"In September, the Ninth Double Yang Festival!

Millet, that, millet seed, shop and pave.

The sun is red!

The new millet full of people, spraying and snorting.

The new millet field is paved!

Hurry up that and play the field, come and play the field.

Look at the ears of grain!

Compared to those previous years, it's really strong. ”

Yuan Shikai rode on a horse, listened to the singing from the farmland on both sides of the road, and looked around, only to see farmers working in the farmland. Men and women, young and old, were busy weeding, birds, watering, and fertilizing the fields, while the elderly and children were bringing food, water, and help.

In several fields, you can see a group of teenagers aged about 13 or 4 years old, wearing uniform clothes, carrying water jugs, holding flags of various colors, shuttling back and forth in the ridges, while sending water to the farmers who cultivate, while also singing loudly in unison, although the lyrics and songs are ordinary, but there is also another taste, because it is the lyrics and songs are quite appropriate, many farmers who cultivate also hum together, and the flag is written such as "a hard month, happy New Year", "gritted teeth and persisted in hard work, and strive for a bumper harvest", "a sweat, A harvest" and other words are simple, plain, but very morale-boosting words, the writing is quite childish, at a glance is a child's pen style, from time to time also caused a burst of laughter, although the field work is busy and hard, but it is full of laughter everywhere.

Yuan Shikai also inquired, it turned out that these teenagers were students from a nearby county, who came to participate in social practice activities during the busy farming season and cheered for the last month of work as farmers.

Seeing the army passing by on the road in the field, the peasants did not panic, they still farmed as before, even the women did not hide, and many peasants waved to the army to greet them, and the people's army marching with Yuan Shikai's army also responded to the peasants, sometimes seeing that there were peasants carrying too many things and it was difficult to move, the soldiers would come forward to help.

There are 3 or 4 days to enter the boundary of East China, when it is the September season, although it has not yet reached the time of the autumn harvest, but it has also entered the busy season, most of the roads along the way are passed through the farmland, and the scenes seen are also similar, basically the same.

Yuan Shikai was also quite surprised, although he is now in a high position, but also often go to the countryside into the village, after all, the countryside in this era of China is still dominant, no matter how high the status of the person, it is difficult to completely leave the countryside, and under the rule of the Qing court, the villagers and peasants will also laugh when farming, but that is more of a helpless mentality of suffering and fun, and at this time, it can be seen that the joy and happiness of these farmers who are cultivating by the middle is from the heart, and under the rule of the Qing court, the peasants see the army are avoided, the Beiyang New Army is considered to be a well-disciplined army in the Qing army, but everywhere it goes, it can only do not disturb the people, but the People's Army had such a good relationship with the peasants, which Yuan Shikai had almost never seen before.

Not only that, you can see it through the villages along the way, between the fields, the smoke curling, the chickens and dogs smell each other, the cattle and the sheep are chased, and the driving burden can also be seen from time to time, so it is quite idyllic. Occasionally, passing through the township market, there are also many stores, with a dazzling array of goods, surging crowds, and being very lively. Along the way, the situation was similar everywhere.

At this time, I only heard someone behind me whispering: "The land is flat, the houses are like houses, and there are good fields, beautiful ponds, and mulberry bamboos." Qianmo traffic, chickens and dogs smell each other. Among them, the men and women are dressed like outsiders. Yellow hair hangs down and is happy. The scenery of the peach paradise is nothing more than that. ”

Yuan Shikai's heart trembled, and when he looked back, it turned out that the person who spoke was Wang Shizhen, and what he just said was the sentence of [Peach Blossom Spring], his heart moved, he turned around, and said: "What does Pingqing think about the folk customs of East China?"

Wang Shizhen bowed slightly on horseback and said: "Comfort Shuai, the Central Plains has always been poor, and East China has the land of Henan, but in 2 or 3 years, it has been able to govern the people here to live and work in peace and contentment, which shows that its governance ability is still quite clever." Wenjing, Zhenguan's rule, it's probably just that. ”

Yuan Shikai also nodded and said: "I have been dealing with the Chinese in the sea for 6 or 7 years, although I have also heard that they are not only good at training the army, but also good at governance. ”

Wang Shizhen sighed: "Now that the overseas Chinese have become powerful, and the people's hearts are attached, I am afraid that the Qing Dynasty is really hopeless!"

