Wu Ming's failure to go to see Zhang Fenglan off on the pretext of holding a meeting was not just an excuse, in addition to not wanting to come forward to attract the attention of others, he really needed to go to the city headquarters to attend an important joint military and political meeting.

The meeting summed up the reorganization and training work of the security forces in western Zhejiang over the past six months, formally determined the places where each regiment was stationed, adjusted the posts of the chief officers of the three main regiments, and agreed to Wu Ming's application for resignation from the post of captain of the teaching team directly under the command during the discussion at the end of the meeting.

At this point, the fifth regiment was organized into three months, and officially shouldered the defense of Changshan and Kaihua counties.

Under the care of the chief and deputy commanders Fang Youchun and Tang Yuntao, the headquarters vetoed the motion of the three section chiefs of the headquarters, the two main regiment commanders, and the two section chiefs of the Quzhou Administration who attended the military and political meeting as observers, to transfer the Fifth Regiment to Changshan County as a whole on the grounds that Wu Ming was also the chief military instructor of the Quzhou Training Base of the Central Party Headquarters and the chief technical officer of the Ordnance Institute under the headquarters.

After a fierce debate, the camp in the north of the city was divided into two, and six barracks in the eastern district, four Western-style buildings, a large training ground, a small cavalry training ground, together with the office building and the small courtyard house where Wu Ming was now in use, were henceforth owned by the direct teaching team and the Quzhou training base of the Central Party Department.

With the support of the Quzhou Administrative Bureau, which has deep pockets, the meeting made a resolution to allocate special funds to expand the eastern district of Chengbei Daying, and to build a larger indoor training ground and a more functional shooting training ground behind the barracks in the eastern district, so as to ensure the hard-won honor of the training team directly under the province and the Quzhou training base of the Central Party Department. Today, these two brands have become prominent faces in Quzhou's military and political circles, greatly demonstrating the achievements of Quzhou's military and political officials.

Wu Ming's Fifth Regiment headquarters was set in the western area of the barracks, which had four barracks, two office buildings, an indoor training venue, and a small shooting range, but the territory had shrunk sharply, accounting for only a quarter of the entire barracks, which was much more shabby than before.

Wu Ming chose to remain silent in this regard, he knew that he had been jealous of many regimental and battalion-level commanders in the army, and in several key officialdom struggles, he had offended many officialdom figures and local forces, and now, the attitude of Lu Zhongxiu's faction, who had firmly sat in the position and held the entire western Zhejiang in his hands, had changed his attitude towards the army, especially after the police force in each county was established and improved, the strength of Lu Zhongxiu's faction increased greatly, and Fang Youchun, who was a military cadre in Zhejiang of the CC department, was inevitably constrained. Under such circumstances, Fang Youchun and Wu Ming can only choose rational silence in order to take into account the overall situation and for the family business they have worked so hard to create.

After the meeting, Wu Ming did not leave the headquarters immediately, and exchanged pleasantries with Xie Zixuan, the head of the first regiment, and Gu Yueheng, the chief of the quartermaster section, before going to Fang Youchun's house alone.

Fang Youchun, who came back a step late, knew that Wu Ming would come, he handed over the coat he took off to his wife, drove away his son and lovely little daughter who were tired of Wu Ming, led Wu Ming into the study, and talked secretly behind closed doors, which made Wu Ming jump up in shock as soon as he opened his mouth.

"This, this...... How so? Wu Ming's face was full of shock.

Fang Youchun handed Wu Ming a cup of tea and said with a wry smile:

"I also received the news from Nanjing this morning, it seems that the struggle between the various factions of the central and provincial government has reached a shocking level, otherwise Minister Chen, Director Xu, and Director Gu of the Provincial Party Department would never have suddenly transferred me to the Provincial Security Department as deputy director at this critical time, and would not even give me the opportunity to resign...... Alas! It's not easy to make some achievements in western Zhejiang, but I have encountered such a change before I can consolidate, and I don't have a taste in my heart! ”

After sighing, Fang Youchun said unhurriedly: "Even if you don't come today, I will send someone to call you over, the provincial government plans to make adjustments to the province's security forces again, and our two security commands in southern Zhejiang and our western Zhejiang will be renamed the Border Command, in order to ensure the unity of military orders and government orders, the post of commander will be concurrently held by the commissioner of the executive department." ”

"It is estimated that the Provincial Security Department will draw two or three regiments from these two headquarters to form a direct security division, which is a rare opportunity for you. After I left, there was no one to check and balance the power of Lu Zhongxiu's faction, and although Minister Chen was in the center, it was not easy to stretch his hand too long...... If you continue to stay in Quzhou, the situation will be very difficult, so you can simply transfer to the provincial security department with me." ”

"No, I will never leave Zhexi!"

