Chapter 84 You play with falsehood, I play with evil

In September, the whole country was noisy, and Yuan Shikai seemed to have realized the importance of a political party and began to order his subordinates to form a party.

The newly formed Kuomintang sarcasticated Yuan Shikai's move. If he could stop it, he would try his best to destroy it. So farces were performed one after another in Beijing. Ministers and deputy ministers of various central departments resigned in turn and took turns to take office, which dazzled all walks of life in China and abroad. He didn't know who to give gifts and congratulations to.

The proposal to form the National Railway Association proposed by the Kuomintang members was approved. Mr. Sun Wen, who originally stated that he would not be able to hold any position, was happy to serve the president of the Railway Association with a broad mind of serving the country and the people. He began to hold press conferences frequently under Yuan Shikai's eyes and delivered exciting speeches again and again. Every time he gave a speech, he called for the move of the capital in Nanjing, requiring the government to introduce foreign capital, start mining and factory construction, and then paint a beautiful blueprint for the people - within ten years, 100,000 kilometers of railways will be built, connecting the beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland, and work tirelessly and devote himself to changing the country's poverty and backward appearance, developing people's livelihood, and benefiting future generations!

People from all walks of life across the country are excited about this majestic goal. Yuan Shikai is not a vegetarian. He thought to himself that Sun Wen, you are showing off your power under my nose, and I will endure it. But you are not a government official. Why do you require foreign investment to build roads and mines? Why do you run to the Japanese embassy and consulate every few days and use the government-owned mine land as collateral to borrow money?

So Yuan Shikai's propaganda machine began to rumbling, calling on the people to strengthen moral education today, and announced friendly consultations with Britain, the United States, Germany and France tomorrow. The two camps began a vigorous war of words again.

Located in the southwest of the motherland, neither Yunnan nor Sichuan provinces seem to have participated in the war of words in the outside world.

After the Battle of Sichuan and Yunnan, the Yunnan Provincial Parliament quietly passed a series of trade protection policies. Since August, governments at all levels in Yunnan have doubled their taxes on Sichuan merchants. This move has once again aroused opposition from all walks of life in Sichuan. Literature from the two provinces began to curse in newspapers, fighting a fierce battle of words between the two provinces.

All merchants who suffered huge losses in Sichuan ran to Chengdu to cry. The provincial council quickly passed a special tax resolution, requiring the Wangjian Fourth Division, who was guarding southern Sichuan, to fully assist the newly formed county governments in southern Sichuan to set up checkpoints on all major transportation routes to Yunnan and Guizhou, and to impose heavy taxes on all commodity materials from north to north of Yunnan. Half of the taxes collected were allocated to the Fourth Division to subsidize the border food of the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division. The latest chapter of the Holy Temple.com

Wang Jian was still hesitant at first. He grew up in a family that has been doing business for generations and knew what kind of bad impact this move would have, so he immediately called Commander Xiao to telegram.

Commander Xiao’s reply only said: You will solve the military pay for next year by yourself!

Wang Jianhe was overjoyed after receiving the telegram. Isn’t this allowing us to collect taxes openly? Although the Fourth Division has been included in the jurisdiction of the provincial government, in order to solve the chronic disease of forced taxation by the military's military intervention in politics, the provincial government has allocated 1 million yuan of food and salary to the four divisions of the Sichuan Army to ensure all expenditures within one year. This huge sum of money made the first to third divisions very satisfied, and he happily handed over the tax collection rights to the provincial government.

However, for the Fourth Division, which has been expanded into four infantry regiments and five direct battalions, this money is far from enough. The Fourth Division, which has a total of 11,500 officers and soldiers, needs Commander Xiao to provide strong support for weapons and ammunition. The gold, silver and treasures worth more than 2 million oceans of gold, silver and treasures and a large number of antique calligraphy and paintings they seized had long been transported back to Chengdu headquarters by Bao Jiqing, the Chief of Staff who loved money. If it weren't for occupying the material transfer station of the Dian Army, Yibin County, and obtaining a large amount of food and pack horses, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division would not dare to let go after eating.

In less than three days, all the important roads and water and land wharfs leading to Yunnan in the four counties on the southern border of Sichuan, all the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division in olive green military uniforms appeared. Checkpoints were quickly established, and requisitioned or self-built wooden barracks rose from the ground. All caravans from north and south of Yunnan were levied heavy taxes. All metal products, steel, copper and zinc and other raw materials, fine salt, coarse salt, grain and agricultural tools, and cotton gauze were seized. If the investigation was made clear, if it was indeed a Sichuan merchant, it would be fined 10% of the fines and pass, and if it belonged to Yunnan merchants, 30% of the tax was levied. If it was said a few more words, all of them were confiscated.

