The frenzied atmosphere brought about by the victory in the war lasted for more than half a month before gradually subsided.

In this more than half a month, Chengdu happened to complete the renovation of the old city, and although the plan was twists and turns, causing countless officials and people to suffer, it was finally completed on schedule.

More than 100,000 people moved into their new homes, and all kinds of complaints and rumors disappeared without a trace in the news of the unprecedented victory.

At present, the most talked about by the citizens of Chengdu and the military and political circles is also the most indignant: Commander Xiao was removed from his post as Minister of Military Affairs of Sichuan by President Yuan Shikai because he "started a war without permission and brought disaster to the people"!

Compared with the rational analysis of Chinese and foreign newspapers, public opinion in various parts of Sichuan is very different.

From the dignitaries of the military and political circles to the ordinary people, all of them complained about the meritorious Xiao Yimin, and the angry people had no choice but to scold the mother of Yanjing's political axe, so a sentence gradually spread throughout Sichuan: "Yuan Datou" actually regarded our Commander Xiao as a "wronged leader"!

At this time, Yuan Shikai had just been inaugurated as president for three months, and his glorious head had not yet been minted on a silver coin, and he had already received the nickname of "Yuan Datou" given by the people of Sichuan, which shows how glorious and great his image is in the minds of the people.

Whether it is the Sichuan Army, which is dominated by the new army, or the Sichuan Border Guards who are loyal to Xiao Yimin, during this period of time, there was almost a lot of noise over the dismissal of Commander Xiao, except for the Xiong Kewu Department that was entrenched in Yucheng and ran by a small capital, the officers and men of the Sichuan Army all opposed Yuan Shikai's dismissal order, and the generals and colonels of the four divisions coincidentally launched a petition movement and jointly wrote to the Yanjing War Department to plead for Xiao Yimin and wash away the grievances for the Sichuan Army.

Although Hu Jingyi, the governor of the capital, had already received Yuan Shikai's secret order, he did not dare to suppress the large-scale spontaneous actions of the lieutenant colonel, so he could only pretend not to see it.

In the end, seeing that the matter was out of control, Xiao Yimin himself took the initiative to stand up, and he first gave a strict order to Wang Jian, the commander of the Fourth Division, and all the officers and soldiers of his department, the First Division of the Border Army, and the officers and men of all departments directly under him: It is forbidden for any department or individual to discuss President Yuan Da's order to revoke himself as Minister of Military Affairs of Sichuan.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Yimin sent letters and telegrams to more than 10 senior generals of the Sichuan Army, including Zhou Jun, Peng Guanglie, and Sun Zhaoluan, briefly explaining his stance of supporting the central government's political axe and obeying the orders of the War Department, explaining the important surnames of Sichuan's post-war reconstruction and political stability, sincerely expressing his deep gratitude to every colleague, and encouraging all divisions of the Sichuan Army to boldly carry out military innovations.

Subsequently, Xiao Yimin published a rigorously worded open letter in the "Sichuan Yuebao" and the "Huaxi Times," expressing his stance of obeying the military orders and supporting the central authorities, expounding his determination to conscientiously and conscientiously protect the land and the people in the position of commander of the border army, and will, as always, devote himself to the military reform of the Sichuan army, develop military education, and call on the military and the people of Sichuan to unite and contribute to the establishment of a stable, peaceful, and constantly developing country of abundance.

As soon as this letter came out, all walks of life in Sichuan gradually calmed down.

In any case, Xiao Yimin is still the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan border army, which is the most powerful in combat, and his two descendants are still guarding the west and south gates of Sichuan.

The situation finally calmed down, and the days passed, and all the units of the Sichuan Army stationed in Neijiang, Xufu, Leshan, Ya'an, and Chengdu were all carrying out readjustment and military innovation in an orderly manner.

There is a gratifying phenomenon: Through the summary of the battle between Sichuan and Yunnan, the officers and men of the various divisions of the Sichuan Army completely abandoned the gray or yellow new army uniform, imitated the simple and bright new military uniform of the border army, and began to customize a large number of uniforms in batches.

No matter what era it is, heroes always arouse the support and pursuit of the whole people.

