Sir Humphrey did not come to see Pu Guanshui to see to what extent Pu could defend China's interests, let alone to praise Pu's firm patriotism. The more Pu Guanshui and the People's Party behind him could defend China's interests, the more it meant the loss of the British Empire's fundamental interests in China, or even the complete shaking of the sphere of influence the British Empire had constructed in China.

"I have several matters to consult with the General now. First is the issue of food in the Legation Quarter and the concessions. Since you blocked traffic and the flow of goods, the concessions have run short of food. Second is the hygiene issue in the concessions; we hope you can allow the night soil collectors to resume business." Sir Humphrey raised the most direct problems.

"Food can be sold to you, and the night soil collectors can resume work," Pu Guanshui replied.

"I wish to meet with your Party Chairman," Sir Humphrey made his next request.

"We can arrange that as well. Once you have settled your itinerary, we will report the matter to Chairman Chen Ke," Pu Guanshui said, not wanting to waste too much breath on this. His work was piled as high as a mountain, and he had no time to chat with Sir Humphrey about meaningless matters.

"There is also the issue of restoring the telegram service," Sir Humphrey said.

Pu Guanshui refused without a second thought. "We cannot guarantee that. Even our own telegram service has not been restored. As for your telegram issue, it will have to wait."

"Your military control is merely military control, not imprisonment. Your Excellency, I think you should not confuse the difference between the two," Sir Humphrey said calmly, without getting angry.

Pu Guanshui had no interest in such threats. He replied, "We will do our best to resolve this, but things that cannot be resolved simply cannot be resolved."

After seeing Sir Humphrey off, Pu Guanshui did not treat this as a major event. He had his secretary organize the documents, checked them, signed them, and had someone send them to the Central Committee.

Over the next few days, Pu Guanshui provided food supplies to the concessions at five times the price paid by the common people of Beijing. On August 24, a telegram arrived from the Central Committee expressing approval of Pu Guanshui's work. The only suggestion was for Pu to agree to restore telegram communications for the Beijing Legation Quarter.

This could not help but surprise Pu Guanshui. In this era, wired telegrams operated on a relay mode; in fact, before the advent of digital switching, even telephones were the same. Any signal transmission encountered attenuation issues, so telegraph stations were set up at intervals to manually re-transmit the messages. Even later, when wireless telegraphy appeared, a large number of staff members were required to monitor various frequencies at all times.

The People's Party had already invested considerable effort into completing mechanically controlled wired telegram relay equipment. However, this was work that could only be completed within the People's Party's base areas. Currently, many areas between Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai were under the control of other factions. Even if the telegraph lines were restored, sending a telegram from Beijing to Tianjin would involve too many troublesome steps.

But that was the nature of wired telegrams; unless it was a prohibitively expensive dedicated line, fewer words were naturally better. For example, the famous joke "People stupid, money plenty, come quick!" was definitely a gag that originated in the era of wired telegrams.

Pu Guanshui immediately replied with two words: "Why?"

That afternoon, he received a reply: "This is an order!"

Since it was an order, Pu Guanshui had no choice but to execute it. He sent someone to inform the Legation Quarter that the People's Party would restore the Beijing Legation Quarter's telegram service the next day and specified the applicable range of the service. Pu Guanshui felt somewhat unwilling, as the scope of the telegram service would reveal the People's Party's actual controlled areas. However, he guessed that the Central Committee's plan was likely to let the foreigners know that the People's Party had already controlled the heartland of China.

After finishing these minor matters, Pu Guanshui continued with his serious business. The war in Hebei and Shandong had not yet ended. After the collapse of the Beiyang regime in Beijing, there were still as many as 300,000 Beiyang troops in Tianjin and Shandong. Only by completely eliminating this group could the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army be considered to have fundamentally wiped out the enemy. However, things were not developing so smoothly.

"Telegram Commander Chai again. When will he arrive in Beijing?" Pu Guanshui said.

Just as he finished speaking, the telegraph operator ran in and handed Pu Guanshui a telegram. Pu quickly opened it, and his joyous expression soon turned into confusion. This was not a telegram from Chai Qingguo, but from the Central Military Commission. The telegram informed Pu Guanshui that the next important task for the entire army was reorganization. First, the units would be reorganized from a "four-four" system to a "three-three" system. Second, the entire army would be formally organized into 46 field armies, along with 1.2 million engineering troops and 600,000 railway troops.

