In April, the orioles flew and the grass grew. Even in the northern steppes, tender green blades poked out of the ground, dyeing parts of the land a vibrant green.

The Northeast Army's cavalry units avoided trampling the grass; instead, they chose to travel over gravelly ground whenever possible. Many cavalrymen were arriving in Outer Mongolia for the first time. In the minds of the officers and soldiers, Mongolia was a vast grassland. However, reality was different. Compared to grasslands, most areas of Outer Mongolia were bare desert.

Traversing this terrain did require a slight detour, but it avoided a lot of mud.

The main force did not march in a single file column but advanced in battalion and company echelons. Cavalry messengers shuttling between units, along with the wireless communications equipped at each regimental headquarters, kept the entire force at a consistent spacing.

Departing from Heilongjiang, they arrived at their destination, the capital of Outer Mongolia (Urga), in just three days. The entire region of Outer Mongolia had a population of less than a million, and the capital felt more like a town, barely comparable to a county seat. Moreover, it was full of yurts and didn't even have a city wall.

As soon as the cavalry unit arrived, there were no Mongolian cavalry coming out to challenge them. Only a small squad of cavalry came forward to inquire. Upon learning it was Zheng Sirang, they immediately replied, "So it is General Zheng mentioned in the telegram. Please, right this way."

This made the Chief of Staff anxious, and he hurriedly stopped Zheng Sirang, who was preparing to go. Many plans had been made when setting out this time, but none included Zheng Sirang taking his guards to meet the Prime Minister of Outer Mongolia, Badamdorj.

Seeing the Chief of Staff's anxious look, Zheng Sirang smiled, "Send a telegram to the Military Commission immediately, explaining the situation."

Only then did the Chief of Staff relax. Before long, the telegram was delivered to He Rui. The three radios assigned to contact Zheng Sirang's unit were on 24 hours a day, maintaining information transmission at all times. After reading the telegram, He Rui instructed: "Agreed."

Chief of Staff Hu Xiushan, who had drafted the plan, asked, "Chairman, isn't Outer Mongolia's reaction too weak?"

"No matter how incompetent the Mongolian princes are, they have seen machine guns and cannons. With the plan you made, do you think the Mongolian princes stand a chance? Or do they think that by taking Sirang hostage, they can force us to retreat?"

Hu Xiushan thought for a moment before nodding slightly, "Chairman, perhaps I underestimated the awareness of the Mongolian princes, thinking they might not have the sense to recognize the situation."

"You are not wrong. Once Russia's strength recovers, these princes will show their true colors. What we need to do is seize this time and accelerate the economic integration with Outer Mongolia as soon as possible."

Radio waves crossed the distance from Fengtian to Zheng Sirang's location at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second. Seeing the decoded message, the Chief of Staff sighed, "Commander, you must be careful."

Zheng Sirang replied easily, "It is you who must be careful. Whether those Mongolians dare to act rashly depends on whether our military appearance is disciplined and imposing. If the Mongolian princes feel we are weak, they will definitely strike. It's all up to you out here."

After speaking, Zheng Sirang, wearing his field-gray uniform, took two guards and went straight to the location of the Mongolian Prime Minister. It was a huge yurt, and two rows of richly dressed headmen were already standing outside the door.

Walking through the passage between the two rows of Mongolian headmen, Zheng Sirang entered the yurt and asked in Mongolian, "Which of you is Prince Badamdorj?"

The man in the center paused, hurriedly stood up, and walked in front of Zheng Sirang with a bow-legged gait. This person was short, and his facial skin presented the dark reddish-brown complexion common in the Mongolian region.

"General Zheng..." As he said this, Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Badamdorj had a look of surprise on his face. "Have we met?"

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Zheng Sirang's face. He said in Mongolian, "My father was an escort of the Huiyou Escort Agency. I once met Your Highness with my father when I was young."

Hearing this, Badamdorj nodded repeatedly, "So you are the descendant of Escort Zheng. You look exactly like him."

Zheng Sirang smiled slightly, indifferent to whether what this Mongolian Prime Minister Badamdorj said was true or false. After all, this guy had met so many people, how could he remember so clearly? Moreover, in this place, Mongolia, what mattered was strength, not favors. He smiled and said, "Does the Prince know about our Northeast Army retaking the Chinese Eastern Railway?"

Badamdorj knew Zheng Sirang was asserting the strength of the Northeast Army. Facing such a threat, he smiled broadly, "I heard about it. Marshal He captured tens of thousands of Russians, and Russia dared not make a sound. It is truly satisfying! We Mongolians respect heroes the most. When everyone speaks of this, they praise Marshal He as a hero."

Zheng Sirang immediately took a step forward, "In that case, why don't you, Prince, come out with me to see what the cavalry of this great hero, Marshal He, looks like?"

Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Prince Badamdorj knew the caliber of the troops sent by He Rui this time. Before He Rui marched, he had sent cavalry to deliver the orders of the Republic's President Feng Guozhang and Premier Duan Qirui. The content of both orders was the same: informing Outer Mongolia that since the Russian Tsarist government was finished, the "Sino-Russian Declaration" signed by the Republic of China and Tsarist Russia was void, Outer Mongolia's autonomy was cancelled, and He Rui would oversee Outer Mongolia's military and political affairs.

It wasn't that there were no hot-headed youths in the Mongolian tribes. Upon learning that He Rui was actually coming, they clamored to raid He Rui's troops. However, up to now, the hot-headed youths had indeed gone out, but no fighting had occurred at all.

According to reports, the marching, camping, and deployment of the troops led by Zheng Sirang were all orderly. Especially the intervals between various units were very reasonable; attacking any single unit would lead to being pincered. Moreover, those troops were equipped with artillery. Upon seeing approaching Mongolian cavalry, they would unleash a barrage of shelling.

