Chapter 4, The Army Ministry

  Wu Shaotong politely declined, saying: "I still have to rush to the government office to report, and once everything is settled, I'll be the host again and invite you all."

  Hu Hanmin spoke on behalf of Wu Shaozhong, saying: "Zhen has been away for many years, crossing the ocean and traveling far. Today he has just returned to China, so there are still many things to take care of. Let Zhen go first." After finishing speaking, he turned to Wu Shaozhong again and reminded him, "After you have reported safely, remember to send someone to tell me, I will write an address for you."

  He immediately wrote down his temporary address in Guangzhou on a note and handed it over to Wu Shaotang.

  Wu Shaotong smiled and nodded in agreement, saying: "I wouldn't dare forget. Well, gentlemen, I'll take my leave first."

  Hu Hanmin and Zhu Zixuan bid farewell to Wu Shaotang here.

  After Wu Shaotong disappeared into the crowd at the dock exit, "Wang Shouzheng" couldn't help but pull on Hu Hanmin's sleeve and ask: "Zhang Tang, is this person reliable?"

  Hu Hanmin smiled slightly and said, "I don't know much about him yet. However, when we were on the ship, he discussed some revolutionary views with me, which benefited me a lot. What we lack now are comrades who serve in the military, and since he has revolutionary inclinations and is about to be assigned a military post, he is exactly the kind of person we should try to win over."

  "Zhan Tang, does he know your identity now?" Hu Zhi Xin asked.

  "I didn't tell him who I was, but he should have guessed roughly. It doesn't matter, a young man like him wouldn't betray us even if he didn't join the revolution!" Hu Hanmin said confidently.

  Wang Shouzheng nodded and said: "That's the best, you should keep in touch with him more often in the future."

  "This is natural."

  Wu Shaotang left the dock and called a rickshaw, heading straight for the Guangdong Army Government Office.

  The Army Yamen was located at the end of a street in the western suburbs, and it took a full half hour by rickshaw to get there. After paying the fare, the driver even helped Wu Shaotong carry his luggage to the entrance of the yamen. The building still maintained its ancient simplicity, with vermilion gates and powder-white walls. On the lintel above the gate hung four large regular script characters: "Army Yamen".

  However, strangely enough, this is also a military institution, and there isn't even a guard at the gate.

  Wu Shaotong dragged his luggage and walked in, just as he arrived at the front yard, he saw several officials wearing official robes and two Chinese men wearing Western suits chatting under the steps of the main hall.

  Those officials and men in Western suits also saw Wu Shaotong, who was dressed simply, with his queue disheveled and even some hair on his forehead. One of the officials coldly shouted: "Where are you from? Do you know what kind of place this is? You just came in?"

  Wu Shao-ping felt uncomfortable hearing this official tone, and he said bluntly: "I am Wu Shao-ping, in the 30th year of Guangxu, I was recommended by General Wu Chang-chun to study abroad in the German Empire from the Guangzhou Army Military Academy. Today, I have completed my studies and returned, and I came here to report."

  As soon as everyone heard this, they immediately restrained their previous contemptuous attitude. They were all minor officials, and these high-ranking talents who had returned from studying abroad would have higher official ranks than themselves once they were assigned jobs, so naturally they didn't dare to offend them.

  "It's Lord Wu, you said. You really should have sent a telegram when you were on the boat, so we could send someone to meet you at the dock! How rude of us." The clerk from earlier quickly nodded and smiled to curry favor.

  At this time, those two Chinese men in suits didn't give Wu Shaotong any face at all.

  One of the older men with a French-style mustache sneered and said, "Nowadays étudiants are becoming less and less décent. You're representing our great Qing country's dignity when you go abroad to study. Look at yourselves now, it seems like you've just been through a shipwreck."

  Another young man chimed in with a mocking tone: "Oui, oui! With this attitude, who knows if he's not a fourbe (swindler)!"

  These two old and young fake foreigners, every time they open their mouths, a few French words pop out, just like dead flies in rice porridge, it's really disgusting to hear.

  Wu Shaotong hated these traitorous running dogs the most, relying on doing things for foreigners to bully their own compatriots. However, he didn't want to bother with these people now, a gentleman takes revenge ten years later, and sooner or later let these traitors taste the consequences.

  The little official hastily smiled and came out to mediate, first smiling at the two fake foreigners for a while, saying: "Director Wu has come from afar across the ocean, it's inevitable that he would be affected by the wind and dust, please don't mind, gentlemen."

  "Excuse me, sir. Could you tell me the way to the military office?" Wu Shaotong didn't wait for the little official to calm himself down and asked with an expression as if nothing was wrong.

  Those two fake foreigners saw this and sneered even more in their hearts, thinking that the overseas student didn't understand French and was even proud of it.

