Chapter 28: The Unexpected Test (2)

  Xiao Guodong was delighted to see Song Zhiwu, and everyone's emotions were stirred up. However, since the Security Regiment had always emphasized that drinking was not allowed in the military, let alone getting drunk, everyone dared not drink freely. The Security Regiment was recruited from Hebei Province, and most of its soldiers were from Hebei. Among the 13,000 reinforcements sent by Shang Zhen, most were from Shandong Province, and only a small number of people were from the south, such as himself and Chu Feng. Northerners generally could drink well, but due to this unwritten rule, no one dared to drink. Xiao Guodong was particularly strict about drinking, and even Zhang Yafei, Gao Zongbao, Zhang Tao, Liang Fang, and Wei Guanghui did not dare to drink in front of him, even if they were not drunk.

  Xiao Guodong saw many people glancing at him with their eyes, hesitating not to drink too much. He whispered a few words to Song Zhiwu, who smiled and stood up, saying loudly: "I have some good news for everyone. Today, the Chief of Staff has lifted the ban on drinking for one day." The crowd erupted in cheers, and these young men in their 20s immediately became excited.

  Song Zhiwu waved his hand and continued: "Don't get too excited yet, listen to me finish. All deputy commanders are not allowed to drink again, while others can drink more, but not to the point of getting drunk." The deputy commanders immediately lowered their heads, while others were overjoyed. Song Zhiwu was a good drinker in both his past and present lives. Although he had always wanted to drink a little, he could only suppress himself due to his responsibilities and ambitions. As the highest leader of the Security Regiment, he had to set an example.

  As soon as the ban on drinking was lifted, Song Zhiwu immediately became spirited. He first drank a cup with Wen Qing, then accompanied by Xiao Guodong, he went to each team to drink one after another.

  Laiyuan is surrounded by mountains on all sides, especially the location of the county town, which is equivalent to a basin. The temperature in winter is rarely below -23°C. Although so, after all, it is also a temperature of -20°C in winter, and you can't stay outside for too long. Song Zhe Wu made a round trip to each team, encouraged them, and the summary and celebration meeting came to an end.

  When everyone dispersed, Xiao Guodong told Song Zhiwu that Wen Qing had something to discuss with him. The two entered the reception room of the Ministry of War, where the orderly had already poured tea for Wen Qing and Chu Feng, and after seeing the two enter, he added two more cups before leaving.

  Although Song Zhe Wu's capacity for liquor was great, just this round alone he had drunk at least seven or eight liang of wine. The baijiu of this era didn't have anything below 60 degrees, all were strong and fierce liquor. Song Zhe Wu drank a mouthful of tea, suppressed the effects of the alcohol, and smiling said to Wen Qing who was looking at him with great interest: "Wen Jiao Guan, if you have something on your mind then please speak clearly, there's no need for the Chief of Staff to say it. Even Chu Feng originally was my deputy officer, here there are no outsiders, if you have something to say, you can speak freely."

  Wen Qing smiled and said: "Commander Song, I have caused a lot of trouble for your department during my stay in Laiyuan these past ten or so days. Wen Mou thanks you here." These days, Wen Qing and his guard squad had been living in the county government office, accompanied by Chu Feng every day, and they had ridden their horses to all the garrison camps of the Security Regiment.

  Song Zhe Wu has been busy with the assessment and hasn't had time to rest, only seeing Wen Qing a few times at the assessment site. He can only ask Xiao Guodong to accompany Wen Qing every night for a chat. Song Zhe Wu thought Wen Qing was being unreasonable and hastily said: "These days' assessment is a true test of the combat strength of the security team, I really can't leave my post, and I'm afraid I've been neglecting you, Officer Wen, please forgive me!"

  Wen Qing knew that Song Zhe Wu had misunderstood his intention, and he was just being polite, without any other meaning. He was actually disgusted by excessive enthusiasm. Before meeting Song Zhe Wu, he was only curious, even a little suspicious about the rumors of the Security Regiment. But since arriving in Taiyuan and seeing Song Zhe Wu and his troops, Song Zhe Wu's impression has been constantly changing, from a young and promising young general to a highly militarily educated, strong commander with excellent leadership skills, mature and worldly, with a clear way of commanding his subordinates. Now he had grown quite fond of this 26- or 27-year-old young man.

