Among the eight departments of the First Department of the War Department, the General Affairs Department is naturally the General Affairs Department, which is in charge of the secret, finance, discipline, promotion, appointment and dismissal of internal officials, and logistics, which is about equal to the complex of the General Office, the Finance Department, the Supervision Department, and the Personnel Department in later generations.

The busiest of the work is the Military Affairs Division, which is responsible for as many as 19 matters such as army establishment, training, disposition, fortifications, and transportation, which is even more cumbersome in wartime. Since the Republic of China, there have been wars for many years, so the secretary of the military is on the side, and those who are not from the school cannot abuse it. Since the Republic of China, this habit is relatively rare among civil officials, and this style has prevailed among military officers. The section chief and first-class section members in the Military Affairs Department are either protégés of the general director or junior protégés (protégés of the deputy chief), and it is difficult for those who do not have a certain background to get ahead in the Military Affairs Department. Hu Bingtao, a close friend of Tang Zhidao, was also able to rise to prominence here because he was Xiao Xu's fellow villager, and became the colonel of the infantry section at the age of 27.

The most oily and water-rich must be the Ordnance Department where Liu Ruxian worked, and seven arsenals directly under the Ministry of War, including Baoding, Sanjiadian, Shanghai, Dezhou, Hanyang, Chengdu, and Guangzhou, are all subordinate to the Ordnance Department. The right to plan and inspect military guns and ammunition, and the right to issue licenses for the purchase of foreign weapons by all provinces and divisions (the purchase of foreign ordnance must be approved by them and given a license, and the customs can be notified before they can be put in) are also in the hands of the Ordnance Department. Within the Eight Great Hutongs, in the field of poker sparrows, the most common people encountered are the people of the Ordnance Division.

The most leisurely is the military pastoral department and the military medical department that managed military doctors and veterinarians in the past where Tang Zhidao served before, and the military pastoral department only made a small improvement when the divisions and brigades directly under the Ministry of War purchased military horses. The Department of Military Medical Sciences merely fills out a statistical questionnaire. Last year, Yang Hongchang, director of the Department of Military Medical, planned to conduct a big examination of the military medical and veterinary officers of all provinces and divisions to conduct screening and evaluation.

The most unworthy of the name is the Department of Military Justice, which is in charge of the formulation and revision of military law in the army, the management of army prisons, and the trial of higher military law. However, it can be asserted that none of the powerful soldiers obeyed the central judgment. According to military law, Zhang Xun who slaughtered Nanjing City, Zhang Jingyao who sacked Nanchang City, Zhang Zuolin and Wang Zhanyuan, who expelled their bosses, Feng Lianzhang who disobeyed military orders, and others should not be shot, but the dignified President Yuan had nothing to do with them, let alone the Military Justice Department of the War Department. Of course, the military judges of the Military Judge Advocate General Department cannot be left idle, and occasionally the Beijing Police Department and the local court will transfer some major criminal cases involving banditry and robbery to the Military Justice Division. On average, there are three or two such cases a month, and the military judges have no choice but to pass the time with them.

Chen Congyi, the current first-class military judge of Chinese New Year's Eve and Sansan, has not had a good relationship with Tang Zhidao, the newly appointed second-class member of the General Affairs Department, but the decision is not too bad, at least the two are still fellow villagers in Shandong. Despite this, Chen Congyi, who was wearing glasses, lingered downstairs in the East Annex Building for a long time before knocking on the door of his little fellow's office.

Three or four months ago, when this little fellow had an accident, as a military judge, he tried his best to mediate, but he was soft-spoken, and the military justice department could not intervene in this kind of big case at all. I originally thought that my little fellow was a bad and unlucky, but I didn't expect that the Hongxian Dynasty would come to a dramatic end in just eighty-three days, and my little fellow was spared, and I didn't expect that this little fellow returned to the War Department and entered the General Affairs Department a few days ago.

"Please come in!" Tang Zhidao once again put down his pen and closed the notebook on the table, this is already the fifth visitor today. Since returning to the War Department this week, although the General Affairs Office has not assigned him specific work, the daily visitors have made his life more fulfilling. Hu Bingtao, Liu Ruxian, and Zeng Lu are frequent visitors here, and they basically come over to chat at noon. …,

"Chen, Brother Chen, why do you have time to come over?" Tang Zhidao still recognized this Shandong fellow for the first time, hurriedly let him into the room, and made tea for him.

"Ruoshui, it's been a long time since I've seen you still so energetic!" Chen Congyi was a little surprised to see that Tang Zhidao was so enthusiastic, but Tang Daodao was still relatively arrogant and did not have much contact with the fellow villagers in the ministry.

"Brother Chen, drink tea!" Tang Zhidao put the brewed tea in front of Chen Congyi, pulled another chair and sat next to him, and said gratefully: "Brother Chen is still in the Department of Military Justice, thanks to you for speaking up for your little brother in the previous stage!" ”

"It's a bit embarrassing to say, people can't help my brother if they talk lightly." Chen Congyi said with a smile: "If Brother Shui does not die in a big disaster, there will be a blessing in the future." ”

"Thank you, Brother Chen, for his words!" Tang Zhidao handed a cigarette to Chen Congyi.

"Don't smoke, quit!" Chen Congyi waved his hand and said, but his eyes still betrayed him.

