Chen Zikun arrived at the Xiaguan Wharf, Nanjing with Chief of Staff Yan Su, Captain Xue Bin and a platoon of guards on a boat. As soon as the ship got on the pier, he heard the military band on the shore start playing. The long red carpet was laid on the ground, as if it was the standard to welcome the VIPs.

"Are you welcoming me?" Chen Zikun and Yan Su looked at each other. He was just a major general-level military escort. He was not qualified to enjoy such treatment, whether it was reasonable or reasonable, but at this time, the only one of his own boats was docked, and it was impossible to welcome others.

Since he came, he would be at peace. Chen Zikun tidied up his military uniform and got off the boat calmly. When he walked onto the red carpet, he found a soldier with a short figure standing opposite him, with a big dress, a ribbon and a sword, one eye was slanted, his face was full of smiles, and three golden stars were on his shoulder stamp.

Qi Xieyuan, the inspector of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, actually came to greet him in person! Chen Zikun was very surprised. You must know that Qi Xieyuan is an experienced direct general who is on par with Wu Peifu. He has a much higher qualification than him. Even the governor of a province is still a minor in front of him, not to mention that he is the newly released Jiangbei Guardian.

Chen Zikun was very quick-witted. There must be something wrong with the other party’s welcome to him with such a high standard. He quickly stepped forward to pay a visit: “Fu Shuai, I kowtow to you.” He was about to kowtow.

Qi Xieyuan quickly helped him: "Nephew Kunwu, what are you doing? Get up quickly."

Chen Zikun said: "The Fushun is busy with military affairs, why should you come here?"

Qi Xieyuan said: "You are Brother Ziyu's Qianlijiao, our direct rising star. A brigade of men made Sun Kaiqin lose his armor. I am anxious to see you, a brave general, haha."

Chen Zikun also laughed, but said in his heart that if you have nothing to do, you will definitely not be kind to me.

After some greetings, Qi Xieyuan took Chen Zikun's hand into his own car and rushed all the way to the city. On the car, Qi Xieyuan asked about some of the battles with the provincial army not long ago, and praised Chen Zikun for being young and promising, and using troops as a god.

Chen Zikun and his entourage were arranged to stay in an extremely elegant garden in downtown Nanjing. That night, Qi Xieyuan held a banquet to entertain officials from all walks of life, the Anhui military supervisor, the Jiangxi military affairs supervisor, the Fujian-Guangdong border defense supervisor, and the Jiangsu army generals gathered in the Lion Building.

The Zhili generals gathered together and were drunk. Qi Xieyuan praised Chen Zikun again, praising him as the number one general under Yu Shuai's command. This time, the Southeast Army was a good time to show off. Everyone changed their minds and flattered Chen Zikun. Chen Zikun relied on drinking two more glasses of wine, and was proud. He didn't refuse any of them, but he actually got drunk.

After the banquet, Chen Tiaoyuan sent his sworn brothers back to his residence. After drinking a bowl of sobering soup, Chen Zikun sobered up a little and praised: "Fusu Shuai is so hospitable. In the past, I was not drunk for a thousand cups, but today I was so tall."

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "Where are you? I often drink white wine. This daughter from the south is more likely to get angry. By the way, do you know where you live?"

Chen Zikun said: "What other allusions do you have in this garden?"

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "The garden is called Zhanyuan. In the past, it was the residence of Xu Da, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing lived here. Looking at the entire Jiangnan, the garden is also first-class."

Chen Zikun said in surprise: "Where do everyone else live?"

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "The governors and representatives of all provinces live in hotels, but you are the only one who takes special care of me. Fushuai heard that you came back from studying in the United States. He was afraid that you would not be accustomed to Jiangnan cuisine, so he hired a Western restaurant chef from Shanghai to cook specialty for you for foreigners."

Chen Zikun sighed: "How can I repay the coach for treating me so well?"

Chen Tiaoyuan said: "It's getting late, I'm going back. I'm going to have a good rest. There is still a military meeting to be held tomorrow." After that, he picked up his military cap and left.

