The news is surprising, and even General Cai is wondering, when did Zhang Hanqing get in touch with these two old veterans?

Xiong Xiling is not enough, General Cai estimates that with Zhang Hanqing's eloquence, it is much easier to encourage the solid-hearted old Xiong to do these practical things that can really benefit the country and the people than to encourage Liang Shiyi, and this is indeed the case. But how Liang Shiyi was agitated, he was curious.

In fact, Zhou Xuexi was also very curious.

Zhang Hanqing visited Lao Xiong, who had already stepped down as prime minister, early in the morning of the second day after receiving Han Linchun.

Originally, Xiong Xiling was known as the "first-rate talent cabinet of the Republic of China", and he was willing to do a big job, but he was only used by Yuan Shikai as a political pawn. A year ago, in February, Lao Yuan instigated the press to re-mention the treasure theft case of the Rehe Palace, and Lao Xiong was forced to resign on suspicion and was ordered to prepare for the national kerosene mine. After the setbacks of the old Xiong eunuch, he turned to charity and education.

Anyway, emaciated camels are bigger than horses. Compared with Zhang Hanqing and even Zhang Zuolin, Xiong Xiling's influence is several heads higher, especially in the financial field. Zhang Hanqing was able to talk to him because they had a common understanding of China's strong army. Zhang Hanqing made no secret of his plan to support the army with work in Fengtian, which won Lao Xiong's praise. Looking at Zhang Zuolin, the legendary elder---- he still thought that Zhang Hanqing was entrusted by Zhang Zuolin to invest in the preparation of the Shenyang Arsenal, and he wanted to use Zhang Hanqing's youth, even if he had knowledge, he didn't have the courage to do this.

As far back as the autumn of 1896, from the very beginning of Xiong Xiling's joining the camp of the Hunan Restoration, he was entrusted with the important task of preparing for the establishment of a firearms factory. At that time, Hunan's finances were tight, and the preparation for the construction of an arsenal was an extremely resource-intensive undertaking, but the top priority at the moment was to improve the outdated equipment of the Hunan army. At this moment, Xiong Xiling thought of Liu Kunyi, a member of the Hunan army who served as the governor of Liangjiang, and after repeated communication and negotiation by Xiong Xiling and others, Liu Kunyi allocated guns and ammunition to Hunan Province twice, equivalent to 200,000 taels of silver. Although Hunan failed to establish a firearms factory in the end, such a huge support laid a good foundation for Hunan to organize and train the new army, and Xiong Xiling contributed greatly to this achievement.

Now, in order to strengthen the army, Fengtian wants to complete his uncontested career, which impresses Lao Xiong. When Zhang Hanqing used data to explain in detail the disadvantages of the Chinese army's purchase of foreign weapons, and the grand vision and feasibility of building its own arsenal with self-reliance and hard work that Mukden was about to begin, Lao Xiong's heart was moved.

Of course, Zhang Hanqing changed the topic and brought to the thesis of industrial salvation: "Xueliang believes that with China's current weak national strength, it is very unwise to invest limited capital in the construction of an arsenal that only consumes but does not output. The arsenal is a long-term and slow investment, and without strong industrial support, it is destined to have no development. Xueliang and his father believed that using the method of developing industry, especially heavy industry, to promote the improvement of the production capacity of the munitions industry was a way to cure both the symptoms and the root causes. Only when industry develops, can it have the ability to continuously build better weapons, and the development of industry is based on the premise of coal and iron, which is why Xueliang wants to raise funds to build Fushun Coal Mine this time. ”

Speaking of this, he also made a false shot: "As for the iron ore, Xueliang has agreed with Zhou Xuexi and Zhou Lao to prepare for the construction of Nanfen iron ore mine in Benxi, Fengtian, and Xueliang has worked with a number of American exploration companies to mine in detail, and the conclusion is very promising in terms of reserves and ease of mining."

Can there be no prospects? Nanfen open-pit iron mine is the largest open-pit iron mine in Asia, and it is also one of the production areas of "ginseng iron", which is clear to Zhang Hanqing, who has rich information in later generations. As for American exploration companies, God knows where? When he was unashamedly agitating the honest man Xiong Xiling, Zhang Hanqing cleverly made a time difference: that is, to release false news, first use Zhou Xuexi to influence Xiong Xiling, and then use Xiong Xiling's true news to influence Zhou Xuexi, and then the truth is not false, and the fake becomes true, he uses the principle of information asymmetry.

But that's enough. Fengtian has this feasible plan to strengthen the country and the army, and it has already impressed the old bear who still wants to fight in his blood, not to mention that the "northern industrial giant" Zhou Xuexi can also "approve", and he can't be wrong. Therefore, Lao Xiong readily agreed to contribute money and efforts to the Fushun Coal Mine and Benxi Nanfen Iron Mine, and promised to use his fame to attract some business people to sponsor Fengtianla. Guests and hosts have fun.

It was not so easy to see Liang Shiyi, because he was Lao Yuan's right-hand man at this time, and the official steps were high. As the head of the old transportation department, he can be described as calling for wind and rain in Yuan's political arena, and after serving as the prime minister and vice minister of finance of the Bank of Communications in May of that year, he became Lao Yuan's "money bag", and Lao Yuan also trusted him more.

He wasn't fighting alone. During his period as the chief copywriter of the Jinghan and Shanghai-Nanjing railways, and later as the assistant manager of the Jinghan, Shanghai-Nanjing, Zhengtai, Bianluo, and Daoqing Fifth Roads of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, and the Bank of Communications, he installed party henchmen everywhere, cultivated his own forces and formed the transportation department, and the important figures were Zhou Ziqi, Ye Gongqiu, Wang Youling, Zhu Qichao, etc. The Department of Communications took the political power of Yuan Shikai as the shelter at home and the British and Japanese imperialism as the backing up abroad, and controlled the leadership of railways, steamship shipping, telephone and telegraph, postal services, and other undertakings, and also controlled the Bank of Communications, Jincheng Bank, Zhonghua Huiye Bank, Yanye Bank, Zhengfeng Coal Mine, Zhongxing Coal Mine, Beipiao Coal Mine, Liuhegou Coal Mine, Longyan Iron Mine, Wutong Navigation Company, and other large banks and enterprises.

Liang Shiyi is not only known as the "God of Wealth on the Five Roads", but also serves as the secretary general of Yuan Shikai's presidential office, and is known as the "second president". The Department of Communications and the Beiyang Army combined with the civil and military forces, and became the two pillars of the Beiyang warlords' rule, which was prominent during the reign of the Beiyang warlords.

This pier is also to be worshipped.

If you get his permission or support, it is best to have practical support, and your own fundraising in Beijing will basically be unfavorable. With the help of these bigwigs, the credibility is needless to say, the key is that they have real money in their hands.

At this time, Liang Shiyi was also vigorously raising funds to support Yuan Shikai to become emperor, and also initiated the formation of a national petition federation to request the Senate to change the national system to invite favors. The reason why it is said to be an invitation to pets is because there are too many people who express their determination to Lao Yuan, and Yang Du is one of them. As the initiator of the constitutional monarchy system, Yang Du prides himself on being Lao Yuan's first think tank, which cannot but make Lao Liang fearful. Because once it is achieved in the future, this support is the first merit to be eye-catching.

Zhang Hanqing took advantage of the contradiction between Liang Shiyi and Yang Du and his speculative psychology of gains and losses.