The Beetle stopped steadily in front of a gorgeous and beautiful manor.
The hillside where the manor is located is called Shizi Slope. Although it is not as tall and vast as Turtle Mountain or Snake Mountain, it is located in the downtown area of Yingcheng District. The trees on the slope are green, quiet and elegant. Looking at the river in front, you can also overlook the entire Yingcheng District. The scenery will never be worse than Guishan and Snake Mountain.
On the top of Shizi Slope, there is an elegant and beautiful manor with pavilions and pavilions as far as the eye can see.
The owner of such a manor, located on a land where dragons and tigers roost, is naturally Xu Pingxi, the governor-general of Chu Xiang, who is also the owner of the entire Jing City in a sense.
This manor was built by Xu Pingxi after he was appointed as the governor-general of Chuxiang by the Republic of China government.
The manor adopts the style of Tuanlin in the south of the Yangtze River. It is said that Xu Pingxi followed Marshal Zuo to Jinling when he was young. He was born in a poor family and has never forgotten the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River. This may be one of the reasons why he has more than thirty aunts and wives. , nearly half of them are Jiangnan women.
In order to build this manor, Xu Pingxi specially invited several Jiangnan garden masters from Jinling to preside over the design and construction. Even the trees planted inside, the rain flower stones paved on the road, and the fish raised in the pond were all from It was brought from the land south of the Yangtze River, and it can be said to be extremely luxurious and luxurious.
When the manor was built, the president of Jinling personally wrote a plaque and sent it over to express his congratulations.
The inscription on the plaque is the word "Xiyuan", which means resting and gardening.
On the night of the wine celebration, Xu Pingxi happily arranged for two guards to hold the plaque and show it to every guest.
Unfortunately, the two guards dropped the plaque to the ground and broke into pieces.
As for why a plaque made of golden nanmu is so durable, no one dares to discuss this issue.
In short, the two guards were eventually driven into the army angrily by Xu Pingxi, and later became regimental commanders.
When the white Beetle drove up the ramp, from time to time, it would encounter some soldiers with live ammunition on patrol. Shu Guan, who was sitting in the car, could clearly detect that in the woods on the roadside, there were actually There are still many people lurking there, and there are even many bunkers.
The entire Shizi Slope is actually also a military fortress.
It is said that if there is no shortage of food and ammunition, a battalion of soldiers here is enough to survive an enemy division's attack for several days.
When the Beetle drove up to the top of the slope, you could see that there were many vehicles parked in the open space in front of the manor on the top of the slope, but it was somewhat different from the scene of gatherings of guests that Shu Guan had originally imagined.
"Chu Xiang said she didn't want to make it big, so she just invited some of her friends to celebrate."
When getting out of the car, Rong Miao explained that she had already introduced Xu Chuxiang's identity to Shu Guan.
Shuguan pretended to be surprised.
After the two got out of the car, a servant came up immediately.
"Miss, she is receiving guests in the Plum Hall and cannot welcome them in person. Please come with me, two distinguished guests."
The polite manservant in his early forties bowed politely to greet him.
Then the two of them followed the male servant into the manor. Along the way, they saw winding paths, luxuriant flowers and trees, and gushing water and springs everywhere. After walking like this for about ten minutes, the middle-aged male servant took them to a building. Within the garden.
There is a gorgeous hall and pavilion in the garden. People can be seen inside, and laughter and laughter are constant. There are several long tables on the grass outside the hall. The tables are covered with snow-white tablecloths, and various fruits and foods are placed on them. They are exquisite. Pastries, as well as drinks such as champagne and soda, many people also gathered at those tables, chatting while eating.
It seems that today's banquet is a new style of buffet party.
When Rong Miao and Shu Guan walked in together, people on the grass turned their eyes over. Of course, their eyes basically fell on Rong Miao.
Although Rong Miao is not the kind of woman with particularly outstanding facial features, she has an invincible temperament. Today, she is wearing a black evening dress with exposed shoulders. Coupled with her slender and slim figure, she looks extremely noble and elegant.
"Sister Rong, you are finally here."
Then Xu Chuxiang came out from the hall with a smile.
Today she was wearing a purple evening dress, which made her fair and delicate skin and convex figure look extremely radiant.
The two women, who were both irresistible to look away at the first sight, held hands and exchanged a few words. Rong Miao gave Xu Chuxiang the sapphire necklace she had spent all afternoon selecting, and Xu Chuxiang happily accepted it.
Then her eyes turned to Shu Guan's face.
"Sir Shu, it's nice to see you again. Thank you for coming to my birthday party."
Xu Chuxiang smiled Yingying towards Shu Guan.
"Ms. Xu, happy birthday."
