Chen Zikun took Yan Su, chief of staff, Xue Bin, captain of the guard, and a platoon of escorts to Nanjing Xiaguan Wharf by boat.

"Is this a welcome to me?" Chen Zikun and Yan Su looked at each other, he was just a major general-level military envoy, and he was not qualified to enjoy such treatment, but at this time, there was only one boat on the shore, and it was impossible to welcome others.

Chen Zikun sorted out his military uniform, calmly got off the boat, and walked on the red carpet only to find a five-short soldier standing opposite, with a big dress, a ribbon and a saber, one eye slanted, a smile on his face, and three gold stars on his epaulettes.

Su Wanjiang patrol made Qi Xieyuan deign to greet him in person! Chen Zikun was greatly surprised, you must know that Qi Xieyuan is a direct veteran on an equal footing with Wu Peifu, and his qualifications are not much higher than himself, even if he is a provincial overseer, he is also a junior in front of him, not to mention that he is a new and hot Jiangbei protector.

Chen Zikun's brain was very fast, the other party welcomed him with such a high standard, he must be tired, he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Fu Shuai, I kowtow to you." "If you make a gesture, you have to kowtow.

Qi Xieyuan hurriedly helped: "Kunwu Xian's nephew, what are you doing, get up quickly." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Fu Shuai is busy with military affairs, how can you come here." ”

Qi Xieyuan said: "You are Brother Ziyu's thousand-mile horse, our direct rising star, a brigade of people will beat Sun Kaiqin to lose his armor, I am anxious to see you, this great general, haha." ”

Chen Zikun also laughed, but said in his heart, if you have nothing to do, you must not be at ease.

After some greetings, Qi Xieyuan took Chen Zikun's hand and drove all the way to the city.

Chen Zikun and his entourage were arranged to stay in an extremely elegant garden in downtown Nanjing, and that night Qi Xieyuan held a banquet to entertain all the dignitaries, representatives of the Anhui overseer, the Jiangxi military superintendent, and the Fujian-Guangdong border superintendent Sun Chuanfang, as well as the generals of the Jiangsu army.

The direct generals gathered together, the wine was hot, Qi Xieyuan praised Chen Zikun again, praising him as the first general under Yushuai, this time the southeast used troops, it was a good time to show his skills, everyone saw the wind and made the rudder, and they all patted Chen Zikun's sycophants together, Chen Zikun drank two more glasses of wine, and he was also proud, not changing whether it was a high hat or a toast, all those who came did not refuse, and he was drunk in the past.

After the banquet, Chen Tiaoyuan sent the sworn brothers back to his residence, and after drinking a bowl of sobering soup, Chen Zikun sobered up a little and praised: "Fushuai is really hospitable, in the past I was not drunk with a thousand cups, but today it is even higher." ”

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "Where is it, my brother often drinks liquor, and this southern daughter is easy to get on, by the way, do you know where you live?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "What other allusions to this garden can't be? ”

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "The garden is called Zhan Garden, which used to be the residence of Xu Da, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Chen Zikun was surprised: "Where do everyone else live?" ”

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "The provincial overseers and representatives all live in hostels, only the elder brother you take special care of, Fu Shuai heard that you came back from studying in the United States, I am afraid that you will not be used to eating Jiangnan food, and invited a Western chef from Shanghai to cook for you foreigners." ”

Chen Zikun said with emotion: "Fu Shuai treats me so well, how can I repay him." ”

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "It's not too early, I'll go back, my brother has a good rest, there is a military meeting to be held tomorrow." After saying that, he picked up his military hat and said goodbye.

Yan Su sent Chen Tiaoyuan out of the gate, and when he came back, he found Chen Zikun pacing back and forth in the room with a sneer on the corner of his mouth.

"Protector, you're not drunk?" Yan Su said.

"Qi Xieyuan's ** soup doesn't get me drunk, what idea he has, I've already guessed." Chen Zikun said with a smile.

Yan Su said with a smile: "Qi Xieyuan wants us to contain Sun Kaiqin, so he can do his best to deal with Lu Yongxiang." ”

Chen Zikun said: "I'm afraid it's more than that......"

……

The next day a formal military conference was held, Qi Xieyuan formed a "rebel army", appointed himself commander-in-chief, and the troops were divided into five routes, the first route was composed of the elite of the Soviet army, the main attack on Shanghai, the second route was led by Chen Tiaoyuan, and the defensive position was taken in Yixing, and the third route was responsible for the Anhui Army to attack Guangde, Zhejiang, and the first three routes were led by Qi Xieyuan himself.

The fourth route, Sun Chuanfang, the Fujian and Guangdong border defense superintendent, served as the commander, led the men and horses of the headquarters and a division of the Jiangxi Army to attack Zhejiang from Xianxia Pass.

The Fifth Route Jiangbei Protector envoy Chen Zikun served as the commander, and led the troops of the headquarters to attract the Jiangdong Provincial Army and prevent Sun Kaiqin from aiding Lu Yongxiang.

The generals received their own orders, and Chen Zikun was at a young age on a par with Qi Xieyuan's Sun Chuanfang, serving as the commander of the road, and he was even more complacent, and even a little fluttering.

After the meeting, Qi Xieyuan found Chen Zikun to talk to him.

"Kunwu Xian's nephew, whether this rebellion is successful or not depends on you, Lu Yongxiang is entrenched in Zhejiang, and there is more financial support from Shanghai, with strong troops and sophisticated weapons, it is really difficult to deal with, although our side is a five-way army, hundreds of thousands of horses, in fact, the strength is very limited."

