Sun Yuanqi and his entourage left Zhangde by train on the evening of October 16. No pop-up window update fast // (_)

originally wanted to go straight to Luoyang, but when he arrived in Zhengzhou in the early morning, Sun Yuanqi was woken up from his sleep by the security guard: "Master, Lord Bao Dibao, the governor of Henan, is waiting on the platform of the station!" ”

"Who? Bag adult? "Four or five o'clock in the morning is the time when I slept the most soundly, and after being shaken awake, Sun Yuanqi was still a little confused: Bao Longtu is not in Kaifeng Mansion to try the case, what are you doing in Zhengzhou?

"Yes, in addition to Lord Bao, there are also political envoys Yu Zhongying Yu, Dharma envoys and Ergeng Ehe, envoys Kong Xianglin, and Kaifeng Prefecture Governor Yuan Zhennan Yuan, etc. Sir, can't you see them? "It's really hard for him to remember the names of so many people in such a short period of time.

Sun Yuanqi finally came to his senses at this time, and asked suspiciously: "They are no longer in Kaifeng, what are they doing in Zhengzhou?" ”

The provincial capital of Henan Province in the Qing Dynasty was Kaifeng, where the governor, the governor, the government, the school, and the law were all located. As for Zhengzhou, it is just a county below Kaifeng Prefecture, because the east-west Bianluo Railway (that is, part of the later Longhai Railway) and the north-south Luhan Railway meet here, so that the small county town gradually prospered, and finally the marrying maid successfully ascended to the throne and replaced his wife as the capital of Henan Province.

It was precisely because the governor of Henan was not in Zhengzhou that Sun Yuanqi planned to go straight to Luoyang without stopping, but he didn't expect them to come to the door. Sun Yuanqi said helplessly to the security guard: "Please go down and talk to them, just say that I will go down immediately!" ”

Yang Du was also woken up for some reason. The buttons of the cotton robe were buttoned in his hands. With cotton shoes on his feet, he walked into Sun Yuanqi's carriage: "Baixi, I heard that officials below the governor of Henan, Baoxiangshi, are waiting on the platform?" ”

"Not really!" Sun Yuanqi was putting on the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty with the help of his attendants, "The autumn is deep and the dew is heavy, the weather is cold, and it is still the third watch in the middle of the night, it is really difficult for them." ”

Yang Du said: "What's so embarrassing? In the final analysis, officialdom is nothing more than the four words 'human affection and sophistication', and it is a compulsory homework for every official to usher in and send it off. Since they have chosen this line of work, don't complain. Now you are still in the name of a cabinet minister, can they still pretend to be deaf and dumb when passing by Kaifeng Mansion? Of course, you have to come to greet you. ”

"Run hundreds of miles and stay up all night. Just to meet the cabinet ministers? What's the pain! Sun Yuanqi shook his head and sighed.

Yang Du was stunned for a moment, and stopped the work of buttoning the button in his hand: "What, Baixi, you plan to pat your ass and leave when you meet them?" ”

"yes!" Sun Yuanqi replied as a matter of course, "Didn't you complain to me yesterday afternoon. Is it said that the military situation is urgent? You see, soldiers going from the northeast to the south should prepare barracks in advance, students from various provinces going to Luoyang should set up conscription offices as soon as possible, and the ordnance and food allocated by the imperial court should be registered and stored in the treasury in a timely manner...... Which one can be delayed? ”

"You don't have to do these things yourself!" Yang Du said angrily, "As the saying goes, a strong dragon does not suppress the head snake. Even if you are a cabinet minister and the governor of Sichuan, you can't ignore the big and small officials in Henan. () What's more, we still have to set up a conscription office in Luoyang for more than ten days? Otherwise, I will go to Luoyang with Qiu Zhai, Xingyan, and Changqing first, and you and Uncle Shen will have a good chat with Baoxiang Shifutai in Zhengzhou. Stay for a day or two, and then rush to Luoyang. ”

Thinking that what Yang Du said was also reasonable, Sun Yuanqi nodded and agreed.

Before getting off the train, Sun Yuanqi suddenly remembered something, turned around and asked, "Huizi, when we recruited students to go to the Northeast for epidemic prevention last time, what was the age limit?" ”

"Age limit? Do you mean over 16 years old? Yang Du said suspiciously.

"16 years old?" Sun Yuanqi glanced at Yang Du deeply, turned around and got off the train.

As Yang Du said, Sun Yuanqi felt that he couldn't help much when he went to Luoyang, the shopkeeper, and he was enthusiastic about retaining it. As a result, he stayed in Zhengzhou until noon on the 18th. After receiving Yang Du's urgent telegram, he hurriedly took the train to Luoyang, 130 kilometers away.

