The military department did not expect the speed of the fifth town to move south. Xu Shichang witnessed Long Qian lead the Zhentai Command to leave Jinan on the morning of November 10 in the Western calendar, and then left Jinan and returned to Beijing. He returned to Beijing on the 15th, and he reported to Tie Liang, who had already served as the secretary of the War Department, that Long Qian had already led the fifth town to set off, and according to conservative estimates, it was expected that he would be able to reach Hunan and Jiangxi in a month and a half.

Of course, regarding the situation of the Fifth Town's demand for money and the lion's big mouth, Xu Shichang also reported Tie Liang 1510. Tie Liang had received Cixi's dictation before, as long as Long Qian led his troops to quell the rebellion, everything would be easy to discuss. So Tie Liang didn't care much about how much money the imperial court paid for this. He had in mind that the next big game of chess, and the complete control of the command of the new army, would be taken back from the military power held by the Han Chinese. Therefore, Tie Liang praised Xu Shichang very much, and ordered the wine to be placed to congratulate Xu Shangshu.

Only then did Xu Shichang know that when he was ordered to go south to Jinan, the long-held official reform was finally introduced. The remaining Military Aircraft Department is still an "administrative summary", and the secretaries of each ministry are "on duty in turn, waiting for the call" as the participating ministers of state. Among the original institutions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Officials remained unchanged, the Ministry of Patrol Police was changed to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Household was changed to the degree branch, the three temples of Taichang, Guanglu and Honglu were merged into the Ministry of Rites, the Criminal Department was changed to the Ministry of Law, the Dali Temple was changed to the Dali Yuan, which was in charge of trials, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce were merged into the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of War was changed to the Ministry of War. The Admiralty and the Military Advisory Office were added, which were temporarily placed under the management of the War Department before they were established. In addition, there is also a Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, which is in charge of railways, ships, telecommunications, and postal affairs. The rest, such as the Zongren Mansion, the Internal Affairs Office, the Hanlin Temple, and the Suncheon Mansion, have all been retained.

Xu Shichang himself got a position as a scholar, but it was not very important for the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is equivalent to the Ministry of Public Security in later generations, but the actual authority is very small, because the patrol system has not yet been implemented in most provinces. Yuan Shikai, on the other hand, was still squatting in the position of governor of his Zhili, and did not get the War Department he wanted, and this theoretical supreme military yamen was unsurprisingly given to Tie Liang. And in the past few days, the military power of the third and sixth towns of Beiyang, which Yuan Shikai has been pinching, has also been handed over to the Ministry of War and has fallen into the hands of Tie Liang.

Xu Shichang didn't have time to digest this important news, and he needed to hand over the errand of the military department first. The topic of handover with Tieliang is still focused on the chaos in Hunan and Jiangxi. The situation there was very bad, the officers and troops of Gan Province were weak, and they needed to ensure the safety of the big cities. Completely on the defensive. Hunan Province has gathered troops. has already gone out of Liuyang, defeated the bandits in the suburbs of Liuyang, and "beheaded more than 1,000 ...... The bandits fled to Jiangxi", not to mention the authenticity of the results. It was nothing more than to drive the rebels out of Hunan Province. Beggar-thy-neighbor. Arrived in Jiangxi.

Hubei's new army is marching towards Changsha, so it is necessary to complete the encirclement on the other side. It is also necessary to pin hopes on the fifth town, which is advancing towards Jiangxi.

Cixi Lafayette had received conclusive news that the Hunan and Jiangxi rebellion had been instigated by the Alliance, which greatly alarmed the old woman. She can't listen to the news of Sun Huang and others now, and she gets furious when she hears it. Therefore, the military department was ordered to dispatch troops as soon as possible, make careful arrangements, and be sure to destroy the rebellious party.

