Mai Zilong finally failed to get together 500,000 military salaries, in fact, he did not reject the technical work of strangling the belts of the people and scraping off three feet of land, after all, the police did this business, but all the grease and ointment scraped off were given to others, so the enthusiasm for doing this thing was not so high.

Only 200,000 military salaries had arrived, and Tang Shengzhi's troops really began to make trouble, ransacking three county towns, confiscating the guns of the militia and the security team, and the common people were looted, and the refugees in the provincial capital were flooding, and prices soared.

In order to protect himself, Mai Zilong vigorously expanded the police force and purchased 10,000 Czech-made rifles from Shanghai, which came from the public bonds issued by the provincial government and underwritten by the four banks in the provincial capital, which actually passed on the burden to the banks, which caused a run, and thousands of people lined up at the door of the banks to withdraw money, but the banks declared liquidation and bankruptcy, and a major riot inevitably broke out.

For several days in a row, the streets of the provincial capital resounded with sirens and gunshots, Mai Zilong was in charge of everything he could, and he couldn't sleep at night, Tang Shengzhi's army had already driven to the vicinity of the provincial capital, making a posture of entering the city at any time to take over the political power, and there were also murmurs within the police system, and it was said that several captains below were secretly in contact with the Tang army and wanted to take their place.

What's more serious is that Mai Zilong suffers from an extremely serious neurasthenia, he hears crying every night, and when he closes his eyes, it is a bloody scene, he does not believe in ghosts and gods, and this time he had to invite a Taoist priest to come and see, the Taoist priest said that you are killing too much, this is the devil in the heart.

Mai Zilong knew that he was a little ruthless when he purged the Communist Party, but that was also a helpless thing, so he had to buy incense, candles, paper horses, and personally go to the ruins of the Provincial Federation of Trade Unions to pay respects, and spent money to reshape the golden body of Rulai in a large temple nearby, and gave a lot of monk shoes to the monks, and the monks were naturally happy, but the first Taoist priest was very angry.

The people in Jiangdong Province are boiling, the people are not happy, the officials and gentry in the province have the intention of welcoming Chen Zikun's return, the news reached Nanjing, Chen Zikun smiled and said: "It seems that Mai Zilong's play is a failure." ”

Immediately dispatched troops to prepare to return to Jiangdong, this time Chiang Kai-shek did not stop him again, but also sent an elite regiment to help the war, it was Chen Qilin who led the team, he made great contributions in 412 Middle School, and has been promoted to colonel.

The two main divisions of the Jiangdong Army withdrew south from the Xuzhou front, and the two regiments of the army stationed in Shanghai advanced westward, and Chen Zikun personally took a warship to supervise the battle.

During the dormant period in Nanjing, Chen Zikun was also idle, taking the two ladies to various banquets and dance parties all day long, and became a figure of the year in Nanjing's social circles, and the British consul Herbert Keels, who once clamoured to shell Jiangdong, has now become a close friend of Chen Dashuai, and has sent warships several times to help Chen Zikun regain the territory, so that he has to sigh that the British have no eternal friends and no eternal enemies, and only eternal interests, which is vividly reflected in Herbert.

Of course, Chen Zikun rejected Consul Kiels's "good intentions" on the spot, saying that Chinese affairs do not need outsiders to interfere, otherwise they will help more and more.

"The Royal Navy is ready to serve you if there is a need." Consul Keels said this as if Chen Zikun was a hardcore ally of the British Empire, but when Mai Zilong purged the party by force, Keels never mentioned this matter again.

The 30,000-strong army marched on land and water, rushing to the east of the river, and the masts of the fleet on the river were like forests, all of which were civilian ships carrying infantry, and although the cruiser "Haichou" was 30 years old, it was still old and strong, with three 150-caliber Krupp main guns, eight 100-caliber secondary guns, and a number of Ha-gas Kesmakqin machine guns, and its firepower was as strong as that of an artillery regiment.

……

Liu Cunren walked on the street of the provincial capital, holding a bag of rice in his arms, he took the collection of lake pens and inkstones, exchanged money to feed the old and young, did not eat at noon, and his steps were inevitably a little heavy.

"Outside the nickname, the provocation of the warlord ** Chen Zikun was completely disintegrated by the revolutionary army, look at the Times." The newsboy shouted and ran by, waving a newspaper in his hand.

"Kid, get a newspaper." Liu Cunren took out a copper plate and bought a newspaper, sat on the side of the road and read it carefully, for fear of missing a word, he was born as a newspaper man, and he had a keen sense of the news, and he could search for useful information from the lines of this anti-Chen Jiangdong Times.

The newspaper said that Chen Zikun cobbled together some men and horses in an attempt to kill back to Jiangdong, and once again enslaved and exploited Jiangdong's fathers, but was repulsed by the troops of the heroic General Tang Shengzhi.

Liu Cunren sneered, closed the door when he returned home, and whispered to the family: "Chen Dashuai will be back soon......"

"Is my sister back too?" The eldest son, Xiao Yong, asked with a glare.

"Perhaps."

"Then sister, will she be able to eat enough when she comes back?" The children looked at their father with their eyes, and the wife who was pregnant with Rokko was full of anticipation with a big belly.

"Yes!" Liu Cunren said with confidence.

