Several warships sailed upstream, and the sunrise flags floating on the tail were particularly dazzling.

The two warships that were leading the way looked weird, and it was more suitable for passenger ships than gunboats. The one in front was the "Sushida" and the one behind was the "Fushimi", which was of the same class. The hull was built by a British shipyard and transported to Shanghai for assembly, and belonged to the Japanese Third Fleet.

The third Japanese fleet was adapted from the security fleet in China. This fleet was stationed in central China and South China, and was the vanguard of Japan's seizing privileges in China. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan began to send permanent fleets to China. After the Gengzi Year, with the increase in Sino-Japanese trade, Japan was eager to expand its power in China. However, since the fleets in China at that time were mostly old-fashioned warships, large ships had a deep draft and small horsepower, they could not guarantee the voyage during the dry season, nor could they board the Chongqing Japanese Concession, the Japanese military decided to build a new first-class shallow water gunboat, specifically patrolling the Yangtze River Basin. So "Sushida" and "Fushimi" were incorporated into the security fleet. Moreover, as a "mobile consulate", the ranks of the captain of this class of warships were all the major, and the same level as the destroyer captain.

These two new gunboats are specially customized for the Yangtze River waterway. In order to sail to the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River during the dry season, the layout of this class of gunboats is quite strange. In order to reduce the draft depth, its large number of cabins are arranged on the deck, with two upper and lower levels, like a hotel, which makes it look like a passenger ship, not much like a warship. Therefore, its full-load draft is less than one meter. This advantage of shallow draft allows it to sail on the Yangtze River at will. In order to sail through the Three Gorges, the horsepower of this class of warships is quite strong.

However, this kind of small warship also has its shortcomings. It has no armor and is not strong in firepower. It only has two 60mm cannons and a few machine guns. Not to mention fighting against gunboats like the "Chuguan", even field guns can easily deal with it.

But they can still show off their might on the Yangtze River, and of course they do not rely on those small cannons, but their strong national strength and their continued expansionary ambitions.

Five Japanese warships sailed in columns on the Hankou River. When approaching the British Concession, the "Sushida" left the formation and stopped in the waters of the concession to anchor. The other four warships continued to sail to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Not long after, a small steamer flying the flags of Britain and France drove over from the British Concession and leaned on the "Sushida". Several blonde and blue-eyed Westerners boarded the warship.

The first to board the ship was Fares, the British consul in Hankou, and the few people following were counselors and translators of the French consulate. As representatives of the Hankou consular regiment, their mission was to contact the Japanese fleet, find out the purpose of the Japanese fleet, and convey the opinions of the British and French governments to the Japanese side to avoid Japan being involved in the Chinese revolution.

The Yangtze River is a ban on Britain and cannot be interfered with by other countries. Although Japan is an ally of the UK, its role is mainly reflected in the balance of power in Northeast Asia. The UK will never tolerate it extending its tentacles to the Yangtze River Basin. As for France, it is unwilling to see Japan further expand its advantages in China. After all, Japan is too close to China. If Japan eats more, France will eat less.

The war in Jinjipo, Jiujiang shows that the Japanese government seems to have attempted to intervene in the revolution. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why the Japanese fleet would cover the Qing army fleet and rush across the Jiujiang blockade line. Now the Republican army has regarded the Japanese fleet as a threat, and it is difficult to ensure that both sides will not get fire.

If the Japanese fleet had armed conflicts with the Revolutionary Army in Wuhan, it would only make the already confusing Far East situation even more chaotic, and would also distract Japan's attention in Manchuria and undermine the balance of power in Northeast Asia. This is neither what British politicians would like to see nor what French politicians would like to see. They needed Japan to block the Russians' way south in Manchuria, so as to force Russia to focus on Europe and continue to watch the increasingly unrestrained Germany as a pawn.