Ten days later, the news came that the 17th mark of the Fifth Town Forward arrived at Guide Mansion on the 13th, and on the 15th, Long Qian himself also arrived at Guide and visited Li Chaoguang of Futai, and asked Li Governor for the latest information about the rebellion on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders. However, Li Chaoguang's news is also very limited, but he only knows that the rebels have fled to Jiangxi, and there is no knowledge of the number, equipment and specific battle situation. Long Qian put forward a request for grain to Guide Mansion, and Li Futai was very embarrassed. Because the southeast of Henan has not been as good as its neighbor Caozhou in the past two years, life is really unsatisfactory, resulting in a large number of people in Henan going into exile in Shandong. Therefore, Li Futai tried his best, and could only meet Long Qian's demand for seventy percent. Fortunately, Long Qian didn't think much of it, and only rested for a day in Guide before setting off to continue south.

Long Qian insisted on asking for a "pulling fee" of three million taels of silver from the imperial court, not including the so-called arrears to be returned. It is said that he can no longer open his mouth to the neighboring provinces, and if he wants to open his mouth, he should buy and sell it publicly. But since the Hunan army and the Huai army, this kind of thing has become a common practice, as long as the army does not plunder the place, it is good. Li Chaoguang's report did not mention that the place was harassed, indicating that the discipline in the fifth town was not bad. Therefore, the Ministry of War, no, it should be called the War Department now, and the "Yousi" who were responsible for quelling the Hunan and Jiangxi Rebellion quarreled, and Tie Liang finally suppressed Tie Liang for the Fifth Town's request for grain from Guide Mansion. In Tie Liang's view, the transfer of the Fifth Town out of Shandong was already a great victory, as long as Long Qian could quickly march into the army to quell the rebellion, there would be time to settle his mistakes or crimes.

The military department received accurate news again three days later, and Long Qian's vanguard had already left Henan and entered Anhui, and his marching speed was calculated to reach seventy miles a day! Tie Liang was pleased with the speed with which Fifth Town was advancing. In this era, an army marching on foot forty miles a day was a rapid march. Most of Long Qian's troops were infantry. This information changed Tie Liang's opinion of Long Qian to a certain extent, and he said with relief, it seems that Lafayette's eyes are like torches, this Long Admiral is still working solidly, and the Fifth Town is indeed not weaker than the strong army of Beiyang Towns. When the Fifth Town army arrives, the clowns will be wiped out.

Therefore, Tie Liang entered the palace and reported the news of the rapid march of the Fifth Town to Cixi as soon as possible, and Cixi was very happy, so that the War Department could comfort him, and ordered the government along the way to meet the requirements of the Fifth Town's supplies to the greatest extent.

The uprising on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders was not organized by Sun Wen and Huang Xing, who heard the news in the newspapers. Attaching great importance to this, they immediately sent cadres back to China and sent them to Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Hubei, and other provinces to lead and respond to this riot with great impact. Huang Xing is the founder of Huaxinghui and has a deep foundation in the area of the two lakes. The League's top brass saw it as their biggest armed revolt against the Qing court in recent years. The leaders of the League, especially Sun Yat-sen, urgently needed such an action, otherwise he would completely lose his appeal among overseas Chinese.

Sun Yat-sen, who was far overseas, received news from Japan about the Hunan and Jiangxi border riots, and immediately made a big deal of publicity in the overseas Chinese circles in the United States, the purpose of which was, of course, to raise money. The League will be short of money, it is too short of money. It can only rely on overseas Chinese, who live diligently and thriftily in ordinary times, and indeed spare no effort for the so-called revolution, but they need to see hope. It's not to listen to Sun Yat-sen's empty mouth and white teeth. Therefore, Sun Yat-sen hoped that this uprising on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders would make some reputation, take at least one or two large cities, and have an impact overseas that would be beneficial to the League.

The members of the League who remained in the country did not wait for the instructions of the headquarters to act. One of the Hunan natives, Liu Daoyi, was the younger brother of Liu Kuiyi, a magnate of the Huaxing Society, and when he heard about the Hunan and Jiangxi uprisings, he immediately returned to Changsha from Shanghai and contacted the comrades in Changsha to learn about the details of the uprising. Changsha has become a barracks, and a large number of patrol troops and the new army from Hubei from the south are being assembled, and the situation is extremely tense. The inventory is extremely strict. Liu Dao saw that the Qing army in Changsha was too strong. It was no longer realistic to start an uprising in Changsha, so I found a member of the alliance named Yu Zhimo, whom I had met in Tokyo, and lived in his home to learn about the process of the uprising. But Yu Zhimo also knew nothing about the uprising. Not much. Yu Zhimo is a rich man. I once ran a towel factory in Changsha, asked for some coils from Yu Zhimo, and got up to go to Liuyang, which is 100 kilometers away. Before parting, he handed Yu Zhimo a set of code words, asking him to send a report to Shanghai according to the code words, so that the news could be transmitted back to Tokyo, the "base camp of the revolution," as soon as possible.

