China said that the two sides coincidentally used the sea to break the war, and the two warring sides have not yet expressed their positions, and the Western powers can't stand it first! Britain first put on the posture of a mediator and demanded peace talks.

Yuan Shikai was already terminally ill, and the continuous episodes of renal colic made him worse than death, and newspapers and magazines around the country fanned the flames, unanimously accusing Yuan Shikai of preserving his strength when the national disaster was at hand, and poor old Yuan was indistinguishable on the sickbed, sometimes unconscious and sometimes sober. Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma, who deliberately incited public opinion against Aritomo Yamagu, was not much better than him, and the news that the navy had lost five ships and that a wing of the Kumamoto Division had been completely annihilated by the Jianghuai Army was revealed by the "Toei Newspaper". The bad news came one after another, two elusive Chinese cruisers went deep into the Gulf of Tonkin, sank two Mitsui & Co. merchant ships and then disappeared, and reappeared two days later, this time the unlucky First Fleet, whose troop carriers were sunk and more than 3,000 sailors were killed.

The Combined Fleet searched frantically, as far as the Kokurihara Islands, but found nothing.

The Second Fleet, which was 150 kilometers away from the coastline, was bombed by seaplanes of the Jianghuai Army, and the old battleship "Iwami" was besieged by more than a dozen seaplanes and received dozens of bombs, large and small, one of which was a 100-pound aerial bomb that pierced the upper deck, and the bombs exploded under the deck, and the shock of the distance caused the shells on the "Iwami" to be killed, and the extremely unstable Shimose gunpowder turned the entire warship into a steel-making furnace floating on the sea. The Russian warship captured by the Chinese army in the Russo-Japanese War nine years ago became the first battleship in human history to be sunk by the air force.

This is the masterpiece of the first seaplane aircraft carrier "Phoenix" manufactured by Guanghua Shipyard, and the "Phoenix" that went to sea on trial voyage did not intend to engage the Japanese army, but the seaplanes actually happened to discover the existence of the Second Fleet, and more than a dozen seaplanes went out together, and the warships of the two sides were still 100 kilometers away!

If it were not for the fact that the "Phoenix" was only going to sea for sea trials and did not intend to fight, so the ammunition was not well prepared, and the losses of the Second Fleet would have been even heavier.

To Okuma's surprise, Yama Prefecture did not beat the water dogs, but the army stepped forward to support the political axe at this time, which also gave him a precious respite.

In this battle, the political axes of both sides were losers, and Yuan Shikai and Okuma Shigenobu, who instigated the use of public opinion, were abandoned by public opinion and became alone. Spring in Tokyo and Yanjing is the same haze.

Zhongnanhai Huairentang was the same as in the past, and at half past eleven o'clock at noon, the sound of military music sounded on time, which was the signal for Yuan Shikai to have lunch. His diet and daily life are basically unchanged all year round, and they are very rigid. His daily routine is generally arranged as follows: get up at six o'clock in the morning, breakfast at half past six, breakfast is always a big bowl of shredded chicken noodle soup, go downstairs at seven o'clock to meet guests, and at half past eleven o'clock, the pattern of the meal is mostly the same, and his favorite steamed duck is indispensable; After lunch, I will rest for an hour, continue to work from 2 to 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and then take my family to take a walk around Zhongnanhai, eat at 7 o'clock in the evening, and go to bed at 9 o'clock, which is very regular.

Yuan Shikai's dress is also very rigid, never pay attention to it, except for the court robe and gown when he went to court, he generally only wears a short uniform at home, which is still his habit when training at a small station. Yuan Shikai generally does not drink alcohol, and only drinks some Shaoxing wine when the whole family gathers for the New Year; In addition to cigars, other cigarettes such as hookahs, dry tobacco, and cigarettes are not smoked, and opium smoke is hated deeply. Even when he was tortured by illness, he did not use opium to relieve the pain.

In the past few days, Xu Shichang, Duan Qirui, and Duan Zhigui, His Royal Highness who abandoned the army and secretly ran back from Wuhan, came to visit Yuan Shikai almost every day, and Yuan Shikai's eldest son Yuan Keding also asked for peace sooner or later, and any change in the old man's condition became the biggest thing in Beiyang. Duan Qirui also brought Xu Shuzheng, deputy minister of the War Department, over, Xu Shuzheng's thief's little eyes rolled wildly, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

The sound of military music sounded for a long time, but Yuan Shikai was not seen to go downstairs to eat, and the eldest son Yuan Keding was circling downstairs, like a cat scratching his heart.

Lao Yuan's condition is getting worse day by day, as the saying goes, "women are afraid of wearing hats, men are afraid of wearing boots", Yuan Shikai's feet are swollen and he can't even get out of his boots, and it seems that he will not have a few days to live. A small kidney stone, just because he was shy about illness and avoided medical treatment, felt that it was indecent to take off his pants and perform surgery, and as a result, he became uremia.

According to the Presidential Election Law, which has just been enacted, the successor president should be recommended by the previous president, and the recommended list should be written on the "Golden Harvest Golden Slip", which in turn is hidden in the "Golden Stone Room" and cannot be opened until the death of the previous president. As for whose name is written on it, only Yuan Shikai knows.

