"Why?" Chen Lu, who finally accepted the bad news, trembled his lips, and looked at Zhang Cheng with a look of despair in his eyes, with an expression of disbelief.

Chen Lu didn't understand why Zhang Cheng wanted to report him, what could Zhang Cheng get by doing this kind of thing that hurt others and was not beneficial to himself? If you want money, just say it directly, he will definitely give it!

It wasn't until this moment that Chen Lu suddenly remembered that he had no backer. Chen Lu, who has always been smooth sailing and does not look at everyone in his eyes, sadly found that he couldn't find anyone who could help!

"If you violate military law, you will naturally be punished. What's there to ask about this? Zhang Cheng sighed lightly and waved his hand a little impatiently, "Go back, the gendarmes should already be waiting for you in your office." ”

Chen Lu, whose face was full of despair, stood for a while, and looked at Zhang Cheng who lowered his head to deal with the documents with a miserable expression. After half a ring, he shouted sharply with red eyes, "You're just a little person!" No one really cares about you! Don't take yourself too seriously! ”

Zhang Cheng raised his head and glanced at him coldly, "None of this has anything to do with you." If I were you, I would have thought about how to deal with a court-martial, instead of making a big fuss here. If nothing else, get out. After a pause, he continued, "Remember to close the door." ”

Chen Lu left in despair, and he didn't remember to close the door before leaving. If there were no accidents, even if he could avoid the fate of being shot this time, his life would be over.

Zhang Cheng didn't care about Chen Lu's fate at all, he had a lot of things to do now. The first was to restore the strength of the London garrison.

An entire regiment of troops and headquarters and logistical support units that Liu Yue had taken with him from London were almost completely wiped out when they were attacked by the Sardinians. The strength of the London garrison, which was originally less than 10,000 troops, was suddenly reduced by half. This force could not have played the role of supervising and suppressing the British in any way. Zhang Cheng needed to restore the strength of the garrison.

The Ming Army has its own complete recruitment and training system, and all recruits come out of the recruit training camp. However, when Zhang Cheng sent a telegram requesting additional troops to the army headquarters, it brought some troubles to those bigwigs.

The reason is very simple, the complete regiment that Liu Yue brought to Northern Italy was almost completely wiped out in the battle. Not to mention the heavy casualties, almost all of the remaining people were taken prisoner, which was unacceptable in the Ming army. If that's all it takes, no matter how much you lose, it's just the strength of a regiment. This loss was not a matter at all in the eyes of the Ming Army. Above all, however, the regiment lost its flag during the battle.

The basic operational establishment of the Ming Army is the regiment. Every regimental unit of the regular army has its own regimental flag, which is a symbol of honor. There is an unwritten rule in the Ming Army, the regimental flag is there, and the establishment is in. The regimental flag is lost, and sanctions are compiled. Although after the war the Sardinians returned all the prisoners of war and that regimental flag. But if you lose it, you lose it, and it doesn't mean that someone else can give it back to you as if it didn't happen. This is even more humiliating!

This is also an important reason why Liu Yue, who obviously has a strong force to rely on and has a bright future in himself, will be directly ordered to retire.

It's peacetime, and every unit has its own pit. In the past, it was not good to see where to transfer a full-fledged army, and this kind of thing can be low-key, and no one wants to publicize it.

After some deliberation on the final result, the bigwigs in the army decided that the rules are the rules, and since the regimental flag was lost, the establishment should be abolished. As for the London garrison, there was no need to draw from other troops, and directly ordered Zhang Cheng to reorganize a regiment by himself with the Third Volunteer Corps, which had made great achievements in the war. Anyway, it's just a regimental unit, or a colonial unit, and that's pretty much it. The bigwigs are so busy every day that they don't have much time to waste on such small things.

After receiving the order, Zhang Cheng was quite surprised, but he didn't care too much. Now that there is an order, then it will be done.

Many of the former mercenaries of the former Third Volunteer Corps, who had regained their jobs, received official recruitment documents. They can choose whether or not to officially become an honorable Royal Army. The vast majority of people choose to accept this. In addition to the treatment, what is more important is that you can continue to work under Zhang Cheng. In the army, meeting a good boss is the thing that all soldiers look forward to the most.

It's not just a whole ball. The artillery regiment, medical, reconnaissance, engineer, baggage, replenishment, communications and other logistics units taken by Liu Yue were also almost completely wiped out in Italy. After their release, the captives were ordered to retire. These vacancies were all ordered by the Army Command for Zhang Cheng to fill on his own.

After Zhang Cheng arranged the affairs, he handed over the next work to Zhang Tao. As a reward, Zhang Cheng appointed Zhang Tao as the operational staff officer of the garrison. This is a very important position, second only to the Chief of Staff. Zhang Cheng also sent a telegram to the Army Command, requesting that Zhang Tao be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Army Command quickly called back to agree.

