Sun Minghui took a two-day train to Beijing, found a small hotel in front of the station square and washed it off, and then hurried to the company's Beijing office to get a ticket.

The three sleeper tickets had already been bought according to Sun Minghui's requirements, it was the train at seven o'clock tonight, Sun Minghui had to take out a stack of money from his pocket to ask the people in the office to help him buy some gifts and bring them back to Tianxing Town.

He let the office kitchen fry a few dishes by himself, find a few bottles of wine to eat and drink in the office restaurant, and the two-day train bumps made him very hungry. In the morning, I got off the train and stayed directly in a small hostel for the convenience of getting on the train.

He instructed his former subordinates: "Come and talk to me, and the former commander won't come over to toast two glasses." ”

"Vice Captain Sun, we have ordered that no alcohol is allowed outside unless we have to do so."

"Huh? Is there such a rule? How did I not know? ”

"Manager Yi prescribed. We didn't dare to drink for fear of being reported to Manager Yi by our subordinates. The head of the office, Bi Jinqi, replied with a guilty face.

Sun Minghui rolled his eyes and snorted: "Huh? ”

Bi Jinqi hurriedly said: "You go and close the door, and send people to guard the courtyard so that no one can come." Send someone to Wangfujing to buy some cooked vegetables, it is difficult for Chief Sun to get Beijing once, how can we as subordinates not accompany the chief to drink two cups. ”

"Count your kid's head spinning fast, otherwise I won't wait for Lao Yi to punish you, I'll give you a punishment for disrespecting the chief first." Sun Minghui laughed proudly.

"Bi Jinqi, tell me about the situation in the past two months, I have no news over there."

"Does Chief Sun want the situation over there in Tianfen or the situation in Beijing? I don't know much about Tianfen, and I've been engaged in a rectification movement over there, which is said to have been arranged by the boss. ”

"Rectification movement? Why haven't I seen it mentioned in the newspapers? ”

"How could the Northeast mention this, and the newspapers here in Beijing have not mentioned it. The entire press of the Republic of China has forgotten the boss, and all newspapers and publications never mention the three provinces and one city, and in our opinion, the boss's three provinces and one city do not seem to exist in the Republic of China. ”

"Well, that's because they're afraid to mention Tianfen, how can they explain the huge gap? Whether it shows their incompetence and greed or shows the talent of the boss, so they might as well not mention the three provinces and one city. Sun Minghui interjected a sentence while drinking.

"Yes, yes, what Chief Sun said is right, I heard Xu Liyun say the same last time I went back to Tianxing Town."

"The rectification movement is to weed out people in our party who are not strong-willed and unsuitable for the revival of the party, and I don't know exactly how far it has progressed, but many people have been purged from the party."

"Bi Jinqi, have you heard that some members of the Dragon King Temple's special team have been purged from the party?"

"How is this possible, Chief Sun, will our team have impure thoughts? We're the boss's own weapons. ”

"Well, how about Beijing?"

"The situation in Beijing is a mess, and in my opinion, Beijing is the most chaotic place in the whole country, and there are all kinds of forces. Not far from us, the teahouse was the reception of the Kuomintang in Beijing. ”

"Anyway, on the train at seven o'clock in the evening, you will slowly tell me about the situation in Beijing."

"Chief Sun, the water in Beijing is still muddy, but in fact, you still can't leave the shadow of the boss."

"What do you mean by that?"

Cao Kun is just sixty years old this year, and two years ago, he had just united with the Feng faction to defeat the Anhui faction, and now he had defeated the Feng faction within a few days, driving Zhang Zuolin out of the Guan. At this time, the direct control of more than 10 provinces in China made him the most powerful warlord in China. Whether the political forces at that time were willing to admit it or not, it has become an indisputable fact that "the direct line is the central government."

"Where did the ten provinces come from?" Sun Minghui asked suspiciously.

"Sir Sun, don't forget that the boss has publicly declared his support for the Beijing government and accepts the jurisdiction of the Beijing government."

"That's just lip service, have you ever seen Cao Kun dare to give us an order? How dare Beijing appoint officials to us? ”

"This is true, but the outside world doesn't see it that way, they classify our three provinces and one city as the Cao Wu lineage, and naturally think that the direct line controls more than 10 provinces in the Republic of China."

With this strength, Cao Kun began to think about the matching position, and he wanted to be the president. Not only Cao Kun, but also the cadres from all walks of life in the direct line are more anxious to ascend to heaven with him. Cao Kun's fourth brother Cao Rui said when he met someone: "My third brother is sixty-one, don't let him be it now, when will he be?" ”

However, Wu Peifu, another soul figure in the direct line, did not agree with Cao Kun directly becoming the president. Bi Jinqi didn't know the relationship between Wu Peifu and Hu Wenkai, of course he didn't know that Wu Peifu was almost an ally with the boss, and there was a rumor in the top echelons of the Fujin Party that Wu Peifu was in Cangzhou, saying that Wu Peifu worked for Hu Wenkai.

When Cao Kun wanted to become president, a military government of the Republic of China had already been established in Guangzhou in the south, and some members of Congress had elected an "extraordinary president", and the elected person was Sun Yat-sen.

The Beiyang government is the central government of China recognized by the international community in jure and international terms, but a situation of confrontation between the north and the south of China has already taken shape, and a war is about to break out.

