Yuan Shikai left Qingdao first. However, after he returned to Jinan, Xu Shichang, who stayed in Jinan, met him for the first time, and handed Yuan Shikai a large stack of greeting stickers, asking him to meet with local gentry, celebrities, businessmen and wealthy people in Jinan, as well as representatives sent by local officials from other prefectures and prefectures, as well as business representatives from various countries in Jinan commercial banks, and judging from the time of the stickers, it was the last three or four days.

Yuan Shikai was very surprised, and said with a smile: "Brother Juren, why are so many people coming to visit me at once?"

Xu Shichang said with a smile: "Lord Futai, this Shandong is about to change hands, and overseas Chinese are the masters who do not eat hard and soft, so can these local gentry not panic? ”

Yuan Shikai suddenly realized that Yuan Shikai was going to leave Shandong, and the news that overseas Chinese were serving as governors of Shandong and taking over Shandong had already spread to Jinan, and caused great uneasiness among the local powerful forces and squires and celebrities in Jinan. Because everyone knows that the replacement of the governor of Shandong this time is not a simple rotation of officials, but a transaction made by the imperial court and overseas Chinese, exchanging Shandong for Beijing, to put it bluntly, is to hand over Shandong to overseas Chinese to manage, and from then on, Shandong is actually like secession and autonomy, and it is all overseas Chinese who have the final say. Moreover, the style of action of overseas Chinese is obviously different from that of the imperial court, and it is the land reform they have carried out in the Jiaoao area that has obviously damaged the vital interests of the powerful forces, squires and celebrities, because from ancient times to the present, the families of that local forces do not take advantage of a few acres of land, and now the overseas Chinese want to take all the land, who is not panicking.

Local officials are concerned about their own future, although the governor does not have the power to appoint and dismiss local officials, but can directly play the impeachment to the imperial court, or recommend, and generally speaking, the imperial court will be at the request of the governor, even if there are local officials who actually have no problems, but in order to ensure the authority of the governor, the imperial court will also use the method of flat adjustment, the local officials who the governor asks for impeachment will be transferred from other places, so the overseas Chinese will not replace the officials in Shandong with their people. And one or two officials are okay to adjust it flatly, but it is impossible for all of the ten prefectures and three prefectures in Shandong to be adjusted, so the local officials in Shandong are also nervous and don't know what their fate is?

As for the merchants of various countries, in fact, they are not very nervous, and they do not have land in China, so the land reform of the traversers will not harm their interests, and through Tianjin, Qingdao, According to Shanghai's understanding of the situation, overseas Chinese attach great importance to commercial trade and industrial development, and the commercial operations of various countries will not be greatly impacted, but after all, overseas Chinese are not the Qing court, and some countries have signed many commercial treaties with Yuan Shikai to operate in Shandong, and businessmen from various countries also want to know the attitude of overseas Chinese and whether they recognize these treaties.

After listening to Xu Shichang's introduction, Yuan Shikai couldn't help laughing, because these things had nothing to do with him, and Yuan Shikai did not forget that before going to Qingdao, how the local forces in Jinan coerced themselves to purge the Shandong officers in the Beiyang New Army, and now seeing them suffocating, Yuan Shikai's heart was of course very happy.

At this time, Xu Shichang said: "It is estimated that it will not be long before someone will come to ask to see the adult, and I don't know if the adult will receive them." ”

Yuan Shikai said with a smile: "See, of course we want to see the Tao, anyway, we have to leave, and we have to make it clear when we come and go." But ......" Yuan Shikai pointed to the sticker, and said: "There are too many people to meet, you want me to see them one by one, you can see them there, I will find them all tomorrow morning, I will see everything at once, I will explain anything in front of everyone, I also want to see what they are like." ”

Xu Shichang listened to it and understood that Yuan Shikai wanted to see the jokes of these local forces, so he nodded and said, "Yes, I'll arrange it right away." ”

The next morning, Yuan Shikai met with all the local gentry of Jinan in the governor's yamen, because Jinan is the capital of Shandong, so the local gentry of Jinan can basically represent the local gentry of Shandong.

Yuan Shikai's attitude was very gentle, and he did not seem to be unhappy because of the previous friction with the Shandong gentry, first of all, he told all the gentry that he had received an appointment from the imperial court to serve as the governor of Zhili, and the imperial court had appointed Qin Zheng, the leader of the overseas Chinese, to take over as the governor of Shandong, and also appointed Wang Sheng, a member of the overseas Chinese, as the prefect of Jinan。 Then he expressed his gratitude to the gentry of Shandong for their support during his tenure in Shandong, and hoped that they could sincerely cooperate with the new governor and prefect to govern Shandong well.