The purpose of that shelling was not to kill, but to show force. Dozens of shells were fired quickly, blasting gravel into the air. Those hot-headed youths also knew not to bash their heads against a stone wall.

The reason Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Badamdorj chose to stay in the capital to await Zheng Sirang was also rooted in Mongolian tradition. Once he fled with his people, he could not expect to control other tribes in the future. There was never a lack of people in Mongolian tribes who sided with the strong.

So Badamdorj laughed loudly: "In that case, let me go and see the military discipline of the army that defeated the Russians."

Two hours later, the intense sound of guns and cannons finally stopped. The pungent smell of gunpowder smoke was blown by the wind, flowing past the Mongolian dignitaries watching the exercise. Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Badamdorj could no longer smile at all, staring grimly at the field where the exercise had ended.

Zheng Sirang did not stop. He ordered men to bring over a dozen sabers. These sabers were all proven in European combat. The Northeast Army soldiers carried over a table and placed stacks of copper coins on it. Zheng Sirang drew a saber and slashed effortlessly. The saber cut a stack of copper coins directly in half, and the momentum of the blade did not diminish, cutting directly through the board of the field table. The other copper coins just jumped from the shock but did not fall.

This display of swordsmanship drew bursts of cheers from many Mongolian tribal headmen. Everyone knew their stuff; with this skill used in cavalry combat, Zheng Sirang would be considered to have few equals.

Zheng Sirang smiled slightly, switched to another saber, and slashed down again, and the same result ensued. After cutting through all the stacks of copper coins, Zheng Sirang smiled at the Mongolian tribal headmen: "Our army's sabers are all of the same quality. I present them to you gentlemen as a meeting gift."

After the headmen accepted the sabers with complex expressions, Zheng Sirang then smiled at Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Prince Badamdorj: "I wonder what the Prince thinks of Marshal He overseeing Outer Mongolia's military and political affairs?"

In the exercise just now, Prince Badamdorj saw with his own eyes that the proficiency of the Northeast Army's cavalry and infantry exercises far exceeded that of the Mongolian cavalry. Especially since the Northeast Army fired at least two hundred shells during the exercise, turning the land used as a target range into a field full of shell craters as if it had been plowed over.

As for bullets, who knew how many were fired? Those wooden human targets that were set up were shot to splinters.

If this ammunition were given to the Mongolians to use, it would be enough to fight a dozen inter-tribal battles. And the exercise troops brought out even more ammunition, showing that the consumption of the exercise meant nothing to them.

Hearing Zheng Sirang's inquiry at this time, Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Badamdorj steeled himself and replied readily: "Since it is the President's order, we naturally must obey!"

Zheng Sirang knew the initial show of force was complete, so he smiled: "In that case, we are one family again!"

Radio telegrams transmitted the latest news to Fengtian. He Rui was not surprised. Because the troops led by Zheng Sirang were only the vanguard, He Rui was already prepared to establish five military regions for Inner and Outer Mongolia plus the three Northeast provinces. Behind Zheng Sirang, another division was setting out to enter the Outer Mongolia region to begin constructing barracks. If those in Outer Mongolia could not see the situation clearly, naturally, they could only be wiped out.

At this time, He Rui did not need to preside over this; Heilongjiang Military Region Commander Xu Chengfeng was in charge. He Rui had made another preparation here. Ishiwara Kanji and others, as members of the fourth Japanese military observer group, had returned. These men had just arrived in Kwantung Leased Territory. Ishiwara Kanji sent a telegram requesting to come and visit He Rui.

Over the years, the correspondence between He Rui and Ishiwara Kanji had been quite frequent, writing seven or eight letters to each other every year. Some of He Rui's latest articles and reports on Northeast development would also be sent to the 'Future Society' established by Ishiwara Kanji in Japan.

Now that ambitious Japanese youths were coming to visit, He Rui was filled with joy.

Calling his secretary, He Rui asked, "Are there any decent Japanese restaurants in Shenyang?"

The secretary thought for a while but couldn't think of any, so he could only say, "Chairman, I will go check."

"Good, check thoroughly. If there are, prepare to make a reservation and have them prepare Japanese dishes."

The secretary was quite meticulous in his work, "Chairman, what if there aren't any?"

He Rui thought for a moment, "If not, contact Noguchi Nobuo, whom Mitsui Yasuki left here, and ask him to help think of a way."

The secretary continued to ask, "Chairman, must we use Japanese dishes to entertain? I think our Chinese cuisine is more delicious than Japanese cuisine."

"We'll stick to Japanese dishes. I told those youths that China and Japan should be friendly. If they can't even eat a Japanese meal in China, wouldn't it seem like empty talk?"

"This..." The secretary couldn't understand for a moment.

He Rui knew that among the comrades now, many had high nationalist sentiments, and xenophobia was instinctive. He Rui explained, "Is being able to eat Japanese food in China the same thing as the presence of foreign soldiers on Chinese territory?"

The secretary was stunned, but quickly understood the difference between the two, so he let go of his prejudice and went to arrange according to He Rui's instructions.

He Rui sighed slightly in his heart. He also had a period of strong nationalist sentiment, and even now, He Rui still had strong patriotism. When it came to killing invaders, He Rui wouldn't bat an eyelid.

But He Rui would not hate other countries in the name of patriotism, because there was no logical relationship between the two. He Rui didn't like eating Japanese cuisine, nor did he like fetishizing Japanese cuisine. So what needed to be fought was blind xenophilia, or merchants using information asymmetry to engage in commercial myth-making.

As for Japanese cuisine, eat it if you like, don't eat it if you don't. If choosing a meal could trigger nationalist sentiments, it only proved that one's inner self was too fragile.