Master Yuan, start!

"No... sir... I didn't..."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"

I'm just joking with you, don't take it seriously.

In a tense situation, telling a joke can be a way to ease the mood.

Yuan Xiangcheng smiled, patted Mingye's shoulder, and walked out the door.

Flying Deer Attracts Trees 7587424

"Come on, Mingye, follow me to kill the enemy!"

Ming Ye was stunned for a moment before realizing that Yuan Xiangcheng was joking.

So I hurried to follow.

"Yes!"

Chapter 8 No Right or Wrong

After Wang San returned to the camp that day, the more he thought about it, the more anxious he felt.

Although I have 10 taels of silver given by Brother Liu, it is not enough!

He was absent-minded while eating dinner, and even when others invited him to go to a brothel at night, he had no interest in it.

"Come on, Wang San, what are you thinking about? What's the matter? No money?"

"Yes, the young lady Hongying'er from Qingpu Courtyard is waiting for you to visit her today."

"Go away, don't bother me with all that talk about Ying'er and Yan'er."

"Oh, you were calling me Xiaoying'er just a few days ago, but now you don't even want to mention my name. You're getting ripped up so quickly."

"Hahahaha, it's okay if you don't want to go, guys, go and have fun on your own!"

Looking at the backs of his colleagues walking away, Wang San frowned and stood up from the bed.

"Damn it! He's just a Korean merchant. How many people can back him up? To be frank, the Qing Dynasty still has the final say in Seoul!"

That night, Wang San took advantage of the fact that everyone in the camp was sleeping soundly, got up from his bed secretly, picked up the musket leaning against the wall, and headed out of the city in the direction of the ginseng merchant's shipping route that he remembered from yesterday.

Jogyesa Temple in Seoul is a small temple with its own gate and courtyard. During festivals, some ordinary Seoul residents who come to worship Buddha will come here to burn incense and pray for peace.

However, since it is close to the outskirts of the city, although there are still people coming in and out every day, they are nothing more than monks from temples coming into the city to purchase goods, and it lacks popularity overall.

If the army had been properly disciplined, the Qing army might have been able to patrol this area. However, with Wu Changqing's return to China, Wu Zhaoyou disappeared all day, and Ma Jianzhong was busy with diplomatic affairs.

The Qing soldiers in Seoul were usually negligent in management, and as the weather grew colder, they were even more reluctant to run out of the city.

But tonight, Caoxi Temple welcomed a person with bad intentions.

...

The cold wind was howling outside the temple. Inside the temple's side rooms, the flames in the kerosene lamps were disturbed by the wind, as if they would go out at any time, but they were still burning tenaciously, reflecting the incomplete shadows of several people in the room.

The lights flickered and flashed, which was quite solemn and murderous.

Jin Yujun pushed open the creaking wooden door and walked in. He excitedly said to his fellow rebels inside, "Gentlemen, the Japanese have secretly brought over 300 muskets into Seoul this month, and dozens of Japanese ronin are willing to help us with our rebellion."

When the people around heard the news, they all clenched their fists and raised their arms, their joy was beyond words.

"As long as the time is right, great things will be accomplished!" Xu Guangfan, one of the five main planners of the Jiashen Coup, was the most excited.

"It can be done, it can be done!" Another planner, Xu Zaibi, now excitedly echoed the words of his cousin Xu Guangfan.

"But how will the Qing army respond? Although they withdrew three battalions six months ago, there are still three battalions with over 3 men in Seoul," Hong Young-sik asked with some concern. "If something goes wrong, how will we respond?"

"Brother Zhongyu, Hong Yingzhi, don't worry. The Japanese have already promised us that if the Qing army becomes too powerful, we can take the king to the Japanese embassy." Park Yongxiao, the last of the five members of the Gapsin Coup, said, "Then, we will issue an edict in the king's name, declaring that this is a Qing army rebellion. The soldiers and civilians of Seoul will then be able to distinguish right from wrong and defeat the Qing army."

"Not only that, Brother Zhongyu, Hong Yingzhi, don't forget that after the Immu Uprising, Seoul trained four battalions of new troops. The front and back battalions were trained by the Qing army, and the left and right battalions were trained by the Japanese." Jin Yujun pointed to the map on the table and pointed to Incheon.

