Xiao Yimin returned to Sichuan this time and stayed for half a month, and Duan Qirui, who was anxious to go south, received an apologetic reply from Xiao Yimin from Chengdu, and had to postpone the date of going south for "inspection."

To Duan Qirui's comfort, Xiao Yimin never caused chaos to the central government, let alone made any language that damaged Duan Qirui's reputation and image.

Xiao Yimin's speeches at some routine press conferences were completely objective and fair, which not only expressed his concern about the current situation of the country and the nation, but also gave hope to countless Chinese people who were unwilling to be humiliated and who were inspired to make the country strong.

After returning to Sichuan for half a month, Xiao Yimin only spent two nights at home with his wife Liu Yu and his second son Xiao Dongzheng, who was babbling and talking, and the rest of the time he either went to the military academy to perform the duties of the principal, or stayed all night in the Ordnance Research Institute, which has more than 300 Chinese and foreign technical experts and has expanded to seven research institutes.

During this period, Xiao Yimin made an important decision:

In addition to retaining the Ya'an Arsenal in Sichuan and the weapons production and assembly plant in the western suburbs of Chengdu, Xiao Yimin's family completely withdrew from all industrial and commercial fields such as land and water passenger and freight transportation, chemical industry, printing, dyeing and textile industry, and manufacturing industry, and divided the more than 27 million yuan obtained from the transfer of shares into two, half of which was invested in the American Blue Flag Bank led by Xiao Zhen, and the other half into the Ya'an Arsenal, which was the only one retained by Xiao Yimin, so as to facilitate the import of a series of mechanical processing equipment and special raw materials from the United States, and the purchase of two additional alloy smelting furnaces. In order to expand the production scale and number of products in the Ya'an Arsenal.

Although he received Duan Qirui's urging telegram, Xiao Yimin still arranged his itinerary in an orderly manner, he first led the heads of the institutes to inspect the Dayi Chemical Production Base and Ya'an Arsenal, stayed in Ya'an for five consecutive days before returning to Chengdu, and then took his wife Liu Yu and son Xiao Dongzheng down the river and returned to Nanjing.

……

On 29 July, Duan Qirui finally took a train to Pukou, where he was warmly greeted by Xiao Yimin, more than 300 civil and military officials from Nanjing, and military and political officials from Jiangsu Province.

Duan Qirui and his entourage saw the inside and outside of the ancient city of Nanjing, which had become a huge construction site at this time, and was stunned, and couldn't help but sigh repeatedly, compared with the lifeless, panicked Beijing-Tianjin area and other provincial capitals, the city of Nanjing in front of him was full of vitality and vitality, from the heartfelt smiling faces, Duan Qirui clearly saw Xiao Yimin's lofty status and prestige, and saw the national cohesion that he had been looking forward to for a long time but difficult to obtain.

After the warm and grand welcome dinner, Duan Qirui didn't care about the fatigue along the way, and immediately took Xu Shuzheng, Wang Shizhen and Liang Shiyi and other henchmen, ready to go to the West Garden across the wall to start a secret meeting with Xiao Yimin, I don't want Xiao Yimin to lead Wang Lingji, Yang Du, Zhang Jian, Gu Weijun and others, who were already waiting in the middle of the courtyard where Duan Qirui and others stayed, with smiles on their faces, respectful, and enough face for Duan Qirui and others.

Walking into the West Garden, where the shadows of the trees were swaying and the fragrance of flowers was overflowing, Duan Qirui took a deep breath comfortably, looked at the stars in the sky, and laughed softly: "Yiming, on the night when we bid farewell to the soldiers of the Western Expedition in Ya'an a few years ago, our brothers and sons drank wine and walked outside the camp together, talking freely, and I still remember it vividly at this moment...... I remember that the sky that night was almost exactly the same as tonight! ”

Xiao Yimin looked at the deep sky, and in an instant, many emotions came to his heart: "Yes! There were as many stars that night as there were tonight...... It is estimated that because of the altitude, the sky in Ya'an seems to be cleaner than the sky in Nanjing, but the sky in Nanjing seems to have a little more charm than the sky in Ya'an. ”

"Oh!? Maybe it's because of the different moods! Haha......" Duan Qirui raised his eyebrows and smiled, and everyone behind him laughed, and the originally dull atmosphere became relaxed because of this.