Since August, the Sichuan army officers and soldiers of an olive or pine green military uniform with the same color soft training hat, has become the standard attire of students and teenagers all over Sichuan, shrewd merchants began to purchase a large number of machines to imitate, Chengdu major dyeing workshops heard the wind and moved, bleaching and dyeing military uniform fabrics at night, in order to supply the rapidly growing market demand, in this way, it is cheaper for the Sichuan army divisions, ordering military cloth custom military uniforms and shoes and hats has become very simple.

On 1 August, all the officers and men of the border army who had participated in the battle of Sichuan-Yunnan and the families of the fallen soldiers received a fine red satin jewelry box, which ran 500 miles in one night and annihilated the cavalry unit of a regiment of the Qijiang Daijia Regiment in one fell swoop, and received an additional Pegasus Medal.

When the soldiers opened the box, they were pleasantly surprised to see a fine medal placed in the center of the red flannel, the front of the silver medal with a diameter of 45mm is a golden five-pointed star that radiates light, two semicircular crossed rice ears surround the five-pointed star, the middle of the five-pointed star is a relief winged leopard pattern, and the back of the medal is cast with three lines of words in block letters and numbers:

The Medal of Honor for the Battle of Sichuan and Yunnan, June 25-28, 1912, the bottom line is the medal number.

The cavalry unit received an additional Pegasus medal, except that the motif in the middle of the five-pointed star was a golden horse with wings spread and galloping.

The families of the fallen soldiers held the medal in their hands, and they were very excited, and each family member of the fallen soldier had received a pension and commendation certificate of 80 oceans, and now they have won the commemorative medal made of real money, all of them are grateful to Commander Xiao, and they have expressed that they want to take the medal as their own heirloom and pass it on from generation to generation.

More than 10,000 soldiers who received the medal were extremely excited, immediately pinned the medal to their right chest, walked around with great pride, and finally got together in twos and threes to discuss that they must take a photo and send it back to their hometown.

In the end, with a wave of his hand, more than 100 officers of the newly established Military Judge Advocate Office and Political Office immediately received cameras and a large amount of film and went to various barracks to take pictures of the officers and men.

The newly recruited soldiers were extremely envious and disappointed, watching the veterans walk around with the medals on their chests one by one, showing off their might, they were really hateful and unwilling, and finally went to their bosses to ask for a war, and the Political Department had to make a temporary decision: whether they won the medal or not, everyone had a part in this photoshoot! This calmed down the restless recruits.

Afterwards, officers at all levels admired their commander-in-chief and joked privately: A medal can make all soldiers fight for the commander, high!

After the news came out, it triggered a huge response from all departments of the Sichuan army, and the generals and schools of all divisions rushed to Chengdu one after another, strongly asking the governor and the provincial political axe to cast a unified campaign commemorative medal and award it to all the brothers who died and died who participated in the battle of Sichuan and Yunnan, so that history will let the people always remember the contributions made by the soldiers of the Sichuan army.

Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the border army, immediately wrote an article in support, counting the heroes who emerged from various divisions and regiments in the battle of Sichuan and Yunnan, and recounting the tear-jerking heroic deeds.

As soon as the article came out, it immediately aroused a strong response from all walks of life in Sichuan, and the Metropolitan Governor Hu Jingyi had no choice but to immediately convene a special meeting, quickly adopted a series of resolutions and design plans, ordered the Ministry of Government Affairs and the Ministry of Military Affairs to raise 40,000 taels of silver and copper to start casting medals, and decided to hold a grand ceremony on October 10, which pacified the various units of the Sichuan army.

As soon as the matter of the medal was finished, the special envoy sent by President Yuan Shikai arrived in Chengdu, and Hu Jingyi led a group of civil and military officials to the East Wharf to greet him warmly.

Duan Qirui and a military and political official in Sichuan finished the salute, and took a carriage to the governor's mansion in the crowd of everyone, and walked not far away, Duan Qirui asked Hu Jingyi, who was in the same car, in a low voice:

"Brother Wenlan, why didn't you see General Xiao Yimin, the commander of the border army?"

