The air inside was as quiet as if it was dead. Zhang Guotao weighed Huang Baopei's last words. However, the eyes of both of them met without any concession.

Behind his toughness on the surface, Zhang Guotao couldn't help feeling a little weak...

As the saying goes, the senior official level is to crush people to death! He, the deputy political commissar, was suppressed by Huang Baopei, the political commissar, and almost all the officers in power in the team are from the Red Brigade. He is not Huang Baopei's person? If this Guangdong man really makes a fuss, he might actually pull himself out and collapse with an order!

After the breathless depression, Huang Baopei suddenly smiled.

This is probably the difference between ordinary people and heroes in history? Although he has the advantage, Huang Baopei still chose to explain the situation patiently.

"Kaiyin, I understand your thoughts. You want to maintain an available armed force for the party. But you probably don't know yet that our party is much stronger than you think! Our Comrade Zuomin also has another identity, he is a warlord with three elite divisions and a province's territory! A team of three or four thousand is not very effective in the cause of our party. Instead, it is crucial for us to make friends with strong aids like the Bolsheviks in Russia!"

He talked freely, but Zhang Guotao was surprised and happy. He stood up and walked a few steps, then sat down heavily, took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a sip: "A Beiyang warlord! There are three divisions and one province. Wouldn't that mean that the revolution of our party will soon be victorious?"

"It's not that easy!" Huang Baopei sighed softly: "China is now internal and external troubles! Comrade Zuomin uses a province and a group of three divisions to contact other revolutionary and progressive forces to defeat the warlords and eliminate internal troubles. However, internal and external troubles are often united, and the imperialist powers are around, manipulating warlords, and constantly eroding our land and rights. Once China has signs of rejuvenation of unity, they will inevitably interfere heavily, and we will be attacked from both sides!"

"That is Comrade Zuomin who asked us to come to Russia. Want to gain strong foreign aid by supporting the Bolshevik revolution?" Zhang Guotao's brain was indeed very useful, and after a moment of thinking, he guessed Chang Ruiqing's intention.

Huang Baopei focused on the following: "Looking at the great powers of all countries, they have the greatest ambitions and the greatest threat to China. They are Japan and the former Tsarist Russia! These two countries are China's neighbors and may send troops to China to interfere in the Chinese revolution. After all, China's revolutionary army is not an opponent of imperialist powers like Japan and Russia. The only way is to build Japan and one of the two countries."

Zhang Guotao frowned: "Is the Russian Provisional Government not OK?"

Huang Baopei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The Russian Provisional Government is a feather with British, French, Japanese and other imperialism. If they master Russia, Russia will inevitably follow Britain and France, and Britain and France also do not want to see China unite and get rid of its semi-colonial status! These Bolsheviks are radical and hold high the banner of world revolution. Taking self-reported as the leader of the world revolution, such a regime must not be tolerated by the British and French powers! Therefore, Britain and France do not support the Bolsheviks at present."

Zhang Guotao nodded slightly: "I understand! Once the Bolsheviks are in power, they will definitely turn against Britain and France, and they will even want to export revolutions to Europe, so they will not follow Britain and France to oppose the Chinese revolution. If we strongly support the Bolsheviks now, they may also support our party in seizing Chinese power in the future!"

Huang Baopei stood up, walked to Zhang Guotao, leaned over in his ear, and whispered: "Before I left China, I had discussed in depth with Comrade Zuo Min the biggest threat to the future Chinese revolution - Japan is likely to seize Manchuria when the revolutionary war in China is in the event of a revolutionary war! Therefore, the new revolutionary regime is likely to be going to fight against the Japanese invaders! We need allies like Red Russia."

Zhang Guotao's face was a little worried: "But the Bolshevik Party's engineer Soviet has been suppressed by the provisional government. Even Lenin escaped from Russia. The situation in Russia is probably ****?"

