Yu Jishi took great care of Wu Ming. Over the past few months, he gave the newly recruited 10th Brigade a total of 300,000 yuan to replenish the military expenditure. The military pay of the officers and soldiers of the brigade was paid in full. Military uniforms, shoes, hats, weapons, ammunition, and supplies were all oversupply. Wu Ming also got twenty-four 60 mortars imitated by the Jinling Factory and four brand new American trucks back from the Quzhou Military Station.

After the encirclement and suppression in northeastern Jiangxi, Yu Jishi handed over all the wounded and sick to Wu Ming's troops who were responsible for logistics support, as before. More than 400 wounded and sick and more than 600 prisoners of the Red Army were also handed over to Changshan by Wu Ming's baggage officers and soldiers. Three brigades under his command, who had been fighting for more than three consecutive months, were stationed in Shangrao for rest. He himself led his confidant and brigade commanders of various brigades, followed the headquarters secret service regiment that escorted Fang Zhimin and other important figures, to Nanchang and report to Chiang Kai-shek.

Wu Ming's newly compiled report on the adjustment and appointment of officers at all levels of the 10th Brigade was also approved by Yu Jishi in writing before the Spring Festival. Wu Ming was deeply moved by this and respected Yu Jishi who was generous and trustworthy, and felt quite guilty. He wrote several letters in succession to express his gratitude to Yu Jishi.

In contrast, Wu Ming was not so polite to his brother-in-law Fang Youchun.

As the twelfth lunar month enters, Wu Ming returns to Changshan's home to the elderly almost every day. His wife has had supper together, and quietly buys back the sumptuous New Year's goods. He also prepares exquisite gifts for his sister-in-law, nephew and niece who go home to celebrate the festival during the Spring Festival. He is respectful and filial to the two elders, which makes the elderly very happy.

However, on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Fang Youchun and his family were about to return to Changshan's home for the New Year, Wu Ming "suddenly received an urgent military report" and had to "rush to Kaihua to handle military affairs." In addition, Wu Ming insisted on spending the New Year with his soldiers during the Spring Festival for several years, he would definitely not be able to come back for ten or eight days.

The two old people felt like a mirror in their hearts about Wu Ming's excuse, but they were not easy to pick them up. They could only sigh and let it go, hoping that their son Fang Youchun, who hurt his son-in-law's self-esteem, would put down his airs and take the initiative to make up for the damaged relationship between the two parties.

Only Fang Zhichun, who was stool, was relieved. She knew that her husband could not let go of his face and benefits, and had no resentment towards his elder brother Fang Youchun. She just wanted to give Fang Youchun a profound lesson and let him know that the official is not so easy to be a good official.

No matter how urgent the matter is, whether it is close or not, some official rules must be followed. Fang Youchun's so-called "selfless, upright" rough working methods will never be beneficial to his future career.

On the 29th day of the New Year, Fang Youchun and his family returned to their home in Changshan. They were very annoyed to learn that Wu Ming had left yesterday. However, after reading the "A preliminary study on the current situation and countermeasures of all industries in Quzhou" handed over by his sister Fang Zhichun, Fang Youchun was mixed with emotion and finally realized that his brother-in-law and brother Wu Ming had never resented him.

In the next three days, Fang Youchun, except for paying respects to his parents and having a reunion dinner in the morning, locked himself in the study room for the rest of the time, and repeatedly read the "A preliminary study on the current situation and countermeasures of all industries in Quzhou" with a total of 58 pages. The complete statistics and analysis, existing problems and response methods, overall decision-making and tax system, and specific solutions to how to recover and stimulate the development of industry and commerce as soon as possible, all made Fang Youchun suddenly realize, applauded several times, and finally ran to his parents to admit his mistakes, saying that he understood Wu Ming's good intentions.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the training base on the southern foot of Phoenix Mountain was full of joy.

The officers and soldiers took off their training and put on the yellow and green uniforms of the Central Army, and ran back and forth happily. The officers of the battalions and companies shouted to take out the best delicacies of mountains, sea, chickens, ducks, fish and meat to make the best meals. The officers and soldiers from various departments of the base hurriedly made various colorful flags and lanterns. Zhao Rongsheng, the director of the base with good calligraphy, raised a large wolf hair and wrote more than a dozen red slogans in succession. He happily ordered the brothers to post it on the bulletin board in front of each camp.