The trade war between the two provinces has since begun. In less than two months, each increased the tax rate from 30% to 50%. Trade transactions have suffered severe damage and Yunnan, which is more dependent on the complementarity of commodity materials, is therefore extremely miserable.

Xiao Yimin had no interest in the war of words between the two provinces, nor had the time, nor had the obligation to attend various meetings of civil servants. Anyway, the tax rights of Sichuan Province except Chongqing are in the hands of the provincial government. Governments at all levels have established a relatively complete tax police force, which has effectively ensured the implementation of taxes in the province, summarized and unified allocation, and implemented more reasonable agricultural and industrial and commercial taxes, and canceled the lijin and donation taxes left by the Qing government. Most people in Sichuan were deeply satisfied. Xiao Yimin's task has been completed at this point. The latest chapter of the temple.com

Although he did not participate in the war of verbalism, Xiao Yimin was not idle either. He, together with Chief of Staff Bao Jiqing, Commander of the First Border Defense Division, Wang Lingji and other generals, secretly met with the Guizhou general Lu Pingzhou and his party who came to ask for help on the evening of September 8th.

Lu Pingzhou was originally the commander of the Infantry Regiment of the New Army of Guizhou, nicknamed Rumangzi, a student of the Guizhou Martial Arts Hall. He was brave and had a good lead. He had previously followed Dai Kan, who was appointed as the commander of the Guizhou Army by Cai E, and went north to "support the Sichuan Revolution". Shortly after entering southern Sichuan, the Yunnan Army, under the guise of supporting the Wuchang Uprising, immediately launched a large-scale killing and occupied it by force after arriving in Guiyang.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Lu Pingzhou quietly led his troops back to Guizhou to attack the Yunnan Army. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Zunyi, he was ambushed by Liu Xianqin, the commander of the Guizhou Army who surrendered to the Yunnan Army. Lu Pingzhou led the remaining troops to break through the encirclement and fled to Chongqing. Xiong Kewu, the commander of the Shu army who was short of soldiers, generously took him in, and joined him under his command, and continued to let him serve as the regiment commander.

During the Battle of Sichuan and Yunnan, the powerful Yunnan Army was defeated by the Sichuan Army led by Xiao Yimin. More than ten generals including Yunnan Army generals Xie Ruyi, Li Hongxiang, Huang Yucheng and Dai Kan either fled or were captured. Until the negotiations were over, the negotiators of the Yunnan Army secretly paid hundreds of thousands of oceans of ransom in the name of the family of the captured general and the school, and then redeemed the seventeen captured generals and school members. To this day, more than 3,700 Yunnan Army officers and soldiers were detained by the Sichuan border army as a road construction coolie because the Yunnan government was unwilling to pay war reparations and could not pay huge ransom.

During the battle between Sichuan and Yunnan, Xiong Kewu, who was entrenched in Chongqing, remained silent. He originally planned to take advantage of the victory and loss of the Sichuan and Yunnan armies to attack and get a share of the defeat. Unfortunately, the battle commanded by Xiao Yimin ended in just three days. Xiong Kewu and all the generals and officers of the Chongqing Shu Army were stunned. Since then, he never dared to call the slogan "Go back to Chengdu" for more than half a year.

Xiao Yimin's army also shocked Lu Pingzhou, who was living under someone else's roof. Thinking about his miserable situation, he then compared Xiao Yimin who was brave enough to move forward with Xiong Kewu, who wanted to take advantage of his chances. The 28-year-old Lu Pingzhou couldn't sleep anymore. He had a huge hatred for the Yunnan Army and dreamed of fighting back to his hometown to avenge his shame, but he was suffering from his weak and powerlessness. Now seeing Xiao Yimin's wisdom, courage and courage, and hearing about Xiao Yimin's kindness and generosity, he finally made a decision to find Liu Bingxian, the deputy military and political chief of the Chongqing government of the Shu army, and quietly contacted Xiao Yimin and conveyed his wishes. Unexpectedly, in just three days, he waited for Xiao Yimin's response. Lu Pingzhou immediately asked Xiong Kewu for leave on the grounds of recruiting his old subordinates and quickly rushed to Chengdu to see Xiao Yimin.

