After sending Zhu Erdian away, Yuan Shikai was finally able to settle down, and Bi Jing received a check for 200,000 taels of silver, which was not a small amount. Of course, the last thing to deal with is the relationship with East China, so early the next morning, Yuan Shikai came to the East China ** office in Beijing and asked to see Liu Ruijie, director of the East China ** office in Beijing.

After the Gengzi State Change, when East China was not officially established, an office was set up in Beijing, which was responsible for liaison and communication with the Qing court, and to explore various information about the center of the Qing court and understand the dynamics of the Qing court. Later, East China ** and the Qing court had bad relations, and even turned their faces and went to war, but the Beijing office of East China ** has not been evacuated, forming a very strange phenomenon.

As a matter of fact, in the Qing court, there have always been people who have demanded that the Beijing office of East China be closed down and that the personnel of the office be arrested in order to show the determination of the Qing court and East China to be incompatible, and this demand was mainly made by the Qing court's clans and Manchu magnates; however, there were also a group of people who were resolutely opposed, and their reason was that the Beijing office of East China was located in the city of Beijing, and it was not easy to seal it up! It was just a gesture, but it was kept to avoid the Qing court and East China Completely tearing the face, and secondly, to maintain a channel of communication and communication, so it is far better than seizing. Most of those who hold this view are honest and respectful ministers.

Under normal circumstances, Cixi still prefers to temporarily keep the Beijing office in East China, Bi Jing Cixi understands people, not that she doesn't understand the truth. However, when the Qing court attacked the Henan base in East China, the Qing court did plan to take action against the Beijing office of East China, as long as the Qing army gained an advantage on the battlefield, it was a pity that the Qing army was defeated on the battlefield by the volunteers at that time, and the Beijing office of East China was not sealed.

After the goal of overthrowing the Qing court was officially announced in East China, there was a wave of public opinion in Beijing to raid the Beijing office of East China, but at this time, the Beijing office also let out the words, if anyone dares to move the Beijing office, then in the future, East China will enter Beijing, settle accounts after the autumn, and the family will not be able to escape. As a result, most of the people who shouted fiercely also died down, on the contrary, many people came to the Beijing office, hoping to ensure their own safety after the People's Army entered Beijing, after all, at this time, everyone knew that the Qing court really could not last a few years. Therefore, they all have to find a way back for themselves, and those who are really willing to die for the Qing court are only a few after all.

After all, there are still some people's life and death interests in the Qing court, and they will not care about the deterrent force of East China, so as early as the establishment of the Beijing office, East China ** He bought a piece of land near the Sifang Station in the southeast of Beijing and built a fortress less than 5 kilometers from the city, and by the time the Qing court found out, the fortress had been built and sent a battalion of troops to garrison it, plus artillery and fire support units, with a total strength of about 850 people. Although the number of troops is not large, it has become a nail in the heart of Beijing.

The garrison of the People's Army outside Beijing has become a definite fact, and it can't be driven away, and it doesn't dare to really tear its face, so the Qing court can only pinch its nose and admit it, and set up a military camp near Panjiayuan outside Beijing's You'anmen Gate to monitor the garrison of the People's Army, but this is only a remedy, the existence of this People's Army, has caused a great threat to Beijing, once a war breaks out, the People's Army in Tianjin marches by train, and it only takes a day to arrive, and then threatens the city of Beijing.

On the other hand, after five or six years of development, the influence of the Beijing office of East China ** on Beijing should not be underestimated, and now it has recruited more than 2,000 people in Beijing, operating in secret, plus other outside personnel, more than 5,000 people have worked for the Beijing office, almost all over Beijing, even the official yamen, the residence of the prince Baylor, the inner courtyard of the palace, etc., also have East China ** of eyes and ears.

In addition, on the surface, the Beijing Office had certain contacts with most of the Qing court's official yamen and embassies in Beijing, and it can be said that almost nothing in Beijing could be concealed from the Beijing Office. And established 3 channels to escape from Beijing, although it cannot be said to be foolproof, but the probability of safety is indeed not low.

When Yuan Shikai served as the governor of Zhili, he mainly maintained contact with the local ** and East China ** through Tianjin, but after serving as the Minister of Military Aircraft, the time spent in Beijing increased, so he also strengthened contacts with the Beijing office, and the current director of the Beijing office, Liu Ruijie, was the third person in charge, who arrived after the victory of the Far East War.

But after Liu Ruijie arrived, he changed the low-key style of the first two terms and had a tough attitude, "If anyone dares to move the Beijing office, then in the future, East China will enter Beijing, settle accounts after the autumn, and the family will not be able to run away" It was spread by him, and for those who dared to challenge the Beijing office, they were also resolutely counterattacking and fighting back, never swallowing their anger and calming people, because of the situation at this time, low-key self-management can not solve the problem, it is better to make a high-profile declaration and act tough, that is, to bet that the Qing court will not dare to take the initiative to start a war with East China.

