Chen Tianhua later figured out that the Hangzhou Police Department was a temporary government office that introduced a new concept of Western urban defense.

In fact, this is a reason for the New Army to participate in local power struggles.

The New Army in the Huai Army was affiliated to the General Staff of the Prime Minister's Office of the Qing government. In fact, it had always been under the jurisdiction of Li Hongzhang. It was in the nature of a central army. Provincial governors, including governors, had no power to control or deploy.

The patrol battalion was formed by the merger of the original green battalion and regiment training. It belongs to the local army and is responsible for local public security, city defense and other matters. Only the provincial governor has the right to deploy it.

But the contradiction is that the New Army's military expenditures are required to be borne by the provincial government-level finance where the troops are garrisoned.

Now the governor and magistrates were not happy about it. How could they just pay money and not be able to do anything about it?

The governor's yamen of many provinces and the prefecture's yamen in various places acted in an obedient manner and often defaulted on arrears or even under-allocated military expenditures for the New Army.

To this end, Li Hongzhang asked the New Army to participate in local security, which is the so-called city defense, and established government agencies such as the Police Department, which were ostensibly subordinate to the governor. The purpose was to make the governor voluntarily pay his own money to solve the New Army's military expenditure problem.

The Hangcheng Police Station is located next to the Zhejiang Governor's Office, which is equivalent to the first headquarters of the Huai Army in Hangzhou.

There are two battalions under the banner, each with four teams. The teams are distributed in several developed areas in the province. In addition to Hangzhou Prefecture, there are also troops stationed in Shaoxing Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture and other places.

These garrison expenses have to be paid by each magistrate's office.

In Hangzhou Prefecture, the first bid actually only had three teams. Adding a bid department, there were only five to six hundred men and guns.

It took about forty minutes to walk from the south bank of Yunsi River to the Governor's Yamen.

At this time, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday. According to the new regulations of the Qing Dynasty, tomorrow is a holiday.

Today is the weekend, and the petty officials in the government office have begun to leave home.

The Yamen of the Police Station is a large courtyard with three not too big houses: a three-story main building, and two bungalows next to it. There are also many stables around, where many war horses are kept.

There are sentries inside the courtyard and they are heavily guarded.

Li Shuzhen got off the sedan at the door and let the bearers go back first. After she showed a green special pass to the gate guard, she took Chen Tianhua in.

Who does she know in the Yamen of the Police Station, which is the first standard department of the New Army?

Could it be Biaotong, Li Biaotong?

Chen Tianhua was vaguely guessing.

"Hua Zhi, from now on, you are my lover, do you understand?" Walking to the center of the courtyard, Li Shuzhen said to Chen Tianhua in a deep voice.

"Love?" Chen Tianhua was shocked.

He still doesn't quite understand, what does a lover mean in the late Qing Dynasty?

Husband, fiancé, or boyfriend.

Seeing Chen Tianhua's stunned look again, Li Shuzhen said angrily: "They are just like Wenxiong and Yingshi, idiots."

"Oh...I understand, it's the kind of free love relationship, right?"

Chen Tianhua immediately responded.

"Well, let's go in." Li Shuzhen smiled and walked towards the main building.

Li Shuzhen is a new-school woman. She must also be disgusted with arranged marriages and pursue free love.

She said that Chen Tianhua was the one she loved, so it was possible for her family to help him.

That's the reason.

Then I will pretend to be Miss Li's lover for once.

Chen Tianhua vaguely felt that this matter had become complicated. I didn't know if he was happy or worried about the future.

There were soldiers working in the building. When they saw a male and a female non-soldiers going up to the third floor, they all looked surprised.

Li Shuzhen walked straight to the third floor without squinting, and stopped in front of a room in the middle of the corridor.

"Deacon Sun." She knocked on the door a few times with her hand and groaned in a low voice.

Behind a desk inside, sat a man in uniform dressed like Captain Li.

He was reading something like a notice with his head down. When someone called him, he suddenly raised his head and said in surprise: "Miss Third, why are you here?"

Deacon Sun stood up and gave Li Shuzhen a Western-style military salute with raised hands.

He was about thirty years old, mighty and majestic, and he was from a military background.

The deacons in the new army in the late Qing Dynasty were the aide-de-camp often seen in later films and TV dramas.

The official rank is not high, but the power is great.

"I came here to see my dad about something."

"Unfortunately, the commander-in-chief has gone to the governor's office. What do you want to do with him?"

As Deacon Sun was talking, he suddenly found a young man standing at the door. His words stopped suddenly and his face changed.

He turned around and asked Li Shuzhen doubtfully: "Miss Third, you brought him in?"

"Yes, he is my lover. His surname is Chen, his first name is Tianhua, and his courtesy name is Huazhi... This is Sun Yong, Deacon Sun." Li Shuzhen introduced them to each other generously.

Chen Tianhua was slightly startled, then hurriedly took two steps forward, bowed his hands and bowed, saying, "Chen Tianhua, I have met the deacon."

"Yes...it's Mr. Chen. Nice to meet you." Sun Yong stood at attention and raised his hand, giving a not-so-standard salute in confusion.

He was also thinking about the meaning of the lover introduced by the third lady.

Mr. Biao Tong had three boys and three girls in his life, but he loved his third daughter, Li Shuzhen, very much.

But the third young lady, Li Shuzhen, is definitely not married. She probably hasn't even finalized the marriage yet. A few days ago, she heard Mr. Biao Tong nagging him unhappily.

This lover is probably the fiancé that Miss Li Shuzhen found herself. She brought him here for Master Biaotong to meet him.

The young man in front of me is handsome, tall and straight, and he looks noble in his attire, which is quite good.

"It's like this, Deacon Sun. Hua Zhi was sailing back to Shaoxing today. He was intercepted and detained by the New Army at the canal wharf leaving the city. He was also beaten and scolded by the soldiers. This is too much."

After the introduction, Li Shuzhen immediately got to the point.

"So Mr. Chen is from Shaoxing?"

Sun Yong immediately thought that the young lady had been teaching in a school in Shaoxing Prefecture for the first half of the year. He probably only met Mr. Chen recently.

"Reporting to Deacon Sun, Hua Zhi is from Shaoxing."

"Is the person who intercepted you the team officer named Li?"

"Yes, that team officer's surname is Li." Chen Tianhua replied.

"Hey, when you were detained, why didn't you tell me that you were a young lady?"

When Sun Yong talked about his lover, he found it difficult to express, so he omitted the word "love".

It was also difficult for him to understand the behavior of the new-school figures.

"Hey, this is the first time I've encountered this kind of thing. I don't dare to use the name of young lady rashly, for fear of affecting the reputation of Mr. Biaotong."

Chen Tianhua replied slightly sadly.

She thought to herself: If I had known that Li Shuzhen’s father was Master Biaotong, how could I have waited until now without pretending to be a coward?

"What should we do now?" Li Shuzhen asked anxiously.

"Don't rush this matter. I'll handle it. Miss Third, please go downstairs first and wait for me in the courtyard. I'll call the guards and go down immediately." Sun Yong replied.

"Okay..." Li Shuzhen pulled Chen Tianhua down to the courtyard.

Only a few minutes later, a group of guards came out from the bungalow on the left side of the main building, about one shift, all wearing military uniforms.

Behind the police station is the pier on the west bank of the Yunsi River, which is also the exclusive pier for the governor's Yamen.

There were several military speedboats parked on the pier. Sun Yong took two guards and escorted Li Shuzhen and Chen Tianhua onto one speedboat, while ten other guards boarded the other.
Chapter completed!