Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty claimed to be "not divided between Manchus and Hans, but united in one family", the specific measures were implemented by the policy of ethnic separation. In order to prevent the Eight Banners from coming into contact with the local residents, many cities across the country have built cities within cities, that is, full cities for the Eight Banners and their families.

Chengdu's Mancheng was founded in 1718, this city in the city is centered on the general Yamen, starting from Junping Street and Xiaonan Street in the south, Babao Street and Xiaobei Street in the north, Dongchenggen Street in the east, and Tongren Road in the west, covering an area of about ten miles. The city wall of the city is 1 zhang 3 feet high, the circumference is 4 li and 5 minutes, there are 5 city gates, the most magnificent of which is the big east gate, the city tower hangs two plaques of "Shaocheng old governance" and "both beautiful and worshipful". The layout of the buildings, the setting of the yamen, and the orientation of the barracks in the city are arranged in strict accordance with the traditional way of the Eight Banners Army, when there are 8 official streets and 42 soldier streets. The officers and soldiers with yellow and yellow flags lived in the northern position; The officers and soldiers who are red and inlaid with red flags live in the west; Officers and soldiers with white flags live in the east; The officers and men with blue and blue flags lived in the south. If you look down on the city from the air, the layout of its main streets resembles a giant centipede: the general yamen is the head of a centipede, Changshun Street is the body of a centipede, and the dense streets and alleys in the east-west direction are like the many feet of a centipede.

This city, which integrates garrison and life, also has many institutions including the general's yamen, as well as military strongholds that can be seen everywhere. In normal times, there were thousands of Eight Banners stationed in the city, and at the most there were 20,000 people. Including their families, the population of the entire city is about tens of thousands to 100,000, which is equivalent to the size of a medium-sized city.

The sound of the demolition bricks of the stall sounded on the tall and dilapidated city wall of the city called "Shaocheng", last night, after the recovery of Chengdu, the city wall of the city also began to be demolished, and the removal of the city wall was the descendants of the eight banners of the eight banners who were stationed in Chengdu by the people of Chengdu who shouted "leaky knife", and the descendants of the eight banners who were stationed in Chengdu forever when they landed, and the moon held the flag salary, and there were eight banners of the emperor's reward before the end of the year, but this will, these people, regardless of men and women, young and old, have shackles on their feet.

"No civilians!"

This is a conclusion reached by officials of the ruling Ministry of Justice who are accustomed to Western law after thorough research two months ago. Banner people are born with landed silver, there is a flag salary every month, and there is an emperor's reward every year, and "all the clans are soldiers" naturally enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war, and they have rummaged through various international conventions to finally determine the treatment of prisoners of war.

Servitude!

According to the prevailing "Rules of Engagement on Land", prisoners of war must use their own labor to obtain food and medicine, in other words, the national regime is not obliged to support these prisoners of war, and of course to prevent them from starving to death, so it is natural to arrange some "work" for them, after all, although they are prisoners of war, they must also eat.

In the sound of chains, the walls of Shaocheng were demolished little by little with the efforts of the prisoners of war, and at this time, in the inner city, there were soldiers walking through the streets with rifles on their backs, and occasionally the streets would flash a white light of magnesium lamps, which was the photographer of the army who was photographing the city after the recovery.

There are also some soldiers at the request of the photographer, take care of the old people who can't lift their feet behind the barbed wire or the children who can't work, under the photographer's arrangement, the soldiers exchanged candy for the favor of those casual children, and played with them, all of which seemed to confirm the fact that the Liberation Army is definitely a righteous division, a righteous division!

After a night of fierce fighting, all the houses that can be called buildings in this city have almost ceased to exist, they are either destroyed by artillery fire, or burned by the flag people, turned into piles of broken bricks and tiles, strolling through the streets, soldiers, occasionally have some feelings about the desolate appearance of the city, if the houses of the five thousand families in the city are not destroyed, then how many families must be placed, and for the Chengdu municipal axe, this is also a pity, after all, these houses can be an extra income.

It's a pity that although most of the buildings in this Shaocheng were destroyed by artillery fire, it was still a good place for the 18th Division, which was repairing in Chengdu and preparing to continue to advance to Xikang on the Sichuan side, at least it was not as good as the previous meal.

In the ruins of Zuo Si Yamen, more than a dozen tents are set up in the open space between the ruins, except for the soldiers on duty, most of the other soldiers will be spending a "vacation" in the outer city, who knows where they will be pulled out tomorrow, taking advantage of this kung fu, it is serious to be relaxed and relaxed.

In the few remaining houses of the Zuo Si Yamen, several officers gathered around the table, their uniforms tossed aside, wearing only short shirts covering their heads, and they fanned them while they drank tea.

"I think we must go to Tibetan Province!"

"How?"

"Didn't you read the newspaper when you were in Hubei? The British are invading Tibetan provinces, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has protested several times, but what's the use of protesting? Our army can't go over, and yesterday's newspaper said that the British had occupied Lhasa, and the reason why the General Staff ordered our division to prepare to enter the Sichuan border was to enter Tibet! ”

Scaling the banana fan in his hand, Li Shaojie said very seriously.

