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The so-called conditional surrender of Tianjin naturally meant "officers' conditions." Pu Guanshui soon obtained more detailed content. Li Runshi risked huge danger to meet the Tianjin defense commander, clarified the situation to him, and mentioned the matter of the Eight-Nation Alliance. The Eight-Nation Alliance looted wantonly after killing into Tianjin back then, and it was the Japanese army attacking Tianjin right now. Given Japan's own poverty, they would certainly loot wantonly after killing into Tianjin this time. The Beiyang Army officers would likely suffer a lot.

The Beiyang commanders, who originally had no fighting spirit, could hold on for a few months really not because of how firm they were politically. What this group of people cared about most right now was the property they had privately carved up. After the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army captured Beijing, this group quickly carved up Beiyang's military pay and other property. It was just that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army completely besieged the city and blocked the roads. Among these officers, many middle-level officers ran away by boat because they got less money. High-level officers didn't not want to flee for their lives; they knew very clearly that without the soldiers under their command, they couldn't guarantee their property. These people were like poisonous snakes guarding treasures in a cave; they couldn't leave or run away. If they carried this property to other places by themselves, this money would be carved up by other forces.

Just through a conversation, Li Runshi gained insight into the true worries of these people in the process of "presenting facts and reasoning" with them. The situation was urgent at the moment, so Li Runshi promised to protect the personal and property safety of these people. Besides fully guaranteeing the safety of these people's real estate, each officer could be guaranteed the safety of precious metal currency of different amounts according to their rank.

If Li Runshi had nonsensically claimed to guarantee all property safety for this bunch of officers, this bunch of suspicious guys in the Beiyang Army would definitely not have believed it. Instead, guaranteeing that they could only ensure precious metal currency of a clear amount made the desperate Beiyang Army have to believe it.

With such an agreement, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army quickly gathered those Beiyang troops who were overjoyed to escape the war and took over the defense of the entire Tianjin.

Pu Guanshui was not surprised at all by the corrupt bottom line of the Beiyang Army, but he highly appreciated Li Runshi's astuteness. For this reason, Pu Guanshui specially asked Li Runshi to rush back to Beijing to ask Li Runshi about the disposal of whether to adapt these Beiyang troops as organized units.

"I know that neither the Central Committee nor the Military Commission wants to absorb the Beiyang Army as organized units. I support this view," Li Runshi replied.

Pu Guanshui was afraid someone would propose the request to adapt the Beiyang Army. Seeing that Li Runshi didn't get carried away by success, he agreed very much. "Comrade Li Runshi, the performance of the Beiyang Army remnants in Shandong is about the same as in Tianjin. Presumably, their situation is similar to ours. According to the news, of the nearly 200,000 besieged, only forty to fifty thousand are left. I want to appoint you to tell the Shandong Military Region about our experience. what do you think?"

"Resolutely obey organizational arrangements!" Li Runshi immediately stated his attitude.

Pu Guanshui knew he was whipping a fast ox, but there was no other way. The People's Party had accumulated for ten years, but cadres were still extremely insufficient. "Comrade Li Runshi, I can reveal to you first that no one is willing to do the POW work in Shandong and Hebei, and everyone doesn't know how to do it. As far as I know, no one is willing to fight for this job. I intend to recommend you to be responsible. If nothing unexpected happens, I think you should be mentally prepared."

"I obey organizational arrangements!" Li Runshi still replied with a serious attitude.

Watching Li Runshi leave the headquarters with swift but not hurried steps, Pu Guanshui really couldn't help but marvel, and Pu Guanshui really couldn't help but give birth to a feeling of jealousy. This slight jealousy was not entirely directed at Li Runshi's talent, but more at the fact that the current People's Party system could completely provide infinite space for young people. In the People's Party that destroyed the old order, countless young people were rising like new stars. They could spread their wings and soar in this new era of drastic changes.

Because Pu Guanshui came from Beiyang, he understood better than others in the People's Party how oppressive the old system was, and what terrible inertia and tradition it had. Just as Zhou Shuren, who took up the post of President of Beijing First People's Hospital, said, "In the former era, moving a stool could kill people!" Pu Guanshui felt deeply about these words.

And these young people now could achieve high positions that predecessors could only reach after more than ten or twenty years of hard work, relying only on their own abilities in a very short time. This was far from their endpoint; in front of them, there was still limitless space. This made it impossible for Pu Guanshui not to be jealous.

Although Pu Guanshui was not yet forty this year, and although the real power and status he held now were almost unmatched by anyone of the same age in the two hundred years of the Manchu Qing, Pu Guanshui still couldn't help but be jealous of these young people in their twenties. They were the ones who possessed a more brilliant future.

At this moment, Pu Guanshui suddenly remembered Zhang Yu who recommended Li Runshi. Zhang Yu had said a sentence not long ago: "Chairman Chen doesn't look like a human." Pu Guanshui suddenly realized this now. Pu Guanshui had jealousy. If he had to criticize himself, it could even be escalated to "envying the virtuous and able." This is the normal state of human beings.

