Chapter 181 Battle with Xinjiao Arsenal

It seems that the overall situation in Guangzhou has been decided. However, for the rebel army and the revolutionary party, the final work is very difficult.

There are now many thieves, old soldiers, and even some unorganized and undisciplined new soldiers who rely on their weapons to rob and destroy the streets and alleys. The people in the city are suffering, but they cannot resist, because during the revolutionary uprising, the whole of Guangzhou is in a state of disorder. Before the government was overthrown, they could go to the government to report the case when something happened. It was another matter to ignore the government. But now they have nowhere to complain and can only be kept in their stomachs.

Especially for some families who happen to be well-off, they are not rich enough, and they are not poor enough, which has become the main target of being robbed. The poor have no money and are beaten at most; the wealthy families have their own thugs, which can scare the robbers more or less. The only thing that is not up or down is the most painful.

In addition, the Guangdong Navy is also a significant hidden danger.

After Yuan Shuxun, Huang Shilong and others fled to the Guangdong Navy Base, they ordered the navy troops to bombard Guangzhou City. More than a dozen cruisers turned their guns and bombarded the city without any scruples. The bombing injured and killed many revolutionary patriots, and accidentally injured countless innocent people. The navy admiral Li Zhun was not ruthless. As long as he could destroy the revolutionary army and turn the tide, he would not frown even if he razed Guangzhou City to the ground.

The Governor's Office was most severely bombarded, so shortly after Mo Qingyu occupied the Governor's Office, he had to withdraw again.

Faced with the Guangdong Navy's stubborn resistance and arrogance, the civilian army, the rebel army and even the people in the city hated each other, but they were powerless for the time being because there were no warships on their side to counterattack the navy.

The General's Mansion is relatively stable, but after Liang Hongkai established the city connection network, he immediately received a request for help from the Third Battalion of the Second Counter. The Third Battalion started attacking the Xinjiao Armory at noon, and has not only failed to conquer the Armory, but has been attacked by the defense force and the navy here, and cannot advance or retreat.

Wu Shaoting originally believed that the second target should be handled by the second target himself, but sent someone to notify Mo Qingyu, but received a reply. Mo Qingyu was bombarded by the Guangdong Navy because he attacked the Governor's Office, and the losses were too heavy and he was unable to go to support him. Wu Shaoting considered the value of the Xinjiao Armory and the Guangdong Arsenal was also there, and thought it was necessary to seize these two important places, so he simply agreed to go to rescue.

Wu Shaoting asked He Fuguang to stay in the general's mansion. He led the First Battalion and an artillery team and immediately set off for Xinjiao.

When we arrived in Xinjiao, it was already an hour later, and the sky was drowsy. But the sound of cannons and gunshots were still coming in front. Wu Shaoting's troops met the second target outside the town, but it was only a team of more than 30 people. They hid behind an inn dejectedly, and some were still gnawing steamed buns weakly. After joining the scattered soldiers, they realized that they had broken out from the main force and were responsible for asking for bullets and food.

These people also said that they had gone to find Mo Qingyu, but there were no extra bullets on Mo Qingyu. After coming back, they felt that the front line was too dangerous, so they hid here to rest.

Wu Shaoting scolded the soldiers severely, but did not impose any substantial punishment on them. Then he asked the soldiers to lead the way and go to meet with the Third Battalion.

The Third Battalion was fighting at a suburban intersection in front of Xinjiao Armory. To the east is the Armory, to the north is the Defense Forces' front, and to the southeast is the bank embankment close to the Pearl River. Several torpedo boats and a light gunboat were attacking the Third Battalion's home and back on the Pearl River. The torpedo boats were fired with carrier-based heavy machine guns. Although the distance was a bit far, they played a very powerful deterrent role.

Wu Shaoting asked the artillery to prepare mountain cannons and aimed at the warships on the shore to open fire. Although he did not think that mountain cannons had an advantage in fighting warships, it could at least scare these navy troops. Afterwards, he ordered Li Jishen to lead the team to the back of the defense army, and wait for the artillery to open fire and launch a surprise attack behind the defense army.

The battle was very easy because the defense army, the navy troops and the defenders of Xinjiao Ordnance spent an afternoon with the Third Battalion. The soldiers were exhausted and were at the end of their strength. In addition, the reinforcements of the rebel army suddenly arrived, not only caught off guard, but also indicated that the city of Guangzhou had been settled by the rebel army. Just over ten minutes later, the defense army surrendered, and the navy troops simply retreated because the ammunition was about to be exhausted.

After joining the Third Battalion, Wu Shaoting distributed some bullets to them. More than half of the third battalion suffered casualties, and most of the remaining people had already exhausted their ammunition. They were worried that they would be chased and beaten by the defense forces when retreating, so they persisted for a whole afternoon. However, now they have received reinforcements and also learned that the Governor's Mansion and the General's Mansion were conquered. The mood of falling into the Ice Valley suddenly swelled up again.

