Sun Guizhi, the old leader of the calf, was always strong, and personally led a group of brothers to be deliberately captured by the provincial army, these people were all brought by him from Shandong, and all of them were brothers with skill.

Sun Guizhi came to take refuge alone, Chen Zikun always treated him with courtesy, and after a long time, the old fox put his mind at ease, and understood that Chen Zikun was a good man who valued love and righteousness, so he introduced the remnants to him, Chen Zikun is also a cheerful person, greeting them with good food and drink every day, but not letting them work hard, and the good men who hugged the calves were about to hold back the internal fire.

At midnight, Sun Guizhi led people to kill the guards, stripped off a few military uniforms and shot everywhere and set fires, the barracks were lit everywhere, and the mournful shouts resounded through the night sky: "Run, Jiangbei Yankee is here!" ”

"It's not good, someone has robbed the camp!" Duan Haixiang jumped up from the marching bed, took a pistol out of the tent, and several guards pounced on him, his voice extremely anxious: "Division commander, we will escort you to go first." ”

"What are you panicking, order all battalions, hold their positions, and take down all unfamiliar faces." Duan Haixiang said calmly, he had already heard from the sparse gunfire that it was not a robbery camp, but a spy who had infiltrated the camp.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, half of the sky was reflected red, the ammunition pile exploded, the war horses neighed, the fire soared into the sky, and the dust finally settled in the middle of the night, and only after counting did I know how heavy the loss was, most of the prisoners fled, the military rations were burned, the ammunition exploded, more than 50 war horses ran, hundreds of tents were burned, and more than 80 soldiers died, most of whom were killed by their own people.

The spies were caught, six were killed on the spot, and eight were captured alive, all of whom were beaten to bloody faces, Duan Haixiang ordered them to be pulled down and shot without looking at them, and some people suggested that the remaining captives should also be shot, and the province would have trouble again.

Duan Haixiang pondered for a while, but still didn't give this order, the food and ammunition were all gone, the morale had dropped to the lowest point, and this battle could no longer be fought.

"Go see if the people on the hill are still there?" Master Duan said tiredly.

The adjutant took someone to check, and didn't make much effort to report: "Chen Zikun ran away." ”

Duan Haixiang sighed: "Pull out the camp and retreat." ”

Xia Jingqi hurriedly said: "Division commander, there are still two brigade brothers waiting for us to rescue." ”

"That's it, Chen Zikun can still shoot them, if he doesn't leave, even I will have to fold in." Duan Haixiang said expressionlessly.

Jiang is old and spicy, and the commander of the Duan division is worthy of being a veteran for many years, and when it is broken, he will be broken, and he ordered a retreat before causing greater losses.

The remnants of the two brigades of the second division of the provincial army, plus a division headquarters and 8,000 men and horses of the baggage troops, fought and retreated, I don't know how many baggage was captured by the enemy, and when they retreated to the riverside, there were still 5,000 tired troops left, there were no bullets in the guns, no water in the pots, and the dry food bags were empty, squatting on the ground one by one panting, like dogs on dog days.

There was not a single sampan on the shore, and Duan Haixiang sighed: "I ...... when the sky dies."

The cannon roared, and the twelve Grusen mountain guns fell into the hands of the 7th Brigade, which was now used to bombard the provincial army, and the shells whistled and blew up a high column of water in the river, which was a warning shot, which meant that you can't escape even if you have a boat.

At this time, Haixiang suddenly had a sense of the end of the road for the overlord Wujiang to kill himself, he suddenly took out a pistol and put it against his temple and was about to hold the fire, several adjutants hurriedly rushed up and grabbed the pistol, and wept bitterly and said: "Division commander, stay in the green mountains and don't be afraid of no firewood." ”

Duan Haixiang said dejectedly: "How can there be any green mountains, my reputation in my life is completely ruined." ”

As he was talking, someone from the opposite side came over with a white flag, standing in front of the two armies and saying loudly: "The envoy of the army has invited Division Commander Duan to come over and speak." ”

Duan Haixiang hesitated for a moment, and the officers hurriedly persuaded: "You can't go, the surname Chen is definitely not well-intentioned." ”

"That's it, our second division is like this, how bad can it be." Duan Haixiang overrode public opinion, but decided to go to the meeting alone.

said that he went to the meeting alone, but in fact, he still brought more than a dozen guards, and the group came to the Jiangbei Army in frustration, thinking that they would be ridiculed and ridiculed, but who knew that it was a warm hospitality.

A pergola was erected under the shade of the tree, with matzahs, folding tables, mattresses on the ground, sodas, pastries, herbal tea, and smoking guns.

The guest and the host sat down, the spirit was different, Duan Haixiang, who was radiant in the past, became the general of the defeated army at this time, his military uniform was wrinkled, his leather boots were stained with mud, and his beard was stubble and the corners of his eyes were pasted, not to mention being embarrassed, but Chen Zikun had a straight military uniform, shiny riding boots, and his chin was clean, and he didn't mention unpleasant things at all with a smile, just beckoned Duan Haixiang to drink soda and eat pastries.

