Lingshou County is located in the northeast of Zhengding 60 miles, is a small county in the southern Hebei region.

Cao Ji grain store is the largest grain store in Lingshou County, the business scope covers wheat, bud rice, sorghum and so on, mainly from Lingshou County to buy the people's surplus grain, and then long-distance sales to Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu and other provinces, in the middle to make a difference, because the northwest provinces are barren land, grain crop production is low, so the business of the grain bank has been good.

But now, the owner of Cao Kee Grain Store is asking a dozen men to move bags of wheat out of the warehouse.

In the yard of the warehouse, thousands of bags of wheat have been stacked into a small mountain, Cao Dongjia looked at the mountains of wheat, sighed and asked the man to move out a dozen pots of foreign oil from the gatehouse.

"Master Dongjia, is it really burning?" A fellow asked with great pity.

"What else can you do if you don't burn?" Cao Dongjia sighed, "You can't be a cheap little devil, right?" ”

"Master Dong, it's better to find a place to hide." An older fellow suggested.

"Hidden? Where to hide? Cao Dongjia didn't have a good air, "It's not gold and silver, just dig a hole in a hole and bury it with a few cans, this is hundreds of thousands of catties of grain, it's enough to fill dozens of rooms, where do you let me hide?" Besides, even if it's hidden, Ma San's bastard still hasn't to go to tell the little devil who said the dog? ”

Ma San is the sworn enemy of Cao Dong's family, and it is said that he has hooked up with himself.

"Why don't you ......," said the guy who had just spoken, "and give this grain to the villagers?" ”

"You know the." Cao Dongjia didn't have a good breath, "Even if the food is divided, when the little devils enter the city, they can't pull the grain out of the mouths of the villagers again?" Don't be kind enough to do a bad thing, but because of this bit of food, you will harm the villagers in the county, if you really want to do that, my Cao family will be stinking for 10,000 years in this Lingshou realm. ”

A dozen guys didn't have anything to say, and they were ready to pour oil and burn food.

At this moment, a young man rushed in as if he were flying, and shouted repeatedly: "Master Dongjia, good thing! ”

"What a fart! Little hairy monkey, where did you little rabbit go, why don't you hurry up and help burn food. Cao Dongjia picked up the flat pole and threw it at the young man, this will make him unhappy, hundreds of thousands of catties of grain will be burned, that is tens of thousands of oceans, this will make his Cao family really lose money.

"Well, no." The young man quickly flashed to the side and shouted, "Master, there is no need to burn grain. ”

"Don't burn grain? Leave it to the little devils!? Cao Dongjia became more and more angry, and immediately took off his cloth shoes and came to chase and beat the young man.

The young man swooped to the courtyard wall, shouting: "Master Dongjia, [***] has issued a notice that the whole city will buy grain, cotton, and all miscellaneous goods, and you will have as much as you want!" And it's all cash transactions, just now at the gate of the city, I saw [***] bring two carts of gold, silver and jewelry. ”

Cao Dongjia was stunned and said, "Little hairy monkey, are you serious? ”

"Of course it's true." The young man said, "Master Dongjia, don't burn grain, hurry up and find [***] to sell the grain, I heard that Ma San of the Ma Ji Grain Shop has been shot by [***] because of hoarding grain." ”

"Well shot, Ma San, this dog thing should be shot!" Cao Dongjia was in a good mood when he heard this, and immediately ordered more than a dozen guys behind him, "Don't be stunned, hurry up and find [***], hundreds of thousands of catties of grain from my Cao Ji Grain Store have been sent to them, and it should be me Cao Someone who donated military food to [***]!" ”

………… Tianjin, Great East Asia Hotel.

The hotel lobby was crowded with guests, many of whom had cameras with them, apparently all reporters.

Three days ago, Senior General Okamura Ninji, the new commander of the North China Front Army, sent letters of invitation to people from all walks of life in Tianjin, claiming that he would hold a news conference at the Great East Asia Hotel.

Because the press conference has not yet begun, the guests are whispering.

"Hey, what news did you say Okamura would announce at the meeting?"

"I heard that there will be a major adjustment in the military's strategy toward China, but I don't know if it's true."

"No matter how you adjust, it's not burning, killing, robbing, and destroying silver? said that I am all the way. ”

"When Tada Jun was in office, he said that he suffered a big loss, I don't know what kind of measures Okamura Ninji will take?"

"Who knows? Anyway, this is a matter between the Chinese and himself, what does it have to do with us French? ”

"Stephen, my ambition is swelling, we won't stay in Tianjin for too long, hurry up and enjoy the wine, food and Chinese beauty, and when we return to France, as civilians and you, it would be wishful thinking to live such a high life."

