108731908 Far Eastern madman

Ji Qirui rushed back to the office. There were two people waiting in the office for a long time, "It's called Fan Men Official." The other is dressed as a literati, and the two are talking. Seeing Duan Qirui coming back, he hurriedly got up to greet him.

"Why so much courtesy? Sit it all down. Compared to those who sacrificed their lives for the country, we can still speak here now, what is there not to be satisfied with? ”

Duan Qirui sat on the chair with a very unpleasant face.

Perhaps seeing that Duan Qirui was in a somewhat depressed mood, the two guests glanced at each other and quickly sat back.

The two guests were old friends of Duan Qirui, and the officer's name was Qu Tongfeng, a native of Yantai, Shandong. In his early years, he joined the Beiyang Naval Division, served as a marine engineer on the "Dingyuan" ironclad ship, and after the First Sino-Japanese War, he joined Yuan Shikai's small station new army, and later entered the Tianjin Military Academy, and then was admitted to the Qing court to study in Japan, and successively studied in Japan Zhenwu School and Army Non-commissioned Officer School "Graduated from the year and returned to China, and continued to serve in the Beiyang New Army" which year served as an instructor of the Baoding Beiyang Army Crash School, after the "Wushen Revolution", he was promoted by Duan Qirui. He is the principal of the Baoding Army Crash School, a close confidant of Duan Jirui, and one of the "four golden nets" under Duan's seat. It is worth mentioning that Qu Tongfeng and Jiang Fangzhen, Cai Feng, Xu Chongzhi and others on the United Front side were classmates of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School in the same period, and their previous relationship was also good.

As for the person dressed as a literati, it was Liang Shizhao, the superintendent of the Bank of Communications, who was a native of Guangdong, a jinshi in the Guangxu period, and the same as Xu Shichang. was also born in Hanlin, Gengzi later took refuge in Yuan Shikai, and since then, he has been steadily promoted from the general office of Beiyang Book Company to his current position. The general office of the Bank of Communications, although this official is not big, but it is very important, directly related to the future of the entire Beiyang Group, Yuan Shikai put him in this position, which shows his trust in him. However, Liang Shihua is not the kind of die-hard element, for Yuan Shikai, he is grateful, but it does not mean that he will only Yuan Shikai is the first to look forward, after the defeat of southern Henan last time, Sheng Xuanhuai organized the overthrow of Yuan, and sent people to win over Liang Shizhi, and Liang Shizhi obviously also thought that Yuan Shikai's insistence threatened the interests of the whole catty and the Beiyang Group, so he participated in the action of overthrowing Yuan and did something financially, which further aggravated the difficult situation of raising military salaries for the Beiyang Army.

In the internal and external difficulties, Yuan Shikai was in a hurry, suffered a stroke and collapsed, Liang Shiyi felt a little guilty, because his original intention was not to want Yuan Laoshuai's life, but the matter has come to this, and the situation is very delicate, so he can't take care of it so much for the time being. Now Liang Shizhi is focusing on how to bring Beiyang back to life, so in the past few days, he has been shuttling back and forth between the central ministries for only one purpose: to reduce expenses and sort out finances.

As long as the Beiyang Army is not reduced for a day, it will be impossible to reduce the military spending, and then the financial problems that are vital to the survival of Beiyang will not be solved, and this is the main reason why Liang Shiyi is now sitting in Duan Qirui's office.

Disarmament is inseparable from the support of the War Department, but in the current situation, who dares to brush the tiger whiskers of the commander-in-chief? "Wang Long, Duan Hu, Feng Gou". These descriptions are also appropriate, if you can not provoke Duan Qirui, it is better not to provoke him, otherwise. Even if it's his immediate boss. He will not rest on his laurels.

But now the Beiyang finances have indeed reached the point of exhaustion, Liang Shizhao digging everywhere, looting in many ways, still unable to meet the huge financial needs, so helpless, he had to pull Qu Tongfeng, Duan Qirui's cronies, rushed to the War Department together, and persuaded Duan Qirui that no matter what, the Beiyang Army could not be expanded again, at least let the finances take a breath first, otherwise, Liang Shizhi had only one way to resign.