After a short rest, Wu Shaoting and the Third Battalion surrounded Xinjiao Armory and prepared to launch an attack.

At first, the Xinjiao Armory thought it could hold on, but when the defense forces surrendered and the navy retreated, the morale in the armory suddenly fell into the abyss, which was reversed to the Third Battalion. However, the guards of the armory still did not surrender and decided to resist to the end with the deep ditch and high base of the armory. Of course, they were mainly not very clear about the situation in the city, because the navy troops had been guarding here for an afternoon, and as long as the maritime power was not broken, it meant that the revolutionary army had not fully controlled the overall situation.

The Armory is a small castle with tall walls around it, all made of stone. There are shooting holes and towers on the walls, equipped with two heavy machine guns. There are about 200 troops stationed inside, and thousands of weapons are available for use at will. The difficulty of attacking here is not simple.

Of course, the easiest way the rebel army could take was to bomb the place with cannons, ignite the gunpowder stored in the arsenal, and cause an internal explosion. However, once this is the case, the value of seizing the arsenal will be gone. Just a bullet with Yuexiu's arms may not be able to supply all the ammunition of the rebel army. Occupying Guangzhou also requires defending Guangzhou. This is not a fast food restaurant to eat, just after eating.

Wu Shaoting sent people to negotiate with the Armory Guards, informing the Governor's Office and the General's Office that had fallen, and demanding that the Armory Guards surrender. The Armory Guards were half-believing and half-doubted about the rebels' words, but they would rather surrender than continue to fight. After all, they had cannons. If they were forced to fire, they would be doomed.

However, the head of Xinjiao Armory was Li Mingshan. When he knew that the person surrounding him was Wu Shaoting, he immediately refused to surrender. He did not hate Wu Shaoting so that he had to resist to the end. After all, it was a matter of life. He was just worried that Wu Shaoting would not have a good end after he captured him, and the grudges of the past were not so easy to resolve.

The rebel army had no choice but to prepare for the attack.

However, Wu Shaoting did not order an attack for a long time. He knew that there were old subordinates in the arsenal, and if they were really fighting, it would be too unprofitable. He felt that if the old subordinates could be told to open the door of the arsenal, the next battle might be much easier and would not hurt the old subordinates' feelings.

Immediately, he was about to go forward by horses. Liang Hongkai saw it and quickly stopped him and said, "Sir, what are you doing?"

"Jing Yun, my old subordinates are on duty in Xinjiao Armory. I personally go to persuade them to surrender." Wu Shaoting said.

"Even if you want to talk, you can't go up in person, sir, this is too dangerous." Liang Hongkai insisted.

"Don't worry, I'm a good match. If I really make any mistakes, you are responsible for commanding the troops to attack." Wu Shaoting said confidently. After he finished speaking, he continued to move forward as soon as he kicked the Spurs.

Liang Hongkai was powerless to see this, so he could only watch.

Wu Shaoting stopped about two hundred meters in front of the main gate of the armory. He shouted loudly to the city wall: "Listen to you, I am Wu Shaoting, the first general staff member of the Mixed Association. As long as you surrender immediately, I promise not to hurt you, and you will take the initiative to surrender to the revolution!"

There was a commotion in the armory, and the people who were infuriated were soldiers from the back of the Shanzi Camp in the past.

The soldiers on the back were old soldiers, and they didn't know anything about revolutionary justice, and only knew to obey the above orders. At first, they were determined to persevere, but now they heard the name of "Wu Shaoting", and they immediately became excited. They had known that Wu Shaoting was the identity of the revolutionary party, so they were not too surprised to see this scene today, and they were just reacting violently to Wu Shaoting himself.

Li Wenqi had a bad look. He hid behind the shooting hole and squinted his eyes for a long time, but still couldn't confirm the appearance of the person who called himself Wu Shaoting in front of him. But not long after, Zhou Xiaohu, who was on the tower, shouted loudly: "It's really Lord Wu, it's really Lord Wu!"

Everyone was in an uproar again, but no one knew what to do now?

At this time, Wu Shaoting also vaguely heard Zhou Xiaohu's voice, so he shouted loudly again: "Li Wenqi, Chen Qun, Wang Yun, Wang Lifa, you are my old subordinates and have kindness to me. I don't want to fight you. As long as you are willing to open the door and come out, you will still be my good brothers. From now on, you can continue to follow me. With me, Wu Shaoting, you will definitely not treat you badly!"

The soldiers on the back had long been eager to return to Wu Shaoting's command, and they were all overjoyed when they heard these words.
Chapter completed!