Chapter 51: Northern Expedition 4

In the dead of night at the Jinling President's Office, candlelight flickered on the brass candlestick, stretching Li Yuxuan's shadow long and casting it against the mottled wall like a faded ink painting. He sat silently for a long time, his fingertips repeatedly rubbing a map of the Southwest on the tabletop, where warlord strongholds circled in red ink were densely packed, like malignant tumors entrenched in the nation's territory.

"Someone come." He finally stood up, his voice carrying a weariness of finality, yet also an unquestionable resolve.

The guard outside the door entered at the call, standing at attention: "Division Commander, what are your orders?"

Li Yuxuan walked to the desk, picked up the brush and dipped it in ink, but didn't set it to paper immediately. He just stared at the blank telegram paper, lost in thought. Wind outside the window carried fallen leaves pattering against the window frame, making a rustling sound, as if urging him on, or sighing.

"Draft a document. Tell the Chairman..." He paused; a drop of ink gathered at the brush tip, finally falling onto the paper, blooming into a small ink stain, "Say that this time I cannot follow his orders. I am taking the troops to attack the Southwest warlords and purge the separatist forces there. If I come back alive, he can kill me or flay me as he pleases."

The guard jerked his head up, his eyes full of shock: "Division Commander, this... this is disobeying orders! The Chairman might..."

"Do it." Li Yuxuan's tone brooked no argument. He set the brush down on the inkstone with a soft 'clink'. "Not a single word changed. Send it out immediately."

The guard opened his mouth, but ultimately dared not argue further. He bowed and replied, "Yes." As he turned and withdrew, his steps were somewhat unsteady.

The room fell silent again. Li Yuxuan walked to the window and pushed it open a crack. The night wind blew in, carrying the chill of deep autumn, making the candle flame sway violently. He gazed at the heavy darkness outside the President's Office—there lay the center of power, also a vortex of suspicion. He knew that once this telegram was sent, some things could never be taken back.

Elsewhere, in the Yangcheng command center, Jiang Ruiyuan was studying a map and planning deployments when he suddenly heard his Adjutant's hurried footsteps. He frowned instinctively: "What's the rush?"

"Chairman, an urgent telegram from Jinling, sent by Division Commander Li." The Adjutant handed over the telegram with both hands, his voice trembling slightly.

Jiang Ruiyuan took the telegram, casually unfolding it. But when he made out the handwriting, his face instantly turned the color of a pig's liver. With a 'smack', he slammed the telegram onto the table, then grabbed the teacup beside him and smashed it viciously on the ground. Shards of blue-and-white porcelain flew everywhere, and scalding tea splashed onto his trouser legs, but he didn't even notice.

"Motherfucker! How dare Jingxing disobey my orders?" He pointed at the eight characters 'kill me or flay me as he pleases' on the telegram, his voice distorted with rage. "Is there someone from 'that side' around him? Have they fed him some kind of bewitching soup?!"

The staff officer beside him didn't dare breathe loudly, burying his head even lower. Only after a long while did he venture to whisper: "Chairman, what do we do? Division Commander Li holds the main force of the Third Division—that's our elite... If he really kicks up a fuss, and the Southwest takes the chance to stir up trouble, I'm afraid..."

"When he gets back, I'll teach him a lesson!" Jiang Ruiyuan cut him off sharply, his chest heaving violently like an enraged lion. "He's rebelling! I brought him out of Xikou with my own hands, from the Baoding School to the Berlin Military Academy—wasn't I the one who paved the way for him every time? Now that his wings are hard, he dares to challenge me?"

A deputy officer beside him, seeing his fury, couldn't help but whisper a plea: "Chairman, Division Commander Li has always respected you. Maybe this time he has his reasons... When he comes back, would you really have the heart to..."

