A rapid march of 60 kilometers in a day and night was very ordinary for the 10th Brigade of the Sichuan Army, which gave up its baggage and artillery, not to mention that on a moonlit and starry autumn night, and the road was smooth and the night breeze was pleasant, two infantry regiments and a special service battalion of the 10th Brigade easily arrived at Shishou County at dawn.

Wang Jinjing, a veteran who had been tossing and turning all night, received an urgent report, and heard that it was Wang Jian, the number one fierce general of the Sichuan army, who personally led his troops, was slightly shocked, and immediately changed into a neat military uniform, and led the seven captains under his command who had not yet dispersed, and rode out of the city and rushed to Wuli Pavilion in the west of the city, waiting for Wang Jian, the fierce general of the Sichuan army, to meet him.

Wang Jian, who came from a brother's family and had a strict family education since childhood, did not wait for Wang Jinjing and his party to get off the horse, and led several brigade commanders and regiment commanders under his command from afar, striding to meet them, without the arrogance of a victor on his face, let alone his awe-inspiring murderous aura and flying domineering in the army, including several school officers under his command, with thoughtful manners and respect, which made Wang Jinjing, who was desperate and full of mixed feelings, feel a lot better.

"If it weren't for the fear of alarming the people and causing chaos, Wang Jian should have entered the city to meet him." Wang Jian saluted and said apologetically.

Wang Jinjing politely returned the salute, his abrupt Adam's apple shook a few times, and he sighed with difficulty: "The general is polite!" Wang is a general of the defeated army, how dare the labor general come to the door in person? When he was in Changde, he had already received the care of the general and Commander-in-Chief Xiao, and he was able to lead thousands of brothers under his command to retreat and go north to Shishou, surviving for a long time.

"If it weren't for the foresight of Commander-in-Chief Xiao and Brother Ji Qing, who sent someone to persuade Wang, temporarily stationed in Shishou, and gave generous assistance, Wang and the only remaining 2,000 brothers under his command would have starved to death for a long time due to isolation, helplessness, and running out of food and grass, alas! This is not the place to speak, please lead the general into the city, and leave the rest of the matters until the change of defense is completed, and it is not too late to talk about it! ”

"Senior Gao Yi, this is the blessing of the soldiers of the two armies, and it is also the blessing of tens of thousands of fathers and villagers in Shishou, the younger generation is deeply impressed, seniors, please!"

"False praise, false praise, haha, please!"

Wang Jian and Wang Jinjing happily joined hands, walked a few steps forward, turned over on their horses, and then walked and talked while walking, and the generals and colonels of the two armies also politely saluted, leading the army to advance slowly.

Wang Jinjing had dealt with Wang Jian and Chen Quzhen as early as the Battle of Changde, knew Wang Jian's background and background, and understood that Wang Jian, who was over 30 years old, was not only a fierce general who has become famous at home and abroad in recent years, but also the senior brother of Xiao Yimin, the overseer of Sichuan and the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan army.

It stands to reason that as a defeated general of the Sichuan army, Wang Jinjing has been relieved of his post by order of the Beiyang War Department, and the number of the department has also been ruthlessly canceled, and most of the 4,000 remnants under his command have fled. Wang Jinjing, who was at the end of his rope, and the brothers around him were grateful.

Therefore, as soon as Wang Jinjing and his generals heard that Wang Jian had personally led his troops to arrive, they immediately felt the strong friendship between Xiao Yimin and the Sichuan army.

At noon, the handover of defense was successfully completed, and the people of Shishou County and a radius of 30 miles not only did not flee in panic, but poured into the county seat with great joy, and the celebrities in the city and the surrounding villages and towns sent representatives to the army, asking the Sichuan army to be stationed for a long time to protect tens of thousands of lives.

Wang Jinjing, who received the report, was filled with emotion, he knew what the Sichuan army had done in Yichang, and the touching deeds of the Sichuan army in Yichang and the six surrounding counties such as building wharves, running schools, raising industry and commerce, lightly conscripting labor, Ming military discipline, helping orphans and widows, and so on, had already spread all over the land of Hunan and Chu, especially the strict military discipline and autumn after the Sichuan army was stationed in the Jingxiang area, which was enough to move countless people, and naturally won the sincere support of the people of Shishou.