Wu Ming sat down slowly: "Big brother, do you know how much effort I have put into Quzhou, the ordnance factory, the clothing factory, and the metal products factory with technicians and workers have expanded to more than 600 people, these are all the hard work of you and your younger brother, and no one can get involved!" ”

Fang Youchun looked at Wu Ming helplessly: "There is another motion that has not been discussed today, the content is to respond to the call of the Central Military and Political Reform, and oppose the Security Command to continue to occupy shares in the clothing factory and metal products factory, the reason is very high-sounding, saying that the army should maintain purity and devote all its energy to military training and anti-bandit operations." ”

"What makes me extremely sad is that this motion was initiated by the chief of civil affairs and the director of taxation of the administrative department, but it has the signatures of Chen Qian, chief of staff, and two section chiefs of the headquarters, I can't imagine it?"

"Ahh

Wu Ming was taken aback, he never thought that Chen Qian, the straightforward and honest chief of staff, would actually devote himself to Lu Zhongxiu's camp, if this was the case, the metal products factory and the ordnance institute that he had poured a lot of effort into would have been targeted a long time ago: "Big brother, are you sure?" ”

"Sure, Deputy Commander Tang quietly showed me that motion, and he was also worried! It is estimated that after hearing the news that I was going to be transferred, he had a sad feeling of the death of a rabbit and a fox, and began to plan for himself. Fang Youchun's face was gloomy and a little scared.

After the shock, Wu Ming was silent for a long time, the remaining reason in his heart overcame the anger, he slowly stood up, paced slowly in the study, Fang Youchun held the teacup and thought silently.

More than ten minutes passed, and Wu Ming returned to Fang Youchun and sat down: "Big brother, it seems that they are not only determined to win the military power in western Zhejiang, but also want to seize our quilt factory and metal products factory...... Now these two factories are the largest factories in western Zhejiang, and the products produced sell well in the surrounding four provinces, with a net profit of 100,000 oceans per month. ”

"yes!"

Fang Youchun sighed:

"That's what worries me the most...... In the past two years, I have made great achievements in army building and local people's livelihood from scratch. But now the situation has changed greatly, even if the two factories are temporarily saved, I am afraid that they will be suppressed and plotted by them in the future, just the military production restrictions and taxes can make you uneasy, and then I will not be in the position, can you bear it? Before tonight's meeting, I heard the people in the executive office whispering that the clothing factory should not be located in the barracks. ”

Wu Ming pondered for a moment: "Big brother, does the headquarters want to transfer the shares held by the clothing factory and the metal products factory?" ”

"This is necessary, the phenomenon of the military participating in local business operations is common throughout the country, but it is not legal in the end, and they will never give up this excuse to attack us in the face of increasing power. You built a small hydropower station in Maoliangwu for mining two mines, it is estimated that they can't look down on it, but the industry in Quzhou City is right under their noses, with their impatient attitude tonight, after I am transferred, they will not be polite to you, even if Minister Chen and Director Xu support you, after all, these are local affairs, they can completely erode step by step, Lu Zhongxiu has a very deep background. Fang Youchun analyzed keenly.

Wu Ming nodded: "Since this is the case, it is better to take a step earlier to gain the initiative." ”

Fang Youchun's eyebrows shook slightly: "Have you thought of a countermeasure?" ”

"I just thought of it, it's not mature yet, big brother, you can help me analyze it."

Wu Ming put down the teacup and whispered his preliminary idea: "If you take advantage of the opportunity of being in power now, big brother, to transfer the shares of the headquarters in the two factories to the major families in Quzhou as soon as possible, I will tell you the two brothers Lao Zhong and Mao Liangwu, each take out half or even most of the shares, and sell them to the local powerful Haoqiang, what do you think, big brother?" ”

Fang Youchun weighed for a moment and clapped his hands lightly:

"Wonderful! With the current prosperity of the two factories, as long as I make a decision, the two percent of the shares held by the headquarters in each of the two factories can immediately change hands, not to mention others, Deputy Commander Tang and his family have long coveted these shares, plus the Lao Zhong brothers and the Mao Liangwu Chamber of Commerce threw out the shares, in the blink of an eye, they can pull all the local families into the two factories and form an alliance of interests. At that time, if Lu Zhongxiu and his family want to seek it again, I am afraid it will not be so easy. ”

Wu Ming nodded: "That's right, the little brother still has a chess move that others don't know, it's a person, a person from two factories!" The four foreigner technicians of the metal products factory and the 12 technicians from Hangzhou are all the younger brothers' people, and 200 of the more than 500 technicians were quietly selected and arranged by the younger brother from among the refugees who moved to Maoliangwu, and even the more than 80 female turners in the quilt factory were also sent by the younger brother from Maoliangwu. ”

Fang Youchun was stunned: "So, you guarded against them from the beginning?" ”

"No, no!"

