The first cold rain since the beginning of winter finally stopped for a day and a night, and the occasional sound of raindrops in the mist was still faintly audible, making people unconsciously feel a little melancholy.

The wood in the Western-style fireplace burns quietly, and the swaying flames bring warmth to the whole large study, and the fragrance of pine wood flows quietly in the air.

Yi Zhenying, whose abdomen was bulging again, picked up a pine tree, gently placed it on the flame, carefully turned the sweet potato in the charcoal ash with tongs, turned the other side that had not yet been roasted to the burning charcoal fire, and then buried the whole sweet potato with the ashes. Judging from her skillful and attentive movements, it seems that the same action has been done countless times, and she enjoys doing it endlessly.

Yi Zhenying gently patted the dust off her hands, slowly stood up with her sore and clumsy waist, walked to the recliner and covered her sleeping husband with a blanket, and then slowly pulled out the report that her husband held in her hand, carefully placed it on the small coffee table on the side, and then sat next to her husband, quietly looking at her husband's tired face and closed eyes, and couldn't help but sigh softly.

A slight sigh woke up the sleeping Xiao Yimin, he slowly opened his eyes and stretched his waist, raised his big hand full of calluses and gently put it on his beloved wife's face: "It's so fragrant!" Roast me sweet potatoes again, right? ”

"Puppy Nose!"

Yi Zhenying pinched her husband's tall nose lovingly: "It's getting dark, it's still Sunday, if you want to sleep, just sleep a little longer, wait a minute, I'll ask the second sister to send you duck soup, and when you get home, you can't still have one or two sweet potatoes to deal with a meal." ”

Xiao Yimin had a happy smile on his face:

"In the first half of the year, several batches of weapons, equipment and materials ordered from Germany and the United States arrived in a swarm, and everyone was too busy to care, so they didn't care about what to eat. In three days, we received more than 80,000 rifles, 60 artillery pieces, 5,000 boxes of artillery shells, more than 7,000 tons of raw materials of more than 10 specifications, as well as hundreds of new machine tools, 120 automobiles, and more than 300 boxes of various spare parts. ”

"Daddy......"

The son, who had just walked a few steps, appeared at the door of the study, moved over excitedly in the support of the nanny, and soon climbed onto his father's belly, holding his father's face, and his little ass shouted loudly one by one: "Daddy, riding horses, daddy, riding horses......"

Xiao Yimin laughed, hugged his son and pricked his pink little face with his beard, making his son scream, waving his little hand and screaming, making everyone laugh.

The family of Bao Jiqing, the chief of staff who lived in the courtyard next door, happened to arrive, and when the little guy saw the eleven-year-old beautiful sister of the Bao family, he immediately abandoned his father, struggled to climb down Xiao Yimin's stomach, and ran towards it leisurely, shouting loudly for the second sister to hug him as he ran, which made the hall laugh.

After getting along for a long time, the Xiao family and the Bao family have been in contact with each other as a family, and they have been together during the New Year's holidays, and the relationship between the female dependents is even closer.

Mrs. Bao nodded to Xiao Yimin, who stood up quickly, and went over to take Yi Zhenying's hand and asked in a low voice, Yi Zhenying replied a few words affectionately, said hello to Bao Jiqing, and took a group of female dependents upstairs with the children, and the noisy big study finally quieted down.

Waiting for the next person to send fragrant tea and retreat, Bao Jiqing sat on the chair next to the fireplace, raised his hand and threw Xiao Yimin a cigarette:

"More than 100 cars made Chengdu crazy, before dinner at least 20 people called me, asked if I could transfer a few to them, learned that we are going to open Chengdu to Ya'an, Chengdu to Mianyang, Chengdu to Neijiang after the passenger and freight transportation, many people want to get the first phase of car driving training quota, the Civil Affairs Department also asked us to leave 50 cars without a six-wheeled car to do what? Interesting, right? ”

"How did you answer?" Xiao Yimin smiled and lit a cigarette.