After Yu Jishi transferred the fourth regiment, Wu Ming transferred the Fifth Regiment, who was stationed in Kaihua County, to Jiangshan Jiaowei, and officially renamed it to the first regiment of the newly formed 10th Brigade.

The Second Regiment, composed of three battalions of new recruits, took over Kaihua defense. The direct spy company, the machine gun company, the engineering company, and the baggage company were officially upgraded to battalion. A large number of brothers were promoted with this adjustment and expansion. Among them, the former commander of the Fifth Regiment, Long Shaogang was promoted to deputy brigade commander, former deputy chief of staff Zhang Dongning was promoted to chief of staff, Luo Yuming, former deputy commander of the Fourth Regiment, was promoted to the current lieutenant colonel commander of the First Regiment, and Yang Sixian, the former deputy commander of the Fifth Regiment, was promoted to the newly formed lieutenant colonel commander of the Second Regiment.

Yin Dizhong, the former battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the Fifth Regiment, was promoted to two levels in a row and served as the lieutenant colonel leader of the newly-educated Fenghuangshan Base Teaching Regiment. With the assistance of the base director Zhao Rongsheng and various instructor groups, he led the 500 outstanding soldiers recommended by each regiment battalion to follow the Random Cannon Battalion to conduct more demanding tactical collaborative training.

According to Wu Ming's plan to build an army, before the end of 1935, the two main regiments must add a regiment-owned machine gun company, equipped with twelve heavy machine guns and eight mortars; each infantry company will add a mortar platoon and equipped with six 60 mortars that are self-imitated; each infantry platoon is under three squads, each squad has thirteen people, one squad leader and two squad leader, equipped with a Czech light machine gun, eight Mauser Nl4 rifles or Czech rifles, and two imitation Thomson submachine guns.

In order to achieve this goal as soon as possible, all regiments and battalions that have completed the adjustment are working hard. A large number of outstanding soldiers will enter the Phoenix Mountain Base to participate in a six-month rotation training before the internal confrontation exercises carried out in the fall. All platoon leaders will receive three months of training and improvement opportunities. Military ranks, military pay, and welfare benefits will also be adjusted according to the quality of the assessment.

In this way, not only did the enthusiasm of the officers and soldiers fully mobilized, but it was also a huge incentive and encouragement for the officers. The cunning Wu Ming added the word "agent" in front of most of the promoted officers, and the military rank was not linked to the new position. In this way, the officers of Wu Ming's troops, who were generally low in military rank, were anxious. If they did not work harder, they would not perform well in the internal confrontation exercises in the autumn. Not only would they lose face, they would not even be able to maintain their position as agent, and they would not expect to be promoted to the military rank and have more favorable benefits. If they were defeated, they might even be included in the list of rigorous staff officers in the brigade department.

Wu Ming stayed in the Fenghuang Mountain Military Camp for three days. On the afternoon of the second day of the Chinese New Year, he went to Ziyun Temple to raise a glass with his good brother Taoist Chengzong, and explained in detail about Chengyuan.

Chengzong had no choice but to do anything about his junior brother joining the army. Chengyuan ran away a few days ago and Chengzong reported to the master's sect. After waiting for the ancestral deacon for half a month, Chengyuan's master Bingzhen Zhenren had a reply letter. There was only one page of paper, and there were only four words on the paper: Let it go.

Until he left Ziyun Temple after drinking, Wu Ming did not tell Chengzong about Chengyuan's recent situation. The only person in the brigade was imprisoned on New Year's Eve. This guy was trained with the Third Guard Company for less than half a month and could not withstand the strict military discipline and marching exercises every day. He pestered Wu Ming and asked to go to Lu Kuiyuan's spy company for training.

