108391908 Far East Maniac Chapter 38 Under the Stage

Obituary: Xu Shichang went south to Beijing to take over as president. It was Steder who accompanied him to shield the old. This was certainly Mr. Consul's way of expressing friendship and warmth, but it was not necessarily without security considerations. It was none other than these American diplomats who went south with Acting President Xu Shichang. There is also a group of British soldiers, who are specially designed to protect Xu Shichang's safety, and the officer who leads this team of soldiers is not an ordinary officer, but Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei, the counselor of the British Army in China.

When Xu Shichang inspected the 16th Division, Si Dai De and Wei Lepei accompanied him, and both of them were the same as Xu Shichang, and they were very sorry for the military appearance of the 16th Division.

"With all due respect, Mr. President, this unit cannot be called an army at all, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a "militia regiment, they went into battle for the sole purpose of being a moving target to improve the shooting level of the enemy soldiers."

Returning to the train station, after the division commander Zhang Zuoshuang left, the British Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei unceremoniously pointed out the weakness of the 16th Division, his tone was ridiculous, but the expression on his face was a sad and compassionate look.

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, you obviously don't know the details of this unit."

Si Dai snapped his fingers and said playfully: "As far as I know, this unit is adapted from an armed bandit, and their division commander is himself a small and legendary bandit leader. ”

"Really? Soya, sir, although your business is weak, you don't want to use a gang of bandits to fill the number, right? ”

Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei shrugged his shoulders helplessly, took the Indian black tea brought by a soldier, and then looked at Xu Shichang, but was surprised to find that the acting president was standing by the window of the dispatch room at the moment, looking out of the window, obviously not noticing that Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei was making suggestions to him. In Chinese.

He didn't intend to bother Mr. President, but he found a chair and sat in the corner, sipping the cup of Indian tea, and pondering what the British Minister to China, Mr. Jurdian, had said.

"Lieutenant Colonel, escorting Mr. Xu Shichang south to Beijing this time, your task is very important, you must take all means to protect Mr. Xu Shichang's safety, this is directly related to the interests of the British Empire, as the Far East tentacles of the Empire, we must not sit idly by and watch any country disrupt the balance of power in the Far East."

This is what Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei said to him before he left the Legation in Peking, and it is clear that Mr. Zhu Erdian was not worried about the threat from the United Front, but about a country that was eyeing China.

What other country could it be besides Japan? Wei Lepei thought that he had grasped the hidden meaning of Zhu Erdian's words, Mr. Minister must have obtained some information, otherwise he would not have sent someone to protect Xu Shichang to go south to Beijing to take office, if Xu Shichang was killed on the way south, maybe. This country will be in chaos, and this is probably where Zhu Erdian's real concern lies, if there is a huge chaos in China now, it will only cheapen Japan and Russia, and Britain, because of the relationship with Germany, because of the situation in Europe, will not be able to gain anything from this huge chaos.

"A country that is unlucky, a country that is unlucky."

Wei Lepei looked up. looked at Xu Shichang, who was facing away from him, and that kind of compassionate expression appeared on his face again.

Can you imagine? A country that has declared a republic has not elected a vice president who complies with the legal process! And the current acting president has stepped out of the "appointment" of the interim president!

The "appointment" of the president by the president can simply go down in history as a classic case in the history of world politics.

As an Englishman, Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei could not imagine what would happen if such a situation appeared in Britain or the United States, but he at least knew that this strange political landscape was right now before his eyes.

In this political situation, a more bizarre international relationship has emerged, Japan and Russia want China to have a greater chaos so that they can profit from it, while Britain and the United States do not want to see a big chaos in China now, so the two countries send diplomats at the same time to protect the safety of the acting president, which is actually a gesture to tell those countries with ulterior motives. Britain and the United States do not want anything to disrupt the smooth transfer of central power in this country.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei turned his head to look at Mr. Stade, but found that the American consul was standing beside the dispatcher, holding a celadon teapot in both hands, admiring the pattern on it with great interest, perhaps wondering whether this thing was an antique, and perhaps even appraising it.

"Nouveau riche in the United States."

Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei sneered, buried his head and continued to taste his Indian black tea, but this black tea was not authentic enough, and the sugar in the tea was a little more, so Mr. Lieutenant Colonel had to give up this leisurely middle-class life, stood up and straightened the army uniform, and then walked out of the dispatch room. Take two soldiers with him, carry his leather horsewhip, and wander around.

However, there is no scenery here, the railway station is a small station, which used to be the garrison of the Lutai defense army of the Qing army, forming a very small town around the barracks, but after Gengzi, the barracks were deserted, and the town was also in tatters everywhere, and occasionally a train carrying coal passed by. You can see the local residents standing on the coal pile in the wagons and desperately kicking butterflies on the roadbed, which is probably their only source of livelihood.

"To the moldy country, the humble Führer

The more Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei looked at it, the more bored he became, so he had to turn around and go back to the dispatch room.

When he rushed back to the dispatch room, Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei found Si Dai De and Xu Shichang standing by the wall. Pointing to a train dispatching route map on the wall, the content is still the same old: the United States invests in China's railways.

Although this kind of thing is not something that a soldier should ask about, as an Englishman, Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei does not want to see the American nouveau riche encroach on the rights and interests of British businessmen, so he still walked over and said very politely: "President first."