While the two Gallic chickens were whispering, Okamura Ninji had already walked into the hall surrounded by a large group of generals.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm really sorry to keep you waiting." Okamura Ninji strode up to the rostrum, bowed deeply to all the guests, and the accompanying generals also bowed, but this scene made the guests in the hall look at each other, obviously, no one expected Okamura Ninji to be so polite.

After a full three seconds, Okamura Ninji stood up and spoke into the microphone and said: "My predecessor, Commander Tada, adopted extremely inappropriate policies in North China, which caused great harm to the people of North China, and on behalf of the Empire, I would like to express my sincere humility to the people of North China, and then express my deep condolences to the people who died. ”

With that, Okamura Ninji and the generals behind him bent down and bowed again, and this time the bow lasted for half a minute.

Half a minute later, Okamura Ninji straightened up again, and continued: "However, the empire's policy toward China is always 'goodwill between China', and the reason why the imperial army entered China was not to burn, kill, loot, let alone annex China, but to help the Chinese people get rid of the slavery of the Western world and gain reading, freedom, and a happy life. ”

When the words fell, a reporter from a Yong newspaper asked: "Mr. Okamura, you said that the purpose of the Yue army entering China was to help the Chinese people get rid of the slavery of the Western world and to help the Chinese people gain reading, freedom, and a happy life, but the Yue army carried out a brutal massacre against the people of North China. ”

"I personally express my great regret for the previous bloodshed." Okamura Ninji said, "However, this tragedy was caused by personal factors, and it was by no means the result of the Empire's policy toward China, and my predecessor, Commander Tada, has already been duly punished for this bloodshed." ”

"What kind of punishment is it? For the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, is it enough to punish Tada Jun alone? ”

"We should look forward, not dwell on the past, and we should not let hatred cloud our minds." Okamura Ninji said this, and said, "In fact, the bloodshed in North China was not caused by Commander Tada Jun alone, if it weren't for Yue Weihan sending people to assassinate him and seriously injure him, he probably wouldn't have lost his mind and ordered the troops to cause bloodshed, and now, Tada Jun has been punished for his impulsiveness, but what about Yue Weihan?" As far as I know, the national political axe not only did not punish Yue Weihan, but secretly telegraphed to commend him. ”

When the reporter of the Yong newspaper wanted to refute, Okamura Ninji preemptively said: "This gentleman, if you have a different opinion on the bloodshed in North China, we can communicate in private, but today, I have important news to announce to all the guests, so please cooperate a little, okay?" ”

The reporter pouted and stopped talking.

Okamura went on to say: "Mr. Wang is about to set up a national political axe in Nanjing, and as an inseparable part of the national political axe, all provinces and cities in North China will successively set up provincial offices and municipal offices. ”

"Three days later, Tianjin will take the lead in holding a public election in the French Concession, and all the citizens of Tianjin will vote to openly elect the director of the Municipal Office, and the newly elected director of the Municipal Office will nominate the officials of the various political axe agencies.

As soon as Okamura Ninji's words came out, the guests in the hall were in an uproar!

If it is only representatives from all walks of life to vote, the guests will only scoff, but if it is a referendum, it is two completely different concepts, compared to the representative vote, the referendum is much more difficult to indulge in the election, because this is an election in the French Concession, and it must be supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Bureau of the Concession!

It seems that I really intend to respect the choice of the Chinese this time.

According to what Okamura Ninji just said, then the municipal axe elected by the people this time can never be a traitorous political axe, so the problem will arise at that time, once the democratically elected municipal office has a dispute with the garrison or the overseas Chinese, how to deal with it? Will Okamura continue to respect the Chinese, or will he protect himself?

It wasn't until the hall was quiet again that Okamura Ninji smiled and said, "I know, everyone must be worried about how to maintain the prestige of the elected political axe?" But I can tell you that this fear is completely unnecessary, and once the elected political axe is created, the imperial army will definitely give it enough respect, and any other power except the right to garrison will be returned to the political axe. ”

As soon as Okamura Ninji said this, even the reporter of the mediocre newspaper who asked the fierce question just now was also shocked.

A middle-aged gentleman stood up from the crowd and said, "Then we Tianjin people can wait and see." ”

When Okamura Ningji was about to turn around and ask about this person's identity, Nanzao Yunzi, the head of the Beiping Secret Service, had already stepped forward and said to Okamura Ningji in a low voice: "Your Excellency Commander, this person Cao Mosan, the president of the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce, is extremely popular with the people of Tianjin, if it is elected, this person is definitely the best candidate for the director of the Municipal Office!" ”

"It turned out to be President Cao." Okamura Ninji smiled, "Soon, you will be convinced of the sincerity of the Imperial Army." ”

(To be continued)