The sound of the flute came from afar, and a passenger ship lit a cigarette from the channel of the Xiangjiang River, belching black smoke from every mile, leaving the small wooden boats scattered on the river unceremoniously.

Judging from the ship's side number, this steamship is a mixed passenger and cargo ship of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, with a tonnage of only four or five hundred tons, and can sail in the middle and lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River in summer.

Song Jiaoren stood on the foredeck of the passenger ship. I enjoyed the scenery on both sides of the Xiangjiang River with a few close friends around me, and talked a few words from time to time, and everyone was very excited.

The current "united front" is stronger than the small "Kuomintang" at the beginning, and not only has a large number of members, but also because Zhao Bei, commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, has assumed the leadership of this coalition party, this military strength is also enough to be proud of the north and the south. In any respect, it has become China's de facto largest political alliance, enough to compete with the Beiyang bloc in the north, and there is no doubt that it will win a complete victory in this congressional election.

Now the United Front has begun to draw up a list of cabinet members, albeit in accordance with the Constitution. The presidents of the various ministries of the Cabinet are nominated by the President, but if the nomination is not supported by the Diet, the Cabinet cannot be formed, and if the Cabinet fails twice in a row, the nomination power of the Cabinet President will automatically transfer to the Senate of the Diet. The United Front will be able to form a party accountability cabinet as it wishes.

Soong and his comrades are now full of ambition and can't wait to participate in the congressional elections, but there is still an important issue that must be resolved before the official congressional elections begin.

After all, the political organizations participating in this political alliance, such as the Confederacy, the Liberation Society, the Communist Advancement Association, and the Endeavor Association, all have their own armed forces, and if they fail to unify military orders, these armies will be scattered and will be crushed one by one by a strong enemy. ##。 Starter ##才能发挥他们最主要的作用一

Deterrence of the Beiyang Army.

However, the reorganization of these forces is not an easy task, and it involves not only financial issues, but also the interests of various political organizations, which cannot be resolved by a single proposal. Or should I negotiate and compromise.

A few days ago, Zhao Bei had already reorganized the troops of Yan Xishan and Li Liejun in Jiangxi into the united front. They were organized into the Eighth Division and the Ninth Division, with Yan Xishan and Li Liejun as division commanders, and at the same time. The "Southern Dúlì Division" of Tian Zhenbang, Yang Shaonan, Zhou Hongxun, Wang Zizhu and others also announced that they would join the United Front Armament, and Gong Chūntai's Xiangbei Revolutionary Army had been incorporated into the Republican Army sequence long before Yan Xishan and Li Liejun's troops were reorganized, and it was also a dúlì division, so if you count it, this is the revolutionary army of four divisions, and if you add the troops of the seven divisions of the Republican Army. The armed forces of the United Front have reached 11 divisions. More than 100,000 troops.

This does not include the strength of the Republican Army's Dúlì Cavalry Regiment and Artillery Brigade, as for the Revolutionary Guards, the temporary closure is not counted, if all these troops are also included, then the United Front has more than 200,000 armed forces, which is comparable to the strength of the army controlled by Yuan Shikai.

Although the quality of this combined armed force is uneven and its combat effectiveness is far from the same, it is undeniable that this army will become the most powerful backup for the "united front," and it is precisely the existence of this force that forces Yuan Shikai to think twice before choosing to use force to solve the revolutionary forces in the south. In Zhao Bei's words, this is called "strategic deterrence." ”

In order to enhance the deterrent effect, Song Jiaoren and his followers continued to run, intending to merge the troops of the League and the Restoration Society into the "United Front", and this time they rushed to Changsha precisely to discuss this matter with Zhao Bei.

After leaving Jiujiang a few days ago, Zhao Bei rushed to Hunan non-stop, nominally to solicit votes for the parliamentary election, but in fact it was still for the reunification of the armed forces of the United Front, but the person he wanted to meet was not the cadres of the League and the Guangfu Society, but Sun Wu, the leader of the Communist Association, and the place where the two met was Changsha City.

Originally, after Song Jiaoren finished his campaign parade speeches in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, he planned to meet with Zhao Bei in Wuhan as agreed, but when he rushed to Wuhan with people, he learned that Zhao Bei had not yet rushed back, so Suo Xìng took a boat from Wuhan, from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake, and then traced the Xiangjiang River to Changsha, to meet his immediate boss, Chairman Zhao.

"At the beginning of the year, Changsha has arrived."

Tan Renfeng's voice interrupted Song Jiaoren's thoughts, he raised his eyes and looked into the distance, the Changsha city wall was already in sight, and he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.

"Shiping, back then, we organized the Huaxing Society in Changsha City, and we were determined to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It's a pity that Teri's first uprising failed, otherwise the League might not have been established in Tokyo. ”

Seeing Song Jiaoren sighing, Tan Renfeng also sighed: "Yes, pinch your fingers, it's almost five years." In the past five years, comrades from various provinces have been following one after another, and there have been many sacrifices, and the comrades in Hunan have sacrificed their lives in the front, but Hunan has "paid attention to the seven." When the Huaxinghui uprising failed, the lack of discipline and leakage of news were certainly one of the reasons, but the more important reason was that the Manchu Qing Qi was not exhausted. If it weren't for the Russo-Russian War in the three eastern provinces. I am afraid that many young people will not wake up so soon, the Russian War has awakened many young people who are addicted to the dream of constitutional monarchy, and they have realized that in order to save this country, they cannot expect a group of Eight Banner masters, and only by overthrowing the imperial power can a new country be built. ”

The two sighed at the bow of the boat, and when they returned to the past, they were all panting.

