Five minutes later, dozens of people surrounded Li Boyang.
"Tinderbox".
With a faint light, Li Boyang took out a pen and a map showing the distribution of gang locations in Guangzhou, which Yan Zhendong had investigated, and began assigning tasks.
“Zhang Tiechui, you’re in charge of the Liwan Gang. Their headquarters is in the Yingke Gambling House in Xicheng.”
"yes."
"Kong Erlengzi, you're in charge of the Haizhu Gang. Their headquarters are in the coolie area at the docks."
"We guarantee the mission will be completed."
"Chen Kun, you'll be in charge of the White Cloud Gang. Their headquarters is in Chunhua Tower in the East City."
As the gang names on the distribution map were crossed out one by one, every platoon leader and above in the militia knew their target and where that target was located.
If Li Boyang didn't cross out the name of a gang on the distribution map with his pen, it meant that the gang would be erased from the history of Guangzhou before sunrise that day.
At this point, the names of more than twenty gangs had been crossed off the map, meaning that Guangzhou was destined to be awash in blood tonight, and these gangs would become history before sunrise.
"Now there are only two of the biggest gangs left. Master, you can choose one."
Li Boyang looked at Huang Feihong and said, "The Guangzhou branch of the Hongmen is backed by the merchant forces represented by the Thirteen Factories of Guangzhou."
"As for the other one, it's the Guangzhou canal gang, who are backed by foreign devils."
"Leave the Canal Gang to me." After considering it for a moment, Huang Feihong finally decided to deal with the Canal Gang.
“Okay, then Zhendong and I will go to Hongmen.”
Li Boyang was taken aback. Huang Feihong probably didn't want to run into acquaintances in the Hongmen and make it difficult to carry out his plan. That was fine too, since he didn't have Huang Feihong's concerns. He could just let the Hongmen's Guangzhou branch bleed to death.
As for the possibility of failure, Li Boyang had not considered it at all. The three thousand well-trained militia soldiers might not even be one-tenth the number of these gangs, but don't forget that these three thousand people not only had military training, but they were also not carrying long-haired men and big knives.
The militia's three thousand soldiers were uniformly equipped with Enfield rifles provided by Jardine Matheson and had become a modern army under the training of British instructors. If they couldn't even handle a few gangsters, then Li Boyang might as well not rebel at all, find a place to live in seclusion, and let time pass so that the Qing Dynasty would naturally be overthrown.
The half-hour rest period passed quickly.
"All officers above the platoon level, please check the time. It is 4 a.m. now. We will launch the attack at 5 a.m. sharp. Do you all understand?"
"Understood."
After the militia had all adjusted their posture, Huang Feihong looked at Li Boyang, and seeing that the other party nodded, he immediately gave the order:
"Set off!"
The three thousand militia members were divided according to the strength of their respective gangs.
Li Boyang and Yan Zhendong led 300 fully armed militia soldiers straight to the Hongmen branch altar.
According to intelligence, there are more than 500 Hongmen henchmen in the Hongmen branch, and Li Boyang believes that 300 skilled in using firearms are more than enough to deal with them.
They arrived in Guangzhou at 4 a.m., and it was unusually quiet. After knocking out two night watchmen, Li Boyang led 300 men to approach the Hongmen headquarters.
"Who is it?"
A patrol of soldiers, about twenty men, with broadswords at their waists, discovered Li Boyang and his group.
"We're looking for trouble with the Hongmen. Get out of here if you don't want to die."
Under the gunfire of hundreds of muskets, the man in his twenties wisely chose to cover his mouth and slink away.
Li Boyang checked the time; it wasn't even 5:30 yet. He immediately set up an ambush outside the Hongmen headquarters.
Time passed little by little.
"Brother, have you heard? All the opium in Guangzhou comes from Foshan."
"Isn't Foshan Wong Fei-hung's territory? You've got it wrong, kid."
“There’s absolutely no mistake. A friend of my second uncle’s is doing this business nearby and he’s made a lot of money.”
"I never imagined that Wong Fei-hung was such a hypocrite, even selling opium."
Inside the Hung Society's headquarters, two thugs on night watch were chatting idly.
"Time's up, go in."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three hundred militia soldiers rushed forward and fired the first shot in Guangzhou.
Gunshots rang out throughout Guangzhou in an instant.
"What's going on? Where did the gunshots come from?"
In the Governor-General's mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Shusheng, who was fast asleep with his twelfth concubine in his arms, was startled awake.
"Master, something terrible has happened! There are gunshots everywhere. It sounds like someone has rebelled."
"Are you brain-dead? If someone rebelled, would you still be alive? This governor's mansion would have been destroyed immediately."
"Go, wake up all the servants and have them find out some information."
Zhang Shusheng pushed aside his sleeping concubine and quickly put on a jacket.
At Zhang Shusheng's command, candlelight illuminated the Governor-General's residence in Guangdong and Guangxi. Zhang Shusheng went to the reception room, where servants quickly brought him salt for rinsing his mouth and a basin and towel for washing his face.