Tremendous progress has been made in the Sichuan-Yunnan peace talks for more than 20 days.

Hu Jingyi, the governor of Sichuan, and Zhang Peijue, the chief of civil affairs, were surprisingly good at talking, high-spirited, and frequently retreated, so that the Yunnan side gradually grasped the initiative under extremely passive circumstances, and then put forward the three prerequisites for concluding a peace treaty very strongly.

Under the strict order of Hu Jingyi, the governor of the capital, the Sichuan army, which played a huge deterrent role, took the lead in retreating, most of the main force of Wang Jian's Fourth Division retreated to Syria, Peng Guanglie's second division, which was stationed in Syria at any time to reinforce at any time, was ordered to retreat to Leshan, and the first brigade of Zhou Junbu evacuated Luzhou and returned to Neijiang.

The two brigades of the Yunnan Army continued eastward under the great joy and drove to Qujing, an important town on the border of Yunnan and Guizhou, to oppress the Guizhou rebels.

Second, Hu Jingyi and Zhang Peijue jointly issued an order ordering the Sichuan Frontier Army Command to immediately release more than 5,700 Yunnan prisoners who were still being used as coolies;

Third, the governors Hu Jingyi and Zhang Peijue took the lead in proposing the principle of "living in harmony and developing hand in hand", and when Yunnan did not make any written commitment, they hurriedly ordered the political axes at all levels in southern Sichuan to abolish all tax collection stations and checkpoints on the border between the two provinces.

The orders of Governor Hu Jingyi and Civil Affairs Governor Zhang Peijue stunned the Sichuan military and civilians and quickly aroused opposition from all walks of life in Sichuan.

Furious, Huaxi Business Daily, which is affiliated with the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, published a fiercely worded editorial, criticizing the serious mistakes of the governor Hu Jingyi and the civil affairs chief, and asking whether they were officials from Yunnan or Sichuan.

At the end of the editorial, it implicitly accused Hu Jingyi, who had friendships with all walks of life in Yunnan, and Zhang Peijue, a member of the League, who secretly obtained huge bribes from Yunnan.

As soon as the article came out, the whole province was indignant.

The West China Times, which already covers the five surrounding provinces, published an article by its president Zou Wenhan, briefly summarizing the situation and current situation in the three southwestern provinces, detailing the process of the Sichuan-Yunnan negotiations, analyzing the orders of Hu Jingyi and Zhang Peijue one by one, and clearly pointing out that only the defeated would make such a move.

Finally, Zou Wenhan explicitly questioned the leadership of the Sichuan Provincial Political Axe and the Provincial Council, and expressed deep concern about the current Provincial Political Axe and the Provincial Council.

Zou Wenhan's article immediately aroused strong approval from all walks of life in Sichuan, and Zeng Shouwu, vice speaker and vice minister of finance, took the lead in making an attack, obtaining the signatures of more than half of the councillors within a day, and formally submitted a "recall motion" to the provincial assembly, demanding that the parliament immediately convene a special meeting to remove Zhang Peijue, the chief of civil affairs, from his post and impeach Hu Jingyi, the governor of the capital.

Public opinion in Sichuan overwhelmingly supported the "recall motion" and "impeachment motion" jointly submitted by more than 70 provincial legislators, including Zeng Shouwu, and the political axes in southern Sichuan did not follow the "erroneous orders" of Hu Jingyi and Zhang Peijue; People from all walks of life angrily accused Zhang Peijue, the person in charge of the talks, of not being the chief of civil affairs of the Sichuan people, but the chief of civil affairs of the Kuomintang of the League, saying that the people of Sichuan are fully capable of governing their hometowns well, opposing any political party or any force in China interfering in Sichuan's internal affairs, calling for the immediate cessation of negotiations before the Yunnan side shows sincerity, and demanding that the provincial assembly immediately convene a special session.

At the same time, the news that Hu Jingyi, the governor of the capital, received huge bribes from Yunnan merchant groups quickly spread among the people, and the shameful hats such as "internal annihilation" and "forgetting the ancestors of the number of dictionaries" fell on Hu Jingyi's head.

Under the overwhelming opposition and accusations, Hu Jingyi and Zhang Peijue were completely dumbfounded, and had to hastily suspend the Sichuan-Yunnan negotiations held in Zhaotong and return to Chengdu overnight to resolve the crisis.

No matter how smart and strong the two men are, they cannot compete with the public opinion of the entire Sichuan, and their reputations have plummeted because of this, and any decision or order issued may be boycotted by all walks of life in Sichuan except for review.

What the two of them did not expect and were frightened was that the "recall motion" and the "impeachment motion" jointly submitted by more than 70 provincial legislators, the public publication of these two motions marked the beginning of the political struggle at the top level of Sichuan, and the "Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce," which represented the interests of the bourgeoisie and the landlord class in Sichuan, finally officially entered the political arena, and the provincial council could not shake Hu Jingyi's governor, but pursued and beat the civil affairs chief Zhang Peijue, and the civil affairs chief Zhang Peijue swayed between Yuan Shikai and Sun Yat-sen. Now I am afraid that the only way to do this is to voluntarily resign and maintain dignity.

In contrast to the anger of all walks of life in Sichuan, the Sichuan army was very quiet in this wave of public opinion, and not a single general commented on it, and even Xiao Yimin, who always stated his position at critical moments, seemed to have disappeared, and every order of the metropolitan governor Hu Jingyi was quickly carried out by all divisions of the Sichuan army.

In this regard, Hu Jingyi was not only not half happy, but secretly frightened and felt that there was a lot of danger.

