For the next three days, Fang Youchun, Ma Zhizhai, and Wu Ming were all struggling to calculate how to build a strong army, and repeatedly discussed what methods and steps should be taken to completely change the current chaotic situation in which the security forces in western Zhejiang were lax in military discipline, outdated in concepts, superfluous in people, and full of factions.

At the same time that Wu Ming and others initially came up with a complete set of rectification and reform plans, the top leadership of the Zhejiang Provincial Security Forces was enduring a fierce power struggle, and all the great enemies at present, the defense of the homeland and the country, and the unanimity of the outside world were all ignored in the power struggle of those in power.

The former director of security, who had been in power for three years and had made no achievements, retreated bravely in the tripartite run between the new provincial chairman Lu Diping's faction, the CC faction of the Central Party Department, and the local faction, and relied on the connections of Zhang Jingjiang, a veteran of the party-state, to smoothly transfer to the post of director of the Hangzhou-Jiangxi Railway Bureau, which was more lucrative, leaving his successor with a bunch of unexplained bad debts.

Cheng Chengdong, a local powerful leader who stood on the wrong side during Chairman Jiang's absence, resolutely chose to defect to provincial chairman Lu Diping in the face of strong pressure from the CC department, but under the unrelenting and silent siege of the CC department, Cheng Chengdong was unable to move forward smoothly in the end, and could only temporarily act as the director of the security department as a deputy.

Another deputy director in charge of the training and operations of the province's security forces saw that the general investigation was about to begin, and in a panic, on the grounds of the recurrence of an old disease, he resolutely gave up his powers, unloaded his armor and returned to the fields, hurriedly completed the formalities, and risked being affected by the war, moved his family to the French Concession in Shanghai, and bought a number of real estate properties to work as apartments.

The power struggle that shook the officialdom in Zhejiang came and went faster, and the parties to the struggle more or less got the benefits they wanted and basically achieved their goals.

Under such circumstances, Liu Rulin, chief of staff and chief of staff of the Hangzhou Urban Defense Command, who had been recognized by the three parties, was naturally promoted to the post of deputy director of the security department and promoted to the rank of colonel, taking over the heavy burden of the reorganization and training of the province's security forces.

What is now in front of Liu Rulin is a mess that no one wants to touch.

After a night of hard thinking, Liu Rulin, who was at a loss, made a request to Lu Diping, the provincial chairman, and Gu Jianzhong, the acting director of the provincial party department, who attended the work meeting for the first time after the personnel adjustment, on the morning of the next day: "Wu Ming, the captain of the teaching team directly under the West Zhejiang Security Command, will be transferred to serve as the head of the training section of the security department and the head of the teaching group directly under the security department!" ”

Liu Rulin's request was both unexpected and reasonable for the participants, and it was unexpected because of Wu Ming's pale qualifications and humble rank, it was simply impossible for him to hold such an important position.

It is reasonable to say that it is because no one can ignore Wu Ming's excellent military talent, and Liu Rulin, who pays attention to hard work, has a lot of personal relations with Wu Ming, and in the face of a pile of messes, Liu Rulin urgently needs to find a subordinate who has the ability to listen to the command to help, which is purely a officialdom practice, and it is not an exaggeration at all.

Lu Diping and Gu Jianzhong were in trouble.

The post of chief of the training section of the provincial security department is not a position of real power, Lu Diping doesn't care much, but the direct training regiment that has ordered a batch of advanced weapons and equipment from the United States and is recruiting troops and horses is different, if it is successfully formed, it will be the most important military force in Zhejiang Province, who will hand over this powerful force to others?

Moreover, Lu Diping already has a favorite candidate in his mind, and he will not give up easily.

Therefore, Lu Diping took the lead in raising objections, and what was surprising was that Gu Jianzhong, a CC cadre who fought to the death with Lu Diping, actually echoed it and categorically rejected Liu Rulin's request on the grounds that Wu Ming's qualifications were not enough and needed to be tempered.

In fact, Gu Jian Center knows very well that Wu Ming is the subordinate general of Fang Youchun, the commander of the security of western Zhejiang, who is supported by his faction, and has helped Fang Youchun a lot in the past six months.

As for who will serve as the head of the teaching regiment directly under the Provincial Security Department in the future, it is completely possible to slowly compete with Lu Diping, this faction has many powerful people, some of them are outstanding military and political talents, and they are determined to win this position, even if they are the most troublesome in front of Chairman Jiang, they will not let Lu Diping get his wish.