Chen Ke, however, never had such thoughts. At least no comrade ever thought Chen Ke had a shred of jealousy. Everything Chen Ke did was to provide comrades with space to freely exert their abilities. The higher Chen Ke's status, the stronger the People's Party's strength, and the greater the space provided for comrades to exert their abilities.

Pu Guanshui suddenly understood why he sometimes opposed Chen Ke's ideas but never considered overthrowing Chen Ke's status. For Pu Guanshui, and for the comrades of the People's Party, as long as Chen Ke sat in the leader's position, everyone wouldn't worry about someone tripping them up, let alone worry that everything they did would be buried.

"I have to learn this kind of breadth of mind and boldness well." Pu Guanshui made this determination.

As if Heaven heard Pu Guanshui's thoughts, a trial descended immediately. A field telephone call came in from the Tianjin front line. Pu Guanshui picked up the phone, listened for a moment, and then frowned. "What?! A regiment of the 38th Corps suffered heavy losses under Japanese shelling because they were too far forward?! Disobeyed orders because they worried about not contacting the enemy early enough?! What the hell is the 38th Corps Commander doing? Withdraw that regiment immediately! The regiment commander is removed from office for investigation! I will immediately form a frontline command; follow the plan now!"

Slamming the phone down angrily, Pu Guanshui's heart boiled with the thought of strictly investigating discipline. In the report on the phone, a regiment suffered nearly a thousand casualties. This certainly had an accidental element; the Japanese might be afraid of street fighting, so they implemented indiscriminate shelling on the residential areas near the landing site. However, this situation had been considered as early as the battle of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to conquer Qingdao. At that time, even if troops ran around blindly, there was no situation where attacking troops were too dense.

Nearly a thousand casualties appeared in less than an hour! Attacking Jinan with its high walls and deep moats, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army hadn't experienced such a situation either. Not to mention suffering such casualties unilaterally without even seeing the enemy.

"Arrange the headquarters at a place 50 kilometers from the Tianjin seaside. No, 40 kilometers." The range of naval guns was 30,000 meters. Pu Guanshui didn't dare to put the headquarters within the range of enemy naval guns. It wasn't that he was afraid of death, but once the headquarters was taken out, it would be too big a negative factor for the campaign.

With the thought of severely punishing those commanders boiling in his heart, even though Pu Guanshui knew this thought wouldn't help the current war situation, the annoyance in his heart was indescribable and even more impossible to dispel. Pu Guanshui kept his lips tight; he was afraid that as soon as he opened his mouth, angry curses would blurt out. Really unable to endure it, Pu Guanshui stood up and walked to the desk, fiercely wrote "Seek truth from facts" more than forty times on paper, and only then felt his mood calmed down a lot.

"Hurry up and build temporary airfields, set up communication lines in the Tianjin urban area, and start evacuating citizens!" Pu Guanshui ordered loudly.

The Staff Department immediately recorded it. "What about the deployment of troops?"

Hearing the deployment of troops, Pu Guanshui couldn't help but remember that regiment that lost combat effectiveness for nothing. He hurriedly wrote "Seek truth from facts" a few more times, which counted as dispelling his anger.

"Adjust troop deployment according to the anti-landing warfare plan formulated before. Light in front and heavy in back; arrange more forward positions and observation posts. Once the enemy sends troops to land, immediately implement a swift strike. Transfer quickly after completing the mission." After focusing all attention on specific work, Pu Guanshui's annoyance caused by failure finally disappeared.

After recording, the Chief of Staff asked: "Should we notify other defense zones about this?"

Pu Guanshui replied calmly: "Of course we must notify them, and at the same time strengthen control of transportation lines. Prevent the enemy from sending small units to sabotage. In addition, notify all units about the 38th Corps regiment matter, requiring all units to adjust deployment and not repeat the same mistake, causing meaningless sacrifices."

"If we implement comprehensive control, our troop strength is insufficient," the Chief of Staff replied.

Pu Guanshui replied: "If troop strength is insufficient, use the Beiyang Army POWs in the concentration camps to build. Haven't we already identified a considerable part of the Beiyang Army as belonging to the ranks of the masses who can be reformed? We must dare to use this part of people."

Seeing the Chief of Staff about to go arrange it, Pu Guanshui stopped him again. "In addition, strengthen patriotic education for this part of usable POWs. We are facing foreign aggressors now. On this matter, we Chinese must stand together and jointly strike at foreign aggressors! This is not our internal dispute from before; this is a major issue of right and wrong! By the way, tell Comrade Li Runshi not to go to Shandong first. Stay here to solve this matter first. As for that Shandong matter, let him decide how to notify the Shandong side himself."

"Yes!" The Chief of Staff immediately took the order to arrange it.

Pu Guanshui sat back in his seat and began to look at the map. One of the urgent tasks was to determine what exactly the Japanese side's purpose in raiding Tianjin was. Only then could future operational thinking continue to be determined. The initiative being controlled by the enemy was indeed a situation rarely encountered before.