Spending huge sums of money to maintain the army is not just to protect the country and the people.
The purpose of raising the army is to seize territory.
By seizing the territory, you can collect more taxes.
With money, you can buy arms, recruit more soldiers, and conquer more territories.
This is what a true warlord should do.
But the Jiangbei region where Chen Zikun is located is very awkward.
The northeast is the territory of his sworn brother Chen Tiaoyuan, and the northwest is the territory of his benefactor Wu Peifu.
The only direction in which he can send troops is to the south, which is the area controlled by Sun Kaiqin in the south of the Yangtze River.
But now he He was still strong enough to start a war with Governor Sun, so he had to attack the local tycoons in Jiangbei first.
In the past, when bandits were raging, many powerful landowners built fortresses, bought foreign guns and hired gunners to dominate the area.
After Chen Zikun incorporated Gai Longquan, he took advantage of these gangs and solved several forts without any effort.
By the way, I occupied several mines rich in white coal, and my wallet was slightly bulging.
Nantai white coal is an excellent fuel for steam ships.
The price of white coal in the provincial capital is 25 yuan per ton, but the cost price of digging it out is only 8 yuan.
The profit is very considerable, but the water transportation cost is too high.
Big, but this didn't bother Chen Zikun.
He outsourced the entire business to Hun Jianglong.
With the big water bandit in charge, the coal business went smoothly and he made a lot of money.
Spring has begun in a blink of an eye.
In the five hundred acres of poppy fields, young green leaves have grown under the wheat straw that has been soaked by rain and snow.
During the Qingming Festival, the stems have begun to be pulled out and branches have begun to grow.
At that time, Chen Zikun also embarked on the road north.
The seventh day of the third lunar month is Wu Yushuai’s fiftieth birthday.
Heroes from all over the world have to pay homage to his birthday and give gifts.
Chen Zikun, Wu Peifu’s proud disciple, is no exception.
He carefully prepared a congratulatory gift, including a piece of white tiger skin.
Armed with two ivory-handled revolvers and a Longquan sword, he set off with his adjutants Ma Bian and Yao Yilei.
All the way to Xuzhou, I visited Chen Tiaoyuan first, and then took the Longhai Road train together to arrive in Luoyang.
At this time, Luoyang was already full of guests, all the restaurants, opium dens, and brothels were full, and even the military barracks were vacated to entertain guests.
The two of them were invited to stay in the barracks.
After settling in, they took gifts to the Zhilu and Yu inspection envoy's office.
When the Marshal celebrates his birthday, the office is decorated with flowers.
On both sides of the longevity hall is Wu Peifu's favorite couplet, which was written by Kang Youwei: Makino Yingyang, a centenarian is only half a century old; Luoyang looks like a tiger, and all wind and rain will come to Zhongzhou. .
The person in charge of entertaining guests from all walks of life was Wu Peifu's chief of staff Zhang Fangyan.
Seeing Chen Zikun and his wife coming, Chief Zhang quickly asked him to sit down: "You are one of our own, you don't need those false courtesy, wait until the commander has finished receiving these guests."
Let you in."
After waiting for a while, several foreigners with blond hair and blue eyes came out of the living room.
Wu Peifu, wearing a long gown and mandarin jacket, came out with a smile.
Hearing that the foreigners seemed to be speaking in Russian, Chen Zikun was a little surprised.
Could it be that Su Ru also came to wish Commander Yu a happy birthday?
After seeing off Lao Maozi, Wu Peifu looked at Chen Zikun coldly, but ignored him.
He smiled at Chen Tiaoyuan and said, "The garrison of Xu Hai has arrived.
It's rude not to greet him from a distance."
Chen Tiaoyuan said hurriedly: "Shuai Yu has killed the last general."
"Please speak inside."
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Wu Peifu smiled brightly and let Chen Tiaoyuan in, but left Chen Zikun outside, leaving him two feet tall and confused.
Many guests came one after another to bring gifts, and Chen Zikun finally got to see the world.
Among them were the jade scroll with imperial pen and longevity songs given by the deposed emperor Puyi, the pure gold immeasurable Buddha, the white jade Ruyi given by Prince Chun, and the authentic work of Qiu Shizhou.
Bian Luotu and a horse from Ili; Hubei governor Xiao Yaonan sent pure gold longevity peaches and one hundred Thousands of firecrackers and a pair of extra-large birthday candles weighing 100 kilograms.
