"Brothers, have a good New Year."

"Happy New Year, Commander." The officers who were having lunch stood up and saluted Long Qian.

"Let me see how the food goes? Oh, yes, and bacon. Long Qian looked at the dishes in a few pots on the table and said with a smile.

"The commander hasn't eaten, has he? Isn't it just eating here? It's been a long time since we've eaten with the Commander. Cheng Jianguo, commander of the third battalion of the 19th standard, said with a smile.

"Okay, I wonder if there are a few of us? Ha Luha, I have a lot of food. Long Qian beckoned Han Ziying and Cai Ye, who were following him, to sit down together.

This table was full of officers from the battalion headquarters, except for Cheng Jianguo, the rest were a little nervous and excited. They could not have imagined that the Supreme Commander would have lunch with them during the Spring Festival.

"Jianguo, introduce me. I look familiar, but I can't name them. ”

"Oh, he's military judge Ma Fusheng, this, communications platoon commander Qu Baowei...... Deputy battalion commander Wang Hui went to the Eighth Company. ”

"The brethren have worked hard." Long Qian shook hands with several officers of the battalion headquarters one by one, "They are all our Shandong children, do you want to go home?" ”

"I don't want to." Ma Fusheng said loudly.

"Ma Fusheng, well, I saw you in Yizhou, and you were in the baggage camp at the time, right? It's the New Year, how can you miss home? Not the truth. ”

Ma Fusheng smiled.

"Soldiers are human beings. It is normal to have parents, wives and children, and to miss home and wife. But soldiers are not ordinary people, and it is common to abandon their wives and children. Who made us wear this uniform? Am I right? Come, I toast you all with a glass of wine. Long Qian poured some wine from the empty bowl served by the orderly. I wish you all the best in the new year. ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, we respect the commander." Talking and gossiping, the officers stood up, and the glasses and bowls clanged.

"It's the New Year, you can drink some wine, but it's limited, and no one is allowed to get drunk."

"Rest assured, one bottle of wine per class. That's all it takes. No more. Cheng Jianguo said with a smile.

"That's good. This is Lord Chincha Cai. You should give a toast to Counselor Cai. Long Qian pointed to Cai Yi, who was sitting beside him, "Staff Officer Cai will return to Beijing soon, so let him say a few good words for us." ”

Another toast, Cai Ye clearly felt the indifference and hostility in the eyes of the officers looking at him.

"Statehood. Sent a letter home? ”

"Go. I've been to one. Cheng Jianguo poured wine for Long Qian.

"The mother of the child is worried. Always write to them. ”

"Yes."

"I heard that your father told you a daughter-in-law? You're the battalion commander. You can do your family to accompany the army, or you can enter our Mengshan Army's factory. ”

"I don't want to."

"For what?"

"How can I have time to marry a wife? Besides, we don't know when Lu Dao will return to Shandong. Commander. The brothers always asked, "When are we going back?" ”

Long Qian lowered his face, "It's only been a few days since it came out?" So unproductive? ”

"The battle is over. What are you doing here? Every meal is red rice...... "Cheng Jianguo is more familiar with Long Qian because of his father's relationship, and he has entered the military academy twice, and has received special attention from Long Qian, and in a few years, he has been promoted from a small soldier when he went to the north to the battalion commander, and he is close to Long Qian, but he does not have the awe of other officers.

"Red rice? What happened to red rice? Jianguo, you kid has forgotten his roots. I remember the first time I went to your house, and I couldn't find ten catties of food in the house, so I sent someone to send a bag of noodles to your house. That is, the local people, how many of them can't fill their stomachs? In addition, how is the military song sung, 'towards the borders of the motherland', this is Jiangxi, in the hinterland of China, if you are sent to Xinjiang, to Tibet, will you go? ”

"Of course!"

"Military songs are not sung and played, let alone for fun. It should be engraved in the heart. Soldiers, we want to kill wherever the superiors point. Isn't it? ”

"Yes!"

Because it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, Long Qian was reluctant to criticize more. However, we must pay attention to the homesickness that prevails in the troops, that is, high-ranking officers, who also complain that the troops stay in Jiangxi and do not advance or retreat.

"That's right. Eat and talk while eating. Judge," Long Qian looked at Ma Fusheng with a smile, "How is the discipline of the third battalion?" Are there any serious violations of discipline? ”

"Nope." Ma Fusheng stood up, Long Qian waved his hand to sit down, Ma Fusheng glanced at the standard Han Ziying, "The discipline of the third battalion is well implemented, and there is no case of discipline violation." ”

"That's good. Discipline is the life of the army, and without strict discipline, it is a bunch of bandits! Not even as good as bandits. Isn't it? Military judges enforce military law in accordance with military law, and you must consciously accept the supervision of military judges and must not have confrontational feelings. Ma Fusheng, are there any difficulties at work? Does Cheng Jianguo cooperate? ”

"The battalion commander's own discipline is exemplary. I was in the third battalion and everything went well. ”

"Well, your task is either to sing them a happy song, or to pick a thorn! Without supervision, Cheng Jianguo will also become bad. Long Qian's tone became stern.