Yuan Shikai glanced at Wang Shizhen and said: "The general trend is like this, it is not something that can be reversed by manpower, everything we are doing now is just doing our best to obey the destiny of heaven. ”

Wang Shizhen sighed again and said: "What Wei Shuai said is extremely true, although Shizhen has a little knowledge, he is also unable to change his life, but it is a pity that the three hundred years of the country have come to an end after all." ”

Although Yuan Shikai trusted and relied on Wang Shizhen quite much, because he was at the beginning of the Beiyang New Army, almost all major military affairs had to be negotiated with Wang Shizhen, and Wang Shizhen's advice was almost obedient, but this time Yuan Shikai took office in Liangjiang, even if it was not a betrayal of the Qing court, but it was actually a renunciation of the Qing court, so there were very few people who knew Yuan Shikai's intentions, only people like Xu Shichang, who had intersected with Yuan Shikai since childhood, and who absolutely trusted them, knew the details, although the Beiyang New Army was created by Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Shikai did not dare to tell them the truth.

Of course, the other generals of the Beiyang New Army are all standard soldiers, just listen to Yuan Shikai's general orders and act on the line, but Wang Shizhen is known as the dragon of Beiyang, also known as Longmu, although he is also from the military, but his opinions and knowledge are not limited to military affairs, and he also has a considerable understanding of current affairs, and he is worried about the situation in the Qing court, but he is powerless.

The group walked in Hebei and Henan for 11 days, and entered Yingzhou Mansion in Anhui Province from Chenzhou Mansion. Here there are the army and staff from Anhui to receive them, and the personnel from Henan have been handed over.

After entering Anhui, the scenery seen along the way is very different from the peaceful scene of living and working in peace and contentment in Henan Province, because now East China has just occupied Anhui Province, and most of Anhui has suffered from floods, so naturally there will be no such scenery as Henan Province, but it is also different from the depression, numbness and poverty of the countryside under the rule of the Qing court. As the flood has gradually receded, the resettlement camps for the victims set up in East China are also organizing the refugees to return to their hometowns, and organizing them to rebuild their homes, on the one hand, reorganize villages, build houses, divide and reclaim fields, etc., and on the other hand, they are also building roads, ditches, water conservancy, dams and other public facilities.

However, the peasants who work are very active, and they are also very motivated, even if they do things that have nothing to do with the farmers themselves, such as repairing roads, canals, and river embankments, they are also proactive, and there are many people like the kind of propaganda and encouragement seen in Henan Province, which are basically composed of teenagers.

Five days later, Yuan Shikai and his entourage arrived in Hefei City, Luzhou Prefecture, and according to the agreement reached with East China**, they would take a boat in Hefei and arrive in Nanjing.

In front of the Hefei city gate, someone greeted Yuan Shikai and his party here. The accompanying personnel told Yuan Shikai that the person who greeted them was Director Lu of the Hefei Municipal Management Committee. Yuan Shikai knows that in the official position system of East China, "director" is a very common official title, but it is the same as "director", the level is high and bottom, Guan Jian looks at the previous title, such as the highest official of the East China ** office in Beijing is also "director", but this level is equivalent to the provincial capital level, corresponding to the official of the Qing court, higher than the prefect, but lower than the governor, roughly equivalent to the Taoist or political envoy. However, Hefei is a provincial capital-level city, so the level of this director is lower, equivalent to the governor of the same prefect of the Qing court.

But Yuan Shikai also didn't dare to slack off, so he got off the horse early and walked over to greet this Director Lu. But after meeting, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but be stunned, because this person's clothing style is really a little weird, his age is about 45 years old, and he has a handful of goatee under his chin.

Of course, Yuan Shikai immediately understood, this person must be a person who has just surrendered to East China, and it is very likely that he was still an official of the Qing court. But of course, Yuan Shikai wouldn't say anything, and arched his hand: "Director Lu, Yuan is going to get away with it." ”

Director Lu also returned the salute and said, "Don't dare, don't dare, Yuan Zhitai has worked hard all the way." ”

It turned out that Director Lu was the original Luzhou prefect Lu Chengxiang, when the People's Army attacked Hefei, he didn't say a word, he surrendered in Kaicheng, because he has served in Hefei for more than three years, and is very familiar with local affairs, so after the establishment of the Hefei City ** Agency, he was left behind, and set up a temporary body such as the Hefei City Management Committee, appointed Lu Chengxiang as the director, responsible for Hefei City, including the stability of the entire former Luzhou Prefecture area, and the excessive transfer of power, and the other is to provide consulting consultants to Hefei City.

Originally, Lu Chengxiang was completely dead to the Qing court, otherwise he would not have surrendered without resistance, but Lu Chengxiang was not willing to let his career come to an end, after all, he was only in his 40s, which is the age when there is still a lot to do.

Although the Hefei Municipal Management Committee is only a temporary body, it is an official position after all, and it is good that those who surrender can be treated like this. What's more, after East China set up a resettlement camp for disaster victims in Hefei, Lu Chengxiang also has a certain understanding of East China's style, and knows that East China is pragmatic and attaches importance to hard work, so as long as he performs well now, he may not have a foothold in East China in the future.