Zeng Gewu, deputy minister of the Provisional War Department of the Southern Ming Dynasty, was inspecting military affairs in Zhejiang, he was in charge of the logistics affairs of the War Department, Yi Meng and he were classmates of the military academy (the minister also had Tang Desheng and Chen Wei as classmates), because Huang Shi sent all the old subordinates and old teams to the front line to assist Huang Naiming - they were also very happy, because military merit in this way can only be established on the battlefield, so when the Provisional War Department was established, the Constituent Assembly set the seats according to the examination results, in addition to supplying the officers of several new divisions, A large number of students from military academies have been assigned to posts in various military departments, and the War Department, like several new divisions, is now led by a group of young men in their twenties.

When the old classmates met, they first recalled the old campus time, and then scolded the bastard of the Admiralty together, and after being addicted to it, Yi Meng felt that the wine was in place, and began to cut to the chase: "Jiangxi over there, what is going on?" ”

In fact, the War Department did not know very comprehensively, only that the Northern Expeditionary Army High Command was determined to start the campaign to clean up the army, and to drive military judges out of the army in large numbers or deprive them of law enforcement powers. The Fourth Army was the most resolute among them, and the Constituent Assembly and the War Department did not dare to tear up their faces with the military, and also acquiesced in their restructuring, but there were still many military judges who were cleared out of the army and used various connections to protest to the Qi State Mansion, and several representatives of major parties therefore ran to Qi Guo Gong to complain, among which Commander Li was an important target.

In fact, as soon as the news started, Li Yunrui's wife went to her sister and brother-in-law to complain, of course, all the complaints of the military about the current system. Huangshi has been much more cautious after the Beijing Incident, and now the Huangshi Group still has huge political and military resources, which are enough to cause a major upheaval; At present, the progress is generally relatively smooth, and Huang Shi feels that if the current situation continues, sooner or later the military will not have to bow its head in front of the fait accompli, and he does not want to provoke the Huang Shi group too much. In any case, now is not a good time to play a glass of wine to release the military power, and it is Li Shun who will take advantage of the big turmoil in the army.

In addition to worrying about the strength of the Huangshi group, first of all, Huang Shi himself has no intention of putting the old subordinates in a pot, he still hopes to let the old subordinates have a rich man's end, and secondly, the Constituent Assembly currently only has the courage to "rebel by order", Huang Shi summed up the lessons of the failure on the side of the Ming Court, and felt that if he played intrigue and tricks in the rear, it would be a little unreasonable to say first, and secondly, if he didn't do it well, he would cultivate a new warlord group - that is, the Constituent Assembly was not confident in its own position, although several years had passed and the Qing Yuan already had great power, but they still feel that their rights are given by Yellowstone, and they feel a little empty; And if Yellowstone goes into battle shirtless and orders a certain army to use force against friendly forces, the ideological and military chaos caused by it is difficult to predict, and if this army does so only because of Yellowstone's orders, it is obviously a private army and not a national army, in addition to the need to buy them with profits, and they will have to be purged in the future.

In the spirit of governing a big country like a small meal, Yellowstone intends to continue to fool the Yellowstone group (and he also overestimates the spirit of resistance to the Constituent Assembly at this time), so he chimed in in front of his wife and sister-in-law, saying something incomprehensible.

Mrs. Li, who misunderstood Huangshi's attitude (she couldn't guess what she said, Huangshi's original intention was to cut off his hands and feet and pull out all his minions.) immediately sent a letter to her husband and son, and at the same time, Mrs. Huang also wrote to Huang Naiming, saying: Your father is far from being confused, and he is confused, and he is confused inward and not outward.

After receiving his mother's letter, Huang Naiming's courage suddenly became stronger, and the activities of the Qing army were extremely strict, and he did not give an inch to the Constituent Assembly and the Qing Yuan, insisting that if the Northern Expedition was to succeed, it was necessary to unify thinking in the army. As a result, the Constituent Assembly, which Huangshi had high hopes for, was immediately intimidated by the military's tough attitude, and did not show much of the spirit of resistance that Huangshi expected, and the leaders of the three major parties all felt that Huang Naiming was also Huangshi's own son no matter what he said, although the Constituent Assembly had helped Qi Guogong a lot, but if he fought with Qi Guogong's son, it would inevitably arouse Qi Guogong's suspicion, and it would be suppressed as a plot to rebel. Since it is impossible to understand why Huang Shi is bent on fighting against his sons, nephews and minions to the end, all the hints and encouragement of Qi Guogong are understood as Qi Guogong saving face for the Constituent Assembly.