Wu Ming waved his hand and said sadly: "Where did I think that today's predicament would occur at the beginning? It's just that I'm worried that the war will affect Quzhou, so I quietly accumulated some vitality for Mao Liangwu to avoid irreparable losses, and now it seems that the younger brother's pace is still too slow, but it's still too late to work hard from today. ”

Fang Youchun looked at Wu Ming suspiciously: "You don't plan to make weapons and ammunition in Maoliangwu, right?" ”

Wu Ming will definitely not admit such a confidential matter: "The huge capital investment in the purchase of machinery and equipment and raw materials to make weapons and ammunition is not something that the younger brother and the little Mao Liangwu can afford, although I have made a lot of money in the past two years, but most of it has become the houses, fields, docks, cargo ships and roads leading to the north wharf of Kaihua County and Zhaoxian Town, and I will buy a batch of mining machinery in the first half of next year, and I basically have no savings on hand, and now I still owe more than 400,000 loans to the bank. I can't do it even if I want to! ”

Fang Youchun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, until now he didn't know that Wu Ming had quietly transported the two bullet production lines and the complete sets of weapons processing and production equipment imported in the name of the Ordnance Institute and the Metal Products Factory back to Maoliangwu for storage, and he didn't know that several bosses of Maoliangwu had already developed two sulfur mines in the northeast mountains of Kaihua County with the Wang Guangshao family, the magistrate of Kaihua County, and also invested in the chemical plant in the south of Kaihua City, and sent more than 20 fifteen or sixteen-year-old children who could write and calculate to enter the chemical plant as workers. Learn the technology of acid making and the production of civil **.

Wu Ming saw that Fang Youchun's eyebrows gathered again, thought about it, and simply put forward a more decisive idea: "Big brother, you said that if the younger brother takes the initiative to ask to leave the camp in the north of the city and move all the regiment headquarters to Changshan County, will he win a greater initiative?" ”

Fang Youchun was very surprised, thinking about it, he shook his head again and again: "I'm afraid you can't leave for the time being, the next stage of training of the whole army can't be without your participation, Chen Qian's people have any ability, you must also know what they do, they are at that level in this life, it can be said that the entire army in western Zhejiang is mediocre except for you, Xie Zixuan and Chen Zhaoxian, the commander of the second battalion under your command, this is not only my personal opinion, but your eldest brother Ma Zhizhai also holds this opinion." ”

Wu Ming smiled slightly: "Since those people want to seize military power, why don't I fulfill them?" Because of the care of you and Deputy Commander Tang, the little brother has received many benefits, and has naturally become a thorn in the side of many people. Anyway, no one dares to move the fifth regiment of the younger brother, even if they want to, they can't move, and the younger brother will be better off leaving Quzhou, a place where infighting continues. ”

"It's-"

Fang Youchun pondered for a long time, but still hesitated: "Why don't you go to the provincial capital with me, bring your four direct subordinates together, and there is no problem in serving as the head of the provincial security division, Deputy Director Liu Rulin values you very much, and he is absolutely willing for you to go over." Or simply obey the call of Minister Chen and Director Xu and transfer to Nanjing, but they have twice proposed to me that they want to transfer you to the Central Party Department as deputy chief of the Investigation Section, but I politely refused on the grounds that the troops need it, so you might as well think about it again. ”

Wu Ming immediately shook his head: "No, I can't do without my brothers, you also know that the Fifth Regiment of Ludao and Mao Liangwu were established by the younger brother with all his efforts, and the younger brother can't do without it...... I can't leave all of this behind for at least the next three to five years, or I'm likely to lose all my work. ”

"Alas! It's up to you, it is estimated that I will take up a post in the provincial security department before the end of the year, and it is estimated that Lu Zhongxiu will be the commander concurrently, so there will be big changes in the personnel of the army...... However, judging from the current overall situation, Lu Zhongxiu will not embarrass you in a short period of time, talent is rare, and he has to use you in the current situation, which is also what I feel quite relieved about. ”

Fang Youchun waved his hand and asked Wu Ming not to speak: "I know your character very well, and I don't force you, if you insist on leaving Quzhou to go to Changshan, just make a decision while I'm still hurrying, with you and Zhichun taking care of my parents at home, I can rest assured in the provincial capital." ”

"After you leave, the camp in the north of the city is vacated, and there is no need for the administration and headquarters to spend another two or three hundred thousand to expand the barracks facilities...... Well, I'm in charge, when you send the application report, I'll ask Lao Tang to make a good calculation, and allocate 100,000 yuan to you in the name of repairing the barracks and water and land checkpoints of the Changshan Security Corps, and no one dares to touch my mold at this time. ”

Wu Ming was very moved when he heard this, and gave Fang Youchun a cigarette and lit it for him, and suppressed the urge to tell the truth in his heart.