20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 489: Ten Years of Wandering, No Enlightened Master

"Brother, I remember your name was Xiaodao. When did you change your name?"

Halfway through the meal, Zhang Xiaokun was tipsy, his face flushed, and he was holding two White Russian girls in his arms. He pointed at Liu Yansheng and said with a smile, "Just now, this brother said that Jiang Lianheng was looking for me. I was stunned. I didn't expect it was you. We are destined to be brothers!"

Jiang Lianheng smiled and said, "It was changed a long time ago. It was said that it is difficult to walk alone on a 'small road', so it was changed to 'Lianheng', which means to make friends widely."

"Xiaodao sounds intimate, Lianheng sounds grand, both are good, both are good."

Zhang Xiaokun naturally flattered the guest.

Jiang Lianheng said, "Of course, as for names, Brother Zhang, you can call it whatever you want, whatever comes to your mind."

"I'll just call you brother!" Zhang Xiaokun laughed loudly, and then he suddenly became emotional, "Brother, to tell you the truth, you're the only one who treats me as a human being this time when I went back to Northeast China. I won't say anything else, I'll keep it all in my heart. If you need my help in the future, just say it. If I, Zhang Xiaokun, say 'no', you can take my head off and kick it like a ball!"

When people feel lonely, any kindness they receive is enough to make them cry with gratitude.

Zhang Xiaokun did not lie, but in his current situation, even he himself could not tell when he would be able to get out of this situation.

Jiang Lianheng smiled and waved his hands, jokingly saying, "Brother Zhang, what you said is too polite. Although we don't meet often, we have had this friendship since we were young. It's just a banquet, why are you talking about all that? But you came to Fengtian and didn't look for me, I have to pick on you!"

"Hahahaha, my dear brother, you are right. Blame me, blame me!" Zhang Xiaokun patted his forehead and quickly turned to the adjutant and ordered, "Come on, come on, quickly take out the gift I prepared for you, my dear brother."

The adjutant took out a booklet from his bosom, stood up and handed it to Jiang Lianheng, and said rather embarrassedly: "Boss Jiang, please accept it."

"Xiaokun Poetry Collection?" Jiang Lianheng's eyes lit up and he immediately praised, "Great, Brother Zhang, you've published a collection of poems?"

Zhang Xiaokun said seriously, "These are just a few humble pieces of writing. To be honest, I am not very satisfied with them yet. I will still write more in the future. But these dozens of pieces are all my sincere works over the years. After thinking about it, I realized that you are the only one in the world who can be regarded as my confidant. I will give them to you."

Liu Yansheng and Kang Zheng had never seen the great poet Zhang's power, so they were only concerned with flattering him.

"Oh, I never thought that General Zhang is a man of both civil and military talents, and a great scholar-general!"

"Yes, yes, yes. Today we are meeting a close friend, with a beautiful lady by our side and good wine to cheer us up. General Zhang, why don't you recite a poem to add to the atmosphere?"

Zhang Xiaokun couldn't help but praise him. In a few words, his poetic sentiment was aroused. So he patted his belly, sucked his teeth and said, "Well, I will recite an old poem "Dreaming of the West" for you. I am sorry to show you my ugliness!"

A few cheers and the stars support the moon.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Zhang Xiaokun murmured in a pretentious tone:
"I heard the West is good, it's really good. I wanted to have more fun, but when I opened my eyes, it was gone!"

After the recitation, the air suddenly became quiet, as if even time had come to a sudden stop.

Liu Yansheng and Kang Zheng held wine glasses in their hands, dumbfounded, motionless, obviously having reached a state of ecstasy; the adjutant beside them hung his head in shame; the four White Russian girls frowned, as if they understood, but also seemed even more confused.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Zhang Xiaokun was not nervous or out of breath. He just turned his head to Jiang Lianheng and laughed loudly: "Hahahaha, brother, see, I stunned them all with just this one poem!"

Liu Yansheng and others smiled awkwardly and couldn't help but turn their eyes to Jiang Lianheng.

It is easy to say "good", the key is to say how good it is. This is the essential difference between a bosom friend and a flatterer.

Everyone couldn't help but secretly worry for Jiang Lianheng.

But he would have never expected that the title of "soulmate" of the great poet Zhang was not just an empty reputation that came out of thin air. A small poem or article could not stop him from flattering people.

Jiang Lianheng nodded slightly, and after thinking for a moment, he finally muttered to himself:

"Hiss - Brother Zhang, your poem has quite a bit of Zen! Everything in the world is impermanent and is just a dream. In the end, it all comes down to the two words 'gone'. Listening to the whole poem, it has both the heroic spirit and the sigh of the evanescence of dreams! There are great sorrows and joys, great ups and downs, great gains and losses in it!"

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaokun turned sideways, grabbed Jiang Lianheng's wrist, and said with a choked voice: "Brother, after all these years, you still understand me!"