The next day, Liu Cunren went to the street to buy a newspaper again, and this time the news about the war situation was another atmosphere. On the second page of the newspaper was a line: "The thief army has entered Jiangdong, and our army has moved into Hubei." ”

Liu Cunren thought for a while, went back to the house with a small cloth bag, went straight to the pawnshop, used the treasured piece of Huimo as two yuan, went to the butcher shop to cut a pound and a half of pork, hung a pig's intestine, and bought some celery and green onions, a bag of white noodles, and went home happily, put the food on the table and said: "Eat dumplings tonight, pork and green onion filling." ”

The children were jubilant.

On the third day, Liu Cunren took two more thread-bound books from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty to the pawnshop, and when Chao Feng saw him again, he quipped: "Section Chief Liu, you might as well bring it all at once." ”

Liu Cunren said: "I'm not dead, I'll come back in two days to pick it up." ”

Chao Feng said: "You are in a hurry to use the money? ”

"Yes, buy wine and drink as a book."

The two books are not rare books, when they are five yuan, the tinkling in their pockets is very pleasant, Liu Cunren went to the street, took out a copper dollar and said to the newsboy: "Come to Zhang Times." ”

The newsboy said: "I'm sorry sir, there is no Times today, only Huaijiang, do you want to?" ”

"Yes!"

"Take it."

The Huaijiang newspaper just printed this morning still smells of ink and is really fragrant.

Since Mai Zilong came to power, Chen Zikun's Huaijiang Newspaper has been ordered by the authorities to suspend publication, and the chief writer Ruan Mingchuan is nowhere to be found. ”

There is also a line of black letters underneath: "Mai Zilong is powered into the field." ”

Liu Cunren went directly to buy a bottle of good wine, hung firecrackers, walked to the second meat shop in the alley and threw a dollar, and said to the master that he fried six dishes and sent them home for me, and asked for three meat and three vegetarian dishes, preferably peanuts and rice for wine.

When I returned home, I threw the liquor and firecrackers on the table, and my wife was shocked when she saw it: "What do you do when you buy firecrackers?" ”

Liu Cunren smiled but did not answer.

After a while, the guy from the second meat shop sent six dishes over, fried pork liver, fried large intestine, fried kidney flower, vegetarian fried celery, fried peanuts, fried tofu, Liu Cunren opened the wine bottle, the aroma of wine overflowed, and his wife came in again, and immediately scolded: "Are you too bad or what?" ”

Liu Cunren said with a smile: "Commander-in-Chief Chen has called back, and I will go back to work in the provincial capital in two days." ”

"Really?" The wife was overjoyed and called the children in, and the family sat happily around the table, about to move the chopsticks, when they suddenly heard familiar footsteps, the family turned their heads to look, and saw Liu Ting wearing a Yin Dan Shilin blue cloth skirt standing in the yard, still carrying luggage in her hand.

"The eldest sister is back!" Xiao Yong was the first to rush up and take the luggage in his sister's hand, and Liu's mother got up, tears rolling in her eyes: "Ting'er, why did you come." ”

"Mom~~" Liu Ting pounced, and the mother and daughter hugged their heads and cried. Liu Cunren sat on a chair, lit a cigarette, and threw the fire to Xiao Yong: "Go, go to the door and set off the firecrackers." ”

In the sound of crackling firecrackers, the Liu family was full of laughter, and a group of younger brothers and sisters were already rummaging through the eldest sister's luggage, hoping to find some snacks to eat from inside.

After the family finished lunch, the younger brothers and sisters played with the small toys and snacks given by their sister, and the father and daughter sat at the table. ”

Liu Ting said: "The commander-in-chief came by warship, and went directly to the office from the dock, without the ceremony of entering the city. ”

Liu Cunren reproached: "You kid is really, you just came back and there are a lot of things, why did you run home by yourself first, you should stay in the office to help the marshal handle official business." ”

Liu Ting said: "I am no longer a confidential secretary. ”

Liu Cunren was stunned, this was something he didn't expect, the teacher said, he didn't have the idea of letting his daughter marry a handsome man, after all, it is a girl's family, and it is better to be a confidential secretary than to be an aunt's wife, anyway, Chen Zikun is young and handsome, and his daughter will not suffer a loss when she is young.

But now don't talk about my aunt's wife, even the secretary's job has been lost, how do you say that?

Liu Ting sighed and explained the truth of the matter one by one, Liu Cunren was furious, pointed to his daughter's forehead and said: "You kid, how do I usually teach you, you have forgotten all about benevolence, righteousness and morality, do you know how many people died because of your hesitation!" These could have been avoided. ”

Mother Liu heard the movement and came in, and scolded: "What are you yelling about, my daughter will lose her job and lose it, just find another one." ”

Liu Cunren said dejectedly: "So far, it has to be like this." ”

……

After a bloody battle, the Office of the Superintendent became a broken ruin, Mai Zilong spent a lot of effort to clean up and rebuild, and it took a few months to recover almost, and when Chen Zikun came back, he couldn't find any traces of the fierce battle.

After Mai Zilong was electrified and went into the wilderness, he did not avoid the concession, but stayed in the provincial capital to sit and wait to be killed, he knew very well in his heart that Chen Zikun's power in Shanghai was very great, even if he escaped into the concession, it was still difficult to escape death, and his family would not be spared, so it was better to have a good time.

In the signing room of the Office of the Superintendent, the gray-haired Mai Zilong sat opposite Chen Zikun, wearing a bamboo cloth robe and two sleeves with a breeze, like a teacher.

"I'm not as good as you." Mai Zilong smiled sadly, "After being the provincial chairman for three months and three days, I can be described as exhausted, anxious, and the taste in the cracks is not good. ”