After Liu Daoyi left, Yu Zhimo, who was also firmly anti-Qing, ran to the post office to take a telegram, and was captured by the spies waiting at the post office.

This is a real martyr who gave up his life for his ideals and beliefs.

Besides, Liu Daoyi, when he ran to Liuyang, he learned that the rebel army had attacked here, and many people had died but did not open the city, and had retreated to Jiangxi. The situation in the Liuyang area was extremely tense, and a new military standard from Hubei had just taken over the city, searching for suspicious people everywhere, and more than a dozen wooden cages were hung on the city gate towers, which contained the heads of "spies" and "anti-thieves." Liu Daoyi is wearing fake braids, and once he is found out, he will definitely die. Therefore, Liu Daoyi did not dare to enter the city, and took a small road to starve and rushed to Pingxiang.

The reason why he rushed to Pingxiang was that the farmer he spent a tael of silver to spend the night said that the righteous army had run to Pingxiang. In the absence of more detailed information, Liu Daoyi believed that the news was true.

After crossing the Shuangjiang River, it is considered to enter Jiangxi. Liu Daoyi rushed to the direction of Pingxiang as fast as he could, and there was more news about the uprising along the way. Most of the news said that Pingxiang was still in the hands of the official army, which made him extremely disappointed. Three days later, they arrived in Pingxiang, and sure enough, they found out that the rebels had fought several battles with the Qing army near Pingxiang, and they won and lost each other. But instead of conquering Pingxiang, he retreated to the direction of Yuanzhou. Liu Daoyi continued to chase eastward, and finally found the rebels in Luxi Town, about 50 miles away from Pingxiang.

Liu Daoyi took off his hat, ripped off his fake braids, and told a man with a head that he had returned from Japan on the orders of Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing to contact the rebels. This identity frightened the small leader, and Liu Daoyi was immediately sent to the "headquarters" of the rebel army stationed in Yuanzhou, where he met the leaders of the uprising, Gong Chuntai, Wei Zongquan and others.

The rebel army led by Gong Chuntai currently has about 10,000 people, scattered throughout the Yuanzhou Prefecture, and its composition is also relatively complex. When Liu Dao arrived, the "rebels" were arguing over the direction of action. What worries Liu Daoyi the most is that the military discipline of the rebel army that occupied Yuanzhou Mansion is extremely bad, and the streets are full of drunken soldiers wandering around, there are very few foreign guns, most of the soldiers are primitive weapons such as broadswords and spears, and many people are simply bare-handed.

Liu Daoyi met Gong Chuntai and Wei Zongquan smoothly. When Gong and Wei heard that Sun Yat-sen had sent someone back from Japan to contact them, they were overjoyed and hurriedly greeted Liu Daoyi, treating Liu Daoyi as a guest. They are now wondering what to do next.

Liu Daoyi played the banner of "Qincha" and took the lead. Once the move is successful, you will be the founding heroes of the Republic of China. At any time, the wish for prosperity and wealth is extremely effective. In fact, Liu Daoyi himself is completely based on ideals, not long after he returned from Japan, he knew that Premier Daosun went to Europe and the United States, but he was not in Japan, and Huang Xing did not know that Lu Dao's hometown made this scene. But now, under the banner of Sun Huang's envoy, he immediately won the respect of the leaders of the rebel army.

