In early February, Xiao Zhenlei led his troops back to Nanjing, and was warmly welcomed by officials at all levels of the provisional government and the general public. Now that there is no war, the common people, of course, are happy, and they also follow the officials out to meet the army.

Far away, Xiao Zhenlei, who was sitting in an open-top jeep, saw Sun Wen, Huang Xing, and other heads of the provisional government under the city of Nanjing, as well as ministers and vice ministers, standing there to greet them, and on both sides of the road were countless workers, peasants, and students holding the five-color flag of the republic and cheering. To be honest, Xiao Zhenlei felt that this specification was a bit high, and he and his officers and soldiers really couldn't afford it.

Xiao Zhenlei immediately asked the driver to stop, and then summoned the communications staff officer to order: "Immediately order the senior officers at and above the division level to rush over immediately!" ”

"Yes!"

The senior generals quickly rushed over, and under the command of Xiao Zhenlei, they lined up in a neat formation as quickly as possible, sorted out their military appearance, and then led them to walk under the Nanjing City Gate.

Under the city of Nanjing, Jiang Zuobin, the general of the Alliance, saw that those senior officers still maintained a neat pace, a neat military appearance, and a clean and neat style under the leadership of Xiao Zhenlei, and couldn't help but sigh for a while: "Xiao Huanyu really has the talent of a general, and these proud generals have become obedient under his leadership!" ”

Sun Wen, Huang Xing and others couldn't help but nod their heads and praise when they heard this, and the crowds on both sides of the road applauded desperately, applauding loudly for these generals who returned triumphantly.

Xu Shaozhen said to Sun Wen, Huang Xing and others: "The president, the general minister, the one who walks in the front is Xiao Huanyu!" ”

Sun Wen, Huang Xing and the others saw Xiao Zhenlei's heroic posture, and their eyes lit up. "Good, good. Sure enough, it's a talent! ”

Approaching the city gate, Xiao Zhenlei saw Sun Wen, Huang Xing and others coming over and immediately shouted, "Stand." All look to the right, look forward, and take a break! ”

After arranging the general's team, Xiao Zhenlei immediately stepped forward and saluted Sun Wen, Huang Xing and others who were coming towards him: "Report to the president, Xiao Zhenlei, commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Coalition Army, is ordered to end all the fighting and lead the army back, please instruct the president!" ”

Sun Wen is not from a military background, Huang Xing is only a half-ass, and although Jiang Zuobin and others are from military schools, they don't know how to deal with Xiao Zhenlei's behavior. Sun Wen looked at Huang Xing and the others, and didn't know how to deal with it for a while.

Jiang Fangzhen, who was appointed by Xiao Zhenlei as the deputy chief of staff of the General Staff, immediately walked to Sun Wen's side and whispered: "President, at this time, you have to order a rest, and then shake hands with the generals to express condolences, and then order Commander-in-Chief Xiao to station all troops outside the city and settle them properly!" ”

After listening to Jiang Fangzhen's words, Sun Wen understood, and hurriedly said to Xiao Zhenlei: "Take a break!" ”

"Yes!" Xiao Zhenlei saluted and turned to the generals and shouted, "All pay attention, stand upright." Take a break, please review and instruct the President! ”

Xiao Zhenlei's series of instructions were calm and clear, and he retreated to the side after speaking, and even the actions of retreating were particularly particular. This made everyone feel that even these high-ranking generals were like this, so wouldn't the low-ranking officers and soldiers below be even more powerful? Sun Wen and the others couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, this is the real army and the iron-blooded army.

Sun Wen first stepped forward to hold Xiao Zhenlei's hand and said, "Huanyu." Thanks to you, otherwise we revolutionaries would not be in the situation we have today! ”

Xiao Zhenlei said sternly: "The president has won the award." Without the President who had been running around for so many years to propagate the truth of the revolution to the world, I am afraid that we would continue to be ignorant. We have taken this step under the ideological inspiration of the great president, and in this Northern Expedition, countless revolutionary comrades have stained the battlefield with blood. Today's excellent situation is not easy to come by, please continue to lead us to build a good country, so that the people can live a happy life and the country will be strong! ”

Sun Wen was a little excited when he heard this, and said continuously: "Okay, good, good!" If we have a lot of talented people like you in China, why worry that the country is not strong and the people are not rich? ”

When the lords of the provisional government heard Sun Wen's words, they all echoed him.

