Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

Bi Hongen was awakened by the noise in the city when the sky was just dawn, and he had a premonition that disaster was coming while lying on the bed. Sure enough, just as he was about to put on his clothes and get out of bed, the nephew who was in charge of guarding the old north and west gates broke into the room, panting and shouted to him: "Old uncle, it's broken, it's broken, the militia is in trouble, old Bei There are torches outside the gate! Lvying Jiang Biaotong has already received the fire at the old fort at the south gate and the troops of the civilian army..."

Bi Hongen asked: "Why is it so fast? Didn't you say last night that even if the militia really rioted, it would take three to five days?" Qian Guandai said embarrassingly: "I... I was just guessing. I guess Bian Yifu, who sent the post, was still... running away to Peach Blossom Mountain until yesterday, so I felt that there would be no chaos for a while. I... I I never thought that the bandits from Peach Blossom Mountain and Tongshan Mountain...would rush over to attack the city overnight..." Bi Hongen stomped his foot: "You are stupid! That Yifu Bian is a full-fledged revolutionary! He is the liaison between the revolutionary party and the bandits. Haven't you seen it yet? This person knows that there will be an uprising tonight, but Deliberately pretending to be in a panic and running into the mountains, just to lure you into being fooled and catch you off guard!"

Qian Guanbei fell silent. Bi Hongen sighed: "The revolutionary party is amazing! It's good at disguising!" Qian Guandai said: "Old uncle, the matter... the matter is already like this, and... it is useless to say these things, let's hurry up! You...you always see what we should do? At this point, we are letting Brothers in the patrol battalion fight, still...or not?" Bi Hongen asked: "What do you mean by the Green Camp?" Qian Guandai said: "The green battalion is going to be fought. Jiang Biaotong is an old man. It's not like you don't know that he can't even tolerate the Kang Party. How can he let the militia out of the city? Just now he asked his men to find me , and asked my patrol battalion to fight to the end with him. He also said that he had sent a fast rider to the province to report that the reinforcements from the eastern camp in the provincial capital would arrive tomorrow at the latest.

Bi Hongen thought for a while and said: "Then let's fight! You... you can't just let them go into the city without fighting." Qian Guandai frowned and said, "But...but it's hard to fight. The brothers guarding the old north gate don't want to fight. They want to negotiate peace with the bandits." Seeing that Bi Hongen's face was not right, he said again: "I... I suspect that some of them have contacted the bandits, so I arrested a few..." Bi Hongen said angrily: "Not only to arrest, but also to kill! They are bandits, how can they not fight? Even the Hubei military government of the revolutionary party will suppress bandits in the future!"

Qian Guandai said: "Old uncle, here is the difficulty. They are playing under the banner of the Revolutionary Party..." Bi Hongen was still angry, waved his hands and said: "The prefect does not recognize it as a revolutionary party, but only considers it a bandit..." At this point, Jiang Biaotong of the Lvying sent a sentry officer with a few soldiers to take Bi Hongen to the old fort guarded by the Lvying to take shelter. Bi Hongen refused straight away, and said to the sentry officer of the Green Camp: "I don't believe that Xinhong will fall in the hands of these bandits! The magistrate is ordered by the imperial court to bathe in the mighty grace of the emperor. At this time of crisis, there is no reason to hide If so, don’t you want to be ridiculed by the people of the world? The prefect will risk his life to fight the bandits to the death!”

Seeing Bi Hongen's decisiveness, the sentry officer of the green battalion couldn't say anything more, so he had to retreat with the soldiers who came with him bravely. As soon as the sentry officer left, Bi Hongen sighed again and said to Qian Guan: "Ah San, did you see that? Jiang Biaotong is trying to rob me! This bastard has protected me, and I am afraid that I will be like someone from other places. Like the governor or the prefect, he suddenly joined the militia and declared independence..." Qian Guandai tentatively said: "Is the old uncle suspicious? I'm afraid Jiang Biaotong still has good intentions?"

Bi Hongen said: "What kind of a fart! The old uncle has been in the officialdom for so many years. You can tell who you are and what you have at a glance!" Because of the arrival of the sentry officer of the Green Camp with ill intentions, Bi Hongen's idea of ​​"hit it" was shaken. After a little thought, he said to Qian Guan: "Come on, San, I will go to the old north gate with you, and have a look." Let's make another claim!" When we arrived at the Old North Gate, it was already daylight, and the torches of the besieging militiamen could no longer be seen. All we could see was the red-bordered sky-blue flag of the Second Road of the Xilu militiamen floating in the distance.

You can also see the heads of countless people and horses gathered in the city. On a mass grave directly facing the city gate, three iron cannons were erected, pointing directly at the place where Bi Hongen and Qian Guandai were standing. It doesn't look like fighting a bad war. The brothers in the patrol battalion stared excitedly at the city, pointing and chattering, as if they were watching a militia drill. The militiamen did not fire their guns, but only shouted at the brothers on the top of the city, asking them to turn their guns and attack the green camp. At this moment, in the direction of the old fort in the south of the city guarded by the green battalion, the sound of guns attacking the city was intense.

