Republic of China, 1922: Rise from the Post-Zhili-Fengtian War

He then personally escorted the two out of the council hall. Seeing Lu Qingshan overjoyed and Cai Changyuan looking somewhat worried, Yang Song quickly saw them out.

Gu Cheng turned and entered, picking up his teacup and slowly sipping his tea. At that moment, Gao Tianqi brought Yang Hao in: "Jingchuan, the funds allocated by the Marshal's Mansion have arrived... but something's not right!"

Hearing this, Gu Cheng put down his teacup: "Something's not right. The Marshal's Mansion just sent a telegram a few days ago saying that the first installment of funding had been issued... Could it be that half is missing?"

He said it casually, but to his surprise, Gao Tianqi actually replied, "Yes, it's almost half gone!"

As she spoke, she walked up to meet Gu Cheng's suddenly cold gaze. "I also saw the telegram from the Marshal's Mansion. It said that 100,000 silver dollars were allocated, but when I went to the bank to redeem it just now, only 60,000 actually arrived in my account... a difference of 40,000!"

I specifically had someone check, and the bank said the funds were directly remitted from the Finance Department of the Fengtian Military Command. Aside from a few dollars in transfer fees, this was the amount received, with no deductions along the way.

Gu Cheng took the ledger and the exchange receipt for the bill of exchange, carefully checked them twice, and a surge of anger immediately rose within him.

"What's going on? Why is there such a big difference?"

He returned the account book to Gao Tianqi, asking, "Have you reported this to your superiors?"

Gao Tianqi handed the ledger to Yang Hao and sat down beside him, saying, "Not yet. As soon as I discovered this, Haozi and I reported it immediately... Jingchuan, the discrepancy is so large, I suspect the higher-ups know about it."

Gu Cheng looked up at him.

Actually, when he heard the news, his first reaction was to make a phone call.

The telephone lines in Jinzhou were restored yesterday... As the highest commander here, he has the authority to directly contact the Marshal's Mansion, so making a call to find out the details is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

But Gao Tianqi's speculation instantly extinguished most of the anger in his heart.

It should be noted that this 100,000 silver dollars was the initial payment for the construction of the Jinzhou military camp, and the 40,000 silver dollars that had not yet arrived... were definitely not a small amount.

If it weren't for someone backing them up or tacitly approving it, who would have the audacity to directly intercept these funds from the special funds for the main camp that were explicitly allocated by the Marshal's Office?

Gu Cheng snapped out of his reverie: "I understand what you mean. Hmm... I think I roughly know who it is. Most likely, it's our Chief of the General Staff."

Gao Tianqi was startled: "I... I didn't say that!"

Yang Hao, who was standing to the side, was also a little startled. He immediately said that he hadn't heard anything and went off to do his work.

Gu Cheng waved to him, gesturing for him to sit down as well: "Don't be afraid, this is practically an open secret."

At this point, he couldn't help but sneer, "My uncle told me that a few years ago, he and Xu Shuzheng conspired to embezzle 370 million yuan of military funds behind the back of the commander-in-chief, and secretly recruited soldiers in Luoyang and Xinyang in an attempt to build their own power base."

Later, when the matter was exposed, the commander-in-chief dismissed him from his post, but ultimately valued his talent and recalled him a few years later, entrusting him with important responsibilities. Now, he is the chief of staff of the Zhenwei Army, wielding great power over the reorganization and military affairs of the army.

Gao Tianqi was furious: "Then... he still dares to do it now? I don't believe the Commander-in-Chief doesn't know about this. Does he mean he's just going to ignore it?"

"How do we manage it?" Gu Cheng, who was well-versed in history, shook his head and smiled. "At times like this, even if we know he's up to no good, we have to turn a blind eye."

Most importantly, Gu Cheng knew perfectly well that although Zhang Zuolin used him, he would definitely be wary of him:

Thinking about it carefully, he had Feng Delin's backing, and as soon as he took office in Jinzhou, he eliminated Tang Yulin by both weakening and attacking him, and also took over the 11th Mixed Brigade.

If he were to rashly inform the emperor now, Yang Yuting might very well tell the old fox in the marshal's mansion that Gu Cheng was hoarding troops and harboring ambitions.

Yang Hao, standing to the side, couldn't help but interject, "Master Gu, please don't think I'm being nosy... This 40,000 silver dollars is no small sum. Now we have over 2,000 more mouths to feed, and the main camp needs to open more tunnels. We can't just swallow this loss in silence!"

Gu Cheng nodded silently, took out a cigarette case from his pocket, lit cigarettes for the two of them, and said softly, "Heh, I, Gu Jingchuan, have tasted all the bitterness and sweetness of life, but I'm not one to suffer a loss! Don't worry, I'll find a way to get the higher-ups to make up for this money double."

But after saying that, he turned and asked, "Haozi, what did you mean by what you just said? Two thousand more mouths appeared all at once? What's going on—"

Yang Hao didn't react in time. Gao Tianqi took a couple of puffs of his cigarette and smiled wryly: "I was just about to report this to you—the number of men in the 11 mixed brigades left behind by Tang Yulin has also been tallied."

The official headcount is four thousand, which is the full strength of a standard mixed brigade... But Haozi, Li Mao, and I have verified with them repeatedly, and after deducting more than one hundred and forty elderly, weak, and disabled men, the actual number of brothers who can line up for drills and work is only slightly over two thousand.”

Gu Cheng was stunned.

For a good ten seconds or so, he chuckled and tapped his forehead with a cigarette between his fingers: "Haha, what am I thinking? Isn't this pretty normal among the old folks? If you two can name four thousand people on the list, then the Army Reorganization Department... really has to give Tang Yulin a golden reputation."

Gao Tianqi looked at him, both amused and exasperated: "What kind of time is this? You're still in the mood for jokes? We don't have enough money; we don't have enough people..."

With only about two thousand people, even adding the more than three hundred from the 105th Regiment, the wounded and veterans are unable to move, and we still need to maintain enough manpower for city defense. It's a real headache!

Gu Cheng rubbed his chin and quickly continued, "The defense of Jinzhou will continue to be handled by the brothers of the 105th Regiment. They won't be needed to build the main camp."

As for building the main camp, I already spoke with Cai Changyuan and Lu Qingshan before you two returned. Mobilizing the men to work is their responsibility. I plan to meet with Mr. Liu Chen in the next day or two to discuss the preparatory work before and after construction begins.

The plan was proposed by Wang Yongjiang, and the funds... were actually transferred by Wang Yongjiang. After thinking it over, he realized that it was not appropriate for him to take the initiative, nor was it good to bother Wang Yongjiang, who was still recuperating. He decided to try to get Mo Dehui to help and see if they could get the money back.

Two days later, Feng Yong called from Fengtian. He told Gu Cheng that Feng Delin already knew about the telegram he had sent home earlier asking for people, and said that he had "used his old face" to find two people.

One was Ji Jinchun, and the other was his subordinate Liu Xiangjiu.

Gu Cheng's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.

Ji Jinchun, needless to say, was a veteran of Feng Delin's 28th Division, with outstanding troop-leading ability and extremely high prestige in western Liaoning.

As for Liu Xiangjiu, he was Ji Jinchun's subordinate and had a knack for training new recruits... Neither of them received important responsibilities after Feng Delin took a leave of absence;

Now that the old commander mentioned that Jinzhou needed manpower, he naturally rushed over to lend a hand.