"Major General Wu, please follow me," the Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office of the National Defense University said to the student Wu Peifu.

Although Wu Peifu didn't like the rank of 'Major General,' he obediently followed the Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office out of the teaching building.

Passing through the teaching building, he heard various local accents filling the corridors where people came and went. The accents of students from the Northeast to Yunnan and Guizhou, the Northwest, Qinghai, and Tibet were even harder to understand. As the highest military academy in the Republic, 60% of the students in the National Defense University were admitted based on grades, and 40% were allocated to various provinces. Since it was a unified country, students from every province should have a quota in the National Defense University.

Inside the National Defense University, Wu Peifu also saw some familiar Zhili faces. Most of them were instructors from Zhili military academies, mainly students who had studied abroad and graduates of the Baoding Military Academy. Seeing Wu Peifu, this group of people lowered their gazes, unwilling to show closeness to Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu felt he shouldn't blame these people, but he couldn't help feeling unhappy in his heart.

This group of Zhili guys and Wu Peifu's 'Major General' rank were the two things Wu Peifu was unhappy about in the National Defense University.

He Rui's Beiyang government reorganized the Beiyang and even the military governors of various places. After unifying the country, it ordered all personnel from military lecture halls and other military academies across the country to go to the capital for training. Those who failed to arrive on time would not be registered and their status would not be recognized. The instructors of local military academies such as military lecture halls established by various warlords were indignant, and most of them expressed that they would 'starve to death, die of poverty, but would not go to the capital.'

However, after making such statements, the vast majority of these instructors still went to the capital obediently to accept reorganization. After the reorganization, a small number of instructors were directly assigned to teach at the National Defense University. Wu Peifu disliked this group of people very much, but as a surrendered general himself, he couldn't say anything about others. It was just that the unhappiness in his heart was difficult to dispel.

Following the Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office out of the teaching building, they soon arrived at the green space inside the National Defense University. There were guards at the entrance over there. As the two approached, the guards stopped them. Not long after, a person walked out from the tree-shaded road; it turned out to be the President, Zhou Yinshan. Lieutenant General Zhou Yinshan looked at Wu Peifu and greeted him, "Major General Wu."

Wu Peifu could only salute Zhou Yinshan, "President Zhou."

Zhou Yinshan didn't say much and walked away directly. The Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office then led Wu Peifu inside. A moment later, Wu Peifu saw He Rui inside. Wu Peifu had only met He Rui twice, but He Rui's portrait hung in the military academy, so Wu Peifu wouldn't mistake this young face.

However, when He Rui greeted, "Major General Wu, hello," Wu Peifu still felt unhappy in his heart.

In fact, Wu Peifu himself didn't care about the pile of titles added to him by the Zhili leader, Big Brother Cao Kun. These titles were not important. In the old Beiyang Army, a word from Marshal Cao Kun, 'My soldiers are Wu Ziyu's soldiers,' was enough to explain everything. With such a sentence, Wu Peifu had everything in the Zhili clique.

However, He Rui inherited the legal tradition of the Republic, naturally taking the Beiyang in the capital as the standard. The official titles and ranks granted by the Zhili clique were not recognized by the He Rui government. After the Zhili clique surrendered in 1924, the National Defense Force's recognition of Wu Peifu's military rank turned out to be the rank of 1915. In 1915, Wu Peifu was promoted to Major General Brigade Commander of the 6th Brigade. After the rise of the National Protection Movement against Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu followed the battalion into Sichuan to suppress the Yunnan National Protection Army led by Cai E.

Wu Peifu felt this was somewhat unfair and had filed an appeal, believing that his military rank should be re-examined according to 1917. However, the personnel of the Military Affairs Department took out the order and let Wu Peifu see it personally.

The materials provided by the Military Affairs Department clearly recorded that in 1917, Sun Yat-sen formed a military government, and Duan Qirui sent Cao Kun and Zhang Huaizhi to lead troops south for a punitive expedition. Wu served as the Acting Division Commander of the 3rd Division and the Commander-in-Chief of the Frontline. In the Beiyang Army system, a division commander was a Lieutenant General. But the Military Affairs Department informed Wu Peifu that he was an acting division commander at the time, but his rank remained Major General.

