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Most of the 31st Mixed Brigade of the Beiyang Army, including an infantry regiment, an artillery battalion (only one mountain artillery company), a cavalry battalion (no horses), a baggage battalion, an engineering battalion, and a brigade battalion, with a total of more than two to three hundred officers and soldiers. Early in the morning on February 18, 1917, I packed my backpacks and prepared my luggage. The whole team left the military camp in Fengtai County. Walked to the Lugouqiao Railway Station in the northwest of Fengtai County, boarded the army that had been prepared long ago, and started a long expedition that most of them did not expect.

The train drove forward with long black smoke and "bang bang", heading east along the south of Beijing, gradually moving away from the city of the best in the Republic of China. The soldiers of the mixed brigade were squeezed into canned personnel carriers, sitting on thick straw, bragging and spanking and spending time. In addition to the most common dirty jokes on the ranks, the "Re-creation of the Republic" that just ended not long ago. It was this not a fierce war that transformed everyone from a new recruit who had never seen blood to a real warrior. For these young soldiers who seemed like newborn calf, that experience was still worth remembering.

However, at this moment, the senior executives of the 31st mixed brigade gathered in an ordinary passenger car were all solemnly surrounded by a densely packed military map of Shandong Province marked with red and blue pencils, whispering something. With them, there was an old man wearing a long gown, jacket, melon-shaped hat, and a big white braid hanging behind his head. It was Shi Xu, the minister of the Interior Affairs Office of the small court in the Forbidden City. Shi Xu's face was of course the ugly thing in this carriage. He listened to the surrounding Beiyang officers discussing Shandong bandits all the way, and his forehead was already sweating profusely, and even his calves were trembling slightly!

"This Shandong bandit disease is one of the best in the country. In the province of Shandong, it can be said that there is no area without bandits, and there is no one in a year that bandits have stopped."

"And the bandits in Shandong are more powerful and more capable than the bandits elsewhere! Because since the beginning of the Republic of China, generals from all walks of life have liked to recruit soldiers in Shandong, and most of the soldiers who were dismissed for various reasons have returned to Shandong to fall into trouble. These bandits have undergone regular military training, so their combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of regular troops!"

"From the map, the most serious bandits in Shandong are in the southern Shandong area. The bandits in southern Shandong are distributed in the Yishan and Mengshan areas centered on the Baodukou Mountains. According to the Shandong Supervisory Office, there are more than 50 bandits in Linyi alone! The smaller ones are hundreds of disciples, the middle ones are more than 1,000, and the larger ones are more than 1,000! It has even developed to the point of conquering prefectures and counties! In the fifth year of the Republic of China, the great bandits Mao Sizhong and Mao Siyu once led their troops to besiege Fengxian County, and attacked for seven days and seven nights!"

"Oh, what we are going to this time is the Yishan Mountain area! There are at least tens of thousands of bandits there! It is several times more than our people! It is estimated that the Red Brigade is one of the giant bandits! There are always more than ten thousand people and guns, so our job is probably not very easy to do......"

"Yes! Brigade Commander, those bandits are all desperate people! Governor Zhang's Fifth Division cannot be settled. Wouldn't our group of people beg for meat buns to beat dogs?"

"Well, it's still a big meat bun worth 250,000 taels of gold! If the news is leaked, I'm afraid that all the bandits in Shandong will have their ideas!"

After that, the senior officials and staff officers of the Mixed Brigade all stretched their faces and shook their heads and sighed! Our brigade commander Chang no longer had the enthusiasm to pat his chest and make a promise on Prince Chun's mansion, and his face turned as if he was ashen. At the end, he sighed and bowed to Shi Xu with a embarrassed look: "Sir, you have also seen that Shandong's bandits are rampant and our troops are limited. If we rashly enter Yishan, we are afraid that our team will lose some of it, but if we lose the gold, your emperor will have Long Yubintian!"