"Motherfucker, don't talk back!" Jiang Ruiyuan glared at him fiercely, the murderous look in his eyes making the deputy quickly shut up. But his tone involuntarily softened a bit. "Wait until I've cleaned out 'those people' around him! When he comes back, I'll first purge all those 'people from that side' around him! Then I'll see if he still dares to be stubborn with me without those instigators!"

He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, his military boots crunching on the porcelain shards. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and the more his chest felt tight—how could Jingxing be like this? That Jingxing who took the blame for him as a child and got caned by the teacher, that Jingxing who drank in his place at the Japanese Shinbu School and passed out on the tatami—how had he turned into this Division Commander Li who dared to defy orders?

Had power changed him? Or had he really been seduced by the empty promises from 'that side'? He couldn't figure it out, only felt a piercing chill rising from the soles of his feet—if even Jingxing couldn't be relied on, who in this world could he trust?

At that moment, Li Yuxuan had already led the main force of the Third Division onto the road to the Southwest. The troops advanced along rugged mountain paths, wheels crunching over gravel with a 'clatter', horses' hooves splashing mud in the mire. Huang Wei reined in his horse and sidled up to Li Yuxuan, his brow deeply furrowed: "Division Commander, are we really going to disobey the Chairman's orders? This is a capital offense. The brothers have families back home..."

"I know what this means." Li Yuxuan pulled on the reins, gazing at the distant, unbroken mountain range. Those mountain shadows in the twilight looked like lurking beasts. "But go ask the brothers—who hasn't seen the atrocities of the Southwest warlords? Last year, I passed through Western Hunan and saw with my own eyes their soldiers looting the people's grain, dragging girls into their stockades. The children cried for their parents until their eyes bled."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a heavy weight: "The Chairman is busy with matters in the north right now and can't attend to this. We can't wait. If we wait, more people will suffer."

Du Yuming rode up and said: "But what if the Chairman really gets angry, removes you from your post, or even..."

"There is no 'what if'." Li Yuxuan turned to look at him, his gaze sharp as a blade. "We are the Revolutionary Army, not someone's Private Soldiers. Unifying the nation isn't just about beating Zhang Zuolin and Sun Chuanfang—it also includes these local warlords who prey on the people. Even if I have to be punished later, even if I can never hold a gun again in this life, I still have to fight this battle."

Someone in the ranks shouted: "We'll follow the Division Commander! We've long been sick of those warlords!"

Immediately, voices of agreement followed one after another: "Right! Follow the Division Commander!" "Wipe out those scumbags and let the common people have a few good days!"

The soldiers' originally hesitant steps gradually grew firm. They had followed Division Commander Li through so many battles. At the walls of Hongdu City during the Northern Expedition, he had never sent them to die in vain, and he had never forgotten why they fought.

The troops continued forward. Sunlight filtered through the mountain forest, casting dappled shadows on the ground. Li Yuxuan looked up at the sky; the setting sun was dyeing the mountain peaks a golden red. He knew that from the moment he decided to disobey orders, the path he and Jiang Ruiyuan had walked together since childhood had already forked.

"After I go back, I probably won't be able to lead troops anymore." He gave a bitter smile, but felt no regret in his heart. At least he had held onto that little something inside—those principles he'd heard in Xikou, those 'Revolutionary Doctrines' he'd read at the Baoding School, those thoughts that the people shouldn't have to suffer in vain.

Perhaps that son slowly growing up in Xikou, that youth carrying his hopes, could walk a different path in the future. As for himself, he could only follow the choice before him, step by step, even if the road ahead led to an abyss.

"Speed up the advance!" He called out, his horsewhip cutting a crisp crack through the air, startling a flock of birds from the woods.

The mountains of the Southwest awaited them ahead, range upon range, like countless unknown challenges. And a storm far more complex than the Eastern Expedition or the Northern Expedition was quietly brewing in the heart of Huaxia with the footsteps of this army. The wind blew through the valley, carrying the scent of an impending mountain rain, making the military banners flap loudly, and blowing toward a future full of uncertainty.