Entering the West Garden Lounge, the guests and hosts sat down separately.

Xiao Yimin took the tea tray brought by the guard, and personally made tea for Duan Qirui, Xu Shuzheng and others saw Xiao Yimin's respectful but very natural and decent behavior towards Duan Qirui, and they were all secretly surprised, but Yang Du, Gu Weijun and others were calm, they often appreciated Xiao Yimin's pleasing tea ceremony skills in their regular work with Xiao Yimin, and enjoyed this courtesy that outsiders could not enjoy.

While Xiao Yimin was moving, he asked about the recent situation of the central political axe with a pleasant face, Duan Qirui admired Xiao Yimin's craftsmanship with interest, and answered Xiao Yimin's question at the same time, and the originally tense nerves quickly relaxed in the fragrance that gradually spread.

After drinking a cup of fragrant tea, the applause rang out, followed by bursts of laughter, and the atmosphere became more and more harmonious.

Duan Qirui put down the exquisite purple sand cup, sighed, and smiled at Xiao Yimin, who poured tea for him again: "A while ago, after the country's special envoy Kohata Youji returned to Yanjing from Nanjing, he complained to me that he couldn't enjoy your exquisite tea ceremony after two talks with you in Nanjing, and he felt very sorry, so it can be seen that your craft may have spread all over China and abroad." ”

Xiao Yimin couldn't help but shake his head and said:

"My craftsmanship is ordinary, where can I dare to say that it is exquisite, I'm afraid that even those ordinary women on the Qinhuai River can't compare...... However, it is understandable that Kohata Yukichi was surprised, their place has never produced good tea, and I heard that it is only in the past ten years that ceramic cups have begun to replace those wooden cups that have been passed down for a long time and have many elegant names, not to mention any traditional culture, so they will never forget the tea culture that has been inherited in China for thousands of years...... Perhaps, in my opinion, what you can't get is the best! ”

No matter what, all of us here are the elite of the country, and everyone is proud of the traditional culture and profound civilization history of their nation, and the more they are in the difficult predicament of internal and external troubles, the more they can realize how precious this pride is in the blood of the bone marrow.

After a few cups of tea, we finally got to the point of tonight's meeting.

Duan Qirui still had a smile on his face: "I heard that you went to Wuhan this time and stayed in the Hanyang Arsenal for a whole day, did you encounter any problems in the production of the Hanyang Factory?" ”

Xiao Yimin put down the white towel in his hand and nodded: "It's a little troublesome, although in the past six months, the Hanyang factory has imported a batch of advanced equipment, eliminated two old and backward rifle production lines, and can independently produce new imitation Mauser rifles and water-cooled M08 heavy machine guns that use pointed bullets, but it still can't solve the problem of lack of skilled workers, and the output and product qualification rate are far from meeting the requirements." ”

"Accompanied by relevant personnel, I visited every production process of the arsenal, and also inspected several sets of testing molds assisted by the Sichuan factory, and finally found that the problem turned out to be in the raw materials and processing technology, so I suggested to General Shi Xingchuan that 500 young people with a cultural foundation should be selected to study in the Sichuan Arsenal for a year, and then 300 technicians and veteran technicians were seconded from the Sichuan Arsenal, and General Shi Xingchuan agreed without hesitation......

"However, even if we rush to catch up, it will take at least three months to see results...... I'm a little worried about the Gongxian Arsenal built by Yuan Dashuai and Brother Zhiquan, and the production lines there are all advanced equipment that was bought a few years ago, and if there is a problem similar to that of the Hanyang factory, I'm afraid it will take some effort to solve it. ”

Duan Qirui sighed a little helplessly: "Don't say that the Gongxian Arsenal is in Henan, where there is no infighting, and even the Dagu Arsenal under my nose, I can't fix it - I wanted to move it to the safer Baoding and merge with the Baoding Arsenal, but unfortunately I couldn't do it, first, there is no money, and second, there are too many interests involved in all aspects, and I can't do it!"