The fundamental interests of Britain and France are in Europe. For the sake of Europe's balance of power, it is necessary to tie Russia to the British and French chariots. For the Slavic Empire that had expanded madly for more than 200 years, if it wants to keep it in Europe, it not only needs a piece of incense bait, but also a sharp sword against its back, forcing it to turn around and look directly at the fierce gaze of the German Empire.————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Of course, this is just the British and French who are planning their own. How the Far East pattern will develop seems to be not under their complete control. With the rise of the Republican forces, another uncertainty factor has been added to the Far East pattern. Commander-in-Chief Zhao's words and deeds seem to challenge this balance of power in the Far East.

...

When diplomats of Western powers and Japanese diplomatic envoys planned the Far East on warships, a young Chinese man was also examining the Far East from his own perspective.

Through the telescope, Zhao Bei saw the familiar sun flag, and a nameless fire burned in his heart. He forced himself to not give the order to fire.

All the Japanese gunboats were small warships, much smaller than the "Chuguan", but these small gunboats dared to rush around China's territory and waters, and were obviously arrogant.

This is the Qingchuan Pavilion of Guishan, Hanyang. It stands along the Yellow Crane Tower on the opposite bank of the Yangtze River. Standing on the pavilion, you can overlook the Yangtze River. It is the commanding heights of Hanyang.

On the hillside behind Qingchuan Pavilion, the Republican Army had built two artillery positions and dug up anti-aircraft bunkers. All field artillery and mountain artillery were scattered. The ballistic characteristics of the artillery were mastered through test fire. Several preset fire-raising areas were also marked on the map. Once Zhao Bei ordered the fire, the artillery could cover the Yangtze River channel with the most violent firepower, and attack warships on the river with the artillery on the Snake Mountain in Wuchang. In order to confuse the enemy ships, Zhao Bei also ordered the troops to build many fake artillery towers, and put wooden cannons inside to cover the real artillery towers.

Putting down the telescope, Zhao Bei raised his head and looked at the hydrogen balloon floating in the sky.

Due to the lack of radio stations, the military contacts of the three cities of Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou are all based on that balloon. Several officers who graduated from the Martial Arts School and the Navy flag language officers jointly wrote a set of flag language passwords. The flag language soldiers in the city played flag language at the top of the city, and the flag language soldiers on the balloons reposted the flag language. In this way, the Republican army in the three cities could communicate with each other.

Originally, there were wires on the Yangtze River and Han River, but after the Revolutionary Army occupied Wuchang City, the Qing army took away all the wires. Now the concession has declared "armed neutrality". It is difficult to buy telephones and wires. There were originally more than a dozen field phones, but they were all used in artillery positions and headquarters, and the remaining wires were used on mines. At present, the Revolutionary Army can only rely on this kind of local method for contact.

The Qing fleet had already cruising in Tianxinzhou. Now there were Japanese gunboats full of hostility on the river surface. Although the road to cross the river was no longer safe, the balloons were suspended in the sky and were unlikely to be shot down unless enemy aircraft or anti-aircraft guns appeared. Considering that the enemy fleet was too strong, in order to preserve its strength, three substitute gunboats and five small steamers of the Republican Army were ordered to sail to the shallow waters upstream of the Han River for vigilance, leaving only one "Chuguan" cruising near the Han River floating bridge, and together with the artillery on both sides of the straits to protect the two fragile floating bridges.

At this time, the flag-speaking soldiers on the balloon were tying flag-speaking in the direction of Hanyang. Two flag-speaking officials sitting on the top of the pavilion quickly translated the flag-speaking with a password book, wrote it on paper, lifted up tiles, and threw the paper to Lan Tianwei.

Lan Tianwei walked behind Zhao Bei and said, "Wuchang asked, the Japanese ship had entered the cover area of ​​Sheshan artillery fire. Going forward is the fifth mine installation area. Will you attack first?"

Those mines were made by the arsenal. They were laid at night by naval officers and soldiers, fixed at the bottom of the main channel with anchor chains, increased buoyancy with a float, and hidden two meters below the river surface. The thunder shell was filled with nitro-cotton fire, which was visually detonated by the lightning officers on the shore with wires. Because the thunder shell was huge and loaded with many drugs, it was quite amazing, and it was more than enough to deal with such small gunboats. This kind of electric fire earth mine first appeared during the American Civil War and had achieved good results. There was no need to question the combat effectiveness, but the problem is that this is not just a combat issue, it involves the entire strategic layout and revolutionary future.

