Spending huge sums of money to maintain the army is not as simple as protecting the territory and the people, raising troops is to grab territory, and by grabbing land, you can collect more taxes, and with money, you can buy arms, recruit more soldiers, and lay more territory, which is what a real warlord should do.

But Chen Zikun is in the Jiangbei region is very embarrassing, the northeast is the territory of his righteous brother Chen Tiaoyuan, and the northwest is the territory of Enshuai Wu Peifu, and the only direction that can use troops is to the south, that is, the area controlled by Sun Kaiqin in the south of the Yangtze River, but now his strength is enough to start a war with Sun Overseer's army, so he has to take the local tyrants in Jiangbei first.

In the past, when bandits were rampant, many landlords and heroes built fortresses and enclosures, bought foreign guns and hired gunners, and dominated one side.

Nantai white coal is an excellent fuel for steam ships, the price of white coal in the provincial capital is 25 yuan per ton, and the cost price of digging out is only 8 yuan, and the profit is very considerable, but the cost of water transportation is too large, but this is not difficult Chen Zikun, he contracted this piece of business as a whole to the mixed river dragon, there are big water bandits in charge, the coal business is smooth, and the money is full.

Spring began in a blink of an eye, in the 500 acres of poppy fields, green young leaves grew under the mildew and rotten wheat straw soaked in rain and snow, and when it came to the Qingming Festival, it began to pull out the knots and draw the rods to develop branches, and Chen Zikun also embarked on the road to the north.

The seventh day of the third lunar month is Wu Yushuai's fiftieth birthday, and heroes from all walks of life in the world have to go to pay birthday gifts, as Wu Peifu's protégé Chen Zikun is naturally no exception, he carefully prepared a congratulatory gift, including a white tiger skin, two American-made ivory handle revolvers, a Longquan sword, with adjutant Ma Ben and Yao Yilei, the mighty set off.

All the way to Xuzhou, first visited Chen Tiaoyuan, and then took the Longhai Road train to Luoyang, at this time Luoyang has been full, all the restaurants, tobacco houses, brothels are full, even the barracks were vacated to entertain guests, the two were entertained to the barracks to stay, settled down before taking gifts to the Zhilu Yu Patrol Embassy.

The handsome man celebrates his birthday, the office is decorated with flowers, and the two sides of the Shoutang are posted on both sides of Wu Peifu's favorite pair, which is written by Kang Youwei: Makino Yingyang, a hundred years old and famous; Luoyang tiger vision, the wind and rain in all directions will be in Zhongzhou.

Responsible for entertaining all the guests was Wu Peifu's chief of staff Zhang Fangyan, seeing Chen Zikun and his wife coming, Chief of Staff Zhang hurriedly beckoned him to sit down: "You are your own person, you don't need those false courtesies, and when the marshal finishes meeting this group of guests, I will let you in." ”

After waiting for a while, a few blonde and blue-eyed foreigners came out of the living room, Wu Peifu was dressed in a long shirt and a horse coat and sent them out with a smile, listening to the foreigners speaking in Russian, Chen Zikun was a little surprised, could it be that Soviet Russia also came to pay homage to Yushuai?

After sending Lao Maozi away, Wu Peifu looked at Chen Zikun coldly, but ignored him, and said to Chen Tiaoyuan with a smile: "Xu Haizhen's envoy arrived, and he never greeted him from afar, and he was rude." ”

Chen Tiaoyuan hurriedly said: "Yushuai has killed the last general." ”

"Please speak inside." Wu Peifu let Chen Tiaoyuan in with a smile on his face, but left Chen Zikun outside, making him confused.

