't we attract young people?" ”

"Our factories and construction sites are recruiting people on a large scale, and the pay to work there is not much lower than in the army, and it is safer. Moreover, the Manchu government in the rest of Guangdong had begun to block roads to prevent people and goods from traveling to Guangzhou and Huizhou, which caused us considerable obstacles. ”

Lu Liang said: "The expansion of the army is imperative, and the tens of millions of people in Guangdong, and the number of people working for us and related to them will not be less than 3 million, which means that nearly half of the population maintains goodwill towards us." At present, the main obstacle is the Manchu government offices in various places, so I ordered the 3rd Brigade to be stationed in Huizhou, the 2nd Brigade to be stationed in Guangzhou, and the 1st Brigade to attack from three sides as a regiment to clear out the Manchu government offices in various places. In addition, I have to see the reaction of those squires and wealthy businessmen, and call Lu Si over. ”

The Guangdong Commercial Investigation Bureau, an intelligence agency, has been operating under Lu Si's organization for more than a year, and more than 300 professional intelligence genes and more than 2,000 ordinary people have been planted all over the world. A few days ago, the gentry businessmen who were forced to join the Zhenguo Party returned home after the uprising in Guangzhou, and the Investigation Bureau sent a large number of people to follow them.

"Chief, among the 312 people monitored by the Investigation Bureau, 235 of them have families in Guangdong areas other than Guangzhou and Huizhou, and they seem to have discussed it, and they all wait and see what happens, and they have not colluded with the local Manchu government to betray the Zhenguo Party." Lu Si said. This is in Lu Liang's expectation, joining the Zhenguo Party is equivalent to accepting the nomination, and they will not give up the huge profits of the factory easily, the so-called grasshopper on a rope, this is the case. Moreover, seeing the success of the Lüliang uprising, nearly half of the people had already come to take the initiative to contact and express their willingness to support Lüliang's revolutionary cause. With a large number of household guards and tenants in their hands, plus small and medium-sized families attached to these big families, it can be said that they control nearly half of the population of Guangdong, and this conscription operation must be coordinated by them.

"Send them a message that the interim government will form an interim parliament, and those who support us will have the right to join the parliament first. The Provisional Government has a large number of vacancies for middle and lower-level officials, and it also gives priority to supporting our family children, and it is up to them whether they can seize the opportunity, and when the system is perfect, there will be fewer opportunities, and they will make a wise choice. ”

As soon as this move came out, it caused a violent shock among those people, and dozens of families came to express their surrender that day. The acquisition of political status and political rights was what these people dreamed of, and now they really felt the benefits of the revolution. As the 1st Brigade attacked the local Manchu authorities everywhere, the area controlled by the Provisional Government grew larger and larger, and the conscription process finally became smooth.

On May 20, 1901, Lu Liang and Lu Ze, the foreign minister of the provisional government, greeted a group of special guests at the prime minister's office, the former Liangguang Governor's Palace. If the Provisional Government maintains goodwill towards the West, they will not mind changing their minds and supporting the Provisional Government. This is not impossible, the British had secretly contacted Li Hongzhang before, trying to persuade him to become independent in the southeast, but because of Li Hongzhang's scruples, the matter was not negotiated.

In a secret reception room, Ryder sits on a chair with black tea, his head slightly raised, his eyes narrowed slightly, trying to create a condescending posture. The hundred-year-old overlord has made the diplomats of the empire on which the sun never sets develop a temperament that is empty-eyed, especially in front of the barbaric and backward Qing people, and the superiority in the face of the inferior nations is undoubtedly revealed. The current Prime Minister of the Provisional Government was nothing more than a landowner, and although he owned some factories of considerable size, he could not compare with the old aristocracy of the British Empire.

Lu Liang endured the anger in his heart, looked at Ryder expressionlessly, and greeted him and his family in all the vicious language he knew in his heart.

"Lord Ryder, I wonder what happened to me this time?" Lu Liang asked in pure Chinese, and Lu Ze next to him translated for himself, it was not that he could not speak English, he could even speak a fluent London accent, but he was not proud of it. A Chinese can speak English means that the world is occupied by the English-speaking West, what is there to be proud of?

"Your Excellency, the interests of the British Empire in Canton must not be damaged in the slightest, otherwise your provisional government and revolutionary activities will be devastated!" Ryder is too lazy to talk about it, the so-called diplomacy is backed by strength, and in the face of a small revolutionary government, it is really not worth beating around the bush, and it is not the object of reciprocal negotiations at all. Direct intimidation is more effective than anything else, and this is a diplomatic advantage brought about by the crushing power of the empire over the past century.

"Of course, the Provisional Government had the overthrow of the Manchu government and the development of the capitalist economy as its primary task, and was a responsible and responsible government that was willing to live amicably with all countries. As a sign of goodwill, we will order thirty large freighters from Britain as a testimony to the friendship between the Provisional Government and Great Britain. Lu Ze saw that Lu Liang's face was pale, and hurriedly took over the conversation and said, Ryder was really happy when he heard it, his family has a large shipyard in Portsmouth, and thirty freighters will be a business of millions of pounds, and in the United Kingdom, where the shipbuilding industry is fiercely competitive, his family can certainly benefit a lot from it.

Ordering ships from the UK was a desperate move, and the Huizhou shipyard expanded rapidly, but shipbuilders could not be trained in a day or two. At present, there is a destroyer and three 5,000-ton cargo ships under construction on the shipyard's slipway, which has already made 10,000 shipbuilders scramble, and if they want to achieve leapfrog growth, they have to rely on external forces. In addition to the 30 freighters, Lü Liang will also order railroad tracks from the United States and artillery from Germany to make up for the lack of production capacity of steel plants and military factories caused by large-scale infrastructure construction and military expansion.

The promises and orders of the Provisional Government put aside the worries of the Great Powers for the time being, and the fact that they had no offences with the foreigners made them think that the Provisional Government was a good partner, and perhaps they could replace the Qing government. What they ignore is that the goods of the Cantonese powers are constantly unsalable, and they are severely squeezed by the local factories. William, the manager of Jardine Matheson in Guangdong, and the manager of the central bank in Guangzhou have responded to this situation, but Guangdong's market share is very small. Guangzhou originally existed as the most important trading port of the great powers in China, and the British brought cotton cloth from the mainland, to India in exchange for **, and then to China in exchange for porcelain, tea, etc., and Guangzhou was the most important port. Later, the rise of Hong Kong and Shanghai replaced Guangzhou, and as a result, Guangzhou's status in the territory of the great powers became less and less.