"So what? We have issued a statement condemning the murder of Huang Yuansheng by Yuan Shikai's political axe faction, and most people will still think that Yuan Shikai killed him because he had refused to write an article for Yuan Shikai. The Chinese said, "As long as we don't admit it, the confessions of those people are nothing." ”

Hearing his words, the person himself sneered and did not answer.

"We need further help from the political axe," said the KMT leader, staring at the glaring black letters on the front page of the newspaper, in a voice that seemed to come from hell, "I will select some excellent party members to be trained by the intelligence department." Now that the revolution has entered an extraordinary period, extraordinary means must be employed. ”

Hearing the leader's words, the Chinese couldn't help but shiver slightly, and the girl in the kimono who was standing beside the leader noticed his uneasy movements, but she just glanced at him silently and said nothing.

At this moment, another young Chinese hurried in.

"What's going on? So flustered? The Chinese in the room rebuked dissatisfiedly, probably to hide the unnaturalness of hearing the leader's decision just now, and he coughed several times in succession as he spoke.

His movements had the opposite effect, and the coughing sound might have reminded the people around him of something bad, and everyone invariably focused their eyes on him.

"Are you feeling unwell?" The leader stared at him closely, and he was deeply moved by the look of concern in his eyes.

"No, no." He quickly shook his head and waved his hand to show that it didn't matter.

"Although the plague has been extinguished now, everyone should be careful." The leader regained his usual kindness and kindness.

Listening to the leader's words, the two Chinese nodded one after another, and when he heard the word "plague", his face showed indignation.

In his opinion, if it weren't for this sudden plague, he would have been able to defeat China and smoothly turn China into his protectorate.

"What's the matter?" The leader asked the young Chinese.

"Let's line with Germany...... ...... was discovered," said the young man, pale, handing a telegram in his hand to the leader.

Listening to his words, the Chinese in the room and Yue himself all changed color.

The leader's face was gloomy again, and he took the telegram and read it quickly, letting out a heavy sigh.

"How did the news get out?" The leader asked in a deep voice.

"It is likely that the last assassination attempt failed, and the information leaked by the captives......" replied the young man with some timidity, "the details are not clear......

"Is Lin Shen no longer in touch now?" The leader's face began to grow more and more ugly.

"Yes......"

"The funds promised by the Germans are important to us and we must not give them up." The leader held back his anger and did not flare up, but ordered in an irrefutable tone, "At all costs, we must also get these funds." ”

The two Chinese listened to the leader's order, and both nodded submissively and did not speak.

"This matter also needs the help of your country's intelligence personnel, please." The leader turned to himself and said.

"I want to know how much money is and if it's worth it." I asked unceremoniously.

"This fund, converted into my country's silver dollars, should be about four million yuan." The leader replied.

Hearing the number reported by the leader of the Kuomintang, the corners of his eyes jumped unconsciously.

"I will report to my superiors and make arrangements." He replied.

Seeing the leader sitting on the chair with some annoyance, holding her forehead with her hand, she seemed to be a little uncomfortable, and slowly stepped forward and gently rubbed the leader's temples with her hands, and the leader's face gradually soothed.

"Don't be anxious, sir, everything will be fine." The girl said softly in pure Chinese.

"Hmm!" The leader nodded, and suddenly reached out and took the girl's massaging hand, impulsively pulling her into his arms.

Los Angeles, USA.

"That's what we've achieved so far."

In a small living room, Shen Gaoyi handed Yang Shuoming a piece of paper with charts and figures written on it.

"Now you have $12 billion in capital," Mr. Shen said to Mr. Yang proudly, "and almost all of them come from the gold market." ”

Shen Wanyun, who was sitting on the sofa, carefully looked at the handsome young general in front of her, her big beautiful eyes were round, full of surprise.

She really couldn't imagine that the person who had repeatedly defeated the army and recovered Qingdao was such a young man.

