After the major strategic readjustment of the Xiao Yimin clique has been carried out in an orderly manner, and after establishing major policies in the fields of military and political, diplomatic, economic, propaganda, and education, and formulating the goals of the stage surname in response to the surname, Bao Jiqing, the Sichuan Military Affairs Office and chief of the general staff of the Sichuan Army, quietly returned to Chengdu, and for a long time to come, he will sit in the rear of Sichuan for a long time, take full charge of the military and political affairs of Sichuan and Kang-Tibet provinces on behalf of Xiao Yimin, and serve as vice president of the Sichuan Army Military Academy.

Wang Lingji, deputy commander of the Sichuan Army, was appointed by Xiao Yimin as the chief of staff of the "Nanjing Camp of the Central Military and Political Department", which had not yet been approved, and stayed in Nanjing to assist Xiao Yimin, but because Li Chun, Ni Sichong and others who were currently gathered in Xuzhou were ready to move, Wang Lingji needed to temporarily leave Nanjing and rush to Yichang.

More than 30,000 officers and men of the Sichuan Army's engineering corps have arrived in Nanjing one after another, and they have been stationed in the abandoned Ming Imperial Palace, Shencemen Wengcheng, Qingliangshan Stone Town, and other places.

The officers and men of the various units of the engineering corps had only one day of rest and immediately began to enter a state of intense and efficient work, starting with the Taipingmen wall, which Xiao Yimin had promised to repair on the day of his assassination.

Nearly two-thirds of the generals and colonels of the departments directly under the original Chengdu General Headquarters have come to Nanjing one after another, and they have set up the Nanjing Headquarters with ease and quickly entered the working state; the newly formed Nanjing Xingying Military Police Headquarters has already begun to exercise its powers; Ma Gang, director of the Sichuan Army Intelligence Bureau, has taken up the post of commander of the Nanjing Military Police, and the number of military and police officers under his command has increased sharply to five regiments; more than 180 cadets of the military and police major of the Sichuan Army Military Academy have graduated ahead of schedule and have fortunately become grassroots officers of the Nanjing Military Police Headquarters.

During the 10 days at the end of March and the beginning of April, Xiao Yimin successively met with the ministers or envoys of Britain, the United States, France, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and other countries, and Zhang Jian, Yang Du, Sun Baoqi, Lin Baishui, Gu Weijun, Wang Chonghui, Zhang Qun, Wang Zhengting, and others who appeared beside Xiao Yimin one after another, causing an exclamation at home and abroad.

Zhang Jian, Yang Du, Sun Baoqi, and Lin Baishui have long been famous, and they are all important personnel who are highly respected by former President Yuan Shikai, although after Yuan Shikai's death, the four of them have lost power and have been squeezed out by the two major political parties in the north and south, and they have not been able to turn over until Xiao Yimin was assassinated, either retiring or avoiding trouble everywhere, except for Zhang Jian, who first joined Xiao Yimin's camp, the other three suddenly appeared next to Xiao Yimin, which is really unimaginable.

When we think of the strategy of the columnist Yang Du, Zhang Jian's transcendent status and role beside Yuan Shikai, the flexible diplomatic skills and stubborn old spicy surname of the veteran diplomat Sun Baoqi, and the great appeal of Lin Baishui, an international law expert and current affairs critic, we can clearly see Xiao Yimin's ambition and political orientation.

Gu Weijun, Wang Chonghui, Zhang Qun, and Wang Zhengting, four young heroes who are full of talent and have been famous for many years, were also recruited by Xiao Yimin, which had to cause shock and thinking from the outside world.

After a little association, many people are surprised to find that Gu Weijun, who has served as minister to Mexico and the United States at the age of 30, has a doctorate in international law and diplomacy from Columbia University. Wang Chonghui, who holds a Juris Doctor degree from Yale University, has served as the chief justice of Sun Yat-sen's political axe and the legal committee member of Yanjing political axe; Wang Zhengting, who also graduated from Yale University and served as vice minister of industry and commerce of Sun Yat-sen's political axe and vice chairman of the Senate of Yanjing -- these three prominent young and prominent political figures all have the same background of studying in the United States and have the same political experience, but they were all suppressed and excluded in the continuous and fierce political struggles over the past two years, and were finally squeezed out of the political arena and fell into a difficult situation of depression and despair.

The most surprising is the twenty-nine-year-old Zhang Qun, who is rumored to be an honor student who graduated from the non-commissioned officer school of the Yueben Army, and is a good friend of Huang Yin, a revolutionary who is now famous all over the world, and participated in the battle to recover Shanghai in the Xinhai year, and is one of the few down-to-earth military talents in the revolutionary party with real talent and learning, and is highly valued by leaders such as Huang Xing, Sun Yat-sen, and Xu Chongzhi. And also served as the head of Xiao Yimin's military liaison office? Is it just a relationship with Xiao Yimin, who is also from Sichuan?

No matter how hotly discussed and speculated by the outside world, the news that the above eight old, middle-aged and young people joined Xiao Yimin's camp has become an irrefutable fact.

Over the past week, they have not only followed Xiao Yimin to meet with visiting ministers and envoys of Europe, the United States, and other countries, but have also calmly, attentively, and meticulously assisted Xiao Yimin in handling various military and political affairs.

From the recent speeches made by the ministers of Britain, the United States, France, and other countries, we can see a marked improvement in relations between them, and we can see that the great powers attach great importance to and initially recognize the Xiao Yimin clique.