Yan Su sent Chen Tiaoyuan out of the gate, and when he came back, he found Chen Zikun paced back and forth in the room with a sneer on the corner of his mouth.

"Advisor, aren't you drunk?" Yan Su said.

"Qi Xieyuan's ** Tang Guanbu drunk me. I have guessed what he had to do." Chen Zikun smiled.

Yan Su smiled and said, "Qi Xieyuan wants us to restrain Sun Kaiqin, so he can do his best to deal with Lu Yongxiang."

Chen Zikun said: "I'm afraid it's more than that..."

...

The military meeting was officially held the next day. Qi Xieyuan formed the "anti-rebellion army" and served as the commander-in-chief. His troops were divided into five routes. The first route was composed of elite Soviet troops, mainly attacking Shanghai, the second route was led by Chen Tiaoyuan, and adopted a defensive position in Yixing, and the third route was led by Anhui Army to attack Guangde, Zhejiang. These first three routes were led by Qi Xieyuan himself.

The fourth route was commanded by Sun Chuanfang, the Fujian-Guangdong Border Defense Supervisor, and led his troops and a division of the Jiangxi Army, and attacked Zhejiang from Xianxia Pass.

The fifth route was commanded by Chen Zikun, the commander of the Jiangbei Guardian Army, and led his troops to attract the Jiangdong Provincial Army and prevented Sun Kaiqin from assisting Lu Yongxiang.

All the generals took their own orders. Chen Zikun was a competing with Qi Xieyuan and Sun Chuanfang at a young age. He served as the commander of the journey. He was even more proud and even a little arrogant.

After the meeting, Qi Xieyuan found Chen Zikun and had a heart-to-heart talk.

"My wise nephew Kunwu, whether this rebellion is successful depends on you. Lu Yongxiang is entrenched in Zhejiang and has the support of Shanghai's financial resources. He has strong troops and excellent weapons. It is really difficult to deal with. Although we are a five-way army with hundreds of thousands of troops, our strength is actually very limited."

Chen Zikun said: "There is no need to worry about the coach, but our army lacks food, fodder and ammunition, and I'm afraid we won't last for a few days."

Qi Xieyuan said: "I have planned this for a long time. One hundred thousand oceans, one thousand rifles, and two hundred thousand bullets have been loaded on the ship. I will take it with you when my nephew returns."

Chen Zikun was overjoyed: "Thank you Fushuai, I will leave it to me."

Qi Xieyuan patted Chen Zikun's shoulder and said, "Young people are so terrifying. After successfully dealing with Lu Yongxiang this time, I recommend you to be the Huaijiang Passenger and go to another level."

"Thank you, Fushuai!" Chen Zikun stood up, stood attentively and saluted.

Qi Xieyuan bowed with a smile: "I wish you success."

After seeing off Qi Xieyuan, Chen Zikun sneered: "The Huaijiang Inspection Commissioner wants to send me away, so who will do the Jiangdong Governor?"

Yan Su said, "Qi Xieyuan's battle was successful, let us be cannon fodder, and he would both lose money when fighting with Sun Kaiqin. He would take the opportunity to occupy the territory of Jiangdong Province."

Chen Zikun said: "Who cares about that when fighting? I not only want to be the governor of Jiangdong Province, but also the envoy of the Songhu Guard!"

Yan Su said: "Will the firearm funds given by Qi Xieyuan be collected?"

"Cake it, of course, we are helping him fight after all, why don't you?"

...

Chen Zikun returned from Nanjing with a full load, with 320,000 taels of silver raised from the bottom of the well and 100,000 oceans given by Qi Xieyuan. His military expenditure was extremely sufficient. The mortars and portable machine guns imported from the United States were equipped with troops, and the military strength increased greatly.

However, the intelligence from the provincial capital was not optimistic. Since the defeat of the provincial army last time, Sun Kaiqin has replaced a group of incompetent officers. Old foxes like Nie Jinku have been cut off and replaced by young and promising young and strong sects. Among them, the brigade-level chief officers have basically attended military academy, and many even graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School.