In contrast, since he Wang Jinjing led the remnants to station, he has never seen the smiling faces of the local people, even if the local chamber of commerce and the old and famous people in various towns sent military rations, no one is sincere and sincere, all because they are afraid to do it, among which the judgment has to make Wang Jinjing and the officers and soldiers under his command feel deeply guilty.

At the luncheon, the grateful Wang Jinjing gave three glasses of wine to Wang Jian in succession, which made Wang Jian panic, and finally drank three glasses of wine, Wang Jinjing stood up solemnly and asked:

"Wang has decided to unload his armor and return to the field, and return directly to his hometown in Wucheng, Shandong Province for a few days to relax, but he is not worried about the 1,200 loyal brothers under his command! These brothers have followed Wang to fight for many years, and most of them are still alone, and they have nothing to do except fight in battle!

"Even if each of them had a generous gift of 50 oceans for settling-in money from Brother Chuanjun, they would not be able to settle down and start a career for the rest of their lives! Can my brother look at my old face and find a place for my 1,200 brothers? I have long heard that the officers and soldiers of Sichuan are dear and well-paid, and the brothers have been yearning for a long time, even if they can't enter the old brother's command to fight in all directions, and enter the general engineering troops to build bridges and pave roads! ”

Wang Jian hurriedly stood up and saluted back, helped Wang Jinjing to sit down, glanced at the eager eyes of many Shandong men on the table, and finally gritted his teeth and agreed: "Since the seniors and brothers can afford me Wang Jian, I will reluctantly accept the ......."

"General Xie!"

The seven lieutenant officers stood up gratefully to thank them, and Wang Jinjing, who had a sad face, finally let go of his last concern and smiled with great relief.

Wang Jian waved his hand and motioned for everyone to sit down:

"There is a sentence to say first, our army has always had strict military discipline, and the ten precepts at the beginning of the Sichuan army must also know that the reason why our army has today's achievements and good reputation is completely due to strict military discipline, you may as well talk to your brothers for the time being, it is better to leave if you can't stand the constraints and can't endure hardships, and there is no future for development if you stay."

Li Jinglan, the head of the five major and three thick regiments, arched his hand and said excitedly and sincerely:

"General, most of the brothers we left behind are homeless people, and all of them are from the land of Qilu, knowing that the Sichuan army has strict rules, and abiding by military discipline and hardships is within the scope of being a soldier, otherwise they would have left like those bad breeds, but ...... Li Jinglan hesitated, and in Wang Jian's encouraging gaze, he continued: "I wonder if the general can let me wait for a chance to prove myself and let our 1,200 brothers serve in the main army?" Generals, even if they are not officials, they can start from the big soldiers!

"Isn't the Sichuan army the most important military merit? To put it bluntly, it is precisely because the rewards and punishments of the Sichuan Army are clearly hopeful that we are focused on staying. Born in troubled times, which hot-blooded man does not have the idea of making contributions and glorifying his ancestors? Looking at the whole country, only the Sichuan army can give us this opportunity.

"General, you just accept us, where to fight, we will never embarrass you, we would rather not have a settlement fee of dozens of oceans."

"General, we Shandong people will never disgrace you!"

All the officers stood up and saluted Wang Jian expectantly.

Wang Jian glanced at several regiment leaders around him, stood up and promised movingly: "Okay!" Since this is the case, I, Wang, will accept you and give you the establishment and treatment of the main group, come! Now I don't need to say anything, my Wang can trust everyone, after drinking this cup, everyone will be a brother who eats in a pot, do it! ”

"!"

The next morning, a large transport ship flying the British flag, carrying Wang Jinjing, a veteran of Beiyang with great emotion, and more than 800 Shandong soldiers who had left with him, left the wharf in the north of the city.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the news that Wang Jinjing had unloaded his armor and returned to the field, and that his remnants had surrendered to the Chengchuan army in Shishou quickly spread to the whole country.

Wuhan, Hanyang Arsenal.

