"Ruoshui, this is your office!" After Gong Weizhuang led Tang Zhidao to meet Jin Shaozeng, the director of the General Affairs Department, he led him to the far side of the second floor of the East Annex Building, and pointed to a small room of more than ten square meters.

"Isn't the General Affairs Office in the back building?" Tang Zhidao said suspiciously, the east annex building is the office building of the Military Affairs Department and the Military Justice Department, and the offices of the General Affairs Department, the General Affairs Department, the General Director, the Deputy Director, and several counselors and recorders are all in the back building.

"There is no place in the General Affairs Department for the time being, so you will be wronged for a few days!" Gong Wei explained insincerely, but this also can't blame him, Xu Cichang's meaning is very clear, and it can be used only if it is left to dry for a period of time.

"Oh! Thank you Adjutant Gong for your arrangement. Although he felt that something was wrong, Tang Zhidao still said politely: "I just don't know what I am responsible for?" ”

"Your position is a second-class member of the General Affairs Department, and the specific thing to do is to be uniformly deployed in the department!" Gong Weijian continued to say with a smile on his face: "You are still familiar with the environment and colleagues when you first came, and there is really nothing to arrange for you to do at present!" ”

"Second Member?" Tang Zhidao recited silently twice. The structure of the General Affairs Office is different from that of the other eight divisions of the War Department, in that there is no section under the Department, but a number of secretaries and adjutants are responsible for handling the affairs assigned by the General Secretary or the General Secretary. A number of committee members and midshipman officers below the secretary and adjutant are set up to deal with specific affairs; The members correspond to the staff members of other divisions, and there is an acting chairman, and several first-class members and second-class members, which means that Tang Zhidao is the lowest level of the official staff of the General Affairs Department.

"With your qualifications, ability, and knowledge, it's no problem to be a first-class committee member directly, but it's not easy for you to be promoted too quickly if you are directly recommended by the deputy minister!" Gong Wei comforted kindly, after all, this kid Xu Jichang meant to be of great use, and it was also to be used more confidently for a year and a half.

"It's already very satisfying for my subordinates to be able to put on this military uniform again, and they won't care too much about the level of their position!" Since you have decided to come back, you naturally have to be extremely careful, and besides, this place may be just a post station for Tang Zhidao.

"Here I asked the people in the logistics department to simply clean up, there may still be a shortage of office things, and the General Affairs Department will send someone to send them!" Gong Weijian pointed to the furnishings in the room and said, "I'll leave first if there's nothing else, go to me directly if you have any questions!" ”

"Okay, there's Adjutant Lao Gong." Tang Zhidao also wanted to stay alone.

The furnishings of the office are relatively simple, with a set of desks and chairs and a dilapidated sofa outside, and the desk is empty; Inside was a filing cabinet with a bookcase and an old camp bed.

"What a day, one place!" Recalling the furnishings of Xiao Xu's office, Tang Zhidao said with emotion, no wonder everyone tried to climb up, and the clues could be seen from the office alone. In fact, it is better to have an independent office for Tang Zhidao, only the secretary, adjutant and acting chairman below the director of the General Affairs Department have independent offices (of course, much more than this small room), two members of the first class, four members of the second class, and there is no fixed office for trainee officers.

"Knock knock!" There was a knock on the door, and the tiny office was about to welcome its first visitor.

"Please come in!" Tang Zhidao lowered his head and tidied up his collar and said.

"Hello, let me give it to ...... in the hall" Zeng Lu, who was holding a large stack of office supplies, couldn't help but stay there when he saw that it was Tang Zhidao standing inside.

"Zeng Lu, come in!" Tang Zhidao was very happy when he saw Zeng Lu, and took the things in his hand and pulled him in.

"Brother Tang, how could it be you?" Zeng Lu finally came back to his senses and asked in surprise, "Are you the new second-class member in the hall?" ”

"Yes!" Tang Zhidao nodded with a smile and said, "I just wanted to go out to find you, and you will send it to the door yourself!" ”…,

"What about the work at the German Embassy?" As soon as he got to work early in the morning, he was caught by the acting chairman, Zeng Lu was still a little unhappy, but he didn't expect the new colleague to be Tang Zhidao.

"Quit!" On the night of Xiao Xu's acceptance, Tang Zhidao rushed back to the German embassy to ask Colonel Tolistan for his resignation, and although the old German man was a little reluctant, he simply agreed, and ordered the embassy to pay more than half a month's salary.

"Why didn't you tell me in advance about such an important matter!" Zeng Lu found a chair in the room and sat down.

"I went to your house to look for you last night, and the steward said that you went out to socialize!" Tang Zhidao turned around and closed the door, and pushed open the east-facing window.

"Yesterday, after work, a few colleagues came to eat and drink! At the wine table, I heard that there would be a new colleague coming in today, but I didn't expect it to be Brother Tang. Thinking of staying in Chun Tao's boudoir last night, Zeng Lu said quite embarrassedly.

