The weather in October is not too cold, and at the junction of Henan and Anhui, the temperature is not even colder. In 1908, before the leaders of China's two largest armed forces, cavalry on both sides had repeatedly patrolled the area around the meeting place. However, it is a little embarrassing that the military horses on both sides are marked with the Beiyang logo. It was a military horse from Beiyang origin and a military horse captured by the People's Party.

The meeting took place in a pavilion at the junction of Fuyang, Anhui Province, and Zhoukou, Henan Province. The two sides inspected the pavilion separately and then jointly inspected the pavilion. No bombs, no assassins. The almost earth-digging checks were conducted to protect the safety of the leaders on both sides.

The meeting was of little significance, and the meeting of the supreme leader was only to tell his subordinates on both sides that the direction of cooperation had been reached. The rest of the work requires a lot of communication and negotiation between the two sides. But its symbolism is too great to overstate. This is a formal gesture of cooperation. No matter how much disagreement and conflict there were between Beiyang and the People's Party, the two sides finally came together based on a common position against the Manchu diehards.

No matter how cautious the people below were, Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke were not afraid. Both of them have experienced too many dangers, and because they have borne the fate of too many people, they don't care about their own personal survival. When it was time to meet, Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke each brought two entourages and galloped towards the pavilion from both sides. Behind both sides were dense cavalry watching. It was not a peaceful meeting.

Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke had no intention of fighting to the death in the pavilion. They dismounted separately, saluted in the pavilion, and the two sat down. Yuan Shikai said with a smile: "I haven't seen Wen Qing for a long time, and I can't remember Wen Qing's appearance anymore." ”

"Yuan Gong is still the same as in Beijing." Chen Ke also replied with a smile.

"Wen Qing, I have always been puzzled by something. If you are so anti-Qing, why do you have to spend so much effort to negotiate peace with me? Yuan Shikai asked straight to the point.

Chen Ke smiled: "If Yuan Gong becomes the president, I can bow my head to Yuan Gong." But the Manchu people who were roosters and dogs were not worthy at all. ”

Although he knew that this was Chen Ke's flattery, Yuan Shikai was still very happy in his heart. He also smiled: "Wen Qing is a terrible posterity, and I also admire it very much." ”

Chen Ke put away his smile, "Yuan Gong, you are above me in terms of talent, and you have more experience. If I have some merits, it's just that I never follow anyone, so I can do things freely. Gong Yuan lived under Cixi for too long, and sometimes he did things with a look ahead and backwards, and it was easy for others to take the lead. However, now that Yuan Gong has decided to put the interests of Beiyang first, then I have no advantage at all. ”

Yuan Shikai is such a smart person, he knows the meaning of Chen Ke's words as soon as he hears it, "Wen Qing said that he still refused to let go of the Manchu Qing." This dedication is indeed incomparable to me. ”

"If we don't destroy these moths in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there will be no way out for China. In this regard, Yuan Gong must have felt very deeply. Chen Ke replied calmly.

Yuan Shikai just smiled, but did not continue the topic. "Wen Qing, since I am the pro I mentioned to you, then I can't ignore the affairs of the He family. Don't worry, there are people in the capital to take care of the He family. ”

Chen Ke was not too surprised by Yuan Shikai's statement, "Thank you Yuan Gong." If Yuan Gong has any orders, what I can do, I will definitely serve Yuan Gong. ”

Yuan Shikai originally wanted Chen Ke to do things, so he also went straight to the topic, "Enming let you kill it, this person can't be resurrected after death." But can you send Enming's coffin and his family together? I can give an explanation to the people in the capital. ”

"Does Yuan Gong still have anyone else to want?" Chen Ke then asked.

"Oh? Who does Wenqing want? Yuan Shikai said with a smile. This kind of transaction is all one-on-one, you let me one, I let you one. Chen Ke opened his mouth first, and Yuan Shikai had an excellent grasp of the asking price.

