Confucian Temple Street, Liu Mansion.

Liu Cunhou sat slumped on the Taishi chair in front of the incense in the main hall, his eyes were blank and his body was sluggish, he went from the anger when he received the fourth division being surrounded and disarmed, to the roar when the mansion was blocked by the border army, and then to the fear of learning that more than 2,700 Dian troops were stripped naked and driven out of the West Gate, in just four hours, he experienced the emotional ups and downs that he had never had in his life, and at this moment, only one thought in his cold mind was clear: everything was over!

Just after seven o'clock, Xie Changming, deputy chief of the General Staff Office, accompanied by Liu Wenhui's chief of guard, entered the main hall, and Xie Changming, who was in a straight military uniform, saluted Liu Cunhou and signaled the adjutant behind him to put a tray on the table of the Eight Immortals beside Liu Wenhui, and the tray covered with red cloth contained 100 oceans and 5,000 yuan of Dehua Bank banknotes.

Xie Changming saw that Liu Cunhou was always looking at him coldly, frowned, and said in his heart that with what the two Dian Legions did in Chengdu, it is a great gift to not kill your turtle son, and he made such a cold face to disgust people, but thinking about Xiao Yimin's explanation, he still patiently explained:

"General, we know that you can't help it, but if the Dian army does not disarm or suppress it, it is not enough for the people to be angry, and we can't fight at the front with peace of mind, and the two regiments of the Dian army that followed you back to Sichuan have always been disobedient to you, because they all listen to the Yunnan headquarters, and you, the division commander, should not be happy.

"Our Commander Xiao said, the same room is a hateful thing in life, tonight's incident is that he is sorry for you, and he is even more embarrassed to come to see an old friend, entrusting his subordinates to tell the general on his behalf, no matter how the general chooses, don't do anything sorry for the Sichuan fathers and villagers! General, his subordinates have taken their leave, take care, general! ”

Xie Changming led the adjutant and walked away after saluting, and before he walked out of the gate of the mansion, he heard an angry howl behind him like a tiger being stimulated, followed by a broken sound of ping-pong.

An hour and a half later, Xie Changming was already inspecting the West Campus and ordered the officers and men to send all the captured weapons and six artillery pieces to Sun Zhaoluan's Third Division.

The chief of the investigation section, Cemalai, reported: "Liu Cunhou only took his personal guards, quietly fled to the East Wharf, caught up with the passenger ship bound for Yucheng and left. ”

Xie Changming smiled slightly, and said with a smile that as the commander expected, he instructed the reconnaissance section chief to find the old master Zou, and invite the respected old master who had been friends with Liu Cunhou's family for many years to go to the Liu Mansion, and temporarily take Liu Cunhou's family to the small courtyard prepared in the north of the city, so as to prevent the angry high-level of the Yunnan army from killing him.

Now that the two armies have not yet fought face to face, the Dian army has lost the first round, and more than 2,700 veterans of the hundred battles have been captured, and the blow to the Dian army can be described as heavy.

In the early hours of the third morning, the rain that had been falling on and off for two days finally stopped, and the clouds in the sky gradually dispersed.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the brilliant morning sun shone on the earth, and a steady stream of heavily armed border officers and soldiers drove out of the east gate, and tens of thousands of Chengdu people helped the old and the young, and sent them off on the road, from the bell and drum tower in the city to the big camp five miles away in the eastern suburbs, all the way were full of people eating pot pulp.

Men, women, and children stuffed boiled eggs and cakes into the pockets of the border army officers and men, and kept shouting, "The border guards have worked hard," "Beat the Yunnan army to take revenge," and "Fight the majesty of our Sichuan army."

The military and political officials at all levels in Sichuan, who were marching in the middle of the procession on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages, were so moved by the united citizens along the street that they sighed one by one that this battle was right, and they should have fought it earlier!

Inside and outside the camp in the eastern suburbs, the battle flag is hunting.

