Britain and the United States, in response to the reaction of their diplomats, have responded one after another.

Britain believes that there is no problem in returning the customs administration rights of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, the problem is that the customs have been mortgaged to other countries, and the customs of the two provinces can be handed over to the East China Provisional Political Axe for management, but the customs proceeds must be used to fulfill the content of the previous treaty.

The United States, on the other hand, supports the return of the customs of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces to the management of the East China Provisional Political Axe, and it is obvious that the Americans have taken the bait, and they are very interested in the zero-tariff policy imposed by the East China Provisional Political Axe.

Britain and the United States and other countries have realized that the Qing court no longer has the possibility of ruling China, and Britain chose Yuan Shikai out of interests, and the United States chose the East China Provisional Political Axe out of interests. On the customs issue, the countries began to send frequent notes and decided to hold negotiations in Shanghai on 15 January.

The situation in China has fallen into a temporary calm, the north and the south have a truce, and finally it is up to Yuan Shikai to force the palace.

However, the peace between the north and the south is still going on, and the two sides continue to hold the third and fourth meetings, Yuan Shikai can't figure out the true intention of the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, but Xia Jun is obviously impatient, and asks people to send a telegram to Yuan Shikai, telling him that the North-South peace negotiation is just a formality, and let him force the palace as soon as possible, otherwise he will order the East China Provisional Political Axe Army to go north.

Yuan Shikai breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the telegram, he actually didn't care about the intentions of the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, he only cared about what the East China Temporary Political Axe thought of the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe.

A campaign to force the Qing court to abdicate soon began.

Duan Qirui and other Beiyang officers sent a second telegram to the Qing Zheng Axe at this time, once again asking the Qing family to abdicate.

…… In Yingtan, military drills are still ongoing.

During the exercise of nearly a month, three infantry divisions and one artillery division, as well as the newly formed First Air Force Brigade, practiced coordinated operations of various arms of the armed forces.

There are two major types of operations: defensive operations and assault operations.

In these two types of exercises, Xia Jun emphasized that the artillery should try to strike at the enemy's artillery, and at the same time, the attack aircraft should be responsible for cooperating with the enemy's artillery. Since there were no bombers for the time being, the attack planes were used as bombers for drills, and the attack planes were also equipped with bombs.

Due to the use of walkie-talkies, the coordination between artillery is very fast, and after the reconnaissance plane discovers the position of the opponent's artillery, it can report back to the command center, and the command center can mobilize the most artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery fire at the first time. At the same time, it can cooperate with bombers to strike at enemy artillery fire, so as to gain an advantage in artillery fire, and then knock out the opponent's artillery, or suppress the opponent's artillery, which can reduce the casualties of infantry.

The infantry, on the other hand, emphasized that the fortifications must be able to withstand the test of the opponent's shells, after all, many times the enemy artillery could not be completely defeated, so the infantry could not do without fortifications.

The second is the blow to the enemy's infantry, there is basically nothing to be afraid of in the field, the firepower of these regular troops in Xia Jun's hands is very strong, Xiao Yueben's tattered equipment, he can finish them when he walks out of the fortifications.

Xia Jun is more concerned about tactical training, Xiao Yueben loves to play roundabout outflanking, there are two ways to deal with roundabout outflanking, one is to divide troops to resist, and the other is to attack directly to the front, in the case of the enemy's division of troops, concentrate on eliminating the enemy's frontal troops, and then return to eliminate the enemy's roundabout troops.

Both methods have merit and should be changed according to the situation of the war.

On January 12, the military drill in Yingtan ended, and the 23rd was the Spring Festival, so I had to go back for the holiday.

Xia Jun's popular index has risen a little, at this time it has reached 3.8, and the points income in January reached 200 million points, as soon as the points arrived, Xia Jun spent 50 million points to build a production line with an annual output of 200,000 motorcycles, not only the army needs motorcycles, but also local administrations also need motorcycles.

Three-wheeled motorcycles can easily perform some odd tasks, so whether it is the military, the police, and the administrative department, there is a lot of demand.

At the same time, it spent 50 million to build a tractor manufacturing plant with an annual output of 200,000 tractors, and the technology of tractors is not much higher than that of motorcycles, and the structure is even simpler.

On January 6, Xia Jun returned to Hangzhou with the 1st Division of East China, and the results of this joint training were greater, and each division found its own shortcomings and began to conduct training for surnames.

During the Spring Festival, soldiers can go home for three days, and before the Spring Festival begins, they will begin to take turns on vacation, and it is expected that the troops can be reassembled during the Lantern Festival.

After more than a month of adjustments, the administrative system of the Provisional Political Axe in East China has tended to be stable, and administrative personnel in various localities have taken up their posts one after another, and supervision over administrative personnel has gradually entered the right track.

Among them, those newspapers are the most active, and most of the newspapers in Shanghai have basically moved to Hangzhou, and the equipment has also been updated, of course, Xia Jun will inevitably participate in some shares.

With the new equipment, the newspapers were issued at a much lower price, and a newspaper now sells for only one copper plate, which is a low price, mainly because these newspapers have found a large customer for advertising.

This big customer is Xia Jun's East China Group, East China Group is fully invested in advertising, KFC fried chicken shop, East China Bank, East China Treasure Company, as well as BMW brand bicycles, lighters, cigarettes, canned food and other products are the most frequently advertised large customers.