"The Liberation Society has a lot of connections with our People's Party. When I was in Shanghai, Mr. Qiu Jin took care of me in many ways. Now that Yuan Gong's subordinate Duan has conquered Zhejiang, can you return Mr. Qiu to me. "Even if Chen Ke can't let the Liberation Society participate in the changes that dominate the situation in all of China. He was also unwilling to ignore the Restoration Society. Not to mention anything else, Tao Chengzhang has been making trouble with Chen Ke for a while, and Chen Ke has to help.

This request was not a trivial problem, Yuan Shikai didn't think about how to ask Chen Ke for a while. Chen Ke asked for more than just Qiu Jin, and if Qiu Jin was released, the other captured Restoration Society personnel could not be killed. As far as Yuan Shikai knows, this is a collection of hundreds of people. After thinking about it, Yuan Shikai replied: "Wen Qing, the person you ask for restoration, Qiu Jin, I can give it to you." I can even give you the hundreds of people who were caught. However, if you give someone to you, you have to guarantee that the Liberation Society will not return to Zhejiang for a year. Can't trouble my third town. ”

This is also quite excessive, Chen Ke directly refused, "It is a private matter between me and Mr. Qiu, not a public matter." So I can't get involved in the affairs of the Liberation Society. ”

Yuan Shikai could understand Chen Ke's thoughts very well, and he nodded, "In that case, I can let Qiu Jin go." But please Wen Qing bring a message to the people of the Liberation Society for me, and ask them to send someone to meet me. And I'm also asking now, is Wenqing going to intervene in the matter between me and the Restoration Society? ”

"Since I have an agreement with Yuan Gong, I will not interfere wherever Yuan Gong goes." Chen Ke replied immediately.

Yuan Shikai laughed, "Wen Qing is really a person who believes in his word. ”

Many people always think that the talks between the top leaders will talk about something profound, but in fact, the negotiations between the two sides are only to make clear the basic positions of each other, and the two sides do not talk about the specific details at all. The two of them only need to assign specific tasks to the next head. On the contrary, some personal matters that are very close to the leaders of the two sides can be discussed openly and frankly. Chen Ke couldn't let people rescue his father-in-law's family and Qiu Jin in Beijing. Yuan Shikai led his troops into the base area to seize the coffin of Prince Qing's son-in-law Enming, which was obviously unrealistic. As for personally sending a message to the Liberation Society, it is even more unlikely to be effective. So in this meeting, there is an opportunity to solve these tricky little things.

Since they have determined a lot of positions, they have resolved their own private affairs. The two agreed on the person in charge of their next specific contact, and then left.

The protagonists of the meeting are relaxed, but the people who come with them are nervous to death. Whether it was the cavalry of the People's Party or the cavalry of Beiyang, the officers were strictly ordered to maintain absolute discipline. However, on the one hand, it is necessary to strictly prevent people on their side from causing misunderstandings on the other side, but they must always monitor whether the other party has any abnormal movements. Although the meeting was not long, everyone in the cavalry on both sides was sweating profusely. Seeing that the leader of their side came back safely, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yuan Gong, what did Chen Ke say?" Accompanying Yuan Shikai was Cao Kun. Duan Qirui was not there, Wang Shizhen had to sit in Henan Mansion, and although Cao Kun had a rough temperament, he was an excellent guard commander and cavalry commander. But this rough character is also shown at this time, if it is Wang Shizhen or Duan Qirui who comes together, the two of them will definitely not ask such a level.

Yuan Shikai snorted, "Come over in a few days and transport Enming's coffin back to Henan for me." ”

"That's all?" Cao Kun continued to ask. Ever since he learned of this political arrangement of inter-provincial autonomy, Cao Kun has been full of interest in it. Among the Beiyang generals, Cao Kun was the first one to take the initiative to go to Feng Xu to find out the news. After learning in more detail about the strong autonomy of the provincial authorities after the autonomy of the provinces, Cao Kun's heart was overjoyed. None of the Manchu feudal officials had such power. Let Cao Kun betray Yuan Shikai, he naturally didn't have the courage. But as long as he can get Yuan Shikai's approval and become the future overseer of a province, he will be a real soil emperor.