"Speaking of which, you still have the courage to be a virtuous brother, the two factories in Shanghai and Nanjing let you integrate together, not only the strength and output have increased greatly, but also completely sorted out all the relationships, and it is not hated, this is the ability!"

Xiao Yimin smiled and waved his hand: "Brother Zhiquan has won the award, the two factories in Shanghai and Nanjing cannot be compared with the Dagu factory, there are many complex relationships behind the Dagu factory, and there is no restraint and sabotage by myself, so I can do it so smoothly...... If it weren't for the opportunity of the revolutionary party to drop bombs at me, I really wouldn't have had an excuse to clean up those Han and Annihilation compradors who had been on many boats, had long betrayed the interests of the country and the nation, and had become addicted to selling. ”

The crowd laughed knowingly.

Xiao Yimin uprooted the Sheng family and the two major chaebols of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which were supported by the great powers, by thunderbolt means, so that all provinces in the country benefited from it, Duan Qirui himself unceremoniously pushed the boat down the river, laughed at the Dagu ship, the Tianjin and Yanjing branches of the Commerce Bank, and other properties worth more than 4 million yuan, and later quietly sold the two branches of Yanjing and Tianjin to the Blue Flag Bank of the United States, and once again obtained a huge sum of more than 800,000 yuan.

This is also the fundamental reason why the military and political circles in all provinces across the country echo Xiao Yimin in unison, and people have to sigh that Xiao Yimin's methods are clever and ruthless, and a violent plundering incident that caused a sensation at home and abroad and is likely to bring him countless troubles actually allowed him to play such tricks, not only did his reputation not be damaged at all, but also counted in one fell swoop, adding to the reputation of killing and decisive, and at the same time, he also established an awe-inspiring righteousness and lofty political prestige among the people.

After laughing and talking to each other, Duan Qirui pointed to Xu Shuzheng beside him: "The Russians and myself are becoming more and more presumptuous in Mongolia, I want You Zheng to lead two divisions north to Kulen (Ulaanbaatar), and we must not let an inch of our country be lost from the hands of our generation!" ”

"Brother Yiming Xian has been doing a good job in Xikang, and the British have lost their temper, which is admirable!" Xu Shuzheng said with a smile.

Xiao Yimin made a slight contact with the eyes of Yang Du and the others, and his face became solemn and solemn: "Little brother wholeheartedly supports!" Brother Zhiquan and Brother Youzheng said directly, what can the younger brother do in this matter? ”

Duan Qirui and the others were deeply surprised, they didn't expect Xiao Yimin to be so simple, everyone, you look at me, I look at you, and then looked at Wang Lingji, Yang Du, Zhang Jian, Gu Weijun and others who were smiling, and their hearts were moved, although they were all old friends who had known each other for many years, but at this moment it was a little strange.

Under Duan Qirui's signal, Xu Shuzheng gritted his teeth and whispered a request: "I want to ask the Nanjing camp to support the German-style weapons and ammunition of one of our divisions, as for the military expenses, if we can help 1.8 million, we will be very grateful!" ”

Xiao Yimin and Lu Wenwu looked at each other for a moment, then turned to Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng:

"There is not much problem with the weapons and ammunition of one division, but I am afraid that it will take two months to complete the preparation, because the reorganization of the armies of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi provinces has consumed most of our stocks, and the two newly formed divisions of the river defense troops have not yet been equipped, so we can only order Sichuan to speed up production. As for the military expenses, the Nanjing camp provided 1 million, and the younger brother paid 1 million himself, so he could only do this for the time being. ”

Xu Shuzheng was overjoyed, stood up and hugged his fists to thank Xiao Yimin: "Brother Yiming, brother fool...... Thank you! ”

Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen, Liang Shiyi, and others were surprised, and while they were happy, they were also worried about the following talks, knowing full well that Xiao Yimin and the people under his command would be so righteous on this issue concerning territorial and sovereign integrity as soon as they opened their mouths, and they would definitely take the initiative in other aspects and then redouble their demands.

(To be continued)