Although He Rui's 'Major General Wu' made Wu Peifu unhappy, Wu Peifu tried to free himself from the unhappiness as soon as possible. He was a 50-year-old man after all; getting entangled in this matter was also very undignified.

Wu Peifu saluted He Rui, "Chairman He, subordinate Wu Peifu reporting for duty."

He Rui pointed to the stone stool by the table, and the two sat face to face. He Rui then said, "Brother Ziyu, we have won some victories on the Burmese front line recently and captured some prisoners. POW camps have been established in Burma and Kunming. I wonder if Brother Ziyu is willing to serve as the supervisor."

Wu Peifu asked immediately, "I wonder how many prisoners were captured? How many British are among them?"

He Rui shook his head. "There have been many battles recently, and the numbers change quickly. I'm not sure exactly how many prisoners there are. But hearing Brother Ziyu say this, do you think there are too few prisoners?"

Wu Peifu had already decided to accept this appointment at this time. Hearing He Rui say this, he knew he was confused by concern and his answer was irrelevant. He hurriedly organized his mood and stood up to reply, "The subordinate is willing to obey orders."

He Rui nodded and asked Wu Peifu to sit down. "Brother Ziyu, you have been in the military academy for a year; presumably you already understand the current military system. Although the Military Commission recognizes Brother Ziyu's talent very much, the POW camp also follows the military establishment. Many things have to be discussed."

Wu Peifu certainly knew the current system of the National Defense Force. Military commanders at all levels commanding battles formed a command system in the army with the Political Department and the Staff Department. Most personnel rights were in the hands of political commissars. However, the political commissar system was not a supervisory army, because political commissars themselves were also from military backgrounds, and many political commissars had excellent military qualifications.

After He Rui finished speaking, Wu Peifu stood up again and replied, "The subordinate has learned the military system of the National Defense Force and will definitely strictly abide by the rules."

"Good. Then I look forward to Major General Wu's excellent performance." He Rui also stood up after speaking. After Wu Peifu saluted, he returned the salute to Wu Peifu and left directly.

Wu Peifu looked at He Rui's back with mixed feelings. It was the young man in front of him who swept away the six directions and unified the world, and the merit of unifying the world was only an inconspicuous part of He Rui's victory. Defeating Japan with the power of a corner of the Northeast, and starting a war against the world's number one power, Britain. Even Wu Peifu couldn't help but admire. Since He Rui met Wu Peifu personally, presumably he had no malice.

The next day, Wu Peifu received the transfer order and went to the General Staff to accept the new position. The political commissar partnering with Wu Peifu was a Senior Colonel named Yu Cen. Wu Peifu didn't know Senior Colonel Yu Cen's past, but just felt that this young brother from Sichuan looked heroic between his brows, and his gestures were very powerful; he should be an outstanding soldier.

Senior Colonel Yu Cen didn't exchange many pleasantries and handed a list of personnel to Wu Peifu. Browsing the list, many names made Wu Peifu feel very wrong. These people didn't support the land reform policy very much; they only had to accept reorganization because the situation was stronger than people. He Rui picked these people out; what did he want to do?

After reading the list, Wu Peifu probed, "Commissar Yu, I wonder who formulated this list?"

"It was formulated by the General Staff. Does Major General Wu have any opinions on the people inside?"

Wu Peifu hesitated to speak, and finally shook his head. "No opinion."

"If there are no opinions, please sign, Major General Wu. We are leaving soon. These personnel are currently scattered in different units, and it takes time to gather them."

On June 21, the management team of the POW camp took a train south. Half of these people were Zhili officers of the old Beiyang Army. It was a bit awkward for everyone to meet again one year after accepting reorganization. They couldn't say anything either. Finally, one of them found a topic, "This train seems different from the previous ones."

Wu Peifu understood the feelings of his former Zhili brothers and could only follow the topic. And Wu Peifu also felt that the train he was riding was indeed different. First was the appearance; the front of the new train was quite square, completely different from the cylindrical front of the steam train. Moreover, the steam locomotive always spewed thick white smoke when starting on the platform, making the locomotive look like a monster. But the front of this train, as well as other similar locomotives Wu Peifu had seen, didn't seem to spew any smoke.

