Chapter 197 Mystery

Most of the people in the meeting left, and apart from the guards in this small meeting of the presidential palace, only Ruan Zhongshu, Cai Dinh Gan, Zhao Bingjun, and Duan Zhigui were left, and they were all worried about their left and right with telegrams.

"Humph! These southerners really don't know the times! Settle accounts with them sooner or later! ”

Duan Zhigui snorted a few times, and left the conference room with his hands behind his back, but instead of going to the main entrance, he went to the side door and chased his "godfather" Yuan Shikai.

"It's useless for Pu Dianjun to come forward, this Commander-in-Chief Zhao is eyeing the position of 'Governor of Sichuan', Zhao Erxun will die, Zhao Erfeng will die or not, it depends on how the center decides."

Zhao Bingjun said a few words in a strange manner, and then left the conference room through the side door.

"Yaotang, now the president trusts you the most, but you should tell me, why does he have to let Zhao Erfeng be the 'governor of western Sichuan'?"

Seeing Cai Tinggan start to sort out the documents on the desk, Ruan Zhongshu hurriedly pulled him back.

Cai Tinggan smiled bitterly and said, "I also know about this matter. ”

said that he said that, but he glanced at Ruan Zhongshu.

Nguyen Trung Shu understood. Long sigh. I left the conference room first.

Cai Tinggan finished sorting out the documents on the desk. Zhao hurriedly walked back to the conference room. He only said, "The president has an order." The meeting resumed in the afternoon. ”

Seeing Zhao Tou, he left the conference room without looking back. Cai Tinggan hurriedly followed. The guards closed the main entrance. Locked the door from the inside.

Cai Tinggan walked to the garden corridor and saw Ruan Zhongshu waiting in the garden. So I rushed up. I made a look. The two left the presidential palace behind Zhao Bingjun.

Out of the presidential palace, Bingjun got into a carriage. Leave first.

Nguyen Trung Shu pulled Cai Dinh Gan to the side of the road. asked, "Yaotang." You didn't finish your sentence just now. Can you always say it now? Why did the president not give an inch on the matter of the 'Governor of Western Sichuan'? It is to take this western Sichuan governor to divide the land rights of northern Zhao. There's no need to let a flag man take the position. ”

Cai Tinggan raised his hand and pointed to Zhao Bingjun's carriage, and said: "Actually, Zhao Zhi'an knows this matter best, but you also know who he is. ”

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. It's not early, it's almost noon, said the Six Nations Hotel. ”

Ruan Zhongshu knew that this was not the place to talk, so he pulled Cai Tinggan to take a carriage from the presidential palace, and the two rushed to Dongjiaomin Lane, booked a private room at the Liuguo Hotel, and ordered a few foreign dishes that Cai Tinggan loved to eat.

Before the main dish was served, Cai Tinggan had already shown his bottom to Ruan Zhongshu.

"In fact, the matter of 'Governor of Western Sichuan' is not only as simple as splitting power and cutting feudal domains, but also related to the funding of the Beiyang Army. A few days ago, you also knew about the Nanyuan garrison's salary, Xiang Cheng was very annoyed and calmed down the matter, and had to borrow a loan shark from the aftermath bureau to Qian Zhuang and the ticket number, although it is now to deal with the past, but there is no salary, who will give you your life? Now the Beiyang Army is changing its military system, and the troops have expanded to 15 towns, nearly 200,000 people, although many people are still bare-handed, but as long as they wear a military uniform, these people need a military salary, you can calculate, how much does the Beiyang military salary need per month? There is no way, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and now foreign debts cannot be borrowed, taxes from all over the country cannot be collected, and Xiangcheng has no choice. ”

"Of course I know about this financial matter, but what does this have to do with the appointment of the 'Governor of Western Sichuan'? Could it be that Zhao Erxun allocated the engulfed Sichuan-Han Road money to the Beiyang tent? The quid pro quo is to appoint Zhao Erfeng as the governor of western Sichuan? ”

Although Ruan Zhongshu speculated like this, he always felt that this speculation was a bit unsatisfactory.