It was six or seven o'clock in the evening when I arrived in Luoyang, and the whole train station was busy in the dim light. The porters carried heavy wooden boxes from the train, and the trumpets roared one after another. Evening temperatures have dropped to single digits in mid-October. But they were all shirtless, and sweat slowly squirmed on their chests and backs. soaked clothes. Not far away, carts with mules and horses come and go, carrying piles of wooden boxes into the warehouse. In the crowd, soldiers with guns could be seen everywhere.

Sun Yuanqi got off the train, and after greeting the prefect of Henan Prefecture and the magistrate of Luoyang County, he got into a sedan chair and went straight to the conscription office. As soon as he entered the door, he asked Zhang Shizhao: "Brother Xingyan, how many firearms have been allocated by the imperial court to the 44th Mixed Association now?" ”

"My lord, as of 6 o'clock tonight, a total of 720 Hanyang-made rifles and 120,000 rounds of ammunition have been received in Taiyuan and Luoyang; 5 Kruber 75 rapid-fire guns, 16 Grusen 57 rapid-fire guns, 324 80 mortars, and a number of other firearms. The follow-up part is expected to arrive in the next 4 days. Zhang Shizhao reported cleanly.

Sun Yuan nodded. It is very rare that the Qing government was able to transport so many firearms so quickly! In addition to the convenience of the railway and the urgency of the military situation, Zaifeng's special care is indispensable.

Zhang Shizhao reminded: "My lord, even if all the ordnance is ready, it can only equip about 3,000 people. We have about 4,500 to 5,000 people, and there is still a big gap in between. The only countries in China that can produce more advanced firearms in large quantities are the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau and the Hanyang Arsenal, and now that the revolutionary party has risen in Wuchang, the Hanyang Arsenal can no longer be counted on; Even if the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau is rushing to work day and night, it is a drop in the bucket. What's more, the situation in Hubei is more urgent than Sichuan, and Beiyang is stepping up to the south, which requires all kinds of firearms, and the imperial court will not be able to take care of us in the future. For the sake of today, in addition to continuing to open up to the court, we also have to think of a way ourselves! ”

Sun Yuanqi pondered for a moment: "Then let the Beiping Iron Works send more mortars and grenades." By the way, you urge Wei Zhenxiong and Shen Fengming to work harder, hurry up the shape of the rifle, and solve the problem of bullet production as soon as possible. ”

"Good. I'll do it! Zhang Shizhao left in a hurry.

Sun Yuanqi asked Shen Xiangyun again: "Qiu Zhai." What is the situation of the mixed co-operatives now? ”

Shen Xiangyun is now on temporary duty in the Mixed Association, and when he heard the words, he "snapped" and stood up: "Report to my lord, at present, a total of 1,068 students have registered in Taiyuan and Luoyang. Because there were no grassroots units and platoon officers for the time being, they had to be divided into 89 sheds according to the standard of 12 people per shed, and then enriched to each battalion after the arrival of the northeastern units. ”

"Then Zhao Jingxing, when will they arrive?" Sun Yuan asked.

Shen Xiangyun replied: "Zhao Xietong led the first batch of 350 people to arrive in Luoyang at about 2 o'clock this night. ”

During the Q&A, Sun Yuanqi and others came to the study, where a huge map had already been placed, and Yang Du and Yang Yongtai were holding telegrams and drawing on the map. Seeing Sun Yuanqi enter the house, they got up and arched their hands at Sun Yuanqi indiscriminately.

"What the hell is going on?" The telegram only vaguely said that something big had happened, and Sun Yuanqi was still confused about what it was.

Yang Du said in a deep voice: "The Hubei Revolutionary Party launched an attack on the officers and troops in the area of Liujiamiao at 8 o'clock this morning. ”

"It was the revolutionary party that took the lead? Are they ready? Sun Yuanqi was also a little surprised.

After the revolutionary army occupied the three towns of Wuhan on October 13. Until the 18th, there had been no fighting with the officers and soldiers. The reason is that the uprising broke out very hastily, and many things inside and outside were not prepared, and these days they have to stop and sort out the affairs at hand, such as the establishment of a military government. Restore order in the area of control, recruit a large number of new soldiers, hurry up to build a defensive military, and so on.

So why didn't the officers and soldiers take action?

After the failure of Zhang Biao, the commander of the eighth town, to counterattack Wuchang, he led the remnants of the army to guard Liujiamiao in the lower reaches of Hankou, waiting for the army minister Yin Chang to lead the army south to rescue. This group of defeated soldiers is already frightened birds, and they don't dare to go through the battle formation at all, and the revolutionary army does not take the initiative to attack is exactly the good thing they dream of, how can they hit the muzzle of the gun themselves?