"I remember that Brother Chen is a big smoker, so he quit anyway!" Tang Zhidao still insists on passing the cigarette, and he is a good comrade if he doesn't smoke a lot in this era.

"No way, my wife doesn't like to smell smoke!" Chen Congyi put the cigarette on his nose and sniffed it, pretending to be careless. It's a little greedy to look at it after almost a month of cigarette breaking, but the family's economic situation is really difficult, so you can save a little.

As a first-class military judge of the Ministry of the Army, his monthly salary is about 100 yuan, and he should not have much problem in supporting his family in the capital. However, since the Protector Army started its anti-imperialist army, the Beiyang government has long been unable to make ends meet in order to suppress the Protector Army's continuous use of troops in the six southern provinces. Chen Congyi's wife came from her hometown in Shandong, and like most women in this era, she lived a life of husband and children, Chen Congyi's salary was the only source of livelihood for the family, and it was relatively difficult to support a family of six (three children and an old man). Recently, prices have skyrocketed, and the most fatal thing is the "Beijing banknote boom", and the banknotes of the Bank of China have depreciated sharply (the banknotes issued by the yamen are also two banks), and the days have plummeted.

"This one has a light taste, so it's okay to smoke two less." Tang Zhidao leaned over and lit it to Chen Congyi, he didn't know the current situation of the Chen family, but he just felt that it was boring to smoke alone.

"Well, it tastes good!" Chen Congyi took a puff and said, I haven't touched foreign cigarettes for more than a month, and occasionally wrap some tobacco leaves at home to enjoy it, and pretend to quit smoking when I get to the ministry, anyway, opium smoking is the mainstream among high-ranking officials and nobles.

"Brother Chen, there are just two of us in Yanzhou!" Tang Zhidao's ancestral home is from Guanqiao, Teng County, Yanzhou, and Chen Congyi is a native of Fei County, Yanzhou, which is only more than 100 miles away, and can be regarded as a small fellow villager.

"It's not close!" Chen Congyi thought for a while and said: "There are only two of us in Yanzhou, but there are several in Jinan Mansion. ”

"Find an opportunity to ask the villagers in Shandong to come out and get together." Tang Zhidao puffed out a puff of smoke and said: "Since I left my hometown to join my distant uncle in Baoding City when I was ten years old, I have never gone back, and I have passed fourteen years before I know it. ”

"I haven't been back for three or four years, and I don't know how my hometown is now." Tang Zhidao's words also evoked Chen Congyi's homesickness.

"By the way, Brother Chen, my sister-in-law and three children are fine!" Tang Zhidao remembered that Chen Congyi was a family and a house, so he took the initiative to ask.

"It's okay, it's just that your sister-in-law is not used to life in the capital, and she still thinks that her hometown is ......" Talking about his wife and children, Chen Congyi showed a knowing smile and kept talking, which made Tang Zhidao envious, he was still alone in his twenties.

"If water, you don't want to have a family? The old man in the family should be in a hurry! Seeing that Tang Zhidao was a little lonely, Chen Congyi asked with concern: "My daughter-in-law has a distant cousin who is studying in the capital, she is very beautiful and has a good personality, do you want to introduce it to you." ”…,

"Brother Chen, you better spare me!" Tang Zhidao hurriedly shirked and said: "I can only live this precarious and frightened life, forget it!" ”

"You're still worried about that case?" Chen Congyi straightened his eyes and said: "It should be in the past, as far as I know, all the so-called state criminals have been released." ”

"Maybe!" Tang Zhidao said noncommittally, at least he didn't have the heart to talk about love for now, and the future was too uncertain.

"What has Brother Chen been busy with lately?" Tang Zhidao took the initiative to divert this topic and talked about things at work.

"What can we do to be busy!" Chen Congyi said helplessly: "You don't know that the entire War Department is the most idle in our department, and we can't handle a few cases all year round!" ”

"How so? Your company is not in charge of the trial of the high military law, and now it is a wartime ...... should be" Tang Zhidao asked strangely, in the memory of later generations, the military justice department (division) is a very powerful existence, life and death, power is in hand, and it is impossible for non-bigwigs' cronies to serve.

"Who is going to buy our referees? Those who are in power are in charge, and even the president can't help it, let alone us little military judges! Chen Congyi angrily threw the last cigarette butt to the ground, and said dissatisfiedly: "It's just a matter of judging a few bandits." ”

"It's so hard for you!" Since the establishment of the Republic of China, the authority of the central government has not been truly established, and it can barely be maintained by relying on Lao Yuan's prestige.

"Recently, the Jingshi Police Department transferred a horse bandit leader who is said to be from Saibei, but I have no clue after asking a few times, and there is only one ...... the bitter master" Chen Congyi was a little upset when he thought of this.

"Horse bandits from the north?" Tang Zhidao's eyes lit up, and he suddenly said, "Is his surname Han?" ”

"Seems so!" Chen Congyi hesitated for a moment and said, "How do you know Ruoshui?" ”

"That's good, that's good!" Tang Zhidao said excitedly: "I'll be free tomorrow night!" ”

"There should be!" Chen Congyi said without thinking that his entertainment was extremely rare.

"Alright, let's get together tomorrow night!" Tang Zhidao said without saying anything: "Location, I'll tell you at noon tomorrow!" ”