The spacious and bright commander-in-chief's office was uncomfortably quiet, Deng Xihou, who was standing upright in front of his desk, his heartbeat was disordered, he raised his head in a cold sweat slightly, looked at Xiao Yimin, who was concentrating on reviewing the documents, and did not dare to sit down at all.

Five minutes later, Xiao Yimin finally put away the pen, saw Deng Xihou still standing respectfully, shook his head slightly, and pointed to the wide chair next to him: "Commander Deng, please take a seat." ”

When Deng Xihou heard this, his face turned pale with fright, and he stepped forward half a step forward in fear: "Commander, if you are still angry, just scold your subordinates, you call it like this, it makes your subordinates feel uncomfortable!" ”

Xiao Yimin couldn't help laughing and said, "You think I'm sarcastic about you?" ! No wonder your nickname of the crystal monkey is getting louder and louder, and it seems that you have spent all your thoughts on the tricks of officialdom. Sit down, let's sit down and talk. ”

"Yes!"

Deng Xihou hurriedly moved sideways and sat down slowly, wanting to wipe away the cold sweat from his forehead but didn't dare to raise his hand, the domineering aura exuded by Xiao Yimin made him scared.

A neatly folded white towel was thrown on the table in front of Deng Xihou, Deng Xihou, who was rapidly turning his mind, was startled, and when he raised his head, he saw that Xiao Yimin had already stood up, walked to the low cabinet by the wall, and picked up the kettle to make tea.

Deng Xihou took the opportunity to wipe his face well, and before he put down the towel, he saw a cup of hot tea placed in front of him, and his heart suddenly felt a little moved, and he quickly stood up and thanked him: "Commander Xie!" ”

Xiao Yimin sat down, looked at Deng Xihou expressionlessly, and motioned for him to sit down: "Tell me, what are your plans for the next step?" ”

Deng Xihou hurriedly put down the cup: "The subordinates have no plans yet, everything is subject to the commander's arrangement." ”

"!"

Xiao Yimin scolded angrily: "Obey my arrangement? So why haven't you come back to see me in the past two years? Why has your Fifth Army not reformed its military system so far, as required by the General Headquarters? Why did I call you several times and ask you not to follow Chen Shufan to fool around, and you used such and such reasons to prevaricate me? Well!? ”

Deng Xihou stood up again, lowered his head, and sincerely pleaded guilty: "It's all to blame for the subordinates' eyes being blinded by fame and fortune for a while, and the subordinates rushed to Nanjing this time to ask the commander to punish them, no matter how the commander handles it, the subordinates will obey wholeheartedly, and only ask the commander not to transfer his subordinates out of the military circles." ”

Xiao Yimin shook his head slightly: "Sit down, you weren't so unconfident in front of me before." ”

Deng Xihou was stunned for a moment, and then he was deeply moved: "Commander......"

Xiao Yimin waved his hand, and waited for Deng Xihou to sit down before he said solemnly: "With your talent, you should have been able to do something big, I and Chief of General Staff Bao and Deputy Commander Wang have great expectations for you, if you can follow the plan formulated by the headquarters two years ago, step by step, how can there be a defeat in Xi'an?" Maybe most of Shaanxi is already in your hands. ”

Deng Xihou blamed himself, since the defeat he reflected on what he had done every day, and now after listening to Xiao Yimin's reproach, he suddenly aroused remorse: "My subordinates have failed to meet the expectations of the commander, I am sorry for the trust of all the old commanders, and I am even more sorry for the five thousand brothers who died in Xi'an!" ”

Xiao Yimin let out a long sigh: "Okay, now is not the time to blame yourself, since things have happened, try your best to save it, how to do it better." ”

"Yes! The subordinates kept in mind the commander's teachings. Deng Xihou looked at Xiao Yimin sincerely.

Xiao Yimin picked up a document from the table and threw it to Deng Xihou: "You can take a look at it first, and then you can read it." ”

Deng Xihou hurriedly picked it up, and when he saw the huge five-color flag logo on the cover of the document and the printed font and seal of the "Central Military and Political Department", he shook it a few times for no reason, and then he carefully opened it and read it page by page, the more he looked at it, the more nervous he became, the more he looked at it, the more breathless he became, and finally he suddenly closed the document and asked anxiously:

"Commander, you can't agree! It must be that the Beiyang gang did not want to see the development and growth of our Sichuan army, so they came up with this bad idea to weaken the strength of our army and disperse the military power in the hands of the commander, and they must not agree! ”

Xiao Yimin was deeply comforted in his heart, Deng Xihou, who had realized his mistake, was still the sharp-eyed and lively-minded Sichuan army general in the past, and just from the point of view that he thought about himself and the interests of the entire Sichuan army, Deng Xihou did not change and betray in essence.

Deng Xihou saw Xiao Yimin's pleasant face but didn't say a word, his brain was spinning rapidly, and he suddenly had a kind of understanding, and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Commander, could it be that this plan has already been approved by the commander?" Or is it simply the hand of the Commander? ”

Xiao Yimin smiled appreciatively: "In fact, Premier Duan Zhiquan and Acting President Xu Yongchang have long had a plan to unify the whole [***] army, and the financial resources of the central political axe have been crushed by the annual military expenditure of up to 60 million, but they are worried that the reduction of the army will increase the arrogance of the local separatist forces, lead to a return to the situation of warlord separation, and seriously weaken the authority and control of the central government, so they have not dared to move in the past two years."