Since Qi Guogong gave face to the Constituent Assembly in this way, the Constituent Assembly also had to repay the favor by trying its best to help Huang Naiming conceal the incident and appease the grievances of the officers and soldiers who had been cleaned up by arranging new jobs - a large number of them were sent to work in the War Department or the newly built divisions. However, as the vanguard of the Qing army, Division Commander Li first used artillery to bombard the rioting soldiers, and later sent cavalry to drive them away with sabers, which was extremely unpopular in the army. Not only did the Constituent Assembly want to remove him to quell the grievances in the army, but even the Northern Expeditionary Army felt that having such an unpopular division commander was not a good thing for the army.

However, Division Commander Li was deeply praised by the senior officers, who could not tolerate the dismissal of those who contributed to the group and transferred them back to the rear to fill the reserves, and the Constituent Assembly took advantage of the empty opportunity in the rear to control the three military departments and did not want to let the people of the Huangshi Group infiltrate their territory again, so the two sides hit it off and promoted Li Gongzi to the commander of the Seventh Army and sent him to the Eastern Front as an officer.

Zeng Gewu knew almost what the Constituent Assembly knew, and after he introduced it to Yi Meng, the division commander of the Public Servant Division suddenly sweated profusely: it turned out that the Constituent Assembly and the War Department were throwing hot potatoes, and in order to avoid a greater loss - losing the War Department, and would rather bear a smaller loss - let Li Gongzi get a part of Zhejiang's military power.

However, Yi Meng also understood the meaning of the War Department, that is, to accept Commander Li's military moderation, but the real power of the troops was still in the hands of the cadets.

"Everyone is serving the country, and Commander Li won't push you into the fire pit." The War Department knows that Commander Li still wants to make meritorious contributions, and everyone has a share of meritorious service, as long as Yi Meng can get his share: "Besides, the War Department really can't come up with a more suitable candidate than Commander Li, he was born in a family of generals and has been on the battlefield for a long time, so he is a rare general." ”

If Chunhua has already lifted the siege, then the War Department can propose that Tang Desheng be promoted to army commander, he has been fighting against Xu Ping for the past few months, and he has both experienced and become famous, and can convince the hearts and minds of the army. But now, of course, Tang Desheng can't be transferred, He Feihu is lacking in skills, to say that a young man who has never led troops to fight after coming out of the military academy to command tens of thousands of troops, not to mention that the Northern Expeditionary Army Command is not convinced, even the Constituent Assembly itself is not at ease - after all, Commander Li has also fought a few battles on the battlefield, and his age is only a few years younger than He Feihu.

Yi Meng also admitted that Commander Li was indeed much more qualified than others, not to mention that he was still the eldest son of General Li, and his sister was also the second daughter-in-law of Chief of Staff Jin.

"Of course, Commander Li will not come alone to command the Seventh Army," Zeng Gewu told his old classmates: "Commander Li will bring his own staff group." ”

"Army Staff Corps?" Yi Meng immediately asked.

"Yes, of course, your division headquarters is still your own." Zeng Gewu smiled slightly: "However, Commander Li seems to have recommended two candidates for deputy division commanders to Duke Qi, he knows that neither the public servant division nor the honest division has deputy division commanders, and neither of you two division commanders has actual combat experience." ”

"Who?"

