With the joint efforts of all parties, the disaster relief work of the military and civilians in Chengdu was finally carried out in an orderly manner, hundreds of thousands of Chengdu people gradually settled down, and the reorganization of the new Sichuan Provincial Political Axe was also fruitful.

On 15 December, a week after the Chengdu Mutiny, a telegram from Premier Yuan Shikai arrived, formally appointing Yin Changheng and Luo Lun as the new chief and deputy governors of Sichuan.

So far, Yin Changheng and Luo Lun have been appointed by the Beiyang political axe and the Nanjing temporary political axe, and the two have no worries, after mutual consultation, it was decided that Yin Changheng served as the governor of the capital, and Luo Lun was deputy, and then announced his inauguration, and the new governor's palace was located in the imperial city of Mingyuan Building.

The former Sichuan "Consultative Bureau" was officially renamed the "Information Bureau", and Zhang Lan was elected as the new speaker.

Xiao Yimin, vice minister of military affairs, who had made outstanding contributions in quelling the riots and organizing disaster relief, and who was deeply supported by the people of Chengdu, resigned from the appointment of minister of military affairs three times on the grounds that "it is difficult to take on a major task due to limited talent and learning," and was only willing to continue to serve as the reorganized deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Political Axe Military and Political Department, responsible for military training and operations, and not participating in civil affairs.

Under such circumstances, Zhou Jun, another assistant commander of the new armed forces who was nominated to fill the post of minister, also found many reasons to resign from the post of minister of military affairs, thus forming a rather embarrassing situation: The post of minister of military affairs who held military power and was envied by everyone became vacant, and in the end, Yin Changheng had to continue to serve as minister of military affairs.

The key reason why Xiao Yimin refused to resign from the post of military minister was that the cumbersome and offending work of reorganizing the Sichuan army was about to begin, and with Xiao Yimin's current financial resources and qualifications, it would be difficult for him to bring the unruly but incapable new army under his command.

Second, Xiong Kewu, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, who was appointed by the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe of the Alliance, was about to lead the hastily formed army to Chengdu, and Liu Cunhou, Yang Chaoxi, and others, who were veteran generals who had been sent back to China from the Yuben Noncommissioned Officer School for further study in the early days of the establishment of the Sichuan New Army, also hurried back from Yunnan to follow Liu Cunhou and others back, as well as two infantry regiments sent by Cai Yi, the founder of the League and commander-in-chief of the Yunnan Army, to "support the Sichuan revolution."

Heroes from all walks of life rushed back to Sichuan for the "common revolution" at this critical time, and the most feared person was the new governor Yin Changheng in addition to Xiao Yimin.

Yin Changheng, who relied on the pacification of the Chengdu Mutiny to establish his personal prestige, so far, he still has not completely mastered the Sichuan New Army, and he is probably more afraid than anyone else of the various heroes who flock to pick fruits.

Today, there are only more than 7,000 people in the Sichuan New Army under the nominal leadership of Yin Changheng, and most of them are demoralized, lost in faith, and cannot even carry out normal training, not to mention any combat effectiveness at all, let alone the two well-equipped and well-trained Yunnan Legions brought by Liu Cunhou and others, and even the 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Zhenzi Battalion under the command of Xiao Yimin in front of them are far from comparable.

The strict military discipline and iron-blooded methods of the Zhenzi Battalion in the current quelling of the chaos are obvious to all in Chengdu, and now the new officers and men see the officers and men of the Zhenzi Battalion patrolling on the streets, and they must let them aside to pay attention to the salute.

In addition, after the mutiny, contradictions within the New Army have intensified again, and the families of many middle- and low-ranking officers have been harmed, their homes have been burned to the ground, and there are many officers and men who have taken part in the mutiny and quietly fled back to the New Army, and there is no longer any affection or trust between them.

Yin Changheng saw that if he didn't take the necessary action, he would not be able to sit firmly in his position, and in a panic, he summoned Xie Jiong, Shao Zongen, Xu Zixiu and other confidants to discuss secretly, and an interlocking adventure plan was formed and quietly implemented.

Yin Changheng first pulled in Xiao Yimin, the deputy minister of military and political affairs, and asked to meet Zhao Erxun, who was living in the old governor's mansion on the grounds of illness.

Yin Changheng sincerely gave a detailed account of the current difficulties of the new army in Sichuan and the situation of foreign troops approaching step by step, was deeply worried about the possible recurrence of mutiny, and asked Zhao Erfeng, who is highly respected in his moral character, to come forward in the name of the minister of frontier affairs to preside over the overall military and political situation.

Where will Zhao Erfeng take this hot potato? What's more, the Beiyang political axe and the Nanjing political axe have both appointed Yin Changheng as the governor of Sichuan, although the Beiyang political axe controlled by the old family Yuan Shikai still retains his position as the border minister and orders him to continue to shoulder the heavy responsibility of Jingbian for the country, but Zhao Erxun, who has been in the officialdom all his life, does not know how powerful it is? Therefore, he did not hesitate to politely refuse, and then said: As long as the problem of the retrenched border troops is properly resolved, he will be discharged and returned to the field, and he will say goodbye to his hometown with peace of mind.

