The cold wind roared and snow was flying all over the sky. This was the first snowfall in Wuhan since the beginning of winter.

The temperature dropped very quickly. The refugee shelter station established by the Republican Army outside Wuchang City was already full of homeless Hankou residents. Although I heard that the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army had reached an agreement with the Hankou Chamber of Commerce to rebuild Hankou, it is indeed not suitable for construction in this mid-winter season. The refugees had to temporarily live in this shelter station. Fortunately, they had food and clothing, and could not see the "red-headed A San" waving batons in the concession. Although the people still had some complaints, they also knew that the military government had done its best.

In addition to complaints, the rest is longing, looking forward to the peaceful life after the war, and looking forward to the dreamy new Hankou. It is said that Commander-in-Chief Zhao plans to build Hankou into the most prosperous commercial port in central China, to compare Shanghai and Guangzhou. Although this plan is a bit like daydreaming in this situation, it is always better than having nightmares all day long.

People always have to live in hope.

The boys didn't know the taste of sorrow. Although the snow on the ground was only half an inch thick, they couldn't wait to play in the snowy field. The snowball fight was a bit outdated. They were more willing to stand on the river embankment and look at the Yangtze River. They curiously counted the warships on the river. Through the continuous snow curtain, who had the better eyes to see the foreign flag on the tail of the ship.

A huge warship was quietly anchored on the main channel of the Yangtze River. Compared with the small warships of the great powers cruising around it, its body was much more majestic.

This is the largest warship of the Republican Army, "Haichen", now with double anchors, several very thick cables extending from the ship and connecting to the shore. One of the cables leads a telephone line to communicate the communication between the warship and the land. From a distance under the snow curtain, the warship looks so peaceful, calm, and quietly guards this quiet city.

As for the small warships of the great powers, they seemed a little irritable, just like a group of wild wolves who saw a tiger resting in their territory. They were unwilling to accept it, but they did not dare to come forward to drive it away.

The Chao Sect in Hanyang City is facing each other from afar, and the small cannon boat of the Republic is shuttled back and forth between the Haichen and the Chao Sect dock, acting as a traffic boat.

Now, this "Haichen" is Zhao Bei's headquarters. Since the war has stopped, the Hanyang Arsenal has no threat. Therefore, he moved the headquarters to the warship. Once the military situation changes, he can immediately command the warships to fight and bombard the enemy with cannons on the ship.

Not long after the cruiser "Haichen" revolt, considering the complexity of the struggle situation, Zhao Bei had transferred all the officers and soldiers on the former "Haichen" to the shore and formed a study class, with Zhang Jiyang's current affairs propaganda staff providing political guidance or brainwashing for them. The textbooks used were compiled by a propaganda group chaired by Zhao Bei, mainly in modern Chinese history and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. In addition, there is a brief process of the "Wushen Revolution" and the world situation.

As for the current manipulation of the "Haichen", except for the more than 20 mechanics and pilots transferred from the "Chuguan", the other officers and soldiers are all army, and the naval guns are also controlled by artillery soldiers. For these land ducks, firing on a parked warship is no different from firing on land.

The army officers and soldiers were extremely excited two days ago. With Zhao Bei's acquiescent, they fooled the mechanics into cruising back and forth on the Wuhan River with warships. The naval guns were circling around, pointing to the British concession, and then to the Japanese concession. They looked like they were the only one in the world, which scared the small gunboats of the great powers. If the water level of the Yangtze River had dropped again, they would have been afraid that they would have been stranded again.

However, the actions of these army officers and soldiers also caused unnecessary trouble. The British consuls were angry and convened the consuls of various countries in Hankou for a meeting, inciting an "international fleet" to "deter" the "army naval forces" of the Republican army. As a result, there were strange scenes of more than a dozen small foreign warships surrounding the "Haichen". However, the captains of these foreign warships were not fools, so it would be fine to act. If the consuls of various countries really ordered artillery battles, they would pick up the small shells on their warships without hesitation and stuff them into the mouths of these chauvinists with butter so that they could know what "overestimating their abilities" was.

Zhao Bei only moved the headquarters to the warship yesterday. Just like the past few days, he was still busy these days, forming military and political branches in various places, cleaning up the finances of the province, stabilizing the market, and cracking down on bandits... He had to worry about many matters. After all, human energy was limited and it was impossible to cover everything. The result of trying to manage everything was that nothing could be managed well. After learning from one's mistakes, Zhao Bei officially began to form a civil affairs team. Now, he was holding a meeting in the officers' conference room of the warship to discuss the organizational structure of the civil affairs team with the representatives of the gentry and businessmen and staff.