Since the news that the Japanese fleet covered Qing army's gunboats and bombarded the Jinjipo Fortress, the Republican army's fighting spirit has increased. Many people have also written letters of request to fight to the death with the Japanese fleet, and the morale of the army is available.

Zhao Bei hesitated for a moment and said, "Notify the artillery and try to restrain it. If the Japanese ship does not fire, we should not fire first. We don't have many shells, and the artillery factory has not resumed work. The shells must be saved, and the great powers must avoid interference in the revolution. I will ask Hankou again, is there any new news?"

Due to his intervention, history has changed. Will Japan directly interfere with this revolution by force? Zhao Bei was unsure about this. After all, it was 1908 now, and the international situation is not exactly the same as in 1911, and there is no history to refer to. But no matter what, since he has been pointed at by the other party's cannon, he cannot retreat in the face of trouble.

The flag verb was played out, and the news was soon sent back. Lan Tianwei hurried back to Zhao Bei and whispered: "The news came from Hankou, and there were bad news and good news. The bad news was that according to the foreign newspaper, the First Qing Army had left Jiujiang and was rushing towards Qizhou. The march was very fast, and it must have arrived in Wuhan first than the Second Army in the north. Moreover, the Qing army fleet in Tianxinzhou had turned around and sailed downstream, leaving only a gunboat to protect the stranded "Haichen". It seems that it should have gone to escort the First Qing Army. The good news was that from the Telegraph Bureau of the Concession, Shi Nan Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, Yichang Prefecture, and Yinyang Prefecture were all restored. The local Communist Party armed forces had captured the official office and the Telegraph Bureau, and issued a telegram to join our Republican Army. Some leaders of the Communist Party also elected the commander-in-chief as the "General of the Han Dynasty."

"General of the Han Dynasty? They can think of it." Zhao Bei took the map and studied it for a moment. "Yang Wangpeng from Jingzhou also issued a power to liberation this morning. It seems that Hubei has almost been liberation." After that, he turned around and walked towards the stairs.

"Where will the Commander-in-Chief go?" Lan Tianwei followed a few steps.

"Send the power!" Zhao Bei walked down Qingchuan Pavilion without looking back. "I want all Chinese people to know that Hubei has been fully restored! This is no longer the place for the Qing Dynasty! Let everyone know how fragile the ruling foundation of the Qing Dynasty is! If you don't rebel at this time, when will you wait?"

...

On December 15, 1908, Zhao Bei issued a telegram across the country, announcing Hubei to break away from the Qing court, establish a military government, and serve as the governor of Hubei, abolish all the bad policies of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, abolish all the privileges of the bannermen, and set up military and political branches throughout the province to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign merchants. At the same time, in the name of gentry and merchants in Hubei Province, he once again supported Yuan Shikai as the commander of the Republic, and in his personal name, he issued an appeal to all revolutionaries and overseas Chinese in the country, asking them to find ways to support the Hubei Revolutionary Army as soon as possible, and those with money contribute money and those without money contribute to unite all forces that can be united, gather Wuhan to support the revolution, and fight the Qing Dynasty to the end!

This power supply is known in history as "electricity-sharing".

...

The restoration of Hubei Province is like a shot of a heart-warming injection, which has boosted the entire Southern China. The flames of the revolution are getting stronger and stronger. In just half a month, several southern provinces have rebelled one after another, and the Qing army is exhausted from rushing to death:

On December 17, the Gongzheng Association, which had already rebelled in Hunan, joined forces with the local Communist Party to attack Xiangyin and Changde in northern Hunan. Then the troops headed south and quickly captured the prefectures and counties near Changsha in the provincial capital. After receiving bullets supported by Hubei, they attacked Changsha. However, due to the strong city defense, the Qing army defeated the Qing army to defend the city, and then supported Sun Wu, a cadre of the Gongzheng Association, as the governor of Hunan, and issued a telegram to announce that Hunan had escaped from the rule of the Qing court.

