At the subsequent meeting of the presidential palace of the provisional government, there was a heated discussion on how to deal with the soldiers and officers who participated in the riots, although Xiao Zhenlei did not want to participate in the internal deceit of the League, but he was now the deputy chief of the army and the chief of staff, and as one of the top leaders of the army, he had to express his opinion on this matter, and he must treat the matter with a fair attitude in order to maintain his prestige in the army.

Just when many people proposed to punish all the soldiers and officers who participated in the riot, he stood up and said: "President, colleagues, I oppose the shooting of all the officers and soldiers who participated in the riot, you must know that the soldiers and officers involved in this time amounted to thousands, they are the troops sent from various places to reinforce the Northern Expedition, we should execute them, should we communicate with the local military governments and discuss?" Besides, not every soldier volunteered, and I believe that the vast majority of soldiers and officers were coerced, and if they were all executed, thousands would be killed. ”

Someone immediately stood up and retorted with a sneer: "Deputy Chief Xiao, you must know that you are a general, you defend officers and soldiers, we understand, but we can't cover up and condone the crimes of those rioting soldiers and officers, but you are a person who commands the army, and you should understand the importance of military discipline and military law more than us, this time hundreds of people died, more than 2,000 shops were robbed, and countless houses were burned, don't these murdered people and insulted women need justice?" ”

Xiao Zhen [Lei Wenyan said coldly: "Did I say that I would not pursue this matter again?" I'm just saying that we can't expand this matter and punish it, and if someone is killed if he doesn't commit a crime to death, then aren't we becoming butchers? And also. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to emphasize one point. After all, this is an internal affair of the military, and our military will handle it on its own. It has nothing to do with you politicians, just take care of your own affairs, and President Huang and I will deal with the aftermath, and we will definitely do our best to give an explanation to the president, all walks of life, and the general public! ”

Sun Wen listened to Xiao Zhenlei's words and felt that it was a little inappropriate to discuss this matter in front of so many people, which would give some people the opportunity to disrupt the political situation, if it was unilaterally handed over to the military to deal with it, it would be much simpler, as long as it could give an explanation to the victims, all walks of life and the general public, he turned his head to look at Huang Xing and asked, "Keqiang." What about your opinion? ”

Huang Keqiang, as the head of the military, is also psychologically on the side of the military, and in the final analysis, the ultimate cause of this incident is that he, the army chief, did not solve the problem of food and clothing for the troops in various places, otherwise this kind of thing would not have happened, and he also believes that this riot should be resolved by the military itself, which is also to safeguard the interests of the military. It will be the same as all dynasties, and he does not want to see the military be suppressed by civilian officials.

"As Xiao Huanyu said, the riot of these soldiers is an internal affair of our army. As the chief and deputy director of the War Department, Xiao Huanyu and I will naturally give a satisfactory explanation to the president, all sectors of society, and the general public on this matter. As for you, let's think about how to raise military spending. Then send these local troops back, or this will happen sooner or later! ”

Someone immediately said, "If only we could think of a way to raise money." There was a way a long time ago, so why wait until now? Besides, this military financing is a matter for your War Department, so what does it have to do with our ministries? ”

"That's it!" Someone immediately chimed in.

Xiao Zhenlei sneered in his heart when he heard this, it was really strange that the provisional government had such a person, he smiled angrily and said: "It's really ridiculous, if the military expenses need to be raised by our War Department, then what do we need the provisional government to do as soldiers?" What else do you people need? I believe that as long as our military can pull down this face, no one's business in the whole world is not as good as our military's, and whoever dares to rob business with our military must first ask the guy in our hands whether to agree or not! But we are an army, an army of the country, and our mission is to guard the territory, resist foreign humiliation, and protect the territory and the people, not robbers, and of course the army must be raised by the provisional government, otherwise why should we obey the command and leadership of the provisional government? ”

