May 9, nine a.m. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In Chengdu, in a small conference room of the Autonomous Regional Government Council, Premier Shen Bingkun is presiding over a discussion meeting on developing the economy of the northwest region. Present at the meeting were Tang Shaoyi, who had just joined the autonomous government and served as vice premier, as well as secretaries of the provincial party committee and provincial governors who had come from various regions in the northwest on purpose, as well as principal responsible persons of other ministries and commissions under the Government Affairs Yuan.

"I believe everyone has already read this development outline. Now, I would like to ask all comrades to speak their minds freely and put forward different views in the light of the actual situation in the localities. After all, only by working together can we make up for the omissions and make the economic construction of the great northwest develop faster and better! After everyone finished reading the materials in their hands, Shen Bingkun picked up the teacup and smiled.

The development outline that Shen Bingkun is talking about here is the "Outline for the Economic Development and Construction of the Northwest Region," which was basically finalized only a few days ago after the development planning committee under the Government Council coordinated various departments under the instructions of Xiao Mubai after the situation in the northwest stabilized. Although this outline, which covers heavy industry, light industry, agriculture, water conservancy, transportation, and other aspects of the construction plan, has been basically finalized, there are still many areas that need to be improved. The purpose of this meeting of the principal responsible persons of various departments is nothing more than to further improve the content of the outline after listening to the opinions of the local authorities.

On the rostrum, as soon as Shen Bingkun's words fell, a whisper sounded in the venue. After a long time, one of them took the lead in standing up and said: "Premier Shen, the outline of the plan formulated by the Government Council, Yang has carefully read it, it is indeed very good, very constructive, I personally fully express my support, but..."

Shen Bingkun raised his head and looked at the person who was talking in the field, and after a closer look, it turned out to be Yang Zengxin, who was the governor of Xinjiang Province. Although he also belongs to the former Qing Dynasty officials, Shen Bingkun really doesn't know much about Yang Zengxin, he only knows that this person has a good reputation in the officialdom, and he has made many achievements in the local area since he took office, and now he is even more valued by Xiao Mubai. Shen Bingkun still looked smiling and said, "Oh? Governor Yang, if you have questions, you can raise them. The purpose of convening you here today is to ask your questions. ”

Yang Zengxin, whose name is Dingchen, is a native of Mengzi, Yunnan, although he was born as a traditional Chinese Confucian literati, but he has a high sense of morality, arrogance and patriotism. In the 17 years he was in charge of Xinjiang, he not only balanced the forces of various ethnic groups in Xinjiang and maintained long-term stability in Xinjiang, but also effectively resisted the expansion of British and Russian forces in Xinjiang.

At this time, Yang Zengxin, although he is nearly fifty years old, is now standing in the venue and facing everyone without restraint. I only heard him say aloud: "It's just that although this outline is good, I don't know how to get the funds for this construction?" ”

"You don't have to worry about that. The Government Council has passed a resolution that in order to support the economic construction and development of the great northwest, the Ministry of Finance will, in accordance with the plan, allocate the first tranche of 1.5 billion yuan, a total of 500 million yuan, to all provinces and autonomous regions year by year. Shen Bingkun nodded and replied.

Hearing this, everyone in the conference hall nodded. Although the northwest region is vast and rich in resources, the ecological environment has deteriorated for a long time, and the economic foundation is very weak.

Yang Zengxin had just sat down, but saw Lu Rongting, the governor of Gansu Province, standing up again and saying: "The development outline formulated by the Government Council is far-sighted and has been taken into account, and we fully express our support, after all, the development achievements of the southwest region in the past two years are obvious to all." We have no problems in Gansu Province, and there are no suggestions, but there is still one requirement. ”

"Oh? Tell me, what are the requirements? Seeing Lu Rongting say this, Shen Bingkun was also a little curious.

"Prime Minister, although the central government's support is unprecedented, after all, our foundation is weak and the foundation is weak, and we are slightly deficient in all aspects, especially in terms of talent. I have heard that nearly 10,000 students sent by our party will return to China next month. I'm not greedy, a thousand can always be, right? Lu Rongting pondered for a moment, and after secretly making a comparison, he finally said his purpose.

Which one of you in the room is not a human spirit? Who doesn't know the importance of talent? As soon as Lu Rongting's words fell, everyone suddenly muttered.

"Yes! Prime Minister, you see that Ningxia is barren and poor, and there is a shortage of talents, can you also allocate 1,000 people to us? ”

"And we in Xinjiang..."

Looking at the crowd of people in the audience, Shen Bingkun had a feeling of crying and laughing, he shook his head and hurriedly said: "In terms of talents, the Government Council will naturally give inclined support to the Northwest Region, but the strength of support is limited after all. This group of international students can only be allocated to you 2,000. ”

After hearing Shen Bingkun's words, the secretaries of the provincial party committees and governors of the provinces were immediately dumbfounded. In order to develop and build all localities, there will be only a lot more of all kinds of qualified personnel needed. The entire northwest region is so big, there are several provinces, and now it is only given to 2,000 people, how can this be divided after the people go down?

