Chapter 23: The Warrior's White Robes

  I know she received a very orthodox Confucius and Mencius education, the education of "no ritual no look, no ritual no listen" has bound her quite tightly. If she didn't love me, if she wasn't respectful to my two wives, she wouldn't have said something like that!

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  What else can I say? I picked up her clothes and looked at them, they were all torn to shreds by me. Damn it, what a mess, she went crazy and forgot everything, it's really true that "it's easy to change the world but hard to change one's nature"! There was no other way, so I simply wrapped her in my quilt and carried her back to my bedroom.

  That night, the four of us slept together under a big quilt, enjoying the warmth and comfort of each other's company, and Zhen Fei quickly became an integral part of our lives, becoming our lovable little sister!

  Cixi indeed issued an imperial edict, appointing Lin Yan as the Minister of Military Industry and ordering that all military factories be directly led by the Ministry of Military Industry.

  But this is still like her giving us three major fleets, although there are orders, but no one executes them.

  But there was an exception, under my supervision, on the day of the order, Cixi sent someone to bring Yaner and take over the Beijing Arsenal. Yaner also got a factory of her own.

  She inspected all equipment in the factory that day and then reshuffled the factory's team, re-establishing various management systems.

  She immediately sent a telegram to Changsha through the telegraph office that had been taken over by Fei Er, ordering a batch of equipment and materials. To her surprise, Changsha delivered the goods to Beijing in less than a month. Yan Er immediately began the trial production, and within a month, she excitedly told me: "I've repeatedly tested various models of AK series adopted by our country, I think the AKM automatic rifle has reliable action, good maintainability, is sturdy and durable, with low failure rate, especially when used in windy, sandy, and watery environments, its performance is reliable; Moreover, its structure is simple, easy to disassemble. The gun has fewer parts, mostly stamping parts, we currently have four German hydraulic presses, which can be mass-produced! And the workmanship is simple, easier to imitate. Now we can produce thirty rifles a day, I plan to improve the production process and strive to produce fifty rifles per day for you! In addition, we also trial-produced four RPK-style light machine guns, after experimentation, they are not bad, just with low output, only one gun is produced every three days! This way, the bullets will be unified, making management easier! We are now testing the 105mm coastal cannon and Katyusha rocket launcher, preparing to install them on warships."

  I gave her a passionate kiss, and both Fei'er and Zhen'er's faces turned red with excitement. Fei'er said that her wireless telephone exchange had been conquered, and soon she would be able to install wireless telephones on the entire naval fleet!

  I exclaimed with joy: "On May 18, 1897, the experiment of wireless telecommunication across Bristol Channel was successful. The Italian Marconi established the world's first wireless equipment company in Britain - British Marconi Company, you are ten years earlier than him, quickly apply for patents to the governments of Britain and America, let's control this technology in our hands!" Of course I also gave her a passionate kiss!

  Zhen'er blushed and said: "I'm not as talented as my two sisters, these days I've just been learning math from them! Until now, I still haven't learned anything impressive!"

  The swallow immediately said: "Husband, don't listen to what Zhen'er said, Zhen'er is a genius in financial management, her hidden wealth is almost as good as a computer! Moreover, she is good at analysis and comparison, knows how to save money and make money, let her be your housekeeper, Zhen'er will definitely be a iron rake, guaranteeing you a rich fortune!"

  I exclaimed with joy: "Great, our housekeeper is going to be Zhen'er!" Of course, I gave her another passionate kiss!

  Time flies quickly, and a big year has passed. The first month is also about to pass. Every day after the morning exercise, I still sneak into the military school to participate in training with the soldiers.

  The training plan I made was shocking at first, but after practicing, everyone persisted!

  We have recruited new members from several places, and our students have exceeded 10,000 people. They were organized into thirty-six battalions, three regiments, and formed the First Chinese Army, with Zhang Zhidong as the commander-in-chief, and Sheng Yu and Xi Jun as deputy commanders. The three regiment commanders are Sheng Bao of the first regiment, Li Gang of the second regiment, and Hai Bo of the third regiment. As for Zhang Zhidong's introduction of Zhang Dechuan and his disciples, I did not call them into the military school, but instead provided them with funds to establish the Longxiang Trading Company, setting up networks in major cities across the country, establishing Longxiang Commercial Stores and Longxiang Bank. This serves both as a fundraising channel for us and as my secret intelligence and special operations organization. The company's big boss is of course me, directly commanded by Zhang Dechuan.

  There are too many people, I'm afraid of good and bad mixed together, fearing that if the news leaks out and attracts the attention of the reactionary party, we have established a rule that general students are not allowed to leave school during their studies. Although this can only be controlled for a while, as long as we can quickly grasp power, we will no longer fear being informed on!

  But on the second day after the regulations were formulated, an incident occurred in which a squad leader carrying a gun escaped.

  I received the report and rushed to the military school. Long An, with a pale face, told me that the escaped squad leader was called Bai Da, from Tianjin's Baodi County. His parents and brother were all killed by a local tyrant, so he went to the county government office to file a complaint, but ended up being beaten into prison. He escaped on his own and had been following Long An ever since. It didn't make sense for him to go over to the enemy's side; it was more likely that he went there for revenge.

  I thought for a moment and said: "He's likely to come back, don't make things difficult for him when he does. You tell me, I'll have a talk with him!"