Huang Baopei took out Chang Ruiqing's telegram from his pocket and handed it to Zhang Guotao: "Comrade Zuomin believes that unless the Russian Provisional Government can lead Russia out of the war, the Bolsheviks will definitely win this struggle!"

"Exit the war?" Zhang Guotao grinned and shook his head: "I'm not attending a war or a dinner party. Where is it that easy to quit? Even if the Russians shouted to stop, the Germans still attacked? And now the United States has declared war on Germany, and it's only a matter of time before the Allies win the war. How could Russia withdraw at this time?"

Huang Baopei sneered: "So Comrade Zuomin asserted that the Provisional Government would not withdraw from the war, and the Bolsheviks could definitely use the war-weariness of the Russian people to win the regime! So now we should try our best to show kindness to the Bolsheviks. Kaiyin. It's getting late now, so let's go into the city to find Comrade Stalin."

****??

And at this moment, somewhere in Shanghai, China, thousands of miles away, there were also several people discussing the future situation in Southeast China with the Japanese invaders.

The conversation was on the lawn of a garden villa. Handfuls of colorful parasols were already spread out around, and dining tables were set up. The chef wearing a white hat was busy placing various Chinese and Western delicacies in place. There were also servants and maids wearing white tops and holding wine plates in their hands, standing neatly. It seemed that an open-air cocktail party was about to begin.

The two newcomers have not yet appeared, and there are only some early guests on the lawn. The elders of the Lu family greeted and laughed together in groups of three or three.

Chang Ruiqing also appeared at the reception early in the morning, holding a glass of champagne in his hand, and surrounded by Lu Yongxiang, Lu Yixuan, Okamura Yanji, Lu Yongxiang's military adviser, Japanese military officer Matsui Ishione, and brigade commander He Fenglin from Zhejiang, who came from Zhejiang.

"Everyone! Let us toast to the marriage between the two families of Changlu and our unity in Shanghai, Fujian and Zhejiang!"

The person who spoke was the bride's father Lu Yongxiang. The governor of Zhejiang who came now had an unconcealed smile. Not only did he finally find the Ruyi Langjun for his unruly and willful fourth daughter, but he was also very excited because of the Fujian-Zhejiang-Shanghai Alliance built on the Changlu marriage. In his opinion, Chang Ruiqing's Fujian Province, no matter from any perspective, could not compare with Zhejiang and Shanghai, so the leader of the Fujian-Zhejiang-Shanghai Alliance here must be himself!

He Fenglin shouted: "The direct army has the three governors of the Yangtze River, and now the coalition commander has the Fujian, Zhejiang and Shanghai alliance, which is enough to fight against them! Now, Li Xiushan from Jiangsu dares to read his fucking soldiers in Nanjing City every few days?"

Although he was the brigade commander of the Fourth Division, his relationship with Lu Yongxiang was extremely close. The two families had already formed relatives, and Lu Yongxiang had already given him the next escort of the Songhu Guard. At this moment, he had already regarded himself as Lu Yongxiang's subordinate and called "Lianzheng" one by one: "Lianzheng. If the next time Li dares to send any peaceful telegrams, we will also send a telegram to oppose him in the name of the Fujian-Zhejiang-Shanghai Alliance! If he is not convinced, we might as well send troops to attack! How could his sixth division beat the five divisions of our Fujian-Zhejiang-Shanghai divisions?" As he said that, he turned his head to Chang Ruiqing and said, "Yaoru, do you think this is the reason?"

Hearing He Fenglin's big talk, Chang Ruiqing turned his eyes to Lu Yongxiang and said with a smile: "The younger generation is naturally the leader of the Jiashang horse, but the three governors of the Yangtze River are one. If we want to move Li Xiushan in Jiangsu, Chen Guangyuan in Jiangxi, and Wang Zichun from Hubei, probably wouldn't sit idly by the way? By the way, there is also Cao Zhongshan from Zhili. His third division is the elite of our Beiyang No. 1. The younger generation's three Fujian divisions probably can't deal with a third division!"