When everyone saw this, they began to clap their hands sparsely.

Jiang Lianheng said very seriously, "However, this is only 'poetic sentiment'. I haven't talked about the beauty of 'poetry'. Brother Zhang, I have already seen that your poetry, although the words and phrases are simple, is very interesting. To me, Dr. Hu and Mr. Zhou are all nonsense. Brother Zhang, you are the leader of the new culture and the master of vernacular Chinese. You have been ahead of them for a long time."

"That's right, brother!" Zhang Xiaokun laughed. "I think they have nothing better to do than to write nonsense in the newspapers. They deserve to be punished!"

Liu Yansheng and others were convinced - this is a true soulmate, there is no doubt about it!
Everyone took advantage of the good mood and drank a few more cups, hoping to quickly get the trouble with poetry and literature off their minds.

But after Jiang Lianheng drank a glass of wine, he changed the subject again.

"Brother Zhang, there are so many poems in your collection, why did you pick this one with a 'Zen' meaning? Let me ask you a question, could it be that you have encountered some difficulties in the past few years?"

Zhang Xiaokun nodded and couldn't help but scold the adjutant beside him: "Look, if you could have the same skills as my brother, would I have to worry so much every day?"

"Yes, yes, General, you are right!" the adjutant replied.

Zhang Xiaokun then turned around and sighed, "Brother, to be honest with you, I've been running into a lot of difficulties in the past ten years!"

"How can this be possible?" Jiang Lianheng asked, "Brother Zhang, you have become a lieutenant general in the army, isn't this considered smooth sailing?"

"Well, brother, this military rank is of no use. The key lies in the real power!" Zhang Xiaokun curled his lips.

"That's right." Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but recall, "Brother Zhang, I remember the last time we met was in the year of Xinhai. You went south from outside the Great Wall, saying that you were going to the south to start a revolution. Am I right?"

"Fuck him! Those bastards are all spineless. If I had known, I would not have associated with them. If I had stayed in Fengtian and followed Marshal Zhang, I might have everything now!"

Zhang Xiaokun's words were harsh.

After several rounds of questions and answers, Jiang Lianheng finally had a general understanding of the great poet Zhang's ten-year military career.

It turned out that in the year of Xinhai, Zhang Xiaokun resigned from his post as head of the Chinese Merchants Association in Vladivostok and went south to join the anti-Qing society. After arriving in Shanghai, he became a member of Chen's team and immediately transformed himself from a contractor from a bandit to the head of the cavalry regiment of the Restoration Army.

After the peace talks between the North and the South, he led the cavalry regiment to patrol day and night and was responsible for the public security in Zhabei.

During the Second Revolution, Zhang Xiaokun led the cavalry regiment to fight against the "pigtail army". At first, he relied on his fierceness to win several small victories, but due to his lack of combat experience, he was defeated by the "pigtail army" after his army went deep into the country alone, and the cavalry regiment finally fled.

This was the first time that Zhang Xiaokun became a commander without any troops.

After the front troops were defeated, Zhang Xiaokun went to look for Leng Yuqiu, the commander of the friendly third division, but the commander had already been frightened by the initial defeat and abandoned his troops and fled, and the two brigade commanders were also missing. He then wanted to look for Li Liejun's troops, but Hukou was lost and Li's army retreated in a hurry. Then came the news that Sun Dapao and Fatty Huang had fled to Japan one after another.

The leader of the righteous army suddenly quit and ran to Xiao Dongyang to seek refuge.

It has a sense of "We are ready to fight to the death, why does Your Majesty surrender first?"

The helmsmen had left, and the morale of the Third Division, the main force of the rebels, was instantly shaken and they all dispersed.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaokun had no choice but to turn around and join the "Braid Army".

At this point, Zhang Xiaokun said indignantly: "Fuck, they said I, Zhang, betrayed the revolution, and the two bosses and the division commander and brigade commander all ran away. What can I do?"

No one wanted to comment, and they just asked, "What then?"

Then, Zhang Xiaokun had to stay under "Zhang Bianzi" and wait for his opportunity, until one day he was selected and promoted by President Feng, and became the military attaché of the Presidential Palace. He was later promoted to major general of the army and was given the number of a brigade.

We have the military number and the salary, but we still have to recruit the manpower ourselves.

So, although Zhang Xiaokun was given the title of brigadier general, he was still a commander without any troops. This was the second time that happened.

Fortunately, Zhang Xiaokun had a strong appeal since he was young. He took the military pay and went to the Su area to recruit bandits. Before long, he had raised an army of 6,000 men.

When he was fighting against Hunan, the troops he led were attacked from both sides. He was suddenly possessed by the "God of War" and broke through the encirclement with a "donkey formation" of more than a hundred donkeys. When the reinforcements arrived, he turned around and kowtowed to his soldiers, and miraculously staged a drama of turning defeat into victory.

