20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 610: Sharing the same robe with my son
After hearing what Staff Officer Li said, all the officers and soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment.

It turned out that although the Zhi army had received warnings from the great powers, Wu Xiucai was unwilling to miss the opportunity and was still stepping up his deployment, preparing to do his best to weaken the remaining forces of Feng and Zhang, and even capture Shanhaiguan.

In this way, even if they cannot advance beyond the Great Wall, as long as they take Shanhaiguan, it would be like strangling Feng and Zhang's throat, and they would be able to occupy an advantageous position in the future whether attacking or defending.

But then again, although the Fengtian Army suffered successive defeats, their morale had stabilized by the time they reached Yuguan.

Now that we are back home and have turned from offense to defense, the situation is naturally different.

The Fengtian Army changed its strategy and took two routes, gathering the remnants of various troops, a total of 30,000 to 50,000 troops, and gathered on both sides of Shanhaiguan.

The First Army was stationed in Shimenzhai, and the Second Army was stationed along the coastline, guarding the mountains and the sea, ready to respond to battle at any time.

The war between the Zhili and Feng families would rekindle in a matter of days.

Staff Officer Li kept calling the general "deserter" and "defeated general". In the end, his words were just to provoke the general.

The soldiers were all a little angry. When they heard this, they immediately responded and tried to clear their names.

Zhao Zhengbei nodded and said, "So it's just for this matter. You have no reason to criticize me. I'll take my brothers to apply to stay on the front line. Is that okay?"

All the generals and soldiers vied with each other in agreeing, as they were all people with a sense of dignity.

Staff Officer Li snorted coldly, "Oh, you agreed to it quite readily, but military orders are as strong as mountains. This is the instruction from the top. You have no choice but to stay at the front line voluntarily. You can only be considered a man."

Bei Feng and the others didn't say anything, seeming a little unhappy.

Staff Officer Li continued, "Also, it's not enough to just talk. I don't care what your original positions were. Once you join the Third Brigade, you will be under the unified deployment of my unit. You must correct those bad habits. I'm watching you!"

Everyone remained silent, just muttering in their hearts.

As they were talking, the sky gradually darkened.

Staff Officer Li had shown off his authority enough and suddenly shouted, "Lin Zhidong!"

"Yes!" Xiaopang immediately tensed up and answered loudly.

"Take these people to the regiment headquarters and register them. Tomorrow morning, have them help build fortifications. I still have other places to inspect, so I'll leave this to you."

Having said that, Staff Officer Li called his adjutant and walked towards the south side of the position.

Lin Zhidong finally breathed a sigh of relief, then gave a bitter smile and said, "Zhengbei, let's go!"

"What's wrong with that guy?" Zhao Zhengbei asked as he walked with his brothers, "Why is he talking so aggressively? Who owes him money?"

"He is just like that, but he is not a bad person." Lin Zhidong said, "He was promoted by Guizi Guo, and he is in charge of military discipline here."

"No wonder, you've suffered a lot, haven't you?"

"What are you saying? Haven't you seen that I have lost weight?"

After a few steps, everyone arrived at the regiment’s tent.

Shimenzhai was originally a small village. When people heard that the Zhili and Fengtian armies were going to meet in battle here, those who could escape had already fled. The entire town became almost empty and was taken over by the Fengtian Army, which became a temporary command center.

However, Lin Zhidong's troops were at the front line, some distance away from Shimen Village, and the regiment headquarters camped with its back to the mountain, so no higher-level officers were seen.

From afar, all you could see were tiny sparks of fire and a peaceful and tranquil scene.

Bei Feng and his companions registered and briefly explained how their troops had collapsed. After that, they each received rations and were hastily sent back to the front line for settlement.

There was no other way. There were too many temporarily recruited remnant soldiers, and the regiment headquarters did not have enough tents, so most of the soldiers had to sleep in the open air.