Don't worry about the establishment, just do everything in accordance with the rules of the army. After handing over everything to the enthusiastic and energetic Zhang Tao, Zhang Cheng, who was idle, received a special guest in his office

"Commander Zhang, I have admired my name for a long time." Thick eyebrows and big eyes, meticulously combed black hair, wearing a decent suit, and shiny leather shoes on his feet. With an ordinary appearance, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, it looked like an ordinary high school teacher, and the man handed Zhang Cheng his identity document but betrayed his true identity.

"Foreign Intelligence Section, Military Intelligence Bureau, First-Class Intelligence Officer, Wang Yan." Zhang Cheng handed back the documents in his hand to Wang Yan, who was sitting opposite, and said in surprise, "Is there something wrong with me?" ”

"Commander Zhang." Wang Yan smiled and nodded, "When you were fighting in Northern Italy, did you encounter a new weapon that you called a tank?" ”

"Oh." Zhang Cheng narrowed his eyes, smiled and said, "It's true that I've met it." However, the captured wreckage, the captured driver, and the detailed operational report have all been handed over to the Army Command, do you have anything unclear? ”

"That's right." Wang Yan raised his hand to cover his mouth and coughed, and said with a serious expression: "After our analysis and interrogation, it has been confirmed that this powerful new weapon was made by the British. So Shangfeng sent me to London to investigate the matter in detail. ”

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Zhang Cheng asked.

"I need a suitable identity, and your support." Wang Yan responded with a smile.

"No problem." Zhang Cheng nodded, and said in response, "You are now the major and deputy director of the logistics office of the London garrison, and the specific documents will be handled by Staff Officer Zhang." If you need any help, you can come to me directly. ”

Wang Yan's expression was slightly stunned, and then he reacted, and looked at Zhang Cheng with a sincere expression, "Thank you for your help, sir." ”

Wang Yan was really surprised. In fact, the people in the Ming army have always had no good face for them who do intelligence. After all, hundreds of years ago, Dongchang Jinyiwei left too many bad memories. Ordinary officers are not said to be like snakes and scorpions, but at least they can dodge. He had never seen someone like Zhang Cheng who simply offered help.

As a senior intelligence officer, especially in the handling of foreign affairs. Wang Yan knows far more about the world than the bureaucrats who spend their days drinking tea and reading newspapers in their offices. He knew very well in his heart that the seemingly powerful Ming Empire had already fallen into internal and external troubles at this moment. It's just that his voice is rarely heard by powerful people.

It's like this time when he came to the UK to investigate the tank, or he took the initiative to apply for it to get a certain amount of attention. Otherwise, the matter is likely to be ignored!

After Wang Yan said goodbye and left, Zhang Cheng slowly lowered his eyelids, picked up the pen and turned it in his hand casually. I don't know what's going on in my mind.

That night, Zhang Cheng invited Xu Mu to his office to discuss things.

Guan Kuo took the tea and left, closing the door at the same time. Zhang Cheng didn't make much politeness, and said directly, "I have already sent an application for transfer to the Army Command, and I am ready to transfer Lieutenant Colonel Du Feng from the Governor of Milan here to serve as the regiment commander. ”

"Oh?" Xu Mu's hand holding the teacup paused slightly, and his face was full of joy, "It's really good, will the army agree?" ”

Du Feng was the company commander of Zhang Cheng when he was a mercenary, and the two also cooperated together when they were fighting in Northern Italy, and they also wrote a letter of recommendation for Zhang Cheng, who had no career, which helped a lot. As for Xu Mu, he and Du Feng are classmates. It is indeed a satisfying thing to send Du Feng here.

"No problem." Zhang Cheng smiled and nodded, "Qualifications, military exploits, and my face are enough." ”

"That's good." Xu Mu smiled and nodded.

"The Navy sent a telegram urging me to ask when the depth charges would be delivered." Zhang Cheng glanced at Xu Mu and said softly, "They are in a hurry." The matter of the Yancheng made them very passive. ”

"There's nothing wrong with the technology." Xu Mu thought for a moment and said softly, "But after all, it's a brand new weapon, and your arsenal is a little small." Whether it is the production line or skilled workers, as well as the strength of scientific and technological research and development, it is not strong. The live-fire test will not be available until next week at the earliest. ”

"Hmm." Zhang Cheng took out a cigarette and nodded in response, "You do things, I don't worry." ”

As a business partner who has worked with him, Zhang Cheng is more satisfied with Xu Mu. took the initiative to sell some of the shares of the arsenal under his name to Xu Mu, and at the same time let him serve as the actual manager.