Xiao Yimin walked out of the headquarters with a smile on his face, and when he saw Liu Bingxian running quickly, he immediately greeted him, and his brothers, who had been separated for four years, hugged each other tightly and immediately looked at each other and laughed.

Xiao Yimin pushed away the excited Liu Bingxian and looked up and down: "Well, it's much stronger, except for this dress that is a little ugly, everything else is good!" ”

The sturdy Liu Bingxian gave Xiao Yimin a punch:

"Third brother, your mouth is still so mean, haha! Let me take a good look at you...... I've grown taller again, and my grandmother's is half a head taller than me...... The eyes are still as deep and cunning as before, tsk, this picture is getting more and more like a superior person! ”

Xiao Yimin pretended to be angry, and turned to Yang Shukan, who was smiling silently: "Brother Pale, you help the younger brother evaluate the theory, is there such a compliment from him?" ”

Everyone laughed loudly, Yang Shukan pointed around, and deliberately squeezed out a look of indignation on his face:

"Brother Yiming, I didn't expect you to earn such a big family business in a blink of an eye, it's eye-catching! Foolish brother now finally knows what it means to be more popular than a dead person! ”

Everyone smiled again, Wu San, Zheng Changze, Zong Yi and others stepped forward to meet Liu Bingxian warmly, Xiao Yimin walked to the smiling Zou Wenhan, whispered a few words of greeting, took Yang Shukan's hand and led it to the headquarters, and everyone surrounded Liu Bingxian and Zou Wenhan and then entered.

As soon as Yang Shukan entered the courtyard, he was full of praise for the blooming plums in the garden, and he couldn't move a little when the sour air came.

Seeing this, Zou Wenhan said disdainfully, if you have been to the back garden of Yiming's house, you will not think that there is anything unusual about the plum blossoms here.

Yang Shukan immediately stopped when he heard this, and strongly asked to go to Xiao Yimin's back garden to warm up the wine and enjoy the plum blossoms, Xiao Yimin agreed, and everyone turned around and walked out of the front yard of the headquarters, bypassing the stone road on the south side of the beautiful pond, and going directly to the Xiao family compound.

In less than half an hour, the small hill pavilion in the back garden of the Xiao family's compound was staggered, and the laughter was loud, and Yang Shukan and Zou Wenhan of Yaxing Dafa recited Yongmei's famous article loudly, and drank a cup when they chanted a song, attracting bursts of applause from everyone.

At this time, the warm sun and sunset, the plum blossoms in the garden are scattered and distributed along the hill, competing for beauty, under the embellishment of several pine and green bamboo trees and colorful ornamental rocks in the distance, it is indeed pleasing to the eye, the fragrance is pleasant, and the mood is naturally extraordinarily comfortable.

When the wine was half-drunk, Liu Bingxian looked enviously at the sturdy new-style military uniforms on Xiao Yimin and the brothers, and couldn't help but praise loudly:

"It's really beautiful, the materials are high-quality, simple and generous, it is stronger than the military uniforms of this army, and it has a bit of a German military uniform, especially this soft military hat, which is very similar to the style of the German mountain troops introduced in the pictorial."

"The second brother is really sharp-eyed!"

Xiao Yimin said with a smile: "This military uniform was designed by several German engineers hired by us, and Lieutenant Colonel Sharple, the military attache of the German Consulate General, who took the clothing of the German Bavarian mountain troops as the model, and made some changes according to our requirements, except for the slight modification of the collar and trouser leg style, which generally followed the German style. ”

Liu Bingxian reached out and touched the dark brown soft leather logo above Xiao Yimin's left breast pocket, and was curious about this parallel spread of wings: "What does this mean?" ”

Xiao Yimin lowered his head and explained: "The Sichuan border army is now left with the younger brother's Zhenzi battalion and the Tai'an battalion in Ya'an, the battle flag of the Tai'an battalion is the Qinglong Banner of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and ours is the flying leopard flag designed by ourselves, so we use a pair of wings as the symbol of the army, and the decorative line of the wings and the circular pattern in the middle are hot-pressed with steel molds, and the different contents of the circular pattern represent different types of troops.

"My leopard head pattern is unique, Senior Brother Zong Yi and Wu San's two rifles cross pattern, representing the headquarters organs and directly subordinate troops, others such as two crossed sabers represent cavalry, carriage represents baggage soldiers, artillery represents artillery, machine guns represent machine gunners, and you will know if you look at the others a few more times."

