The news of the uprising of the Qing cruiser "Haichen" soon spread throughout the three towns of Wuhan, and the people of the whole city helped the old and the young to run to the riverside to watch the excitement, and there had never been such a large warship on the Wuhan River before, not to mention that it was China's own warship, not only the people were surprised that this kind of large warship could sail to Wuchang during the dry period, but also the gunboat officers of the great powers also felt a little incredible, if it ran aground on the river, it would cause more or less damage to the bottom of the ship and the keel.

In fact, the "Haichen" has been stranded once in Tianxinzhou, and it was refloated after dismantling several machines and auxiliary anchors and removing nearly half of the coal, coupled with the rain in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in the past few days, the water level of the Yangtze River has increased slightly, so it was able to sail to the Wuhan River, but it did not dare to dock, and could only anchor in the center of the river.

What is surprising is that the person who led the uprising of the main ship of the Qing Dynasty naval fleet was not a senior officer on the ship, but a group of Hunan Hui party, the leader is called Gong Chuntai, a member of the elder society, and is the leader of the Hunan Liulong Mountain Hongjiang Association.

But then again, if Gong Longtou led the uprising of the Hui Party, it would be reasonable, but with his big brother who is the leader of the Hui Party, he can't even get on the warship on weekdays, but how did he instigate the uprising of this warship?

It turns out that when Gong Longtou instigated the warship uprising, he had two identities, the first identity was given to him by Zhao Bei, called "Yangtze River Patrol Envoy", and the second identity was actually a cook, a Hunan cook.

Originally, Gong Chuntai was ordered by Zhao Bei's military to instigate the uprising of the Qing gunboats along the Yangtze River, he planned to use the relationship between the party to turn the gunboats of the "Chu" or "Jiang" brand into turn, and heard that the gunboats were cruising on the Anqing River, so he rushed to Anqing with his disciples, but he pounced, the Qing gunboats at that time had withdrawn to the Gaochang Temple Wharf in Shanghai, one to replenish supplies and ammunition, and the other to meet Sa Zhenbing who had just gone south from Beiyang, Gong Chuntai got the news and rushed to Shanghai non-stop, but still pounced. By the time they arrived at Gaochang Temple, Sa Zhenbing had already led the fleet to set sail again and attack Jiujiang.

Gong Chuntai was extremely annoyed, and planned to immediately follow the fleet again, but before he could set off, a large warship with a dragon flag sailed to Gaochang Temple, which was the cruiser "Haichen" that had just been transferred to the south by the Qing court.

Looking at the size of the warship, Gong Chuntai slapped his thigh, yes, that's it!

However, if you want to get your hands on this big warship, you must first find a way to get on the warship, and Gong Chuntai has taken great pains to get on the warship.

As a declining feudal dynasty, the Qing Dynasty showed signs of inevitable demise everywhere, and I don't know when an informal practice began to prevail in the Qing Dynasty's naval fleet, that is, some of the work on the warship was contracted to private individuals, and the coolies did the work for them, such as loading and unloading coal, such as carrying grain and vegetables, and even some people who were not soldiers lived on the warship all year round, serving the soldiers on the ship, or washing their clothes, shaving their heads, or guarding the machinery and carrying coal for them, As for the officers or soldiers who were supposed to do these things, they could spare time to do business, and some bold people even handed over their military uniforms to these people stationed on the ship, and they should answer the roll call and pay him a little when they were paid, and as for the senior officers on the ship, they also turned a blind eye to this, anyway, there was filial piety to send them up, and these people were small in number, and they couldn't drive ships, and they were afraid that they would not be able to rob their own ships?

For example, the "Kaiji" ship sank in Xiaguan in Nanjing due to an explosion at the ammunition depot, and it is said that it was because the people who were guarding the warehouse on behalf of the sailors smoked dry tobacco; for example, the "Haitian" ship, one of the main forces of the navy in the late Qing Dynasty, ran aground on the reef and finally had to be abandoned, and the reason for this is said to be because the navigators reported the wrong latitude, and the "navigators" were a civilians stationed on the ship who had changed into military uniforms, otherwise it is not enough to explain why the ship was supposed to go to Jiangyin, but finally ran to the Zhoushan Islands. Of course, the Navy Yamen denied all these rumors, and others had no way of judging whether they were true or false, but one thing was clear, that is, these people stationed on the ship did exist.

Gong Chuntai took advantage of this convenient condition to board the "Haichen" ship; as the leading brother of the Hunan Hui Party, he had many disciples, not only Hunanese, but also people from other provinces, and his friends were all over the world, and Hongmen and the Qinggang had connections; Gong Longtou took the road of Hongmen in the French Concession in Shanghai, went around a few circles, and got on the line with a Shandong engineer on the "Haichen" ship, and bowed to him, and it was by virtue of this relationship that he took a few disciples to the "Haichen" ship and became a cook. I only know that he took advantage of the opportunity of the "Haichen" running aground in Tianxinzhou to get in touch with the Hunan Hui Party, and Sa Zhenbing and others were anxious to float the "Haichen" as soon as possible, so they recruited coolies, got on the ship to move coal, and the coal bunker was half emptied, and dozens of disciples of Gong Longtou slipped into the coal bunker and hid, relying on Gong Chuntai and others to deliver water and food every day, and hid in the coal bunker for several days, until today Gong Chuntai sent a signal, and everyone rushed out to occupy the ammunition depot and gun depot in one fell swoop under the strategy of more than a dozen Shandong sailors. He put all the Fujian officers and soldiers in the cabin, and coerced the pipe belt to continue, and coerced the captain of the flag man to drive the warship to Hankow, erect a white flag, and declare an uprising.

