The liquid sè sè sinks. Jiangcheng Wuhan is hot and sultry. Although it was nearly nine o'clock, there were still many people on the street, and the whole city was noisy.

The Hanyang Arsenal is also noisy, the steam generator makes a huge roar, mixed with the noise of those various machines, and the whole factory is covered in transparency, the situation between the north and the south is tense, there seems to be signs of war, the workers and technicians of this arsenal are in three shifts, and the machines are resting. The toil turned into bundles of rifles, boxes of bullets, and mortar shells glowing with a faint blue light, and in this way industrial strength was transformed into the combat effectiveness of the troops.

The headquarters of the Republican Army is located in the Hanyang Arsenal, and in the middle of the noisy night, the headquarters is also transparent, and a military meeting is being held in the small hall of the headquarters.

Presiding over the meeting was Zhao Bei, commander-in-chief of the Republican Army. Most of the participants in the meeting were representatives of political propagandists stationed in various garrisons in Wuhan, as well as some high-ranking officers of the General Staff Department and the General Headquarters, and there were two main topics on the agenda of the meeting: first, to sum up the "system of current political propaganda personnel" to improve this system, and second, to discuss the "war of rebellion." After the end of the republican army, the next step of the republican army's reorganization goals and plans is to further rectify the discipline of the troops and strengthen their combat effectiveness.

Also attending the meeting as observers were a small number of graduates of the Military and Political Academy, who are now serving as probationary political propagandists in grassroots units and accumulating work experience. In the near future, most of them will go deep into the countryside as members of the "Rural Armed Task Force" to unite the progressive forces in the countryside, strengthen the army's control over the countryside, and lay the foundation for the establishment of grassroots political power in the countryside.

The meeting has been going on for two hours, and everything that should be summed up has been summed up, and what should be emphasized has also been emphasized, the list of meritorious personnel in the current war of rebellion has also been officially announced, and the relevant post transfers in the army have also been briefly introduced to everyone.

"Comrades. I repeat. After returning to the army, they should immediately start preaching to the officers and men, so that everyone can understand that the blow dealt by the republican zhèngfǔ to the inferior gods and local tyrants of the Junxian faction in Hunan and Guizhou provinces is a blow to the revolutionary forces against the forces, and this is not a poor man eating a big household, nor is it a bandit pulling fat pigs, this is killing chickens and arrogant monkeys, and this is a blow to those enemies who have launched an armed rebellion by revolutionary means and legal procedures. %%Browser Input-8.%%Through this war, we revolutionary soldiers must let all the hidden enemies know that the iron fist of the revolution will not only fight the diehards of the Manchu Dynasty, all the reactionary forces that block China from becoming strong will be smashed by the iron fist of the revolution, and all the local tyrants and inferior tyrants who try to usurp power will be ruthlessly swept away!

On the other hand, as a local tyrant, they should take the military zhèngfǔ as the object of allegiance, strive to be a good lieutenant who saves the country and benefits the township, and the army zhèngfǔ protects their industry and protects their personal safety. They should repay the favor with virtue, instead of pouring out their anger to become enemies of the army and be taken advantage of. Inferior Zhong and Liangshen are only in a thought, whether they are good Zhongs who cooperate with the army, or whether they are recommended to be eliminated by the revolutionary army, it depends on how they choose. ”

Towards the end of the meeting, Zhao Bei once again emphasized the ideological and political work of the troops.

Since the outbreak of the Rebel War, the march of the rebel army has been very smooth. Hunan and Guizhou have been regained one after another. The next thing is the liquidation of the Junxian faction in these two provinces, but this matter is far more difficult than military action, after all, the Junxian faction is uneven, and the screening work alone is huge and complicated, and Zhao Bei's position on this is very clear, that is, to resolutely "heat treatment" those leaders who directly participated in the coup. Small, killing the head and copying the family is unambiguous, and for those who did not directly participate in the coup plot and those who obeyed the orders of the big people, the way of "cold treatment" was adopted, most of them did not kill the majority and did not copy, and won the majority and isolated the minority.

