Retrogression and restoration are unpopular, and someone must always stand up and defend the republic with practical actions. An important figure is about to appear, and this person is Cai Yi.

Before the establishment of the Preparatory Security Committee, Yang Du went to Cotton Hutong almost every day to visit Cai Yi and strongly persuaded Cai Neng to become one of the initiators of the Preparatory Security Association. Cai Yi has repeatedly expressed his support for Yuan Shikai to become emperor, but when it comes to participating in the preparatory meeting, he always tries to avoid it and tries his best to shirk it, and Yang Du is not too reluctant.

On the second day of the establishment of the Preparatory Security Committee, Xu Fosu and Yuan Siliang, members of the Progressive Party, went to Yang Du and said: "Why don't you let Ren Gong (Liang Qichao's alias) participate in such a major issue?" ”

Yang Du then invited Tang Juedun and Jian Nianyi to Tianjin to lobby Liang.

At this time, Liang Qichao was writing the article "The So-called National System Problem", and Tang and Jian read this article, and their faces changed in fright.

Liang Qichao asked them to bring a letter to Yang, which read: "We have different political views, and in the future, we will do our own thing, and we dare not use our own private interests to abolish the public, but we do not need to use the public to harm our private interests."

also sent a letter to Yuan Shikai, in which he said: "I hope that my president will open a new era of China with one body, and I don't want my president to end up with the old traitor in the past." May the honor of our president grow as well as China's, and I do not want China's history to be cut down with our president. ”

It was on this day that Liang Qichao's high-ranking Cai Ye made a special trip from Beijing to Tianjin to visit Liang, and the teacher and student had a secret talk and decided to oppose the imperial system with action.

Cai said indignantly: "Seeing that there will soon be thousands of people who want to praise Wang Mang's merits and persuade him to enter the table, if Old Yuan ascends the great treasure safely, what will it be for the world to look at the Chinese?" Although our strength is limited, for the sake of fighting for the dignity of 40,000 people, we have to do our best. ”

Cai Ye is in Beijing and has been monitored by Yuan Shikai, how can he leave Beijing and go to Tianjin casually? It turned out that he went to Tianjin this time because Yang Du urged him, and Yang asked Cai to persuade Liang not to oppose the imperial system with the friendship of teachers and students, and Yang has been deceived that Cai does not oppose the imperial system.

After Cai Youjin returned to Beijing, he compiled a set of Liang's conversations, and concluded that Liang's opposition to the imperial system was very resolute, and everyone had their own ambitions and could not be strong against each other.

In order to avoid the attention of Yuan Dang, Cai Yi played the role of "fraudulent surrender".

Because his teacher Liang Qichao openly opposed the imperial system, his situation was difficult. In order to alleviate Yuan Dang's suspicion of him, on August 25, the fourth year of the Republic of China, when the Yunnan Guild Hall launched a petition from the military circles to change to the imperial system, he was the first to sign to show his support for the imperial system.

Not only that, in order to make Yuan Dang think that he was already a person who spent all his days drinking, he sang and danced with Yang Du and others in the Bada Hutong every day, and he was very popular with the little phoenix of Zhongyun Jiban.

Because Cai went to Yunjiban every day, Cai's wife was very unhappy, and the two had a great quarrel over it.

Xiao Fengxian was originally named Zhu Xiaofeng, and later changed his name to Zhang Fengyun and Zhang Xifei, a Manchu bannerman, whose ancestral home was Henan, and was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in 1899.

Her father's surname was Zhu, a declining Manchu military attache of the Eight Banners, who was later dismissed, and the family lived in Xiangtan, Hunan, during the Guangxu period, and then went to Hangzhou.

Xiao Fengxian's biological father died soon after she was born, because her mother was a partial house, she was abused by her eldest mother, and she had to leave the Zhu family with her biological mother. Soon her mother died of illness, and a nurse surnamed Zhang took her in and raised her, so she changed her surname to Zhang and her name Fengyun.

