Chapter 63

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The two looked at each other, and Lv Muzhi threw his towel to the floor, shouting at the window: "What are you looking at? It's just a ragged towel."

Pedestrians came and went on the road, at most glancing at Lv Muzhi once; as for warlord bandit soldiers, there wasn't a single one on this street.

Lv Muzhi entered Chen Geng's room and was immediately questioned by Chen Geng: "You're messing with me, right? What's this about one shirt hung inside out, one pair of pants hung right side out, one gray towel spread out to dry... The more I think about it, the more wrong it feels. Those 'Double-Gun Soldiers' don't have time to check this!"

Lv Muzhi chuckled: "Maybe it'll come in handy later. Dayuan Restaurant on this street belongs to the big bosses. If the bosses spend some money, those Yunnan Army soldiers won't come here. Anyway, it's safe here, and I'm taking the opportunity to train your counter-reconnaissance skills."

Chen Geng curled his lip and didn't bother arguing anymore: "How's your side?"

"Already done. The Baoyue Association has been contacted, and the deployments of the Yunnan Army and Guangxi Army have been figured out."

Hearing this progress, Chen Geng was very pleased: "Great, my side is also finished. I spent three days visiting the peasant associations near the provincial capital, and another four days contacting the unions of various factories and agencies in the city. Now I can return to report. By the way, these clothes, pants, towels, and such—I bought them with money from the ready-made clothing store. You little brat pranked me, hurry up and pay me back!"

Lv Muzhi grabbed Chen Geng's shoulder: "Why say that? I'll treat you to a scrub-down another day. Hurry back to your unit to report."

On the road out of the city, the checks by the Yunnan Army and Guangxi Army had become much stricter; obviously something big was about to happen.

At the city gate, Lv Muzhi and Chen Geng were searched thoroughly by the soldiers, and some of their pocket money was snatched by those soldiers.

Angry, Chen Geng cursed loudly afterward, vowing to make these guys spit out everything they had swallowed.

Fortunately, neither of them had paper letters or documents on them, otherwise they would have suffered great disaster.

Chen Geng asked curiously: "You little brat, where did you hide the deployment map? I hid my private money in the sole of my shoe, and it was all stolen!"

Lv Muzhi pointed to his own head: "The deployment map is right here!"

The two walked for a day and actually ran directly into the First Regiment.

Upon asking, they learned that the Principal and others had agreed to return to Guangzhou to suppress the rebellion of Yunnan Army's Yang Ximin and Guangxi Army's Liu Zhenhuan.

In the command room at Whampoa Headquarters, the Staff Officer hung up the map of Guangzhou City's urban area.

This map had been personally surveyed and drawn by Lv Muzhi last year; he knew every mountain and river on it like the back of his hand.

Based on the enemy deployment information memorized in his head, Lv Muzhi marked the positions of the enemy troops one by one on the map.

The Principal looked at the dozen or so markings on the map and nodded with satisfaction: "Well done, Muzi. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles. Before the troops move, you've already earned a merit. And Chen Geng, you two have contacted the Baoyue Association, the unions, and the peasant associations. When the time comes to suppress the Yang-Liu Rebellion, you will surely become a great help to our army!"

Official He was also very satisfied with this detailed intelligence and asked: "Muzi, this intelligence was surveyed and drawn by you. Where do you think the breakthrough point of this battle will be for us?"

Lv Muzhi hesitated not at all, pointing to the Liede area by the Pearl River: "Naturally, it's Liede here. Baiyun Mountain and Shougou Ridge have already been occupied by the enemy, and a frontal assault would suffer heavy losses. I propose attacking Liede by the Pearl River, using the power of warships to open a breakthrough from the water, and to open a good situation for suppressing the Yang-Liu Rebellion."

Official He and the Principal looked at each other without refuting. Obviously they had come to ask questions with answers in mind, and Lv Muzhi's answer happened to match what they had in mind.

"Then let part of the Yue Army, the Second and Third Regiments attack and pin down the enemy troops around Baiyun Mountain and Shougou Ridge, while the First Regiment, under the cover of warships, takes boats to land at Liede, occupies the Shapai Station in that area, and opens the railway transportation line."

Once the battle order was issued, the First Regiment began requisitioning civilian ships everywhere, preparing to forcibly cross the Pearl River from the water, and at the same time secured the support of the Flying Eagle warship.

Within Guangzhou City, the workers, according to prior agreement, launched a general strike.

Workers at the power plant, water plant, and railway jointly went on strike, leaving their posts, leaving Guangzhou City without water or electricity, transportation paralyzed, and telephones out of service.

At the same time, the Workers' Picket Corps, the Peasant Self-Defense Corps, and the village militias and civilian corps of the Baoyue Association began distributing weapons, preparing to cooperate with the Whampoa Cadet Army against the rebel forces of Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan.

The battle was imminent. On the Pearl River, the Flying Eagle warship bombarded the Yunnan Army defensive line around Liede, and the naval guns brought great shock to the Yunnan Army.

The Yunnan Army used their own few assigned artillery pieces to counterattack the warship, but the soldiers lacked training, weapon maintenance was poor, and the accuracy and power of the artillery were inferior, unable to pose sufficient threat to the Flying Eagle warship.

The First Regiment found a steam-powered small boat, called a steamboat by the common people, carrying two companies of soldiers. At the stern of the small boat, more than ten civilian boats were also towed, similarly carrying many soldiers, charging straight toward the Yunnan Army positions set up at Liede.

"Boatman! Go faster!" Liu Zhi's Second Battalion acted as the vanguard this time, and the two companies on the small boat were both from the Second Battalion.

"Commander, rest assured, my boat is famously fast!" The boatman patted his chest and guaranteed.

Lv Muzhi also brought his own company, crouching on the forward deck awaiting orders, ready to disembark and charge at any time.

"Idiot! Don't shoot that warship, aim at that small boat! Sink it for me!" A Yunnan Army regimental commander roared.

"Idiot! Don't hit that warship—aim at that steamboat! Blow it up!" a Yunnan Army regimental commander roared.

The Yunnan Army fired several cannons in succession at the small boat, resulting in huge splashes on the Pearl River, and the splashing waves soaked all the soldiers' uniforms.

The heavy machine gun on the deck began firing, shooting toward the shore.

The Yunnan Army's artillery also opened fire, aiming a cannon at the right side of the small boat, and actually hit it.

"Not good! This boat is sinking!"

"No good! This ship is sinking!"