Although after the rectification, there are not many people from Haozhong families among the officers of the Republican Army, but for the sake of the stability of the troops, Zhao Bei still decided to conduct a new screening of the officers in the army, although he does not plan to immediately start a drastic reform of the land system, but in the long run, the background of the officers of the Republican Army must be clearly screened as soon as possible, and it is necessary to avoid being in the "officer." It is equated with "big landlords" to escort the future reform of the land system.

Taking the opportunity of this coup d'état in Hunan and Guizhou, Zhao Bei decided to set up a "hoe society" in Hunan and Guizhou provinces. "On the one hand, it is to establish a rural grassroots control network, and on the other hand, it is also a kind of counterweight and deterrence to the forces of the two provinces.

However, Zhao Bei's actions caused some suspicion. There were also some rumours among the IRA troops. In particular, the revolutionary guard believes that the statement that "the commander-in-chief wants to go to Hunan and Guizhou to eat big households" has gone without incident, which has made some officers with relatively solid family backgrounds full of doubts.

In order to dispel the doubts of these officers, and also to eliminate rumors and unite Zhu Shen, Zhao Beicai deliberately emphasized the handling of the Junxian faction in Hunan and Guizhou, and now he has not yet grasped the power of the whole country. Every step taken must be taken with extreme caution. Avoid giving political opponents an excuse to attack.

After ending this military meeting, Zhao Bei, accompanied by Lan Tianwei, Jiang Fangzhen and others, left the auditorium and went to the General Staff Headquarters not far away to plan the march into southern Hunan and southern Qiannan.

Due to the rapid advance of the Republican Army, the large tribes of Hunan and Guizhou were under the control of the Republican Army, but the southern areas of the two provinces were controlled by the Communist Association from Guangxi and Yunnan, and they also used the guise of "rebel army".

How to solve the communist forces in the southern part of the two provinces has become another difficult problem facing the high-ranking generals of the Republican Army, and the revolutionary comrades of Bi'er Fofa are embarrassed to shoot the first shot. However, Zhao Bei was determined to completely control the two provinces of Hunan and Guizhou in his own hands, using them as strategic bases, and whether the Communist Party was willing to shoot the first shot or not, the Republican Army would advance to southern Hunan and southern Qiannan. may even take advantage of the situation to enter Yunnan and rush to the border in one breath under the banner of "eliminating the remnants of the monarchy".

Zhao Beiwang walked into the General Staff, and before the map was laid out on the conference table, Tian Jinfu, the captain of the guard, ran into the conference room in a panic, stood beside Zhao Bei and whispered a few words.

Zhao Bei was a little surprised, nodded, and said, "Please let him in." ”

Tian Mufu hurriedly ran out of the conference room and soon led Xiong Chengji back.

Lan Yaowei and Jiang Fangzhen were surprised when they saw Xiong Chengji's sad and angry face, but they didn't ask.

Xiong Chengji walked up to Zhao Bei, stood up and saluted, and then handed over the transcript of the telegram in his hand, and said in a deep voice: "This is the telegram that the comrades of the Restoration Society just photographed, President Tao was assassinated. ”

"What?"

"Tao Huanqing was assassinated? When did it happen? ”

Lan Tianwei and Jiang Fangzhen were both startled, hurriedly asked, and then looked at Zhao Bei, seeing that he looked solemn, frowned, and took the telegram to copy, but he didn't read it, obviously Tian Jinfu had told him the news just now.