When the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Zhang's aunt was taking her to help in the house of Zeng Yun, the governor of Zhejiang. Later, the Hangzhou revolutionaries bombarded the yamen of the governor of Zhejiang, and Zhang's mother fled to Shanghai with her. Because of lack of food and clothing, she was asked to learn drama with an artist surnamed Hu, and went to Nanjing to sing for a living, and took the stage name "Little Fengxian".

The Kuomintang launched the "Second Revolution" against Yuan Shikai in Nanjing, and the Beiyang warlords Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun attacked Nanjing, and the war lasted for nearly two months. Xiao Fengxian fled back to Shanghai with Boss Hu. This year, Xiao Fengxian is thirteen years old and has become a slim beauty.

Soon, Boss Hu sold her to Zeng Mengpu, a romantic literati who had published the vulgar novel "Lu Man" in Shanghai, as a slave, and later Zeng Mengpu took her to Beiping and "transferred" her to Yunjiban in Shaanxi Lane in the famous "Red Light District" Eight Hutongs to sing in Yunjiban. Xiao Fengxian has been smart since childhood, can read and write, can play erhu, can play pipa, can sing Peking Opera, can write lyrics, and soon stood out with "good color and art".

Cai Yi lives in the cotton alleys of Xicheng, and often disguises himself as a businessman, strings around the eight alleys, and finds prostitutes for fun.

On this day, Cai Ye came to Yunjiban in Shaanxi Lane, Bada Hutong, where Xiao Fengxian was located. Cai Ye was bored in his heart, and he went out for a walk casually, not as a prostitute. And because he was dressed as an ordinary businessman, he didn't look like a particularly rich young man, so the brothel boss brought him to Xiaofengxian.

As soon as Xiao Fengxian saw the visitor, he concluded that he was not like an ordinary guest, and he was sincere.

After Cai Ye met Xiao Fengxian, he suddenly felt that although this woman had fallen into the dust, she spoke well, and she fell in love at first sight with the feeling that she had fallen into the world.

After a period of getting along, the two became closer and closer, and they were inseparable, and Cai Ye even fell out with his wife for the sake of Xiao Fengxian.

Yang Du couldn't help but sigh deeply when he saw that this hero, who was dominating in Yunnan back then, was now fighting with a second-rate prostitute in Bada Hutong.

The woman who drinks every day, her ambition seems to have been exhausted, and she often does not distinguish between day and night. Not only did he delay his official duties, but even the old lady at home in Cotton Hutong neglected to say hello in the morning and evening, and his wife was even more neglected for a long time.

Yang Du reported this situation to Yuan Shikai, and Yuan Shikai heard that Cai's house was in a mess, and said disdainfully: "I said that Cai Yi is a capable talent, but he can participate in national affairs, who knows that it is not appropriate to govern the family!" "I greatly relaxed my vigilance against Cai Ye.

All this is acting, Cai E is behind the scenes of the alcoholic beauty, quietly arranging military affairs to discuss Yuan, and calling Dai Huan, the outgoing Guizhou governor, to Beijing.

Dai Jian and Cai Ye are like-minded and have won Cai Yi's trust.

Dai Huan (1880-1917) was a native of Guiding County, Guizhou. In 1904, he went to Japan to study and was praised as a prodigy by Guizhou academics. In Japan, he was appreciated by Liang Qichao, and after returning to China, he was invited by Li Jingxi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, to serve as the manager of an old tin company in Yunnan, during which he became acquainted with Cai Ye and became a confidant. Before the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, he was arranged by Cai Yi to run salt affairs in Guizhou, and entered the political circles of Guizhou after the Xinhai Revolution. In 1913, he served as the governor of Guizhou, and in 1915, he was dismissed from his post and entered Beijing to participate in the politics of the Republic of China.

After Yuan Shikai became emperor, Dai Jian conspired with Liang Qichao, Cai Yi and others to "overthrow Yuan". In the National Defense Movement, he served as the core liaison between Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and after the Yunnan Uprising, he instigated Guizhou Hugu to respond.