Unexpectedly, Cai Tinggan clapped his hands and sighed: "Dou Zhan's mind is really alive, although your statement is not true, it is not far away!" That's right! Zhao Erfeng's 'Governor of Western Sichuan' was bought with silver, but the person who gave the silver was not Zhao Erxun, but Yi. ”

"Yi? Prince Qing? ”

Ruan Zhongshu was very surprised, he didn't expect that Yi, the Manchu prince who had long faded out of the world's sight, actually jumped out again, and this jump actually made Sichuan dark.

When the Manchu court did not fall, this Qing Prince Yi and the university scholar Natong partnered to open a company, called "Qing Na Company", this company monopolizes official hats, from the unqualified division to the best military aircraft, this "commodity" is a complete variety, wholesale and zero business, relying on this business, he Yi can make a fortune, saying that he is "rich and rival the country" may be an exaggeration, but at least in this Beijing and Tianjin area, if you talk about the wealth of money, no one can look at it, as for how much silver he made from this officialdom business, but no one can say clearly, Because the money is stored in foreign banks, I don't know if it is his name on the passbook.

However, the trade of this rì into the gold is over, the Manchu Dynasty collapsed, giving the "Qingna Company" a fatal blow, and the skin will not be attached to the hair? As the prince of the Manchu court, Yi ended his business at the right time, and sold the palace at a low price as soon as the Manchu royal abdication edict was issued, and moved his family to the Tianjin concession.

As for how Yi lived in the Tianjin Concession, but not many people know, after the revolution, the concession gathered a lot of such rich and noble banner people, under the wings of foreigners, they comfortably enjoy life, but also maintain a small circle of banner people, rarely exposed in front of the public, life is low-key and rich, and those poor flag people begging along the street are completely two worlds, luxury and leisure is no different from before the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, the only regret is the loss of political privileges.

Those who are accustomed to enjoying privileges will certainly not tolerate the loss of privileges, and this group of banner people and nobles are hiding in the concession and are extremely bored, and many people are dreaming of restoration, and the "Zongshe Party" that Xiao Gongwang's gang drummed up at the beginning also used the concession as a base to snarce the old and the young everywhere, and they are eye-to-eyeing with the Russian underworld figures and frustrated politicians.

However, Yi is a little different from other banner nobles Since the promulgation of the Qing abdication edict, Yi has lost interest in politics and has focused on industry

Tianjin opened a foreign car dealership, at least on the surface, he did not send people.

But politicians are politicians after all, one set on the surface, one set behind the back, this is their forte, no one knows what Yi's idea is to let his dormancy be just an illusion, maybe it is forced to do it, after all, in the eyes of the Zongshe Party, he Yi is the number one minister of the Great Qing Dynasty, no one wants to deal with him, even if he wants to restore, he can't find help.

How could such a disadvantaged prince suddenly become interested in the personnel appointment of the republic?

Ruan Zhongshu was surprised, and he couldn't figure out the relationship between Yi and Zhao Erfeng for a while, maybe the two had business dealings in the "Qingna Company", but that didn't seem to be enough to explain why Yi would support Zhao Erfeng in the matter of the "Governor of Western Sichuan".

"What do you want to do?"

Ruan Zhongshu came back to his senses and hurriedly asked.

Cai Tinggan put down the coffee cup and said with a wry smile: "You ask me? I don't know what the old prince is thinking. If you really want to know what Yi's idea is, why don't you go to Tianjin and ask him himself, after all, you have known each other in the past. ”

The taste of this ridicule is quite substantial, Ruan Zhongshu personally has no friendship with Yi, the reason why he is familiar with Yi is just to draw the line for Yuan Shikai, when Yuan Shikai relied on Yi's support all the way to the top, the people who contacted them were Ruan Zhongshu and Zhao Bingjun, Yuan Shikai and Yi could not be directly contacted, if the two met directly, it would become the target of the imperial historians.

After the fall of the Qing court, Yi and Yuan Shikai basically cut off contacts, one is that the two have no value to use each other, and the other is to avoid suspicion, after all, the two belong to different camps, although they are both Jiān ministers in the eyes of the banner people, but in the end there is still a difference, Yuan Shikai is the provisional president of the republic after all.