Because the governor of Zhili is promoted, so at this time Yuan Shikai also appeared to be in high spirits, while the gentry in Shandong looked at each other, although they heard the rumors, but after all, it was not official news, many gentry still have a trace of luck in their hearts, but now Yuan Shikai announced this, but also said that the matter has been determined, and there is no reason to change, and it has completely broken the illusions of many people.

Yuan Shikai also asked Yuan Shikai whether the overseas Chinese would also implement their land reform in Jinan Prefecture, Yuan Shikai said that it was an internal affair of the overseas Chinese, and he did not know, but he went to Qingdao this time, passed through Gaomi and Jiaozhou counties along the way, and found that the land reform work in these two places had been basically completed, and the overseas Chinese seemed to be interested in developing Pingdu Prefecture and continuing to implement their land reform. At the same time, he also formed an alliance of Xiangkun in Gaomi County in an attempt to attack overseas Chinese, but was defeated by overseas Chinese, and all 16 landlords who participated in the alliance were executed, and their families were confiscated into the army, and their family property was confiscated.

Pingdu Prefecture is a directly subordinate prefecture under the Laizhou Prefecture, which also means that the land reform of overseas Chinese is not limited to Gaomi, Jiaozhou, and Jimo counties, but seems to be implemented to the entire Laizhou Prefecture, so the next step is to promote it to the whole province of Shandong. Now listening to Yuan Shikai's words, I know that the overseas Chinese are not merciless when they kill people, so many people's faces are green, and many people have similar ideas, planning to form an alliance to confront overseas Chinese, of course, not to use force, but to take a soft confrontation of non-cooperation, such as refusing to pay taxes, or boycotting, inciting people to make trouble, etc., but now they have basically given up this plan, after all, their own lives matter.

But the land reform of overseas Chinese is also fatal, and they can't just admit it, so some people are also sick and rushed to the doctor, and they have begged Yuan Shikai, asking Yuan Shikai to help the gentry in Shandong to accommodate them.

But Yuan Shikai spread his hands, saying that he had no friendship with overseas Chinese, so he couldn't say anything, and naturally he couldn't be accommodating. The gentry in Shandong were like grasping a life-saving straw, begging Yuan Shikai for help, and made a promise of gratitude, Yuan Shikai was relieved of his embarrassment and said that he could only arrange for them to meet with the gentry in Shandong after the overseas Chinese army entered Jinan.

After listening to Yuan Shikai's promise, the squires had no other way, although they also knew that Yuan Shikai was prevaricating, but firstly, what Yuan Shikai said was not unreasonable, and he really couldn't accommodate anything in this matter; second, Yuan Shikai was able to provide an opportunity for the Shandong squires and overseas Chinese to sit together for an interview, which was already very good, after all, there was still a glimmer of hope if they could talk. Therefore, the squires pooled together 50,000 taels of silver to express their gratitude to Yuan Shikai, and then began to discuss how to persuade overseas Chinese not to accept the land.

Next, Yuan Shikai met with representatives sent by various local officials and told them that the overseas Chinese had no intention of replacing all the local officials in Shandong, and most of the local officials could stay in office, so all the local officials were relieved.

The next day, Yuan Shikai met with the business representatives of various countries, of course, there was no substantive content to say to them, just to appease them. Fortunately, the business representatives of various countries were not as panicked as the Shandong squires, but asked Yuan Shikai to arrange for them to meet with overseas Chinese as soon as possible, and Yuan Shikai also agreed.

However, when the business representatives of various countries left, the Japanese business representative Keita Suzuki asked Yuan Shikai for a private meeting. And Yuan Shikai did not refuse his request, led Suzuki Keita to his study, and withdrew the left and right attendants, only the two of them.

After talking for about two hours, noon had passed, and Suzuki Keita came out of Yuan Shikai's study, although Yuan Shikai was very enthusiastic to keep him in the governor's yamen after lunch before leaving, but Suzuki Keita was very resolute in refusing, and left the governor's yamen, and then got in the car and went back to the Japanese trading house. However, the soldiers on duty at the gate of the governor's yamen found that Keita Suzuki's face was very gloomy.

And after Keita Suzuki left, Yuan Shikai's smiling face suddenly disappeared, his face sank like a piece of iron, and he muttered in his mouth: "Little Japan, you still want to fool me, but it's not so easy anymore." He turned around and said to Zhao Bingjun beside him: "Have you dealt with the matter between Ichiro Yamaki and Takeo Honda?"

Zhao Bingjun said: "Please rest assured, the two of them have been separated from the army, and they will never be allowed to have contact with our army again." ”