In the Protectorate War, he served as the commander-in-chief of the right wing army of the Yunnan-Guizhou coalition army, and was praised by Cai Yi as "able to win by surprise, win more with less, and regain famous cities one after another, causing the strong captives to be frightened and the hearts of the rebels and thieves." The merit is in the country, and the name is not lost. "The Protector General.

In 1917, because of his opposition to Zhang Xun's restoration, he was outnumbered in a fierce battle with Liu Cunhou of the Sichuan army, and was killed on the battlefield at the age of 38.

Dai Huan and Wang Boqun went to Beijing together, and then became a secret contact between Cai and the Yunnan generals.

Cai Yi sent Wang Boqun to Kunming with a secret letter. Before Wang Boqun left, he took a photo with Dai Huan, Chen Qiming and others in dresses, and the inscription: "If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent".

In Cai's anti-Yuan arrangement, inviting Dai Huan to Tianjin and Beijing was an important scene.

Cai, Dai, and Liang Qichao discussed Yuan's plan, which was planned when Yuan became emperor, and Yunnan was the first to declare independence. Guizhou responded after one month, Guangxi responded two months later, and then went to Sichuan with the power of Yunnan and Guangdong with the power of Guangxi, and three or four months later joined forces with Wuchang and settled on the Central Plains.

At the same time, he also sent Peng Xinmin to Guangxi, Bi Hou to Guangdong, and Zhao Hengti and Chen Fuchu to Hunan. As mentioned earlier, Zhao Hengti was ordered by Yuan Shikai to investigate and deal with Tang Qianming in Hunan because of his participation in the Second Revolution, and he was imprisoned in the Sixth Military Department in Beijing.

Cai Ye played two roles at this time, one of which was to pretend to be and his teacher Liang Qichao to go their own way; The second is the big hidden flower bush, which is hot with the little impatiens. However, secretly he actively deployed the military to overthrow Yuan, and in addition to Dai Huan becoming his intermediate liaison between Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, he also made contact with the Kuomintang in exile in Tokyo.

Although Yuan Shikai was confused by Cai Yi's illusion, he was still not very relieved.

In the early morning of October 14, the fourth year of the Republic of China, at the gate of Cai's house in Beijing's cotton alley, there was a sudden noise.

Cai E had just gotten up at this time, and a platoon leader Liu with a Tianjin accent at the door pushed the door and broke in, shouting: "Check!" ”

The gatekeeper of the Cai family couldn't stop these wolf-like soldiers, and shouted loudly: "This is General Cai's mansion, who are you checking?" ”

Platoon Commander Liu was very imposing, pushed the gatekeeper to the ground with one palm, and shouted: "It doesn't matter what kind of food you are General Rice General, we are under the order of the top." Brothers, search! ”

So the gang rushed in, dumping boxes in every room, and as a result, except for a few broken books, there were not even two sets of clothes, and as for the suspicious documents and even the so-called contraband, there were naturally no more of them. These ferocious eagle dogs found nothing, and with a look of disappointment, they went away.

Thinking of the trip to Tianjin, Yuan Shikai's spies monitored him layer by layer, and Cai Ye became more aware of his danger and decided to take action.

After some hard thinking, he came up with a way to get out, but he needed the assistance of Xiao Fengxian.

After getting along for a long time, Xiao Fengxian didn't know Cai Yi's true identity. One day, Cai Yi wrote a couplet to give to Xiao Fengxian in Yunji Banxing-"Since ancient times, there have been many beautiful women, and chivalrous women have never been out of the dust." ”

This couplet fits the identity and personality of Xiao Fengxian, and also reveals Cai Yi's mood and feelings. He compared Xiao Fengxian to a chivalrous woman, and he had stereotyped her in his heart, framing that she and himself were not only in love with children, but also closely related to the great cause of the revolution.

It is said that at that time, Cai Ye inscribed a sentence "Phoenix Fairy Shi Canzheng" above this couplet, but there was no signature below.

Xiao Fengxian was dissatisfied and said to him: "Although there is a huge disparity between you and me, why should we be incognito? ”

Cai Ye hesitated for a moment and wrote the word "Songpa", which was his word. Xiao Fengxian knew at this moment that the person in front of her was the famous General Cai Yi.