There are many guests who come to give gifts, and Chen Zikun can be regarded as seeing the world, including the jade shaft of the imperial pen Shou Song Yuyu given by the abolished emperor Puyi, the pure gold immeasurable Buddha, the white jade Ruyi sent by Prince Alcohol, the authentic work of Qiu Shizhou "Bian Luotu" and a horse of Yili; A pair of pure golden longevity peaches, a million firecrackers and a pair of 100-kilogram oversized birthday candles sent by Xiao Yaonan, the overseer of Shaanxi, a thousand tables of shark fin mats, and 500 golden arhats; Hunan overseer Zhao Hengti sent a box of jade, a box of gold bars, and a pair of Hunan embroidered longevity shafts, Wu Peifu was very happy to see it, and immediately ordered people to hang it on the Shoutang, and the longevity axis was written:

Luoyang is like a brocade of flowers in March, and Antarctica is a starlight candle sky.

Waves of guests came, but it was not Chen Zikun's turn to meet, Yao Yilei, who came with her, was anxious, and the eldest lady had a temper and wanted to go to Wu Peifu to theorize, but was persuaded by Chen Zikun: "You go back first, I guess what's going on." ”

Yao Yilei went back angrily, and Chen Zikun sat on the Shoutang for two hours, but fortunately, Zhang Fangyan has been taking care of him, and there are enough tea, melon seeds, and cigarettes.

At night, when Wu Peifu went out to the banquet, Chen Zikun was still sitting on the Shoutang, and Zhang Fangyan persuaded: "Dashuai, do you think you are taking Xiao Chen to the banquet together?" ”

Wu Peifu snorted coldly: "Let him sit." With that, he brushed his sleeves and left.

This wine was really long enough, and he didn't come back until nine o'clock in the evening, Yu Shuai drank a few more glasses, his face was red, and when he saw that Chen Zikun was still sitting on the empty Shoutang, he said, "Zikun, come here." ”

Chen Zikun followed Wu Peifu to the inner house study, and Wu Peifu asked, "Do you know where you are wrong?" ”

"I don't know." Chan replied.

Wu Peifu slapped the table: "If you don't know, just think about it, kneel outside!" ”

Chen Zikun was not ambiguous, came to the open space in front of the study, and knelt straight on the ground without saying a word.

It was raining, just after Qingming, the rain was still quite cool, and soon wet the hair and military uniform, and the whole person was poured like a chicken in soup, Wu Peifu opened the door of the study, lit the lamp and read the spring and autumn in the house, and did not look outside.

Zhang Fangyan saw this scene and hurriedly reported to Wu Peifu's wife Zhang Peilan.

When Mrs. heard the news, she came to the study and immediately reproached Wu Peifu: "How did you let Zikun kneel in the rain?" ”

Wu Peifu said: "I asked him to reflect on it." ”

Seeing that her husband was stubborn, Zhang Peilan had to hold up an oil-paper umbrella and come to the yard to help Chen Zikun cover the raindrops, and persuaded her with kind words: "Zikun, quickly admit your mistake to Yushuai." ”

Chen Zikun stiffened his neck and said, "I'm not wrong. ”

Zhang Peilan sighed: "These two men have a stubborn temper. ”

Wu Peifu was furious: "Let him kneel, grow hundreds of acres of opium in Jiangbei, and dare to say that he is not wrong!" ”

Chen Zikun said: "Humble duty is a last resort, Nantai is barren, the people are not able to make a living, 5,000 bandits are recruited, Zhang Zhang is a mouth to eat, the War Department does not give money, Sun Inspector does not pay salaries, and he can't bear to exploit the people of Limin, so he has to fend for himself, do not grow opium, there is really no way to live!" ”

Wu Peifu's anger decreased slightly, and he said, "You come up and speak." ”

Chen Zikun walked up to the hall on his knees, drenched in water all over his body, shivering with cold, Zhang Peilan was distressed when he saw it, and hurriedly arranged for his subordinates to cook ginger soup.

Wu Peifu said: "So, the bandits in Jiangbei have been calmed down? ”

Chen Zikun had already made a good draft, and told the story of what he had done since he settled in Jiangbei, how to deal with the inferior gentry, how to punish the provincial army and rebels, how to buy guns with loans, and how to recruit bandits. ”

"Yushuai, opium is rampant, I don't grow and others breed, not to mention that I just grow opium, smoking is strictly prohibited in the jurisdiction, these opium cigarettes will be shipped to France through Shanghai in the future, so that those foreigners can consume and not harm us Chinese."