He Fenglin sneered and was about to refute him, but Lu Yongxiang spoke lightly: "Yaoru's words make sense. Even if we have the Fujian-Zhejiang-Shanghai Alliance, we can only protect ourselves for the time being... After all, we are not only the Third Governor of the Yangtze River, but also Guangdong and Guangxi! Yaoru, the Democratic Party in Fujian is still quite honest recently?"

Chang Ruiqing shook his head and said lightly: "Why are you honest? Fujian is the territory of the Democratic Party, and the officials in the local area are all from the Democratic Party. Brothers are now trying to replace them all. Do you think they can be honest? Yongchun, the Democratic Party in Shaxian is already ready to move. Seeing another military disaster!"

In history, Lu Yongxiang was actually a bit older than the elders. When he heard that the situation in Fujian was unstable, he kindly reminded him: "Yaoru, you are still a little tiring about doing things. For local forces, you should still focus on winning over and exploiting them too much. Nowadays, autonomy is popular in all regions, so we should adapt. I believe that people's hearts always know good or bad things. We are good to the local people. Over time, people's hearts in the local people will be towards us!"

Chang Ruiqing smiled bitterly in his heart. Lu Yongxiang has been in Zhejiang and Shanghai for nearly ten years. According to historical records, it is still good for the local area and has not imposed levies like warlords elsewhere. His Beiyang Army is considered to be strict in military discipline. But later he was still betrayed by the local snakes in Zhejiang to Sun Chuanfang?

In fact, in the history of the Republic of China, the most successful forces were those who exploited the local people's power and financial resources! A certain party was a typical example. It once mobilized more than 200,000 troops with a Fujian-Jiangxi base area with a population of two or three million! The kind of warlord group that really wanted to rest with the people and wanted to benefit the people would not end well...

Chang Ruiqing shook his head and said, "Jiashuai, I think that China's current national conditions cannot implement local autonomy, because most of the local tyrants now have their own troops! The so-called autonomy is not based on public opinion, but on the guns of the powerful! Such autonomy is nothing more than local separatism. It is not only unfavorable to our stability of the situation in a province, but also does not benefit the ordinary people in the local area! Therefore, the policy of the younger generation in Fujian is to take over local governments in a comprehensive manner and implement centralized management of the provincial government... As for the resistance of those local tyrants, I still decided to suppress it with force! The problems facing China now can only be solved by guns!"

Chang Ruiqing was already majestic and looked like a barbaric warlord! Now he was shouting and beating and killing again, which made the few people around him frown.

However, Chang Ruiqing seemed to be unaware of it and was still talking there: "The powerful people in those places controlled so many civilian troops and militia groups, and the total number was more than the soldiers we had! These soldiers also had to eat, wear and pay, and those civilian troops also had to make money. Where did the money come from? Are you still exploiting the local government? If we can completely control the local government and suppress all the disobedient local forces, we can take the interests that were originally taken away by local tyrants.

The junior’s Minister of Finance has already roughly estimated it. If the junior can get the land tax, lijin, commercial taxes and various levies that were originally intercepted by the local government, and various levies, it would be no problem to increase taxes of more than 10 million yuan each year! If we can save some money, we can use the financial resources of Fujian Province to support ten divisions! Then, we will have enough weapons and ammunition to equip these troops, so that the troops of Fujian Province will be enough to pacify the southwest!"

With a military force like Fujian, a not-so-rich province that raises the 10th Division, what does it have to scrape the ground into? After hearing Chang Ruiqing's bold statement, the two warlords Lu Yongxiang and He Fenglin looked at each other and couldn't help but feel sympathy for the villagers of Fujian Province in their hearts.