Reorganization required a significant amount of time, as proven by the first reorganization and expansion era of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. It had taken nearly a year for the army to reorganize and expand from over 10,000 to over 30,000 troops. Before the war against the Beiyang Army, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had planned to expand to 3 million. Pu Guanshui picked up a pen and did some calculations. In a "four-four" unit, a division had over 20,000 men, and a corps had 100,000. While the structure of a "three-three" unit was not yet clear, a corps would have only over 20,000 men; even with a full complement of civilian and auxiliary personnel, it would be at most 30,000. Such a structure would require more military training.

Setting aside the trouble of this, calculating at 30,000 men per corps, 46 corps would total 1.38 million. Including 1.2 million engineering troops and 600,000 railway troops, the total military strength would be 3.18 million, which could hardly be called a massive expansion. Currently, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was far from the point of "putting away the swords and letting the horses graze on the southern mountains"; the subsequent Liberation War would be a long-term process. Reorganizing at this time was truly baffling.

However, orders from the Military Commission had to be followed; that went without saying. Pu Guanshui hoped all the more that Chai Qingguo would hurry to Beijing to join him. As commanders of two major military regions, they could at least consult on something. At the very least, when discussing this with the Military Commission, they would have something to say.

On the 26th, on the second train carrying supplies from Henan to Beijing, Chai Qingguo and others were also on board. The commanders of the Shandong and Henan military regions finally met.

"Commander Pu, you've really made a name for yourself," Chai Qingguo laughed as he approached.

"There's nothing to show off about. This wasn't a strategic victory, nor even a tactical one in the true sense. It was entirely a victory of tactics," Pu Guanshui said, quite able to maintain his perspective. In the Shandong campaign, the People's Party had merely fully utilized the advantage of internal movement, implementing a surprise attack along marching routes that the Beiyang Army could never have imagined. As for the Beijing campaign, besides the tactic of "surrounding three sides and leaving one open," the greatest internal reason for victory was Yuan Shikai's sudden illness and death. These were non-replicable factors; if he took this as an achievement, Pu Guanshui really wouldn't have the face for it.

Chai Qingguo had not expected Pu Guanshui to remain so calm at this time. Hearing Pu's explanation, he said seriously, "Commander Pu, you graduates from military academies are indeed different. Different from someone of my humble origin."

"Enough of that nonsense, Commander Chai. Have you seen the Military Commission's order to reorganize the troops? I completely don't understand why the Military Commission is doing this." Pu Guanshui was entirely concerned with the major matter of reorganization.

"I received that news. We'll just do what the Military Commission tells us to do. Besides, I think the plan is good. The 'four-four' system makes the units too large. Anyway, when I fought the Beiyang Army, I felt that in many places, a division was enough. Now if you put a corps there—100,000 men—it's inconvenient for me as a military region commander to bypass the corps commander to command the division commanders. After reorganization, a division will be over 5,000 men, and a corps will be 20,000; mobilization and command will be much more convenient." Chai Qingguo, on the contrary, had more experience in large-scale troop operations and strongly supported the Military Commission's plan.

Pu Guanshui could well understand this explanation. He nodded and said, "That's true, but I wonder if the fire density will drop significantly?"

"That depends on the final fire configuration the Military Commission comes up with. If they only cut pure infantry units, or reduce the number of grassroots units but allocate more automatic weapons to front-line units, a reduction in unit size does not mean a reduction in firepower. Small units also mean less logistical pressure." Despite calling himself a "clodhopper," Chai Qingguo showed no lack of confidence when discussing military matters.

The two commanders became interested as soon as they talked about military issues, especially Pu Guanshui. As the general commander of the military administration in Beijing, he was relying entirely on what he had learned in the base areas to govern the large city of Beijing. The fact that no problems had arisen so far did not mean he truly enjoyed the position. Being able to talk about military matters at this level with a commander like Chai Qingguo allowed his long-repressed energy to finally find an outlet; he was actually more interested than Chai Qingguo.

Chai Qingguo, however, had come from afar and was exhausted from the journey. After talking for two hours, he felt quite tired. He laughed and said, "Commander Pu, is this how you treat a guest? At least let me have a bite to eat first."