Seeing this, Sun Wen had no choice but to continue to delay this matter, and any further delay would only cause the contradiction between the military and the provisional government to deepen, so he immediately said: "Okay, the military affairs will be handled by the military itself, I believe that Huang Keqiang and Xiao Huanyu will give me, all walks of life and the general public a satisfactory explanation of this matter, this matter is here, now we will discuss how to raise this severance pay." As Xiao Huanyu said, the root of this matter is that the troops in various places do not have enough driving fees on the way back, and the troops have to eat, drink and laze on the way back, which all need money, if they are not given a promotion fee, they may leave on their own, but who can guarantee that they will not burn and plunder everywhere when they are hungry on the way back? Therefore, it is necessary to raise a sum of money to repatriate them, and you must all think of a way, and this time cannot be delayed! ”

During this time, Sun Wen and Chen Qimei, the leaders of the alliance, also realized that the provisional government was not easy to do, it was really not good to be in charge, not to mention the hard work, and it was not pleasing to them, maybe there were people behind them who scolded them for being incompetent, but it was not incompetent, otherwise how could the provisional government be arguing every day and not doing anything serious?

In the face of such a mess, this is also the reason why many people in the provisional government resolutely demand peace between the north and the south, and Yuan Shikai to take the post of president, Sun Wen and others are also exhausted during this time, for Sun Wen, as long as the republic is republic, it doesn't matter if he is the president or not, and he also found that the financial embarrassment of the provisional government is the main reason for the poor operation of the provisional government institutions, but he has no money, where to get money? He has no choice, he has not raised much money after raising donations abroad for so many years, and he has not brought a penny back to China, where is there any way to make money? It's better to throw this mess to Yuan Shikai, as long as the Qing Emperor abdicates and Lao Yuan is a sincere republic.

After the adjournment of the meeting. Huang Xing and Xiao Zhenlei returned to the War Department, and the two sat in the office drinking tea. Huang Keqiang asked, "Brother Huanyu, for last night's incident." What specific solutions do you have? This matter cannot be delayed, and the more it drags on, the more it will be detrimental to our War Department, and we must do our best to come up with a solution and make it public."

Xiao Zhenlei didn't know this, but this matter must be investigated and verified, otherwise it will become an indiscriminate killing of innocents, he smoked a cigarette and thought for a while before raising his head and said: "Mr. Huang, I don't think you can overturn a boatload of people with one rod, let alone kill all the soldiers and officers who participated in the riot." I immediately set up a working group to investigate the incident, with Jiang Fangzhen as the head of the investigation team, who is directly responsible to you and me, and immediately began to investigate the officers and soldiers involved in the riot, and find out who commanded and led the team, and who killed or insulted women during the riot. None of the main figures in this incident can be spared, and no matter who is involved or whose subordinates are the perpetrators, they must be investigated to the end. For those people's direct superiors, we also have to hold them accountable for their leadership, second. Soldiers and officers who participated in the riots and killed civilians or insulted women were sentenced to death, depending on the severity of the offense. They are all to be shot, and those who take the initiative to insult women. If they are also to be shot, not voluntarily but under duress from their peers, they may consider mitigating their punishment as appropriate, and other soldiers and officers who only participated in the riots and did not rob, kill, or insult women may be considered for re-education through labor, and when they have realized their mistakes and have repentance, they can be released, what do you think? ”

Huang Xingyan thought about it for a while, and thought that Xiao Zhenlei was still very objective and fair in handling it like this, and he did not mean to be biased or estimate retaliation, so he nodded and said: "I think it is feasible, since this is the case, you can make a report and hand it to the president, see what the president means, if he agrees, handle it in this way, and solve this matter as much as possible!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled bitterly when he heard this: "Mr. Huang, to be honest, I don't know the bottom of my heart, even if we solve this matter, but the actual problem is still there, if we don't solve the problem of eating and dressing the troops in various places outside Chengwai, maybe there will be a big incident soon, can we solve it in time at that time?" If you are assaulted by the rebels to the presidential palace, have you thought about the consequences? ”

Huang Xingyan heard that the wrinkles on his forehead became deeper, and he thought for a long time and said: "At today's meeting, I still haven't found a feasible way to raise funds for military spending, so it won't work like this, so let's go and find a trick Chen Yingshi, how to say that he is also the governor of the Shanghai Military Government, see if he can think of a way from the Shanghai industrial and commercial circles!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said, "This is the best!" ”

After three days of activities, Huang Xing finally got a sum of 600,000 yuan from Chen Qimei, Xiao Zhenlei immediately came to Huang Keqiang after learning the news, and withdrew all the 300,000 yuan.