"But the front and back battalions were taken to the Qing Concession in Incheon by Yuan Shikai on some pretext. Now there are only the left and right battalions of the Japanese left in the city. We, the Kaihua Party members, have already spread throughout the left and right battalions. Once an uprising breaks out, more than 1000 people in the left and right battalions can be used by me!" When Jin Yujun said this, his whole body almost trembled, as if the dawn of Korean independence was right in front of him and within his reach.

"What's more, I have met with the king many times and bitterly explained the shortcomings of the Qing army stationed there. The king was also impressed by me several times." Jin Yujun said to the other four people in the room with emotion:

"All Western countries are independent. No matter which country, only after becoming independent can they enter into a friendly relationship with China. However, Korea is the only country that is a vassal of China. This is deeply shameful. When will Korea be able to become independent and be on the same level as Western countries?"

"That's right. The Qing army must be eliminated. Yesterday, when I was transporting muskets with Dachanghang, I was harassed by Qing soldiers. I was forced to ask the owner of Dachanghang to pay me 10 taels of silver before the disaster was over." Xu Guangfan tore open his shirt, revealing the mark left by Wang San's gun barrel yesterday, which had turned purple.

"That's right, that's right, Qing Gou is really going too far!"

Xu Zaibi also took the opportunity to say that he was one of the two laborers who transported ginseng that day.

"But are the Japanese so easy to get along with? It's been less than 10 years since the Byeongin Persecution, and Japanese warships have invaded Ganghwa Bay and bombarded our Korean people. Have you completely forgotten the brutality of the Japanese?" Hong Young-sik asked puzzledly.

Although he also opposed the Qing Dynasty's control over Korea, after much thought, he felt that Japan and the Qing Dynasty were like a tiger in front and a wolf behind. If one went and the other came, what would be the point of rebellion?

"Brother Zhongyu, Hong Yingzhi, what you said is wrong. The Qing army is powerful, just like the Cao Wei army in the Three Kingdoms period. If we still seek refuge with the Qing army and reject the Japanese, wouldn't it be just like the two kingdoms of Shu and Wu in the Three Kingdoms period, which became enemies and were defeated one by one by Cao Wei?" Jin Yujun explained leniently when he saw that his companion still had concerns.

"What's more, now is different from the past. In addition to Qing and Japan, there are many countries in the world. The beauty also made a promise to me. The beauty's ambassador to Korea promised that if it succeeds, she will mediate the dispute between Korea and Qing as soon as possible and help our country's independence." Jin Yujun saw that everyone was thoughtful when they heard Hong Yingzhi's words of driving the tiger to devour the wolf. In order to stabilize people's hearts, he released another bombshell news.

"Are you serious? With the help of this beauty, everything will be safe!" Park Yong-hyo was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately stood up and looked at Kim Ok-gyun.

"Really! But due to international treaties, the Americans are unwilling to provide personnel assistance. They are only willing to give me more than a hundred muskets, which will be delivered soon." Jin Yujun was not sure how much help the Americans could provide.

Originally, he hadn't planned to mention the matter of looking for the Americans, because as the planning of the uprising progressed, the differences within their team became increasingly greater.

At first, Kim Ok-gyun and Hong Young-sik just wanted to launch an uprising to make Korea independent, relying on the strength of the Koreans themselves, without angering the Qing Dynasty too much, and still maintaining friendship with the Qing Dynasty.

But as his understanding of Qing Dynasty deepened, Hong Young-sik further realized the strength of Qing Dynasty.

Although it was defeated twice by Britain and France, it suppressed the Taiping Rebellion in the south and launched the Westernization Movement.

The strength of the Qing Dynasty had improved visibly, with warships purchased one after another and cannons built one after another.

These things could be seen in the Seoul Weekly, so Hong Young-sik was somewhat discouraged about the prospects of the uprising.

Just as Xu Guangfan and Xu Zaipil returned from studying in Japan, they brought their classmate Park Yongxiao to join in.

They also brought in help from Japan, which gradually advanced the Kaika Faction's plan to revolt.