Shu Guan also nodded with a smile, but there was some gratitude deep in his eyes.
Naturally, he was grateful that Xu Chuxiang did not reveal his identity in front of Rong Miao and acted cooperatively with him.
Of course, Shu Guan regretted coming here just now, not because of Xu Chuxiang, but because he didn't want to meet Xu Pingxi.
One is that Xu Pingxi may not be as cooperative as Xu Chuxiang. If he behaves strangely towards her, it will be difficult to explain to Rong Miao.
But looking at today's scene, all the people here are Xu Chuxiang's own friends, Xu Pingxi may not show up.
Shu Guan looked around and felt a little relieved.
…
When Shu Guan was worried about whether he would meet Xu Pingxi, Xu Pingxi was having a meeting in a solemnly decorated hall one kilometer away from Shu Guan.
He was wearing a robe and coat, holding his big smoking stick inlaid with gold and jade, sitting on the grand master's chair in the center of the hall, puffing leisurely.
However, everyone else in the hall was sitting upright, wearing neat and straight military uniforms, with serious expressions. They were divided into two rows on the left and right, and there were about twenty people sitting on both sides of the hall.
These are all generals under Xu Pingxi.
At today's meeting, almost all the important generals under Xu Pingxi were present.
This is naturally a very important meeting.
At this time, sitting in the third position in the row to the right of Xu Chuxiang, a veteran in his early fifties, with most of his hair turning white, a sad face, and saggy skin, was speaking loudly to Xu Pingxi.
"Commander, what do you decide to do with the requests made by the people of the Rising Sun Country? You must provide a charter as soon as possible so that all brothers can feel at ease."
"Mr. Cheng, what do you think we should do? Why don't you talk about it first."
Xu Pingxi was still smoking a dry cigarette and said calmly.
"My subordinates think it's better to just agree to the people of the Rising Sun Nation first. There is such a large batch of weapons and ammunition. It is said that there are more than a dozen tanks. We don't want to give it up in vain."
"You want it for free? Do you think you can ask for these things for free?"
Xu Pingxi suddenly smiled and asked.
"Shouldn't we just send a few of their training instructors in? Let's get those weapons first. As for the instructors, when they arrive, we can just leave them alone and ignore them."
The gray-haired veteran continued to speak nonchalantly.
"Leave it alone? Lao Cheng, what you think is wonderful!"
At this time, a general sitting in the seventh seat in the first row from the left suddenly sneered and said.
This man was in his forties, with dark skin, a thin face, and a sitting posture as straight as a gun.
"The former President Yuan also thought the same way, so he still regretted it until his death. Marshal Zhang from the Three Continents Outside the Pass also thought the same way, so now he wants to fall out with the Rising Sun people, but he can no longer do so."
"Is it so easy to get the things belonging to people from the Rising Sun Country?"
The man stared at Mr. Cheng and shouted sternly.
"Brigadier Jiang, what you said is wrong. Our situation is different from that of Marshal Zhang outside the customs."
However, another general sitting in the same row with him and two ahead of him immediately retorted:
"Daishuai Zhang's territory borders Goryeo, and Goryeo now has 300,000 Rising Sun Kingdom troops stationed there, so it is naturally more constrained. But our Chuzhou is so far away from the Rising Sun Kingdom. Even if we regret it in the future, what can they do to us? Like? You can't send troops across half of China to come and settle accounts with us!"
This is a man who is also in his early forties, wearing glasses and with fair skin.
"Commander Chen is right, and this time Consul Takeo Nakata of the Kingdom of the Rising Sun not only promised to assist us with a batch of weapons, but also a large amount of low-interest loans. How can such a good thing be extrapolated?"
"That's right, why bother with so much? Let's get the benefits first."
Immediately afterwards, the generals sitting in the hall began to speak in agreement with the fair-looking Commander Chen.
You must know that Commander Chen is Marshal Xu's confidant and is currently the commander of the garrison in Jingcheng.
Since Commander Chen dared to say this, then maybe the commander-in-chief also thinks so.
Commander Chen seemed a little proud after receiving everyone's support. He stood up and said loudly to Xu Pingxi:
"Commander, my subordinates got news from a friend in the Kingdom of the Rising Sun a few days ago. If we don't accept their help from Consul Takeo Nakata this time, their aid target will turn to Jin Yunpeng in Yuzhou. Marshal, you know that Jin Yunpeng has always refused to deal with us. If we don't want Jin Yunpeng to get these weapons, he might have evil intentions towards us."