On the other hand, the garrison outside Beijing also cooperated very well to hold two military exercises, and there was a small-scale friction with the Qing army that came to provoke the compassionate army, and the result was a big defeat of the Qing army, more than 10 people were killed, and the Qing court did not dare to really start a war with East China, even if it knew that East China had regarded the Qing court as an enemy, but before East China did not take the initiative to attack Beijing, the Qing court was not willing to easily provoke a war, and it was a while to be able to drag it out.

And the clans of the Qing court also did not dare to target the Beijing office in East China, because their family and property were in Beijing, and of course they did not want to retaliate for the attack on the Beijing office, so they only dared to make trouble in Anhui.

Yuan Shikai and Liu Ruijie have only met twice, but they have contacted each other more than 10 times, but they were all brought forward by Yuan Shikai's staff, including that time to test whether East China ** was willing to accept Yuan Shikai, which is also a common method used by Qing court officials.

In fact, Yuan Shikai's temptation, East China ** is very clear, but at this time, East China ** is not suitable to accept Yuan Shikai, mainly because Yuan Shikai's asking price is too high, because according to the assessment, if East China ** intends to recruit Yuan Shikai, in terms of administrative system, at least take the position of provincial governor, and in the military aspect, at least the commander of the field army, but such a price, the current East China ** I really can't afford it, most of Bi Jingjue's veterans haven't reached this height, why give a demoted general, not to mention that Yuan Shikai's reputation among most of the elders is not good.

But the price of the surrender is low, and Yuan Shikai can't look down on it, Bi Jing is now Yuan Shikai is already a great position and a minister in the Qing court, and now is not a desperate time, why should he lower his price. Therefore, East China simply pretended to be confused and ignored Yuan Shikai's temptation, anyway, even if Yuan Shikai was in the Qing court, it didn't have much impact, although in the Qing court, Yuan Shikai was indeed the most capable minister, but now the Qing court is the general trend, no matter how strong Yuan Shikai's ability is, he can't return to the sky, not to mention that Yuan Shikai is not the material to turn the tide. After the war between East China ** and the Qing court, Yuan Shikai's chips were greatly reduced, and Yuan Shikai would also lower his price at that time, and the two sides would have to talk about it at that time.

At this time, it was obviously not suitable for the staff to come forward, so Yuan Shikai personally came forward and came to the Beijing office.

Although the two did not meet much, they exchanged a lot with each other, so they were no strangers to it, and after a polite exchange, Yuan Shikai said: "Director Liu, he was appointed by the imperial court as the governor of Liangjiang in Xiasi, and went to the south to be responsible for disaster relief, resettlement of victims, and pacification of disputes in the south. ”

Liu Ruijie said: "Now the situation in Jiangsu, Anhui and other places is complicated, Lord Yuan went to the south to take office at this time, this burden is not light, could it be that someone set a trap on Lord Yuan?"

Yuan Shikai said with a smile: "Director Liu is joking, this is also the meaning of the imperial court's trust in Yuan, not to mention the turmoil of the two rivers, the flood is only secondary, in the final analysis, it is related to East China." ”

Liu Ruijie also smiled: "Lord Yuan is also true to what he said, but since Lord Yuan said so, we can't bother going around in circles, this time we are completely out of good intentions, disaster relief in the provinces along the Yangtze River, all because we are the same as the people in the provinces along the Yangtze River, we are in the same vein as China, so we are willing to let go of the contradictions with the Qing court, and focus on disaster relief and helping the people, in fact, this is also for the Qing court to solve difficulties." However, the Qing court not only did not have the slightest merit in disaster relief, but it repeatedly criticized us, first Anhui Governor Enming intercepted our transport fleet on the Yangtze River, and later the Qing court's clan ministers colluded with Japan to attack the disaster resettlement camp. Although the turmoil in the two rivers is indeed related to us, it is not in our hands to solve the turmoil in the two rivers. ”

Yuan Shikai hurriedly said: "Director Liu misunderstood, Yuan's visit today is not to blame East China, but I just hope that East China can focus on the overall situation of disaster relief, or peace." ”

Liu Ruijie said: "Of course we are willing to take into account the overall situation, and we are willing to take peace first, but we can't always let us talk about peace every time, but let the Qing court destroy it at will, and peace is based on the joint efforts of both parties, not to mention that this time the behavior of the Qing court is too bad, so we have to take the overall situation into account, and take peace as the top, and the Qing court must give us an explanation." ”