The meeting between Xia Jun and Yuan Shikai soon began, during which Yuan Shikai complained that he had no money, and said that if the salt tax was not collected, he might not even be able to repay the loan.

Xia Jun said to Yuan Shikai: "On the issue of central finance, I suggest that the president cut spending, especially punish corruption, as long as corruption is punished, the tax will naturally come up." ”

"Chairman Xia doesn't know! The old man also wants to punish corruption, but the problem is that there is no way to start! Yuan Shikai said a little lazily.

If he is asked to punish corruption, doesn't that mean that he will fall?

A group of his subordinates are all bought by money, and the so-called wealth of the world is scattered with the people of the world, and the world will fall into your hands. This is what Yuan Shikai believes.

His magic weapon is to hold money in one hand and a knife in the other.

Those who are obedient are rewarded, and those who are disobedient eat knives.

However, Yuan Shikai's tricks all failed in Xia Jun.

Money? Xia Jun is not short of money, he is richer than Yuan Shikai, and Yuan Shikai's money can't buy him at all. Knife? If Yuan Shikai has a knife in his hand, then Xia Jun has a machine gun in his hand.

"Besides! At present, all provinces do not pay taxes to the central government, and it is really difficult for the central government to maintain its finances. Yuan Shikai said.

"It turns out that the president collects the salt tax because the local taxes cannot be paid, which is not difficult, although the president uses a knife against the local overseers, my East China Autonomous Political Axe has always been politically neutral." Xia Jun said casually.

Yuan Shikai heard the spirit and hurriedly asked, "Is this true?" ”

"Naturally, it's serious, but it's ......" Xia Jun groaned, Yuan Shikai looked at it and said, "Everything is easy to discuss." ”

"It is in the interests of the people of Anhui that the whole province of Anhui is included in the management of our East China Autonomous Political Axe, so Ni Sichong must withdraw from Anhui. Besides, our East China Autonomous Political Axe must have the power to fight drugs in the whole country, and the president probably doesn't know! He said that he was selling drugs to China on a large scale, and we ourselves were cultivating a large number of drugs, so that the people would become weaker and weaker. Xia Jun said his conditions.

Yuan Shikai thought that he was finished, but he didn't expect Xia Jun to continue: "In addition, the tax of our East China Autonomous Axe enterprises investing in other provinces cannot be higher than 5%, and at the same time, the president must open up the provinces for investment, and they are not allowed to set up checkpoints in the provinces to collect commodity tolls. ”

"This ......" Yuan Shikai listened to these conditions, and hesitated a little, if he really agreed to these conditions, then the East China Autonomous Political Axe would be stronger.

But the problem is that if you don't agree to these conditions, the Beiyang political axe will not be beneficial.

Suddenly, Yuan Shikai reacted, it turned out that in this meeting, this kid meant to carve up the world with the central government, which was obviously beneficial to both sides.

"Also, the president must sign this treaty." Xia Jun took out a document and handed it to Yuan Shikai.

This is a document called the "East China Provisional Covenant", and there are conditions in the covenant, which basically have nothing to do with politics, that is, they do not involve what the president should be in office for how many years, what powers the president has, and it does not involve any republican [***] distinctions.

What is involved in it is that the agricultural tax levied by the central government and the local government shall not be higher than 15%, and there are more than a dozen laws on commerce, all of which are convenient for Xia Jun to invest in other provinces, of course, theoretically the central government and other provinces can enjoy such convenience to invest in the five provinces of East China Autonomous Region.

At the same time, the East China Autonomous Government will have the power to crack down on narcotics and bandits throughout the country.

The soldiers of the central and local political axes are not allowed to rob, annihilate the common people, and sell drugs, etc., and the gendarmerie brigade is mainly formed by the East China Autonomous Political Axe, and the central and provincial governments cooperate to form a joint gendarmerie brigade.

In addition, led by the East China Autonomous Political Axe, the central and provincial governments have set up a national joint supervision yuan, which is responsible for supervising the corruption of officials, and corrupt officials can be dealt with in accordance with the Criminal Law stipulated by the East China Autonomous Political Axe.

Yuan Shikai took a breath of cold air, if he signed this agreement, wouldn't he be pulled away by the East China Autonomous Political Axe?

He naturally knew that the punishment of corrupt officials and corrupt officials had reached the level of the early Ming Dynasty, or even worse.

The press said that this kid was Zhu Yuanzhang's second.

It seems that this kid's hatred for corrupt officials has reached a certain level.

Yuan Shikai rolled his eyes, pointed to the article of the Joint Supervision Yuan and said, "I'm afraid this is inappropriate!" The old man is willing to sign, and other provinces are not willing to sign. ”

"If the president signs it, it doesn't matter if other provinces sign it or not, after all, the president can do whatever he wants. And if they don't sign it, they can call until they sign it, isn't the president worried that he won't be able to collect the money? That's a good excuse. Xia Jun smiled, and then whispered to Yuan Shikai: "Don't worry, Yuan Gong, we will give the central government time to adjust." However, Yuan Gongke is going to have a snack, China cannot be managed by a group of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and after the adjustment time, it will be another story. Then when I sing blackface, you sing redface in the same way. ”

The threat in Xia Jun's words was clearly revealed, but it reassured Yuan Shikai's heart.