The two names spit out by the old classmate surprised Yi Meng: "The two of them? ”

"Yes, everyone else has been taken away by the prince, there are no more veterans with combat experience in the rear, and the others are the uncles and uncles of Commander Li, if he is the army commander, the uncle is the deputy division commander, so how can everyone's face rest, besides, who listens to whom?" Zeng Gewu didn't say anything, in fact, the War Department was not willing to let these two people work in the rear, if they could be sent to the front line as a deputy position, it would be best to give full play to their residual heat, anyway, he had already reminded Yi Meng, and he would go to talk to the commander and classmates of the honest division tomorrow, so that the two of them would have enough to know that they would not be arrested and take away the military power, as for the matter that Yi Meng had just been told was top secret, the deputy minister repeatedly emphasized that it was absolutely not allowed to leak the news: "It's not easy to find out the news, and now the War Department doesn't know much, Commander Lee didn't know that the War Department knew about it. ”

If it is an old man who has been in officialdom for a long time, then there is no need to ask about some tacit things, but Yi Meng is just a young man in his twenties: "The War Department will not agree to Commander Li's people infiltrating the public servant division, right?" ”

"The army is not a fixed unit, it is now two divisions and one army, but there may be three in the future, the Seventh Army now has a public servant division and an honest division, but in the future this army may be disbanded, if necessary, the public servant division is likely to be transferred to the Sixth Army in the future, and the War Department does not see any need for the army and the division to form an inseparable relationship." At first, the deputy minister tried to use hints to achieve the effect, and he also used "War Department" instead of "I" to speak in an official manner, but Zeng Gewu was also a young man who had just graduated, and he immediately revealed his true form: "But the public servant division is a stable establishment, and I don't think there is any benefit in disturbing this establishment, and these two deputy division commanders are also temporary." ”

"I still don't quite understand what the War Department wants me to do." Having said that, Yi Meng still wanted clearer instructions.

"I think General Xu did a good job at the beginning."

"General Xu?" Yi Meng didn't understand it at all.

"I mean General Xu's seizure of the seal."

"Oh, don't you have to save face for Commander Li?"

"Of course not," Zeng Gewu immediately denied that he meant this: "General Xu's experience is not far away, the War Department hopes that Brother Yi will win glory for the department, but he can't be as desperate as General Xu, just get the meaning." In the end, the deputy minister also encouraged: "But in any case, the War Department is standing behind Commander Yi, and behind the public servant division and the honest division is the entire War Department!" ”

"Is it standing behind me openly, or is it sneakily standing behind me?"

"Of course it won't be the former, we are not fierce people like General Xu, and we don't want to defect."

……

After Commander Li arrived in Zhejiang, Yi Meng immediately rushed to meet him with his officers: "I heard that the military seat (Huangshi first jokingly called it once or twice, and then quickly spread throughout the army, and now it has spread to the troops in Zhejiang. Coming to lead the Seventh Army, all the officers and men of the 13th Division rejoiced. ”

"Master Yi, please take a seat." Commander Li asked the staff officers to serve tea, the two chatted for a while, and another person reported outside the door, Commander Li got up and invited the comer in and introduced him to Yi Meng in person: "This is General Wang." ”

"The last general, Wang Qinian," the gray-haired veteran was still straight and energetic, and he saluted Yi Meng seriously without arrogance: "I've seen General Yi." ”

"It turned out to be General Wang, oops, it's really a long-standing name." Of course, Yi Meng would not be stupid enough to say that he had heard that Commander Li was going to bring Wang Qinian and Ji Xinghui to Zhejiang.

"General Yi has won the award, and General Yi is a hero and a young man."

After Commander Li let the two meet, he stopped talking nonsense and directly said his plans, he planned to send Wang Qinian to the public servant division as the deputy division commander. After the Beijing Incident, all the battalion officials put the responsibility on He Baodao and Wang Qinian, although Wang Qinian tried his best to put all the responsibility on He Baodao after arriving in Fujian, but he did not dare to meet Jin Qiude. This time, Commander Li came to Zhejiang to lead the army, and he needed a helper to help him control the army.

This group of people is still inextricably linked with the Huangshi Group, Wang Qinian, Ji Xinghui and many senior officers in the Southern Ming Dynasty are sons and daughters, most of their sons-in-law, nieces and nephews did not follow to the Northern Alliance but fled back to the Southern Ming, and their sons and nephews mostly followed to the Northern Alliance and then fled back to the South together, but their fathers-in-law also wanted to pull their lost sons-in-law again.

Commander Li didn't want to be an empty commander, so he agreed to the requests of many uncles and uncles, and incorporated a large number of unemployed former Northern Alliance children, mainly the firefighting battalion, into the backbone of his military department. In this way, Commander Li not only gained a lot of favors, but also gained a trustworthy lineage - the officers of the former firefighting battalion shook their fists and swore to fight with Xu Ping again, so that he could ruthlessly repay the blood debt of killing a large number of firefighting battalion brothers when he was crusading against the Northern Alliance; They also want to use their exploits to regain lost past honors.