The 5,000 officers and men of Peng Guanglie's 2nd Division of the Sichuan Army, and the 4,000 officers and men of Sun Zhaoluan's 3rd Division, who had come to see him off, had already stood solemnly in front of the platform, and the camp was surrounded by darkness and oppression, all of which were troupes invited by people from all walks of life and various associations beating gongs and drums, such as flags and banners with various greetings and slogans written on them, flying in the wind, tens of thousands of teachers and students from more than a dozen schools holding small colored flags and entering in line, and more than 200 Chinese and foreign reporters who came from all over the country shuttled around to interview and take pictures, hurriedly recording this grand historical moment.

Peng Guanglie, who was waiting at the gate of the camp, couldn't help but feel excited, and he sighed in a low voice to Sun Zhaoluan, who was standing beside him: "What the people want! This is probably the first time in a hundred years that our Sichuan army has held such a large-scale oath-taking ceremony! ”

Sun Zhaoluan smiled slightly:

According to the records of the past 300 years, the officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Green Battalion who went out of Sichuan several times to quell the chaos left with sad faces, and the people who saw them off cried so much that the moon was gone. Or Commander Xiao is good at seizing opportunities and grasping the hearts of the people! ”

Peng Guanglie's heart suddenly swelled with all kinds of feelings, and he couldn't help but look in the direction of the east gate. Like all the generals, he never expected that Xiao Yimin, who was gentle and elegant and smiling, would be so cruel and ruthless in his bones, and his methods would be so fast and spicy, he would disarm more than 4,000 people overnight, and in a blink of an eye, the powerful Liu Cunhou's Fourth Division would fall apart.

How can such a naked deterrence not be terrifying?

As brave as Zhou Jun, the commander of the First Division, when he heard the bad news of the collapse of Liu Cunhou's Fourth Division, he was so frightened that he quickly avoided Leshan, and he no longer dared to say a word of complaint to Xiao Yimin.

But Peng Guanglie and Sun Zhaoluan also know that as long as they are friends, as long as they don't do too much, Xiao Yimin is more righteous than anyone else, and he is better at talking than anyone else, Xiao Yimin's surname is typical You respect me a foot and I respect you, and it is definitely a terrible thing to get along with him, Liu Cunhou, who has a strong waist and 4,000 soldiers, collapsed and fled overnight, which is the best proof, from now on, anyone who speaks in front of Xiao Yimin may have to be cautious.

However, if you can become Xiao Yimin's friend, it is definitely an incomparably glorious and comfortable thing.

Over the past few years, all departments in the army and the official and business circles, as long as they open their mouths when they encounter difficulties, there is no one who cannot fail Xiao Yimin's generous help, and hundreds of low-level officers in the new army have grown rapidly under Xiao Yimin's care and help, and unconsciously, Xiao Yimin, who has never eaten alone, has established a lofty prestige in the hearts of the military and the people, and even the heroes of the rivers and lakes in the three southwestern provinces and the Gansu-Shaanxi region have praised Xiao Yimin, the younger brother of Chengdu Hongmen's righteous generation, for being anxious and honest, and honest, and it is a matter of time before such a person rises in troubled times, and no one can stop it.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

Three salutes rang out, Peng Guanglie hurriedly straightened his military hat, looked at his nose and nose, stood straight, and a group of lieutenants behind him were even more awe-inspiring, waiting for Xiao Yimin's arrival with an unprecedented standard military posture.

Hundreds of horses from the first battalion of the Frontier Cavalry Regiment slowly entered the camp, and every officer on the horse raised their hands in front of Peng Guanglie and Sun Zhaoluan in salute.

Immediately afterwards, the 16 Krupp guns of the artillery battalion of the border army rumbled, and on the gun wagons dragged by three big horses, officers at all levels stood straight and saluted Peng Guanglie and Sun Zhaoluan.