Therefore, in the negotiations with the People's Party, Cao Kun tried his best to show an attitude of being the leader of Yuan Shikai, and at the same time resolutely hoped to implement the political model of inter-provincial autonomy.

Yuan Shikai knew this, Cao Kun was just because the city government was relatively shallow, and he showed it clearly. Regardless of their attitude toward the People's Party, the Beiyang generals had a strong interest in the autonomy of the provinces. At this point, as long as Yuan Shikai dared to grant these people territory, they would dare to break into the sea of fire and do anything against the Manchus and all the forces that dared to prevent these people from gaining status. This can also be said to be a sense of "military heart available", but Yuan Shikai wanted to smile bitterly. The human heart is so fragile. No wonder Chen Ke was able to rise in such a short period of time, even Feng Xu, who defected to Chen Ke halfway, did not show such impatient eagerness.

"Hmph, let's go back." Yuan Shikai threw Cao Kun a cold face and urged the horse to leave. Cao Kun received this treatment, but he sobered up, he shouted to the horse team, and then galloped away after Yuan Shikai without saying a word.

After Chen Ke returned to Fengtai County, all the cadres of the Central Committee of the People's Party had rushed back to Fengtai County. At the Central Committee meeting held by Chen Ke at that time, the number of attendees of the Party Central Committee was only a minimum. Now Chen Ke has given an order, members of the Central Committee of the whole country, all those who can come back will come back for a meeting. When the news spread to various localities, except for the troops in Hubei, who were unable to leave, they only sent one member of the Central Committee and one representative of the party committee to rush back to the base areas. Shang Yuan, Chen Tianhua and others from the Shandong base area hurried back to the base area.

The magnitude of this change can be described as a bolt from the blue. The front foot also worked hard with Yuan Shikai, and an agreement was reached between the two sides in a blink of an eye. Don't say that the comrades who did not attend the last meeting, even the comrades who participated in the last meeting felt incredible.

"The recent military work is like this, before Yuan Shikai led his troops to the north, we mainly carried out the work of seizing Hubei and Jiangxi. Once Yuan Shikai goes north, we will immediately withdraw the troops in Zhili. Then it entered the northern part of Jiangsu to fight. Capture a Xuzhou as the center of the northern Jiangsu region. And seize Lianyungang. Chen Ke proposed a military strategy.

Many comrades thought that the People's Party's peace talks were a disguised surrender, but after listening to Chen Ke's arrangement, this worry was immediately dispelled. According to this arrangement, the range of sorties of troops far exceeded what had previously been planned. The scale of the military operation was several times larger.

Hua Xiongmao originally heard that Chen Ke was going to "negotiate peace" with Yuan Shikai, but he was scared into a cold sweat. Now that he heard the plan, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Chairman Chen, you're going to tire us." ”

"If you can be tired to death, then I think I can make everyone tired again." Chen Ke smiled, "Eight to ten years from now." We will have a myriad of work to do. Party building, agriculture, industry, education in the new base areas. and preparations for war to liberate all of China. Let's prepare to be tired and tired. ”

As soon as he heard that the whole of China had been liberated, Zhang Yu's eyes flashed with a cold light, "Chairman Chen, after eight to ten years, Beiyang has occupied a comprehensive advantage. At that time, we were tired and tired, so I was afraid that we would make dishes for Beiyang. ”

"Comrade Zhang Yu, what you said is not right. Beiyang can't beat us now, and it is impossible to beat us in the future. Hua Xiongmao immediately began to retort.

"No matter how much we expand now, we will only have four times the territory we have now. At that time, Beiyang controlled the whole of China. We're so good? One beats ten. Zhang Yu has a-for-tat attitude.