Wu Jinglian, the former speaker of the House of Representatives of the old National Assembly, told Wu Peifu that the current president, Xu Shichang, was elected by the illegal Anfu Congress. If we want to restore the "legal system," we must first let Xu Shichang step down, bring back the ousted president Li Yuanhong, and then find the members of the old parliament, so that they can continue to complete their interrupted term of office. Of course, he, the former speaker of the National Assembly, must continue to be in office. This is the so-called "re-glorification of the legal system".

A few months after Li Yuanhong's reinstatement, Cao Kun felt that Li Yuanhong should be allowed to step down and make room for himself. As a result, wave after wave of inverted Li tide surged. According to rumors from the outside world, the boss once patted his chest and said that he would protect Cao Kun as the president, so Cao Kun had the confidence.

In the past few days, the military and police who are asking for wages and the "citizens' group" who are petitioning have taken turns to fight, and there has been chaos inside and outside Beijing. The Beijing police announced a strike, and the garrisons stationed outside the Li house in Xinhuamen and Dongchang Hutong also withdrew. Li Yuanhong couldn't go to the State Council, so he had to sit in the mansion. Outside the door, slogans and leaflets of "Abdicate immediately", "The president does not care about the citizens", and "The citizens are hungry and the president is fat" flew all over the sky, and inside the house, telephones and running water were choked.

The direct line has now been divided into three factions, namely the "Bao faction" headed by Cao Kun stationed in Baoding, the "Jin faction" headed by Cao Rui and Wang Chengbin stationed in Tianjin, and the "Luo faction" headed by Wu Peifu stationed in Luoyang. The "Jinbao faction" has always pushed Cao Kun to be president directly. Wu Peifu did not express any opinions, and it is said that Cao Rui had already sent someone over to ask Wu Peifu's opinion.

Sun Minghui ate a fried peanut and said: "I estimate that before October, Cao Kun will become the president as he wishes." ”

"How did Chief Sun come to this conclusion? The outside world said that Li Yuanhong would not easily hand over the presidency. ”

"Li Yuanhong? What is he capable of not handing over? First, there is no armed support for him, and second, there is no political party to govern for him. Politics is still right what the boss said, don't play politics if you're not armed. ”

"The boss doesn't care who is the president, he cares about whether the Republic of China will receive the visiting Vice President Coolidge when Coolidge visits China at the end of October. As for who is the president, it doesn't matter, the key is not to bad the boss's business. ”

When Bi Jinqi heard this, he slapped the table and said: "No wonder, I said that there was no reaction from our side at all, and the entire Jiangnan newspaper did not say a word about the chaos in Beijing." ”

Cao Kun has not yet driven Li Yuanhong away, and he has already begun to prepare for the re-election of the president in the National Assembly. At a meeting of the House of Representatives, Wu Jinglian announced that the two houses would hold regular meetings every week, and those who attended the meeting would be issued with attendance certificates, and the members would receive a subsidy of 100 yuan when the meeting was dismissed.

According to the grapevine in Beijing, Xiong Bingqi and others made appointments in phases and batches to meet with legislators who could serve as ministers. The core issue is to allow members of parliament to rely on their provincial nationality, organization and personal connections to try to bring them back to Beijing to participate in the election. As for the reward, Xiong Bingqi said: "You might as well push away the back wall and say bright words, and give 5,000 yuan per person." In fact, 5,000 yuan is only the lowest ticket price, and there will be more group leaders or special contributors.

"Where did you get this news from? It definitely won't be gossip, and such details must have been revealed by the people involved. Sun Minghui sneered in his heart, Bi Jinqi, this kid is still tender for Lao Tzu's sloppy eyes.

"Hehe, don't we have three provincial legislators, my Beijing office is now their foothold in Beijing, and if there is anything they have to say, they will usually tell me, in fact, they mainly report these situations to the boss through my mouth."

"These people cherish their reputation, and they are afraid that the world will say that they are the boss's lackeys, but they don't dare to go against the boss's wishes, so they often eat and drink at my place on weekdays, and take the initiative to reveal some news."

Sun Minghui thought to himself that the three provincial councilors were holding Cao Kun's silver dollar in one hand and then turned his back and sold Cao Kun, and the boss seemed to have asked the three provincial councils to meet in May and June to re-elect the provincial councilors, and the members of the Republic of China were still the same, and the province did not have the right to elect.

This matter is not something Sun Minghui can care about, his main task now is to gain a foothold in the Northeast, he took out the list of goods from his pocket and handed it to Bi Jinqi and said: "Here is a list of goods, you can take a look at it and organize the supply of goods to be sent to Harbin in Beijing, and I brought the money." ”

Bi Jinqi took the list of goods to the office in front of the courtyard to verify the price and inquire about the source of goods.

The Beijing office is the palace of the former Qing Dynasty and the dilapidated prince specially arranged by Hu Wenkai to be purchased. This palace was called Dingwangfu, which was originally the palace of Prince Xun, and later it was called "Langbeile Mansion".

It is located in the east of Xisi South Street, south of the award alley, bounded by the prince's mansion in the east, and sheepskin city alley in the south, covering an area of more than 40 acres. The gate of the house faces east and west, and there is a small door on each side. There is a pair of stone lions next to the palace gate inside the gate, the wall is about 20 meters long, and outside the palace gate is a row of houses sitting upside down. There is a silver hall in the palace gate, all of which are green glazed tile roofs.

In 1921, because the palace could not maintain normal expenditures, it once sold the palace to Hu Wenkai for 80,000 silver dollars through Ding Jiqian, a comprador of the Warbi Bank. After Hu Wenkai purchased, he successively invested more than 50,000 yuan to repair a new one.