In China, the most difficult to deal with are soldiers and bandits, they are usually unreasonable and like to use violence, as a foreigner feel more deeply, a few years ago in the city train robbery, dozens of Western hostages were robbed, and later released, the kidnappers were actually incorporated into the government army, enough to prove that soldiers and bandits are actually one.

At present, serious xenophobic incidents have occurred in various ports and cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Northern Expeditionary Army has been moving south along the Yangtze River and engaged in fierce battles with the Beiyang Army.

The expatriates were trembling at the sight of the cold light of the bayonets and the fierce light on the faces of the soldiers, and this group of Westerners included Americans, British, Belgians, and Russians, five of whom were women with three children, and a little girl of five years old, who had been terrified these days and was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

John Walker walked over to the soldier with his hands raised, signaling that he had no weapons, and at the same time said in his newly learned broken Chinese: "Don't shoot, I'm British." ”

The soldier raised his rifle and aimed it at him, and an officer stepped forward and searched for his Webley revolver, and Walker was about to protest when the butt of his rifle came at him and knocked him to the ground.

There was a commotion, and the Americans in the team raised their shotguns and blocked their wives and daughters behind them, but fortunately, the soldiers did not rush over and commit violence, but surrounded them.

The back door of a dusty black sedan in the military convoy opened, one foot in riding boots stretched out, then another, and a tall general appeared in front of everyone, and the three gold stars on his shoulders showed that he was an army general, and in Jiangdong Province, there was only one general, that is, His Excellency Chen Zikun, commander-in-chief of the Jiangdong National Revolutionary Army.

Along the way, the greatest pleasure of the expatriates is to curse the demon commander-in-chief in various languages, it is precisely because of his brazen confrontation with the British, that the expatriates have to give up their businesses and houses to flee, and the disaster that swept the Yangtze River valley can be compared with the Gengzi Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion.

Seeing the appearance of the legendary warlord, the men subconsciously took a few steps back, and the women were so frightened that they covered the children's eyes, although the children were young, they could also feel the oppression and horror of the atmosphere, as for those mule drivers, they were already so frightened that they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

Chen Zikun glanced at the small convoy, and immediately understood what was going on, he first patted the officer leading the team on the shoulder, asked for the Webley revolver, and handed it back to John Walker.

Walker hesitated for a moment, took the pistol and pinned it to his waist, Chen Zikun didn't speak to him, walked to the group of expatriates, greeted him very kindly, and after learning that the other party was American, he immediately changed to a New York accent, and spoke an authentic Petersburg dialect to Russians, and spoke Parisian to Belgians, and he would be able to understand it anyway.

The general's fluent foreign language instantly dispelled the vigilance of the expatriate, a general who is proficient in various Chinese languages will never be a butcher, the men's hands holding guns are loosened, the women wipe away their tears, and answer Commander-in-Chief Chen's questions reservedly and politely.

Chen Zikun took off his white gloves and slapped the child in a woman's arms, the woman hesitated, for fear of angering the general, but still handed the child over, the child actually giggled in Chen Zikun's arms, it seems that this martial artist is still an expert in holding children.

"My daughter is about her age." Chen Zikun's words narrowed the distance between each other, he even chatted with the expatriate women about parenting, and took out the cigarettes of Kelik for the men to smoke, and the most outrageous thing was that he actually took out a few toffees from his pocket and handed them to the children, "This must be my little princess stuffed in the pocket of her military uniform." The Admiral explained not without self-deprecation, causing a burst of good-natured laughter.

When he learned that the expatriates were short of food, had not bathed for several days, and had a price disagreement with the mule drivers, Chen Zikun asked them clearly that their destination was Nanjing, and said, "I can spare a truck to take you to Nanjing." ”

The expatriates cheered, and Walker shrugged his shoulders, and he had to admit that the general was very good at showmanship, very good at getting close to the people, and the expatriates who had been eager to crucify him a moment ago had now become a big fan of General Chen.

As the ruler of Jiangdong Province, he was able to put down his body and squat on the ground to bargain with the mulemen, and what was even more bizarre was that the mule drivers were not afraid of him, and they were noisy and finalized a mutually acceptable price, this detail shocked Walker, and he finally understood that Chen Zikun was not putting on a show.

The expatriates paid for the car, the soldiers vacated a truck to help the expatriates carry their luggage, and Chen Zikun vacated his car for the women and children to sit in.

When Walker climbed into the truck, he couldn't help but ask: "General, what are you doing in Nanjing?" ”

"Oh, Nanjing has been conquered by our army." Chan replied, followed by adding, "Shanghai is the same." ”

Walker was stunned, there was no contact with the outside world for a few days, and China underwent earth-shaking changes, the rich areas in the southeast were occupied by the National Revolutionary Army, and the Northern Expedition was only half a year, and half of the country had changed hands, and it seemed that China was really going to change greatly.

……

Walker was extremely depressed, but Chen Zikun was proud, the recent war went well, the Northern Expeditionary Army won successive battles, and Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing and other important towns, when fighting Shanghai, the Beiyang Navy stationed at Wusong Fort announced that it would fall to the south, blockade Haikou and prevent the Beiyang Army from escaping, and also sent marines to cooperate with the Northern Expeditionary Army to attack, and the anti-smoking law enforcement corps in Shanghai also made great efforts, but the decisive role was played by the armed workers' pickets led by the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions. It took Shanghai without much effort.

The battle of Nanjing was also very smooth, after the Jiangdong Army and the Northern Expeditionary Army Cheng Qian's troops approached, Zhang Zongchang's Zhilu Army retreated in a hurry, leaving an empty city, and the Second Army, the Sixth Army, and the Fortieth Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army approached the city and drove into the city of Nanjing.

Chen Zikun led the guards to enter Nanjing on the morning of March 24, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, the city wall stretched for dozens of miles, there was really the momentum of a tiger standing on the dragon plate, the convoy entered the Jubaomen, vaguely felt that something was wrong, there were very few pedestrians on the street, every house was closed, the guards set up machine guns, and cautiously drove forward.

Suddenly, a few men in military uniforms ran by, carrying box guns in their hands and carrying a roll of silk on their backs, and shouted: "Come with me if you want to make a fortune!" The accent looked like that of the Liangguang people, and a group of local hooligan ruffians swarmed behind him, and not far away was a church hospital.

Sporadic gunshots rang out, the atmosphere became more tense, the convoy continued to move forward for a distance, the road was blocked, a group of people in front of them gathered around to watch the excitement, no matter how the horn sounded, Chen Zikun was a little impatient, let Shuangxi see what was going on.

Shuangxi jumped on the front of the car, put his hand on the pergola and looked, in the crowd in the middle of the street, a group of soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army were beating foreigners, there was a bloody corpse lying on the ground, a Western man knelt on the ground, and a soldier stood behind him, holding a Qinglong Yanyue knife in his hand, and he gestured on the neck of the foreigner, making a head-chopping shape.

"Fuck me!" Shuangxi scolded, jumped down and told Chen Zikun, Chen Zikun's face changed when he heard this, he jumped out of the car, snatched a light machine gun from the guards, and shot a shuttle into the sky.

The sound of gunfire alarmed the onlookers, and when they saw that they were fully armed formed troops, they immediately scattered, and in a blink of an eye, they ran cleanly, Chen Zikun said angrily: "It's not like words! Someone, take the injured to the hospital. ”

"Wait!" Walker jumped out of the truck, sped over, picked up the Western man who had been nearly beheaded, and shouted, "Mr. Giles, Mr. Giles, wake up!" ”

Chen Zikun walked over and asked, "Do you know him?" ”

"He's Herbert. Giles, British Consul in Nanjing! General, please save him! Walker shouted.

It's really a narrow road, and the British consul who ordered the shelling of the Jiangdong Army actually met here, and he was almost chopped off in the head, thanks to Walker's English, if his subordinates knew that this person was a British consul, it would be a good show.

As soon as Chen Zikun beckoned, the medical soldier ran over, briefly checked the British consul, and was hit by a pistol bullet, the injury was not serious, but he lost a lot of blood, and he was temporarily unconscious from excessive fright.

The medic slammed into the man, Consul Gilles woke up slowly, the vague figure in front of him couldn't see who it was, he shook his head vigorously, and a distant voice seemed to come from his ears: "It's me, John Walker." ”

"John, save my wife, who has been robbed by the rebels." Consul Gilles' voice was faint.

"General, please save the consul's wife." Walker pleaded.

Chen Zikun nodded, Shuangxi led the guards to search nearby, and helped out a disheveled white woman from the alley, with bruises everywhere, and her skirt was torn.

"Who's that man?" Chen Zikun asked, pointing to the corpse on the ground.

Walker looked at it and replied in a low voice: "It's the vice president of Jinling University, Mr. Williams, and he is an American." ”

Chen Zikun realized that serious violence against foreigners was breaking out in Nanjing, and when he looked back at the brothers in the guards, everyone had a look of impatience and wanted to join the rebels immediately and abuse these foreigners.

"Dashuai, let's do it too." Double happiness hands press the box cannon, eager to try.

"Damn, you have the ability to fight with foreigners on the battlefield, what kind of ability is it to deal with expatriates, pass my orders, and ...... on the spot when you see the chaos" After thinking about it, he still changed his words, "If you see the chaos, you will beat me hard." ”

"Yes!" There was a slight regret in the eyes of the soldiers, but the commander's order must be obeyed.

Walker said, "Your Excellency, I ask you to send troops to protect the consulate and the Western diaspora. ”

Chan replied, "I will." ”

Seeing this bloody tragedy, the overseas Chinese in the car were terrified, and they did not dare to leave the Jiangdong Army, thinking that the provincial capital was seriously xenophobic, and it would be better to get to Nanjing, but how could they know that the situation was a hundred times worse, and even the safety of the British consul could not be guaranteed, let alone ordinary overseas Chinese.

Herbert. Consul Gilles and his wife were lifted into a truck and driven towards the hospital, and Mr. Consul took Walker's hand and asked, "John, who is that general?"

"He's Chan, Mr. Giles." Walker replied.

~