"Karma." I've just seen it. The coal boxes of the special train are almost full, and we can instigate, six"

Xu Shichang just nodded, and an attaché hurriedly brought a top hat, put it on for the acting president, and tidied up the dress for him. It's still hot, but as president, this person is always a must-pay concern.

"Woohoo"

Two short whistles sounded, and the southbound special train acting president was ready to drive. Xu Shichang boarded the train with a group of entourage with an expressionless face, and Stade followed before Wei Lepei, which made Mr. Lieutenant Colonel very dissatisfied.

"A well-mannered Shinshi can't fight a rough and aggressive Niu Ran."

Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei remembered what a Russian diplomat had said at the banquet, and at the time he had some objections, but now he felt that the Russian nobleman had a point.

As a mid-flag, Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei got on the train and sat in the corner in a proper manner, half a car away from the American cowboy.

A few long whistles, President Xu's special train slowly started, after leaving the station, quickly accelerated, Xu Shichang sat quietly by the window, closed his eyes and recuperated, no one knew what the acting president was thinking, no one else spoke, except for the sound of "beetles", almost no other sound was heard in the carriage.

But this silence did not last long. Soon, the British Army soldiers sitting by the window stood up and whistled out of the window, which caused Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei to be strongly dissatisfied.

"Quiet!"

Mr. Lieutenant Colonel stood up and shouted at the soldiers, but he was stunned by the sight outside the window.

I saw that on both sides of the roadbed, only a little more than ten steps away from the railroad tracks, two rows of soldiers with rifles lined up neatly, and as far as the eye could see, they were several miles long, lined up along the iron slip, every other distance. Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei inquired with an interpreter and learned that it read, "All the officers and men of the 16th Division of the Beiyang Army send President Xu Da south to take up his post."

Obviously, this was a trick by Zhang Zuoshuang, the commander of the 16th Division, who used this way to show goodwill to President Xu Shishu.

Xu Shichang stood up, smiled, poked his head out the window, and waved to the soldiers who saluted with guns, and soon after, the rumbling of artillery could be heard in the distance.

In the midst of these 21 gun salutes, Mr. Xu Shichang, the acting president of the Republic of China, went away on a special train that went south to take office.

The salute finally stopped, and the special train acting president disappeared from the horizon.

Zhang Zuoshuang put down his right hand and looked in the direction of the train for a moment, an officer behind him led his war horse and said to him: "Dashuai, let's go back now, Xu Shichang told us to rush back to the three eastern provinces as soon as possible, when do you say we will leave?"

Zhang Zuoshuang turned his head and glanced at the officer. smiled faintly and said, "What's the hurry?" Xu Shichang didn't set a date for us, so we can stay here for a few more days. Erhu, some things are not as simple as they seem, now although Xu Shichang is the acting president, how many fuel-efficient lamps are there in Beiyang? Not to mention anything else, it's that piece of chess, how can you be willing to play it? Now that Yuan Shikai is ill, there is no one in Beiyang who can be suppressed, although Xu Shichang is a veteran of the Beiyang New Army. But he is just a pen, and he can be a peacemaker, but the current mess is not something he can clean up. ”

After speaking, ignoring the officer's scratching of his ears and cheeks, he took the reins, turned over his horse, shouted, and galloped away, and the other officers did not dare to slack off. They hurriedly followed, and the soldiers on the railroad began to return to the camp in groups.

Zhang Zuoshuang took the lead and returned to the Lutai barracks, but when he entered the barracks, he saw several officers walking out of the barracks with a man in short clothes. Urging the horse to come forward and interrogate.

"Dashuai, this brother is "Dongshan good" network from Tianjin rushed over, when he and I were in Liaoxi to pull the pole, and then he went to Lushun, we have not seen each other for many years, now I heard that I was a soldier under the handsome to eat, this "Dongshan is good, brother came to me on the way, this is not." As soon as he was leaving, you came back and an officer stepped forward to explain a few words.

"You are "Higashiyama good.? I heard of you back then, if I'm not mistaken, you're a flag man, right? Why, where are you getting rich now?.

Zhang Zuoshuang rode on the horse and squinted and asked the man in short clothes.

"It's not about getting rich, it's just running errands for others

The man said with a smile, took out a business card and handed it over.

"Now my brother is a comprador in a Japanese foreign company, and he does everything in foreign cloth, cotton, soybeans, and munitions. Brother can help. I heard that the relationship between the marshal and the Japanese is also good, and in the future, the brothers will be in the three eastern provinces, and they will have to count on the marshal to help them a lot

Zhang Zuoshuang didn't take the business card, just smiled and said to the officers: "How can friends leave without entertaining them?" I'll give you half a day off, so I'll accompany "Dongshan is good, brother goes to the restaurant to be happy and happy." ”

With that, he turned the horse's head and galloped away.

After Zhang Zuoshuang left, "Dongshan is good." He glanced at several officers and said, "It's okay." Let's talk while eating, we didn't have a bright heart just now, now let's take care of the restoration of our flag people. You stay in Zhang Zuoshuang's team, and you have no future, his team is to put it bluntly. That is the cannon fodder of the Beiyang Army, and if you want to go to the south to fight the Pingming Party, instead of going to the south to gnaw on the mud, it is better to go back to the land of Longxing of our banner people. ”

The officers whispered a few words of deliberation, then nodded, and without looking back, they left the barracks and walked straight to the tavern in the town.