The atmosphere suddenly turned cold, and Han Ziying stood up and said, "Please rest assured, commander, we will strictly enforce discipline and maintain the honor of our army." ”

"Yes, honor! Honor is the second life of a soldier! It is necessary to use concrete actions to show what kind of army the Mengshan Army is, and to make the people love our army. Let the big girls be proud of marrying the officers of the Mengshan Army. Ha Lu Ha. ”

"We must do what the commander asks, and maintain and carry forward the honor of the Mengshan Army!" Several officers replied in unison.

"Good, good. What we need to do now is to do a good job in the ideological work of the soldiers, give up the idea of going home immediately, conscientiously complete the training subjects for mountain warfare issued by the General Staff Office, and wait for my orders. ”

"Yes."

Cai Ye carelessly pulled the cold meat dishes in the basin with chopsticks, but rarely put them in his mouth. It seemed that he was listening carefully to Long Qian's "lecture", but in fact, his thoughts had already soared to the point that he didn't know where to go. The food in Fifth Town is surprisingly good, and the festival is even more extraordinary. But his mind was not on food, and the words "Mengshan Army" kept popping up from the officers of the Fifth Town to stimulate his nerves, reminding him that this was an army with strong independence. It has nothing to do with the Beiyang Army.

For two months, he had gained a more comprehensive understanding of the army. Although the Fifth Town suppressed the uprising like a thunderbolt, it was difficult for Cai to hate this army, because it was not the eagle dogs of the imperial court, but a rather alternative army.

Cai Ye saw the shadow of the Japanese army in the Fifth Town, such as the internal affairs regulations, such as the training subjects, such as the tactical literacy of the troops. Cai Yi thought that the elite troops of the Fifth Town that he knew were not as good as Feng Guozhu and the seventeenth standard of the standard, and they were no longer inferior to the Japanese army. And there were many places that surpassed the Japanese army. For example, squad tactics and tactical training derived from new weapons. But there are more differences, such as genuinely caring for the people, such as the evaluation of military achievements, such as rewards and punishments. For example, the education of patriotism and dedication is unique.

I vaguely heard that Liu Daoyi and the others were not shot together. Instead, they were held in secret. Cai Ye once asked Long Qian privately. He had this opportunity. The young commander could be seen almost every day, and he had more opportunities to interact with Long Qian than the senior officers of the Fifth Town.

Long Qian did not admit that Liu Daoyi and Cai Shaonan were secretly imprisoned, but asked him rhetorically about his opinion on the uprising on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders. Will this be a success? What does it mean to your revolutionary party? Why did those leaders hide in Japan and did not dare to return to China, and go deep into the people to do hard work? Could it be that they are not even as good as Feng Yunshan and Xiao Chaogui? Rather, it is a senseless sacrifice like a hired thug? How many of the people who died in this farce understood what they were doing? Will their parents, wives and children be proud of their deaths? ”

Cai was speechless. He admits that even without the appearance of the Fifth Town, this "vigorous" uprising involving several states in two provinces would not have succeeded. Cai was a soldier and understood the difficulty of training a group of undisciplined and untactically ill-trained peasants into soldiers who were forbidden by order. Not to mention generals with greater responsibilities. Although the patrol battalion is corrupt, it is stronger than a group of party members linked by the righteousness of the rivers and lakes. The point is that the so-called revolutionary army did not enjoy the wholehearted support of the people, and was doomed to failure under the suppression of the Jiangxi and Hunan provinces. Even if the eighth and fifth towns don't come, the result will be the same.

Long Qian's sentence of 'not wanting to go deep into the people to do hard work' shocked him. Because he was personally involved in the work of the people of the Fifth Town. After the battle, on the one hand, the various departments of the Fifth Town organized detachments in companies and platoons to search the mountains and suppress bandits, and on the other hand, they organized the so-called mass work teams to carry out some work of visiting the poor and asking about their suffering; the medical teams went deep into the villages to provide free medical treatment to the people, dealt with the heroes and strongmen in Linjiang and other three prefectures and six fish and meat towns, and carried out the opening of warehouses and grain release similar to those of the rebel army in history, raised military salaries to help the destitute peasant households, and openly recruited new soldiers in the local villages...... All this has been warmly welcomed by the people of western Jiangxi. At present, the recruits recruited from Yuanzhou, Linjiang, and Ji'an alone have formed two new corps, which belong to the Ninth Association and the Tenth Association, and have carried out extremely strict training. About half of them were militia members who had participated in the uprising.

