On April 21, the day after Wu Ming left Changshan County and rushed to Maoliangwu, Chen Cheng, who had obtained Chiang Kai-shek's permission, rode a horse from eastern Jiangxi to his hometown of Qingtian in Lishui via western Zhejiang to worship his ancestors and sweep the tombs of his ancestors with only an adjutant and a guard.

Because Chen Cheng did not know that more than 500 of his brothers under his command were being treated in the Changshan military camp, nor did he know that the head of the Changshan Security Regiment was Wu Ming, a fierce general of the Zhejiang army that had surprised him many times and was deeply interested, he did not alarm anyone when he passed by Changshan County, and hurriedly ate a light meal in the small restaurant in Qiaodong, fed the horses, and rushed directly to Quzhou City, which was 40 kilometers to the east.

At 5:40 p.m., Chen Cheng finally met his generals and more than 9,000 disgruntled brothers in the camp in the north camp of Quzhou.

After listening to the reports of Luo Zhuoying, Zhou Zhirou and others, Chen Cheng hurriedly wiped his face, changed into a straight general's uniform, took Luo Zhuoying and Zhou Zhirou, and went to the Quzhou Administration Office in the east of the city to meet with Commissioner Lu Zhongxiu to discuss how to solve the problem of supply and recruitment of soldiers for the Eighteenth Army.

When the three of them arrived at the administrative office, the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau, who warmly received Chen Cheng, regretfully reported that Commissioner Lu had already set off for Suichang County, more than 100 miles to the south, to inspect the work, and would not be able to return in two days.

Chen Cheng immediately understood, but he did not get angry, but politely asked the Quzhou Administration if it had received a notice from the Zhejiang Provincial Government and the Ministry of Military Affairs on providing logistical supplies for the Eighteenth Army?

The director of the Civil Affairs Bureau's words flickered, and under Chen Cheng's repeated requests, he had no choice but to tell the truth: "The collection was received, but the general manager did not remit the military funds of the 18th Army, nor did he have any other reply, because the expenses were too large, the Finance Bureau was very embarrassed...... At present, it is the time when the green and yellow are not accepted, and the taxes will not be paid until the end of June, so I can't take out so much money for a while, and I don't know how to pay the bills, and who will pay for it at that time? ”

Chen Cheng only felt that his heart instantly became cold, he didn't expect He Yingqin, Yang Yongtai, Xiong Shihui and others to be so ruthless anyway, so he could only hold back his anger and politely leave, and immediately sank his face when he left the gate of the office, and without saying a word, he returned to the temporary military headquarters in the west camp area of the north camp of the city, slowly sat down and picked up a cup of cold tea, lowered his head and drank it silently.

Zhou Zhirou finally couldn't suppress her anger, slammed the table and scolded twice, and said loudly to the generals who gathered together: "I have long heard that this Lu Zhongxiu is a lackey of the Department of Political Science, he has a deep friendship with Yang Yongtai, and he has a personal relationship with Xiong Shihui, so he will spare no effort to fall into the ground!" He was still in Quzhou yesterday, and today he is in a hurry to go to the countryside to inspect? Obviously, he doesn't want to see the military seat, and he obviously wants to drag us to death! ”

Luo Zhuoying hurriedly raised his hand to stop the generals from making a fuss, and stepped forward and said to Chen Cheng with a sad face:

"Throne, you can't go on like this! When we arrived in Quzhou yesterday evening, several chiefs of staff and quartermasters of the Security Headquarters of the Quzhou Administration who received us apologized vigorously and said that there were few barracks and there was no spare space, and arranged for us to be in the broken barracks outside the south gate......

"When I got there, I was angry, there were only four rows of bungalows in the whole camp, the playground was full of weeds and cow, a well was dirty, and the road was invisible, and then I still accompanied us to the fifth security regiment ~ The battalion commander Yin Dizhong couldn't see it, and quietly told us that the camp in the north of the city was empty, and the entire camp was designed and supervised by their regiment commander Wu Ming, and the courtyard in front of the western area of the camp was the front-line headquarters of the Zhejiang Provincial Security Command......"

"In the end, he took us through the gate of the front-line headquarters and directly entered this place, otherwise we people don't even have a place to live, and we can't go on like this!"

The angry Huo Yuzhang continued: "Last night, all the officers and soldiers were not able to arrange to sleep until more than one o'clock, and they didn't have to eat dinner, but fortunately, the meal that was eaten at the Changshan military camp at noon yesterday was full of oil and water, and the nine thousand brothers barely lasted until this morning, and the guards of the Provincial Security Command stationed in the front courtyard were even righteous enough to report our situation to the Provincial Security Department, and prepared breakfast and lunch for us for nine thousand people early this morning, but they were separated from the Quzhou security forces, and only one company was stationed here, There is not much reserve money, and there is no guarantee that we will have food tomorrow. ”

Chen Cheng raised his head slowly, his eyes were full of deep guilt: "I'm sorry brothers, it's me Chen Cheng who is useless, and I have caused everyone to suffer......"

"Throne—"

"It's not the fault of the military seat, we are useless, and we can't share the worries of the military seat."

"Don't think so, Junza!"

"Don't say that, who dares to say that I killed him!"

Chen Cheng waved his hand and signaled everyone to be quiet: "Don't worry, I still have a few friends in the provincial capital and the provincial security office, I will go to the front and call them immediately, everyone can rest assured, I, Chen Cheng, am with everyone, and I will never let the brothers starve and freeze!" ”

"Junzao, I'll go with you."

Luo Zhuoying immediately followed, and the other brothers also strode forward.

