Jinan Mansion, Shandong Governor's Yamen, back hall.

Yuan Shikai was in the middle seat, and there were several people sitting on the left and right sides, all of whom were Yuan Shikai's staff. Since it is not a formal seat, Yuan Shikai and his staff are all dressed in casual clothes, and there are tea and snacks on the table, which looks like they are sitting and chatting.

Yuan Shikai, who was the governor of Shandong at the time, was 42 years old this year, just in the prime of life, but at this time his figure was already a little fat. At this moment, he closed his eyes slightly, as if he was thinking. In the third seat on his right, a middle-aged scribe leaned sideways slightly, holding a letter in his left hand, and said: "Lord Futai, this is a joint letter from 41 middle- and lower-level officers, asking Lord Futai to withdraw the resolution to execute Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others, and also ask Lord Futai to immediately send troops to attack overseas Chinese, so as to appease the heart of the squires in Shandong." ”

The person who spoke was called Zhao Bingjun, the same age as Yuan Shikai, when he was young, he went to Xinjiang with Zuo Zongtang to quell the Agubai Rebellion, fought bravely, and grew up with equestrianism, but he was seriously injured in the battle and became disabled, so he abandoned Wu Xiwen and joined Yuan Shikai's disciples. When Yuan Shikai was training at the small station, Zhao Bingjun followed the military politics, specializing in detectives and policemen, specializing in the art of arrest and criminal investigation, because of the meritorious work in arresting the Boxers, which was appreciated by Yuan Shikai, and now he is responsible for supervising and managing the military discipline of the Beiyang New Army, because of its strict law enforcement and merciless punishment of soldiers, so it is known as the "butcher" in the Beiyang Army.

Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others, with the acquiescence of Yuan Shikai, led troops to support Wan Yufu's landlord alliance and attacked Menbu Village, but were defeated by the People's Army, losing more than 100 people, and Sun Zhongkui and Wan Kun led the remnants of the army to flee back to Jinan, and were immediately arrested and imprisoned, and Zhao Bingjun sentenced 14 middle- and lower-level officers led by Zhao Bingjun to death according to the military discipline of the Beiyang New Army.

As a result, this sentence caused a considerable number of Shandong officers to be dissatisfied, because the behavior of Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others was supported by the vast majority of Shandong officers, this is due to the land reform carried out by overseas Chinese made Shandong officers feel quite dissatisfied, these Shandong officers are basically from the squire family, almost every family has some land, which is up to the landlord's standard, and the land reform of overseas Chinese is naturally to move their cheese, so in their opinion, Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others led troops to fight overseas Chinese, fighting for the interests of the Shandong squires. Now they were going to be executed according to military law, so all the officers also became active, and jointly petitioned Yuan Shikai, asking for pardon for the capital crimes of Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others, and at the same time asking Yuan Shikai to send troops to attack overseas Chinese and continue to protect the interests of the Shandong squire.

Now in the Beiyang New Army, there are a lot of soldiers and officers from Shandong, soldiers account for nearly forty percent, and the officers have also reached more than twenty percent, although they are basically middle and lower-level officers, but still form a huge force that cannot be underestimated, so Yuan Shikai recruited his cronies and staff to negotiate how to solve the problem.

After Yuan Shikai listened to Zhao Bingjun's speech, his slightly closed eyes suddenly opened, and the cold light flashed, and then he closed it again and said, "What do you think?"

On the second seat on the left, a young man about 35 years old suddenly stood up and said, "What a bold man, he dared to jointly write a letter asking Lord Futai to take back his life, and there is no Lord Futai in his eyes." Turning to Yuan Shikai, he said: "Lord Futai, this matter must not be tolerated, Sun Zhongkui and Wan Kun must be executed, and they cannot be forgiven." ”

The person who spoke was Duan Qirui, and now he was a tiger general under Yuan Shikai.

After listening to Duan Qirui's speech, Yuan Shikai was noncommittal, looked at the first person on the right, and said, "What does Brother Juren think?"

Yuan Shikai asked the person called Xu Shichang, the word Bu five, the chrysanthemum is his number, he and Yuan Shikai in Guangxu five years (1879) on the acquaintance, the two fell in love at first sight, when Xu Shichang, Xu Shiguang brothers had no money to go to Tianfu to take the township test, Yuan Shikai was given a hundred taels of silver for Sichuan capital, so that Xu's Kunzhong has been made, and to be lifted at the same time. Later, when Yuan Shikai was training at the small station, he asked the Qing court to ask Xu Shichang to take charge of the general office of the staff and military affairs and battalion office of the whole army of the new army inspection in the capacity of the editor of the Hanlin Shujishi, but this was a high and low; Xu Shichang resolutely left the Hanlin Academy, went all out, took charge of the whole army's copywriting and participated in secrets, and Yuan Shikai could act as his agent when Yuan Shikai was not there, becoming Yuan Shikai's most powerful think tank.

After listening to Yuan Shikai's inquiry, Xu Shichang said, "This matter is a little strange?"

Yuan Shikai said: "What kind of strange method, and ask Brother Juren to make it clear?"

Xu Shichang said with a smile: "Although there are many Shandong officers in our army, we have never seen them have joint action before, and Sun Zhongkui and Wan Kun are nameless and hopeless, this time only for Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others, not only jointly wrote to Fuhe, but also asked us to send troops to attack overseas Chinese, the intention is self-evident, in my opinion, there must be the support of the powerful forces in Shandong behind this, it is nothing more than to use our strength to fight against overseas Chinese, probably because we are afraid that the land reform of overseas Chinese will spread to Jinan." Therefore, this wind must not be fueled, and must be stopped by thunderous means. ”

Yuan Shikai pondered for a while, and then said, "Is there any new news from the overseas Chinese?"