Shi Xu's eyebrows were frowning tightly, and he just sighed in a low voice: "But the emperor is still in their hands. If they get the gold one day later, the emperor will suffer another day!" At this point, Shi Xu's eyes were sore and tears remained.

"Well, yes, things are not easy to deal with." Chang Ruiqing also frowned and secretly glanced at Wu Shi on the side. Wu Shi snorted and spoke very rudely: "It is better to suffer one day than to lose your life! Lord Shi, this matter is not related to the life of your little emperor alone! I don't think about the lives of more than two thousand soldiers in the brigade?"

"Then, then, what should I do?" Shi Xu's head was a little big. He thought that he would be able to come to Shandong and pay the ransom to welcome the emperor, but he didn't expect that Chang Ruiqing, who was able to fight under the city of Beijing, was afraid of the bandits in Shandong! What should I do? Is he still "requesting troops" from Xuzhou and Jinan? Now it is not the Qing Dynasty! His official, who is in charge of the Minister of the Interior, is not good outside the Forbidden City. If he wants Zhang Wensheng and Zhang Huaizhi to send troops, he will have to spend another huge sum of money! The warehouse of the Interior, there is nothing in the warehouse, so where can I give them money?

At this moment, Lu Yixuan, the chief of staff of the Mixed Brigade, suddenly coughed lightly and reminded: "Brig Commander, why not go to Xuzhou first and expand the team there... Dingwu Army is now laying off troops, so we just took the opportunity to recruit some soldiers from the original Dingwu Army to join the army, and then go to Shandong to seize the opportunity to seize."

"But..." Shi Xu stayed on the spot. He had been an official for many years. After hearing Lu Yixuan's words, he had already realized that Chang Ruiqing and others were playing for him to show, but what was the purpose? He slowly turned his gaze to Chang Ruiqing. Chang Ruiqing's lips moved and smiled bitterly: "Sir Shi, brothers have no choice. Although the brothers' name is a great 31st Brigade, they are actually a group of soldiers, with only more than two thousand people, which cannot withstand consumption at all... That is the capital for Chang and his brothers to settle down, so they have to act carefully!"

Shi Xu kept cursing in his heart, but he could only nod his head slowly to Chang Ruiqing in shame. After a while, he heard Shi Xu speak in embarrassment: "... Brothers know the difficulties of the brigade commander, otherwise... let's ask for soldiers from Xuzhou. After all, Zhang Wenzheng has also been favored by the emperor and always thinks about the friendship of the former master... Of course, I will come forward to ask for soldiers, and in addition... I will find a way to raise a sum of money, which is a hard work for the brothers, and I only hope that the general can send troops as soon as possible."

This was almost a begging, but the warlord Chang looked indifferent. He shrugged: "Then please send a telegram to the Army Department and the Xuzhou Governor's Office. The brother's 31st Mixed Brigade was stationed in Zaozhuang first, and while expanding, he was waiting for the reply from General Zhang Wenzheng and the Army Department. At the same time, the brother sent Deputy Brigade Commander Wu and Mr. Meng to Yishan to explain the situation with the left leader of the Red Brigade... I guess he didn't want gold to be black, so he would rob him? Lord Shi, do you think this arrangement is OK?"

According to the original plan, Chang Ruiqing's 31st Mixed Brigade would take the train south to Zaozhuang County, Shandong, and then walk to Linyi County. After arriving in Linyi County, Meng Li would take Wu Shi, the deputy commander of the 31st Mixed Brigade, into the Yishan Mountain Area, to join the Red Brigade "entrenched" in that area, discuss the specific location for the delivery of gold and the troops escorting gold, etc. However, this plan was only used to deal with the Qingshi and Xu Shuzheng. Chang Ruiqing had no intention of bringing gold and quietly entering the Yimeng Mountain Area... In this matter, we should still mess up the water and involve the warlords in Shandong and Xuzhou. At that time, the whereabouts of gold will be unclear.

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