The provincial army recruited 20,000 new troops, all with new guns and artillery, and the total number of troops reached as many as 60,000, which was ten times more than the Jiangbei Army. There was also a natural danger in the Huai River. If you want to cross the river and attack it, your chances of victory were very small.

On the other hand, Chen Zikun's troops were all composed of bandits. Although they had strong combat power, they lacked experience in positional warfare and tough battles, and their discipline was even more scattered. They were okay to fight with the wind. If there were any setbacks, the entire army would collapse. Moreover, the weapons were mainly machine guns and rifles, with few artillery, and they had severely lacked suppression firepower, so they could not fight against the four artillery regiments of the provincial army.

Even so, Chen Zikun raised the banner of the Fifth Route to fight against rebellion, temporarily established the Jiangbei Army Quick Encyclopedia Academy, provided military training for officers above the platoon, and adapted a part of the pistol battalion into a military police company, responsible for pursuing military discipline.

The two regiments of the military farming have been withdrawn. The entire army is arranged along the Huai River. They organize soldiers to learn swimming in the river every day. Zeng Jiao collected a large number of sailboats and sampans, gathered on the shore, and looked like they wanted to cross the river.

Jiangbei was preparing for troops, and Jiangnan was frightened. All three divisions and five mixed brigades of the provincial army were sailing to the south bank, ready to attack the invading enemy at any time. The gunboats of the Water Police Corps also came, patrolling the Huai River day and night to strictly prevent the Northern Army from crossing the river. There were also two-plane aircraft of the Jiangdong Provincial Air Force flying and reconnaissance in Jiangbei.

In late August, news came from the provincial capital that Lu Yongxiang, He Fenglin and Sun Kaiqin formed the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai coalition forces, and Lu Yongxiang served as the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces to fight against Qi Xieyuan's rebellion. At the same time, Zhang Zuolin from Fengtian issued a telegram saying that once a war occurs in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he will be sent to the south and enter the customs to help. Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou also issued a telegram to express his support to Lu Yongxiang, saying that if the war begins, he will send troops to the north.

Former Anhui masters also gathered in Shanghai. Xu Shuzheng, Qu Tongfeng and others summoned old troops to train new troops. The Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau worked overtime to produce machine guns, rifles, artillery and various ammunition, and armed the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai coalition forces.

War is about to break out.

In the Jiangbei Guardian Envoy Office, a military meeting is being held. It is already September and the weather is still hot and hard. The cicadas on the big locust tree kept shouting, which makes people extremely bored.

Chief of Staff Yan said: "Lu Yongxiang was attacked from all sides, and Zhang Yuan was outside the pass. The far waters could not relieve his near thirst. Sun Wen was harassed by Chen Jiongming and had no useful direct troops in his hands. The Northern Expedition was just empty talk. In my opinion, the chances of victory in this rebellion army are very high. Zhejiang and Shanghai are sooner or later. Unfortunately, we have attracted most of the troops in Jiangdong Provincial Army for him. It is very likely that we will not get a share of the pie."

Chen Zikun said: "Just just because our brigade wants to cross the river and defeat the provincial army, it is purely a dream. Qi Xieyuan also expected this. He just asked us to restrain Sun Kaiqin. As long as he succeeded in the Shanghai front, he would immediately send troops to capture Jiangdong. They would make a fortune, and at most he would give me a false title of the Huaijiang Passenger."

Yan Su said: "The guardian can see through thoroughly, how should we deal with it?"

Chen Zikun said: "I have a solution for a long time, where is the Chief of Staff?"

Su Qingyan, who had not appeared in Nantai for a long time, said: "The ship has already docked on the dock."

Chen Zikun led everyone to the dock and saw a bulk steam cargo ship with the British rice flag parked quietly by the river.

"How many people can this ship carry?" Chen Zikun asked.

"It's a good idea to pretend." Su Qingyan said.
Chapter completed!