When the nervous Rude and his two assistants saw Xiao Yimin with a smile on their faces, they were both frightened and excited, not knowing whether to salute or greet him with a fist.

Xiao Yimin didn't care about the trivial etiquette and enthusiastically invited Lu Pingzhou and the other two to enter the headquarters to sit and watch the tea. He politely asked how the journey was and whether he had used supper. Then he listened carefully to the confession and requests of the three Rujizi and asked about their current strength and future plans.

Three hours passed, and Lu Pingzhou and the other two left Chengdu and rushed back to Chongqing with gratitude and excitement.

Five days later, Lu Pingshan, an adjutant of Lu Pingzhou, quietly led twenty Guizhou-born soldiers with cultural backgrounds back to Chengdu and handed them over to the border army headquarters for training. He then secretly discussed with Xiao Yimin's chief of staff Bao Jiqing for an afternoon, and returned to Chongqing with a thick plan and a secret order.

On the evening of September 25, the 800 soldiers led by Lu Pingzhou successfully passed through the defense zone of the First Division of the Sichuan Army and arrived at the Fourth Division's Military Battalion in the eastern suburbs of the Xuzhou Prefecture. After a day of rest, they changed into the uniforms of the Fourth Division and divided them into three parts to follow the machine gun battalion, reconnaissance battalion and artillery battalion directly under the Fourth Division for training.

A 15-man team sent by Lu Pingzhou quietly crossed the border and entered Guizhou, and carried out contact and lurking operations as planned. A month later, the generals of Lu Pingshan, who had completed the special training, returned to their hometown and began a desperate struggle to avenge revenge and rebuild their homeland.

Throughout late September, Xiao Yimin and his generals and schoolmen were busy.

The 35,000 German Mauser rifles, 100 mg08 water-cooled heavy machine guns that were purchased with a loan from Deutsche Bank, 50 Zeiss produced ZF09 quadruple-rate civilian shotgun scopes, 150 pairs of six-fold military telescopes and artillery telescopes, 500 compass, various steel for producing guns, twelve sets of mechanical processing equipment and other materials were shipped one after another.

Following the first batch of German weapons to Chengdu, there are also eight retired German officers with military ranks of major or above, military instructors and their families, as well as a batch of German school textbooks provided by the German side for free.

These eight German instructors will work with Xiao Yimin and the Border Army General to jointly establish the professional settings of the Sichuan Army Officer School, select military textbooks for each major, formulate teaching plans and enrollment plans, and serve as instructors in various subjects of the military academy for a long time.

Among them, Colonel Carl von Klester, who retired from the German General Staff three years ago, was highly respected and respected by Xiao Yimin. This senior colonel who had served in the Prussian Army and achieved great military achievements, served as the chief lecturer of tactics at the Berlin Military Academy. Finally, he retired from the Operations Department of the German General Staff. On the third day after he arrived in Chengdu, he impressed Xiao Yimin with his rigorous style and profound knowledge, and was immediately appointed as the chief instructor of the military academy by Xiao Yimin.

On October 1, West China Times and Sichuan Daily published special articles on important front pages, detailing the various situations of the Sichuan Army Officer School organized by the Sichuan Border Defense Army and recruiting students across the province. At the same time, the Sichuan Army Officer School’s admission brochure was published on the front page.

Brief introduction:

The first six majors of Sichuan Army Officers School will recruit 500 students, and the registration will be accepted from now on. The examination time will be October 18 and 19. Among them, 250 students will be recruited from the public and will be admitted to the best. The other 250 students will be selected and recommended by various departments of the Sichuan Army from active-duty soldiers. According to the actual needs of the Sichuan army and the moral education system, two types of academic systems will be set up. Outstanding graduates will be admitted to the moral education school for further studies.

Once the newspaper was published, it immediately caused a sensation. The huge investment and luxury camp of Xindaying outside the New West Gate were originally a topic that Sichuan people have been talking about for months. Now eight senior German military instructors and more than 20 well-known generals and schools in various provinces in China have arrived one after another, jointly coaching at the high-standard Sichuan Army Officer School. It is conceivable how attractive it is.

What made the soldiers and countless young students in the army yearn for is that Commander Xiao Yimin and Commander Xiao personally served as the principal of the Sichuan Army Officer's School!

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ps: I kept typing day and night, and the emperor was really exhausted at this moment... I miserably asked for automatic subscription and monthly tickets!
Chapter completed!