On December 19, under the leadership of Xiong Chengji, the Anhui uprising army led the Qing army around the nose and captured Luzhou, an important town in northern Anhui, and immediately issued a power to announce the restoration of Anhui Province.

On the same day, a unit of the Republican Army evacuated from Jiujiang, led by Wu Zhenhan, the commander of the first echelon, conquered Yuannanchang, Jiangxi Province, and issued a telegram announcing that Jiangxi had escaped from the Qing government's rule. The next day, he evacuated Nanchang, led his troops westward, and headed straight to Changsha, Hunan.

On December 20, Huang Xing, chairman of the Tongmenghui, formed an uprising command in Hong Kong. The next day, Guangdong General Zengqi was killed by a bomb from the revolutionary party. In the afternoon of the same day, a unit of Guangdong New Army mutiny in Yantang and towed cannons to attack Guangzhou. However, due to the lack of shells, he was immediately defeated by the Governor Zhang Renjun of Guangdong and Guangxi Governor. The rebels retreated to Shipai. The Yuguangjiu Railway intercepted a train, drove south, and reached the border of Hong Kong. He boarded a cargo ship without any sign in Dapeng Bay and sailed to the high seas. Then he was escorted by a Japanese cruiser to Fujian.

On December 21, Zhang Taiyan arrived at the Shanghai Public Concession from Japan and issued a statement in Zhangyuan, announcing his withdrawal from the Tongmenghui. He then issued a telephone call with Tao Chengzhang, who was actually in charge of the liberation meeting, announcing the formal reorganization of the liberation meeting and the establishment of the liberation government. On the same day, the Zhejiang New Army Uprising, the Federation Party attacked Hangzhou, and the next day Hangzhou was revived, and the "Chinese Liberation Army" was officially established. Tao Chengzhang became the commander-in-chief of the liberation army and the governor of Zhejiang.

On the same day, the remaining troops of the Republican Army voluntarily evacuated Qizhou. The Qing army's "First Army to Defend the Bandits" occupied Qizhou without any blood. The President of the First Army, Guan Liangbi, immediately sent a telegram to "report the victory" to the Qing court, and sent Beiyang cavalry to encircle Jiangbei to spy on Huangzhou.

On December 25, Henan generals and heads of green forest gathered in Yangshan, Songxian County, western Henan, elected Tongmeng member Wang Tianzong as an "old stance", formally rallied the flag and rebelled, claiming to be "restored Han army in western Henan". He swept over Funiu Mountain and advanced towards Nanyang Prefecture, conquering several counties in a row, with a huge momentum, heading towards Nanyang, a major town in southern Henan. On the same day, the Shaanxi Ge Laohui instigated the patrol battalion to launch an uprising in Shangzhou, southern Shaanxi. The Federation Party armed forces to form the "Henan-Shaanxi Alliance Army", elected Tongmeng member Liu Zhenhua as commander, and then rushed eastward to enter western Henan.

On the same day when the Henan Association Party raised the flag and rebelled, the commander of the Second Army of the Qing army, the imperial envoy, Sheng Yun, issued a manifesto to fight against the bandits in Xinyang, southern Henan, and officially vowed to the southern expedition.

On December 26, the Russian ambassador to China visited the Qing court's military minister Yili? Piece? Pour? If you are in charge of the Qing court, you will be in charge of the military. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you are in charge of the turtle, you will be in charge of the turtle. If you

Scars and badgers are thin?p>On December 27, the British ambassador to China, joined forces with France, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Austro-Hungary to China to submit a joint note to the Qing court, declaring that in view of the serious out of control in southern China, in order to protect the security of foreign merchants in China and the rights and interests of various countries, and to maintain the peace of the north, the army of various countries will jointly increase the concessions. At the same time, "strongly suggest" the Qing court should take measures as soon as possible to stabilize the hearts of the people and appoint a "respected" minister to preside over the political refresh, otherwise, all countries will stop all loan negotiations to China.

...

Amidst the chaos, the Gregorian New Year is coming soon.
Chapter completed!