  The little official said repeatedly: "Lord Wu is this way, I'll lead you there."

  Then Wu Shaotong followed the little official to a corridor hall next to the courtyard. On his way to the military officer's place, he asked the little official: "I haven't had the chance to ask your esteemed name yet."

  The little official smiled and replied: "Lord Wu is too polite, I am Lin Zhaoren, a clerk in the government office."

  Wu Shaotong nodded, the document here is an official title, equivalent to an office clerk. He smiled slightly and politely said: "It's Brother Lin, please take care of me in the future."

  "It's not worthy of me, it's not worthy of me. Mr. Wu is a high-caliber talent who has studied abroad, and in the future, it will be Mr. Wu taking care of me, that's more like it." Lin Zhaoren said repeatedly.

  "Who were those two foreigners just now?" Wu Shaotong asked again.

  "Oh, these two are both compradors for foreigners. The older one is Zhang Haili, who works at the French Bank; the other young man's name is Chen Lianbo, he's even more impressive, originally managing his own family's silk company, while also serving as a comprador for HSBC and Citibank, truly a rising star!" Lin Zhaoren exclaimed.

  Wu Shaotong furrowed his brow, and the name Hei Hai didn't ring a bell, but he was very familiar with Chen Lianbo. After some careful thought, he seemed to have seen this name on a traitor website, and Chen Lianbo was indeed a giant in Guangzhou, who had accumulated a lot of wealth by taking advantage of the convenience brought by foreigners. During the May Fourth Movement, Chen Lianbo even formed a merchant militia to brutally suppress the patriotic student movement; and as early as 1924, he attempted to use the merchant militia to overthrow the revolutionary government of Guangzhou and establish a regime ruled by merchants.

  Of course, the subversive action ultimately ended in failure, and Chen Lianbo has been active in Hong Kong, Nanyang and other places ever since. After the outbreak of World War II, he stood on the side of the pro-Japanese camp, advocating that Hong Kong should be "peacefully" handed over to Japan.

  He is indeed a thorough traitor!

  Wu Shaotong cursed in his heart and couldn't help but let out a "hmm" due to the turmoil of emotions.

  Lin Zhaoren saw this and hastily advised, "Director Wu, you'd better not take it to heart. Director Zhang and Director Chen are both powerful figures, even the Prefect has to give them some face."

  Wu Shaotong sneered and didn't say anything more.

  Lin Zhaoren led Wu Shaotong through the corridor and came to the second courtyard. As soon as they entered, the atmosphere became lively, with people coming and going, all of whom were officials from the government office, some wearing military uniforms and others wearing official robes. At the end of the courtyard, there was a three-room house with a sign that read "Military Officer's Office".

  "Mr. Wu, this is it." Lin Zhao-ren asked Wu Shao-tung to go further.

  Wu Shaotong walked into the main hall of the military officer's quarters, where a counter stood in front of him. Behind the counter sat two officials, one wearing an official robe and the other dressed in new-style military uniform.

  Lin Zhaoren followed in, smiling and greeting the person behind the counter: "Mr. Chen, this is Mr. Wu who has just returned from studying in Germany, a military academy student, here to report for duty today."

  The official in the official uniform was bowing his head to sort out the documents, and upon hearing this, he didn't even raise his head, only responded with a somewhat impatient tone: "German military academy exchange students? When did we ever send people to study at the German military academy?"

  However, the soldier in new-style military uniform next to him did take a good look at Wu Shaotong and showed great interest. He smiled and pushed Chen Daren aside, saying: "Old Chen, he has returned from afar, and is also one of our country's future pillars, how can we neglect him?"

  Mr. Chen let out a sigh, pushed the documents in his hand away, raised his head to glance at Wu Shaoping and mechanically asked: "Resume, ID, diploma, consulate certification."

  Wu Shaotong felt as if he owed this Mr. Chen a huge sum of money that he hadn't paid back yet, what kind of attitude was this? Fortunately, he kept his cool and took the luggage from Lin Zhaoren's hands, taking out all the documents and certificates and placing them one by one on the counter.

  "Wu Shaotong, ancestral home in Anhui, graduated from Guangzhou Army Primary School and promoted to Guangzhou Army Military Academy, was recommended by the fifth town commander Wu Changchun to study at the Munich Higher Military College in Germany." Mr. Chen looked at Wu Shaotong's resume while muttering to himself. "Wu Changchun, General Wu is what kind of person to you?"

  "Uncle of the same clan." Wu Shaotong replied.

  "Oh, wait a minute, let me find your file." Mr. Chen heard that Wu Shaopeng and Wu Changchun were not directly related, so he naturally didn't take it seriously. After saying this, he slowly got up and walked to the back, rummaging through a stack of cabinets.

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