Shaanxi Governor Liu Zhenhua presented a thousand tables of shark fin banquets and 500 golden Arhats.
Hunan Governor Zhao Hengti presented a box of jade, a box of gold bars, and Hunan embroidery.
When Wu Peifu saw a pair of longevity scrolls, he was very happy and immediately ordered them to be hung in the longevity hall.
The scroll had the following writing on it: The flowers in Luoyang are like brocade in March, and a star in Antarctica lights up the sky.
Guests came one after another, but it was Chen Zikun's turn to come.
Yao Yilei, who came with her, was anxious.
The eldest lady got angry and wanted to argue with Wu Peifu, but Chen Zikun persuaded him: "You go back first, I guess what happened It’s a matter of fact.”
Yao Yilei went back angrily, and Chen Zikun sat in the longevity hall for another two hours.
Fortunately, Zhang Fangyan always took care of him, and he had enough tea, water, melon seeds, and cigarettes.
At nightfall, when Wu Peifu went out to the banquet, Chen Zikun was still sitting in the longevity hall.
Zhang Fangyan advised: "Commander, would you like to take Xiao Chen to the banquet with you?"
Wu Peifu snorted coldly: "Let him sit."
After saying that, he walked away.
The drinking session lasted quite long.
He came back at nine o'clock in the evening.
Yushuai drank a few more glasses, his face was red.
When he saw Chen Zikun still sitting in the empty longevity hall, he said, "Zikun, come here."
Chen Zikun followed Wu Peifu to the study room of the inner house.
Wu Peifu asked: "Do you know where you went wrong?"
"I don't know about my humble position."
Chen Zikun replied.
Wu Peifu slapped the table: "If you don't know, just think about it and kneel outside."
Chen Zikun didn't hesitate.
He came to the open space in front of the study and knelt down straight on the ground without saying a word.
It began to rain.
It had just passed the Qingming Festival, and the rain was still quite cool.
It soon wetted his hair and military uniform, and made him feel like a drowned rat.
Wu Peifu opened the door of his study room and read in the room with the lamp on.
In Spring and Autumn, I don’t even look outside.
Zhang Fangyan saw this scene and quickly reported to Wu Peifu's wife Zhang Peilan.
After hearing the news, the wife came to the study to take a look and immediately blamed Wu Peifu: "Why did you let Zi Kun kneel in the rain?"
Wu Peifu said: "I want him to reflect on it."
Seeing her husband's stubbornness, Zhang Peilan had no choice but to hold up an oil-paper umbrella and come to the yard to help Chen Zikun cover the raindrops.
She persuaded Chen Zikun nicely: "Zikun, please admit your mistake to Commander Yu."
Chen Zikun frowned and said, "I'm right."
Zhang Peilan sighed: "These two men have a stubborn temper."
Wu Peifu was furious: "I asked him to kneel down and grow hundreds of acres of opium in Jiangbei, and he dared to say that he was right."
Chen Zikun said: "Being in a humble position is a last resort.
Nantai is barren and the people are struggling to make a living.
They have recruited five thousand bandits, and everyone has a mouth to eat.
The Ministry of War does not give money, and Governor Sun does not pay him.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
He is humble and cannot bear to exploit the common people of Li.
I have no choice but to make a living on my own.
Without growing opium, there is really no way to survive.”
Wu Peifu's anger subsided a little and said: "Come up and talk."
Chen Zikun walked up to the hall on his knees, dripping with water all over his body and shivering from the cold.
Zhang Peilan felt distressed and quickly arranged for his servants to make ginger soup.
Wu Peifu said: "So, the banditry in Jiangbei has been eliminated."
Chen Zikun had already prepared a rough draft and recounted what he had done since he settled in Jiangbei, including how to deal with evil gentry, how to punish provincial army rebels, how to purchase guns with loans, and how to recruit bandits.
Wu Peifu sighed with emotion after hearing this: "It's not easy. , but even so, you can’t grow opium.”
"Shuai Yu, opium is rampant.
If I don't grow it, others will grow it.
Besides, I just grow opium.
Smoking is strictly prohibited in the jurisdiction.
These opium cigarettes will be transported to France through Shanghai in the future so that foreigners can enjoy it and not harm us Chinese."