After Wu Peifu took over Wang Zhanyuan's department, he hurriedly reorganized, and immediately led his troops to forcibly take over the crucial Hanyang Arsenal, and then surrounded by many civil and military officials, he inspected the rifle assembly workshop, picked up parts and components from time to time, carefully inspected, and listened attentively to the introduction of Xu Zhongshu, a senior firearms expert who returned to China after studying in France, and followed the generals and colonels who followed Wu Peifu's side, all of them had happy smiles on their faces, but after listening to Xu Zhongshu's difficulties, all smiles froze.

Wu Peifu picked up the Hanyang-style rifle shell throwing machine on the table, and asked with a solemn expression: "So, we have always relied on Sichuan to supply this little thing?" ”

"There is no way, although we got all the design drawings and production process standards through President Feng Da and Premier Duan more than a year ago, but we still can't produce this small shell ditch because we can't solve this problem, our bullet production still uses the original design and materials, and the standard pointed bullet for trial production can only be abandoned.

"Not only the rifle is like this, but the imitation of the German MG08 water-cooled heavy machine gun also encounters the same problem, the reentry spring of the heavy machine gun can only be purchased from the Sichuan side, which is the biggest reason why the production has been difficult to increase, before we master the advanced quenching process and processing procedures, there is no other way to think of it." Xu Zhongshu had no choice but to explain.

Wu Peifu was silent for a long time, and slowly exhaled a rough breath: "It seems that Sichuan has really been guarding us, Xiao Yimin is not simple, and he has a long-term vision!" ”

Xu Zhongshu thought about it, and still explained honestly:

"General, in my opinion, this can't be all blamed on the Sichuan side, although they deliberately concealed the quenching process, but if we have an advanced quenching furnace, we can slowly find out more tests, but we have not paid attention to the issue of equipment and technology updates. Now, even the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant has been demolished by the Americans, not to mention our arsenal ......"

"Shut up!"

Wu Peifu's heart trembled, he could no longer suppress the shame he was full of, and reprimanded angrily: "Behind this is also the Sichuan political axe and the army are making trouble, if they didn't use the stocks in their hands to mortgage to Yue himself in disguise, even if the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant has rusted, it will not fall into the hands of Yue himself, and finally fall into the sad fate of dismantling and selling scrap iron!"

"This is definitely not a factory problem, but a problem related to the face of the entire national industry, he Xiao Yimin dared to risk the world's condemnation and openly betray the country, who would have thought beforehand?"

Xu Zhongshu doesn't pay much attention to the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, which has been out of production for several years and is almost abandoned, but such a large factory is not only the hope of the country, but also the pride of Hubei, so after listening to Wu Peifu's words, he also recognized it very much, and took the opportunity to tell Wu Peifu the news he had obtained privately:

"General, I heard that the old equipment of the steel plant that has been dismantled is not unusable, as long as it is carefully maintained and some new equipment is added, it can be restarted. The day before yesterday, my subordinates heard from a friend who worked at Citibank that the first two batches of dismantled equipment had been quietly transported to Yucheng, and the Americans were responsible for repairing, installing, and adding equipment, and all the machinery and equipment dismantled from the Hanyang plant were all given to the newly established Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant, which is another new steel plant in Sichuan with an annual output of 300,000 tons of steel after the Qijiang Iron and Steel Plant. ”

Wu Peifu was shocked after hearing this: "Are you sure? ”

Xu Zhongshu hesitated for a moment: "This ...... The subordinates are also hearsay, but the credibility of the news is very high, alas! Although General Xiao Yimin is a bit hateful, but I have to say that he is a business genius, he said that he was miserable and could not be called everywhere, and the Americans joined forces with him to do business, if this news is true, the development of Sichuan will be amazing, with so much steel, no matter how hard we try, we can't keep up! ”

Wu Peifu stared at Xu Zhongshu's eyes: "Let's go, go to your office, I want to have a deeper understanding, if we don't take necessary measures, we will be controlled by others for a long time, especially at this critical time, the production of weapons and ammunition must not be ambiguous!" ”

"Yes!"

(To be continued)