At this point, the remnants led by Zhao Zhengbei were temporarily incorporated into the First Army, the Third Brigade, and the First Regiment.

…………

After dinner, everyone huddled in the trenches, hugging their rifles, chatting from time to time and looking up at the stars in the night sky.

From time to time, I could hear the chirping of insects.

Someone was humming "Little Hat", the tune was long and melodious.

"In the first watch, I walked into the embroidery room, Cherry Mouth called out Meixiang, the silver lamp in my hand, the shadow of the lamp was shaking, the shadow of the lamp was shaking, oh, I was so anxious that I had to close the door..."

"Second shift, I'm on the bed..."

The fifth watch had not yet finished when a shout of curse was heard in the darkness.

"Fuck, which bastard got horny in the middle of the night, scratched himself, rubbed himself against a piece of dirt, groaned, what the hell?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

The so-called comradeship is consolidated and deepened in the laughter, anger and scolding; and it never leaves each other in the life and death.

After a while, everyone started talking about the "Princelings" and the equipment level of the Third Brigade.

Naturally, there was envy in his words.

Zhao Zhengbei seemed a little sleepy and never participated in the discussion. He just stared silently at the stars across the night sky.

The soldiers finally found the main force, and the burden on his shoulders immediately eased. His eyelids were drooping, and he couldn't fall asleep. His mind was full of random thoughts.

When the wind is clear and the moon is bright, I always think of the mysterious world.

I don’t know how my eldest brother and sister-in-law, second brother Dong, third brother Hua, and Jiang Yachengye are doing.

I hadn't been home for more than half a year, not even a letter from my family, and then there was the war. I'm sure my sister-in-law must have missed me a lot.

As I was thinking and reciting, I suddenly sneezed, turned sideways, and fell asleep in a daze...

…………

Dawn had just broken in the distance and the camp on the mountainside was still dark, but the soldiers had already received orders to get up early and start deploying their defenses.

Beifeng and others were a little amused.

When they were in the Western Route Army, the brothers' job was to dig trenches.

Unexpectedly, after being assigned to the Third Brigade, the tasks at hand were still digging trenches, building bunkers, setting up electric fences, and laying mines...

Judging by Bei Feng's standards, the defensive fortifications of the position were quite complete.

But Staff Officer Li was a busybody who always found fault with everything, saying that something was wrong here or there. Everyone was at a loss as to what to do, and the construction period seemed to have no end.

By the morning, everyone was already exhausted and out of breath.

But when I turned around, I didn't see any obvious changes in the defense line compared to before.

Staff Officer Li stood in front of the battle line, but he said confidently: "If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools! You people are used to being lazy. I am doing this for your own good. Otherwise, you will suffer a great loss sooner or later!"

The generals and soldiers were all crooked, with their heads down and their lips curled, thinking that the other side was trying to cause trouble.

Seeing this, Staff Officer Li could not help but scold loudly: "Did you hear what I just said? Are you all fucking deaf? You must always remember that you are not building a defense line, but the lives of your brothers. Do you understand?"

"clear--"

The responses from the crowd were drawn out, sparse, and incoherent.

Just as Staff Officer Li was about to explode, the roar of an engine was suddenly heard in the distance.

Following the sound, we saw a military vehicle coming towards us from the direction of Shimenzhai, raising a cloud of gray-yellow dust and bumping up and down.

The car made two turns and finally stopped slowly on the north side of the camp.

Everyone was surprised, and Staff Officer Li also hurried over to meet them.

The car door opened and two senior generals got out. They were wearing tweed coats and black leather gloves. They were not very old, but their every move was full of style. Wherever their eyes looked, they were intimidating without even being angry.

The entire camp fell silent immediately.

Staff Officer Li stood at attention, saluted, and shouted, "Sir!"

Among the two generals, the leading one, carrying the title of lieutenant general on his shoulders, only made a symbolic gesture as a return gift.