The attachés did not dare to disturb their Yaxing, and without waiting for orders, they went to the cabin to pick up their luggage, and when the ship docked at the dock, they carried the luggage ashore first. And the military zhèngfǔ representative sent by Zhao Bei to greet Song Jiaoren and Tan Renfeng was led onto the ship and met with the two.

"Jingwu? Why are you here to pick us up? ”

Seeing the face of the visitor, Song Jiaoren was quite surprised, and Tan Renfeng also had the same expression.

That person is Hu iodine, and this person's identity is not ordinary. When Huang Xing initiated the organization of the Huaxing Conference in Changsha. He was the first batch of members to join the association, and Song Jiaoren, Tan Renfeng, are the elders of the Huaxing Society, he was only seventeen years old that year, when the Huaxing Society was preparing to hold an uprising in Hunan, sent Hu Yan to propagate revolutionary ideas in the school, but soon attracted the attention of the Qing court, he had to hide in Wuhan, Wu Luzhen, who was then the instructor of the Hubei General and School, took him in, and put himself into the Hubei New Army Engineering Battalion as a soldier, after the failure of the Huaxing Uprising in Changsha. Hu Yan couldn't stay in the Hubei New Army anymore. So he fled to Tokyo, where he came into contact with the League, and later returned to China and participated in the organization of the rì notification meeting, which was seized by the Qing court, and Hu Xu was arrested and imprisoned until the republican army recovered Wuhan. He was rescued, and then appointed by Zhao Bei as the director of the mayor's office of Wuchang Special City. Assisting Zhao Bei in handling civil affairs, after Zhao Bei became chairman of the United Front, he promoted him to be the Wuchang Special City

"The chairman of the committee came to Changsha this time and brought me with me, and the former rì received a telegram from you, saying that you were going to Changsha, so he sent me to pick you up."

Hu Mo was wearing a dress, his expression was shining, his eyebrows flew when he spoke, and when he stretched out his hand to gesture small, a shining badge pinned to the chest of the jacket attracted Song Jiaoren's attention.

"Jingwu, what kind of badge is that?. Song Jiaoren pointed to the micro-seal on Hu Iodine's chest.

Hu Mo took off the badge, presented it with both hands, and said: "This is called the "Republic Chapter" All military staff in Hubei, Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou must wear it, and my small badge is the first batch to be made. The chairman said that if the United Front wins the congressional elections, a law should be passed stipulating that every staff member in the country must wear this emblem, so as to imperceptibly embedding the idea of the republic in the hearts of the people. ”

"This badge is also chic. Is this made by a machine?

Song Jiaoren looked at the front of the badge and found that there were no more than two catties of small and eye-catching "republic" on the badge. There are a few lines of small characters on the back, but it is "the laborer has his gain, the dweller has his house, and the cultivator has his field" The handwriting is neat, which is exactly what Zhao Bei said at the inauguration ceremony of the Hubei Provincial Assembly.

"It was pressed with a silver dollar machine imported from abroad. When Xiliang was the governor of Sichuan. Misappropriated the "Hanlu money" and purchased a batch of machines for the manufacture of silver and copper dollars from Britain and Germany. But the machines were kept stacked in the warehouse. Some time ago, the chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC National Committee ordered people to transfer those machines from the fourth to Wuhan, intending to open a silver dollar and copper dollar manufacturing plant in Wuhan. It was made with that batch of machines

Hu Mo's words aroused Tan Renfeng's interest.

Tan Renfeng asked, "Are you planning to mint silver dollars by yourself?" ”

Hu Mo said: "Silver dollars and copper dollars must be minted by themselves. The chairman of the National Committee yesterday sent a telegram to the Presidential Palace and the Constituent Assembly, proposing to unify the national currency system, modeled after the Mexican eagle and ocean system. The silver dollar was minted uniformly to facilitate commercial trade throughout the country, and the front of such a silver dollar should be engraved with the head of Tao Huanqing (Tao Chengzhang) to commemorate this pioneer who dedicated his life to the cause of constitutionalism."

"Oh?" Tan Renfeng was surprised.

"This catty, the suggestion is good, Tao Huanqing was assassinated and sacrificed for the cause of the republic, and he should be commemorated like this." Song Jiaoren approved.

That's what the chairman meant. After Tao Huanqing's assassination, because the parliamentary elections have not yet been held. It can't be treated as a state funeral, so let's use this method to commemorate him, so that the people can always remember this pioneer who dedicated his life to the cause of republican constitutionalism. Two, it's not too early, let's go to visit the chairman of the committee, he is in Changsha today

Song Jiaoren and Tan Renfeng followed Hu Mo out of the passenger ship, did not enter Changsha City, but directly boarded a small fishing boat at the wharf and sailed towards the sand abyss on the Xiangjiang River.

That sandbar is called "Water and Land Continent." Because it is full of cuttings, it is also called "Nanzizhou".

At this moment, Zhao Bei, chairman of the United Front, pointed out the country on that sandbar and wrote passionately. The dung was ten thousand households.