The autumn breeze is gradually rising, the afterglow of the setting sun dyes the ancient mountain city yellow, the temperature of the world-famous furnace in Yucheng plummets, and the humidity in Yinyin is not as heavy as in midsummer.

The courtyard of the Shu military and political axe is still as lively and noisy as usual, and the military and political axes at all levels and officers of various departments who come in and out are mostly spicy hot pot-like surnames and loud voices, and laughter, scolding, joking gags and various voices intersect together, constituting a distinct and unique style of the Shu military and political axe in Yucheng.

In the small courtyard on the west side of the office compound, Liu Bingxian, deputy minister of military affairs and chief of the training department, sent away Wu Yuzhang, the speaker of the parliament who had come to his office to chat, and ordered the adjutant not to see anyone, return to the office and close the door, repeatedly read the first and second editions of the "Huaxi Times" issued yesterday, and then took out two letters written by his third brother Xiao Yimin from the drawer and reread them, and finally took out a cigarette and lit it slowly.

Liu Bingxian really found it hard to imagine that more than 17,000 young intellectuals from all over Sichuan had gathered in Chengdu to compete for the qualifications of the 250 cadets recruited by the newly established Sichuan Army Military Academy, and he did not expect that his third brother, Xiao Yimin, had invited back from Yanjing Xu Xiaogang and Zhou Daogang, veterans of the New Army, who had been ostracized two years ago and had left Sichuan in a fit of rage, to the important posts of director of education and director of discipline at the military academy.

For the third brother Xiao Yimin's broad mind, deep scheming and amazing work efficiency, Liu Bingxian in addition to admiration is emotion, originally he only had to nod to Xiao Yimin, who repeatedly begged him to return to Chengdu, this position of chief of education of the Sichuan Army Officers Academy, which has just been established and has become famous all over the country, is his Liu Bingxian, but now

Liu Bingxian received at least three letters from his third brother Xiao Yimin every month, Xiao Yimin's brotherhood towards him not only did not change, but gradually deepened, each letter was no less than three pages, the content was mixed, everything was discussed, commenting on the world's major events, analyzing the current situation of Bashu, informing Kang and Tibet to quell the rebellion, stating the idea of building the army, etc., all appeared frequently in Xiao Yimin's letters, and did not hide his brand-new ideas that kept pace with the times and his ambition to worry about the country and the people.

Every letter from Xiao Yimin made Liu Bingxian read it repeatedly, and then he couldn't sleep at night, Liu Bingxian realized every time that the gap between himself and his third brother Xiao Yimin was getting farther and farther.

The reason why Liu Bingxian returned to Chongqing after graduation was not only to admire and follow the revolution advocated by Mr. Sun Yat-sen, but also for an important but unspeakable reason:

Six years ago, he was pressed down by his classmate and brother Xiao Yimin in all aspects, and when he came back from four years of further study, how could he be shrouded by the halo of his third brother Xiao Yimin? No matter how you think about it, Liu Bingxian, who has a strong surname and strong self-esteem, must break new ground, realize the lofty ambition of saving the country and the people in his heart, and at the same time prove his worth and ability to his brothers.

In the past year, although Liu Bingxian and his third brother Xiao Yimin had frequent correspondence, but did not accept any help from Xiao Yimin, except for the batch of weapons and equipment given by Xiao Yimin at the beginning of his return to China to start a business, Liu Bingxian repeatedly declined Xiao Yimin's generous assistance in terms of weapons, ammunition and funds, and with his indomitable efforts and the support of his huge family, he formed and trained an infantry regiment whose combat effectiveness and military discipline met the requirements of the modern army, and became an elite revolutionary force that was eyed and praised by the headquarters of the armed forces and alliances in the Yucheng area.

Who knew that Commander Xiong Kewu, Speaker Wu Yuzhang and others only held a small military adjustment meeting, and they justifiably and grandly divided half of the elite infantry regiment that Liu Bingxian had painstakingly managed, and Yang Shukan, who was also a friend of Liu Bingxian and Xiao Yimin, remained silent at the meeting, and afterwards advised Liu Bingxian to put the overall situation of the revolution first.

In the name of the revolution, he admitted that he had taken half of Liu Bingxian's regiment, but in the past year, the Shu army and political axe under the leadership of the League have not made any progress, and the so-called revolutionary army, which is full of mud and sand and mixed with fish and dragons, has corrupted military discipline, and officers at all levels are greedy for ink, except for holding high the revolutionary banner and shouting revolutionary slogans, it is essentially no different from the new army before and after the fall of the Manchu Dynasty.

Officials at all levels, under the banner of doing everything for the sake of the revolution, openly and secretly vie for power and profit, slander each other, and tear each other down, resulting in a lot of contradictions in the entire political axe, and one by one upright and selfless officials have left the country.

What is even more shocking is that in just half a year, 17 departments, bureaus and committees were set up in the Shu army's political axe to house the revolutionary fathers sent from various parts of Sichuan and the headquarters of the League, resulting in a 15-fold increase in the office expenses of the political axe in half a year.

Military and political officials who can only rebel and cannot produce can only spread this cost on the heads of the common people, resulting in a variety of taxes gradually coming out, and the burden on the common people is even heavier, which has aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people in Yucheng and surrounding counties, and there have been sporadic violent tax resistance incidents in several southern counties.

Even under such circumstances, the high-ranking officials of the various ministries still live luxuriously, spend money like dirt, and even compare their respective carriages and sedan chairs with each other, and they are all generous and revolutionary, but the officials in public and frequent large-scale gatherings are a different image: they are competing to speak, full of passion, full of encouraging revolutionary truths, and frequently depicting a beautiful blueprint for the future development of the whole country and the happy life of hundreds of millions of people, but secretly making profits for their own small groups or families. Where is the slightest bit of the style of the revolutionaries who are selfless and serve the public in the world?

Liu Bingxian was finally disappointed, every day for several months, he was in a state of hesitation and pain, for which he repeatedly wrote to Mr. Zhongshan and Commander-in-Chief Huang Xing, and Mr. Zhongshan and Commander-in-Chief Huang also wrote back to him in the midst of their busy schedules, greatly praising his revolutionary enthusiasm and great contributions, placing many encouragements and ardent expectations in the letter, and at the same time instructing the Yucheng League and the Shu Army and the political axe to strictly rectify the situation.

However, the final result was that Liu Bingxian, deputy chief of the Shu Army's political axe and chief of the training department, and an outstanding graduate of the eighth phase of the Shu Noncommissioned Officer School, who was worried about the world and the country and the people, offended many vested interests and was gradually marginalized, and the training department in charge of the training and education of the whole army was also greatly reduced for various high-sounding reasons, so that only Liu Bingxian, the director of the department, and several of his staff officers and adjutants, were now left in an embarrassing situation of existing in name only.

Liu Bingxian, who was in the smoke, was motionless, and the shorter and shorter cigarette butts burned his fingers before he came back to his senses, slowly threw away the cigarette butts, raised his head weakly, and let out a long and heavy sigh.

After a painful silence, his eyes slowly moved to the envelope on the table, and a rather poetic text in the letter from his third brother Xiao Yimin came to mind: This painful era of darkness and light is even more of a heroic era with great waves and magnificent waves......

(To be continued)