"Very good, Mr. Shen really lives up to his reputation." Yang Shuoming nodded, with a look of satisfaction on his face, "These have far exceeded my expected benefits. ”

"It's my pleasure to serve you." Shen Gaoyi listened to Yang Shuoming's praise and smiled happily. Even though the other party was a young man much younger than him, he couldn't help but feel flattered.

"I can use this money at any time, right?" Yang Shuoming asked.

"Yes." Shen Gaoyi looked back at his daughter and said, "According to Xiao Nu's suggestion, all your wealth will be stored in the six most creditworthy banks in the United States, so that you can access it at any time." ”

"Thank you." Yang Shuoming nodded, and his eyes fell on the girl who had already stood up, "So, Miss Shen is also a master of financial management." ”

When the girl heard his approval, her face couldn't help but turn red, and she looked at him a little shyly, forgetting all the words she wanted to say just now.

"To tell you the truth, sometimes I can't get busy, and some business is handed over to the little girl to handle." Shen Gaoyi noticed his daughter's strange demeanor and immediately spoke.

Yang Shuoming looked at the bright and radiant girl in front of him, felt the strangeness of her gaze, and couldn't help but secretly laugh in his heart, he didn't want to embarrass the girl, but changed the topic and asked, "Miss Shen is good at financial management, she must be very concerned about current affairs?" ”

"Oh...... Right. When the girl heard his question, she came back to her senses and nodded a little flusteredly.

"When does Miss think the war in Europe will end?" Yang Shuoming asked.

Shen Gaoyi looked at Yang Shuoming with some surprise, not understanding how he could ask his daughter such a question.

"I think the war will probably end soon." Shen Wanyun calmed down, regained her calm and self-confidence, she thought about it for a while, and replied, "I think there will be many people in the American public who think the same way." ”

"I see." Yang Shuoming smiled slightly, "If that's the case, we can't put all our eggs in one basket like we did at the beginning." ”

"You're quite right, General." "If you want to invest in other areas, I can still help you." ”

"I haven't fully figured this out yet, but I'd love to hear from the American business community." Yang Shuoming said, "I will hold a cold dinner here the day after tomorrow, and I hope you and Miss Shen can come at that time." Yang Shuoming said, casually looking at Shen Wanyun, causing the girl's heart to beat wildly again.

"It's a great honor." Shen Gaoyi just wanted to say something more, but saw several Chinese in suits and leather shoes walking into the living room quickly, and he saw that there might be something important to discuss between them, so he pulled his daughter to leave.

Yang Shuoming personally sent Shen Gaoyi and Shen Wanjun's father and daughter out, and when he returned, a Chinese in a suit couldn't wait to say to Yang Shuoming: "It's done!" Checkmate! ”

"How much is it?" Yang Shuoming nodded and asked quietly.

"Four million silver dollars." The other party couldn't suppress the joy in his heart and replied, "It's already saved." ”

"Didn't ask what the money was for?" Yang Shuoming asked.

"According to the confession of those who were caught, it was the Germans who provided the funds for the activities of the revolutionaries," replied the other man, "and the Germans hoped that through the revolutionaries we would be prevented from participating in the war in Europe." ”

"When this money reaches them, I am afraid that it may not be used for the revolution, and it is almost the same as squandering their leaders." Someone sneered, "In the past, I said that the money I gave them was like this, but after I found out later, I refused to be a big wrongdoer." The Germans don't know this yet, and if they did, they wouldn't have spent this unjust money. ”

"It's not easy for them to get in touch from such a distance." Listening to the words of his subordinates, Yang Shuoming nodded thoughtfully.

"The Germans should have underground communications stations in the United States," said one of the subordinates.

"By the way, you're right, General, in Honolulu, there is a German [***] ship parked." Another subordinate said.

"We checked, and as you said, it's an old cruiser called 'Gore'." Another subordinate added, "They were detained by the Americans on October 19, 1914, when they went to Honolulu to refuel, and they have been there until now." ”

"Very well, now let's make good use of this German [***] ship." Yang Shuoming smiled faintly and said.

