On October 28th, Changsha Daximen Wharf, in the morning, the weather was clear and clear. On this day, Changsha is full of "Chinese characters" white flags, which are hung from the city to the dock. The gongs and drums on the pier are noisy, and the people are surging.

A few days ago, the Changsha New Army attached itself to the rebellion and drove away the governor Yu Chengge without bloodshed, and then the revolutionaries gathered Jiao Dafeng as the governor of the Hunan Military Government and Chen Zuoxin as the deputy governor. As soon as the two of them took office, they vigorously expanded their army and prepared to divide their troops into two routes, going south to aid Jiangxi and north to aid Hubei. In just a few days, more than 60,000 soldiers were recruited and organized into four towns. This day is the day when the first batch of Hunan troops to aid Hubei and Hunan swore in the Northern Expedition.

The Xiangjiang River is rolling eastward, and everyone on the shore is in high spirits. Chen Zuoxin raised his glass and said to Wang Longzhong: "I salute a cup of stars, I wish you to go, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, go straight to the Yellow Dragon, and build the first merit of my Hunan army!" ”

Wang Longzhong laughed and picked up his wine glass, "My forty-nine standard brothers, I will live up to the trust of my father and elders in Xiangzhong!" This time, we must show the prestige of our Hunan army, and let the Hubei Yankees take a good look at the bloodiness of our Hunan children! ”

"Good!" Jiao Dafeng raised the wine glass in his hand to his chest, "Brothers, drink this cup of hometown wine!" I, Jiao Dafeng, am here, and I wish the brothers of the 49 standards a victorious start and success. Recover my Han family! ”

"Xie Dudu!"

Wang Long drank all the wine in the cup.

"Governor, and wait in Changsha, the good news of our Hunan army will come soon! Brothers, let's go! ”

The wind in the river is fierce, the drums are thundering, and the new army in Hubei is coming to the aid of the new army along the way, and with full of enthusiasm, they embark on the journey.

Jiao Dafeng and Chen Zuoxin stood at the pier until the warship gradually disappeared into the vast river, then said goodbye to everyone, turned over on the horse, and slowly turned back to the governor's mansion in the cheers of Changsha citizens.

"Zhenmin, is this new army expanding too much?" Jiao Dafeng said while waving his hand at the enthusiastic citizens on the side of the road.

"Jusun, what do you mean by that?" Chen Zuoxin was originally very excited, but when he heard Jiao Dafeng's words, his face suddenly became a little ugly, "The revolution has not yet succeeded, and it is the time for the children of my Han family to use their lives." Soon after, you and I will divide our troops into the north and south, and each will go to Hubei and Jiangxi, and when the time comes, we will only worry that the number of new troops is too small, and where will we worry about it? Ju Sun, recover the whole country, this army, the more the merrier! ”

"I know this if you don't say it," Jiao Dafeng thought of something else, "But Zhenmin, you don't know the price of firewood and rice, now it's just a new army in Changsha, there are four towns and 60,000, and the daily military expenditure is really huge, and the money in the governor's treasury may not be able to support it for long." ”

Jiao Dafeng's words really made Chen Zuoxin a little puzzled. Chen Zuoxin has a new family history, both civil and military, and calligraphy and painting are especially good. But he is a Confucian disciple, and he has always despised this matter of money, food, and grain. As soon as Changsha City was recovered, he was bent on expanding his armaments, and in terms of money, Jiao Dafeng had always been in charge, but he had never considered the issue of money and food.

"Ju Sun, I know that Changsha is rich, and the customs tariffs alone have made a lot of progress every day. Not to mention maintaining the new army in the four towns, even if there are two more towns, I'm afraid the military expenditure will be more than enough, right? ”

Jiao Dafeng heard the dissatisfaction in Chen Zuoxin's words. I was secretly a little angry in my heart. You must know that although the two of them coincided with their meeting and jointly led the recovery of Changsha, in the final analysis, the two belonged to different revolutionary camps, and they had always been not under their own borders, and their intersections were even more general. Chen Zuoxin has been operating in Hunan for many years, and most of the Changsha New Army only knows and only obeys Chen Zuoxin. As a matter of fact, at the Advisory Bureau that day, the two sides fought over each other, and finally had to come up with such an indecent result as the chief and deputy governors.

"Didn't they report you?" Holding back the anger in his heart, Jiao Dafeng said lightly, "As soon as the military government was established, I sent a note to Wei Kefei, the Department of Customs and Taxation, asking to take over the customs and store the taxes in Dahan Bank, but Wei Kefei has always refused to hand over ......."

"Refuse?" A heroic spirit came out of Chen Zuoxin's chest, and before Jiao Dafeng finished speaking, he hurriedly said, "Why did he refuse?" This is the property of our Han family, and it should have been taken over by the Han people! If you go and talk, and the British don't agree, I'll take someone to Orange Island! ”

"Zhenmin, don't be reckless!" Jiao Dafeng looked at Chen Zuoxin, and was really a little bored in his heart, "Don't forget the fist chaos in Gengzi Nian!" This is not the time to fight with foreigners. Now our first enemy is the Manchu Qing! ”

"This doesn't work, that doesn't work, you have to figure out a way!" Chen Zuoxin shouted, "No matter what, my soldiers, a copper and a grain of rice, can't be missing!" ”

Hearing Chen Zuoxin's words, Jiao Dafeng frowned, clamped the horse's belly between his legs, urged the horse to move forward quickly, and still greeted the Changsha citizens on the side of the road with a smile, but no longer talked to Chen Zuoxin.