Zhao Bingjun said: "Back to Lord Futai, the news just confirmed that overseas Chinese have occupied the three counties of Gaomi, Jiaozhou, and Jimo. ”

Yuan Shikai was stunned, and couldn't help but be a little surprised: "I remember that I received an official letter from these counties yesterday, only saying that local affairs should be normal, and how could they suddenly be occupied by overseas Chinese." ”

Zhao Bingyu smiled bitterly and said: "I also just learned that although the overseas Chinese occupied the county seat, they all left the county government, and all the personnel in the yamen were all available, and official correspondence was carried out as a regular practice, but all the money, grain, and financial power in the county were owned by overseas Chinese. ”

Yuan Shikai stayed for a while, immediately understood, sighed, and said: "Overseas Chinese are indeed a good means, so that although there is a real occupation of land, but it is not burdened with the name of occupation of land, and the imperial court has nothing to say." ”

Xu Shichang also nodded and said, "Yes, it seems that overseas Chinese are already determined to occupy the land of Shandong, but they just don't want to tear their faces with the imperial court." ”

Duan Qirui couldn't help but say: "Lord Futai, we have been in Shandong for more than two years, and it is not easy to have today's situation, overseas Chinese have only been here for a few days, why should we give up Shandong to overseas Chinese?"

At this time, the man sitting at the head of Duan Qirui said: "Zhiquan, now is not the time for the battle of will, now the overseas Chinese are in the limelight, and the whole country regards it as a pillar of the sky, a miracle material to save the world, to be honest, we really do not have the ability to compete with overseas Chinese." ”

The person who spoke was Wang Shizhen, who was originally a student of the Tianjin Military Academy, studied in the artillery department for 3 years, and returned to Shanhaiguan after graduation to teach in the artillery team. During the First Sino-Japanese War, he went to Korea with Ye Zhichao to participate in the war, and during the battle, Wang Shizhen's left ring finger was blown off, and the upper left part of his forehead was wounded by shrapnel, leaving a wound more than an inch long. After returning to China, he was classified as Nie Shicheng's army. Later, Yuan Shikai trained in a small station, and Yin Chang, who was the general office of Tianjin Wubei Academy, recommended Wang Shizhen for him. Yuan Shikai discussed with him about the military, Wang Shizhen was thorough in all aspects, very planned, Yuan Shikai was overjoyed, thinking that his talents could be reused, and immediately appointed him as the supervisor of the battalion office, the assistant commander of the third battalion of the right wing, and the superintendent of the infantry school. He was also promoted to the position of Engineer Camp Supervisor and Superintendent of the German Literature Hall. Because Wang Shizhen is meticulous, thoughtful, and unassuming, he has won the trust of Yuan Shikai, second only to Xu Shichang, and ranks first among Yuan Shikai's generals in the staff, so Yuan Shikai discussed with Wang Shizhen, Xu Shichang and others about the performance assessment in the army and the promotion and deposition of personnel.

But after listening to Wang Shizhen's words, Duan Qirui was still a little unconvinced, and said: "What's so great about overseas Chinese, isn't it just that they defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance? In fact, the Eight-Nation Alliance was originally a group of rabble, and if we replaced our Beiyang New Army, we could still defeat them." If the imperial court had used our Beiyang New Army, it would have sent the Eight-Nation Alliance back to my hometown a long time ago, and I really want to fight with overseas Chinese to see what they are capable of. ”

Wang Shizhen shook his head and said, "Zhiquan, you are also underestimating the Eight-Nation Alliance, there are no less than 100,000 defenders in Beijing, including Wu Yijun, It is no accident that the overseas Chinese can defeat the German Far East Fleet at sea, capture Qingdao on land, and break the Russian army at Shanhaiguan, you must know that the eight countries are all big countries in the world, and it is not difficult to send 100,000 troops to fight against China, but all countries have not sent troops to reinforce them, but have made peace with overseas Chinese, it can be seen that all countries are unwilling to fight with overseas Chinese, and our Beiyang New Army is indeed inferior。 ”

Xu Shichang also said: "Yes, not to mention that even the imperial court now has to look at the faces of overseas Chinese, if we blatantly make enemies with overseas Chinese, I am afraid that the imperial court will take the lead in blaming us, which is also not good for Lord Futai." ”

Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that we can only give up Shandong." ”

When they heard this, they were silent. The people present were all Yuan Shikai began to follow Yuan Shikai when he was training at a small station, and finally survived the hard days of training at a small station, and finally had a base like Shandong, with sufficient financial resources, to expand the scale of the Beiyang New Army, and everyone could also show their strengths, but the overseas Chinese inserted this burden, and they wanted to squeeze the Beiyang New Army out of Shandong, and everyone was naturally unwilling to do so, but no one could stop the overseas Chinese, although Duan Qirui shouted that he wanted to fight with the overseas Chinese, but in fact, he was trying to be quick and his own, Duan Qirui also understood in his heart that he really wanted to fight with the overseas ChineseMost of the Beiyang New Army cannot be won, not to mention that the imperial court will not allow the Beiyang New Army and overseas Chinese to do it.

At this time, Xu Shichang said: "Lord Futai doesn't have to be too pessimistic, I think the imperial court will have other arrangements for us." ”

In fact, of course, Yuan Shikai knew that the imperial court would not ignore his own Beiyang New Army, but he would just change the place and start all over again, and the foundation laid in Shandong in the past two years would be in vain.

And at this moment, someone suddenly came to report: Li Zhongtang called.