Just when Liu Rulin was extremely disappointed in his heart, a note from Cheng Chengdong, the acting director of the Security Department, quietly passed to Lu Diping, and after Lu Diping read it, he kindly proposed a compromise solution: Wu Ming could be appointed as the head of the training section of the Security Department and the chief instructor of the teaching regiment.

Before Liu Rulin could be happy for three seconds, Gu Jianzhong, director of the provincial party department, once again expressed his opposition, and the director of finance and civil affairs, both of whom are CC departments, immediately echoed Gu Jianzhong's opinion, believing that the move was illegal.

The civil and military officials who saw that the two bigwigs were fighting finally understood, so everyone either drank tea or lit cigarettes, and no one dared to fart.

After an embarrassing silence, Gu Jianzhong, who was full of splendor, proposed a compromise solution: "I think Colonel Ma Zhizhai, chief of staff of the West Zhejiang Security Command who led his troops to garrison Qingshi Bridge this time, is very good, and it can be said that the West Zhejiang troops led by him are the best among all the troops assisting in the defense of Hangzhou this time......

"And as far as I know, this Ma Zhizhai graduated from the Baoding Military Academy, has experienced the test of war, has made meritorious contributions and received awards, and has many years of experience in leading troops at the grassroots level, with profound qualifications and strong vitality, he can be fully qualified for the position of chief of the training section of the security department, and can even let him concurrently serve as the chief of staff of the security division being formed, this is a talent! What do you think? ”

When everyone heard this, they felt that this was really the case, so that the training section chief who would succeed Liu Rulin was chosen, even if he was also the chief of staff of the security division, it was not a big deal, and he could completely rely on Ma Zhizhai's ability to solve the most troublesome military training affairs, Wu Ming, who was famous in the military circles of the province for his new-style military training, was not Ma Zhizhai's subordinate?

Lu Diping knew that Lu Dao was Gu Jianzhong's constraint and delay, but after thinking about it carefully, he found that this proposal did not harm his fundamental interests, and Ma Zhizhai gave Lu Diping a good impression, although he did not have much contact, but Lu Diping, who had been in Rong Ma for half his life, knew that Ma Zhizhai was a very orthodox soldier.

After weighing it for a moment again, Lu Diping looked at Cheng Chengdong with a solemn face, and when he saw Cheng Chengdong nodding slightly, he knew that Ma Zhizhai was not Gu Jianzhong's person, so he asked Liu Rulin's opinion with a smile.

Liu Rulin pondered carefully, but also felt that this was a good way to retreat to the second, Ma Zhizhai got along well with him, not only has a solid military foundation and strong ability, but also has extremely rich actual combat experience and command experience, as long as Ma Zhizhai firmly grasps Ma Zhizhai, he can dig up a few officers from Wu Ming who have mastered the new training method through Ma Zhizhai, which is definitely a very good help for the formation of the next teaching regiment and security division, so Liu Rulin also agreed.

In this way, the fate of Ma Zhizhai in the second half of his life was determined in the deceit of two feudal officials and a group of civil and military officials.

On the morning of the next day, Cheng Chengdong, acting director of the Provincial Security Department, and Liu Rulin, deputy director of the Provincial Security Department, both arrived to announce the decision of the meeting.

Cheng Chengdong and Liu Rulin left before lunch with a spring breeze on their faces, leaving Fang Youchun, Ma Zhizhai and Wu Ming looking at each other and unable to speak for a long time.

Wu Ming asked the cooking team to bring a few dishes and two bottles of wine, and filled the wine glasses for the two sad old brothers: "Brother Ma, this is a happy event!" Although the military rank has not been promoted, the position is one level higher, and if you take another half step, you will become a real major general, just like Brother Fang, we should celebrate! ”

Ma Zhizhai was quite annoyed: "You guy just thinks that I leave Zhexi?" ”

Wu Ming drank a cup of himself, smacked his lips and smiled: "What are you talking about?" Let's not play with each other, let's tell the truth, this matter is good for you, for me, for the eldest brother, and for the brothers in the family, not to say anything about the water flowing to a high place or a good man's ambition in all directions, just say that the benefits of your promotion are enough to make the brothers deeply encouraged, proving that our security forces in western Zhejiang are talented people, right? ”

"With you in an important position in the provincial security department, if someone wants to bully us in the future, the younger brother and the brothers at home can pat their chests and proudly say: We have someone in the province, boy, you should weigh it carefully!"