  I'm worried something might happen in Tianjin, so I've sent someone to secretly investigate.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Sure enough, in just a few days, shocking news came out from Tianjin Baoji. The largest landlord in Baoji was found with his throat cut in his bed, and over 1.8 million taels of silver and some precious jewels were looted. Less than two days later, a masked man carrying a strange gun rushed into the main hall of the Baoji County government office, firing wildly and killing 21 people from the county officials to the clerks. He then calmly escaped by climbing over the roof."

  The case shocked Empress Dowager Cixi, who immediately ordered Li Hongzhang to solve it quickly.

  Li Hongzhang sent someone to investigate for half a day, caught many people and killed many people. In the end, he said: "It's probably the work of foreigners, because that county official had slept with a British foreign woman before, although afterwards gave that foreign woman 100,000 silver dollars, but the British consul in Tianjin repeatedly asked Li Hongzhang to dismiss him."

  When it was said that it was the work of foreigners, and also that they had first seduced the people's daughters, Cixi did not pursue the matter any further, merely reappointing a new official.

  But I knew that man was White Dabai. On the fourth day when everything had calmed down, Long An brought White Dabai into the office of our military school.

  I carefully sized him up for half a day, and saw that he was extremely handsome, at first glance he looked like a girl, his figure wasn't tall, and he was very thin, I simply couldn't believe that he was the creator of this major case.

  He put the gun on my desk and whispered: "Principal, I have violated school rules, please kill me!" After finishing, he took out a package from his arms and handed it to the table, saying: "This is the money I raised for the school, please accept it! I hope our military academy will become better and better, and become an iron army that revives China!"

  I looked at him and asked: "Since you know it's a capital offense, why did you still bring a gun out?"

  "That tyrant, in order to bully my younger sister, falsely claimed that my father owed him one hundred taels of silver, and had my father, mother, and older brother all thrown into prison. I went to the county government office to file a complaint, but that corrupt official actually said I was framing an innocent person, and had me thrown into the big prison. He then handed me over to that tyrant. I escaped halfway there, and afterwards I've been working under Vice-Principal Long. The principal gave me this good gun, so I thought of going to take revenge, but I didn't have those bullets. So I discussed it with my fellow brothers, and everyone helped me hide the bullets, allowing me to finally save up thirty rounds. Then I went."

  "You knew you'd be put to death if you came back, so why did you come back?" I asked again.

  "The principal founded this military school for the revival of China, I broke the rules, but I couldn't set a bad example and bring shame to the school. If I come back and let the principal handle it, we can still salvage the situation! Second, this gun is for fighting against the devils (Japanese), I couldn't let them take it away, I had to send it back and make him contribute to the fight against the devils! I was afraid of exposing the gun, so when I fired in the hall, I disguised it again, making it look like a strange object. And I fired one shot at a time, not continuously, they wouldn't suspect it's our gun!"

  Listening to him, I felt deeply moved. Not punishing him would be impossible as it would undermine military discipline. On the other hand, dealing with him would mean losing such a good soldier, which I truly couldn't bear, and it would also be against heavenly principles!

  I opened the package and found that apart from gold, silver, and jewels, there were also over 1.8 million taels of silver notes. I said: "You'd better keep this stuff for yourself, it's something you've risked your life to get. The military academy can't keep you anymore, so change your name and surname and use these to live a life!"

  The girl shook her head: "No, I won't leave a single cent, I'm not going for the money, I'm going for revenge!"

  "Let me see the gun: 'How many bullets have been used?'"

  "Sixteen bullets, I didn't dare to fire at that bastard's house, I fired sixteen shots in the hall, using sixteen bullets, there were six people lined up at that station, I shot them like sugar canes, saving a few bullets!"

  Just then, Yan Er walked in. She was delighted and patted him on the shoulder: "Little sister, great job! You're a sharpshooter now! Come with me, you've broken the military school's discipline, you can't stay here anymore!"

  Little sister? I took a closer look and couldn't help but laugh, her sweet and gentle voice, her flat Adam's apple, her figure isn't all of these telling us that she is indeed a woman? I'm really stupid!

  "Yes, big sister! No, Vice President Lin!" Bai Da happily gave a salute to Yan Er.

  "Hey, why did you call me a free rider?" I asked in surprise.

  "My family is poor and can't afford a name for me. My dad says I'm just a girl, so whatever I do is useless. So he just calls me 'Useless'!" The girl said with a red face.

  The swallow let out a loud laugh: "Your dad really has no vision, what makes him say that my sister is useless? A girl who turned the whole Baoqi County upside down is still useless? Come on, good little sister, follow your sister to the military factory I run. My place is in need of a brave and capable leader like you. You can take charge of producing guns for our soldiers, let them use the good guns you produce to fight on the front lines, defeat more bastards, and avenge all the sisters in the world! Let them see with their own eyes that my beautiful little sister is not useless! By the way, sister asks you, do you know what time you were born?"

  The girl lowered her head and said in a muffled tone: "I don't know either, I just heard my mother say that the day I was born it snowed heavily, covering the whole world in white. Our house couldn't even open its doors! She also said that no one could go out that day, and water couldn't be fetched. I was washed with melted snow water for the first time!"

  "Alright, your name is set, it's Bai Xue! It's elegant and sounds good, just hearing it makes one think of a beautiful girl! Alright, Bai Xue, let's go to the munitions factory!" As he spoke, he pulled her up and started walking out.

  I stopped them and said: "Don't go, I need to borrow a scapegoat's head for a while!"