"Did your regiment recruit other troops yesterday?" asked the lieutenant general. Staff Officer Li replied loudly, "Yes, we temporarily recruited deserters from the second echelon of the West Route Army, a total of 126 people!"

The lieutenant general nodded, turned his head and looked towards the trench, and asked, "Is there a battalion commander named Zhao Zhengbei?"

"Zhao Zhengbei, step out!" Staff Officer Li delivered the message.

At the command, everyone's eyes turned to Bei Feng.

Zhao Zhengbei's face was full of confusion. He was stunned for a moment, then he quickly dropped his pickaxe, brushed off the dust on his body, jumped out of the trench, trotted a few steps, and rushed forward, but he had no idea of ​​the other party's intention.

"Why don't you salute when you see your superior?"

Staff Officer Li's reprimand startled Bei Feng, who saluted quickly.

The lieutenant general waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to be polite, and then looked Beifeng up and down.

"Your name is Zhao Zhengbei?"

"Yes!"

"Who is Jiang Lianheng to you?"

Zhao Zhengbei was stunned by the unexpected question, so he asked in confusion: "It's... my brother, what's wrong with him?"

The lieutenant general ignored him and turned sideways to look at the major general beside him.

The major general nodded, opened the car door and said, "Zhao Zhengbei, let's go, get in the car."

Zhao Zhengbei was completely confused and had no idea what was going on. He asked blankly, "Where are we going?"

"Get in the car first." The major general waved his hand, signaling him not to ask more questions.

At the same time, the Lieutenant General also walked up to Staff Officer Li and said calmly, "Xiao Li, I'm taking this man away."

Staff Officer Li was not clear about the situation at first, but when he heard Jiang Lianheng's name, he immediately reacted.

He has seen similar situations many times recently.

Now that the Fengtian Army was facing a disadvantageous war situation, many officers whose families were rich and powerful tried their best to use their connections and backdoors to transfer their relatives away from the front lines, avoid the war, return to the rear, and continue to enjoy wealth and glory.

If it were a novel, Staff Officer Li would probably be all smiles and flattery when seeing this situation, while at the same time regretting his attitude last night.

However, Staff Officer Li did not do so.

On the contrary, his eyes became increasingly stern and disdainful, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Oh, he ran away after all."

The sound was soft, but it did not escape the lieutenant general's ears.

"Xiao Li, do you have any opinion?"

"No."

Staff Officer Li's answer was straightforward.

The lieutenant general was from the old school of Fengtian clique, while he was from the new school.

Although there are constant differences between the two factions, they are still subordinate to each other. At least for now, the new faction cannot defeat the old faction.

Even if Li had an opinion, it would not help, so he was too lazy to argue and just said, "Sir, is there anything else? If not, I still have to go to supervise!"

The lieutenant general's face turned cold, and without saying much, he just tapped the other's shoulder twice and whispered, "Xiao Li, be careful."

After saying that, he turned around and got in the car.

Bei Feng didn't quite understand. The situation was sudden and unexpected. He was still a little dazed and was pushed towards the car by the major general.

Just at this moment, Fu Chengyu suddenly jumped out of the trench, ran forward like a mad dog, and shouted loudly to stop them.

"Sir, sir, wait a minute, I have something to say!"

The two generals couldn't help but frown and ask what was going on.

Fu Chengyu said: "I can testify for Captain Zhao that on that night, the Western Route Army was defeated and the General Headquarters..."

He kept on babbling on and on, but unfortunately his thoughts were completely off the point.

Fu Chengyu mistakenly thought that the two officers wanted to hold Beifeng accountable, so he hurriedly explained what happened that night.

When the soldiers heard this, they also became frightened, so they jumped out of the trenches one after another, vying to plead for Bei Feng, and telling him how Bei Feng had led them to escape pursuit and successfully reach Shimen Village.

Although these few days of fleeing were not long, their feelings for each other gradually grew stronger, and they naturally refused to stand idly by.