After looking at it for a while, Bi Hongen had already figured it out in his mind, turned his head and said to Qian Guandai beside him, "Ah San, at this point, do you still want to bluff me! You don't want to fight, so tell me clearly, why bother?" Pretending to be hesitant?" Qian Guandai was embarrassed for a moment, and said with a smile: "Uncle, I... I also learned this from you. Whatever you do...you have to keep a hand. I don't want to fight, but...but I didn't let them go Let's go to town!" Bi Hongen looked at his nephew coldly: "Tell me what you think, it's true."

Qian Guan said: "Old uncle, you already know it in your heart. My real idea is to sit on the mountain and watch the scenery, and watch the bandits go to fight Jiang Biaotong. If Jiang Biaotong resists, the bandits will attack from the old fort in the south of the city. If you don’t enter, and the reinforcements from the province arrive again, I will fight the bandits in the city; if Jiang Biaotong does not resist and the city is broken, I will open the city gate to join the uprising and follow the general trend of the revolution.” Bi Hongen pondered for a while, nodded and said: "Well, that's good, you're promising. It's just...but, there is also a problem here: if you don't beat the bandits in the city now, it's hard to guarantee that the bandits in the city won't beat you. What if they beat you?"

Qian Guan said: "The mystery is here, and I can't let them beat me anyway. I have to direct the fire to Jiang Biaotong, let that bastard go and learn a lesson! I have already passed the city wall. Let go of the two brothers and talk to them, just say to stay neutral and let them concentrate their fire on the Green Camp." Bi Hongen didn't expect his nephew to take care of things so well, so he relaxed his mind, didn't say anything, quietly got off the old north gate, and went back to the magistrate's yamen. Unexpectedly, the magistrate's yamen ate the bomb from the assassination team of the Revolutionary Party in the city. According to Bing Yong and the yamen guards guarding the yamen, just ten minutes ago, a group of male and female students from the new school walked through Fuqian Street, walked to the yamen gate, and suddenly rushed into the gate with a bomb in their hands. Bing Yong, who was guarding the door, saw that he didn't like it, and opened fire on the spot, killing one female student and wounding three male students. One of the wounded male students was very fierce. After being shot in the stomach, he still threw the bomb in his hand into the Yamen, which collapsed half of the gatehouse and killed two soldiers. The magistrate’s yamen really looked like a mess, puddles of thick red blood fell on the stone steps of the gatehouse, the corpses of the female student and two soldiers from the patrol team were still lying on the ground, scattered everywhere from the blown gatehouse. The broken bricks and tiles that have fallen down can still smell a strong smell of nitrate in the air. Bi Hongen's heart tightened again after he had settled down, and he asked with a livid face, "Where are those students now?" A leader of the yamen servant came forward and reported: "A burst of gunfire dispersed them all. The three wounded did not run away. They have been taken to the signing room and are waiting for the adults to interrogate them." Bi Hongen instinctively wanted to give an order to kill, but he stopped talking: These students are not bandits, but the assassination team of the Revolutionary Party. If you kill them, you are afraid that once the uprising succeeds, you will not be able to kill them. It can be seen in the New Deal. So he went to the signing room to meet the three injured male students with a lot of worries, without questioning or interrogating, and without saying anything, he just ordered his men to ask the gentleman who healed the red wounds and bandage the wounds of the three male students. Mr. Injury Doctor came, and after wrapping up the wounds of the three students, Bi Hongen sighed and said: "You are young, you don't learn anything else, but learn to throw bombs at the government office, what good is that?" A tall student said: "We throwing bombs is the best thing today, at least it is better than you, Bi Hongen, who is a slave of the Manchus! Even if we die immediately, we will be the heroes of the restoration of the motherland! And your doomsday will follow. It’s almost here. Now that the Four Route Militia Army has arrived at the city of Xinhong, the Revolutionary Party in the provincial capital and the new army, Liu Xietong, also raised an incident last night..." Only then did Bi Hongen know that there was also trouble in the provincial capital, and he felt tense, and hurriedly asked: "So, you...you also have contacts with the revolutionary party in the provincial capital?" The students said nothing more. Bi Hongen couldn't ask any more questions, let alone tell the three students what he thought in his heart, so he put on a smiling face and said to the students: "...you don't understand the affairs of the country, and you can't tolerate such chaos. Come here. I think you are young and ignorant, so if I don’t punish you, you stay with me for a few days now, and when the situation subsides, I will ask your parents to take you back.” Later, Bi Hongen spent the whole morning thinking about the uprising in the provincial capital. After much deliberation, he fell into a demon, and in the magistrate's yamen bathed in the mighty grace of the emperor, he mentally surrendered the bandits of the past, and twirling his beard and writing the manuscript over and over again, doing a very practical way to welcome the bandits Mentally prepared.