In addition to the East China Group, the private enterprises supported by the East China Temporary Political Axe are also very active, and they have more things to advertise.

Not only did the newspaper advertisers increase, but also the sales outlets increased, and the political axe organs of the East China Provisional Political Axe, as well as schools in various places, began to order newspapers.

Among them, the "Fuxing Daily" is the largest, which is a newspaper run by the East China Provisional Political Axe, so it covers a comprehensive area, and the number of reporters of the Fuxing Daily has increased dramatically, and the news has also become diverse.

Every day, the Ministry of Education selects some examples from the newspapers ordered by the schools, writes positive reviews, and sends them to the social studies teachers of each school, so that they can read the newspapers to the students, so that the students can have more contact with social phenomena in the school, and through the comments of these examples, they will establish a correct concept for the students.

Xia Jun's request to the Ministry of Education for this kind of newspaper commentary is not to be pretentious, not to use those blunt slogans all day long to educate students, and sometimes to be practical, to make the lessons more vivid, so that students have an interest in listening, and let them actively express their opinions.

In the selection of examples of lectures and commentaries, we should not only choose those that report good news but not bad news, but also those cases related to social darkness, and the types should be more comprehensive.

As a result of these means, the newspapers developed rapidly and the number of reporters increased dramatically, most of whom were trained by the East China Provisional Political Axe, so they were relatively professional and were very sought-after in the press circles.

The press has basically been controlled by Xia Jun, and these newspapers are not incapable of speaking, and they often criticize the work mistakes of some departments of the Provisional Political Axe in East China, as well as the corruption phenomenon of the local political axe everywhere.

They can criticize a certain department or official by name, but there is a bottom line that they resolutely dare not cross, that is, they must not incite the people to oppose the administration of the East China Provisional Political Axe.

The only "declaration" that does not need to be reviewed by the news is supportive of the East China Provisional Political Axe, and a series of policies after the East China Provisional Political Axe came to power have shown that this is a political axe that truly thinks about the people and has ideals.

Although the "Declaration" sometimes praised the East China Provisional Political Axe, it did not blindly advocate the East China Provisional Political Axe, but put supervision in the first place.

At present, the central departments of the East China Provisional Political Axe are relatively clean and basically do not need much supervision, and the reporters of the "Declaration" went deep into the localities to investigate the people in accordance with the various policies of the East China Provisional Political Axe, and within a month, they assisted the Special Police Bureau in uncovering 13 corrupt personnel, ranking first among all newspapers.

Xia Jun returned to Hangzhou, and many newspapers reported on it, before Xia Jun suddenly disappeared, and his figure was not seen at the various meetings of the East China Provisional Political Axe, which made the press speculate where he had gone.

Some people say that he went to Shanghai, but there is no one in Shanghai, and some people say that Xia Jun ran back to Fujian, but there is no news in Fujian.

As soon as Xia Jun returned to Hangzhou, he convened a meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on the 15th, he was going to negotiate with the powers on the customs matter, and he must be fully prepared.

In this negotiation, Xia Jun invited Li Shengguo to lead the team, and Foreign Minister Zhu Xiaocheng had just come out of the School of Law and Politics, and he had to study hard behind him.

On January 15, Li Shengguo came to Shanghai with a negotiation team to conduct formal negotiations with various countries.

Previously, Xia Jun had already negotiated with Britain on indirect surnames, as well as with the United States and Germany, and among the six countries of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and Russia, the United States had already won over the United States, while Germany was not sure, and Britain also had the intention of compromise.

As soon as the negotiations began, Yue Ben jumped out and resolutely opposed the transfer of tariffs to the East China Provisional Political Axe, believing that the East China Provisional Political Axe had no legal status.

However, the US representative soon expressed his support and said that the United States had recognized the legal status of the East China Provisional Political Axe, and then the German representative also spoke out to recognize the legal status of the East China Provisional Political Axe, and the British representative also expressed his stance and recognized the legal status of the East China Provisional Political Axe.

The British can't do it if they don't express their position, it is more beneficial to recognize the legitimate surname of the East China Provisional Political Axe than not to recognize it, and now China's stability lies in stabilizing the East China Provisional Political Axe, so that it is possible for their spokesman Yuan Shikai to come to power and control the political situation in China.

The negotiations got off to a good start, and with the support of Britain, the United States, and Germany, the alliance of France and Russia no longer dwelled on the question of whether the East China Provisional Governor had a legal surname.

Even if France and Russia oppose it, and the economy of Britain, the United States, and Germany is stronger than them, and at this time, the country has not really achieved the status of a great power.

The Germans' support for the Provisional Political Axe in East China made the delegates of other countries somewhat incomprehensible, and they did not know what kind of interests Germany was considering.

Then, the British representative threw out the main content of the talks, the tariff issue of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

Since tariffs are in the hands of all countries, they must be brought together to negotiate, but the United Kingdom has the largest share of them.

"We, the British Empire, can return the tariffs to the East China Provisional Political Axe, but in addition to the right to adjust the level of tariffs, the East China Provisional Political Axe should abide by the treaties signed by the Qing State before, and the profits from the tariffs must be used to pay indemnities. At the same time, the East China Provisional Political Axe must ensure that the situation in China will be stabilized within three months. The representative of the United Kingdom said.

What they mean by the UK is that they can give up control of the tariffs, but they still can't afford to lose money, and only if China is stabilized within three months.

Under such conditions, their British interests were not harmed in the slightest.

(To be continued)