Later, Sun Wen, Huang Xing and others met all the senior generals under the introduction of Xiao Zhenlei, "President, this is Wu Shiyou, commander of the Second Army of the Soviet Army, Zhou Chuandong, commander of the Second Army of the Zhejiang Army, Yao Chengcheng, commander of the Fourth Division of the Soviet Army, Li Yingshi, commander of the Fourth Division of the Shanghai Army, Liu Fubiao of the Fifth Division of the Shanghai Army, He Qiqi, commander of the First Division of the Jiangxi Army, and Dong Keqiang, commander of the Third Division of the Zhejiang Army, this is ??????."

Under Xiao Zhenlei's introduction one by one, Sun Wen and Huang Xing and others expressed their condolences to these senior generals one by one, and the whole activity lasted for half an hour.

At this time, outside the city of Nanjing, in addition to these Northern Expedition coalition soldiers, there were also troops from Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Hunan, these troops originally came to Nanjing to participate in the Northern Expedition, but the time of the troops from these provinces was different, and when their first troops arrived in Nanjing, the coalition troops under the command of Xiao Zhenlei had already entered Shandong, and the troops of these provinces did not carry much ammunition and supplies when they arrived, and they asked the provisional government for it, and the provisional government was destitute. There is no money at all, so where does the army of these provinces still have combat capability? Therefore, these troops were all delayed here, saying that they came to the Northern Expedition, but in fact, they didn't even have the role of playing soy sauce, just to make a scene, Huang Xing once ordered these local troops to return to their hometowns, but these troops didn't even have rations, how could they go back? Therefore, they can only stay outside the city, and the provisional government cannot force them to go back, for fear of forcing these people to make a mutiny, so they can only drag it out one day at a time, this matter must be solved after all, and it is always a hidden danger if it is not solved, and now that Xiao Zhenlei is back, Huang Xing has no way to solve it, so he can only throw this hot yam to Xiao Zhenlei.

After ordering the division commanders to camp their troops outside the city to rest, Xiao Zhenlei returned to the city with generals above the rank of army commander and the officials who were temporarily in the government. Huang Xing took the opportunity to pull Xiao Zhenlei aside and said, "There are still 20,000 local troops from all over the city who have come from all over the city to join the northern army, and these troops have not caught up with your Northern Expedition. They were all stranded in Nanjing, and I ordered them to go back. But those generals refused to leave here on the grounds that they could not be promoted without military funds, and I was afraid that if this continued, there would be a big mess. Now that you're back, I'm a lot more relieved, Huanyu, you must do your best to solve this matter! ”

Xiao Zhenlei didn't expect to encounter this kind of trouble as soon as he came back, and he couldn't throw all the trouble to me, but you picked up the cheap, right? Who doesn't want to live a good life? You didn't think of me when there was a good thing, and now you want to throw the trouble at me when you have trouble? I'm not a firefighter.

Xiao Zhenlei frowned when he heard this, and asked, "Since these local armies didn't catch up with the Northern Expedition, they should have been let go back a long time ago, what's the matter of staying here all the time?" Since they don't have a pull-out fee. The military department should allocate some promotion fees to them, and if they don't give them promotion fees, will they starve to death on the road? Besides, I think those troops are basically adapted from the local patrol battalions of the former Qing Dynasty, and there are only a few people who are really revolutionary, so they have no money to go home, and I estimate that they will loot on the way, and it will be the common people who will suffer at that time, and you are the commander-in-chief. Can't we ask the Ministry of Finance for some military spending to send them home? ”

Huang Xing couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this, and said in a low voice: "Huanyu, I won't hide it from you, I, the army commander, are really aggrieved." If you want soldiers or not, if you want money, you don't have money, not to mention that our War Department has no money. There were no other ministries, and the salaries of the interim government officials were not paid. Officials and government functionaries have no spirit to do things, let alone pay the army below! ”

Xiao Zhenlei frowned and said, "How can this be?" After the coalition forces invaded Nanjing. It stands to reason that Zhang Renjun and others fled in a hurry at that time, and it was impossible to carry a large amount of property, and the official money left by the Qing court in Nanjing should still be there, how could the provisional government be so poor? ”

Huang Xingdao: "When the provisional government took over, there were still more than one million taels in Nanjing's treasury, but it couldn't stand up to the many officials, many institutions and departments, and the provisional government spent a lot of money when it was established. ”

Xiao Zhenlei was silent, and followed Sun Wen and others back to the presidential palace.