Although the order to form the First Army was issued on October 12, most of the army was in Yongping Province to participate in the Luanzhou Autumn Exercises. The capacity of the Luján Railway is very limited, and it is running at full capacity. It also takes a week for a town to run out of firearms. Moreover, the Qing government has always refused to use Yuan Shikai to go out of the mountain, and the generals and colonels of the Beiyang Army have a wait-and-see attitude to work and do not contribute, and the army is naturally slow. The interaction between the two led to the Wuchang Uprising for a week, and the Beiyang Army was unable to launch an attack after two targets went south.

Yang Yongtai shook his head: "The revolutionary party is far from ready!" According to intelligence, today there are three thousand three hundred people involved in the attack, as well as four guns. Most of these people were new recruits in civilian clothes, and they had only learned to shoot guns for a long time, and they went to the battlefield without knowing the basic offensive formation. When the two armies are at war. When the recruits in the back saw the bullets flying, they thought that the enemy was in front of them, and hurriedly opened fire, but as a result, they put down a lot of their own people in front. And they all shot while standing, standing on the position. It is easy to be hit by officers and soldiers. If it weren't for the low morale and weak firepower of Zhang Huchen's subordinates, I am afraid that there will be only a few of these 1,300 people left! ”

Sun Yuanqi can almost imagine the tragic situation at that time. He sternly admonished: "When we enter Sichuan this time, student soldiers who have not undergone strict training are strictly forbidden to enter the battlefield to participate in battles, and violators will be severely punished. What the revolutionary party is doing is simply a joke on human life! ”

"The revolutionary party had no choice but to make this decision. Your Excellency, please see," Yang Yongtai said, pointing to the map, "This is Wusheng Pass, also known as Wuyang Pass, Lishan Pass, an important pass between Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain, the ancients described it as dangerous as 'the car can not be tracked, and the horse cannot be ridden together'. It locks Ezhou in the south, the Central Plains in the north, controls the throat of north-south traffic, and the Luhan line passes through it, which is the only way to march and the place where soldiers must fight for since ancient times. If the Beiyang Army wants to go south on a large scale, it must pass through this place. If the Hubei Revolutionary Party wants to attack the Central Plains and defend against the Beiyang Army, it is best to choose here. It is a pity that the revolutionary party did not realize this, and let the official army take control of Wushengguan first, and the whole situation was already defeated and lost from the beginning.

"My lord, please look at the topography of Liujia Temple again. Liujiamiao is ten miles north of Hankou and is a small station on the Luhan Line. From Liujiamiao to Hukou, one side is close to the Yangtze River, and on the other side is a depression of stagnant water. There is only a narrow passage on the north side of the more than one mile, the road is lined with lakes on both sides, and there are three bridges in the middle, which is the only way for the official army to attack Hankou along the Luhan line in the south. After Wusheng Pass was captured, this was the last gateway to defend Hankou. Now the Beiyang Army is rolling down the Luhan Line, Yuan Xiangcheng's call for a comeback is getting louder and louder, and Zhang Huchen is entrenched in Liujiamiao with the remnants of the army. With each day of delay, the danger of the revolutionary party increases by one point. So they had to rush to attack Liujiamiao without being prepared. ”

"And how is the war going today?" Sun Yuanqi hurriedly asked.

Yang Du replied: "The shooting began at eight o'clock in the morning and stopped at half past nine, and neither side made any progress. However, the death of the revolutionary party is not a small loss. In the afternoon, warships of the Qing Navy bombarded the positions of the revolutionary party, causing the revolutionary party to suffer a loss. Fortunately, one side is the loser, the other side is a novice, it can be said that the opponent will meet the talent, and the whole day of table tennis has become a draw. ”

Sun Yuanqi was a little relieved: history finally did not take a big turn because of his butterfly.

Yang Du continued: "Today's attack of the revolutionary party is just a temptation, and it is estimated that tomorrow the army will press on and seize Liujiamiao in one fell swoop." After the capture of Liujiamiao, the whole situation will change. It was a good thing for the revolutionary party, because Hankou was given an important place to defend, and now Hu, Beijing, Tianmen, Huangzhou, Yichang and other prefectures and counties have successively raised their ground, and the momentum can be further enhanced.

"But that's also a bad thing. As the saying goes, hit the child out of the mother. The revolutionary party showed signs of the Northern Expedition, and the bargaining between Yuan Xiangcheng and the imperial court would have to take a lot less money, and the final result would soon be achieved. In the face of the Beiyang Army commanded by Yuan Xiangcheng, I was afraid that the revolutionary party would have no chance of winning. ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "You told me to come over quickly, is this because of this?" ”

Yang Du nodded: "That's right!" The gains and losses of Liujiamiao will speed up Yuan Shikai's exit from the mountain. Once Yuan Shikai is out of the mountain, we must immediately wave our troops westward and prepare to enter Sichuan! (To be continued.) )