However, in Duan Qirui's view, Liang Shizhao's request went too far, and although the Bank of Communications is one of the sources of military spending for the War Department at present, the bulk of it is still in the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance has not come to ask the War Department to disarm.

After thinking about it, Duan Qirui felt that Liang Shiyi's confidence was probably given by Xu Shichang, because according to the information he got, Xu Shichang seems to be discussing the formation of a political group with a group of people recently, which is the plan of some people in Beiyang to "get rid of the shell", and these people are among them. There is also this Liang Shiyi, obviously, in the eyes of these people, the Beiyang Army's demand for military spending has affected their income, so they plan to restrict the troops of the Beiyang Army.

This is self-defeating martial arts! Duan Qirui speculated maliciously, as for whether his speculation was reasonable, he didn't care now, he only cared about the army in his hand, the more troops, the greater the possibility of Beiyang translation, if he pinned his hopes on the golden cicada shell like those "literary factions". Then Beiyang will never have the possibility of turning over.

In Duan Qirui's view, the current Beiyang is already disheartened, and they are looking for a way out for themselves and a backer, even Yuan Shikai's godson Duan Zhigui is also seeking a way out. and went everywhere to form gangs, and even changed posts with Zhang Zuoshuang and bowed to him.

Looking at Beiyang, I am afraid that the only real loyal minister is left with him Duan Qirui.

In any case, Beiyang can't be called down. Duan Qirui wants to be the lonely minister of Beiyang, he wants to save the tide and run wild.

Therefore, in the conversation just now, Duan Qirui vetoed Qu Tongfeng's euphemistic suggestion, and did not give this cronie face at all, and Liang Shiyi naturally refused to give up, and when he was arguing with Duan Qirui, Cao Rui rushed to the War Department, so Duan Qirui just took the opportunity to leave the office to meet Cao Rui, and by the way, implement one of his conspiracy, and at the same time temporarily get rid of the noise in his ears.

However, the purity in his ears was only temporary after all, and now, Duan Qirui had to cheer up, planning to continue arguing with Liang Shizhi about military spending.

But Liang Shizhi is not a fool, just now Duan Qirui has already made his position clear, and it is useless to talk more, the reason why he is still sitting here is completely out of politeness, so at this time, seeing that Duan Qirui was in a bad mood after returning to the office, just

"Chief Duan, you sent someone to Wuhan a few days ago, have you ever seen Youzheng?" Before the official farewell. Liang Shiyi asked kindly.

Seeing Liang Shi's words mention Xu Shuzheng, Duan Qirui sighed and said: "The people are seen, but the United Front refuses to release them, and they also threaten to be tried in public, and it is said that even the military court is ready." Now Youzheng is locked up with Wu Peihu, the general of the defeated army, and the two quarrel every day, but they are not idle. Yifu, now that the united front is clearly trying to kill everything, we in Beiyang can't take it lightly, so this army can't be reduced, this piece of hard work, you also have to be considerate and considerate."

Seeing that Duan Qirui always talked about military crises, Liang Shizhao knew that this meeting could be over, so he got up to say goodbye and left the office. Gone with a couple of attachés.

Only Duan Qirui and Qu Tongfeng were left in the office, and after a few words of talking, the two fell silent, and the office was a little quiet for a while, only the clock "ticked." It rings in people's ear drums and also knocks on people's hearts.

"Chief, what was the noise in the yard just now?"

Qu Tongfeng didn't have anything to say, so he asked casually.

"The bereaved families of those fallen officers are dissatisfied with the United Front's election of Zhao Bei as vice president of the Republic of China, and now they have rushed to the presidential palace. I am going to petition the president, no matter what, I can't let the Beiyang soldiers die in vain. ”

"What? How can the chief deal with such a big event? ”

When Qu Tongfeng heard this, he was immediately shocked, and at the same time, he was puzzled.

"If they are angry in their hearts, how can I not be angry in my hearts? In this North-South peace talks, Beiyang compromised step by step, retreated step by step, we are too weak, if Yuan Laoshuai personally presided over this matter, how could we Beiyang be so weak? It's also good to make a fuss, so that President Xu Da knows that our Beiyang is still available to the military. ”

Seeing Duan Qirui's heartbroken look. Qu Tongfeng understood, but he was not optimistic about Duan Qirui's catty, and he "made a fuss" to make a profit. It's just that he couldn't think of any way to stop Duan Qirui. So he had to find an excuse to leave, left the War Department, and rode straight to the presidential palace.