"If we go to Tibetan Province, maybe we can fight the British!"

"What a joke!"

Shao Zhenwu next to him refuted.

"Madame is British, didn't the newspaper yesterday mention that King Edward VII of England has conferred on Madame the Duke of Buckingham? Madame is the cousin of the King of England, is it possible for this relative to fight? I think even if I go to Tibetan Province, I'm afraid I won't be able to fight!"

Just then there was a knock on the door, and a soldier walked in, standing upright, raising his hands, and saluting.

"Your Excellency, Company Commander!"

Immediately stood up, and the soldier stood up again.

"The first thing in the report: Li Jiayang, a first-class infantry soldier, was originally discharged from the hospital!"

"Hmm!"

"The second thing in the report, Infantry Private Li Jiayang was promoted to Private Class on the seventh day of the seventh month, the report is complete, sir!"

"Good! Congratulations on your private! ”

Li Shaojie, who was overjoyed, hurriedly congratulated his subordinate, and then patted him on the shoulder.

"Are you healed?"

The soldier moved his arm.

"Report to the sir, it's not completely well, but the military doctor said that if you are active and active, you will get better slowly!"

"Really? That's good, you're a grenadier! ”

"Yes, sir!"

"Hmmm! Don't take heavy things for the time being, let your comrades carry them for you! ”

"Yes! Sir! ”

"How? To congratulate you, come and have a drink! ”

He himself picked up the cup, poured wine and handed it to the newly promoted private, who stood upright, respectfully took the cup, and then drank it all. After drinking, the soldier smiled and saluted, and walked out of the room.

The departure of the soldiers made the five officers in the house continue the previous conversation, this will Li Shaojie did not drink tea as before, and poured himself a glass of wine, the authentic Luzhou Laojiao.

"Even if we don't fight with the British now, sooner or later, we will still have to fight with the British!"

Li Shaojie said and took a sip of wine, it is always like this in war, no one knows what will happen tomorrow, and he knows where he will be whether he is dead or alive, even as an officer, he also believes in the phrase "happy in a hurry".

"At least not now!"

poured a glass of wine, and Shao Zhenwu tasted the mellow aroma of this fine wine there.

"I think that if we want to fight, we will definitely fight with Russia!"

"But no, it is more realistic to fight a war with the Russians, the Manchus can't afford to offend Russia and Russia, so they choose neutrality, and the principal will definitely not remain neutral, but we don't have the ability to keep Russia and Russia out of the door now, so the best way is to get involved!"

"Only by participating in it can you get certain benefits! It may even change the view of foreign countries on our country! ”

"That's not the most important thing!"

Shao Zhenwu shook his head, holding the wine glass in his hand, still turning under his nose and sniffing the mellow aroma of the wine in the glass.

"Oh? What is more important? ”

Li Shaojie looked at his old classmate curiously, could he still have any amazing insights?

"In the end, the Tibetan issue will not be resolved, after all, we cannot challenge Britain now, without this national strength, even if we enter Tibet, that is, to show our existence, and at the same time ensure that Tibetan Province is not divided, and at the same time try to repair relations with the foreign powers. Now Shaanxi, Xinjiang Province, Gansu, and Sichuan have been recovered one after another, and Li Jingxi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, can not hold out for a few days, maybe not in August, the whole country can be recovered, and then there will only be Mongolia and the Northeast, and the soldiers of the Mongolian Yifu Division can be recovered, but the Northeast is said to be fighting against Russia, although the volunteers have crossed the Liao River, it is indeed a fact that Russia and the Northeast are at war. ”

This will be Shao Zhenwu just drank the wine that had been smelling for a long time. His question, only Li Shaojie and the other four people were silent, the four of them bowed their heads, as soldiers, of course they did not want to see the scene of the war between Russia and China, which can be described as a shame for soldiers, but on the other hand, they clearly know that the national strength is inferior to others, what can they do?

"Therefore, the principal's top priority is to give an explanation to the people, but how to give this explanation?"

"Turn the war of Russia into a war of our country, we can give an explanation to the people, change one side into an ally, if the boundary is won, the rights and interests of the Northeast can be restored, and the people will also win this battle, and raise the people's morale for the construction of the whole country after the recovery!"

Nodding, Li Shaojie opened his mouth to reply, and now he finally understood why Shao Zhenwu said what he said before.

"Then this battle has been fought for six months, who is the winner?"

Shao Zhenwu, who had a smile on his face and seemed to show some drunken heartiness, said with a smile.

"Do you still need to ask? Where did the Russians have the upper hand until now? The battle of Russia will be won! ”

After a drink, Shao Zhenwu leaned behind him.

"Let's just prepare for the opening of Tibetan Province!"

"But what about Yunnan?"

"What about Yunnan? Yunnan can last a few days! ”

(To be continued)