"As long as the president signs this agreement, then our East China Autonomous Government will provide the central government with 5 million quintals of grain every year, and we can sell better arms to the central government, and no matter how the central government deals with the provinces, except for Shanxi and Guangdong, everything is whatever the president does, and we will absolutely remain neutral." Seeing that Yuan Shikai didn't speak, Xia Jun threw out a worthless bait again, and repeated the previous promise.

"Let the old man think about it." Yuan Shikai touched his forehead, and looked down at the "East China Provisional Covenant" again.

This was a spoils sharing conference, and the condition was that Xia Jun would not prevent Yuan Shikai from eliminating the division of the provinces, and at the same time provide 500,000 tons of grain to the central government every year, and could sell stronger arms to the central government.

However, Shanxi and Guangdong belong to the sphere of influence of the five autonomous provinces in East China, so the central government cannot move Shanxi and Guangdong. At the same time, Yuan Shikai must let Ni Sichong withdraw from northern Anhui, and give Xia Jun the right to crack down on drugs and bandits in the country, and at the same time take the lead of the East China Autonomous Political Axe, set up a joint gendarmerie brigade and a joint supervision yuan, responsible for the investigation and punishment of illegal acts in both military and political aspects.

Like any anti-narcotics and banditry are trivial matters, you can agree without thinking about it, but the gendarmerie and the Supervision Yuan make Yuan Shikai nerve-wracking.

"The president still signed it! Maintaining a good military and political system is beneficial to the whole of China, and does the president not want to see a more orderly China? If that's the case, I don't think the people will support such a president. Xia Jun took out a cigarette and lit it for himself, and said to Yuan Shikai slowly, full of threats in his words.

At this time, the East China Autonomous Government has absolute force, and it can influence who will be the president. When Yuan Shikai heard this, he immediately said: "You can sign it, but you can't let it go in northern Anhui." ”

Yuan Shikai still wanted to bargain, Xia Jun shook his head and said: "If the president is so stingy, it is better not to sign anything." You must know that the president signed this peace treaty, take the map and count, the president can have eighteen provinces. There are only seven of the five provinces of our East China Autonomous Axe, plus two provinces in the sphere of influence. ”

Yuan Shikai wanted to say, let's switch positions and sit.

Xia Jun's seven provinces were richer than the eighteen provinces he could have.

But on the surface, it really can't be said, and the wealth of the three autonomous provinces in East China is also run by others.

"Okay, let's sign the sticky note!" Yuan Shikai thought about it and agreed, obviously the two sides are sons to divide the world, if he doesn't share it with him, he won't even get anything.

There are benefits for both sides to take.

This is oligarchy.

The two oligarchs divide up the limited resources and exclude the other participants, so that both sides get the benefits.

The talks were almost over, and they were supposed to be talks for five days, but after only two days of talks, the two sides reached a consensus.

I don't know who leaked the news, and when I learned that Xia Jun and Yuan Shikai were talking in Xuzhou, a large number of reporters came to Xuzhou to report on the talks.

In front of those reporters, Xia Jun announced the contents of the "East China Provisional Covenant", which the central political axe had already signed, and then waited for the provincial representatives to sign it.

As soon as the content of this "East China Provisional Covenant" was reported, it quickly aroused heated discussions.

Public opinion circles generally endorse this law, which mainly restricts narcotics, banditry, corruption, military discipline, provincial trade, and the upper limit of agricultural taxes.

No one questioned whether the establishment of the Gendarmerie Brigade and the Supervision Yuan led by the East China Autonomous Political Axe was qualified to do so, because the East China Army had the best military discipline and the East China Autonomous Political Axe had the most clean administration. Therefore, China cannot find a force more qualified to lead the construction of these two institutions than the axe of the East China Autonomous Government.

However, some people pointed out the limitations of this treaty, which basically does not stipulate how to go through the national system, how many years the president can be in office, how many years to hold a general election, and so on.

This was regarded by the Hangzhou press as one of the concessions made by the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, who exchanged the power of anti-narcotics, suppression of bandits, rectification of military discipline, and corruption on the condition that Yuan Shikai arbitrarily changed the state structure.

The newspaper's statement is indeed very correct, the main reason why Yuan Shikai signed this agreement is because there is no political content in the agreement.

This also means that once the "East China Provisional Covenant Law" is adopted, the "Nanjing Provisional Covenant Law" will not take effect, and politically, the "East China Provisional Covenant Law" has no provisions, just like you can't defecate anywhere, but people walk in the desert and there is no toilet, so there can be toilets everywhere, and he Yuan Shikai can also change the national system at will, without constraints.