Yuan Keding was anxious, always worried that once the old man kicked his legs, he would open "Jiahe Jinjian" but it was not his name. If it is a peaceful season, naturally there is no need to worry, the old man will definitely let himself take over, but now that the Jianghuai army is pressing step by step, the form is difficult to estimate. He peeked at Lao Hanlin Xu Shichang and Army Chief Duan Qirui and His Royal Highness Duan Zhigui. Among these three people, Duan Zhigui must be out of play, not to mention that his godson is his own son who left the army and ran back, which is also self-destructing his future. Xu Shichang and Yuan Shikai have been friends for more than 30 years, and Yuan Shikai has deep trust, and at the same time, he is also very old in the Beiyang system, but he has never been in charge of the army, and the Beiyang generals are not convinced by him. Duan Qirui has always been the No. 2 person in Beiyang, and has served as the army chief for a long time, and also served as the temporary acting prime minister for a period of time, and his qualifications and prestige are only below Yuan Shikai.

I'm afraid Duan Qirui is the biggest competitor, but this guy has been cultivating his own power, and he is very jealous of Yuan Shikai, and Xu Shuzheng, the deputy head of the War Department standing beside him, is even more annoying to the old man, maybe because of this, he lost trust in the old man's heart.

Yuan Keding thought about it left and right, and beat the drum in his heart.

Seeing Yuan Keding's restless appearance, Xu Shuzheng couldn't help but laugh, and lowered his voice and said: "At this time, the eldest prince is still thinking about the throne of the president, which is ridiculous." ”

Duan Qirui knew Xu Shuzheng's temper too well, glared at him and said in a low voice: "I am cautious again, the eldest prince is concerned about the president's condition." ”

Xu Shuzheng sneered: "I hope so." ”

The present form is extremely unfavorable to Beiyang, especially yesterday afternoon, the "Declaration" published another earth-shattering article, the Republic of China political axe envoy Lu Zongyu counterattacked, and provided the newspaper with a draft of the secret telegram from the presidential palace, proving that Yuan Shikai ordered him to accept the 16 secret orders in full, and at the same time there was also a secret telegram sent to him by the War Department, asking him to delay as much as possible, and at the same time, there was also a secret telegram from Cai Tinggan, a military adviser to the presidential office, threatening Lu Zongyu that if he dared to accept his own conditions, he would assassinate Lu Zongyu.

At the end of the article is Lu Zongyu's speech to the "Declaration": "Zongyu is not talented, and he must not sign this treaty of destroying the country and exterminating the species, even if it is ordered by the president, Lu cannot obey his orders, if he is forced to extort too much, Zongyu can only kill himself to thank the countrymen!" ”

When Yuan Shikai saw this newspaper, he fainted with anger, this newspaper confirmed Yuan Shikai's intention to betray the country, and at the same time pushed Duan Qirui, Lu Zongyu, Cai Tinggan and others to the throne of national heroes, it seems that Lao Yuan's final refusal to say that he was the credit of several of them.

Lu Zongyu's disclosure of this secret telegram can be regarded as a complete turn against Yuan Shikai, there have long been rumors in Beiyang that he has a close relationship with Huang Xing and others, but Lao Yuan has always trusted him with an attitude of employing people, but he didn't expect that at a critical moment, this guy stabbed Lao Yuan's heart.

The "Declaration" not only published the full text of Lu Zongyu's speech and the secret telegram he provided, but also published an editor's note, holding that Yuan Shikai's declaration of war against Yue was just an attempt to take the opportunity to eliminate the opposition forces in the country and push the country and the people into the whirlpool of war for his own selfishness.

Various newspapers and periodicals have reprinted it one after another, and many newspapers and periodicals have even turned out the old news of Yuan Shikai's betrayal of Tan Sitong, Li Hongzhang and the Empress Dowager Longyu, proving that Yuan Shikai has always been a two-faced and three-edged sword. The old and young remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty shook their pens and scolded Yuan Shikai in the newspaper.

After seeing Lu Zongyu's interview published in the "Declaration" for the first time, Duan Qirui's hands and feet were cold, and he was beaten down by Xu Shuzheng, Yuan Shikai is no longer the real power figure who can kill everyone in Beiyang back then, what is there to be afraid of a tiger who has lost his teeth?

Duan Qirui breathed a sigh of relief, thinking about the current situation in Beiyang, it is indeed the case. If the governor from Beiyang did not concurrently serve as the division commander, he could not command the troops under him. If the division commander is not a brigade commander, he will not be able to control the brigade below, and if the brigade commander is not also the regiment commander, he will not be able to control the regiment below. Yuan Shikai, the big president, is only an empty shell, which of his soldiers listens to him? Since his henchman Lu Jianzhang was transferred to Shaanxi as the governor, it is not easy for Yuan Shikai to kill people??? Most of the generals in Beiyang are still scholars, and except for Lu Jianzhang, no one is really willing to do this kind of dirty work.

The degree of the Beiyang military general's townification surpassed the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the civil officials were even more unbearable. The places where the officials of the Beiyang political axe talk about official affairs are basically in the eight alleys, and the more military affairs, the more they must choose a high-grade hall, and they can't talk about anything if they are not in the bitch's nest. When Yuan Shikai convened the meeting, not to mention the Beiyang generals who held military power, even the civilian personnel dared to refuse to attend the meeting because they slept too late playing the sparrow card at night??? The speed of Beiyang [***] is beyond everyone's imagination.

(To be continued)