"Huh? Oh, that's right, the younger brother also received a telegram just before yesterday, Fang knew that Brother Zhiquan had arrived in Yucheng, and when he contacted Brother Yiming, he had rushed to western Sichuan two days ago to inspect the border army, and I am afraid that he will not be able to come back for a while! ”

Hu Jingyi replied truthfully, he really didn't know that an envoy was coming, and he didn't know whether Xiao Yimin received the news in advance, and deliberately didn't see the special envoy sent by President Yuan, and he didn't dare to speculate in front of Duan Qirui, after all, Xiao Yimin's uncle Zhao Erxun had re-emerged from the mountain and was invited by President Yuan to serve in the Yanjing Central Committee.

Duan Qirui frowned: "At this time, what is the reason why Brother Yiming is going to western Sichuan?" ”

"General Yin Changheng, the envoy of Chuankang Jinglu, sent a good news a week ago, saying that the Kang-Tibet rebellion had been quelled, and that the central government had reached an agreement with the British, and that the War Department urgently telegraphed that all departments of our army were strictly prohibited from entering Tibet without permission to avoid unnecessary diplomatic conflicts. Hu Jingyi replied cautiously.

When Duan Qirui heard this, he felt a lot better, nodded and praised Xiao Yimin a few words, and revealed to Hu Jingyi in the same camp by the way: Yin Changheng will not stay in Sichuan after he returns, and this time he has brought Yin Changheng's order to be transferred to the Yanjing Military Department as a consolation envoy of the War Department.

Hu Jingyi was very happy, he was worried that Yin Changheng would come back to seize power and create obstacles for him to demolish his platform.

In contrast, Hu Jingyi prefers to get along with Xiao Yimin, who is gentle and elegant, and never aggressive for personal interests, although Xiao Yimin's reputation and achievements are now countless times greater than that of Yin Changheng at the beginning, but Xiao Yimin's political ambitions are not big, and he has never been greedy, even Xiao Yimin's opponents are convinced of his personal qualities, so Hu Jingyi has always been good to Xiao Yimin, and Xiao Yimin has never bothered him.

Duan Qirui also has his own thoughts, he knows that he is afraid that this time he will not see the famous young man Xiao Yimin, Yuan Dashuai in order to show his love and trust for Xiao Yimin, not only awarded Xiao Yimin the "Great Ribbon Treasure Medal" and "Jiahe Medal", but also asked him to bring a full set of lieutenant general dresses specially made by famous craftsmen in Yanjing, if he can't hand over Xiao Yimin face-to-face, it is undoubtedly a very regrettable thing.

Moreover, Duan Qirui himself very much wanted to meet this young commander, who was unanimously favored by Chinese and foreign politicians and military strategists, and take a look at his army and battalion, so as to get the most direct impression and make his own judgment.

Xiao Yimin had indeed arrived at the Kangding camp at this moment, and was gathering with more than ten generals and colonels, including Phuntsok, commander of the Shouzi Battalion, who had rejoined the border army, and Qi Luo, major general and brigade commander of the Reading Power Mixed Brigade of the border army, to analyze the situation in Sichuan and Tibet and formulate a winter defense plan.

Regarding Duan Qirui's arrival, Xiao Yimin is clear, from Duan Qirui's departure from Yanjing to his transfer to Shanghai, the special correspondent of the "Zilin West Daily" has already notified Xiao Yimin by telegram, which is why Xiao Yimin avoided it.

Although Xiao Yimin very much wanted to meet Duan Qirui, one of the three heroes of Beiyang, after discussing with the think tank, he dispelled this idea.

Another important reason is that Xiao Yimin and his think tanks are strong nationalists, and they can't allow their own land to be encroached upon, and there is reason to say that the whip is beyond the reach of the Yanjing political axe, but the Tiangao Emperor's far Kang-Tibet line is in his own defense area, whether it is for the country and the people, and for himself, he urgently needs to establish a stable, attackable, retreat, and defensive strong army in the Chuankang region, ready to give the arrogant British a blow to the head at any time.

In the words of Chief of Staff Bao Jiqing: How can others be allowed to snore on the side of the couch!

(To be continued)