Back to the Republic of China as a commander

On April 4th, as soon as the ancestor worship and tomb sweeping were over, Wang Longzhong appointed Wang Zhenyu as the Jingzhou Prefecture Garrison Commander and Ninth Brigade Commander in the name of Baojing's guard envoy, and led the Ninth Brigade to take up the post.Wang Longzhong also paid attention to this matter, he knew that most of the officers under him had already been dealt with by Tan Yankai.So sending the only nephew who can still be trusted to Jingzhou Prefecture, so as to stay away from Changsha is also a last move for him to deal with the current situation, although he himself has no hope of how much effect this move will play.

Jingzhou belonged to Chu in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, Qianzhong County in Qin Dynasty, Tancheng County in Wuling County in Han Dynasty, Wuyang County in Eastern Jin Dynasty to Southern Dynasties, Longbiao County in Sui Dynasty, and Langxi County in the eighth year of Tang Zhenguan (634). land.In the mid-Tang Dynasty, the leaders of the Dong nationality living here proclaimed themselves Chengzhou.In the late Zhou Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, Yang Zaisi, the "Chief of Ten Caves", was based on the title of Governor of Chengzhou.At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was Jimi Prefecture.In the fourth year of Song Yuanfeng (1081), Chengzhou was officially established.In five years, the Shiquyang County of Guanbaozhai in Yuanzhou was analyzed.In the second year of Song Chongning (1103), Chengzhou was changed to Jingzhou, from which the name of Jingzhou originated, and Quyang County was changed to Yongping County.In the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1370), it was promoted to Jingzhou Prefecture. In the ninth year, it was relegated to the prefecture.

Jingzhou at this time was not the Jingxian County of today. In fact, it included the four counties of Jingzhou, Huitong, Tongdao and Suining in Shaoyang.Historically, a large-scale plague occurred in Jingzhou in the late Qing Dynasty, and the population was almost extinct. A large number of Shaoyang people moved from Baoqing Mansion to Jingzhou.

However, these have little to do with Wang Zhenyu. He is most concerned about the current situation in Jingzhou. The little policeman named He Jian he accepted in Changsha had led people into the Jingzhou mansion half a month earlier, and sent him a message Returned very valuable first-hand information.

Speaking of He Jian, it was also an adventure. When I came back from Nanjing and entered Changsha.

At that time, He Jian was still a junior policeman in the Police Department of the Changsha Civil Affairs Department. He had always wanted to be famous, but although his family was well-off, he lacked a solid backing. Law and Politics School became a small policeman.As a result, at the age of 25, He Jian was still wasting his time. He Jian was not reconciled to this.

So when he saw Wang Zhenyu's all-encompassing scenery when he entered the city in Xiaowumen, besides envy, he also had a thought to startle himself, that the young general in front of him might be worth following.Although He Jian didn't like reading, he even left a famous doggerel in history: The geometry of spring and autumn?

But in fact, this person is quite smart, and he graduated from the School of Law and Politics, and he has a strong ability to analyze things. He came to an amazing conclusion through Wang Zhenyu's resume that he could get. This person named Wang Zhenyu is in a Rapid ascent period.What's even better is that according to He Jian's judgment, there won't be many available people around this young general in a short period of time, let alone villainous talents.And this is precisely the opportunity to devote yourself.

Therefore, he was very bold and went to see Wang Zhenyu that night.

He Jian was also in a daze. He, a little policeman, went to see a major general of the army, how could he meet him.But the most difficult thing in life is luck. Zhao Dongsheng, the captain of the officer guard who was on duty at the brigade that night, happened to be from Liling, not far from He Jian's village.

Although it was very embarrassing, Zhao Dongsheng, who was prone to feverishness, made a briefing for He Jian because of his concern for the face of his fellow villagers.

Originally, he was doing his best, but he didn't expect Wang Zhenyu to agree to summon him when he heard the name of the visitor.Just kidding, if Wang Zhenyu didn't even know the name of Hunan Wang Hejian, his history would be for nothing. Just like that, He Jian actually met Wang Zhenyu.