Among them, only the two interviews with the special envoy did not achieve any results, and from the statement made by the special envoy Kohata Yukichi to reporters after the second meeting, everyone could feel the strong dissatisfaction in his tone, but Xiao Yimin and the newly established Information Office of the Overseer Army Office did not give any explanation on this.

At 9 o'clock in the morning of April 7, Xiao Yimin, Gu Weijun, Wang Chonghui, and Zhang Qun appeared at a press conference held by the Overseer's Mansion.

After Zhang Qun, who presided over the press conference, announced the latest venue rules, Xiao Yimin really reported a shocking news:

"Yesterday evening, that is, at 8:30 p.m. on April 6, seven large and medium-sized cargo ships, including the 'Chiayi Maru' of the Mitsui Trading Company, and 34 passenger and cargo ships including the 'Chujiang' belonging to the China Merchants Yangtze River Transportation Company, carried one division of Li Chun's division of the Beiyang Army and two divisions under the command of Ni Sichong, the Anhui Overseer, from the two major wharves of Wuhu and Anqing to Jiujiang, Jiangxi.

"At 5:40 a.m., after more than 12,000 officers and men who arrived at the Jiujiang wharf first by ship landed, they shot and killed three officers and more than 50 guards of the Jiujiang Garrison Regiment who came forward to inquire without any surname, attacked the barracks of the Jiujiang garrison of the Jiangxi army and began arson."

The audience was in an uproar, more than a dozen Chinese reporters angrily scolded Yue himself, and many reporters stared coldly at the three reporters in the audience, but these three reporters were not afraid and still had excited smiles on their faces.

Xiao Yimin patiently waited for the audience to calm down, and then issued a stern warning and protest:

"Before the press conference, I myself had sent a telegram to the Central Political Axe and Premier Duan, requesting Premier Duan to immediately stop the crazy behavior of Li Chun and others, and to hold all officers above the regimental level of the rebel army accountable. Here, in the name of the Deputy Minister of Military Affairs of the CPC Central Committee and the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, I would like to lodge a strong protest against the institutions stationed in China and the political axe of the People's Republic of China. ”

Zhang Qun then announced: "The following is free question time, due to time constraints, it can only be carried out for fifteen minutes, please forgive me!" ”

Under the rostrum, Rulin's arm was immediately raised, and under Zhang Qun's signal, the female reporter of "Declaration" was given the opportunity to ask the first question: "May I ask General Xiao, can you tell us more about the current situation of Jiujiang?" Wasn't a division of the Seventh Army of the Sichuan Army stationed in Jiujiang? ”

Xiao Yimin looked at his watch: "Although we have continuously received urgent reports from the Jiujiang garrison, because the rebels' attack was too sudden and the offensive was too fierce, and the follow-up news has not yet been received, the 18th Division of General Yuan Chongxi, who is stationed in Jiujiang County, had to retreat westward in a hurry without receiving orders from the Central Military and Political Department and myself, so as to avoid the intensification and expansion of the conflict. ”

The audience was in an exclamation again, and no one expected that the main division of the Sichuan Army, which was well-equipped and powerful, would choose to retreat.

Seeing the chaos below, shouters and loud exclamations abounded, Xiao Yimin had to loudly ask for quiet: "Ladies and gentlemen, this incident happened very suddenly, the quality of the surname is very bad, we are nervously waiting for the instructions and orders of the central government, before receiving a clear order from the central government, we cannot rashly take any measures, because this not only involves the rebellion of 30,000 troops, but also involves the political situation in Jiangxi and Anhui and the safety of the lives and property of tens of millions of people in the two provinces."

"Here, I have no choice but to issue a stern warning to the political axe: I ask you to immediately stop all unjust actions that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine China's stable political situation, and if you do not give a logical and moral explanation for this, we will reserve the right to make further reactions."

Hughes, a burly veteran American journalist, pushed through the crowd, stood at the front, and asked aloud in Chinese: "Forgive my faux pas, honorable general, I ask only one question: What do you mean by further reaction?" Could it be a military operation? ”

Xiao Yimin replied apologetically: "We will be very cautious in handling this matter, and any action must be approved by the central political axe." How so? I think it should be said that this is not an accidental, isolated incident, everyone has seen that the civil war in Guangdong is getting bigger and bigger, and the army under the leadership of the central government, including the Sichuan army that was ordered to be stationed in the border area of Guangdong, has not participated in it, let alone committed any despicable crimes of slaughtering innocent civilians and robbing civilian property, but we cannot effectively prevent the Guangxi army from advancing eastward on a large scale to quell the rebellion, after all, until now, the central political axe has still not made any substantive action against the civil war that is breaking out in Guangdong, I think, It is not enough to call for peace. ”

"So what do you think of the Jiujiang incident that suddenly broke out this morning?" Hughes asked nonchalantly.

Xiao Yimin puffed up his chest: "This is completely a planned, premeditated rebellion with the participation of foreign political and military forces, the purpose of the reactionary warlord Li Chun and others is very obvious, it is nothing more than to destroy the stable and peaceful political situation that the provinces in the Yangtze River basin have won so hard, they are going to be enemies of tens of millions of Jiangxi soldiers and civilians, and the people of the whole country, and they will never end well!" ”

"Alright, the meeting is over, thank you!"

Zhang Qun hastily announced the end of the meeting, and Xiao Yimin and Gu Weijun, who had not spoken, stood up and turned to leave, leaving a group of staff members struggling to reassure the angry Chinese reporters, enduring the reporters' questioning and scolding of Xiao Yimin's cowardice.

(To be continued)