Chapter 1: You will never understand the Chinese world

The night was dim and the breeze was blowing. Chen Zikun walked like a flying walk in the Iron Shizi Hutong. He completely broke up with Ji Chan, giving him a feeling of relief. Anyway, he had never expected to develop in the lifeless yamen of the Army Department, so he simply slapped it and it was just right.

He went back to the Ziguang Train Factory first, and as soon as he entered the door, Baoqing jumped up from the recliner and said, "You are back, I've been looking for you for a long time."

"What's the matter?" Chen Zikun's heart tightened, and an ominous feeling came.

"Expedited telegram, from Shanghai." Baoqing handed over the telegram he held in his hand. Chen Zikun opened it and saw that the only four words on it hit him like a sledgehammer.

“Ice in the car”

The telegram was sent by Li Yaoting, concisely and Jianbing is also one of the meat tickets.

Chen Zikun did not hesitate at all and asked Baoqing how much cash was on the cabinet. Baoqing was not vague. He immediately opened the cash box, and there were a lot of copper coins in it. The car factory had a small business. Most of the copper coins handed over by the coachman were rare, let alone Dayang. Chen Zikun grabbed a handful of copper coins and stuffed them in his pocket, saying, "If you have something to do, you may not be able to come back for ten days or half a month." After that, he turned around and went out. Baoqing hurriedly chased him out and wanted to give some advice, but opened his mouth but still didn't say it.

After leaving the car factory, Chen Zikun went to his new home in Dongwenchang Hutong. He had to explain to Yao Yilei. Miss Yao was not surprised at all when she heard that Chen Zikun was going to Shandong to handle a job. Such a big case happened, which was a good opportunity for her fiancé to make a career. How could she hold back her legs?

Chen Zikun didn't even take the clothes to change, but just carried a small suitcase in the bedroom and went out. He called a rickshaw to go straight to Zhengyangmen Railway Station. When he arrived at the square in front of the station, he subconsciously glanced at the clock tower. It was already nine-thirty at night.

Zhengyangmen Railway Station was brightly lit and people were coming and going. Chen Zikun walked into the waiting room with his suitcase with his head held high. He saw many people standing in the soft waiting room, all dressed and extraordinary. There were two road guards at the door, and idle people were prohibited from entering.

Chen Zikun was suspicious and couldn't guess where these people came from. Looking around, he suddenly found an acquaintance. Beijing News reporter Ruan Mingchuan was sitting not far away looking around. The two of them met. Ruan reporter couldn't help but walk over and said, "Brother Chen, you go to Shandong too. Can you help me to make peace with it?"

As he said that, he pointed to the soft seat waiting room.

Chen Zikun immediately understood that those people should be the mission sent by the government to resolve the kidnapping matter. Ruan Mingchuan is a tabloid reporter and is not qualified to go with the delegation. He thought he was also a member of the mission, but in fact, like him, he was a self-paid passenger.

But there is no need to say this, Chen Zikun smiled slightly: "A small matter, come with me."

After saying that, he led Ruan Mingchuan to the door of the soft mat waiting room and rushed straight inside. The two guards did not give him any face. They reached out to stop him and said, "Sir, this is a chartered car from the Ministry of Transport. Please wait outside."

Chen Zikun was about to mention Zhao Jiayong's name when he suddenly saw someone he knew in the soft waiting room, and waved and shouted, "Major Stilwell!"

Captain Joseph Stilwell, assistant military officer at the US Embassy, ​​has now been promoted to major, with a golden oak leaf on his shoulder. As the representative of the party involved, he is also one of the members of the mission. When he heard the shouts, Stilwell turned his head and immediately found Chen Zikun standing at the door. He immediately came over and said hello: "Chen, it's been a long time since I saw you."

"It's been a long time since we saw each other." Chen Zikun turned around and handed the suitcase to Ruan Mingchuan and carried it. He walked in with great strides, shook hands with Stilwell intimately, and hugged him. Ruan Mingchuan's smart person naturally would not miss this opportunity. He also walked in with a smile on his face and followed Chen Zikun.

The two soldiers guarding the gate couldn't figure out their background. Seeing that Chen Zikun was so familiar with foreign officers, how could they dare to interrogate them carefully?

The two of them got into troubled waters. There were all kinds of people in the mission, including staff sent by envoys from various countries, representatives of expatriates, bureaucrats from the Beiyang Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport and other agencies. Many people met for the first time, so no one saw through these two fakes.

Suddenly a man dressed in a secretary hurried over and asked Chen Zikun: "Are you from the Army?"

"Yes." Chen Zikun answered calmly, but he was quickly thinking about how to deal with his further questions.

Unexpectedly, the man did not ask again, but turned around and said to a middle-aged man with a big belly, "General, the people from the Army Department have arrived."

The man took out his pocket watch and looked at it: "There are all people here, you can leave the car."

The conductor blew a whistle, and the mission members stopped talking, and under the guidance of the conductor, boarded the platform from the VIP exit, a train was parked on the tracks, and dozens of road guard soldiers stood guard with guns, blocking other passengers outside the cordon.