When I arrived at the Presidential Palace, the farce had been officially staged, and the Beiyang bereaved families who wore linen and filial piety were gathering and cursing on the street in front of the Presidential Palace, and those paper figures and sacrifices were placed on the street, and the people who came to see the excitement were gathering more and more. There was a lot of commotion, the presidential guards had set up barricades nearby, traffic had been cut off, and some reporters had rushed to the scene with cameras.

It was there that Qu Tongfeng saw Liang Shizhao's carriage, which was also stopped on the street by the presidential palace guards, unable to move.

Qu Tongfeng rushed to Liang Shizhi's carriage, and Liang Shiyi also saw him, so he invited him to get into the carriage.

"Wingfu, where are you going?" After Qu Tongfeng sat down, he asked Liang Shizhao.

Liang Shizhi smiled bitterly: "Where else can I go?" Of course, I went to the presidential palace and submitted my resignation to President Xu Da, who wants to do it in the general office of the Bank of Communications, anyway, I won't do it, this Beiyang Army. It's hard to serve. In the past, when the Qing court did not fall. It is said that as much military salary as it is allocated, where will it be the turn to bargain with the Beiyang Army? Now it's good, it's a republic, but this army is getting more and more domineering, and I think it's not far from the warlord melee. Brother Qu. I'm not going to see you, but it seems to me that it's better to call the United Front into the center. At least the government decrees are unimpeded, unlike our Beiyang, which is a multi-door government, the party is the same and different, relying on our Beiyang, this country can't count on it. ”

There was something in Liang Shizhi's words, Qu Tongfeng understood a little, but he didn't plan to ask the root now, he just said: "I heard Chief Duan say that you are discussing with others about forming a political group, didn't we set up a few small parties in Beiyang before?" Why did you set up another party? Are you still planning to occupy the Congress? Congress is now the territory of the United Front. ”

Liang Shizhi shook his head and said, "Brother Qu." You are a literati, and I will tell you the truth. Now the Constituent Congregation is looking for political allies, and once the new party of Beiyang is formed, we will be formed. It may not be impossible to join forces with the Constituent Council, so that happens. We can speak up in Congress. ”

"The Constituent Council? Aren't Zhang Han's gang from the United Front? Will they join forces with us? ”

"The Constituent Assembly has a problem with the United Front and now intends to withdraw all of them, but it is weak and needs allies. The United Front was originally organized by a group of people who shared the same bed and different dreams, and in the past, we Beiyang pressed them and had to unite, but now, our Beiyang is seeing the decline and losing their common enemy, and these people who have the same bed and different dreams have begun to make their own plans. ”

"The sun is waning? Wing, you're too pessimistic. Although we lost Beiyang and lost badly, as long as we work together, we may not be able to maintain the situation. Qu Tongfeng did not agree with Liang Shiyi's opinion.

"Brother Qu, don't you understand? Now our Beiyang is about to fall apart, whether it is in the south or in the north, our people in Beiyang are making their own plans, and even President Xu Da may not have his own little abacus, otherwise. Why was the 16th Division of the Beiyang Army transferred back to Guanwai at this time? "Okay, that's all I have to say, Brother Qu, take care of yourself, I will go to the presidential palace to resign, and after resigning, I will go back to the Tianjin concession, the situation in the capital. I'm afraid it's getting more and more chaotic, it's better to leave early, I'm just afraid that I won't be able to be a loyal servant of Beiyang. ”

After Liang Shiyi finished speaking, he glanced at more and more people on the street, and then saw an attaché leading several staff members of the presidential palace to come, so he pushed the car door and let those people get into the carriage, and Qu Tongfeng also got out of the car with interest.

Watching the carriage drive towards the presidential palace, Qu Tongfeng sighed and turned his head to look at the people on the street. There are also those Beiyang remnants, Liang Shizhi's words just now lingered in his ears.

Falling apart, will this Beiyang really fall apart?

Qu Tongfeng was confused.