Ma Zhizhai had an angry expression on his face, but his heart was much more comfortable, Fang Youchun couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "You guy will talk nonsense." ”

Wu Ming put away his smile and explained very seriously: "What I said is by no means nonsense, it is ugly to say, although we are reluctant in our hearts, but after Brother Ma is promoted, the brothers in the family will also benefit, didn't Director Cheng promise to Brother Ma just now that he can recommend a person to take over the position of Brother Ma?" ”

"I guess you two also thought of the hard-working Brother Chen Qian, right? If Brother Chen Qian becomes the chief of staff, then the position of the chief of military affairs will be vacant again, so carefully calculated, at least four brothers can benefit from Brother Ma's promotion, who is not grateful to Brother Ma? ”

Fang Youchun felt that Wu Ming was too utilitarian, but after thinking about it carefully, it was really like this, but for a while, he was reluctant to be a good brother for so many years, so he could only sigh faintly: "That being said, I feel really uncomfortable in my heart, like someone has cut off an arm." ”

"Big brother, little brother is reluctant to leave you!" Ma Zhizhai was very moved, but his mood was extremely complicated.

Seeing this, Wu Ming raised his glass again: "The province issued a death order, even if we want to change it, we can't change it, it's better to be happy, anyway, Quzhou is not far from Hangzhou, it's in the same system, and there is usually a phone call and telegram contact, it's not easy to meet?" Come on, everyone have a drink! ”

Fang Youchun and Ma Zhizhai slowly raised their glasses to touch each other, Wu Ming leaned over and touched the cup, raised his head and drank, and filled it to the two eldest brothers, and diligently put vegetables in the bowls for the two, and his mouth was still nagging that it would be cold if he didn't eat the vegetables.

When the wine was half-drunk, Ma Zhizhai finally turned to Wu Ming: "Little brother, since this is the case, can I give me a few people?" You can't just watch your big brother get bullied single-handedly, right? ”

"Alas...... Liu Rulin's grandson is really not a thing! Wu Ming let out a long sigh and said, "Say, who do you like?" ”

Ma Zhizhai looked very solemn: "Fan Chunlin has been with you for a long time, and he has been assisting you in presiding over the training of the teaching team for the past six months, and he is familiar with the new training methods, so you have to give me this kid, and you will decide the rest." ”

Wu Ming pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "Fan Chunlin is really good, I can only give you the deputy company commander of the two infantry companies and the deputy company commander of the machine gun company, they were all transferred from the military affairs section of the headquarters in the early stage of the formation of the teaching team, although they are not as flexible as Fan Chunlin, but they have a solid foundation, and they are both young, how about it?" ”

Ma Zhizhai originally wanted Long Shaogang, a fierce general, but seeing Wu Ming's cautious look, he had to dispel this thought: "That's it, thank you, little brother, big brother toasts you!" ”

Wu Ming drank this glass of wine and immediately turned to Fang Youchun: "Big brother, Fan Chunlin is gone, I hope to appoint Long Shaogang as my deputy captain, although this guy has not entered a regular military academy, he has old qualifications, rich combat experience, frank personality, and is honest enough, and he is ruthless enough at critical moments, and he can suppress many people." ”

"Okay, let's arrange it like this!"

Fang Youchun directly agreed to Wu Ming's request, and then reminded: "There is something you have to be mentally prepared for, after you go back, I will immediately supplement two companies for you, your teaching team needs to train while taking care of the defense in the direction of Changshan...... The two regiments in Changshan and Jiangshan were really not of the best use, and these two regiments had to be brought to Quzhou for rectification, and then they would be given three months of intensive training according to the plan, so as to survive the fittest and reorganize them in an all-round way. ”

"Your teaching team will temporarily take over the heavy task of guarding the Zhejiang-Jiangxi passage, expand the border checkpoints in the two counties and guard them for me, and after three months, I will make adjustments, and in the future, all regiments of our army will be stationed in different places and regularly change defense areas, only in this way can we completely put an end to the collusion and corruption between the army and the local forces, and only then can the regiments never dare to relax."

Wu Ming secretly complained in his heart, but he still nodded and agreed, judging from the current situation, he didn't want to face Fang Zhimin's Red Army.