"Now that the whole south has basically calmed down, they want to give it a try, and my brothers and I have long had this plan, so after more than three months of repeated communication and bargaining, we have come up with this final decision in your hands."

Deng Xihou was so anxious: "In any case, the regular army of our Sichuan Army has reached 33 divisions, not counting the dozen divisions owned by the southern provinces, and the 'National Defense Force' in this plan only has the establishment of 60 regular divisions, and the entire south can only obtain the establishment of the 40th to 60th divisions, while the Beiyang gang has taken most of the establishment from the 1st Division to the 39th Division, which is too unrighteous and unreasonable!" ”

Xiao Yimin motioned for Deng Xihou to sit down: "What's the hurry?" Anyway, he is also a lieutenant general, why don't you have a surname? ”

Deng Xihou had no choice but to sit down: "Commander, you must not agree to Beiyang's request, you must not, even if the status quo is maintained, your subordinates believe that within five years, our Sichuan army will be able to defeat Beiyang!" ”

Xiao Yimin shook his head: "It was because I couldn't fight anymore that I agreed to this loss-making plan, and it was precisely because I agreed that I got Duan Zhiquan and Xu Shichang's support for the Nanjing camp.

"Also, Xinjiang Province, Tibet Province, Xikang Province and the soon-to-be-established Hainan Province are not included in this reorganization plan, and these four provinces still continue to maintain the status quo and maintain their border guard forces.

Deng Xihou hurriedly flipped through the last part of the document, read it carefully, and then fell into deep thought, and after two minutes, he raised his head and was still full of doubts:

"Commander, although these four provinces are not included in the preparation plan, except for our Xikang, there is no benefit to us at all, and it can't make up for our huge losses at all!"

"Hu said that Hainan, which is about to be established as a province, is a special zone, but this special zone is completely different from the three special zones of Qingdao, Shanghai and Tianjin, which were directly under the central government, and the governor and overseers of Hainan Province are all appointed by our Nanjing camp and are under the jurisdiction of our Nanjing camp.

"Hainan Province not only has three divisions of border defense troops, but will also set up a coast guard command to defend the long coastline, and as long as the military expenses are not borne by the central political axe, the central political axe will not care how many troops there are in Hainan and how these troops are set up." Xiao Yimin explained.

Deng Xihou immediately understood: "So, is it true that the Qiongya construction disclosed by domestic newspapers some time ago? ”

Xiao Yimin replied with a smile: "It's true, not only is the large-scale construction of Hainan reported in the newspaper true, but also the report estimates that there are no less than ten small frigates and thirty offshore fast gunboats, if you are interested, you can go to the archives department on the fourth floor to check it later, your rank is here, and you have every right to know about our army's major plans." ”

"Commander......

Deng Xihou was inexplicably moved, only felt that his nose was sour, and his heart was heavy.

Xiao Yimin said with a smile: "Your Fifth Army does not exist, the numbers of each army and division of our Sichuan Army will be changed soon, you have to rush back to Hanzhong in two days, I am afraid that you will not have time to attend the enlarged meeting of the whole army held at the end of the month, I will reveal one or two to you first, and return the documents to me first." ”

Xiao Yimin withdrew the document and briefed briefly:

"The preliminary plan is that the three military industrial bases of the first city, Chengdu, Yucheng, and Ya'an, each set up a garrison division, which will be fully responsible for the safety and security of military industrial enterprises and iron and steel smelting enterprises, and will be directly under the command of the Sichuan General Headquarters, and will be composed of officers and men who have been laid off from various units of our Sichuan army and are about to be discharged, and this will be the case every year in the future.

"Second, the establishment of the army aviation headquarters directly under the command of the Nanjing battalion, under the command of two division-level units, one in Chengdu and the other in Hainan, which is about to be established as a province, plans to select 10,000 people from the more than 300,000 officers and men of our army within two months to form aviation guards, ground crews, marines, and other arms, and the Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Flying Club, which has been established for half a year, will soon be expanded and used as an army aviation training base.

"Third, we have quietly transferred 40,000 officers and men from three divisions of the First Army, the Third Army, the Seventh Army, and the Yichang Recruit Training Base to Hainan to conduct special training under the name of the Hainan Provincial Frontier Force.

"Fourth, the two divisions of the Tenth Army that have been stationed in various parts of southern Shaanxi will be placed under your jurisdiction and belong to the army of Shaanxi, and will no longer occupy the establishment of our Sichuan Army. As for how to adjust and how to appoint the chief officers at all levels, it is up to you Deng Jinkang to handle it all, this is the trust that I and the headquarters have in you, I hope you can lead this army well, and strive to take the whole of Shaanxi as soon as possible, you just have to fight, there is no need to worry about logistics, as for the influence of public opinion and the pressure of the central government in Yanjing, I and the Nanjing camp will share it for you. ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Yimin stared at Deng Xihou's eyes: "The hat of the Shaanxi Military Affairs Council on your head is stable, and it is not difficult to change the hat of the Shaanxi Overseer to wear." ”

Deng Xihou was finally completely moved, not only letting go of the heavy burden on his heart, but also feeling agitated and grateful. He stood up slowly, took a deep breath, tried his best to suppress his galloping emotions, and saluted Xiao Yimin with a military salute in a dignified manner:

"The grace of the commander's reconstruction, Xihou is unforgettable! Please wait and see, Xihou will never let the commander and hundreds of thousands of brothers down again! ”

(To be continued)