How else can you answer that? In addition to not selling cars and not joint ventures, the others have agreed, and it seems that more than 500 people have signed up for the first car driving training course. ”

Bao Jiqing picked up a charcoal fire with tongs to light a cigarette, put down the tongs, and said slowly: "You guessed it right, I just received the news that Jia Deyao's 15th Mixed Brigade and Feng Yuxiang's 16th Mixed Brigade have entered Hanzhong for training, and the 9th Army Division in Hunan is heading to Jingzhou. ”

Xiao Yimin didn't care, moved the short table in front of Bao Jiqing, sat on the chair on the other side and began to pour tea:

"There is no need to worry about the north and east, no matter how determined President Yuan is, he will not dare to openly wave his army to attack Sichuan, and our relationship with the Shaanxi army has always been good, Jia Deyao and Feng Yuxiang, the two brigades have just arrived in Shaanxi, and they are purely guest troops sent by President Yuan, which has long caused dissatisfaction among the Shaanxi army, so they definitely dare not act rashly.

"The only thing I'm worried about is the south, Cai Yi was transferred to Yanjing under house arrest, Tang Jiyao became the commander of the Yunnan army, and was appointed as the general of Kaiwu by President Yuan Da, with full authority to supervise the military and political affairs of Yunnan, this guy is unscrupulous and ruthless, he has been driven out of Guizhou under our suppression for two years, and his starting troops have been knocked out of three regiments in Guizhou by the reckless people we support, and this feud is big."

Bao Jiqing nodded: "There is another thing, Zhong Ying was arrested by the order of President Yuan, on charges of indiscriminate use of force and murder of officials stationed in Tibet, it seems that he wanted to kill Zhong Ying"

Xiao Yimin was so frightened that the teapot in his hand almost fell to the ground, the hot tea overflowed, and he shivered, he hurriedly put down the teapot, looked at the back of his red hand, picked up the white cloth and wiped his hands slowly, and his eyes were shining when he raised his head:

"I guess it's not just Brother Zhong's problem, Yuan Shikai probably also wants to kill chickens and monkeys, just after killing Zhang Peijue, the head of the Sichuan Civil Administration, and then came to kill the first commander of the new army in Sichuan and the commander of the Tibetan army, what does he want to do? Tomorrow morning, I will send a telegram to Yuan Shikai to intercede, if he really dares to kill Brother Zhong, Lao Tzu will dare to pull the flag and make a rebellion! ”

Bao Jiqing was very surprised, but remembering the brotherly relationship between Xiao Yimin and Zhong Ying, he immediately understood Xiao Yimin's mood.

After a moment of silence, Bao Jiqing suggested:

"Don't send the telegram yet, this matter has just begun, and it has not yet been decided, if it really annoys President Yuan, I'm afraid it won't be good for anyone in the end, I'll go to Yanjing in person, and by the way, Yanjing's group of old friends who haven't seen each other for many years will take the path of Army Chief Duan Zhiquan, and it is estimated that Zhong Ying can be saved."

Xiao Yimin nodded: "It's okay, I'll contact General Wang Lingji, he once served as Brother Zhong's chief of staff, the two of them went to Tibet together to fight the most fiercely, and the relationship is also very good, I will talk to the military academy's Xu Education Director and Director Zhou and other Sichuan army veterans, let everyone jointly plead with the military department and the central government, Yuan Shikai will not agree, I will write an article to stink him, nothing else, I have learned to scold people in the newspaper." ”

Bao Jiqing was happy: "Don't scold it first, you can do it right away if you make a joint intercession, although Zhong Ying hasn't read a book for a few years, but he fights bravely and is never afraid of losses, just like you said, he suffers in the front and enjoys it in the back, and he has a lot of connections in the Sichuan army, plus his surname is cheerful, kind-hearted, and his reputation has always been good, I believe that President Yuan will not ignore these problems." ”

Xiao Yimin handed Bao Jiqing a cup of tea, stood up and walked behind the desk, took out a letter, and returned to sit opposite Bao Jiqing:

"This is Xu Weiyue's letter from Brother Xu, he returned to his hometown in Shaoxing after leaving Sichuan, and went to Shanghai with his family after worshipping his ancestors, and finally worked as an editor in the French newspaper in the French Concession, a few days ago he wrote that the French boss of the newspaper suffered serious losses, and the newspaper could not continue, he wanted to buy the newspaper, but he couldn't make up his mind, and he was worried that he would not be able to stand the loss, and asked me what my opinion was?"