"When we first arrived in Anhui, there were only a few people? More than 100 people. Anhui has a population of more than 10 million. According to you, we're really just that good, we have to fight 100,000 each. Hua Xiongmao immediately retorted.

was caught by Hua Xiongmao in an illogical place, and Zhang Yu was not annoyed and angry. He asked Chen Ke, "Chairman Chen, I don't understand. Even if we cooperate with Beiyang temporarily, there is no need for us to cede the area south of the Yangtze River. Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liangguang. It's not like we can't beat it. ”

This viewpoint is very marketable in the Central Committee, and the great martial arts of the People's Party are where the confidence of all comrades lies. Just arrived at the base area of 100 people, but more than three years, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has already beaten only the mobile forces of the Beiyang family. Any province can only tremble before the BJP. There are already 3 divisions and 60,000 troops in the central base area, and there are more than 4,000 cavalry in the Shandong base area. Burning, killing and looting under the city of Beijing. With such strength, there is no reason for the People's Party to bow down to the North Ocean.

But it was Chen Ke who made the plan. Within the party, you can question anyone who is timid and afraid. But the only thing that cannot be questioned is that Chen Ke is timid and afraid. Chen Ke led his comrades to complete unimaginable military operations, raiding Anqing for thousands of miles, encircling and annihilating Li Yuanhong by land and water, breaking the three-way siege, and completely annihilating Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen. If you question Chen Ke's mistake, everyone thinks that it may be more reassuring to question that you are wrong.

Chen Ke nodded slightly with a calm face, everyone knows that this is a common performance before Chen Ke wants to say something that shocks his comrades. Sure enough, Chen Ke showed a hint of mockery on his face, his voice was calm at first, and quickly became fierce in the process of speaking, "Comrades, the enemy we are facing is not only the Manchu Qing. As China, we want to compete with the whole world. You think that our 60,000 or 70,000 people are amazing. In China, so to speak. But in Europe, a country with a big fart can mobilize three to five million troops. The equipment of every soldier in this army is no worse than ours, and each division of this army has several times more artillery than our entire base area! ”

Chen Ke's voice shook the entire conference room like thunder, and the scene he described made all comrades, including Zhang Yu, speechless.

"Yes, we have a population of more than 12 million. But these 60,000 soldiers are at our limit. These 60,000 troops fought to Henan in the north, Hubei in the west, Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, and Jiangxi in the south. The entire south of the Yangtze River? If you go south to the southernmost part of Jiangxi, the food supply will be cut off. Now people think that we are referring to where to fight, and that is because we rely on water transportation. Without these captured little steamers, how do you transport troops and food? Separated from the waterway supply, taking the mountain road can drag us to death! What should I do if I don't have anything to eat? Shall we be bandits? ”

All the comrades who had optimistically estimated the revolutionary situation wilted, and even Zhang Yu bowed his head. However, Zhang Yu is Zhang Yu after all, and he quickly raised his head, "Chairman Chen, what I said earlier is wrong. I will never have this wrong idea again, I reflect. ”

Chen Ke nodded, he exhaled, calmed his excitement, and then continued: "Comrades, the revolution is in stages. Just as elementary school has elementary school homework, and middle school has middle school homework, when you go to university, you have to learn not only knowledge, but also research methods. Just like we are in these small ditches now, such a small broken boat is enough. It's just a few small broken boats, we can't build them ourselves. Revolution is not only about fighting counter-revolution, but also about building. This construction is not only about industry and agriculture, but also about ideology in the future. Personally, I think that in the next eight to ten years, we will be able to build this piece of land that we have carved out to the level of Europe. I don't think that's going to be possible. ”

The cadres here Yan Fu and Pu Guanshui have gone abroad to see it, and they nodded slowly after listening to it. Chen Ke's standards are really not low. If this land can have the level of Europe, the reunification of China is really a matter of a snap of a finger.

"In Europe, with such a large territory and such a large population, it has to be Germany. Germany, the country, mobilized, can have 3 million troops and more than 100,000 artillery pieces. The navy can have hundreds of warships of several thousand tons. There can be forty or fifty warships of tens of thousands of tons. One such warship would have to use tens of thousands of tons of steel. That is, Germany alone spent 10 million tons of steel on the construction of warships. Ten million tons, comrades. So far, we have not used much steel in the entire base area, and even less iron. It adds up to less than 200,000 tons. Only one-fiftieth of Germany. It is not enough to expand the territory without engaging in construction. ”

The comrades of the Central Committee had all kinds of attitudes, but at this time, they were all frightened by this huge gap. Everyone was silent, and they originally wanted to follow Zhang Yu to question Chen Ke, but at this time, they felt even more ashamed, and they couldn't wait to bury their heads under the table.