This is a little far-fetched, but Wu Peifu took it seriously, nodded and said: "Good intentions, embarrassed you, I sent you to Jiangbei at the beginning is also an experience, it seems that you have done a good job, not in vain I have worked hard, but you often go off the rails, it is not a good thing in the long run, you must know that it is easy to break the mountain and the thief in the heart." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Follow Yushuai's teachings. ”

Wu Peifu said: "Although the Jiangbei Protector is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Jiangdong Overseer, it is actually an independent unit, so let's write a warrant, you go to Beijing to lead the army and pay equipment, which is much better than you planting opium." ”

"Xie Yushuai!" Chan was grateful.

The atmosphere eased, Chen Zikun presented a birthday gift, the white tiger skin was seized from the bandit cottage, the revolver was made by the American arsenal, and the Longquan sword was bought from the people at a high price, although it was not particularly valuable, but it was also ingenious, Wu Peifu was quite satisfied, especially the white tiger skin was appreciated, holding a brush made of tiger tongue and brushing the tiger hair, nodding frequently.

Chen Zikun almost said: "Yushuai has a 50th birthday, and even the Russians and the Qing Emperor have come to congratulate you, which shows that your prestige is like the sky." ”

Wu Peifu snorted coldly and said: "Soviet Russia is isolated in the world, and it is urgent to find allies to find a doorman, Lao Maozi can be trusted, sows can go up trees, Pu Yi gives gifts, that is to think that last year, some congressmen with bad brains wanted to demolish the three major halls of the Forbidden City and the National Congress building, and they were pressed down by a telegram from me. ”

Chen Zikun suddenly realized: "I see. ”

Zhang Peilan came in with ginger soup and found that the two of them were already talking and laughing, and laughed helplessly.

……

Wu Yushuai's 50th birthday shocked the whole of China, and the lively and lively work lasted for half a month before it stopped, Chen Zikun said goodbye to the handsome, and took his wife and his entourage to Jinghan Road and went directly to Beijing.

This time it was Yao Qizhen and his wife who were greeted at the station, and Mrs. Yao saw her daughter who had lost a lot of weight getting off the car, and immediately burst into tears: "Good daughter, you have suffered." ”

Yao Yilei also cried: "Mom~~~" threw herself into her mother's arms and wiped her tears, Yao Qizhen also took off her gold-wire glasses and wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

Back at the mansion, the table was full of all kinds of snacks, Yao Yilei smiled, unpacked and ate it on the spot, and praised it vigorously: "Well, it's delicious, it's this taste!" Mrs. Yao, who listened, was sad and cried again, her daughter used to be a picky eater, and she lived in Nantai for more than half a year, and the children were hungry.

"Lei Lei, you won't leave this time, right?" Mrs. Yao asked.

"If I don't leave, the countryside is really boring, there is no running water, no electric lights, no flush toilets, no place to watch movies, and there are not even foreign cars on the street, but I am suffocated." Yao Yilei sat on the sofa with her butt and flicked it twice: "Not even the sofa." ”

Yao Qizhen said: "Zikun, what are your plans to enter Beijing this time?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "The wedding is done first, and then there are a few major things to deal with, and I have to invite my father-in-law to come out." ”

Yao Qizhen sat on the single sofa, filled the pipe with tobacco, lit Meimei and took a puff, cocked Erlang's legs and said: "The wedding is naturally going to be held, our Yao family is also a person with a face in Beijing and Tianjin, how can we quietly give away our daughter, as for your major events, talk about it, maybe I can help." ”

In order to calm the rumors, Yao Qizhen and his wife reluctantly let their daughter go to Nantai with Chen Zikun, and now the rumors have passed, and Yao Qizhen has a firm foothold in the Bank of Communications, so he has a lot more confidence than before.

Chen Zikun got straight to the point and said: "It's great to have a father-in-law, I want to build a railway." ”

Yao Qizhen choked on a puff of cigarette in his lungs, coughed a few times, and said, "What are you talking about, building a railway?!" ”