Xia Jun naturally doesn't care how he changes the country's body, and when he really wants to be the emperor, someone will naturally jump out to deal with this Yuan Datou, if he is not the emperor, Xia Jun will naturally do whatever he wants.

In any case, if the law sets the maximum limit for taxation and controls the investigation and punishment of military discipline and corruption in his own hands, then he can ensure that his compatriots in other provinces are not arbitrarily oppressed, and the interests of the people can be protected to a certain extent.

At the same time, this covenant can also create a good business environment, coupled with the fact that he has the power to supervise officials, whoever dares to use his crooked brains against the businessmen of the East China Autonomous Political Axe faction, he can directly arrest people, and the arrest is justified.

…… At this time, the East China Autonomous Government launched a public trial of those war criminals.

The first to be tried was Zhang Xun, first of all, he was accused by the prosecutor of the crime of restoration, the evidence is that he himself has braids, of course, this cannot be judged to be restoration, after all, there are still many old and young widows of the Qing court in China today, but the problem is that Zhang Xun also requires all his subordinate officers and soldiers to keep braids.

So the prosecutor believes that this is an act of restoration.

At the same time, prosecutors accused Zhang Xun of arson and plunder, and showed many horrific photographs taken after the braided army.

Zhang Xun pleaded not guilty in a court-martial, but that didn't change his fate.

When the presiding judge pronounced the verdict, he convicted Zhang Xun of the crime of restoration, as well as the crime of arson and silver plunder, robbery, and forcible annihilation.

There is no evidence to convict Zhang Xun of committing the crime of forcible annihilation, but he set the army and plundered the silver, which is equivalent to robbing and forcibly destroying the silver, and besides, his subordinates robbed the annihilation silver there, how could he not participate as the leader?

"Because Zhang Xun's crimes have exceeded the bottom line that can be measured by the Military Law, the Criminal Law and other laws, and therefore constitute crimes against humanity, Ling Chi was sentenced to death and not executed in public." The presiding judge pronounced the verdict that the reason for the crime against humanity was the highlight.

In the past, the East China Military Court had never sentenced Ling Chi to death, and in addition, Zhang Xun was tried this time, and a suitable reason must be given, so the Ministry of Justice gave Zhang Xun a crime against humanity in order to complete the punishment given by Xia Jun.

Hearing this trial, Zhang Xun roared in court. He was quickly pushed to the ground by the police and dragged down.

The death sentences of Ling Chi and Peeling the Skin of the East China Autonomous Political Axe were all carried out in private, after all, the scene was very bloody.

Zhang Xun is very disgusting, he himself is a Han man, but his heart is extremely distorted, and he sees the Manchu Qing as a master worthy of his desperate loyalty.

But Zhang Xun was not picked up by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he was also born in a small station training.

It stands to reason that it was Yuan Shikai who promoted him.

But he was desperately loyal to the Manchu aliens, which made people very puzzled, so various newspapers were fiercely discussing this strange phenomenon, why Zhang Xun was a Han but had to serve the Manchus? What caused his slave surname?

Xia Jun read the debates in various newspapers, and expressed his opinion in the Fuxing Daily: "Because Zhang Xun is an orphan and was raised by his fellow villagers, he lacks love since he was a child, and a little favor can buy him, plus the ideological propaganda of Changlun Chaogang in the old society, so Zhang Xun found the wrong sustenance, but he didn't know the reason why he became an orphan, in fact, it was the darkness of the Qing political axe that created the bleak situation of his childhood." ”

Xia Jun's point of view has been widely agreed, a careful study of Zhang Xun's life experience will find that he is indeed lacking love since he was a child, that is, lack of warmth, so it is bound to cause his inner loneliness, coupled with the old society's monarch and minister's thoughts, and the Qing court promoted his official, so Zhang Xun felt very warm in his heart, and Zhang Xun did not have any place for his thoughts to have sustenance, so the Manchu Qing Dynasty became his sustenance.

In-depth analysis will find that Zhang Xun is a person who knows how to repay kindness, but his thinking is very ignorant, and he also repays the wrong object.

…… After Zhang Xun, it was Feng Guozhang.

The East China Military Tribunal did not embarrass Feng Guozhang too much, although he listed a series of crimes, the most important of which was arson in Xiakou.

When asked if Feng Guozhang pleaded guilty, Feng Guozhang bowed his head and pleaded guilty.

However, the military court remembered that it was a special period in history, and at the same time had a good attitude in admitting guilt, so it reduced the criminal responsibility and sentenced Feng Guozhang to five years in prison and deprivation of political rights for five years.

Then the officers of the Braided Army will go to court to be tried, and the soldiers of these Braided Corps will be tried one by one and will face different punishments.

However, it is certain that with the ferocity of the pigtails, most of them will be sentenced to death, but there will also be a number of people who may be released.

As for Feng Guozhang's Second Army, it was handled differently from Zhang Xun's Braided Army, and the foreign officers and soldiers in the Second Army had already been pulled in and shot.

(To be continued)