But the two Japanese devils took a breath at the same time. If Fujian could mobilize 10 divisions, wouldn’t China be able to mobilize two or three hundred divisions? There are so many troops, not to mention equipment like the Japanese army, as long as they have the most basic rifles, machine guns and mountain cannons, it is also a force that cannot be underestimated! In fact, China’s huge population is their strongest war potential...

"Mr. Matsui, consultant Okamura." Chang Ruiqing smiled at this time and spoke to the two Japanese devils: "I and Lu Jiashuai have long discussed the integration of the Fujian Manufacturing Bureau and the Shanghai Arsenal into a large military industry group... The main products of this new military industry group will be light infantry equipment such as rifles, machine guns, mountain cannons, mortars, machine rifles bullets, artillery shells, grenades, etc.! The output is enough to supply 20 infantry divisions to fight, so the arsenals in Shanghai and Fuzhou need to purchase a large amount of machinery and equipment, and also need to introduce some weapon manufacturing technology and technology. I wonder if Japan can provide it?"

When they heard that a big business came to their door, the two Japanese devils looked at each other. During this period, the great powers had not yet implemented an embargo on China, so as long as China was willing to pay, they could buy weapons, equipment and technology for producing weapons. Of course, they could not buy truly advanced things!

"General Yaoru means... the future Zhong** Industrial Group will adopt Japanese equipment and technology, and its weapons and ammunition are also Japanese-style?" Matsui Ishione asked hesitantly, as if he didn't believe that such a good thing came to his door!

To be honest, Japanese goods in China have not had a good reputation in this era. Most of China's major arsenals purchase German equipment and use German standards. In the "Twenty-One" signed by Japan in the past two years, there were terms for China to purchase Japanese weapons and equipment, which was a bit of a forced purchase!

Chang Ruiqing turned his eyes to Matsui, shrugged, and smiled and said, "It's natural to compare the products. If the equipment provided by Japan is good and cheap, why don't we adopt it? Besides, Japan and China are now in an alliance."

Lu Yongxiang also echoed: "Most of the equipment of the Fujian Manufacturing Bureau and the Shanghai Arsenal are old and the weapons are already lagging behind. The initial idea is to introduce equipment and technology from France or Japan. Bishop Du Paul of the Catholic Church is Yaoru's good friend and has helped contact the Schneider Company of France... The European war is about to end. At that time, France's huge military industry will have many production capacity to be compressed, which is our opportunity to purchase equipment at a low price. However, considering the traditional friendship between China and Japan, I suggest Yaoru give priority to using Japanese goods."

"Yaoru General." Okamura Yasuji smiled faintly and took over the topic: "I believe you also know that their French and German ordnances are designed and produced according to the European body shape and requirements of the European battlefield. They are not necessarily suitable for Asians and Asian battlefields, right? On the contrary, our Japanese weapons and equipment are improved and redesigned according to the actual situation in Asia after introducing European technology, so they are the most suitable for the needs of the Chinese team."

Chang Ruiqing knew that what Okamura Yasuji said was not false. Some of the Japanese weapons and equipment, such as the Type 38 rifle, Meiji 38-year-old mountain cannon, and later Type 92 infantry cannons and grenade launchers, were actually very suitable for the Chinese battlefield... Of course, the Japanese also had many very bad weapon designs, so it is impossible to introduce them in full. The best solution is to introduce some options.

Thinking of this, he smiled slightly: "After the merger between the Fujian Manufacturing Bureau and the Shanghai Arsenal is completed, a large-scale recruitment of commercial stocks will be carried out. It is expected that 10 million yuan of shares will be recruited within three months, and a bidding meeting for equipment procurement will be held... At that time, experts from all walks of life will participate and a comprehensive and fair evaluation of the bids submitted by merchants from various countries will be conducted. I am looking forward to the participation of Japanese armed enterprises."

As Chang Ruiqing finished speaking, the sound of the wedding march rang. It turned out that Chang Ruiyuan and Miss Lu Si had already come out. An engagement ceremony that concerns the future trend of the Southeast China situation has finally begun...

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