It was only after seeing Wang Zhenyu that He Jian calmed down, knowing that he was reckless, and at the same time, he was very grateful that such a big man as Wang Zhenyu was willing to meet such a small role as himself.

Wang Zhenyu has now begun to show the temperament of a high-ranking person. He is no longer in the state of being excited when he sees historical figures when he first arrives in this era. He has already determined to become the greatest figure of this era. Then the plot of worshiping celebrities will naturally fade away. Who will be okay? To worship one's opponents or subordinates?

Therefore, after he heard that He Jian wanted to follow him, he was not overjoyed, but calmly analyzed it, and felt that this should not be a trap.Does anyone use a little policeman as bait?So he asked He Jin to introduce himself like an interviewer in later generations.

He Jin probably faced this situation for the first time, but when Wang Zhenyu was amazed, extraordinary people did extraordinary things. He Jian was not nervous at all, and he calmly shared his resume one by one.

Wang Zhenyu looked at this celebrity who was as tall as Zhao Dongsheng, and thought for a while: "You stay by my side and serve as a lieutenant staff first."

In this way, He Jian became an official officer of the Ninth Brigade, and played a key role in the subsequent Changsha mutiny.

After learning that the whole army was going to Jingzhou, Wang Zhenyu assigned He Jian the first task to organize a group of personnel to enter Jingzhou Prefecture before the army to understand the local situation.

Now Wang Zhenyu holds the information sent back by He Jian:

Jingzhou Prefecture governs Zhili Prefecture (Jingxian County), Huitong, Tongdao, and Suining.After the outbreak of the revolution, Su Zhaokui, the last magistrate of Jingzhou in the Qing Dynasty, abandoned his post and fled, and the Baojing area was under the control of the Baojing military government branch established by Jiao Dafeng.

However, on November 1911, 11, Tan Yankai tricked Xie Jieseng and Zou Yongcheng, the "supervisors of the military and government sub-government", into Changsha for the Baojing military government branch established later, and appointed Tan Xinxiu, a member of the alliance, as the "Baojing recruiting envoy" to lead Mei The first battalion under Xinsuo went to Baoqing and Jingzhou to "recruit".Zou Dailie, an activist of the Tongmenghui, was killed, and Baoqing fell into the hands of Tan Yankai.

As for Jingzhou Prefecture, because of its geographical location, Tan Xinxiu was anxious to send the army back to Changsha, so he appointed Wang Dezhi, a local gentry in Jingzhou, to be the acting prefect.

It is worth mentioning that although He Jian sneaked into Jingzhou for only half a month, he accurately sent an important message, which played a very critical role in Wang Zhenyu's future development.

This news is about the Xiangxi area: Jingzhou, Chenzhou, and Yuanzhou all belong to the Xiangxi area.The forces here are very complicated. In the military, there are Miao Village, bandits, Phoenix Army, Shenbing and other armed forces.Politically, the actual control of successive officials in the Qing Dynasty did not exceed the county seat, and the clans and villages were powerful. More importantly, it is not the government that currently plays a coordinating and buffering role among many forces, but Hongjiang Zhang, Zhu, Liang, and Liu Si. Big business family.

What surprised Wang Zhenyu the most was that He Jian clearly told Wang Zhenyu that the number of local troops was small and the most powerful force was in the hands of merchants.

He suggested that Wang Zhenyu stabilize the market through Chen Hongji, a well-known local timber merchant in Jingzhou, in order to achieve a normal transition of power.

And He Jian himself planned to wait for Wang Zhenyu to take office in Jingzhou and personally take people to visit Hongjiang to learn about the actual situation.As expected of a graduate of the School of Law and Politics, the intelligence analysis is very organized and very good.

On April 4, Wang Zhenyu led the three infantry regiments of the Ninth Brigade of the Hunan Army, directly under the brigade headquarters, the teaching team, the special agent company, the reconnaissance company, and the engineer battalion, with a total of more than 10 people into Quyang where Jingzhou Prefecture is located.Jingzhou's acting magistrate Wang Dezhi and the following gentry, officials and businessmen all went out of the city to welcome the new security commander.