Yang Shukan leaned over curiously: "Yiming, if you change the style of your military uniform without authorization, aren't you afraid of the punishment of the Beiyang War Department?" ”

Xiao Yimin hasn't answered yet, Liu Bingxian has already explained:

"I said, Brother Pale, you have been staying in the country, why is it not as clear as me, who has been away for a few years and only returned? Since the establishment of the new army in the Guangxu Dynasty of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, when have you ever seen the army have a uniform uniform? Let's not talk about the variety of styles, just the color, the Beiyang New Army is gray and yellow-green, the Huai Army has just been replaced with earthy yellow, the Guangdong Army and the Yunnan Army are gray-blue, and our Sichuan New Army is mixed with yellow and gray, not to mention the local security forces, many people still have a patch printed with the word 'Yong' on their chests, why can't the border army have its own color?

"Yiming has been in the army for many years, and he has just taken up the position of commander of the Sichuan Border Army and the commander of the Sichuan Kang Army appointed by the Beiyang Political Axe, can he not know the stakes?"

Zou Wenhan saw Yang Shukan's somewhat embarrassed smile, so he shook his head and said:

"Pale, you were originally a literati, what do you do with these things? Even if you are now an alternate member of the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe and a senior adviser to the Sichuan Shu Military Political Axe, you are still a literati in your bones, and you have time to drink and enjoy the flowers with your brother, wouldn't it be faster to live? ”

"Go, go, can I compare with you, the leader of the literary world? My little brother has only turned 30 this year! ”

Yang Shukan only had to be wronged in front of Zou Wenhan, just like a little daughter-in-law seeing her mother-in-law, she never dared to speak loudly to Zou Wenhan, not to mention that today he forced Zou Wenhan to come from home to see Xiao Yimin, and he had to lower his posture if he asked for help.

Everyone watched it funny and smiled.

Xiao Yimin pretended not to know, and frequently raised his glass to persuade him to drink.

Wu San and Zheng Yi had already been informed by Wu San, where would they let go of the opportunity when they saw it? caught Liu Bingxian and Yang Shukan for a while, but Yang Shukan and Liu Bingxian were full of worries in their hearts, and they didn't have a chance to say anything, so they were carried into the front yard guest room by the guards and thrown on the bed.

At dusk, the cold wind on the hill was biting, Xiao Yimin helped Zou Wenhan back to the big study on the east side of the main hall, the fourth sister and a few girls had already put a warm charcoal fire in the study, and the small charcoal stove and tea set were ready.

Xiao Yimin poured a cup of chrysanthemum tea for Zou Wenhan, and when Zou Wenhan finished drinking, he filled it again: "Uncle Zou, it was Pale who pulled you here, right?" ”

Zou Wenhan nodded: "He came to be a lobbyist on the order of Huang Xing, Yiming, let's not talk about Nanjing first, let's talk about Chengdu, I think it's almost enough, let's let Yin Changheng go, hundreds of thousands of people in Chengdu have finally settled down, and the eastern and southern suburbs have stationed Xiong Kewu and Liu Cunhou two 8,000 troops, and the whole situation has changed a lot, forming a delicate quadripartite balance."

"In such a situation, if you still don't give up, Yin Changheng is likely to reluctantly divide half of his power and join forces with the two forces outside the city to deal with you, even if you have the confidence to strategize, you have to consider the interests of hundreds of thousands of people!"

"Don't worry, Uncle Zou, the little nephew can still understand the overall situation, and will never do anything stupid at this time, and no one is allowed to hurt the interests of the old folks in Chengdu! No matter how they unite and fight, the little nephew will not participate, and the position of the new political axe will not be a little nephew, let them fight. Xiao Yimin explained his position in a low voice.

Zou Wenhan was very pleased, nodded again and again, and praised in a low voice:

"That's right, well done! According to the current situation, as long as you announce your withdrawal in a high-profile manner, the three parties will inevitably have a fierce struggle for the leadership of the new political axe, and no matter what fisherman talks about, as long as you stay out of the matter and strictly abide by neutrality, you can be invincible, and in the end it should be yours or yours. ”

"Thank you, Uncle Zou, for mentioning it! Without your help, my little nephew wouldn't be where I am today! Xiao Yimin thanked him from the bottom of his heart, picked up the teacup, and gently sent it to Zou Wenhan.

Zou Wenhan drank a cup of tea and was in a good mood:

"Also, Pale came suddenly this time, or with your second brother Bingxian, I am afraid that it will bring about some important decisions of the Nanjing Alliance, which is likely to affect the interests of all aspects of Sichuan, you have to be mentally prepared."

Xiao Yimin sighed helplessly: "I don't know what evil my second brother has fallen into, he has become a fanatical revolutionary party, it is estimated that he joined the revolutionary party in the first place, otherwise with his superhuman talent, his achievements will never be under Zeng Chaoran's eldest brother, alas, it's a pity that a good seedling!"