"Master Duan, don't be polite, when you arrive in Jiangbei, it's the same as when you arrive at your own home, use it slowly, use it slowly." Chen Zikun even personally helped Duan Haixiang pack a tube of opium and offer it with both hands: "Teacher, a tube of incense." ”

Duan Haixiang's opium addiction had already been committed, and he was as uncomfortable as scratching his heart with a hundred claws, so he was not polite at this time, he took the cigarette gun and took a few puffs, relieved himself, and his mood was much better.

"Xiao Chen, I lost 14,000 men and horses in the hands of one of your brigades, I don't accept it." Duan Haixiang said.

Chen Zikun said: "Senior Commander Duan, you are not defeated by me, but by yourself. ”

"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Duan Haixiang frowned.

"You are blinded by anger, and you have taken me down with one mind, how can you be controlled by emotions for the general, this is one."

"Two?"

"The second is that these arrogant soldiers and fierce generals of your subordinates, light the enemy's rash advance, do not send scouts, have no flank cover, just swagger forward, panic immediately when encountering a cavalry assault, and can't organize decent resistance at all, the officers are stupid and incompetent, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, and it is strange if they are undefeated."

Duan Haixiang nodded thoughtfully, what Chen Zikun said was very reasonable, the provincial army made the mistake of underestimating the enemy from top to bottom.

"Xiao Chen, what are you going to do now?" Duan Haixiang said.

Chen Zikun smiled indifferently: "It's not what I'm going to do, it's what I'm going to do, it's what I'm going to do, you're older than me, your rank is higher than me, I have to listen to your greetings, if you say I'll fight, if you say I won't fight, I won't fight." ”

This is a bit interesting, Duan Haixiang pondered for a while, suddenly enlightened, and said: "This military exercise was very successful, the 2nd Division and the 7th Mixed Brigade cooperated happily, but some artillery and guns were damaged during the exercise. ”

Chen Zikun grinned: "Master Duan is a smart person, come here, bring those two up." ”

Two grizzled guys were brought up, it was the brigade commander of the 1st and 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Provincial Army, and when the two saw Duan Haixiang, they knelt down and slapped themselves: "Humble and incompetent, humble and damned!" ”

Duan Haixiang said: "That's it, it's my unfavorable command that has affected everyone." ”

A settlement was reached, the two sides shook hands and made peace, and the two-day battle ended, both sides tacitly did not publicize the war to the outside world, and the equipment and baggage lost by the provincial army were left in Jiangbei, and Chen Zikun dismissed all the prisoners.

The ferries on the riverside were robbed by the people led by the mixed river dragon, and all of them drove over at this time to take the provincial army back to Jiangnan.

Soon after the war, Duan Haixiang sent a handwritten letter with twelve gold bars, in which he called Chen Zikun the elder brother and said that the twelve Grussen cannons were the lifeblood of the Overseer, and that he would not be able to lose anything, so he asked the military envoy to take proper care of the old brother's face.

Chen Zikun refused to accept the gold bars, repaired 12 artillery pieces, and sent 1,000 rifles of good condition across the river overnight.

Duan Haixiang received the gold bars and artillery, and his favor for Chen Zikun multiplied, and he vowed that he would never raise troops to go north again.

……

When the opium was ripe and the colorful poppies were gone, they formed dark green oval fruits, and Master Long Wu led a group of farmers to the field to pierce the fruits with a specially made triangular knife to collect the viscous milk-like slurry that flowed out of the hole.

The opium refinery was built in the field, and Master Long personally boiled the opium, boiling it in the iron pot with those milky white slurries, exuding a faint aroma that permeated the countryside, and it is said that those who smell this fragrance have forgotten their hearts and are fluttering.

The 500 acres of poppy fields were harvested, and the raw opium processed was piled up in the warehouse, and the smell was much worse than when it was boiled, smelling like old urine in an old thatched pit, and the color was unsightly, showing a gray brown.

Master Long said that the soil of Nantai is very suitable for growing opium, and the products are excellent, which can simply replace cloud soil.

The domestic tobacco soil is overflowing, the best quality is the large soil imported from India, followed by the well-known cloud soil, according to Master Long, among them, the quality of the southern soil is the best, the color and fragrance are good, there is the reputation of "the king of kings", and the opium eaters call it "half a mile to smell the fragrance, three mouthfuls of a penny".

Other provinces all produce tobacco soil, Sichuan soil, Gui soil, West soil, border soil, Ningxia soil, Liangguang Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Rehe, Suiyuan, Chahar, as long as it is a place to grow crops, there is tobacco soil.

Chen Zikun thought that the competition was so fierce, he had to want to open the market with a little flower, and under his personal care, Master Long designed a set of packaging solutions for Jiangbei soil.

Jiangbei tobacco clay is made into a square shape of moderate size, wrapped in a layer of tobacco leaves, and then wrapped in oil paper, the packaging is printed with Lin Zexu's head according to the design of Yuntu, with arched streamers on it, printed with the Chinese and English logos of Jiangbei tobacco, and advertising slogans such as please taste and flutter like immortals.

The first batch of goods, 1,000 catties of beautifully packaged Jiangbei soil, was loaded onto a cargo ship and transported to Shanghai Tang, thousands of miles away, under the personal escort of Chen Zikun.