After a while, tens of thousands of people watching the ceremony let out a shocking cheer, a huge fiery red flying leopard battle flag slowly came, Xiao Yimin on the horse was dressed in a navy blue trimmed general dress, on the gold-trimmed general's hat, the fiery red tassel and the fiery red war horse under the crotch, complemented each other, the golden tassels on the epaulettes and the exquisite tassel swayed lightly with the wind, majestic and heroic, so that thousands of soldiers and civilians were in awe, and the cheers shook the sky.

Surrounded by 500 guards, Xiao Yimin rode his horse straight, and when he was more than ten meters away from the gate of the camp, Xiao Yimin grabbed the reins, turned over and dismounted, and strode towards Peng Guanglie and Sun Zhaoluan, who were standing and saluting, with a smile on their faces.

Where did Peng Guanglie and Sun Zhaoluan dare to let Xiao Yiming boil over, they hurriedly ran up and saluted solemnly, greeted Xiao Yimin with the most formal etiquette in the army, and briefly reported the situation of the headquarters.

Xiao Yimin returned the salute solemnly, and then stood beside the two of them, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Metropolitan Governor Hu Jingyi and the provincial government officials, from beginning to end there was no slightest contempt and pride, still so humble and elegant, as if nothing had ever happened, this calmness, this free and easy, made Peng Guanglie and a group of generals behind him admire, and Sun Zhaoluan's follow-up heart was also more determined.

Seeing Xiao Yimin, the commander-in-chief of the battle, leading hundreds of generals and colonels to stand in front of the camp and saluting them respectfully, all the officials starting from Hu Jingyi were extremely satisfied and excited, and many officials with strong vanity were even so excited that they danced and frequently returned the salute.

The salute stopped, and Xiao Yimin invited the Metropolitan Governor and his entourage into the camp, and together they boarded the ancient Dianjiang platform that had existed for hundreds of years, facing more than 14,000 soldiers who were about to go on the expedition.

Many reporters in the audience frequently took pictures, crowded and rushed to record this exciting moment.

In the cheers of the crowd, the Metropolitan Governor Hu Jingyi walked up to the stage and began to speak, I don't know whether Peng Guanglie forgot or did it intentionally, there was no microphone on the stage, and the Metropolitan Governor Hu Jingyi's voice was hoarse when he spoke, and when he awarded the saber symbolizing power to the commander-in-chief Xiao Yimin, his voice was already hoarse, but his face was full of redness, his eyes were radiant, and he exuded the brilliance of incomparable excitement.

Hu Jingyi handed the exquisite saber to Xiao Yimin with both hands, and cordially and hopefully advised:

"General Xiao, this gold-inlaid sword is not ordinary, it was sent by Yuan Dashuai at the beginning of the governor's tenure, and in the entire Sichuan and even the entire three southwestern provinces, only you and I enjoy this honor! Today, the governor will award this sword to you, and I wish the general a victory and a triumphant victory! ”

"Generalissimo Xie! Thank you! ”

Xiao Yimin saluted in a crackling flashlight, took the saber and took a step back, and skillfully tied the saber to his belt.

In Hu Jingyi's polite gesture, Xiao Yimin half-turned around on the spot, walked to the front desk with firm steps, and suddenly pulled out his snowy long sword in a flash light, pointed it obliquely, and shouted: "Expelling the Dian army, if you don't win, you won't return!" ”

More than 10,000 officers and soldiers in the audience were excited, and shouted loudly following Xiao Yimin's voice:

"Expelling the Dian army, if you don't win, you won't return!"

"Expelling the Dian army, if you don't win, you won't return!"

"Expelling the Dian army, if you don't win, you won't return!"

…… Tens of thousands of people who were excited soon roared together, and the roar was earth-shattering and endless, and it was seen that all the civil and military officials on the stage were full of blood and fierce, and one by one they opened their old legs and raised their old arms, and they joined the ranks of the oath-takers mercilessly.

In the midst of the monstrous noise, several spies of the Dian army who appeared as reporters only felt deaf and dumbfounded, and one of them closed his eyes in pain and looked up to the sky and sighed:

"Crazy, all crazy......"

(To be continued)