Chen Zikun said: "Fu Shuai doesn't need to worry, it's just that our army is short of food and ammunition, and I'm afraid it won't last for a few days." ”

Qi Xieyuan said: "I have planned this for a long time, 100,000 oceans, 1,000 rifles, and 200,000 rounds of ammunition have been loaded on the ship, and the virtuous nephew will take them with him when he goes back." ”

Chen Zikun was overjoyed: "Thank you Fu Shuai, Sun Kaiqin will be handed over to me." ”

Qi Xieyuan patted Chen Zikun on the shoulder and said: "The future is terrifying, after successfully solving Lu Yongxiang this time, I will promote you to be the Huaijiang patrol envoy, and you will go to the next level." ”

"Thank you, Fushuai!" Chen Zikun stood up, snapped upright, and saluted.

Qi Xieyuan smiled and arched his hand: "I wish you success." ”

After sending Qi Xieyuan away, Chen Zikun sneered: "The Huaijiang patrol envoy wants to send me, so who will do it in Jiangdong?" ”

Yan Su said: "Qi Xieyuan fought wishy-washy, let us be cannon fodder, and Sun Kaiqin lost both, so he could take the opportunity to occupy the territory of Jiangdong Province." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Who cares about that in the fight, Lao Tzu not only wants to be the governor of Jiangdong Province, but also the envoy of the Songhu Protector!" ”

Yan Su said: "Is the firearm fund given by Qi Xieyuan collected?" ”

"Accept, of course accept, after all, we are helping him fight, why not."

……

Chen Zikun returned from Nanjing with a full load, and with 320,000 taels of silver from the bottom of the well and 100,000 oceans from Qi Xieyuan, his military expenses were extremely sufficient, and the mortars and hand-held machine guns imported from the United States and equipped the troops, greatly increased his military strength.

Since the defeat of the provincial army last time, Sun Kaiqin has replaced a number of incompetent officers, and old fritters such as Nie Jinku have been eliminated and replaced by young and promising young Zhuang factions, among which the chief officers at the brigade and regiment level are basically all from military schools, and many of them have even graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School.

The provincial army recruited 20,000 new horses, all new guns and new artillery, and the total number of troops reached as much as 60,000, which was ten times more than that of the Jiangbei army.

On the other hand, Chen Zikun's troops, the main force was all composed of bandits, although the combat effectiveness was quite strong, but they lacked experience in positional warfare and storming tough battles, and their discipline was even more lax. Moreover, the weapons were mainly machine guns and rifles, and there were few artillery, and there was a serious lack of suppressive firepower, so it was impossible to confront the four artillery regiments of the provincial army.

Even so, Chen Zikun still raised the banner of the Fifth Route of the Rebel Army, temporarily set up the Jiangbei Army Crash School, provided military training to officers above the platoon level, and reorganized the pistol battalion into a military police company, which was responsible for rectifying military discipline.

The two regiments of Tuntian had already withdrawn, and the whole army was arranged along the Huai River, and soldiers were organized to learn to swim in the river every day.

The three divisions and five mixed brigades of the provincial army all drove to the south bank, ready to strike at the invading enemy at any time, and the gunboats of the Marine Police Corps also drove over to patrol the Huaijiang River day and night to strictly prevent the northern army from crossing the river, and the biplane planes of the Jiangdong Provincial Air Force flew and reconnoitred in the north of the Yangtze River.

In late August, news came from the provincial capital, Lu Yongxiang, He Fenglin, and Sun Kaiqin formed a joint army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and Lu Yongxiang served as the commander-in-chief of the coalition army to fight against Qi Xieyuan's rebel army.

Xu Shuzheng, Qu Tongfeng and others gathered the old troops to train the new army, and the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau worked overtime to produce machine guns, rifles, artillery and all kinds of ammunition to arm the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai coalition forces.

War is on the verge of breaking out.

In the Jiangbei Protector Embassy Office, the military meeting is being held, it is already September, the weather is still very hot, and the knowledge on the big locust tree keeps screaming, which makes people bored and abnormal.

Chief of Staff Yan spoke: "Lu Yongxiang is surrounded by enemies on all sides, Feng Zhang Yuan is outside the pass, far water does not quench his thirst, Sun Wen is harassed by Chen Jiongming, and there is no useful descendant army in his hands, the Northern Expedition is an empty word, in my opinion, this time the rebel army has a great chance of winning, Zhejiang and Shanghai are in his pocket sooner or later, but it is a pity that we have attracted most of the Jiangdong Provincial Army for him in vain, and it is likely that he will not get a piece of the pie if he takes the lead." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Just rely on our brigade of men and horses to cross the river to defeat the provincial army, that is purely a dream, Qi Xieyuan also expected this, he just asked us to contain Sun Kaiqin, as long as he succeeds in the Shanghai front, he will immediately send troops to capture Jiangdong, they make a lot of money, at most give me a false title of Huaijiang patrol envoy." ”

Yan Su said: "The Protector has seen it thoroughly, how should we deal with it?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "I have already had a countermeasure, where is the chief of staff?" ”

Su Qingyan, who hadn't shown up in Nantai for a long time, said: "The ship has docked at the dock. ”

Chen Zikun led everyone to the wharf, only to see a bulk steam cargo ship with a British rice flag quietly parked by the river.

"How many people can this ship carry?" Chan asked.

"Install a battalion properly." Su Qingyan said.