The Shenzhen case ended with dozens of officials in prison and Lei Luo wanted. After the end, Yang Yibing and Shishizai instructed some newspapers of the Xiguan faction to start hyping up the anti-corruption campaign, and Huang Ke's prestige also increased considerably.

However, as soon as he returned to China, before he had time to praise him, the direction of public opinion began to change direction again. It turned out that the Shanghai Times wrote an article criticizing Huang Ke's military policy, and they came up with many compromise agreements signed between Huang Ke and the Soviet Union, and evaluated Huang Ke as a "military commander who sold out his country."

Huang Ke, who had just gotten off the plane, did not know about this matter, and when he got off the plane in Nanjing, Jiang Baili, chief of staff, came to pick him up from the plane, and after a few brief greetings with him at the airport, he got in the car and went straight to the Ministry of National Defense.

Jiang Baili is a few years older than Huang Ke, and he used to be an old partner, so in private, the relationship between the two is not as clear as that between superiors and subordinates. After getting in the car, both of them sat in the back seat of the black Mercedes sedan, talking about things.

"How? Do you feel okay with this trip abroad? Jiang Baili asked.

Huang Ke lay in the back seat, closed his eyes and muttered, "The wind and rain are coming!" Brother Baili, you and I are ready to deal with the possibility of war at any time. ”

Jiang Baili said: "Is there anything new?" ”

Huang Ke nodded, he sat up from the back seat and said, "Whether it's Europe or Asia, it's like a bucket at a point." I'll tell you about the situation in Europe later, let's just talk about Asia, the Japanese mutiny some time ago, and this has had a great impact on Japanese politics. In the previous battles, the Japanese military has been suffering losses and is not convinced, and they want to get it back! ”

"There will be no problems with the army and air force, and there are quite a few troops stationed in important cities. However, Brother Shao Kuan's side is a little worse, the Japanese navy is very strong, and this is not something that can be caught up in a year or two. Jiang Baili also said worriedly.

Huang Ke sighed: "If you can't catch up, you have to catch up!" Let's go back and look at the previous defense range. By the way, what's going on in the country lately? ”

Hearing Huang Ke's words, Jiang Baili smiled bitterly and said: "Similar to your situation abroad, it is also dark clouds and a mess. ”

"Oh?" Huang Ke leaned over and asked, "Is it Lao Jiang that they have some new moves?" ”

"It's not just action!" Jiang Baili said indignantly: "I don't know where a few newspapers in Shanghai got some secret documents and articles of the Sino-Soviet negotiations, and they took out a few of them separately with the concessions of the Chinese side, and insinuated to criticize the Ministry of National Defense. What's more, he also said that you are the contemporary Li Hongzhang! You think it's ridiculous, isn't it? ”

"Hahaha!" Huang Ke actually laughed, Jiang Baili looked at him puzzled, he suppressed his smile and explained: "The matter is obvious, the content of the negotiation is only known to China and the Soviet side, and now either the Red Party, which has a good relationship with the Soviets, wants to bring down the government, or Wang Jingwei's gang wants to bring me down." It's just that these knives are too small to 'pierce' mine! ”

Jiang Baili shook his head: "There are many small knives and knives that are fatal. You must know that he not only influenced many ordinary people, but also influenced the thinking of parliamentarians, and even influenced some military councillors. The loss of you and me is small, the key is that if you and I are replaced at this juncture, the people who come up on top will not follow our path. ”

Huang Ke nodded: "Some non-confidential negotiations of the state can be made public to the public, and the people have the right to know about these matters." Now that the situation is quite stable, the army's propaganda is still practical, and now that we have won the war, we will win the war, and if we lose the war, we will lose the war; otherwise, in the long run, the people will have doubts about the propaganda system, and when the time comes, it will be irreparable if the people do not believe what they say. ”

Jiang Baili nodded: "What you said makes sense, I will arrange for someone to make some of the content public, and then find some critics to create public opinion in the newspaper, but this public opinion orientation still needs to have some weight." ”

Huang Ke thought for a moment and said, "I read Mr. Lu Xun's article before, how about asking him to explain it?" I heard that you have a personal relationship with him? ”

Jiang Baili smiled bitterly: "I won't tell you, I know Shuren and I, but we don't have much contact." In the early years, when I founded "Zhejiang Tide" in Zhejiang, he submitted manuscripts. Don't say it's my kind of friendship, even if my teacher Liang Qichao goes, it may not work, Shuren's thinking is very radical, don't want to pull it back if he thinks about it. ”

Saying that, Jiang Baili smiled bitterly, and Huang Ke waved his hand and said, "Then forget it." Only when cultural people have a little backbone does it mean that this country is normal, and it shows that our culture for thousands of years is continuous. If even these scholars flattered those in power, became echo worms and pugs, then our country would not be saved! Ha ha. ”

Jiang Baili also laughed, although there was a difference in age, he and Huang Ke chatted very speculatively, neither of them was willing to fight a civil war, they were just to resist external humiliation, but Huang Ke was more accomplished in economic diplomacy.