Seeing Ruan Zhongshu's confused expression, Cai Ting sighed dryly: "Don't say it's you, even I can't figure it out, why did this Yi use his own money to buy an official for Zhao Erfeng?" After thinking about it, it may only be attributed to Yi being a 'conscience discovery', and he felt that the banner man had been wronged, so he wanted to buy a seat for the flag man in the republican zhèngfǔ, and by the way, he threw off the hat of 'jiān minister' on Yi's head. ”

Ruan Zhongshu shook his head and said, "Who is Yi?" Old fox one, would he think so? Flag man? If he had feelings for the flag man, he would not have sold so many official hats back then. I understand this person, he is a fan of money, and in his eyes, this silver is much more important than the Qing Kingdom. ”

"'Conscience discovery', this is not what I said, this is what Zhao Zhi'an told me, of course I don't think so, but if you don't understand it like this, how can you solve it?" Cai Tinggan smiled bitterly.

"Did Zhao Zhi'an say how much silver Yi gave? In what name? ”

"It seems to be this number. As for the name, it's not clear. ”

Cai Tinggan stretched out his hand, spread his fingers, and flipped his palm a few times.

"One and a half million taels of silver?" Ruan Zhongshu frowned, even in the former Qing Dynasty, the Minister of Military Aircraft and the Governor of Liangguang together were afraid that they would not be able to sell it at this price.

"At least that's a lot, a little more. However, the first one was given 500,000 taels of silver, and the rest was said to be given after Zhao Erfeng took office. ”

Speaking of this, Cai Tinggan also shook his head and sighed: "One and a half million taels of silver to buy a 'Governor of Western Sichuan', this price was placed in the past, enough to buy half of the military aircraft. ”

The more Ruan Zhongshu thought about it, the more strange he felt, and asked in a low voice, "This matter was handled by Zhao Zhi'an?" ”

"Him?"

Cai Tinggan shook his head and said, "He is only assisting from the side, and the bill of exchange for the silver was transferred to Xiang Cheng by Sun Baoqi." There is no way, now Beiyang is in financial difficulties, and even the army can't be maintained without silver, and Xiang Cheng received this silver to maintain the situation in Beiyang. ”

"This is drinking to quench your thirst!"

Ruan Zhongshu sighed bitterly, in fact, what he really wanted to say was "Li Ling Zhi fainted", but the words came to his mouth and swallowed back, Yuan Shikai was not easy, in the final analysis, this silver was accepted to maintain the Beiyang group, not in his own pocket.

It was only now that Ruan Zhongshu suddenly realized that the appointment of the "Governor of Western Sichuan" was a new business of the "Qing Na Company", what "decentralization", what "cutting the domain", what the British minister supported, what the minister did not oppose, all these were excuses, and what Yuan Shikai really valued was the silver issue and the financial issue.

"Drink ~ quench your thirst? If you don't drink it, you will die of thirst immediately, and if you drink it, you can live a few more times, and if you find a panacea for poisoning, you may not be poisoned to death. ”

Cai Tinggan picked up the coffee, and before he could move it to his mouth, he saw Ruan Zhongshu standing up.

"What do you do?"

"I'll go to Sun Baoqi and ask him to see what mystery is hidden in this matter.

I always feel that this 'Governor of Western Sichuan' is very strange, and it is by no means as simple as Yi's 'discovery of conscience'. Now Xiang Cheng is already anxious about financial matters, and he is stumbling, and if he is not careful, he will fall into the road, which makes people plot. Now the situation is chaotic, the interests of all parties have not been clarified, there are many people fishing in troubled waters, we are subordinates, no matter how we say it, we have to help Xiang Cheng. ”

"Gotcha! Let's eat this foreign food next time, I will go to the Sun Mansion with you, and I also think that the matter of 'Governor of Western Sichuan' is very strange. There are too many people staring at Xiangcheng now, so we have to be careful. ”

Cai Tinggan and Ruan Zhongshu left the Six Nations Hotel and took a carriage to Sun Baoqi's apartment.

When he arrived at Sun's mansion and handed over the post, the porter told the two that Sun Baoqi took the train south to Tianjin at noon yesterday, and it was not clear when he would return to Beijing, and he didn't know what to do in Tianjin, but he just promised to hang up the posts of the two, and he would submit it after the master returned home.

Ruan Zhongshu and Cai Tinggan could only give up, remembering that they would have to hold a meeting at the presidential palace in the afternoon, and this mystery of the "governor of western Sichuan" could only be discussed after Sun Baoqi returned from Tianjin.