The veteran named Cheng just stood up and persuaded Xu Pingxi with a sincere expression:
"Commander, in the past few years, our Chu and Hunan continents have lived a stable life under your leadership, but the surroundings are not without hidden dangers. Except for Jin Yunpeng in the north, the Ma brothers in Ganzhou in the northwest, and the Ma brothers in Ganzhou in the south. Long Zhizhou in Dianzhou is all eyeing our territory."
"Not to mention the Central Army, they are thinking day and night about marching the army into our Jingcheng. Otherwise, why would they station two armies in Jiangcheng? There are no foreign enemies there, and the two armies are on defense. Even a blind person can see who it is."
"Commander, in this situation, we can't offend anyone anymore. Now that the people of the Rising Sun Country are willing to help us, this is a good thing. No matter what they want, as long as they don't go too far, we might as well agree to it first."
"After all, as long as we have territory, guns and artillery, no one can do anything to us!"
But this time, even more people agreed.
Xu Pingxi was smoking a dry cigarette, and his face was filled with smoke. It was difficult to see his expression clearly at this time.
It wasn't until everyone was arguing noisily for a long time that he slowly knocked his cigarette rod on the armrest of the Taishi's chair a few times.
】
As a result, the hall instantly became quiet. Everyone stopped talking and looked at their Marshal Xu solemnly.
Xu Pingxi's prestige among these generals is almost unshakable.
"Is this what everyone means? Accept the assistance from the people of the Rising Sun Country."
Then Xu Ping asked indifferently.
His eyes swept across the faces of everyone in the hall.
So the generals began to nod or shake their heads.
Except for a few generals except Brigadier Na Jiang just now, almost 80% of the generals all chose to agree.
Xu Pingxi silently filled another pot of cigarettes for himself, then raised his hand and waved:
"Okay, I know everyone's opinions, please step back first."
"Second Brother Tang, Staff Officer Ouyang, you two will stay for a while."
All the generals in the hall stood up and saluted Xu Pingxi with a military salute.
In the end, Xu Pingxi did not say what he planned to do.
The generals filed out of the hall with hesitant expressions.
In the hall, there were only three people left in the end.
One is the general who was sitting in the first seat in the row on the left just now. This man looks to be about the same age as Xu Pingxi, also in his early fifties. He has an ordinary and simple appearance, a loyal face, and a slightly old look. Xu Pingxi just called him He is Tang's second younger brother, but he looks a few years older than Xu Pingxi.
The second brother Tang mentioned by Xu Pingxi, whose full name is Tang Huanpei, is second only to Xu Pingxi in the Chu Xiang army. He is also the sworn brother of Xu Pingxi. The two have known each other since they served under Zuo Gong. They started working together as little soldiers. At that time, they had three sworn brothers. One of them later died on the battlefield, leaving only the two of them.
Xu Pingxi was the governor-general of Chu and Hunan provinces, but he stayed in Jingcheng most of the time. As for the military affairs of Hunan Province, he basically left them to Tang Huanpei.
This time, Xu Pingxi summoned Tang Huanpei from Tancheng, the capital of Xiangzhou, to Jingcheng to discuss how to deal with the requests of the Rising Sun people.
The other person left in the hall was sitting on a chair to the side behind Xu Pingxi.
This is a young man in his thirties. This young man has sharp eyebrows and starry eyes. He is very handsome. He is sitting behind Xu Pingxi, but his expression is lazy. His military uniform is also wrinkled and radiating. Smells strongly of alcohol.
During the meeting just now, when the generals were speaking, this young man kept yawning and looking drowsy.
The young man's name is Ouyang Hai, and he is the chief staff officer of Xu Pingxi's staff room.
What needs to be explained in particular is that in today's Dahua army, except for the Central Military Commission, which will set up staff rooms in division-level combat units, basically these local warlords will not set up any staff offices at all. To fight a war, a group of leading troops The generals can just sit down and discuss it.
But Xu Pingxi is different.
He set up a staff room in his army very early, and it was quite formal. He even spent a lot of money to invite several senior retired staff officers from the Borus Empire, which had the most complete staff system in the Western Continent. , specially came to help him establish this staff room.
This young man named Ouyang Hai only joined Xu Pingxi's command three years ago. It is said that he is a top student who graduated from the Army Academy of the Rising Sun.
After he came to Xu Pingxi's command, it only took him half a year to replace the original retired colonel of the Bolushi Empire and become Xu Pingxi's chief staff officer.
Now, apart from Xu Pingxi, only Tang Huanpei and Ouyang Hai were left in the hall.
"What's your opinion?"
Xu Pingxi asked the two of them.
During the military discussion just now, these two people were the only ones who did not express any opinions or even say a word.
For Xu Pingxi, other people's opinions are not important. The opinions of these two people are what he really cares about.