This was a bit far-fetched, but Wu Peifu took it seriously, nodded and said: "I have good intentions, but I'm embarrassing you.
I sent you to Jiangbei for training.
It seems that you did a pretty good job.
My hard work is worth it.
But you often take the wrong approach, which is not a good thing in the long run.
You have to know that it is easy to break the thief in the mountain, but it is difficult to break the thief in the heart. " Chen Zikun said: "I sincerely follow the teachings of Commander Yu."
Wu Peifu said: "Although the Jiangbei Protectorate is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Jiangdong Governor, it is actually an independent unit.
Let me write a warrant and you go to Beijing to collect military pay and equipment.
This is much better than growing opium."
"Xie Yushuai" Chen Zikun burst into tears of gratitude.
The atmosphere relaxed, and Chen Zikun presented a birthday gift.
The white tiger skin was seized from the bandit's village, the revolver was custom-made by the American arsenal, and the Longquan sword was bought from the private sector at a high price.
Although it was not particularly valuable, it was still original.
Wu Peifu He was quite satisfied, especially the white tiger skin.
He stroked the tiger hair with a brush made of tiger tongue and nodded frequently.
Chen Zikun said in a close tone: "Commander Yu is celebrating his fiftieth birthday.
Even the Russians and the Qing Emperor came to congratulate you.
This shows that your reputation is as high as the sky."
Wu Peifu snorted coldly and said: "Soviet Russia is isolated in the world.
It is in desperate need of allies so it came to find a way.
Old Maozi is trustworthy.
Sows can climb trees.
Puyi gave gifts.
He thought that some congressmen with bad brains wanted to do it last year.
The Three Main Halls of the Forbidden City demolished the National Congress Building, but I sent a telegram to suppress it, and Mr.
Aisin Gioro returned the favor. " Chen Zikun suddenly realized: "That's it."
Zhang Peilan came in with ginger soup and found that the two men were already chatting and laughing, and smiled helplessly.
Wu Yushuai's fiftieth birthday shocked the whole of China.
The excitement lasted for half a month before it subsided.
Chen Zikun bid farewell to the commander-in-chief and took his wife and entourage directly to Beijing via Jinghan Road.
This time, they were greeted at the station by Mr. and Mrs.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Yao Qizhen.
When Mrs.
Yao saw her much thinner daughter getting out of the car, she burst into tears and said, "My dear daughter, you have suffered a lot."
Yao Yilei also cried: "Mom" threw herself into her mother's arms and wiped her tears.
Yao Qizhen also took off his gold-rimmed glasses and wiped the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief.
Back at the mansion, the table was filled with all kinds of snacks.
Yao Yilei beamed with joy.
She unpacked the snacks on the spot and ate them.
She kept praising: "Well, it's delicious.
It tastes like this."
After hearing this, Mrs.
Yao burst into tears again.
Her daughter used to But he is a picky eater.
He has lived in Nantai for more than half a year, and his children are so hungry.
"Leilei, why don't you leave this time?"
Mrs.
Yao asked.
"I'm not leaving.
The countryside is really boring.
There's no running water, no lights, no flush toilets, no place to watch movies, and there aren't even cars on the streets.
But it suffocates me to death."
Yao Yilei sat down on the sofa and played two more times.
Bottom: "Not even a sofa."
Yao Qizhen said: "Zi Kun, what are your plans for coming to Beijing this time?"
Chen Zikun said: "Let's take care of the wedding first, and then there are a few major things to deal with.
I have to ask my father-in-law to take action."
Yao Qizhen sat on the single sofa, filled his pipe with shredded tobacco, lit it and took a puff.
He crossed his legs and said, "Of course we have to hold a wedding.
Our Yao family is also a respectable person in Beijing and Tianjin.
Why?"
If you can, just give your daughter away quietly.
As for your big things, tell me, maybe I can help."
At first, the marriage between Yao Yilei and Nishizono Oio fell through, causing uproar in the city.
In order to quell the rumors, Yao Qizhen and his wife reluctantly let their daughter go to Nantai with Chen Zikun.
Now that the rumors have passed, Yao Qizhen has established a firm foothold in the Bank of Communications, so he can speak confidently.
Much more than before.
Chen Zikun got straight to the point: "It would be great to have my father-in-law say this.
I want to build a railway."
Yao Qizhen choked on the cigarette in his lungs, coughed several times and said: "What did you say, build the railway?"
: