In the winter of the third year of Guangxing, because of a conflict with Imperial Prime Minister Wen Yi on the issue of the reorganization of the Ministry of National Defense, Minister of Culture and Education Tan Sitong announced his resignation, withdrew from the Chinese People's Party, and formed the Democratic State Party, referred to as the Republic of China Party, and pulled out seven members of the House of Representatives and one senator from the original Chinese People's Party. Wen Yi was both regretful and annoyed by the incident, but did not react in any way, although Liu Yun approached him and proposed that the Haw Par Battalion secretly dispose of Tan Sitong, Wen Yi politely refused - he hoped to use legal means to solve most political problems. Luo Sulan, the Vice-Minister of Culture and Education of the Empire, immediately took over the post of Minister of Culture and Education, but she was soon on leave because she was pregnant, and the post of Minister of Culture and Education was temporarily replaced by Liang Qichao of the Royalist Party. After the spring of the fourth year of Guangxing, Luo Sulan gave birth to a son, named Zhang Luming, and the vacation ended later, but she resigned from the cabinet under the persuasion of Wen Yi and became the head of the propaganda department of the Chinese People's Party, devoting herself to party affairs.

"The first female minister of the empire, who has only been in office for thirty-two days, is really a big pity."

On the second page of the Imperial Daily on June 11, the fourth year of Guangxing, a news brief article the size of a tofu block expressed literal regret for Luo Sulan's resignation.

"The general election is approaching, and the party needs you more than the cabinet needs you, so please go all out for the Chinese People's Party." In the small tea room next to the cabinet chamber, Wen Yi pacified Russellandau in his own way, although Russellan never expressed dissatisfaction on any occasion.

"Mr. Wen, don't worry, I will naturally do my best." Luo Sulan, who had just become a mother, looked a little tired, but a happy look still overflowed from her handsome face from time to time.

"The strength of foreign parties is constantly increasing, and it is very likely that there will no longer be a situation of one-party hegemony in the next general election, so we must choose our alliance partners well, and we must do a good job in our own party building and propaganda work. It is annoying, but it is the inevitable result of the implementation of a democratic system, and only by effective competition under the premise of a democratic constitution can a political party not become completely corrupt and degenerate, because at the slightest sign of decadence, it will be quickly expelled from the political arena, or even completely destroyed. ”

Luo Sulan nodded, she was a teacher who admired her very much, although when she was at Yunnan University, she read Chinese language and literature, but out of her love for history, she chose all the history subjects that she could choose in the four years of college, a total of five or six hundred hours, half of which were taught by Wen Yi. That is, starting from the teacher-student relationship in the history elective course, they have become familiar with each other to become comrades, and the twists and turns are all secrets of the two, even Luo Sulan's husband Zhang Zhigao is difficult to know.

"In just four or five years, hundreds of large and small parties have sprung up, and just registering their names is enough for the Department of Political Parties of the Ministry of the Interior to be busy." Wen Yi picked up the teacup and found that the tea was already in the end.

"I'll come," Luo Sulan picked up the kettle on the warming stove and walked over to pour water for Wen Yi's teacups, "Although there are many parties, few of them have really made the climate, and now it seems that in addition to the three major parties in the ruling coalition, only Tan Sitong's Republic of China Party can be called an opposition party, and the other five or six small parties with power in the parliament only occupy a total of less than thirty seats, so there is no need for them. ”

"I'm not worried about the small parties that don't make it into the stream, and the so-called opposition parties are not worth wasting my time, and the strength of the Chinese People's Party has remained unshakable in the past few years, but the key to the problem is not the ...... of the political parties."

Luo Sulan poured herself a cup of tea by the way, gently stroked the blue-glazed porcelain cup in her hand, smiled at the teacher, and responded in the tone of a female student back then: "Can you ask questions?" ”

"Yes."

"From the beginning, you've been worried, constantly worrying, worrying about this and that, what are you afraid of?"

Wen Yi lowered his head, trying to avoid Luo Sulan's still sincere gaze, and his deep voice contained some human feelings: "If you want to be afraid, since you have chosen this risky path and taken on the responsibility of deciding the fate of hundreds of millions of people, you are not qualified to be afraid of anything, even if you die, it is one of the expected ends." I'm just wondering, is it a good thing or a bad thing to bring young people like you and Chi Taka here? ”

Luo Sulan replied resolutely: "Of course it's a good thing! If we hadn't come with you, we would probably have spent our lives in obscurity and melocity, wasting our lives under mean bosses or boring bureaucrats, wearing down our individuality under the pressures of life and the need for money, you know, at least for me, there is no essential difference between mediocrity and death. ”

"Xiao Luo, things are not so simple, do you know the way? Even I am helpless about the distance between dreams and reality, and what I can control is actually insignificant, and everything about me, including my old bones, cannot withstand the light touch of some people's fingertips. Political matters are extremely dangerous, all friendships cannot resist the conquest of Yu Wang, and power is enough to destroy the most fundamental human nature in this world......"

Luo Sulan pursed her lips, three-quarters of the teacher-student friendship and one-quarter of women's talent enabled her to deeply appreciate the haggard and contradictory meaning of Wen Yi's words.

"You're so tired." Russell Lan said.

Wen Yi shook his head: "I'm not tired, I just don't have enough grasp of the future, you young people, you could have lived a carefree and quiet life......"

"But I don't want to freeze the eternity, I only envy the meteor that is incomparably brilliant even though it disappears in an instant."

Luo Sulan's serious tone biting the words was more like a child, and Wen Yi couldn't help but think back to himself thirty years ago, at that time, as a passionate high school student, how eager he was to dedicate himself to a great ideal. However, it was a so-called peaceful and prosperous era that did not need heroes, and people there were educated in a brainwashed, rigid education from an early age, and everything demanded uniformity, conformity with authority, obedience to the classics, and obedience to superiors. Superiority was a vague concept, and in those days, many such and such people had the right to govern you, the right to cleanse your mind, the right to restrict your freedom, and the right to decide your life. Even if you are legally defined as an incomparably free citizen, in reality, you will find that the world was originally made up of large pastures, and a small number of shepherds led their sheepdogs to keep a large number of sheep that had been washed away from their thinking powers, and the sheep even felt that they should live this way. When sheep generally think and speak, the end of the pasture has come. Therefore, as a member of the sheep, it is the greatest cause to spiritually liberate all the sheep, and out of this idea, Wenyi finally embarked on the road of teaching and educating people. It is true that he can advocate liberalism and humanism in his own classroom and encourage the improvement of his personal thinking ability, but even he himself has to constantly copy "personal summaries" according to the ideological education books issued by the school, waste his entire Friday afternoon studying the so-called quotations spit out by political leaders after visiting such and such a place, and use thousands of words full of compliments, praises, and praises against his will. Sincere and fearful statements to show the "advanced nature" of their political study. Time has been wasted in large quantities, edges and corners have been worn away in large chunks, and the spiritual world has been impregnated little by little by the filth of the world. When a person feels that dreams can only be dreams, even a faint ray of hope can make him feel the heat of the afternoon sun. Therefore, when Liu Yun found Wen Yi and told him about the crazy and nonsensical adventure plan, Wen Yi immediately made a decision.

He would rather have only one chance and try to destroy the pastures, free the sheep, and evolve the sheep into human ones, including sheepdogs. Dying for a dream is the happiest.

"What are you thinking, sir?"

"It's nothing, by the way, you should go back, I'm afraid Zhigao has already arrived home."

"This is the last time I've ever spoken to my husband in the Cabinet Building, and I'm afraid I'll be ...... in the future."

"The female ministers of the empire start with you, and they may not end with you, you are still young, and there are many opportunities. In addition, although the work is important, we cannot relax the discipline of the children, we will eventually grow old, and our dreams are likely to be truly realized in the next generation. ”

Luo Sulan smiled a little shyly, straightened the collar of her tweed blouse, took the feather-trimmed women's hat handed over by Wen Yi, and asked softly before putting on her coat: "Sir, why have you been single until now?" Is it because of my wife? ”

Wen Yi didn't shake his head, didn't nod, muttered for a few seconds, and didn't answer positively: "Your master and wife must think I'm dead." ”

"Will she wait for you?"

"I hope she doesn't wait for me."

"I feel like you need a woman to take good care of you."

"My servants take good care of me."

"That's different."

"I need to be quiet, and only a quiet rest can make me recover better."

"Not quite like a reason."

"Let's go back, I'll go to your house another day to see Lu Ming, who took his name, so strange?"

"It's Zhigao, I don't know what Lu Dao thinks, anyway, he likes it."

"That's right," Wen Yi helped Luo Sulan bring his coat and put it on, "Come back, I still have some things to do." ”

Wen Yi sent Luo Sulan to the door of the building, and watched her get in the car and leave, a black Tiger Ace car happened to pass by Luo Sulan's car slowly, and the people in the back seat of the car saw this scene clearly.

The Tiger Ace car drove out of Guanjie, turned onto Chongwenmen Street, and stopped in front of the Tianfu Restaurant, which is famous in Beijing, and a general dressed in a navy blue Wehrmacht uniform stepped out of the car door, followed by the driver and adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Yintian, and walked into the main hall of the restaurant.

A waiter in white clothes and white hats greeted him and asked respectfully, "Is it Mr. Liu?" ”

"Yes."

"Mr. Zhong is waiting for you in the upstairs box, please come with me."

Four-star General Liu Bailiang followed the waiter to a box separated by thick oak on the second floor, and saw at a glance that his old company commander, the current commander of the Imperial Guard, General Zhong Xiahuo, was sitting in it with a teacup and sipping tea carelessly, with an adjutant and a guard sitting beside him.

"Xiao Liu, come and sit down." Zhong Xiahuo shouted in a loud voice, as if his thick voice seemed to be heard by the whole world.

Liu Bailiang used to be the platoon commander of Zhong Xiahuo's company, and he knew Zhong Xiahuo well, and there was no gap. He is of medium stature, muscular, his chin is often shaved, and his black and gray pupils show some mixed-race factors, in fact, his mother is a Kazakh from Xinjiang, and his father is a Hakka from Guangxi.

Liu Bailiang was about to choose a chair to sit down, but was pulled to his side by Zhong Xiahuo: "The two of us can finally stay in the capital together, we must celebrate well today, don't get drunk and don't go home - man, serve the food, by the way, serve the wine first!" ”

After the Guangxingding case three years ago, the imperial military circles underwent a major readjustment, and Liu Bailiang, commander of the East China Military Region, was transferred to the post of commander of the South China Military Region, and at the same time was promoted to general, until March this year, when General Zuo Guigui, commander of the Zhili Military Region, was seriously ill and resigned, the Ministry of National Defense decided to transfer Liu Bailiang to the post of commander of the Zhili Military Region, and the post of commander of the South China Military Region was transferred to Lieutenant General Zhang Yiye, commander of the First Infantry Army. The headquarters of the Zhili Military Region is located on the street of the Jingshi Army, and next door to it happens to be the headquarters of the Praetorian Guard, Zhong Xiahuo is naturally very happy, in his relationship circle, Liu Bailiang is his only friend who is willing to talk to his heart.

Liu Bailiang climbed on Zhong Xiahuo's shoulder and said: "Old Zhong, I have to go to hand over the work tomorrow, just drink a lot, it's okay to drink a little - by the way, I just saw something interesting." ”

"Interesting thing? Let's talk about it. Zhong Xiahuo shouted impatiently.

"Our Premier Wen didn't send Luo Sulan out of the Imperial Government Building until so long after getting off work, and it was a one-on-one state, I don't know what will happen if Lu Dao is seen by Vice Minister Zhang."

Zhong Xiahuo shook his head in disappointment: "What should I do, it turned out to be this kind of sesame mung bean thing, who does his surname Wen come out with, anyway, it doesn't end well with whoever he is with!" ”

Liu Bailiang shrugged his shoulders and smiled: "In the past few years, I haven't scolded Wen Yi enough, what did he provoke you?" ”

"Lao Tzu just doesn't like him, if Lao Tzu doesn't look at our Captain Liu's face, he won't be too lazy to bird him!"

"Okay, okay, today I'm going to talk to you, the old company commander, don't be angry with anyone, let's talk about something happy, by the way, this is my adjutant in the commander of the South China Military Region, I think it's very good, so I applied to bring it over, Lieutenant Colonel Yintian, the first high-talent student of Lu University, who served as a staff ......officer of the Northern Army and the Japanese Dispatch Army Command in the Korean War."

Before Liu Bailiang finished speaking, Zhong Xiahuo grabbed Yintian's hand and shouted: "It's Yintian, you have been in my army for two months, follow me into Seoul, young man, it's very good!" On the night of the conquest of Seoul, we had a celebration banquet, and this young man was so excited that he couldn't even eat! ”

Yintian shook hands with his former boss with a smile and a warm smile, in fact, at the celebration banquet that Zhong Xiahuo said, he was not so excited that he couldn't eat it, but was disgusted by the heads of the 10,000 Japanese soldiers on the Chongwenmen City Tower-those bloody heads were still dangling in his dreams from time to time. After Zhong Xiahuo's Northern Army conquered Seoul, the heads of more than 10,000 Japanese troops were hung on the tower of Chongwenmen City, which was attacked by Chinese and foreign public opinion, forcing Liu Yun to transfer Zhong Xiahuo back to China, and handed over the command of Ding Jieyun to the army in North Korea.

"Yintian, long time no see." Zhong Xiahuo's adjutant Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Zichang stretched out his hand, and he and Yintian were classmates at Lu University when they were undergraduates.

"Yes, long time no see, I didn't expect you to be so high." Seeing his old classmates, Yintian finally broke free from the terrifying memories and shook hands with Jiang Zichang cordially.

"Hehe, I forgot, the two of them are classmates, today is a gathering of old comrades-in-arms and old classmates, not bad, you must have a good drink!" Zhong Xiahuo pounded the table and shouted, just as several waiters came in with large plates of roast suckling pig, Peking duck and braised pig's feet, white porcelain wine utensils were also placed on the table, and the two pots of three glass bottles glowed with alluring brilliance under the light of crystal lamps. Zhong Xiahuo was about to announce the opening of the banquet, but suddenly thought that the guards around him had not yet been introduced, so he patted the corporal on the shoulder and said: "This is my guard, Xiao Xia, he can drink more than me, Shanxi people, I have to bring him with me when I go to drink, and he can help me top several bottles!" ”

Xiao Xia laughed embarrassedly, his face flushed, nineteen-year-old he still has too much immaturity that he can't get rid of, but because he is the son of the owner of the winery, his amount of alcohol can indeed make people like Zhong Xiahuo who are difficult to understand the meaning of modesty willing to be at a disadvantage.

The banquet opened in a warm and harmonious atmosphere, after three rounds of drinking, a little hearty, people also talked more, Zhong Xiahuo climbed Liu Bailiang's shoulder and shouted as usual: "Xiao Liu, you are good at coming, Captain Liu said, in the future, we will fight with the Russians, only plan to use the forces of the Zhili Military Region and the Northeast Military Region to attack the Far East, our Praetorian Guard will play a key role, and when the time comes, we will fight side by side, make meritorious contributions, and achieve a generation of prestige, how cool and how cool it will be!" ”

"Old Zhong, it's not that simple, I am the commander of the military region, and unless I can be appointed as the chief officer of the front-line corps in wartime, I will not have a chance to go to the battlefield."

"Let me tell Liu Yun, it's a waste for a talent like you not to go to the battlefield! Look at your Liu Bailiang's performance in Sekihara, it's absolutely no problem to serve as the commander of a front army! ”

Liu Bailiang smacked the tip of his spicy tongue and exclaimed with wine: "Whether it's the commander or the division commander, even if I only let one company charge in front, I have no complaints, and the eldest husband will be a horse leather shroud!" Dry! ”

"! Let's fight the world for Captain Liu, Captain Liu will not treat us badly, now we have all been knighted, and there will be shares of agricultural companies in the future, the future is worry-free, and the back road is stable, just waiting for Captain Liu to use us to leave a prominent reputation in the annals of the empire, in this life, what else can we pursue! ”

"Of course, what else can we do in the army? Defending the country, fighting in all directions, showing martial arts, showing martial virtues, being the main general of a large army, breaking the enemy and recovering the land, should be the long-cherished wish of a soldier's life! ”

Zhong Xiahuo threw away a small piece of gnawed duck bone, swallowed half a glass of wine, and couldn't help but mention the old thing, "Ding Jieyun, that kid, with a little talent, is a little limelight, so he thinks he can turn the sky upside down, what is the result?" It's over! Loyalty is the first thing in this world, and no loyal talent is a scourge, although our talent is not good, but it is definitely loyal, so it is destined to be the east wind overwhelming the west wind, that kid can't fight me! ”

Liu Bailiang felt that this kind of taboo topic should not be talked about casually at the dinner table, so he directly covered Zhong Xiahuo's mouth, Zhong Xiahuo pushed Liu Bailiang's hand away disappreciatively: "What are you afraid of, you can't talk about it, it's still democratic, isn't it a stinky fart?" ”

"In short, it's better to be a little restrained, Lord Marshal doesn't like to look at you like this."

"I know," Zhong Xiahuo held his wine glass and smiled proudly on his face, "Captain Liu reminded me, I must pay attention in the future, I must pay attention, come, do it again, do it again!" ”

On the other side, two old classmates, Yin Tian and Jiang Zichang whispered while drinking, Yin Tianzheng talked about the experience of the Korean War, and his tone was full of indignation: "When I was under Commander Zhong, I was still reused, and later I was replaced by Commander Ding as my boss, not only was I demoted to one level, but I also didn't give a good look, I asked my colleagues, it turned out that I was only treated like that because I was Commander Zhong's person." ”

Jiang Zichang said: "Ding Jieyun is not a good bird, no, it turns out that he is really a rebel, and it will be unlucky to follow him." I was a staff officer in the Third Praetorian Guard Division, following Commander Nie, but unfortunately I didn't fight any big battles in Japan, but I was stationed in Korea for a long time, and then I was transferred to the Northeast Military Region, followed Commander Zhong, and then I was taken to the Praetorian Guard. ”

"You say, are we talented?" Yintian asked, shaking his wine glass.

"Of course, after studying at Lu University for four years, my graduation grades are all in the top few, and I have experienced the First Sino-Japanese War, and served as a staff officer in the division headquarters and the headquarters, no matter how I say it, I can't compare it with the mediocre people."

"But why didn't we stand out in the war and get the approval of our superiors?"

"No one." Jiang Zichang said this briefly, Yintian stopped talking, they knew it, they didn't need to say it again, now they each have a boss who can bring their own bright future, and the famous master has it, just wait for the time to show their talents. Sometimes, talent must be linked to luck to be considered a real talent, and the difference between talent that cannot be shown and air is not very obvious.

Xiao Xia ate violently beside him, taking a sip of meat and wine, how happy life is, he doesn't want to pay attention to so many boring trivial things in this world, he already has a temporary goal in life, that is, to do a good job as a commander and guard, so that he can receive a high salary of six imperial silver coins per month on time. How can there be such a big difference between people in the same room? After all, people are different.

Neither ministers nor generals will lose their time faster than civilians. The moonlight of the nineteenth century is fading, and the sunshine of the twentieth century is sowing the seeds of life. Is it a new era of prosperity or the end of the end? Will God begin judgment? Hell and Heaven are about to divide up all the human beings in this world!