"What? Want to beat your brother-in-law's idea? Huang Yunzhi immediately guessed her brother's mind and asked with a smile.

Huang Shengyun probably knew that his abacus was guessed by his sister, and he smiled again.

"Brother-in-law, do you have any extra little steel cannon? Give me one - no, can I buy one? Huang Shengyun said to Yang Shuoming.

Listening to Huang Shengyun's request, Yang Shuoming couldn't help but be stunned, thinking that this naughty brother-in-law was joking with himself, but he quickly saw from the solemn look on Huang Shengyun's face that Huang Shengyun was not joking.

"It's the kind with a strap, there is a scale on the cannon body, and a person can put it on his stomach," probably because he was afraid that Yang Shuoming wouldn't understand, Huang Shengyun hurriedly gestured with his hand, "What do they call it?" By the way, it's the 'portable mortar', I just watched them put it down, it's really exciting!. ”

Hearing what her brother wanted, Huang Yunzhi was taken aback.

"What do you want mortars for?" Huang Yunzhi stared at her younger brother's eyes tightly and asked in a deep voice.

"We're going to Shandong to fight myself!" Huang Shengyun met his sister's gaze and said in a firm tone.

"What? Are you crazy? Huang Yunzhi exclaimed.

"We're not crazy." Huang Shengyun turned his head to look at Yang Shuoming and said, "I don't know what you think, brother-in-law, but I know that this time, we in China have reached the moment of life and death, and all Chinese with conscience and blood should come forward, otherwise, we Chinese will really become slaves like Koreans!" ”

"It looks like the situation in Yanjing is not good." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "You can tell me about what you saw and knew in Yanjing first." ”

Huang Shengyun couldn't wait to talk to Yang Shuoming about what he saw and heard when he was studying in Yanjing, and after listening to Huang Shengyun's story, Huang Yunzhi became more and more worried.

At this time, Yanjing, as Huang Shengyun said, has shown a trend of mountain rain coming and wind full of buildings.

"Sure enough, as 'Topol' expected, the British were speaking for him."

At the party headquarters of the "Chinese National Social Mingzhuo Workers' Party" in Yanjing, Jiang Xueying handed a copy of "Shuntian Times" to her companions.

The front page of this newspaper, with a striking headline, reported an editorial reprinted from the British newspaper The Times about the "21 Articles" proposed to China.

“…… The conditions which this offer to China are neither harsh nor unfair, and do not infringe upon the completeness of China's territory, equality of opportunity, and open door doctrines, and we are convinced that the intention of this book is the same as that of Britain, and that it is only a desire to seek at this time a determination of the position between China and China and the consolidation of peace in the Far East......"

"It's ridiculous that the British have already sat on the side of Ben with half of their butts, and there are still people who hope that the British will come out to administer justice!" A female classmate named Zhu Feng said angrily, "Look at this editorial by the British, does it mean to uphold justice at all?" ”

"However, it's always a good thing to let foreigners know, and no matter how arrogant and arrogant I am, I have to have some scruples now." "I don't know what the attitude of the Americans is. ”

"Maybe you can be a little more positive than the British, but if you want to turn the other cheek for our China, I'm afraid it won't reach this level." Jiang Xueying's brows furrowed little by little, "Just like 'Poplar' said, if we really want to avoid the end of the country and the extinction of the species, we have to rely on our own strength." ”

"What should we do now?" Suijing asked.

"Call for more people to take action." Jiang Xueying said, "The bigger the momentum, the better." She looked at the printing press that was still working next to her and said, "Combine these materials, write an editorial, and send it to this issue of Seeking Truth magazine." ”

February 17, 1915, Yanjing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, Conference Hall.

Yue Zhiyi, the minister to China, looked at Lu Zhengxiang, the chief minister of foreign affairs of China, slowly sipping tea from a teacup, and was very annoyed, but it was inconvenient for him to have a seizure.

Every time he talks, after Lu Zhengxiang, as the host, finishes his opening remarks, he always asks the servants to offer fragrant tea and delicate snacks, and he takes the lead in tasting them one by one, and after drinking a cup of tea for a long time, he just can't get down, as if he is not drinking a cup of tea, but a jar of water. And each negotiation that takes less than two hours will always waste about half an hour in vain.

It was easy to wait for the Chinese foreign minister to finish the tea, and Yu Zhiyi, who was already quite impatient, impatiently brought the topic to the negotiations.

"China's political axe is purely for the sake of China's political axe, and this time it is proposed to clarify these terms of the relationship between the two countries," said Yue Zhiyi, "and the occupation of Jiaozhou Bay by this army is for the sake of maintaining peace in East Asia, and we do not want to occupy it permanently, and at the appropriate time, we will return Jiaozhou Bay to China." ”

It may be that he thinks that the effect of blindly forcing China's political axe to admit accounts these days is not obvious, and he began to plan to try the method of "inducement".