After repeated reflections, Hu Jingyi had to painfully recognize a reality: The reason why the divisions of the Sichuan Army, which are inextricably linked with the largest local force, the "Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce," are so quiet and in step with each other in this wave of public opinion is by no means due to the increased prestige of his governor.

On the contrary, all the units of the Sichuan army are secretly cooperating with the local forces, or they are persuaded by the local forces, so they behave so abnormally, and now it seems that all the purposes are only one:

As long as the army is not chaotic and the generals do not jump out and talk nonsense, Yanjing Zheng Axe and Metropolitan Governor Hu Jingyi will lose the excuse for self-discrimination and appeal to Yuan Shikai, and the local political forces will be able to concentrate their firepower without distraction, overthrow Zhang Peijue, the civil governor who represents the interests of the Kuomintang, in one fell swoop, and then overthrow the Metropolitan Governor Hu Jingyi!

Hu Jingyi was shocked into a cold sweat, and Xiao Yimin's figure suddenly appeared in his mind, he really wanted to figure out what Xiao Yimin, who seemed to have disappeared for more than half a month, was doing at this moment?

Is it hidden behind the scenes, staring at those wolf-like eyes?

Xiao Yimin is not as boring as Hu Jingyi thought, he doesn't need a person with a gun to fight, he is busy making a fortune.

When the whole of Sichuan was boiling, Xiao Yimin frequently shuttled between the steel mills, foundries, weapons manufacturing workshops, and light weapons research institutes under the Sichuan Huaxi Industrial Corporation, and also made two trips to Ya'an in the name of inspecting the border army, and then he resolutely issued an order to quickly transport a large number of German weapons and ammunition purchased and stored in batches over the past ten months to Wang Jian's Fourth Division, the Reading Regiment and the Teaching Regiment of the Ya'an Training Base, the Kangding Reading Force First Mixed Brigade in Qiluo, and the Yanjing Reading Second Mixed Brigade in Phuntsok. A large-scale comprehensive refitting was carried out, and more than 13,000 old guns replaced by various departments were transported back to Chengdu and sent to the rifle repair workshop of the metal products company under Huaxi Industrial for refurbishment.

As of the end of July, Xiao Yimin sold a total of 9,500 "Leopard" series of three pistols, which has exceeded last year's annual output, and the net profit exceeded 150,000 yuan, and the "Leopard" M1909 imitation Colt 03 pistol, M1910 revolver, M1911 barge gun have been well-known throughout the country, and have been sought after by military forces in various provinces and black and white.

What makes the company even more proud is that these three "Leopard" brand pistols unified into 9mm caliber, with excellent improved design more suitable for Chinese hand type, strict quality requirements, exquisite processing technology and a large supply of Barabylum bullets, have successfully squeezed out the Shanghai Arsenal and Jinling Arsenal four imitation pistols of different calibers, reaching the point of short supply, more and more orders across the country, and the production plan has been scheduled until eight months after next year.

The "Leopard" M1912 military pistol, which was improved on the basis of the Colt 1911 military pistol, has been specially produced by a team of 15 people, all of whom are composed of senior technicians, and has gradually equipped all units of the border army with a quantity of 350 units per month, and it is planned that it will not be sold to the outside world for three years.

The production and sale of pistols is only one of the many operations of the Xiao Yimin Group, and the arms resale business that brings the greatest profit is still the arms reselling business.

From May last year to July this year, Xiao Yimin sold a total of 64,000 Type 1898 Mauser long rifles, more than 35 million rifle bullets, 480 German MG08 water-cooled heavy machine guns, and 72 Krupp 75mm guns produced in Germany, Belgium, and other countries, with a total profit of more than 1.4 million yuan.

The above figures do not include the equipment imported by the border army, and the rifles used by Xiao Yimin's 27,000 soldiers are now all German-made Mauser 1898 modified Mauser M1905 long rifles, in addition to his arsenal still has 15,000 M1905 Mauser rifles and 50 MG08 heavy machine guns.

In terms of the distribution of imported industrial products, only British Asian kerosene and machine lubricants brought Xiao Yimin a profit of 40,000 yuan per month, and Xiao Yimin would not let go of this piece, which, together with the gasoline that began to increase in demand, constituted a stable source of profit for the new "Sichuan Huafeng Trading Company".

In addition, the rest of the commodities have been handed over to the joint ventures under the Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce, including lucrative hardware accessories and standard parts, machinery import and export, engineering contracting and real estate, Xiao Yimin has generously handed over and never touched the edge again.

Because Xiao Yimin's right-hand man Luo Luo started early, two years ago with the support of abundant funds to enter the Sichuan native products export market, last year, Luo Fat in tung oil, pig bristles, tea oil and other bulk export commodities in the transaction of 150,000 yuan, now this business has been merged into the Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce of the company, Luo Fa still occupies 30 percent of the shares, continue to enjoy rich profits in the field of native product exports.

As a result of the successful commissioning of the Ya'an Explosives Plant and the Ammunition Factory, the chemical plant and power plant in Dayi have turned a profit since March, and the prospects for profit to increase month by month are gratifying.

The "Leopard" brand detonators and TNT explosives produced by the Ya'an factory became an instant hit as soon as they became famous, and the "Leopard" brand explosives were safe, reliable, and powerful, and the price was only two-thirds of the imported products, which made a large number of mine owners, stone quarry owners and garrisons in the five provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei and Shaanxi flock to the city; Two kinds of 7.92mm rifle cartridges, Balabellum pistol cartridges and M12 wooden-handled grenades are in short supply, and the monthly output has increased rapidly, the number of factory personnel has increased to more than 3,500 people, and more than 20 technical engineers invited from Germany, the Czech Republic and Belgium are stationed in Dayi and Ya'an, and have set up their own technical training schools.

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(To be continued)