Bao Jiqing took the letter, opened it and read it, folded it and took it back and returned it to Xiao Yimin:

"Isn't that right? As soon as you dozed off, someone brought a pillow, but this "Far Eastern Post" had never heard of it before, and I don't know what the influence was? ”

Xiao Yimin explained: "A French weekly newspaper issued in the concession has no influence, but often publishes news and cultural technology and other content telegraphed from France and Europe. So I support him to take over this newspaper, hoping that he will keep the French people of the newspaper and still maintain the French blood of the newspaper, but switch to Chinese publishing, just like the "Zilinxi Bao" has both Chinese and English versions, and strive to become one of the most influential newspapers in China in one year, this time you will help me get a check to him. ”

"Well, I'll visit him when I get to Shanghai." Bao Jiqing nodded.

Xiao Yimin advised: "Let my second brother go with you, and by the way, let him meet Chen Qimei, the father of the Kuomintang in Shanghai." ”

Bao Jiqing was quite surprised: "Bingxian knows Chen Qimei? ”

Xiao Yimin nodded: "I met in Shanghai after returning from the book, but if I want to say familiar, my second brother and Chen Qimei's third brother Jiang Zhiqing is more familiar with Jiang Zhiqing is also a military student studying in the book, but he is studying at the Zhenwu Military Academy, before Xinhai, this guy ran back to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to lead the revolutionary riot, and was one of the main leaders of the rebellion in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Since returning to China, there has been continuous correspondence, and it seems that the two have a good relationship with each other.

"Listening to my second brother, the person Jiang Zhiqing admires the most is my eldest brother Zeng Chaoran, the three of them have a lot of contacts when they were in this book, and when I learned that the eldest brother Zeng went to the German [***] School of Affairs for further study after graduating from this Lu University, Jiang Zhiqing was envious, but I don't know if this Jiang Zhiqing has changed his name to Jiang Zhongzheng now."

Bao Jiqing nodded thoughtfully: "Understood!" You are very thoughtful, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate to let Bing go to Shanghai first, and at this time, Chen Qimei is depressed because she is excluded, which is the best time to send charcoal in the snow. ”

Xiao Yimin smiled: "I can't hide anything from you...... Big brother, if you have time this time, you should stay in Shanghai for a few more days and get in touch with Jiang Zhiqing, maybe we need to deepen cooperation with him in the future, and it is very important to leave a good impression on each other. ”

"Okay! I remembered. ”

After Bao Jiqing finished speaking, he suggested worriedly: "When I am not there, you have to pay more attention to the changes of several division commanders in the army, Zhou Jun is afraid that he is fat in Yichang, so he is not willing to return to Yucheng to be a town guard until now, this guy is short-sighted, extremely greedy, and he can't make a big deal, but you have to pay attention to Peng Guanglie's second division, as well as Wang Lingji's fifth division!"

"In the past few months, Hu Jingyi has tried his best to win over these two divisions and gave them a lot of benefits, so don't expect to be able to command them, you must be careful to take precautions, otherwise it will be too worthless to capsize in the gutter."

Xiao Yimin shook his head a little frustratedly:

"Don't worry, I don't have any intention of commanding others anymore, I just want to take advantage of the troubled times to make more money, as long as Yuan Shikai, the president, doesn't go too far, I will be at ease as my rich man, but if he deceives people too much, don't blame me for not giving him face!

"After you arrive in Yanjing, if he insists on not letting go of Brother Zhong, you will tell him that Xiao Yimin is not sensible, and if Zhong Ying, who has always regarded him as his brother, is killed, I am afraid that he will join the Kuomintang in anger and openly raise the anti-flag!"

Bao Jiqing laughed, and sighed deeply after laughing: "I know, it's really that far, you can do such a thing, you can become your brother, it's so fucking cool, it's worth dying......"

(To be continued)