Long before the start of the negotiations, Yue Zhiyi and his subordinates set the policy of negotiations, using both coercion and inducement to force China's political axe to comply, of which there are four specific methods of inducement: first, promise to return Jiaozhou Bay to China under certain conditions; the second is to ensure the status and safety of Yuan Shikai's political axe; The third is to ban the sabotage of the Revolutionary Party, the Sect Socialist Party, the students who stayed in the country, and the Ronin under the protection of the Chinese political axe; The fourth is to buy Yuan Shikai and his political officials. The means of coercion were to mobilize the garrisons of Shandong and Mukden to threaten the Chinese political axe, and to use the revolutionaries and Zongsocialists to subvert the Chinese political axe.

But what Zhiyi didn't expect was that the negotiations had not yet begun, and the news seemed to have leaked out!

At present, China's political axe seems to have been psychologically prepared for the methods that he can take.

"We welcome the withdrawal of the troops in Jiaozhou Bay from Jiaozhou Bay as soon as possible, and the Chinese political axe is willing to bear part of the cost of the withdrawal of the troops." Lu Zhengxiang immediately said, "I hope that your country's political axe can determine the withdrawal date as soon as possible." ”

Yu Zhiyi just wanted to speak, but the sudden noise outside startled him.

"I said I got out of China!"

"Give me back Qingdao!"

"Resolutely oppose the Twenty-One Articles!"

"What's going on?" Yue Zhiyi slapped the table, stood up suddenly, and asked Lu Zhengxiang loudly.

"What's going on?" Lu Zhengxiang looked at Yue Zhiyi with an innocent face, spread his hands, and asked rhetorically.

"Before the start of the negotiations, we have repeatedly warned your country's political axe not to spread the news of the negotiations to the outside world, otherwise all the consequences caused by your country's political axe will be borne by your country's political axe!" Said Zhiyi stared at Lu Zhengxiang deadly, "Didn't Chief Lu hear the voice outside just now?" ”

"I ...... This one...... Older people, their ears are a little less bright, what did you just say outside? Vice Chief Cao? Lu Zhengxiang turned his head and asked Cao Rulin, the vice minister of foreign affairs beside him, in a matter-of-fact manner.

"It's just a slogan that some students are shouting nonsense, just ignore them." Cao Rulin sweated on his forehead, he took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead, and said vaguely, "Please rest assured, Your Excellency the President, I and General Lu have been following the instructions of Your Excellency the Minister, and no one has leaked the news to the outside world. ”

"But now the news has leaked!" "Do you dare to guarantee that you don't have any responsibility at all? ”

"Our political axe has not relaxed its vigilance against the sabotage activities carried out by foreign spies in our country," Lu Zhengxiang pretended to be a little helpless and looked at Yue Zhiyi and said, "You also know that they are always pervasive......

Lu Zhengxiang's anti-general first army immediately had an effect, hearing him say this, Zhiyi was speechless for a while, he sat heavily on the chair, and looked out the window with a blue face.

Lu Zhengxiang's remarks show that China's political axe is also well aware of the recent bribery of Chinese political officials to steal intelligence, but it has not said it explicitly.

After a day of meaningless negotiations, he returned to the embassy in China in a rage, and as soon as he entered the door, he was told that the U.S. Minister to China, Reinsch, had come to visit.

Said Zhiyi was taken aback, he hesitated for a while, but still walked towards his living room.

Jiangxi, Shuanglong Town, Huangjia Compound.

“…… The only condition set out in this article to China is that although it is inevitable that China will be protected under this article, it is inconsistent with the open door policy advocated by Britain in China, and is contrary to the intent of the British alliance......"

Huang Shiyao slammed the newspaper on the table and let out a heavy sigh.

"This is what the British call 'justice,' Dad." Huang Shengyun looked at his father who was pacing there worriedly, and said, "We can't count on the interference of the great powers, in this jungle world, those who grow fangs only respect their own kind. ”

"If you don't accept it, you have to go to war!" Huang Shiyao looked at his son with some annoyance, "You young people, shouting and killing all day long, when it comes to fighting, you don't even have to fart!" ”

"My son has already decided to train in the military with my brother-in-law for a month, and then return to Beijing, not to drive the Japanese from the Yellow Sea, and vow not to return to his hometown." Huang Shengyun looked at Yang Shuoming, then at his father, and said firmly.

"Fart! How capable do you think you are! Huang Shiyao was furious and roared at his son, "You are dying for nothing!" Do you know? He pointed to Yang Shuoming, who was sitting there in a military uniform, "Yanjing has already come to order, and your brother-in-law is about to take his 5,000 men and horses north!" Let me tell you, don't look at him, the town guard, who has guns and cannons in his hands, it may not work if they go with so many people! ”

Seeing that Huang Shiyao was really angry, Yang Shuoming glanced at Huang Shengyun, and Huang Shengyun immediately stopped talking, just blinking his eyes and looking at his father unwillingly.

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