The various acts of the Fifth Town's stationing in Linjiang, Yuanzhou, and Ji'an were not welcomed by the local government, and the rest were resisted to a certain extent except for the bandits. In particular, the severe repression of the six powerful landlords. Cai Ye witnessed this action and was worried that Long Qian would not end well. The reason why Haoqiang is called Haoqiang is generally inextricably linked with the government. The relatives of one of the families are said to be high-ranking officials such as the Jiangxi Provincial Inspectorate. But the Fifth Town has a good reason - collusion with the rebels! If you want evidence, well, there is a lot of evidence, and there is a lot of evidence. Cai Ye can be regarded as having learned the power of the intelligence officer named Wang Zhifeng under Long Qian, and everyone can see that it was because of their extravagance and non-cooperation that led to the murder, but they can come up with evidence of their "gangsters"! The Fifth Town not only got the food and shelter they needed, but also dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the Haoqiang. also bought people's hearts. Seeing that the government has no way to take this Shandong army, who of all the gentry in the land of Sanfu would dare to fight against the army?

It would be nice if the revolutionaries had an army like Fifth Town. Cai Ye thought this more than once. Since Long Qian knew his identity and didn't care, Cai Ye naturally didn't let go of the opportunity to "rebel" against Long Qian. He said a few words before being interrupted by Long Qian, "Don't talk about those big truths. In my opinion, it doesn't make sense at all. The people were disgusted with the Qing because the Manchu court did not govern the country well, and if the Manchus made China the same as the United States, the people would also be disgusted with the Qing? The theory of race can only deceive the foolish people who have no brains, but cannot deceive the thinking people. Revolution is not just a slogan, the key is what the revolution will bring to the people, if it is only for the sake of changing the dynasty, the revolution will be a disaster that will make the people bleed and suffer. 'Prosperity, the people are bitter; Death, the people suffer. 'Haven't heard of it? Only by genuinely working for the welfare of the people will the people support the revolution. Tell me, what did your revolutionary party bring to the people? Why do you say that the people will live a good life when the Republic of China is established? Why is it said that the Republic of China is stronger than the Manchu Qing Dynasty? ”

Cai Ye was still speechless. To tell the truth, even like himself, he did not think of going deep into the people to do hard work. Long Qian mentioned Feng Yunshan and Xiao Chaogui, the two of the five kings of Shouyi, and he vaguely heard that the old foundation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army was laid by these two.

"Commander, do you admit that the people are tired of it?" Unconsciously, Cai Ye also called Commander Long Qian like others.

"The people don't know whether the court is right or wrong. But they know whether their days are better or worse! If the people had no worries about food and clothing under the rule of the Manchus, and their lives were getting stronger and stronger year by year, would they be tired of the Qing Dynasty? ”

It was a very deep conversation. After that, Cai Ye participated in the appraisal meeting of the fifth town, which opened his eyes, all the merits or faults were clear, starting from Shandong, that unit played the initiative, how much that force captured, how many enemies were captured, that unit violated military discipline, that unit was delayed, and all remember it clearly. Naturally, there is nothing to say about rewards and punishments...... The imperial court's reward for the Fifth Town and Long Qian himself has not yet come down, and Cai Yi naturally does not know that Long Qian will donate all his share for the army's reward for meritorious officers and soldiers and food improvement.

"I want to join you, can I?" In another conversation, Cai made a request.

"Hmm, this shows that Staff Officer Cai can afford to look down on Long, it's an honor, it's really an honor." Long Qian Ha Ha Da Lu smiled, "For what?" Can you tell me the real reason? Do you want to be a high-level undercover agent? ”

"I like your army."

"Cai Yi, you are a talented person and a person with ideals. It's a rarity. Instead of rashly joining the Mengshan Army, it is better to go back to Beiyang! Or go around the country and see which direction China will go in the future? I don't want you to show loyalty. Loyalty is based on ideals, and I hope that the Mengshan Army will become a national defense force, which is no longer a tool for the imperial court to suppress internally, but a great national defense force that resists foreign aggression and restores the glory of its ancestors. ”

"Commander......

"Okay, don't say it. After the Chinese New Year, you will go back to Beijing. The words between us will always rot in our stomachs. Stay useful and do more for our country. After returning to Beijing, how you should report to Yuan Shikai is up to you. There are my people in Beijing, they will contact you at the appropriate time, and if you have any difficulties, you can also raise them with them. Songpo, the days are still long, if you think that the Mengshan Army is really an army worthy of your participation and loyalty, we will always come together. Isn't it? Long Qian had an unfathomable smile on his face, "In addition, Liu Daoyi is still alive." But now he can't make an appearance. (To be continued......)