However, as the Kaika faction grew in strength, the Japanese became more and more involved. On the one hand, the Japanese Kakugoro Inoue first joined the editorial team of Seoul Weekly.

From time to time, newspapers would publish news about Qing soldiers oppressing civilians, which aroused the resentment of the Koreans.

On the other hand, as some Japanese ronin continued to come to Korea, friction with the Korean people gradually increased.

It can be said that there were as many reports of Qing soldiers oppressing civilians as there were reports of Japanese ronin causing trouble, but they were all suppressed by Kakugoro Inoue and never appeared in the publication.

But as the leaders of the Kaihua faction, the five of them naturally knew that Japanese ronin were bullying and dominating the market in Seoul.

"Well, this is the only way. Korea is too weak and has no choice but to rely on the help of other countries." Hong Young-sik did not insist any more and tacitly acknowledged that the Japanese were highly involved in this uprising.

However, at this moment, the window suddenly opened wide, and the kerosene lamp was instantly extinguished by the strong wind!

In the darkness, a gunshot rang out.

"Snapped!"

It broke the tranquility of this century-old temple.

"Jung Yu, Jung Yu!" With the help of moonlight, Kim Ok-gyun noticed that Hong Young-sik beside him suddenly stiffened.

Then he slowly slid down from the chair

"It's the Qing dogs, we've been discovered by the Qing dogs!" Xu Guangfan shouted in horror.

In the moonlight, two Qing soldiers wearing pointed round hats and with their braids fluttering in the wind appeared.

It was Wang San and his brother Liu.

"Ah~~ Xibasai ki!"

Seeing his friend being shot, Xu Zaibi shouted, picked up the revolver on his body and fired a shot at the door.

Chapter 9 Revolutionaries

At night, before Wang San had walked far out of the camp, he heard a shout behind him.

"San'er, where are you going?"

"Brother Liu, why did you follow me?" Wang San was quite surprised. He didn't expect that he would be discovered even though he sneaked out tonight.

"You kid, I thought you went outside to pee in the middle of the night." Brother Liu, holding the same type of rifle in his hand, said to Wang San, "But then I thought, something's wrong. There's a chamber pot in the house in such a cold weather, and you went outside to pee. Aren't you afraid of freezing to death?"

As Brother Liu spoke, he glanced at Wang San's crotch.

"Who knew that when I looked at the wall, my musket was gone." Brother Liu pointed at the musket in his hand and said to Wang San: "Didn't you realize that the gun you were holding was mine?"

Upon hearing this, Wang San quickly looked at his damaged musket and realized that he had taken the wrong one. The tip of the musket was wrapped with a layer of cloth, and it was obviously Brother Liu's.

Helplessly, he could only scratch his head and exchange the musket from Brother Liu.

"San'er, are you still unable to let go of that pile of ginseng?"

"Brother Liu, with so many people participating, there must be tens of thousands of taels. Who wouldn't be envious? Let's make a killing today, and we will never have to worry about food and clothing in this life." The fire of greed in Wang San's eyes could no longer be suppressed.

Brother Liu was also moved when he heard the words, especially when he heard the words "you will have no worries about food and clothing in this life", which reminded him of his wife, children and elderly parents who were far away in Shandong.

finally!

Brother Liu gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

He said to Wang San: "Let's go, grab a bag of ginseng and leave. Don't get too entangled and alert the enemy."

After hearing this, Wang San nodded like a chick pecking at rice, thinking only about how much silver a full bag of ginseng could be exchanged for.

How many acres of water can I buy to irrigate the fields in my hometown?

You can visit the brothel as many times as you want in a day without repeating yourself.

Late at night, the wind was strong and the weather was cold, and the two of them quietly approached Caoxi Temple.

Wang San saw the temple in front of him. Although it was not big, it would take some effort to search it, and he couldn't help but feel anxious.

Just then, a Korean man wearing a wide-brimmed hat suddenly came over. The two of them quickly hid aside and watched the man walk into a room in the temple.

Immediately, the lights in the compartment came on.

"Brother Liu, let's go! Let's hear what's going on." Wang San felt that irrigating the fields and making money were one step closer to him.

The two of them pressed against the door, listening quietly to the movements inside the room.

"With 300 Japanese muskets, great things can be accomplished"