"It's better not to indulge in wine when you're young!" Tang Zhidao looked at Zeng Lu's embarrassed appearance and knew that he must have followed those old oilmen in the hall to the Bada Hutong to drink flower wine yesterday. The gap between departments and departments is really staggering: the staff members of the Military Pastoral Department of the War Department either go home after work and their wives and children are hot on the kang, or they find a tavern on the side of the road to drink two drinks, and only on the days when the divisions and brigades directly under the Ministry of the Army purchase military horses can they go to the Bada Hutong to satisfy their hunger, and the people in the General Affairs Department are almost singing songs every night.

"Brother Tang, I'm also forced to do it!" Zeng Lu said with an aggrieved face that it was a big face for a small trainee officer to invite him to drink.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it." Tang Zhidao shook his head helplessly and said, when the country was in a state of war, the staff of the most important department of the highest military administrative department of a country actually ran to the kiln to eat, drink and have fun as soon as they got off work. As for those directors and counselors, they can't even commute normally, and even if they want to find them during the day, I'm afraid they have to go to Bada Hutong or the big smoke house.

"Brother Tang, why did you come back to the ministry without making a sound?" Zeng Lu secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Tang Zhidao no longer asked about the affairs of the Bada Hutong, this kid was born with a good skin, and his family background was good since he was a child, although as a soldier, he still has a lot of nostalgia for Yingying Yanyan.

"I was also confused, so I agreed to Xu Shuzheng!" Tang Zhidao said lightly: "I regret it now that I think about it!" "In terms of talent alone, Xiao Xu is definitely the first bull in the Republic of China, but his edge is too much, too arrogant, bold and daring, and there are too many enemies, and it is by no means a pleasant thing to be his subordinate. It is rumored that President Yuan Shikai dislikes this person very much, and once privately commented that Xiao Xu "is also a good person, and there are also small talents, if you follow the right track, you can expect it to be far away." But the arrogance is self-sufficient, and there are many people who are guilty of it."

"Vice Chief Xu? It was Xu Cichang who asked you to come back! Zeng Lu's eyes widened and said, "But Xu Cichang has this courage." "Xiao Xu, who became the deputy minister of the War Department at the age of 34, is simply a god-like existence for the entire War Department.

"I'd rather continue to be the interpreter at the German embassy." Tang Zhidao sighed and said.

"Are you going to be a dog leg for the Germans for the rest of your life!" Zeng Lu said quite dissatisfied: "I remember that when you were an instructor at the Baoding Military Academy, you often taught us soldiers to serve the country as the first purpose, and now that you have such a good opportunity, you don't know how to cherish it!" ”

"What can I do when I come back, it's not the same as a mess." Tang Zhidao smiled disappreciatively and said, "At least the Germans are working diligently." Despite being isolated overseas, hundreds of officers and soldiers of the guard battalion of the German Embassy still maintained high-intensity combat readiness training and were ready to fight for their country at any time.

"Brother Tang has really lost confidence in the Chinese army?" Zeng Lu muttered, the enthusiasm and enthusiasm in the military academy in the past were quickly extinguished as soon as they arrived in the big yamen of the War Department. …,

"This is not enough, on the contrary, it is this situation that requires me to be angry!" Tang Zhidao patted Zeng Lu's shoulder and encouraged: "Isn't there a real soldier like Brother Hu in the ministry!" ”

"Does Brother Hu know that you're back?" Referring to Hu Bingtao, Zeng Lu hurriedly asked. The four of them haven't gotten together for almost half a month.

"It's not too late yet!" Tang Zhidao shook his head and said, "Vice Chief Xu only gave me three days of work, and the Germans still have a bunch of things to hand over." ”

"Brother Hu's office is on the third floor, or I'll call him!" Hu Bingtao's current position is the head of the Infantry Section of the Military Affairs Department (the Military Affairs Department is divided into five sections: Military Section, Infantry Section, Cavalry Section, Artillery Section, and Engineer Section).

"Wait! Brother Hu should be busy at this point. Tang Zhidao looked at his watch and said, "Call Shang Ruxian out for a small gathering at noon, and you can tell me about the things in the hall first." ”

"What's going on in the hall?" Zeng Lu asked puzzledly, in terms of seniority in the military world, Tang Dao was far better than himself, and he was not sure what he wanted to know.

"Talk about what you see, hear, or think!" Tang Zhidao took out the cigarette in his pocket and gave it to Zeng Lu.

Then the two of them chatted nonsense about what you said and me, Zeng Lu was assigned to and from every day as a midshipman and got a lot of information, from the establishment of the War Department and the management of various departments, to the preferences and anecdotes of the deputy director, the director of the department, and the secretary and adjutant......

Since the founding of the Republic of China, the War Department has the power to manage the military and political affairs of the army throughout the country, and it should have supreme power and rank first among all the cabinet departments, but in fact its status is still inferior to that of managing the internal affairs of the national police, not to mention the two departments of finance and communications, which are so rich. The root cause of this lies in the fact that military power is purely controlled by the provincial governors and generals, and since the founding of the Republic of China, they have not obeyed the command of the War Department at all; even if the army divisions and mixed brigades directly under the Ministry of War are in the hands of the division and brigade commanders, and the orders of the War Department may not be effective. After the six southwestern provinces opposed the imperial system and broke away from the central government, the armies distributed in these six provinces had nothing to do with the War Department.