This is a special train specially allocated by the Ministry of Transport. Two locomotives are one in front and one behind, three soft sleepers are hung in the middle, one dining car, and two third-class carriages that the guards take, heading straight to Zaozhuang, Shandong, where the robbery occurred. All vehicles along the way avoided them.

The whistle was roaring and steam was steaming. The train left Beijing. At this time, a car rushed over outside Zhengyangmen Railway Station. Two army colonels jumped out of the car and hurried into the station. They found that the mission had left. They were very upset: "Why didn't you wait for us to leave!"

As soon as the Lincheng train robbery occurred, the world was shocked, and envoys from various countries protested the strongest against the Beiyang government, as if signs of repeating the second Gengzi incident. President Li Yuanhong and Zhang Shaozeng's cabinet did not dare to neglect. In the shortest time, a special mission was pieced together to go to Zaozhuang to supervise the local authorities to rescue hostages. The mission was personally led by the General Secretary of Transport Wu Yulin. The members included diplomats from various countries, officials from the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Justice, etc., which were full of talents.

The foreigners came with anger. The Ministry of Transportation was fond of their intentions, afraid that they would take advantage of the situation. The dining car was equipped with a chef borrowed from a Beijing hotel, Chinese and Western beer soda brandy was served 24 hours a day, and excellent coffee and cigarettes were enjoyed at will.

Chen Zikun is naturally sitting with military officers from all over the world. He speaks authentic English and French without any obstacles to communication. If it were in the past, it would have been a pleasant journey, but there had just been a horrific robbery, and thirty-nine Westerners were kidnapped on the most luxurious and safest train in China. These military officers could not have a good impression of Chen Zikun anyway.

Because Chen Zikun was wearing the lieutenant uniform of the Beiyang Army, he represented the country's stupid and incompetent army.

However, Stilwell is still very friendly to Chen Zikun. After all, they are West Point alumni, and Stilwell is different from those military officers who stay in Dongjiaomin Lane all day. His footprints have almost traveled throughout China and have a deep understanding of the current situation of this ancient country.

Ruan Mingchuan was mixed with the senior officials, with his ears sticking out, listening to any useful information, and his heart was even more excited. He was the only reporter in Beijing who had just sneaked into the mission, and he would definitely have mastered the most powerful news. By then, the Beijing News would not be the first to be the top newspaper in Beijing.

The special car drove very fast and did not stop at any station along the way, so I arrived at Lincheng Station in the morning. Lincheng belonged to Yi County, Shandong Province. Because there are many jujube trees in the local area, it is commonly known as Zaozhuang. The Yi County County Government and others greeted the station early and organized a shabby military band to beat drums and gongs to welcome the foreigners from Beijing.

Unfortunately, the foreigners did not give any face at all, and even saved the minimum etiquette of shaking hands. They directly asked to investigate the parties involved in the case. Because Chen Zikun's English proficiency was more exquisite than the translation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he was a soldier himself, and had unique advantages in translating military terms, he was temporarily regarded as a translator.

The subjects under investigation were drivers on the train, police officers, released passengers, and officers from the Sixth Mixed Brigade of the Army who first arrived at the scene of the incident.

According to their oral narrative, the foggy truth gradually became clear. In the early morning of May 6, the Blue Steel Express was about to arrive at Lincheng Station. The driver suddenly found that a section of railway tracks in front had been removed. After emergency braking, the front of the car, the postal bus and the first third-class passenger bus overturned. Then a large number of armed personnel appeared, fired guns to deter the police and robbed hundreds of Chinese and Western passengers. One of the British Romanian passengers was shot dead on the spot due to resistance.

After the incident, the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Mixed Brigade arrived quickly and engaged in a fierce gunfight with the bandits, snatching back several passengers. However, due to insufficient firepower, the bandits successfully escaped and have now sneaked into the mountains and disappeared.

The Zaozhuang area has serious bandits, and dozens of armed forces are large and small, so the official army is not sure which team of troops is taking action. The Shandong military and political authorities are timid and change their orders every day. It has been two days since the case was launched, and there has been no progress at all.

After the investigation, the military officers immediately started to make noise, and they all said anything. The room was filled with English, French, German and Italian. Some said they wanted to take over the command of the local army, and some said they wanted to dispatch their own troops stationed in Dongjiaomin Lane. Stilwell was a sensible man. He didn't make trouble with them and quietly opened the door and slipped out. Chen Zikun didn't say a word and followed him out.

"Chan, what are you going to do?" Stilwell handed him a cigarette. In this robbery, the number of hostages in the United States was the largest, including officers, journalists, and senators' daughters, so Stilwell was under great pressure, but he knew that as a foreigner, randomly interfering in local affairs would make things more complicated.

"To be honest, there is really no good way. In this case, you can only use the simplest move." Chen Zikun took the smoke but did not light it, and pondered for a moment.

"What?"

"I want to go and talk to the bandits in person." Chen Zikun replied.

The expression on Stilwell's face did not change at all, but his pupils contracted slightly: "Chan, you are sure there is no danger in doing this."

"Joseph, you will never understand the world of Chinese people. It's no big deal." Chen Zikun said.
Chapter completed!