"In eight to ten years, everyone will work hard, and I think three million tons of steel production per year can still be achieved. And in this new large base area, if the children can go to school, and the adults start to study, I think there will still be millions, or even tens of millions of high school students. Chen Ke's tone became a lot soothed at this time, no longer angry, but trying his best to persuade his comrades. The number proposed by Chen Ke not only greatly stimulated the comrades, but also brought them great hope and confidence. The production of three million tons of steel a year sounds exaggerated, but this is what Chen Ke said. Invisibly, the comrades felt that it was possible to achieve it.

Chen Ke continued to calm down before continuing: "But to carry out such large-scale construction, we need a peaceful environment. If the ruler of China is the Manchu Qing Dynasty, then it will not work, and if we do not engage in construction, we must first defeat the Manchu Qing Dynasty. If the titular ruler is Beiyang, I think it's still acceptable? After all, Beiyang is also a relatively modern group, and he will also engage in industry and construction. Moreover, Beiyang is from a Western-style background, and they know how to deal with countries around the world. In this regard, we still have to learn from Beiyang. And these people in Beiyang are not traitors in their bones. If conditions permit, they will also do their best to protect China's interests. The final result of the revolution will certainly be the final leadership of our People's Party, but we must be able to endure the long and arduous process of the revolution. ”

"Chairman Chen, how will we deal with Beiyang in the future? According to you, they are advanced. It was Chen Tianhua who asked. This former "radical" revolutionary was already the director of the political department of the Shandong base area. When other comrades did not dare to speak up, Chen Tianhua was not frightened.

Chen Ke finally smiled, and he replied: "Beiyang is advanced, and the knowledge they have now and the many methods they will take in the future have something we can learn. However, Beiyang's system is much more backward than ours, and my view of Beiyang is that I saw him raise Zhu Lou, I saw him feast guests, and I saw his building collapse. ”

"Haha." Some comrades with a strong sense of humor could not help but laugh when they heard these last words. Chen Ke's contempt for Beiyang made everyone's confidence even more inflated.

Seeing that the dull and depressing feeling has dissipated a lot, Chen Ke has regained his usual calmness, "Comrades, construction is harder than destruction. If we want to promote the revolution in the most effective way, I believe that the most important thing is to work hard to improve internal skills. Looking back at our revolutionary work over the past three years, we can see that the forces spent on construction far exceeded those spent on military struggle. It can be said that without these constructions, we would not have won military victories again and again. Without our in-depth and extensive integration with the people, it would not have been possible to have such a vast base area as we have now, still less have so many troops. Now that we are about to embark on the political stage of the whole of China, and in the future we will also embark on the larger stage of the whole world, and I think it is necessary for us to strengthen our capacity to build more. This is the fundamental reason why I think we want to reach an agreement with Beiyang. ”

Yan Fu began to applaud, followed by Pu Guanshui, Hua Xiongmao, Yuwen Badu, Ren Qiying, and soon all the comrades of the Central Committee began to applaud enthusiastically. Chen Ke did not fail to live up to the trust of his comrades, he still traveled the responsibilities of a party leader, chose the path for the party, and explained to the party Central Committee what the reasons were.

Chen Ke waved his hand, and the applause quickly subsided. As is customary, Chen Ke should continue to fulfill his obligations to the Party Central Committee, after determining the direction. Work out the implementation steps with the comrades.

"Comrades, now we seem to have reached an agreement with Beiyang, but we must also be prepared for Beiyang to turn around at any time. Preparations for military struggle must not be slackened at all. The organization of Beiyang was originally a very loose alliance, Yuan Shikai was used to being a slave, and he was not used to letting him rise up and be the master of his own house. I'm not sure he'll give you a step back. We can't have illusions about them. ”

As soon as Chen Ke finished saying this, the conference room was already bursting into laughter, this is the familiar Chen Ke, the leader who will never pin the fate of the party on others. It is also the leader who everyone is willing to put his life in his hands.