Seeing this, Staff Officer Li couldn't help but curse in his heart: What a bunch of fools, they are still begging for pity for others!

The two generals were also speechless.

When the great war was at hand, the children of the rich and powerful were sent to the rear, leaving only the poor disciples to charge into battle.

This kind of thing is really not very glorious. There must be an explanation on the surface, otherwise it will be difficult to convince people.

The lieutenant general thought about it and decided to take advantage of the situation. He simply said: "I have understood the situation you just mentioned, but this matter is not for me to decide. The superiors have ordered Zhao Zhengbei to return to report on his duties. You just need to wait for the news."

"Sir, words alone are not enough. How about you let us write a joint letter?" Fu Chengyu looked around and said, "Brothers, let's write a letter together and give it to Captain Zhao. If we are punished, we can get a lighter sentence."

"I think it's okay. The Military Governor's Office can't be unreasonable! The brigade commander ran away, how can we be blamed for that?"

"I can't write, but can I just put my fingerprints on it?"

The officers and soldiers were so excited that they responded in unison, even pretending to stop the car and begging the two generals to let Beifeng take the joint letter.

It was originally a simple matter and could have been done quietly, but because of this misunderstanding, it turned into a big deal.

Staff Officer Li couldn't stand it anymore and yelled, "What the hell are you talking about? Get back to work!"

The major general was also busy trying to drag Beifeng into the car, and in a hurry, he whispered the truth.

"Zhengbei, you get on the train first. If they want to write, then they can write. It will be quiet when we get to Shimenzhai. Your brother and sister-in-law are worried and are urging you to go back. The train ticket is for tonight."

Without him saying anything, Bei Feng had already understood what was going on.

No wonder Jiang Lianheng was mentioned just now. It turned out that his family used their connections to help him avoid the war.

It must have been my sister-in-law’s idea!
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhengbei was deeply moved - his sister-in-law is like a mother, and his uncle is like a son!
The north wind is a little fan born and raised by nature. As long as someone cares about it, it feels happy.

When the love is at its peak, I wish I could fly to my sister-in-law immediately, say hello and ask how she is doing.

But at this moment, all the soldiers rushed over after hearing the noise.

Zhao Zhengbei turned around and saw those brothers who looked dusty and dusty were worried about him, but in fact, he was going to return to Fengtian and even take a long vacation to eat and drink delicious food at home. He suddenly felt embarrassed.

When I saw Fu Chengyu, I suddenly remembered what he often said, "it's my duty", and I felt even more ashamed.

The lieutenant general didn't explain much, turned around and ran towards the car.

Staff Officer Li was busy driving the soldiers back to the trenches, pretending to comfort them:

"Alright, alright, let's all go back! I'm telling you, you're underestimating Captain Zhao! Stop worrying about it, I guarantee he'll be fine. Not only will they not hold him accountable, they might even get promoted! Look, it's bringing honor to our family! Spread the word out and it'll bring glory to the family!"

The sound gradually faded away, but in the ears of the north wind, it seemed to become clearer and clearer.

The shame and uneasiness in my heart became increasingly stronger.

"Why? He has connections!" Staff Officer Li was still muttering, "You don't have to worry about it, just stay and fight! I don't know either, but I guess that Captain Zhao's family must have at least a chief eunuch! Oh, it's my fault for saying the wrong thing, wouldn't that make him a eunuch!"

Only after hearing this did Zhao Zhengbei suddenly stop, hold the car door, and turn around to look back.

But all the soldiers had gone away one after another, except Fu Chengyu, who had not left yet. He stood there, quietly looking at the north wind.

"Don't pay attention to him. He's Guo Guizi's man. That's his character!" the major general urged, "Zhengbei, get in the car!"

Zhao Zhengbei's eyes suddenly became firm, and he turned to ask, "Sir, what is the crime of beating a staff officer?"

(End of this chapter)