The conference hall was lively, and everyone began to discuss enthusiastically. In this case, Tang Shaoyi, the new vice premier, who has been sitting on the rostrum for the first time at such a meeting of the autonomous government, and came with a learning attitude, really felt a little emotional in his heart. He has been a governor and a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty court in the twilight of the Qing Dynasty, and a prime minister in the intriguing Beiyang government. Thinking about what the young man named Wang Yuyin said in Shanghai at the beginning, and thinking about the in-depth understanding of the Communist Party's autonomous government since he came to Chengdu, Tang Shaoyi felt that he was indeed too prejudiced at the beginning.

As the vice premier of the Government Council of the Autonomous Government, although he is newly appointed, Tang Shaoyi has also read the outline for the development of the northwest. In his view, this outline is indeed very good, the proportion of the development and construction of agriculture, light industry and heavy industry is very coordinated, and the construction of transportation and water conservancy facilities such as the Baolan Railway, the Lanxin Railway, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and the Liujiaxia Hydropower Station is very necessary. Although a large amount of money is required to achieve all this, this problem has been solved by the deep-pocketed self-government with 500 million Chinese dollars. How much is 500 million dollars worth? According to the current exchange rate relationship, that is 400 million taels of silver, 250 million US dollars. You must know that the annual fiscal revenue of the late Qing government before Xinhai was only 100 million taels of silver. What is Big Spending? Here it is.

Just when Tang Shaoyi wanted to get into trouble, a person who looked like a secretary pushed open the door and rushed in excitedly, walked to Shen Bingkun's side and bowed and said, "Prime Minister, Director Yang Shukan of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee has just called, and the Politburo is going to hold an emergency meeting, and you need to go to attend it immediately." ”

"Oh?" Shen Bingkun frowned slightly, and he was a little puzzled by the Politburo holding an emergency meeting at this time.

Seeing this, the secretary hurriedly whispered: "Prime Minister, it's like this. Half an hour ago, the Beiyang government issued a telegram to the whole country in Beijing, announcing that Yuan Shikai had officially left the field and that Beijing had appointed Chen Eun, vice minister of the War Department, as the general representative of the conference and responsible for negotiating with us on the reunification of the whole country. ”

Yuan Shikai announced that he was out of the wild? Beiyang is going to negotiate peace? Shen Bingkun couldn't control his emotions anymore, and shouted excitedly: "It's unified!" The country is going to be reunified! Ha ha. ”

Tang Shaoyi opened his mouth wide in astonishment and looked at Shen Bingkun beside him, although the secretary's voice was small, he still heard these words clearly while sitting next to Shen Bingkun. Beiyang negotiated peace? Is the North Ocean coming? This sudden news made Tang Shaoyi a little sluggish for a while, he really didn't expect that the Beiyang Group, which had been in the political arena of the late Qing Dynasty for decades, would withdraw from the stage of history like this.

Just when Tang Shaoyi's thoughts were flying, Shen Bingkun next to him suddenly said: "Shaochuan, you are responsible for presiding over the meeting here." ”

"Oh, okay." Tang Shaoyi came back to his senses and hurriedly responded. But looking at Shen Bingkun's figure gradually stepping out of the conference room, his expression was quite complicated.

Beiyang negotiated peace, and an era is finally coming to an end.

Not mentioning how everyone at the venue here would react after learning the real reason for Premier Shen Bingkun's exit halfway, he said that over there, under the chairmanship of Xiao Mubai, the meeting urgently convened by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China after Shen Bingkun arrived quickly had results. Xiao Mubai did not seem too aggressive towards the Beiyang Group that took the initiative to negotiate peace, and the conditions offered were neither harsh nor generous, he only promised to give Yuan Shikai the treatment of the former head of state, and also promised to reorganize the Beiyang Army into three divisions, and use the existing officials of the Beiyang Group.

On the morning of 9 May, Zhang Xiaohuai, who had already led his army to Xuanhua, rushed to Beijing with light equipment after receiving a new order from Chengdu, and held detailed negotiations with Chen Huan, the plenipotentiary representative of the Beiyang Group, outside the city. After more than two hours of controversy between the two sides, the Beiyang side finally accepted Xiao Mubai's conditions.

In the evening of the same day, the Beiyang Group formally decided to accept the peace conditions put forward by the Communist Party. Immediately afterwards, under Duan Qirui's order, the Beiyang Army in various places began to withdraw from the front-line positions one after another and accept the reorganization of the People's Army on the spot.

On 10 May, the People's Army of Chahar, in addition to the Seventh Army, marched towards Beijing, while the Third, Twelfth and Fifteenth Armies continued to advance northeast under the leadership of Zhang Xiaohuai. On the same day, the 1st Marine Division of the People's Army Navy, also escorted by the South China Sea Fleet, began to sail towards Shandong in an attempt to land from Yantai.