Liu Daoyi first learned about the situation since the incident, and fully affirmed their resolute withdrawal from Hunan and their transfer to Jiangxi. Because the strength of the Qing court in the Yuanzhou area is indeed weak, but Yuanzhou is barren and not conducive to long-term holding, so it is not an ideal place. Liu Daoyi told Gong Chuntai, Wei Zongquan and others that he had come up with a set of strategies on the road, and the core idea was that he must act before the Qing court completely reacted, and he must not be trapped in Yuanzhou. Liu Daoyi analyzed the situation and believed that everyone had already raised the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty, and there was no way out. Thinking of being recruited is a dead end, I know that all the big brothers are well-known good men, and they never have the idea of surrendering to the Qing court and stepping on the corpses of their companions to climb up, but maybe the people below have all kinds of thoughts. So be sure to make it clear to everyone, if you kill a corrupt official in general, just like the heroes of Liangshan in "Water Margin" shouted that they only kill corrupt officials, not against the emperor, maybe the imperial court will give others a way out after getting our heads, but we have no way out after we play the banner of establishing the Republic of China and overthrowing the Manchu Dynasty, and we must resolutely do it to the end! Everyone knows that the people are tired of the Qing Dynasty, and the life of the Tartars is no longer easy. As long as we build one or two more big cities, such as Ji'an and Linjiang, the power will be even stronger, and it may lead to uprisings in other places, so that the Qing court will take care of one or the other, and if so, the great thing will be done.

It must be admitted that Liu Daoyi was still very motivated, and after analyzing the situation and pointing out the way out to Gong Chuntai and other leaders for two days in a row, he basically established his authority in the rebel army, and Liu Daoyi's first step goal had been achieved.

Liu Daoyi suggested that Gong Chuntai immediately order the troops to assemble and rectify, and then go south to Ji'an.

In order to go south to Ji'an instead of north to Linjiang and then peep into Nanchang, Liu Daoyi took into account that Nanchang was a provincial capital, the strength of the Qing army, especially the patrol battalions that had been formed in various places, were relatively strong, and the rebel army lacked training and weapons, and some were just some enthusiasm and unrealistic fantasies, Ji'an was richer than Yuanzhou, and hoped to be replenished there.

Everything is still "fast". However, Liu Daoyi unified the thinking of the leaders, dispelled the idea of moving west back to Hunan, assembled and reorganized the troops scattered near Yuanzhou into four columns, each column of about 2,000 people, collected as many firearms and food as possible, and began to march to Ji'an, eight days had passed, and the situation had undergone a severe change.

It sounds amazing that an army that has already entered combat condition can take eight days to prepare in a modest transfer. The actual situation is that in the past eight days, the leaders, including Liu Daoyi (Gong Chuntai has fully accepted Liu Daoyi), were in a high-intensity work state, and almost did not deliberately delay any time. Especially after Liu Daoyi pointed out that the new army from Hubei had arrived in Changsha and Liuyang, Gong Chuntai realized that his initial advantage was being lost, and trapping Yuanzhou was the real way to perish. But a rabble is a rabble, and it cannot be compared with an army that has been trained for a long time and has carved discipline into its bones. If you don't marshal it, you can't do it, and the marshalling is constantly quarrelling, and the future has not yet been skimmed, and the internal struggle for power and profit has begun. The leader of the rebel army can only restrain everyone with righteous anger - the Republic of China is still far away in the clouds, and he can't see it clearly at all.

The direction of the attack was decided, and the departure of the troops was also slow, and Liu Daoyi was in a hurry to death. There is no such thing for a while, there is no such thing for a while, and time is consumed little by little.

Don't say that Gong Chuntai, that is, the giants of the Alliance, so far they don't know that the vanguard of the Fifth Town of Shandong has entered Jiangxi with a forced march. Feng Guozhu did not carry out Long Qian's order to "walk slowly", but after entering Anhui, he accelerated the speed of his march, crossed the Yangtze River from Jiujiang, and went straight to Nanchang. On December 1, Feng Guozhu met with the generals of the Nanchang garrison, and learned that the rebels were still indecisive in Yuanzhou, so he dropped his 17th standard, and personally led Chi Chunxian's cavalry to bypass Nanchang, rushed straight to Linjiang, and approached Yuanzhou from the east. (To be continued......)