About three days after the garrison crisis ended, Longcheng had returned to its former tranquility, and Su Tianyu was also fully preparing for the conference.
At this juncture, Tan Hengqiang, who had been promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Chinese Legion, boarded a plane back to Longcheng.
That afternoon, at a small airport of the Longcheng Garrison Corps, a group of senior generals stationed there were waiting for the return of Commander-in-Chief Tan.
These senior generals are Tan Hengqiang's core team, including his son Tan Mingchao, Corps Chief of Staff Zhang Xunchen and others.
Everyone stood in line according to their seats, their faces beaming with joy, and chatted casually while waiting.
There were several army commanders standing behind Zhang Xunchen, one of whom was about fifty years old, with fair skin and a short and fat body. He wore a pair of black round-framed glasses on his chubby face, which gave people a very funny feeling.
This man's name is Jiang Yuanzhen, he is the commander of the First Army of the Longcheng Garrison Corps, and he was once Xin Chaojie's boss. At this moment, he was chatting with someone with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.
A military commander beside him nudged him and said, "Hey, Lao Jiang. When the commander comes back, should we raise the rank of our unit? Should we get an extra star on our shoulder?"
Jiang Yuanzhen laughed and said, "Isn't this a done deal? After this trip, the level of our entire corps will be upgraded. I heard that we will even expand the army."
After hearing this, a staff officer couldn't help but tease Jiang Yuanzhen: "What a great relationship! If you raise one star, you can marry ten concubines!"
Jiang Yuanzhen quickly waved his hands and responded with a double meaning: "No, no, I can't marry her. This gun is in the holster and has not been used for several years."
"Ha ha!"
Everyone laughed.
As everyone continued to chat, a whistling sound broke through the air. Everyone looked up and saw a small plane slowly sliding down towards the runway in the distance with a deafening noise.
The officers immediately stopped joking, stood up straight, and looked at the landing plane.
Soon, the small plane landed steadily on the runway, and continued to slide forward for a distance. Then, under the guidance, it slowly approached them.
Zhang Xunchen waved his hand, and everyone immediately stepped forward and formed two teams in front of the plane door.
The cabin door slowly opened, and Tan Hengqiang, dressed in military uniform, walked down from the plane. The officers on both sides saluted him and shouted loudly, "Hello, Commander-in-Chief!"
A group of military officers lined the streets to welcome him, acting like a local emperor and flattering him to the extreme.
Tan Hengqiang stood in front of the cabin door with a refreshed look on his face. He waved at the people below, pointed at them and said as he walked down, "You all have great things to celebrate."
When everyone heard the sound, they all looked happy and couldn't help laughing.
Tan Mingchao was even more delighted. He ran up the stairs and personally helped his commander father down.
The officers gathered around him, and Zhang Xunchen was the first to speak: "Commander, a dinner has been arranged tonight to welcome you."
"There's no rush for the dinner." Tan Hengqiang said calmly, "Let's all go back first and have a meeting. We can talk about the dinner after the meeting."
"Yes." Zhang Xunchen nodded.
Tan Mingchao accompanied Tan Hengqiang into the military vehicle, and his officers also got into the vehicles behind. A convoy of vehicles quickly left the airport and drove towards the garrison headquarters.
…
Two hours later, at Longcheng Garrison Headquarters.
Several core officials, including Tan Mingchao, Zhang Xunchen, Fatty Jiang and other generals, followed Tan Hengqiang back and sat in the spacious conference room.
The joy of promotion infected everyone. Everyone chatted with each other and talked about the garrison and their own future with a laugh.
All the non-core members had left. Tan Hengqiang stood alone in front of the window, looking at the scenery outside, smoking silently, with little joy on his face.
The officers who were chatting gradually noticed the abnormality of the deputy commander-in-chief and gradually stopped talking.
Tan Hengqiang finally turned around and ordered, "Send the file."
"Yes!" Tan Mingchao's adjutant stood up, took a document and handed it to a staff officer.
Tan Hengqiang pointed at the document and said to the staff officer, "This is the list of military rank promotions to be announced tonight, as well as the troop expansion plan. Take a quick look at it and then put it on the meeting agenda. We'll use it tonight."
"Yes!" The staff officer took the document, saluted Tan Hengqiang, then sat aside and began to flip through the document silently.
Tan Hengqiang also sat back in his seat and drank tea with an expressionless face.
Everyone was a little confused. He had obviously been promoted and the army was going to be expanded, but the commander-in-chief did not look very happy.
These senior generals looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes to Zhang Xunchen.
Zhang Xunchen understood what he meant, so he turned around and asked tentatively: "Commander, what's wrong? You don't look very happy?"
Upon hearing this, Tan Hengqiang sighed, "Alas... Damn it! Yes, my rank has been raised, the Corps' level has also been upgraded, and we can decide on the number of troops to be stationed. However, the curse hanging over our heads is getting tighter and tighter."
Everyone could tell something was not right, and they all became serious. Tan Hengqiang paused and continued, "Starting today, our garrison's military expenditure will be reduced by 30%. Related war preparedness resources will also be strictly restricted. The higher-ups told us to negotiate with Lao Li on the issue of military expenditure replenishment. We will ask the Municipal Finance Department for the remaining 30 percent."
In a word, the officers under him were a little impatient.
"30 percent?" A military commander couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this a choke point for us?"
"Commander-in-chief, is there nothing else to discuss on this matter?" another staff officer asked hurriedly.
Tan Hengqiang waved his hand: "I'm back now, what else is there to discuss?"
"30% is too much, isn't it? If it is distributed equally among all the troops, the salaries of all the staff will have to be cut. I'm afraid the brothers below will have objections."
"Yes. Chijun, the Third Division. After Sri Lanka stabilized, Su Tianyu suggested to Lao Li several times that we should increase military spending. Their current treatment is no worse than ours. If we reduce it, the government troops will not earn as much as the bandits." Jiang Yuanzhen frowned and said, "Isn't this a joke?"
"The butt determines the head. In order to deal with such a trivial matter in Longcheng, they even ignored the stability of the region."
Everyone was talking about it, and Tan Hengqiang couldn't help but sigh: "These politicians in District 1 want me to fight with Lao Li, but they don't want to give me money. I'm afraid I'm going to have a hard time in the next few days."
The room suddenly became quiet, and everyone fell silent. At the moment, they had to expand the army and cut military spending, which was indeed a great pressure for the Longcheng garrison.
At this time, Jiang Yuanzhen said again: "As long as you express your stance, won't the tight spell be gone?"
Tan Hengqiang smiled, looked at Fatty Jiang, and asked softly, "Old Jiang, what do you think we should do?"
With just one word, Jiang Yuanzhen and the others fell silent.
The meaning of the statement is easy to understand. It is nothing more than suppressing Lao Li and buying the upper level of District 1, so that the tight hoop can be removed.
But Tan Hengqiang's counter-question showed that he was very sensitive about this issue of statement.