Chen Cheng stopped, smiled wryly and waved his hand: "Everyone stay and rest, and have time to go down and see the brothers in each department." By the way, there is another thing I forgot to tell you: the Military Affairs Department and the General Staff Headquarters have made a decision to demote our 11th Division by one level, abolish the brigade-level structure, and only have three infantry regiments under its jurisdiction...... Let's go, You Qing (Luo Zhuoying), just the two of us will go. ”

A group of generals looked at Chen Cheng's straight waist after going out, and their eyes were full of tears, until they couldn't see Chen Cheng's lonely figure, and no one moved.

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Chen Cheng came back from the Quzhou Frontline Command of the Zhejiang Provincial Security Command in front of him, and did not say anything to the generals and colonels who were full of expectations, but just ordered everyone to go back and rest.

Only Luo Zhuoying accompanied Chen Cheng, who tossed and turned, and couldn't sleep for a long time - it didn't work if he didn't accompany him, the barracks were very tense, Luo Zhuoying could only arrange for Chen Cheng to sleep in his small bedroom, and he himself slept on the sofa.

Chen Cheng spent more than two hours on the phone in front of him, and most of the time was spent in constant transfer and waiting, although the phone calls of two friends from the provincial government were connected, one of them had been transferred to the post of secretary general of Anhui Province, and the other was in a state of semi-seclusion in official frustration.

The friend who lost his power couldn't help Chen Cheng even if he wanted to, but he made an important suggestion to Chen Cheng: "Find Fang Youchun, deputy director of the provincial security department and former commander of the security department in western Zhejiang, this person has an upright temperament and is fair, and he was transferred to the provincial capital last year, but his power in Quzhou is still deep-rooted!"

Chen Cheng's next two phone calls were not to Fang Youchun, whom he did not know, but to Yu Jishi, the director of the provincial security department, and Liu Rulin, the deputy director of the provincial security department, who was more familiar

The chief of the provincial security department on duty learned that it was Chen Cheng who called, and he was very surprised and very polite, explaining that the directors were all in a meeting in the provincial government at this time, and it was estimated that the meeting would not be dispersed until late at night, and he would report Chen Cheng's call to the two directors in time when he was on duty tomorrow morning.

Chen Cheng was also embarrassed to tell the other party about his predicament, so he had to politely thank him and put down the phone melancholy.

Chen Cheng, who returned to the back barracks, closed the door and sighed, Luo Zhuoying kept explaining him, neither of them could sleep, so they simply sat up to discuss the current situation and think of a way together, but they didn't know that the responsible section chief on duty of the security department of Ludao Province felt very uneasy after putting down the phone, thinking about it, he resolutely called the provincial government and told the adjutants who accompanied the directors to the meeting.

The last person who was notified to answer the phone was Fang Youchun's adjutant Li Qian, this guy secretly came out to smoke and was found by the provincial government attendant, and the attendant didn't know what to do, only said that the Qian section chief of your provincial security department called and said that there was something important to report, and any of you called back to him.

Li Qian didn't have anything to do anyway, so he went to the office at the top of the stairs to call Section Chief Qian, and learned that Chen Cheng, the former commander of the 18th Army of the Central Army, had arrived in Quzhou. Li Qian put down the phone and didn't dare to slack off, but he knew that Fang Youchun had been holding grievances for Chen Cheng.

So Li Qian immediately returned to the lounge, didn't care about farting with a group of adjutants waiting for the chief to have a meeting, and quietly slipped into the venue through the side door, wanting to quietly report to Director Yu Jishi, but saw that the position where Yu Jishi was sitting was very conspicuous, and Liu Rulin was next to Yu Jishi, so he had to walk lightly behind Fang Youchun, who was closest to him, and whispered close to Fang Youchun's ear.

Lu Diping was conveying the spirit of the crisis situation in North China and the Central Committee's instructions at this time, the two commissioners of the Central Military Commission and the Central Party Department sat around Lu Diping with a solemn face, and dozens of civil and military officials sitting in the first row were nervously taking notes, so Fang Youchun just nodded after listening to it, and quickly wrote a note and handed it to Yu Jishi in front.

After reading the note, Yu Jishi immediately realized that the situation was serious, Chen Cheng, who seemed to be weak but was actually arrogant, was not in Nanchang but in Quzhou, and at this time he called to find it, it must have been to drive to the Eighteenth Army in Quzhou, thinking of the background of Lu Zhongxiu, the commissioner of the Quzhou Administration, Yu Jishi had no choice but to write a few words on the note and pass it to Fang Youchun: "Without further ado, how to solve it?" ”

Fang Youchun smiled slightly, wrote a few more words on the note and passed it over, Yu Jishi saw the three words "find Wu Ming" and immediately woke up, wrote the word "good" and transferred the note to Fang Youchun.

After reading it, Fang Youchun quickly wrote down a few crosses, handed it to Li Qian behind him, and whispered: "Go and do it immediately!" ”

Li Qian rushed back to the Telecommunications Department of the Security Department, and made a phone call to Changshan Fangfu through the military special line, and learned that Wu Ming had taken Miss Fang to Maoliangwu for a vacation, and scolded jealously, and immediately found the deputy section chief on duty, and sent a telegram to Wu Ming's Changshan military camp by radio.

Wu Ming received a telegram from Zhang Dongning at half past twelve in the evening, and he asked who was in Quzhou at the Chamber of Commerce now? Zhang Dongning told him that the sixth child was in charge there, and Wu Ming immediately drafted a telegram of more than 100 words and sent it to the Changshan military camp, telling Long Shaogang, the deputy head of the regiment who stayed behind, to personally supervise it.