The two talked for a long time, and Yin Changheng finally got the support of Zhao Erfeng and Xiao Yimin, and reached an agreement on the issue of the reduction of the border army:

1. Zhong Ying's troops who entered Tibet and went west are on their way back, and the question of whether Zhong Ying's soldiers should stay or stay must first seek the opinion of the commander Zhong Ying, and whether to go or stay is up to the ministry to decide; 2. The seven battalions of the Sichuan Border Army, including the Zhenzi Battalion, will retain the strength of one town after the reorganization, and the retired officers and soldiers will be paid three months' military salaries at a time, which will be used as travel expenses and settling-in expenses for returning home; 3. After the reorganization, the border army was renamed the Third Town of the Sichuan Army, and the officials and assistants at all levels were reported to the Governor's Office and the Ministry of Military Affairs for the record by Xiao Yimin, the commander of the town, and the headquarters of the town was located in the North School Field, which was stationed in Chengdu and Ya'an, and was subject to the command and dispatch of the Sichuan Governor, and was responsible for the defense of western Sichuan.

After the discussion on the dismantling of the border army, Yin Changheng began to reorganize the new army in a resolute manner, and in one day he came up with a reorganization plan and began to implement it:

The new army was divided into two, Song Xuegao, the assistant commander of the 17th town of the new army, was promoted to the commander of the first town of the Sichuan Army, and the headquarters was located in Chenghuangmiao, and the garrison was the eastern suburbs of the camp, the Fenghuangshan military camp and the Tianhui town military camp, and served as the defense task in the east and north of Chengdu; Peng Guanglie, the commander of the 67th standard of the new army, was promoted to the commander of the second town of the Sichuan Army, and the headquarters was set up in the southern school field, and the Zhengxing military camp in the southern suburbs and the Longquanyi military camp in the southeast suburbs were stationed, and they were responsible for the defense of Chengdu from the southeast to the southwest.

After the meeting, Yin Changheng announced that Xiao Yimin, deputy minister of military affairs, had been entrusted by the Governor's Office and the Minister of Frontier Affairs Zhao Erfeng to go to the "Tai'an Battalion" of the Ya'an Border Army within three days to convene the officers of the various battalions of the border army to discuss the reorganization affairs, but omitted the relevant decision to organize the border army into the third town of the Sichuan Army.

Xiao Yimin, who was still inspecting the city's disaster relief, did not attend the meeting, but after receiving a notice from Yin Changheng, he immediately made preparations to leave Chengdu and rush to Ya'an as agreed in advance.

Before Xiao Yimin left, he convened a meeting of his generals, and the three new pipe bands of the Zhenzi Battalion and Ma Gang, Fan Chunlin and other brothers seemed to be a little inexplicably worried, and Ma Gang, who was in charge of secret intelligence work, quietly told Xiao Yimin:

"Last night, I accidentally saw Lord Zhao's chief guard Tao Zekun coming out of Yin Dudu's house, I think it's strange, how could Tao Zekun go to Yin Dudu's house? And alone? ”

Xiao Yimin thought for a while and said with a smile: "This is an extraordinary time, it is normal for Governor Yin to summon Lord Zhao's chief of guard, and besides, the matter of the reduction of the border army has not been resolved, and Lord Zhao has not moved out of the Governor's Mansion yet, and it is always necessary to exchange news with each other." Yin Dudu is sincere, he has great respect for Lord Zhao, and he took the initiative to ask for the advice of adults on many things, and today he also asked me to go back quickly and come back to attend his wedding. ”

"I see, it seems that I'm really a little nervous like you said." Ma Gang scratched his head and laughed.

Fan Chunlin next to him said a few words: "Ma Gong, you are tired for this time, it is estimated that you still don't know another layer of relationship between Tao Zekun and Lord Zhao, Tao Zekun is a native of Cangxi in northern Sichuan, and has a relationship with Lord Zhao, Tao Zekun has to call Uncle Zhao in private, besides, Tao Zekun graduated from Wu Ben Academy ten years ago, and he followed Lord Zhao to the south and west, and is one of Lord Zhao's most trusted generals, so it is normal for him to handle confidential matters, and there is no need to think about it." ”

After the matter was discussed, everyone sat together and discussed how to work during the time that Xiao Yimin was away, and all the brothers expressed their opinions one after another, and soon set a series of measures: 1. Fan Chunlin was in charge of the telegraph room and intelligence collection affairs, and once a new situation arose, he immediately called Ya'an to inform Xiao Yimin; 2. Ma Gang was in charge of the work of the two intelligence groups of the headquarters and Nantang, and continued to carry out secret investigations into the Chengdu mutiny; 3. Zheng Yi was responsible for the training and command of the Zhenzi Battalion, and all the officers and men handed over the patrol work in the city to the sub-bureaus of the Chengdu Police Department from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and all the officers and men returned to the battalion to carry out summary and training; Fourth, Wei Changfeng, deputy captain of the guards, led 100 guards to stay behind as a mobile response, and the two infantry battalions, cavalry battalions, and artillery companies each fully assisted in the work of Zong Yi, and the newly formed engineer battalion continued to improve the fortifications of the large battalion.

(To be continued)