After the laughter fell silent, Huang Ke said again: "Except for Wang Jiang's faction, is there any movement in the Red Party?" ”

Jiang Baili shook his head: "The Red Party has only participated in politics recently, but it is much more comfortable. ”

Huang Ke didn't speak, he always couldn't let go of it in his heart, in the turbulent era of the 20th century, such silence made him feel a little abnormal. However, it is reasonable to think about it, he did not exterminate the Red Party and allow them to participate in politics; At the same time, the economic measurement of the distribution of land according to the population of the whole country, and the prohibition of private land buying and selling are not allowed, all of which have cut off the foundation of a political party.

Thinking of this, Huang Ke felt a little relieved in his heart.

The car quickly drove to the Ministry of Defense, and when he went back, it was just in time for lunch, and the people below were too busy to arrange the box, Huang Ke simply took out a pair of chopsticks on the table and went to the canteen with Jiang Baili.

When he was eating, Jiang Baili couldn't stop coughing a few times, and Huang Ke saw that he was already a little tired, so he asked, "Do you need to rest?" ”

Jiang Baili waved his hand again and again: "It's okay, it's okay, it's an old problem!" ”

After speaking, the cough became even worse, he finally stopped coughing, Huang Ke went to get a meal for him, and the two sat down to prepare for dinner, only to find that they didn't hold chopsticks, seeing this scene, both of them couldn't stop laughing.

"It seems that the bigger the official, the worse the ability to take care of himself. Let me look at the next regulation, in the future, except for reception tasks, officers are not allowed to set up small stoves privately. Huang Ke smiled.

"And one more thing, no one is allowed to drink." Jiang Baili also smiled.

After eating, the two summoned Bai Chongxi, Li Zongren, and other staff officers to study the defense of the eastern front, and in the middle of the meeting, Navy Minister Chen Shaokuan and Air Force Minister Xu Shaozhou also rushed over.

Talking about the gap, Huang Ke asked where Jiang Zhongzheng went?

A general who is usually not interested in Jiang said: "He is now busy running for the next chairman of the national government, and he has not been here for several days at the War Department!" ”

When Huang Ke heard this, he was first angry, and then turned to question, shouldn't Wang Jingwei and others be the chairman of the national government to run for election? Jiang Zhongzheng is going to join in the fun? Could it be that they have already broken openly?

No one answered Huang Ke's questions, not to mention that it was a military meeting at this time, and even in private, these people didn't like to discuss these things very much. You must know that the political system of the Nanjing government is a combination of China and the West, and in the past two years, there has been a trend of developing towards a presidential system.

The chairman of the state government also engages in election and voting, but the military is relatively independent, and a series of powers, such as the right to appoint and dismiss personnel, are independent, so everyone still doesn't pay much attention to the appointment and dismissal of the government, but they will not think so in the future.

On the other hand, Fu Jin stepped down from his position as general manager of Chunhua Qiuyue after he was acquitted. To be honest, she really doesn't like this smoky place, but she can only endure it before, because it is not only related to Huang Ke, but also related to the schooling of countless poor children.

Father Fu Wangshan was very happy after hearing that she had never been the general manager, he had such a big industry, his son ran to be a pilot, and his daughter didn't help him, but now it's okay, his daughter is back.

But what she didn't expect was that this time her daughter came back and stayed at home for only one day, and she also asked him for 500,000 yuan.

The daughter told him that he was now resigning from all his positions in the government and that she was going to do something.

Fu Wangshan asked her what was going on, and she said that she wanted all children in China to go to school.

Hope that the school is now all in Fu Jin's hands, and she didn't hesitate after hearing the news, so she said goodbye to her family and took office with the money embezzled from Chunhua Qiuyue.

In the following years, whether it was encountering natural disasters such as torrential rains, flash floods, mudslides, and droughts, or the war between China and Japan with aircraft bombing and artillery fire, she never rested, and always ran around construction sites and poor mountainous areas.

Over the years, her fair skin had changed color, her long black hair had been cut short for work, and she was followed by the same group of young people who volunteered for it.

But in total, they have built more than 100,000 hope schools, so that tens of millions of poor children can go to school. On the other hand, it also improved the cultural level of a nation a lot, which laid a solid foundation for China's later development.

Of course, there was also the role that these schools of hope later became one of Huang Ke's major political achievements, and also allowed him to win the general election and become the real ruler of the Nanjing government.

But these are all later words, when Fu Jin picked up his satchel and rolled up his sleeves to embark on this journey, Huang Ke was also undergoing the most important test in his life.