The navy of the Qing Dynasty has always been the forbidden body of the Fujian system, since the era of the Beiyang Naval Division, the navy is the world of the Fujian people, it is difficult for people from other provinces to intervene, when the Beiyang Naval Division was wiped out, the Qing court took advantage of the opportunity to reorganize the navy to insert some officers and soldiers from Shandong, but the Fujian power is deep-rooted, the Lu system is still squeezed out, and the most tiring work is done on the warship, and it is the smallest officer, and the two factions are like fire and water. This is a crucial point, and if it were not for this, it is unlikely that Gong Chuntai's uprising would have succeeded so easily, and in fact, all the officers and men of the warships who took the initiative to respond to the uprising were from Shandong.

As one of the main forces of the Qing Dynasty Navy, the combat effectiveness of the "Haichen" is indeed not weak, this is a protective cruiser, built in Germany, completed in 1898, with a full load displacement of 2,900 tons, a draft of four meters in the bow and a draft of five meters in the stern, barely able to sail in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with a maximum speed of 19 knots, two German-made Krupp 150 mm main guns in the bow, which are located in two semi-open gun covers on both sides, a main gun of the same type at the stern, in addition to a number of secondary guns and torpedo tubes, compared with the gunboat, The firepower can be called quite strong. According to German standards, the "Haichen" can only be regarded as a light cruiser, mainly performing the tasks of reconnaissance, patrolling, breaking diplomatic relations, and protecting colonies, and cannot participate in the operations of the Grand Fleet, but in China, this kind of warship can already be regarded as a "big ship and huge cannon", and since the collapse of the Beiyang Fleet, China's national gate has been barely supported by these small ships.

In order to suppress the revolution in the south, the Qing court sent "Haichen" to fight on the Yangtze River, knowing that it was a dry period, but it had to be stubborn and step by step, and finally reached Hankou, but it became a trophy of the Republican army.

"Brother Gong, you are really good!" Zhao Bei hammered Gong Chuntai's chest, and was excited for a while, with this cruiser, the small gunboats of those great powers don't need to be taken seriously, unless they also drive their big warships, but do they have the courage to sail here in the dry season?

Gong Chuntai grinned and said, "The commander-in-chief has won the award. When the commander-in-chief appointed me as a patrol envoy to the Yangtze River, didn't he just hope that I would get a few gunboats for the revolutionary army? This gunboat is not big, it is not small, it is not small, and the commander-in-chief must laugh at it. When the commander-in-chief gave me that small pistol, I didn't have any other gift in return, and this gunboat was regarded as a return gift from someone Gong. ”

"Laugh, of course." Zhao Bei excitedly circled around the rear main gun a few times, reached out and touched the thick barrel, and smiled from ear to ear.

The staff officers who accompanied him on his tour of the warship did not faint with joy and calmly asked a few questions.

"Brother Gong, how many of the sailors on the ship are willing to revolt?"

"Brother Gong, what's the trick of manipulating this ship's gun?"

……

Some of Gong Chuntai was able to answer these questions, while others were unable to answer them, but fortunately, there were some officers and men on the warship who were interested in revolution, and after asking them, they finally figured out the basic situation of the cruiser.

Due to Gong Chuntai's coercion and temptation, coupled with the rapid development of the revolutionary situation, and the rebellion of Yuan Shikai in the north, one-third of the 270 officers and men of the cruiser were willing to join the republican army, and the rest generally took a wait-and-see attitude, while the flag officers on the ship were very hostile to the revolution, but they had been sent off the warship, and there was no need to worry about them making trouble on the ship.

"Brother Gong, you have made a great contribution to the revolution, and you can't fail to appreciate it. I will order you to be the captain of the 'Haichen' and command this warship. Zhao Bei said tentatively.

Gong Chuntai hurriedly waved his hand, he was still clear about how many catties and taels he had, and said at the moment: "Don't hide it from the commander-in-chief, I have been on the warship for these days, and I haven't even fully figured out the south, south, south, and northwest, and asked me to command the warship. If you want to really reward me for an errand, why don't you give me some men and horses, and then give me some foreign guns and cannons, and tell me to lead me to Hunan, I will avenge those heroes who died back then, and kill those dog officials. ”

"Most of Hunan has now recovered, and I'm afraid the CCP will not allow other forces to interfere."

Zhao Bei pondered for a moment, in fact, the appointment just now was just a kind word, if he really wanted to ask Gong Chuntai to command the warship, he was not at ease, now that Gong Chuntai took the initiative to resign, it would be better, but it could not be cold The enthusiasm of the party comrades could not be cold, so the conversation changed and said: "Since Brother Gong wants to return to his hometown, I will not stop him." In this way, you recruit your own people, I will give you 5,000 rifles, and 5 cannons, now Changsha in Hunan is in charge of the Communist Association, and the Wu Zhenhan Department of the Republican Army has withdrawn to the area of Yuezhou in northern Hunan, I will write a letter to you, after you go, go to Yuezhou first, see if you can contact Wu Zhenhan, let him tell you about the current situation in Hunan, and bring him some ammunition by the way. If you want to make a difference in Hunan, it is best to rely on Yuezhou, and with the Republican Army to support you, you can rest assured that you can make a revolution. ”

Gong Chuntai nodded contentedly, summoned the disciples, and introduced them to Zhao Bei one by one, Zhao Bei was not stingy, and each of them rewarded 500 yuan from the ocean, and these party figures immediately went ashore on a sampan and recruited Hunan people.

"This warship is big, but what use can it be used in the Yangtze River?"

Standing on the bridge, Zhao Bei and a group of staff officers fell into deep thought.