"Originally, I had planned that when the two senior brothers of the ninth phase of this non-commissioned officer school came back at the end of the year, I would let them go to the Berlin Military Academy and the Berlin Artillery Academy in Germany to continue their studies, and this matter has been agreed by the German side, but now it seems that the second brother Bingxian is afraid that he will return to Yucheng to stand on his own."

Zou Wenhan smiled slightly: "It's difficult to choose between gains and losses, sometimes it seems that loss is not a kind of gain, you think, if Bingxian breaks out of the world in Yucheng, wouldn't it be more beneficial to you?" ”

Xiao Yimin smiled bitterly and nodded: "The little nephew knows that it may be better, but this is ...... Just don't give up! ”

"If you are willing to give up, you can only get if you are willing to give up, how can you get if you are not willing to give up? Haven't you been like this all these years? Zou Wenhan gently reminded Xiao Yimin, and seeing Xiao Yimin nodding heavily, Zou Wenhan then asked, "When will that Mongolian Bao Jiqing in the hospital be discharged?" ”

"You can be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the small courtyard in the east has been cleaned up, Mr. Bao's wife and two children get along very well with my sister, and when Mr. Bao comes back, their family will be able to reunite It's just that the little nephew is worried that he can't keep a big hermit like Mr. Bao, who has been through the wind and snow and rain, if it weren't for the former minister in Tibet, Feng Quan, who was killed by the head of the gang of lamas, Mr. Bao was used as a scapegoat, with his Jinshi background and general status, where would he fall into the miserable situation of being trapped in Mancheng Prison for seven years? There is no reason for the Manchu court not to fall! ”

Xiao Yimin is still very emotional when he talks about this.

Zou Wenhan shook his head: "It seems that you haven't really understood Mr. Bao yet, I went to visit him twice during this time, and each time I talked very speculatively, he held his little daughter's hand in front of me several times, and told his daughter with red eyes, don't forget who is your benefactor." ”

"His little daughter is very beautiful, she is only eight years old and very sensible, and her mother told me that the little girl led the army into Tibet before Mr. Bao was born, and it was only after she was imprisoned that she saw what her daughter looked like." Xiao Yimin smiled when he thought of Bao Jiqing's youngest daughter.

Zou Wenhan smiled slightly: "Yes, I also think that little girl is a beautiful embryo, her mother is Han, or a beauty in Jiangnan, if it weren't for the day of the Chengdu mutiny, you led your troops to the city to rescue civilians, personally broke into the burning house to rescue his wife and a pair of children, and sent someone to the prison to snatch him out and send him to the West Hospital, even if their family is not burned to death, they will be killed by the angry rebels, not to mention curing his tuberculosis for many years."

"This great kindness, he will not forget, Mr. Bao is the kind of person who is very virtuous and cultivated, if I didn't know in advance that he was Mongolian, I really regarded him as our local scholar, just a few words of conversation, you can understand from his seemingly ordinary words, what is called a civil and military all-rounder, a rare talent, you must not miss it!"

Xiao Yimin nodded: "I won't miss it, no matter how hard I try, I will keep Mr. Bao!" ”

Zou Wenhan stroked his long beard and nodded with a smile:

"With him to assist you, I am also relieved, after all, I am a complete old-fashioned literati, I have not been interested in martial arts and the art of war since I was a child, and I have never dabbled in this area, so ah, only Mr. Bao can help you in all aspects Don't look at him forty-two years old, his knowledge and vision are far above me, he still reads hard every day in prison for several years, and the most painful thing for him is that the hundreds of thousands of words he wrote in prison are gone, including the hundreds of military maps drawn by Qinghai-Tibet and Xikang were destroyed in the fire, which is really sad!"

Xiao Yimin shook his head disapprenously: "It's okay, just write it out again, as long as Mr. Bao is willing, I will publish it for him, and translate it into English and German." ”

When Zou Wenhan heard this, he couldn't help but say: "Haha! That's how you are, always so reassuring! If a person like you can't get Mr. Bao's trust, I'm afraid no one in this world will be able to enter his eyes, haha......"

"What are you laughing at, what is it like this? Are you so happy to get drunk with the two of us, and celebrate here? ”

Xiao Yimin and Zou Wenhan turned their heads to look, and Yang Shukan, who had a very ugly face after waking up, walked in leisurely, and it was Liu Bingxian who rubbed his head and frowned sadly behind him.

Xiao Yimin and Zou Wenhan looked at each other and smiled, quickly stood up, and went up to help Yang Shukan, who was unstable, to sit down, knowing in his heart that the main drama was about to be staged.

(To be continued)