After Xiao Zhenlei got this money, he didn't give a penny to the other ministries of the provisional government, and the chief and deputy ministers of the ministries went to Sun Wen to complain, but Xiao Zhenlei ignored it, in his opinion, the money was not enough to compensate the families of the dead people, the merchants who suffered losses, and the women who were insulted, but they could not use all of the money for compensation, and they had to take out a part of it as the severance expenses of the troops in various places.

Soon, Xiao Zhenlei, in his capacity as the deputy minister of the Ministry of War of the provisional government, released the final results of the handling of the incident, first, first of all, to publicly apologize and compensate the families of the victims (including the insulted women) and the merchants and people who suffered losses in this incident. Second, it is necessary to strictly enforce military discipline and set up a gendarmerie from now on, which has the right to enforce the law against any military force in Nanjing, so as to prevent the occurrence of incidents of military personnel disturbing the people. Third, according to the results of the investigation, the following punishments were made for the military personnel involved in the incident: first, a total of 22 planners and commanders headed by Xu Dabiao were sentenced to death; secondly, the death penalty was imposed on 151 servicemen who voluntarily shot and killed civilians with bayonets during this incident, and thirdly, the death penalty was imposed on 192 soldiers who took the initiative to insult women during this incident; Fourth, more than 600 servicemen who only robbed and did not kill or set fire to women in this incident will be sentenced to five years in prison and re-education through labor; Fifth, 1,100 soldiers who were not active or voluntary in this incident will be given one year of re-education through labor. Fifth, the War Department has decided to dismiss the troops sent by the provinces to participate in the Northern Expedition back to their original provinces, and as for how they will be dismissed, the issue of severance pay will be announced separately!

This announcement made Xiao Zhenlei suddenly supported by the people of the city, and also made his reputation at home and abroad high. The people in Nanjing are very moved, especially the families of the victims and the merchants who have suffered losses, because from ancient times to the present, no dynasty will apologize and compensate the common people for their own mistakes, not to mention compensation, there are almost no people who can apologize, although there are emperors like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who have issued an edict of guilt, but they only admit their mistakes and do not apologize to the people, not to mention that now Xiao Zhenlei not only apologizes on behalf of the Ministry of War, but also has to compensate, until now, There is no such precedent in China or abroad.

After the reparations, the next step was to punish the soldiers who participated in the mutiny.

It was drizzling on this day, and it had been two days in a row, and there was no sign of stopping, but Xiao Zhenlei still ordered the execution to be carried out as usual.

The Dharma Field is in a wasteland outside the city, backed by a mound. On the morning of this day, countless people in and around Nanjing came to the scene of law enforcement with oil-paper umbrellas or wearing coats, and more than 100,000 people surrounded the law enforcement site, and the entire city of Nanjing was almost half empty.

Perhaps he had expected such a grand scene, Xiao Zhenlei arranged for a regiment of troops to stand guard around the court, and expected a road that could pass trucks from the outside to the court, nailed wooden stakes every few meters on both sides, and then tied ropes to the wooden stakes to prevent onlookers from pouring into the road and obstructing traffic, and every few meters on both sides of the road, there were soldiers standing guard with guns every few meters to maintain order.

Soon, more than 20 large trucks carrying hundreds of people passed through the passage to the place of justice, and the soldiers who participated in the mutiny who were about to be executed were escorted down.

Xiao Zhenlei got out of the car wearing a raincoat and a big cap, several officers followed him, he came to the rows of condemned prisoners to look at it, and then stood up and saluted a military salute, "Before the execution, I want to thank you for your contributions at the beginning of the founding of the Republic of China, you are indispensable to the recovery of all places, you are heroes, but you have violated military discipline and made the last thing a soldier should do - mutiny, and injured many innocents, killing you is not our ultimate goal, Rather, it is necessary to maintain the strict ?????? of military discipline."

Many people wept bitterly, and some people were directly paralyzed on the ground in fright, and ten minutes later, rows of sounds sounded in the court, and hundreds of mutinous soldiers were shot. (To be continued......) R1292