January 1, 1913, as the first New Year's Day after the founding of the Republic of China, was the first New Year's Day after the promulgation of the calendar reform, which was very different from previous years. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 On this day, all departments in Beijing, from the presidential palace and the State Council down, hung flags, and officials at all levels were elated, competing to take off their hats and bow, cheering long live the Republic of China. Let the old and young masters who have lived in Beijing for generations have seen a lot of excitement.

In contrast, except for government departments, there are not many festivals in other industries, and ordinary people's lives after the excitement are as usual. As the lunar month approaches, the people of Beijing really think about the Spring Festival that will follow, and as for the New Year's Day set by the government, they don't pay attention to it at all.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that as the president of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai at this time was far from being as festive as he imagined. The reason for this is because of the news that keeps coming back from the northwest.

In the middle of October, the northwest was settled, and the changes in the situation were really beyond everyone's expectations. The original quagmire did not appear, but unexpectedly added a lot of material resources to the Communist Party. Sitting in the president's office in Zhongnanhai, Yuan Shikai felt a little in a trance for a while.

After taking over as president, Yuan Shikai found that the Beiyang Army he had built up for it was already dull and not so handy to master. Yuan Shikai could feel that these generals under his command were already full of factions, fighting openly and secretly, and each had their own mountains. Compared with the vigorous Southwest Group, which is also a towering tree, today's Beiyang is even more gloomy. Speaking of the southwest, Yuan Shikai thought of the figure of that young man again, talented, heroic, and most importantly, in his prime. Thinking of this, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but feel a little envious.

can recall the current situation in front of him, Yuan Shikai began to feel powerless again, and his heart began to sink vigorously. He has never had such an experience, since the beginning of North Korea, he has calculated step by step, from Ronglu, Yixuan, from the Empress Dowager Cixi to Zaifeng, and then to the recent palace drama and presidential dispute, although there are occasional ups and downs, but generally successful. Only now, he seemed to feel as if he had become a fish on the board, to be slaughtered. And the person with the knife was the young man, Xiao Mubai. So versatile, so young and promising, what kind of young man is he? To this day, he still doesn't understand it.

In the face of the huge pressure brought by the Southwest Group, no one can understand Yuan Shikai's mood at this time, grief and indignation? Bitter? Anxious and uneasy? Or both. Yuan Shikai didn't know if he had lost confidence and grasped the current situation, but he knew that as the current helmsman of the entire Beiyang Group, he couldn't mess up at this time. Whether it is facing Li Zhongtang's entrustment, or facing the ups and downs of Beiyang, he Yuan Shikai has to work hard to fight for this. There is a huge China, but there is nothing to do without Beiyang.

The national affairs are difficult, and there is only one fight.

Not mentioning Yuan Shikai's exclamation, he said that at this time, in the British Legation in Dongjiaomin Lane, Zhu Erdian was having a long talk with the Japanese Minister to China, Ijiin Hikoyoshi.

Since the Southwest Autonomous Government defeated the British army in Burma and became the number one force in China, its actions have not only attracted great attention from all domestic forces, but also attracted the attention of many major powers. Among these concerned countries, Britain and Japan are naturally the most important. Needless to say, the defeat of the British in Burma has always been regarded as a great humiliation. As for Japan, as a country that has always had ambitions for the land of China, any force that appears on this land will be regarded as the focus of their attention, not to mention that the Communist Party is also a force extremely hostile to the Japanese Empire. The war of the Southwest Group against the Northwest naturally attracted the attention of these two countries.

"The situation in China is really unexpected. Now that the Communist Progressive Party has successfully taken the northwest under its control, it is believed that after they have consolidated the fruits of their victory, they will definitely concentrate their main forces and choose to go to war with Yuan Shikai's government to unify China. But according to our analysis of the strength of Yuan Shikai's army, they are far from being the opponent of the southwest army. This is very bad news for the great powers! Zhu Erdian stood in front of the window, as if he didn't notice that the cigar in his hand was half burned, and his expression was very worried.

Speaking of this, Zhu Erdian paused and said: "In order to prevent such a force that is very unfriendly to other countries from ruling over China, we must take action!" ”

When Ijiin Hikoyoshi heard this, the corners of his mouth inadvertently showed a wry smile. Zhu Erdian's meaning, he couldn't understand it, but it was precisely because he understood it that Ijiin Hikoyoshi felt embarrassed. Because of the growing tensions in Europe, it is clear that the British will not devote much energy to the Far East. In this way, as an ally of the British, it is obvious that the Japanese Empire needs to provoke the Liang Liang in the Chinese issue, providing financial assistance to the Yuan Shikai group, or even directly carrying out armed assistance.

It's just that he knows his own affairs, and he can't be clearer about what the situation is in Japan now. To sum it up in one sentence: the economy is bad, the political situation is chaotic.