Wang Zhenyu first comforted Wang Dezhi, and he was still the magistrate of Jingzhou Prefecture, presiding over the state's large and small government affairs.In this way, people from all walks of life in Jingzhou breathed a sigh of relief.Then naturally it was to kill pigs and send wine to reward Wang Zhenyu's subordinates.

The first thing Wang Zhenyu did after the banquet that night was to ask He Jianmi to invite Chen Hongji to see him.

Chen Hongji can be considered a figure in Jingzhou Mansion. He is not a native of Jingzhou. His ancestral home is Baoqing Mansion. In order to survive, he had to leave Baoqing, which has a lot of people and little land, and came to Jingzhou to seek a living.In the end, he just went from a boy in a tung oil shop who was running errands to today's big boss. In Jingzhou, this boss Chen's business accounts for almost [-]% of his business.Moreover, he is kind and charitable, builds bridges and paves roads, and has a very good reputation in the local area and is quite popular.

Of course, according to the red education of later generations, such influential people in the local area should be directly shot as counter-revolutionaries. Between the guns stood up.

But Wang Zhenyu has no such interest. Although he also grew up with a red education, he has a point of view that he formed spontaneously. He is all Chinese, so he must talk about the love of his compatriots. Is it an honor to kill one’s own people so hard?

Chen Hongji is in his 40s. He is not tall. He still wears the same clothes as before, and behaves like an old-fashioned businessman.Seeing Wang Zhenyu was very polite, because He Jian had done a good job before, so Chen Hongji always answered Wang Zhenyu's questions.

What Wang Zhenyu wants to know is not Jingzhou, but the four major Hongjiang families that He Jian mentioned in the information, which is not covered in the history textbooks of later generations.

According to Chen Hongji, the specialty of Jingzhou Prefecture is timber. This business is basically done by Baoqing people. The annual transaction volume exceeds one million, but in Hongjiang, timber only accounts for a small proportion. There are two most profitable businesses. One is tung oil, the other is opium

The annual transaction volume of tung oil is almost 1000 million, while opium is not clear, but it is estimated that it will only be more or less.

The tung oil business is currently monopolized by the Zhang, Zhu, Liang, and Liu families.Among them, the Zhang family and the Zhu family are from Jiangxi and Anhui respectively. They are not locals, but they have taken root in Hongjiang for decades and have become big enough to influence the entire Xiangxi.

The two families each accounted for [-]% of the tung oil business, and the expansion of the two companies was also very tacit. Zhang's expansion went north, towards Yuanzhou and Syria, while Zhu's expanded towards Huitong.Zhang Jichang, the first generation of the Zhang family, is dead, and now Zhang Jingkun, the third generation, is at the helm of the Zhang Jichang oil company.Although it is no longer the number one of Hongjiang's eight oil companies, it is still very important.

Zhu Zhida, the first generation of the Zhu family, is still alive, but he is already over seventy years old.Needless to say how rich he is, Chen Hongji told Wang Zhenyu a common anecdote about the two:

It is said that a fortune teller told Zhang Jichang that the Zhang family was only rich for three generations, and his descendants would starve to death on the streets in the future.Zhang Jichang went to the street to find 30 people at random, and gave them money to let these people do business. The only condition was that his children and grandchildren would give alms when they came to beg for food in the future.Not to mention, when Zhu Zhida came here, another fortune teller told Zhu Zhida that the Zhu family was only rich for three generations. In order to leave a way for future generations, Zhu Zhida spent a lot of money to build 360 houses. Shops, and rent these shops to businessmen free of charge, on the condition that when his family is in decline and his children and grandchildren have no food and clothing, each family will feed them in turn.Later, when others used the story of Zhang Jichang to tell Zhu Zhida, Zhu Zhida actually said something very philosophical: "The children and grandchildren are strong like me, what do you want money for? The children and grandchildren are weak like me, what do you need money for?" "This word quickly spread throughout the Xiangxi business community.