After that, Zhang Xiaokun was further appreciated by President Feng and was promoted to lieutenant general and division commander.

President Feng really loves him, and all the people in this entire division are given top treatment.

The bad thing was that President Feng died young, and once his backer fell, Zhang Xiaokun immediately lost power. Wu Xiucai of the Zhili clique disliked him, and the Anhui clique was his rival. It was difficult for him to ask for military pay from the capital, so he had to move his troops to Jiangxi and plunder the land.

However, there were also troops stationed in Gan, and there was no room for two tigers in one mountain. All of Zhang Xiaokun's subordinates were bribed, and he became a commander without troops for the third time.

So he prepared valuable gifts and went to the capital to ask for an audience with "Cao Baoding".

"Cao Baoding" promised to give him 200,000 military funds and let him recruit another team. However, he waited and waited, but he didn't see any military pay - in the end, he was still a commander without any troops!

After much deliberation, Zhang Xiaokun had no choice but to return to Fengtian to join Marshal Zhang.

After all, Marshal Zhang at this time is no longer the same person as before. Calling him the "King of the Northeast" is actually underestimating him. The three northeastern provinces are just his foundation.

In fact, the Fengtian clique's influence has already spread to Beijing, Tianjin, Rehe, Chahar and other places.

Zhang Xiaokun felt that he was a lieutenant general after all, and he deserved to be given important positions.

"The result, the result..." Zhang Xiaokun suddenly sighed, "Oh, forget it, I feel embarrassed to talk about it."

Seeing this, Jiang Lianheng didn't want to ask any more questions, so he just said a few words to comfort him: "Brother Zhang, don't be discouraged. You can mobilize thousands of troops again and again. This is your ability. What you lack is just an opportunity."

"Yes, yes, yes." Zhang Xiaokun nodded repeatedly, "Brother, may I have a word with you?"

"Sure, Brother Zhang, if you need me, just let me know." Jiang Lianheng said with a smile.

Zhang Xiaokun sighed for a while, then raised his chin towards the adjutant beside him and ordered, "Go, go play outside for a while!"

"Yan Sheng, Kang Zheng, you two should go out first." Jiang Lianheng ordered immediately.

Although the four White Russian girls did not understand, when they saw everyone standing up, they also raised their buttocks.

"Hey, girl, you don't have to go. Girl, you don't have to go." Zhang Xiaokun quickly said a few words in Russian.

After the door of the private room opened and closed, the surroundings suddenly became much quieter.

Zhang Xiaokun held Jiang Lianheng's arm and said earnestly, "My dear brother, we have a long-standing friendship. I am not going to lie to you. I am really very proud of myself for coming to Fengtian this time."

As he spoke, he suddenly lowered his voice: "Marshal Zhang is really not nice. I am at least an army lieutenant general, but he gave me the title of military police battalion commander. This... isn't this an insult?"

"Military Police Battalion Commander? Isn't that too low?" Jiang Lianheng was a little surprised when he heard this. "Brother Zhang, have you been tricked by this villain?"

"Well, it doesn't matter who cheated me now." Zhang Xiaokun said, "Brother, don't lie to me. You can run such a big business in Fengtian, but if you say that no one is looking after you from the government, I don't believe you."

"Brother Zhang, do you want me to introduce you to someone?"

"That's what I mean. You've been in Fengtian for more than ten years. You must know the ins and outs here better than me. Who can say anything? You can give me some advice. Of course, if... if you can lend us some more money and help me run the business, when I can stand up again, don't worry, I will pay you back tenfold or a hundredfold!"

Jiang Lianheng thought for a moment and said, "Brother Zhang, you don't need me to tell you. I am also planning to help you get on the horse! But we still have to think about this matter carefully. It can't be solved with money alone. If you want to get an official position, that's easy to say; but you want to be the one who holds the real power!"

"Yes, yes, yes, brother. So what do you think I should do now?" Zhang Xiaokun asked sincerely.

"Brother, the key is that you came too late. Marshal Zhang now prefers to employ people who have just graduated from school. Not to mention you, even many old people back then are no longer valued."

"You're not going to let me go to the Military Academy, are you?"

"That's not necessary!" Jiang Lianheng smiled and waved his hand, "Brother Zhang, your ability is to recruit people. What you lack now is a serial number. As long as you have a serial number, recruiting people is not a big deal for you?"

"Only Master Shuai can make the decision on assigning serial numbers, right?" Zhang Xiaokun suggested, "How about you help me and Yang Zhuge to arrange it?"

"It's too late." Jiang Lianheng shook his head and said, "Brother Zhang, if you had come to me when you first arrived in Fengtian, we could have paid in advance to build relationships, but now the Marshal has made you the head of the military police battalion. He can't change his mind overnight, right? You have to bear with it and wait for another opportunity."

(End of this chapter)