"At the invitation of the Consul General of France in Shanghai, President Tao visited the French Concession today, and was assassinated two hours ago in the back garden of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau of the Concession. Discuss the aftermath. The commander-in-chief is a cadre of the Liberation Society, and he should have known about this matter as soon as possible. Chairman Tao is the premier of the Kuomintang party, and now the issue of the party leader may become the focus again, according to Xiong's opinion. Now there are only a dozen days left before the congressional election, this catty. At present, the most qualified person to compete for the party leader is only two pounds, one is Mr. Zhang Taiyan, vice president of the Liberation Association, and the other is Mr. Song Yuchu of the League. ”

After Xiong Chengji finished speaking, he looked at Zhao Bei and waited for the commander-in-chief to make a statement.

But Zhao Bei did not immediately express his opinion. Just handed the telegram transcript to Lan Tianwei, paced around with his hands behind his back, and finally walked to the window and looked at the dark night sky.

History has changed beyond recognition.

In the history that Zhao Bei is familiar with. Tao Chengzhang was indeed assassinated, but he was assassinated by Chen Qimei as the leader of the Restoration Society, and the Kuomintang had not yet appeared on the stage of history when he was assassinated, but now, with the crossing of Zhao Bei, history has been distorted very much. Not only was the Kuomintang established ahead of schedule, but Tao Chengzhang actually became the leader of this coalition party. and was assassinated as party leader.

In the history that Zhao Bei is familiar with, the assassinated party leader of the Kuomintang should be Song Jiaoren.

Now, Tao Chengzhang has been assassinated, and he has been assassinated as the premier of the Kuomintang party, so this catty, the assassination incident has become quite intriguing.

Who will be behind the assassination?

Zhao Bei is a little uncertain, after all, Chen Qimei and Yuan Shikai both have assassination motives, according to the mainstream historical view, one of the two of them is the person who assassinated Tao Chengzhang in history, and the other is the person who assassinated Song Jiaoren in history, and the similarity is that Chen Qimei and Yuan Shikai's motives for assassination are both to get rid of political enemies.

But now, Tao Chengzhang replaced Song Jiaoren as the leader of the Kuomintang, and he died in the post of premier of the Kuomintang, so it is difficult to say who did it, and it may even be an assassination carried out by a third party.

For Zhao Bei, this is a distorted history, an unfamiliar history, and it is no longer the history he is familiar with.

However, Zhao Bei did not dwell on the question of who was behind the scenes, and his attention quickly shifted to the choice of a successor to the party leader.

The Kuomintang in this historical plane was formed by the merger of the League and the Liberation Society, but there were many contradictions between the two organizations, and even Tao Chengzhang became the party leader with the support of local powerful factions, and now that Tao Chengzhang is dead, the problem of this party leader has become thorny again.

The main purpose of Zhao Bei's support for this coalition party was to contain Yuan Shikai's jīng power in the parliamentary struggle, and considering the assassinations that occurred in history, Zhao Bei also deliberately pointed out Tao Chengzhang's security problems to the Guangfu Society, and even sent some pistols to equip Tao Chengzhang's guards. But he didn't expect the other party to be so careless, and Tao Chengzhang still died at the hands of assassins.

Zhao Bei sighed. Turning around, he saw that everyone in the room was looking at him.

Zhao Bei cleared his throat and was about to express his opinion, but a figure flashed at the door of the conference room. A staff officer on duty walked into the conference room with a copy of the telegram, handed the telegram to Tian Jinfu, who was standing by the door, and whispered a few words.

Ming Jinfu did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly forwarded the telegram transcript to Zhao Bei.

After reading the transcript of the telegram, Zhao Bei was stunned, walked to Xiong Chengji's side, and handed the telegram to him.

Xiong Chengji hurriedly glanced at the telegram, and was also stunned.

"President Tao left a political testament and nominated the commander-in-chief as a candidate for party leadership? This telegram was jointly sent by Huang Keqiang and Song Yuchu. ”

Listening to Xiong Chengji's words, everyone else in the room was stunned, and they all looked at Zhao Bei, but saw that the commander-in-chief had a solemn expression, and no one knew what he was pondering.