"Yes, yes, yes! Look at me, I completely forgot." Pu Guanshui apologized quickly.

After porridge, pickles, steamed buns, and stir-fried greens with minced meat were served, Chai Qingguo looked at the red dates in the porridge and smiled. "It's been a long time since I had porridge like this. It reminds me of the year Gengzi (1900) in Beijing, sigh..."

Pu Guanshui also smiled. "Old Chai, I heard people say you once had a falling out with Chairman Chen in Beijing."

Chai Qingguo said nostalgically, "Let's not mention that. Back then, Chairman Chen was also cautious. He clearly didn't take the people in Beijing seriously, yet he insisted on some organizational discipline to test me. I was young and couldn't stand that crap. So we had a row. Only now do I know that organizational discipline is no joking matter."

"I heard the person causing trouble in Beijing back then was named Zheng Wenjie?" Pu Guanshui asked.

"Now that you mention it, I remember his name. Commander Pu, how did you know?" Chai Qingguo was very surprised.

Pu Guanshui burst into laughter. "Do you think those people on the Internal Affairs Committee are pushovers? As a Beiyang member who surrendered to us, Zheng Wenjie's files are quite interesting."

"Don't mention that. I don't want to see this person," Chai Qingguo said, putting away his smile. "I hold grudges too, so it's best not to meet."

"Understood," Pu Guanshui replied. In fact, he hadn't noticed this either; it was the comrades below who, knowing Chai Qingguo was coming to Beijing, had pulled this person's file separately for Pu Guanshui to see. Pu didn't quite understand if that comrade was being meticulous or if they wanted Chai Qingguo to take revenge on the person. But Pu didn't want Chai Qingguo to get involved in such matters at all. Seeing Chai Qingguo clearly state that he didn't want to see Zheng Wenjie, he felt somewhat relieved.

After eating and resting for a while, Pu Guanshui and Chai Qingguo began discussing the future situation again. If not for the reorganization, Pu Guanshui would have merged with Chai Qingguo's Henan military region forces after restoring order in Beijing. The Central Military Commission's next target was the Northeast. To advance into the Northeast, they first had to deal with the remaining enemies in Hebei.

But with the reorganization work inserted, the military operations became difficult to manage. This was also something Pu Guanshui found very strange. "Doesn't the Military Commission fear that the foreigners will arm these Beiyang troops?"

"Pah! Commander Pu, tell me honestly, just how much equipment have you captured?" Chai Qingguo had a look of disdain on his face.

"This..." Pu Guanshui fell silent. He had captured at least enough equipment to arm 300,000 people. Especially the artillery, which made Pu Guanshui wake up smiling in his dreams.

"See, you're not talking now," Chai Qingguo laughed. "So the Beiyang Army is simply not a problem. The foreigners have no money to pay their salaries. The Beiyang Army won't last long. I'm only worried about one thing: the British will definitely not let this go so easily. Although now is not the time for troop reorganization, the benefits after reorganization are great. First, each province can station a corps. Second, there will be mobile units that can be thrown into any battle at any time. My coming this time also has some other reasons. The Party Central Committee said long ago that Handan should be treated as an important location for a steel group. Once Handan Steel is built, it can immediately relieve Beiyang's industrial pressure. With so much equipment, we'll suffer greatly in combat without railways. Not to mention anything else, if the Handan Steel Group can produce 30,000 tons of rail steel a year, how many railways can we build? Once we have railways, everything will be easy."

"Building a steel plant is not that easy," Pu Guanshui was not optimistic.

"Whether it's easy or not is one thing, but I can tell you privately that the blast furnaces, steelmaking furnaces, and technical experts have already arrived in Handan. I reckon they've probably already started work," Chai Qingguo said in a low voice.

"What?" Pu Guanshui was shocked.

"It's nothing to be surprised about. If we can't build big furnaces, starting with small 20-ton ones is no problem, right? If we can't produce steel rails, starting with iron rails from the mines to the ironworks is no problem, right? Wasn't the Zaozhuang Ironworks built that way? If we can't build machines, producing farm tools is surely fine? When we carry out land reform and can distribute iron farm tools, that will be more effective than giving out money," Chai Qingguo laughed.