Since the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese government, which has been burdened with huge debts and troubled by various domestic affairs, has been weakened like never before. In 1912, after a series of domestic events such as the general election and the death of Emperor Meiji, Prime Minister Konozo Saionji finally freed up his hands to prepare for the reorganization of finances and administration, but he did not want to disturb it: the army took a tough attitude and demanded that the strength of the two divisions be expanded.

Everyone knew that this was instigated by the army boss Yama Prefecture Aritomo behind his back, but Prime Minister Saionji Gongwang and Minister Yamamoto Tatsukuma still chose to refuse on the grounds of financial difficulties. But Yusaku Uehara, who didn't want to be extremely angry, actually submitted his resignation directly to the emperor, leading to the overall collapse of the Saionji cabinet. Although the "warlords" have "poisoned the cabinet", it is not so easy to determine the new prime minister. The Council of Elders not only urged Saionji Konozo to remain in office, but also successively tested the possibility of Masayoshi Matsukata, Hirata Tosuke, Yamamoto Gonbei and others coming forward to form a cabinet, but they were all rejected without exception. After several trade-offs, the Minister of the Interior, Katsura Taro, who was born in the army, took over as prime minister and formed a cabinet again. However, the administrative and financial problems that plagued the Japanese Empire, as well as the dispute over military spending between the army and navy, were still entangled in a short period of time and could not be resolved.

Under such circumstances, one can imagine the extent to which the Japanese government can interfere in China's affairs. But he couldn't say such a thing to Zhu Erdian. Of course, as diplomats, they think the same as they say a few words, and the word "match between words and deeds" can never be used on them.

Immediately, I heard Ijiin Hikoyoshi speak: "What Your Excellency said is very true, as a member of a civilized country, in the matter of safeguarding the rights and interests of all countries in China, our Great Japanese Empire has always closely followed the pace of our ally British Empire. ”

"The British Empire has always maintained neutrality in its policy towards China in the Far East, but as a friendly neighbor, I think it is very necessary for the Japanese government to help the Chinese government maintain its authority, and even eliminate opposition forces and safeguard the rights and interests of other countries." Zhu Erdian frowned, and when he saw that Hikoyoshi of Ijiin was not on the road, he couldn't help but start to clarify his intentions.

Hearing Zhu Erdian say this, Ijiin Hikoji couldn't help but sneer in his heart, but he didn't answer the words again. If the British Empire remained neutral in China, who strongly advocated that Yuan Shikai be the president of China and lead China; Who stirred up trouble in Tibet and was severely beaten in Burma.

Seeing that Yijiyuan Yanji was like this, Zhu Erdian's brows furrowed even more, and he couldn't help but say in a deep voice: "Then, I don't know what His Excellency the Minister means?" ”

"All countries have joined forces to increase support for the Yuan Shikai government and make every effort to suppress the forces of the Communist Party."

The meaning of the Japanese, Ijiin Hikoyoshi's has been expressed very bluntly. That is, to enhance the overall strength of the Beiyang Army in all aspects as soon as possible, so that it can maintain a considerable balance with the People's Army, and then go all out to confront each other, resulting in a de facto confrontation between the north and the south of China, which is more in line with the interests of the Great Japanese Empire. It is absolutely impossible for Japan to directly send troops to China at present, and if it is two or three years from now, it will be impossible to say.

Zhu Erdian was silent, but he was extremely annoyed in his heart. In order to maintain a good cooperative relationship with the Communist Party, the United States and Germany have invested a lot of money, and various aid programs have been launched one after another. How is it possible, it is already thankful that they can not object.

Similarly, the French Republic, which also has a large number of interests under the Communist Party, has maintained neutrality in a rare and genuine sense. Of course, Jurdian knew what the French were thinking, and although the two countries had formed an alliance because of European affairs, they were obviously happy to see how centuries-old grievances could be settled so easily, and that they could add to the obstacles of the British Empire.

The only remaining Russia, originally thought that because of the Xinjiang problem, it would cooperate with the British Empire to take some measures against the Communist Party, but it didn't want this stupid polar bear, because of the Balkan problem, in order to support his Slavic brothers, he didn't bother to pay attention to this in the Far East. Don't they know that if they lose this opportunity, they will lose the opportunity to contain China forever?

In any case, Zhu Erdian felt that as a diplomat of the British Empire and a spokesman for the interests of the great powers in China, he had an obligation and it was necessary to convene the members of the legation for some discussion. After a long groan, Zhu Erdian finally spoke: "Tomorrow night, I will hold a cocktail banquet for ministers from all over the world, and I hope that Mr. Minister will be able to come by then!" ”

After hearing this, Hikoyoshi smiled and said, "Definitely! Certain! ”

Although the two had different thoughts, they had a light smile on their faces. Just as Ijiin Hikoyoshi got up and was about to leave, he didn't want to be at this time, there was a news that spread like a whirlwind to the top of Beijing's political circles, that is, Hunan had changed and was incorporated into the southwest.