In the past, when Huangshi and the old brothers were talking about the law, they talked to Huangshi about human feelings, but this time when Huangshi was talking about human feelings, they began to talk to Huangshi about the law again, and since the criminal officer had pardoned the crimes of these Northern Alliances, Commander Li went to his uncle to ask for the battalion flag of the firefighting battalion - after the firefighting battalion surrendered, Huangshi confiscated it, and Commander Li wanted to go back to be the military flag of the Seventh Army. However, although Huang Shi said that he did not interfere with the law, he was very resolute on the issue of the camp flag, and bluntly told Commander Li that he had already burned the pit viper flag.

"General Wang has been in battle for more than 30 years, and has fought with Xu Thief many times," Wang Qinian and Ji Xinghui's identities are more troublesome, and the other small fish and shrimp Commander Li easily asked for official titles for them, but Wang and Ji The War Department refused to give them a formal appointment, and finally reluctantly agreed to give them the status of temporary colonel, so Commander Li still called them two generals instead of any official rank, he observed Yi Meng's face while saying: "So I want General Wang to be a nominal deputy division commander in the public servant division......"

"That's great." If it weren't for the realization of someone to ventilate, Yi Meng would definitely be surprised, but since he was already mentally prepared, his performance was perfect: "With General Wang's presence and guidance, the standing strength of the Thirteenth Division will definitely improve by leaps and bounds." ”

Then Yi Meng touted Wang Qinian, his reaction made Commander Li very satisfied, it seems that Yi Meng is not a difficult person to deal with, for Wang Qinian's request to take a group of people to the public servant division, Yi Meng also agreed without waiting for them to finish speaking, saying that the public servant division really needs the guidance of experienced officers from the fire battalion.

After quickly bringing this topic over, Commander Li asked about the morale of the 13th Division, and Yi Meng patted his chest to ensure that everything was running well.

"The so-called strong army is about orders and prohibitions." Wang Qinian asked Yi Meng: "Dare to ask the division, the thirteenth division does not have a situation of multiple political departments, right?" ”

Commander Li also stared at Yi Meng's face, and he was also very concerned about the answer to this question.

"How many politicians are in business?" Yi Meng shook his head: "Absolutely not, the whole division has strict orders." ”

"How is military law exercised in the 13th Division?" Commander Li touched on key issues.

"It's the military judge with the gendarmerie in charge."

"Doesn't the division headquarters interfere with them?"

"Don't interfere," Yi Meng noticed that the army commander began to frown, but he pretended not to see it and said with a big grin: "Actually, I think this matter should be handled by the division headquarters, I have never heard of such a lenient management of the army since ancient times." ”

Yi Meng deliberately confused the prison army with the gendarmerie, for an officer like Yi Meng who resolutely obeyed the orders of the War Department and the Constituent Assembly, the whole division obeyed the orders of the Constituent Assembly, Yi Meng was the main army, and the gendarmerie was in charge of the military law, and the division of labor was different, and the gendarmerie not only could not control Yi Meng's head, but also came under his command. But unlike Yi Meng, the Fourth Army, from which Commander Li came, did not recognize the right of the Constituent Assembly to control them, so they treated the military judges and the gendarmerie as overseers, and they were a kind of illegal superintendents — they did not even represent Huangshi.

"But this is an order from the War Department, so I have to obey it." Yi Meng noticed that the army commander's frowning brows were relaxed, so he said in a slightly complaining tone: "The last general has never led a leader, of course, he can do what he is taught. ”

"Brother Yi is right." Commander Li was in a rather good mood, and he agreed with Yi Meng's caution - as a young man who had never led a soldier, obeying the orders of the War Department was not a mistake but a commendable one, which showed that he was a man who was accustomed to obeying the orders of his superiors.

After chatting with Yi Meng for a while, Commander Li asked him to go back to his division headquarters first, and tomorrow Commander Li will meet the commander of the honest division, and he hopes that the commander of the 14th Division is also a person like Yi Meng, who only obeys Shangfeng's orders.

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