Wu Ming thought about it and agreed. After all, this guy learned to learn literacy with his master since he could speak. Then he practiced martial arts for twelve years. Not only did he have a solid cultural foundation, he could write beautiful calligraphy, but he also had a high talent in martial arts practice. He was about 1.8 meters tall at the age of fifteen. He was as conspicuous as a crane in the Guards' Third Company, but he could learn anything. There was also a brigade commander standing behind him. He made a mistake and did not dare to punish the officers and soldiers of the Third Company of Guards' Third Company. In desperation, Wu Ming had to agree with his request and put him in the more difficult spy training.

This guy had only been training with the spy for a month and a half, and then ran back to Changshan military camp without hesitation. After all, he had to follow Wu Ming to learn. Lu Kuiyuan, who was strict in the military, sent three telegrams in a row, strongly demanding that Wu Ming punish Sun Chengyuan who "disobeyed the military order and escaped at the last minute", otherwise he would not be able to retire.

After Wu Ming learned about it, he realized that during the training, Lu Kuiyuan looked for opportunities to "train" Chengyuan many times. Unexpectedly, Chengyuan, who was laughing all day long, was not stumped, but gradually adapted. He caught up with both marksmanship and special skills, but he lacked a little in collaborative tactics, so he was caught by Lu Kuiyuan and took turns to "train" him.

The tenacious Chengyuan endured silently for half a month. Finally, during the bare-hand fighting training, he used three moves to knock Lu Kuiyuan, the top master of the brigade, unconscious. After finishing, he remembered the strict military laws and regulations of Wu Ming's army. He immediately found an excuse to escape from the special training base and repeatedly weighed the pros and cons of the whole way. Finally, he thought that Lu Kuiyuan did not dare to mention this ugly thing to his elder brother Wu Ming. So he not only did not admit his mistake to Wu Ming, but also lied that he had completed the training and learned the strategy of leading troops to fight with Wu Ming. Finally, he emphasized that it was best to follow his elder brother in order to increase his knowledge and experience.

Unexpectedly, after receiving a telegram from Lu Kuiyuan to learn the truth, Wu Ming was furious. What he was most taboo was that his brothers lie, and others could be treated lightly, but lying could not be forgiven. Therefore, Wu Ming pointed at Chengyuan's nose and scolded him, and immediately announced the punishment: imprisonment for seven days.

The brothers from all over the brigade were shocked. Not to mention that New Year’s Eve is coming, but only that who can bear the seven-day confinement that has never been seen in the founding of the army?

Squatting in the dark pit temporarily dug out, he was allowed to drink water and not eat. Ordinary officers and soldiers could not bear it for three days. The longest time in the history of the entire brigade was only five days and five nights. As a result, the unlucky platoon leader almost went crazy after he was released. Later, he received a severance payment and retired directly, and could not stay in the army at all.

When the brothers heard about it, they rushed to the brigade headquarters to plead for Chengyuan. Zhang Dongning directly called a telegram to the special training base. Lu Kuiyuan regretted it after receiving the news, and sent three more telegrams to ask Wu Ming to let him go. The last telegram threatened that he would not deal with Chengyuan lightly, and he was shameless to go down.

After receiving a telegram from Lu Kuiyuan, Wu Ming called Lu Kuiyuan in public: It’s not better to pull it down, get out of the army.

In this way, no one dared to plead for Chengyuan. All the brothers, including Chengyuan, finally saw Wu Ming's ruthless side under military law. In the end, Chengyuan admitted his mistakes in a regular manner and finally made a small request: "Can I dig a hole in the backyard of the brigade department and jump down by myself? It's embarrassing to be outside."

Although Wu Ming scolded you, he still felt embarrassed, but he finally agreed and ordered the judge of the army to supervise it himself. Chengyuan dug a three-meter-deep pit silently, and then jumped down by himself. From the 28th day of the New Year to now, he has never said a word inside.

At 10 a.m. on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, Zhang Dongning, the chief of staff who was on duty in the brigade department, sent a telegram to the Fenghuang Mountain base. The telegram was quickly sent to Wu Ming. Wu Ming was amused and crying after reading it.

The telegram reads: "Chengyuan's confinement has ended and is safe and sound. He smiled at the sky and jumped out of the deep pit, had a full meal, washed and changed his clothes, and went to the middle house of the city to pay New Year's greetings."
Chapter completed!