In addition to "old subordinates" such as Li Yuanhong, Lan Tianwei, Zhang Jiyang, Wang Zhanyuan, and Lu Yongxiang, there were Ji Yulin, Hu Ying, Liang Zhonghan, Wu Gongsan, Yin Ziheng, Li Yadong and others. Most of them were cadres from the Japanese informants. The Japanese informants were destroyed by the Qing court that year. These people were put into prison, some were imprisoned in Huangzhou, and some were imprisoned in Wuhan. After these areas were restored, the Republican Army cleaned up the prison administration and released them. Later, Zhao Bei was included in the army to recuperate. Some revolutionaries who escaped the Qing court also came to serve after the revival. A few days ago, Yang Wangpeng led the Northern Expedition Army to Henan for a revolution and invited the Japanese informants and young revolutionaries to go with them. However, these people thought about it again and again, most of them politely declined and stayed to assist Zhao Bei.

Some of these people have attended military schools, some have attended law schools and normal schools. These are ready-made military officials and civil affairs officials, especially Hu Ying, who is one of the "Six Criminals of the Hongxian Emperor's System" in history and one of the heavyweight advocates who assisted Yuan Shikai as the emperor. Of course, such talents cannot be left behind. Zhao Bei not only needs to use them, but also "reused them".

Therefore, in the meeting just now, Zhao Bei refused Li Yuanhong's proposal and refused Tang Hualong. Instead of using Tang Hualong, he appointed Hu Ying as the "Director of the Mayor's Office of Wuchang Special City" to assist him in handling civil affairs. Originally, Hu Ying recommended himself and wanted to be the plenipotent representative of the Republican Army to preside over foreign affairs. However, considering that he could not speak any foreign language and knew nothing about diplomatic etiquette, Zhao Bei did not dare to fulfill his wishes. Fortunately, the director of the mayor's office was not small, and he was basically Zhao Bei's first deputy in civil affairs, so Hu Ying had no objection.

As for Li Yuanhong, Zhao Bei did not neglect him. In addition to formally appointing him as the Speaker of the Hubei House of Assembly, he also appointed his friend Tang Hualong as the Deputy Speaker, asking them both to be fully responsible for organizing the Provincial House of Assembly and promised to give them real power.

As the former Qing army commander, Li Yuanhong looked taciturn when he first entered the Republican military government. He didn't say much, and he didn't offend anyone. He gave him nickname "Clay Buddha". It was not until Yuan Shikai's "New Year's telegram" was issued that he changed his previous image and actively participated in the revolutionary cause. Not only did he actively write letters to rebel against his old subordinates who were still fighting stubbornly, but he also personally went to the concession to invite Tang Hualong, a representative of the Hubei constitutionalist, to come out to work for the military government. Although Tang Hualong did not agree at once, he finally improved Li Yuanhong's status in the minds of everyone, especially those constitutionalist gentry, who regarded him as the new leader of the constitutionalist gentry in central China, and together with Zhang Jian in the southeast, he was called the "two heroes of the king and fair".

Li Yuanhong also struck while the iron was hot and sent a telegram as the vice president of the "Constitutional Council", inviting provincial constitutional delegations to Wuchang to hold a national constitutional conference to urge the Qing court to make a constitution, and jointly issued a telegram with Zhang Jian, urging the Qing court to formally appoint Yuan Shikai as the "full-powered regent" in order to handle all national affairs legitimately.

It's strange that Yuan Shikai blatantly pulled the flag and rebelled, but the Qing court's center was slow to move, and even did not issue a "declaration of rebellion". Perhaps as the people said, the court was extremely cowardly and had no courage to quell the rehabilitation side.

The emperor was not anxious, and the eunuchs were anxious, and the court did not speak. Instead, the officials from all over the country were busy and held high the banner of "responsible for the king" and gave rise to some "loyal ministers". Of course, whether they really planned to lead troops to Beijing to serve the king or were busy for their own interests, they had to ask questions.

The situation is so lively now. After you finish singing, I will appear, and after the heroes sing, the clowns, no one can say which one will be the one who will be the world in the end.

Revolution is the differentiation and combination of various forces, and revolution is also the waves that wash away the sand, leaving behind the gold and sand disguised as gold.
Chapter completed!