After sitting down in the presidential hall, Xiao Zhenlei got up and saluted Sun Wen without waiting for others to speak, and asked, "President, I heard that half a month ago, Mr. Tao Chengzhang of the Guangfu Society was assassinated in Guangci Hospital, and the murderer was caught?" Has anyone been sent to investigate? I was on the front line at the time, and I wasn't very well informed, and it had been several days by the time I got the news. Mr. Tao can be regarded as a revolutionary veteran, and we can't let him die without understanding, otherwise how can we explain to other revolutionary comrades? Moreover, if such assassinations are not investigated and the assassins go unpunished, will not everyone in our revolutionaries be in danger in the future? ”

Sun Wen nodded when he heard this: "Huanyu is right, after this incident happened, I have already ordered Chen Yingshi to immediately send someone to investigate!" As he spoke, he asked Chen Qimei, who was sitting nearby, "Ince, how is the investigation of Tao Chengzhang's assassination case now?" ”

Chen Qimei had already heard the conversation between Xiao Zhenlei and Sun Wen, and began to get nervous, and now that Sun Wen asked, he began to sweat in his vest as soon as he was nervous, but he had to get up and said: "President, the ministry has sent additional forces to investigate, but until this time there are no clues!" ”

Seeing his expression, Xiao Zhenlei guessed that this case was most likely related to this generation, and it might have been caused by the filthy internal affairs of the revolutionaries, but this case could not be settled like this, if it was not thoroughly investigated, the trend of political assassination would prevail in the long run, and this would definitely be the greatest harm to democracy.

Xiao Zhenlei immediately said: "It's been half a month, Brother Ince's Governor's Mansion has not found clues, all walks of life are waiting for the investigation news and results, we can't drag it on indefinitely, Mr. Tao is famous all over the world, the cause of his death is too strange, we must do our best to solve the case and give an explanation to the world, otherwise all walks of life will only say that our provisional government is some incompetent, since Brother Ince's Governor's Mansion can't find out, then this case will be handed over to the military to investigate, right?" ”

Chen Qimei was shocked, he didn't expect Xiao Zhenlei to hold on to this matter as soon as he came back, if he let the military intervene, in case he found out any clues, the matter would be big, he hurriedly said: "How can this be?" The investigation is a matter for the local police department, so what's the matter with the military meddling? This is ultra vires! ”

Xiao Zhenlei got up angrily and said: "Of course I know that this is an act of ultra vires, but your local government can't drag it on indefinitely, it's none other than Mr. Tao, one of the leaders of the Restoration Society!" Mr. Tao is a veteran of the revolution, we can't let him die so unclear, if one day you Chen Yingshi is also assassinated, and those of us who are not dead can't find out the murderer day by day, what will you think if you know underground? What will your family and other revolutionary comrades think? I suspect that this will definitely not be a simple murder, I have met Mr. Tao, although he is a little radical in personality, and may have some different views from other revolutionary comrades in terms of political opinions, but he has absolutely no personal enemies, except because of political reasons, I can't think of any other reason why he will be assassinated! I am a soldier, but I don't know anything about politics, I know that if there is any difference of opinion on politics, everyone can sit down and talk, there must be a solution, do we have to use such despicable means of assassination to achieve ulterior purposes? No matter who is behind the scenes, this case must be investigated, and this kind of assassination must be nipped in the bud. This wind must not rise! ”

Most of the officials who are doing it are deeply convinced by Xiao Zhenlei's words, they are also officials, and they are all leading figures in the current political circle, of course they don't want to be assassinated, after Xiao Zhenlei said this, these people suddenly have a sense of sadness, and everyone echoed Xiao Zhenlei, demanding a thorough investigation of the case and an explanation to the Guangfuhui, Tao Chengzhang's family and other revolutionary comrades.

Xiao Zhenlei turned to Sun Wen and said: "President, since the military intervention is an act of ultra vires, then I propose to form a special team to investigate, Ma Boyang, who was previously responsible for protecting the president, graduated from the British Police Academy and is very good at investigating the case, I propose that he should be the leader of the task force, and the competent forces from the police station will be transferred to form a special task force, and immediately take over all the evidence and files of the case. ”

Sun Wen thought about it for a while and agreed with Xiao Zhenlei's suggestion, "Okay, it's decided at this time, Ma Boyang will set up a task force, and serve as the leader of the task force to be fully responsible for Tao Chengzhang's assassination case, and give an explanation to all walks of life!" ”

"The president is wise!" (To be continued......) R1292