  Wen Qing didn't elaborate, and continued: "Your troops are very young, from you to your soldiers, all in their early twenties. Young people have a sense of vigor, the entire security regiment gives off an energetic and upward spirit. I've only seen such spirited troops in the first two batches of Huangpu. Ah, yes! Your instructor team is doing something quite unique, it reminds me of Huangpu. Speaking of Huangpu, Song Zhe Wu noticed that Wen Qing's eyes seemed to be misting up, a layer of hazy fog appeared in his eyes, making his gaze seem somewhat dazed.

  Wen Qing praised his own troops, Song Zhe Wu knew that Wen Qing would not have any ill intentions towards him, so he smiled and said: "Director Wen is overpraising us, we also had no choice. When our troop was first established in '26, only I, Chief of Staff Xiao, and a few classmates from Baoding whom I brought with me from other troops received regular military education. Almost all the soldiers were peasants, and there were very few students. Chu Feng was an instructor in the training team for over a year. Except for us few, almost everyone had no military knowledge at all. All officers had to be personally trained by us one by one. If the training team has any style, it's that we trained them up ourselves."

  "Oh?" Wen Qing asked somewhat puzzled: "I heard that since the establishment of the Security Guard, their military pay has always been very high. If they want to poach some officers from other troops, it shouldn't be a difficult task, right?"

  "I studied military logistics in Germany and deeply felt the strength of Western powers in this regard. I established this unit to create a new-style army that could rival the great powers, one that didn't carry any old habits from domestic armies. As the instructor said, with high military pay, it's indeed possible to find low-level officers, but doing so would inevitably bring some bad habits into the unit, and the hope of establishing an army completely different from the old ones would be lost. It was just that this way, they had a hard time, the chief of staff at the time was not only my chief of staff, but also instructor, company commander, platoon leader, even squad leader." He finished speaking, looking somewhat guiltily at Xiao Guodong, who simply smiled and didn't say anything.

  The two men's expressions were clear to each other, and they nodded in agreement. One of them continued, "When Huangpu was first established, the conditions were very harsh, but the faculty configuration was still very complete. However, at that time, there were less than 400 students, and you have so many people now, it's indeed enough to keep you busy." After a brief pause, he asked again, "Your security team has excellent military discipline, and County Magistrate Meng has been full of praise for your military discipline. County Magistrate Meng is an honest man and a good leader, I believe what he says. Your military discipline was shown to me by Chu Feng, it's very distinctive, most of the regulations are focused on how to maintain relationships with ordinary people, which is different from all domestic military regulations now, why is that?"

  This issue is very sensitive to Song Zhiwu, and he now clearly feels that this Wen Jiao officer is not just an ordinary army officer school instructor as he said. He is also very clear about the early days of Huangpu's establishment, which shows that he was in Huangpu at that time, and most of the instructors in Huangpu were incorporated into Chiang Kai-shek's direct lineage First Army during the Northern Expedition. Even if he stayed in Huangpu all the time, he would not be just an ordinary instructor now! Song Zhiwu knows that when Chiang Kai-shek "cleared the party" on April 12th, Huangpu was divided into three parts. In Guangzhou, Li Jishen reorganized the personnel left in Huangpu to continue running the school; The artillery department and several other departments moved to Wuhan were organized by the Wuhan government led by Wang Jingwei to form the "Wuhan Military and Political School"; Chiang Kai-shek, who attaches great importance to military education and regards Huangpu as his foundation, has established a branch of Huangpu in Nanjing, which was later changed to the current "Central Army Officer School". This shows that this Wen Jiao officer has always been by Chiang Kai-shek's side. If it is said that Chiang Kai-shek's greatest advantage is what, then it is that he never owes his Huangpu students, even the instructors of Huangpu. Those instructors who followed him from the beginning are now mostly holding important positions in the military and party politics departments. It seems that this Wen Jiao officer is not an ordinary instructor at all. But what is the purpose of his hiding his identity to come to Laiyuan? There should be only one, that is, to see what kind of person Song Zhiwu is, whether he wants to win him over or eliminate him. Of course, it also includes his security brigade, to see if it is necessary to pay time and price for this troops. Song Zhiwu and the Security Brigade are closely linked, and if either aspect cannot meet Chiang Kai-shek's requirements, the only way out for them is destruction. Although the current Security Brigade has a large army of 100,000 people, it also has an irreparable and even fatal flaw, that is, it does not have a rear. The soldiers of the Security Brigade will not follow him to turn mountains and valleys, and fight guerrilla warfare.

  Go ahead and collect it!