The crowd on the side of the road, seeing the heroic Jiao Chen, cheered loudly and applauded. The scene at this time is very similar to the pomp and circumstance of the court officials.

Nongquan Blade stood in the cheering crowd, watching Jiao Chen and the others cross the street with high spirits. I couldn't help but laugh. After laughing, he shook his head again, sighed, turned around and left.

didn't take a few steps, but a person next to him leaned over, patted the agricultural spring blade, and asked: "What did Xi Hou laugh at just now, isn't it also like those ordinary people, envious of the majesty of Jiao Chen and the others?" ”

Nongquan was startled, and when he looked back, it was his friend from his youth, Tan Yanzhao of the Tan family in Chaling.

"It turned out to be Yu'an, you are silent in and out, but you bluffed me!" Nongquan Blade laughed.

"Don't interrupt," Tan Yanzhao said with a smile, "Who are you Nongxihou, who will be scared by me?" Tell me, what were you laughing at just now? ”

Nongquan Blade laughed and replied, "It's nothing, it's just that when I saw such a scene today, I thought it was a little funny when I remembered a passage in the history books." ”

"Which paragraph?"

"On that day, the first emperor inspected the meeting, and the carriage and horses were Xuanhe. Han Gaozu and the Chu Overlord both watched from afar on the side of the road. At this moment, it is very similar to that time. ”

"Haha, Xihou's sentence is quite interesting, I don't know if what you think in your heart is 'he can take his place', or 'the husband should be like this'?"

"What does Yu'an think?"

"Haha, don't hide it from Xihou, I look at the two of Jiao Chen, Mu Monkey and crown, but they are just a person who sells his head!" Tan Yanzhao suddenly lowered his voice, "To tell you the truth, I came to you this time because I asked for something." ”

"Oh? Let's hear it. I want to know, what is the matter, and what your Chaling Tan family can't do? Nongquan Blade was a little surprised.

Tan Yanzhao looked around at no one - because everyone went to the side of the road to watch the excitement, he attached it to Nongquan Blade's ear and whispered a few words.

Who knew that Nongquan Blade still looked indifferent, "This kind of trivial matter is worth your caution, didn't you just say it, those two are just people who sell their heads." However, I'm very curious, your Chaling Tan family, who have always been loyal to the imperial court, why do you want to join in the excitement of this rebellion today? ”

Tan Yanzhao smiled bitterly and said, "This is the arrangement of the ancestor of our Tan family, I just carry it out." Why, to be honest, I don't really know. Xihou, please help, this is also the meaning of the ancestor of our Tan family. ”

Nongquan Blade didn't want to meddle in this kind of thing, but when he heard Tan Yanzhao's last sentence, he knew that he had to wade into the troubled waters this time. He had received great favors from the Tan family in the past, and now that the head of the Tan family has come forward, he must not shirk.

"Since that's what that person meant, I naturally have no objection. Let's go, you and I will find a quiet place and think about it. ”

didn't mention how the two discussed, but said that Jiao Dafeng returned to the Governor's Mansion, and saw that the mansion was crowded with people urging money and food, and his heart was bitter. I don't know what to do. He blocked left and right, and finally sent these debt-collecting ancestors away before noon.

In fact, the people who begged for money and food were not really sent away by him, but it was almost noon, everyone went back to eat, and many of them went straight to the best restaurant in Changsha next to the governor's mansion.

Seeing that everyone dispersed, Jiao Dafeng sat in the house, feeling bitter in his heart. If you don't know the price of firewood and rice, this sentence is not just about Chen Zuoxin, but also his self-deprecation in the past few days. Who would have thought that the dignified Changsha Mansion would be so embarrassed. Before the revolution, it was said that the Qing prefect had 100,000 snowflakes of silver for three years, and the Manchus were not without money, but they just didn't have to worry about running China. Who knows the success of the recovery only then does he know the hardships of managing government affairs.

Jiao Dafeng was sighing in the house, and Pang Guangzhi suddenly walked in happily. This Pang Guangzhi is the comrade sent by the League to Changsha to deliver the news after the Wuchang Shouyi. As soon as Pang Guangzhi entered the door, he happily said to Jiao Dafeng: "Ju Sun, I have a good idea to raise money!" ”

When Jiao Dafeng heard this, he was immediately overjoyed, "Tell me quickly, what is the solution?" ”

"I just went out and ran into an old friend. When he heard that our military government was in financial difficulties, he gave me an idea. He said that the Xiangshanji and Feng Match Company in Wenchang Pavilion outside the north gate of Changsha, oh, is the foreign fire bureau in the mouth of the people, and can have tens of thousands of taels of input every day......"

"You don't want me to intercept the entry of the Foreign Fire Bureau, do you?" Jiao Dafeng didn't wait for Pang Guangzhi to finish speaking, then interjected.

"Of course not, how can we revolutionaries do such an open fire thing?" Pang Guangzhi continued, "My idea is much more clever than what you say. You probably also know that this Hefeng Match Company issued a kind of paper ticket in Changsha, because Hefeng Credit is a good book, and the citizens of Changsha City also use it for daily expenses. My friend suggested that our military government discuss with Hefeng and print more paper bills to meet the daily expenses of the military government for the time being. ”

As soon as Jiao Dafeng heard this, he applauded and praised: "It's really a good idea, when I was in Japan, I also saw them use this method to deal with financial shortages. Who is your friend, such a person who understands economics, our military government is very lacking. ”

Pang Guangzhi saw that Jiao Dafeng had adopted his suggestion, and he was very proud, "His name is Nongquan Blade, he went to Germany to study a few years ago, and he just returned to China not long ago. ”