Judging from the number of carriages, this train had 12 carriages, instead of the 4 or 6 carriages of ordinary steam trains. As for speed, this train was probably at least half faster than ordinary steam trains. As a soldier, Wu Peifu also paid considerable attention to these details. If the train really carried double the personnel and was half faster, the impact on troop transport during wartime would reach an earth-shaking level.

The Zhili officers exchanged their observations but couldn't discuss anything, so Wu Peifu could only ask Senior Colonel Yu Cen. Since Wu Peifu actively asked for advice, Senior Colonel Yu Cen readily introduced the internal combustion locomotive to the accompanying officers.

The internal combustion locomotive was not driven by an internal combustion engine driving the train wheels, but by an internal combustion engine generating electricity to drive the train with electric power. Moreover, there were two types of internal combustion locomotives. The first type was like a steam engine; electricity only drove the locomotive, and the locomotive pulled a series of carriages forward. The second type was to install electric motors on the underframe of the vehicle. When moving, the power was driven by the locomotive together with these carriages.

Wu Peifu exhausted his imagination and could only have a vague outline, but still couldn't truly understand. After thinking for a while, Wu Peifu found a suitable comparison object, "Commissar Yu, which country is this train imported from?"

Yu Cen answered immediately, "This is designed by our domestic railway department and is a completely self-produced train. Currently, no country in the world has such advanced train technology."

Wu Peifu was stunned. After spending some effort to understand this sentence, he immediately felt shocked in his heart. Foreign countries didn't have the technology, completely domestically produced trains, meaning stronger than foreign countries? Amidst the shock, a thought arose in Wu Peifu's mind: Is this still China?

Hearing Yu Cen's words, the other Zhili officers looked unbelieving. However, as defeated generals, they didn't ask for a snub. Moreover, the Zhili officers had all ridden trains, and the comparison between the two was so obvious. If it was said that new technology was adopted, it should be true. It was just that the Zhili officers didn't believe that this technology was unique to China.

Yu Cen didn't boast forcefully either. As a political commissar, Yu Cen's job this time was to educate the old upper class and give foreign countries enough shock. And the higher-ups made it clear that as long as Yu Cen did this job well, Yu Cen would definitely be transferred to the unit he dreamed of to serve as Chief of Staff later.

Expectations for such a future made Yu Cen accept this task. Recalling that he went to the Kwantung Leased Territory alone to deliver the declaration of war, and led troops to sweep several foreign garrison sites in Beijing and Tianjin, Yu Cen somewhat regretted being too young at that time. If he had known that he would do these 'showy' jobs later, Yu Cen would have worked honestly in the army. At least he could have fought many more battles.

Wu Peifu and others didn't know Yu Cen's experience; at this time, they just became interested in internal combustion locomotives. At every station, they paid great attention to observation, and sure enough, they saw some old-style steam locomotives still spewing thick smoke, while internal combustion locomotives ran quietly and at high speed on the tracks. In only half the time of the past, the train arrived in Hankou from Beiping.

Everyone then got on a plane and experienced another brand-new journey amidst inner unease and excitement. Arriving at the destination Kunming, Wu Peifu calculated the time; it actually only took 4 days. Transporting dozens of people from Beiping to Kunming in 4 days, Wu Peifu felt like he had a dream.

The Zhili officers were also blank-faced at this time; they dared not believe this was true either. When the Zhili power was at its peak, it once controlled Hubei and entrenched in the three towns of Wuhan. They knew very well how much time it took them to arrive here initially. It took more than a month for the whole army to reach Hankou.

Although dozens of people moved faster, being fast to this extent was already wrong.

Looking at the expressions of the Zhili officers, Yu Cen hoped that these guys could wake up as soon as possible. In this way, Yu Cen could return to the frontline combat troops he missed day and night to fight the British as soon as possible.

"Let's go; it takes a while to get to the POW camp," Yu Cen ordered.

Soon, the group got on a truck and began to bump on the road. It took more than three hours to reach the destination finally. The Zhili officers stood behind the stunned Wu Peifu, looking at a huge POW camp built against the mountain.

In the view of the Zhili officers, such a POW camp must hold at least tens of thousands of prisoners. If it was just a thousand or so prisoners, there was no need to build it so big.

Has the number of prisoners captured by the National Defense Force already exceeded a thousand? This question popped up in the minds of all former Zhili officers.