After listening to Yang Shuoming's words, several subordinates all looked at each other, as if they didn't quite understand what the "use" in Yang Shuoming's words meant.

Of course, they would not have thought that as a traveler who was very familiar with the history of naval warfare, Yang Shuoming still knew a little about the story of the "Gore".

"Gore" is an old single-chimney cruiser with a displacement of 1,650 tons, this old sail dual-purpose ship and the "Königsberg" from the German mainland after the development of the handover was ordered to Qingdao to join the German Navy's Eastern Fleet commanded by the famous German Admiral Count Spee. Due to the slow speed of the voyage, the war broke out before the "Gore" was still on the way, and Count Spee led his fleet south to fight in the waters of South America. After entering the war, he began to besiege Qingdao, and the situation of the "Gore" was very dangerous. The loss of contact with the group, the lack of armor protection, the few shells, the long service in the tropics, and the lack of maintenance made the speed of the voyage more and more sluggish, but the German officers and men on board did not flinch in the face of difficulties, and still decided to do the same as the water assault ship, cutting off and disturbing the British shipping routes in the Pacific.

Because the British Navy was unable to fully deploy in the global waters at this time, it asked the allies to send warships to take care of the backyard, and his own carelessness gave the "Gore" a great opportunity, so that this old warship actually made quite a lot of achievements and sank many British merchant ships (it must be said that many captains of the German Navy in World War I were both responsible and professional).

Like many German naval assault ships at the time, the Achilles heel was that it was often not replenished with coal during the voyage, so it sometimes had to go to the ports of neutral countries such as the United States to replenish its supplies. On October 19, 1914, when the "Gore" came to Honolulu to refuel, they immediately discovered two warships waiting for the rabbit here -- the 12,000-ton battleship "Hizen" and the 9,700-ton armored cruiser "Asama."

However, the captain of the "Gore" had a very good level of business, and he even sailed his own warship into the harbor before the warship launched an attack. Since the warships were unable to attack the "Gore" in the ports of neutral countries, they could only demand that the US side detain the "Gore" in accordance with the principle of neutrality on the grounds that the warships of Germany and the two sides were in a state of war. The Americans did the same.

Although it seems that the "Gore" has lost its role as a warship, Yang Shuoming knows that these German naval officers and sailors who are enjoying the tropical sun are not so pure, and now they have turned the warship into a communications relay station for Germany's secret diplomacy, and it is they who have helped implement the plan for the escape of German assets from the United States, and have played an important role in Germany's efforts to persuade Canada and Mexico to join the Allied camp. Although the latter ended in failure, the results of the former were quite good.

Now the Entente and the United States do not know the hidden mystery of this small German [***] ship, but Yang Shuoming intends to use the communication relay station of the "Gore" as the fulcrum to pry the wheels of the First World War and turn it in the direction he wants!

A few days later, in a villa on the beach, US President Wilson received a telegram with a strange content.

"We plan to restart negotiations with the Chinese side this month, and in the meantime, we will do everything in our power to keep China neutral." "If the negotiations are successful, we propose to form an alliance with the Honben on the basis of the following, fight in a coordinated manner, and jointly conclude world peace."

"We will provide a large amount of financial assistance to the Japanese people, and the Japanese will regain access to Manchuria, Mongolia and Shandong, and the details of the proposal will be drawn up by the Japanese side."

"Please try to inform the head of the political axe of this proposal as top secret, and encourage him to participate in this project immediately. At the same time, he will use his good offices for our negotiations with Ben. ”

"Please tell you that if our powerful fleet and the Tsumoto fleet join forces, we will have the strength to destroy the main force of the British fleet, and we will once again be as glorious as the victory of the Battle of Tsushima, and the British who have lost their fleet will no longer be our opponent. Even if the United States wanted to help Britain, it would be powerless. After the victory, Ben will become the master of Asia. There is no need to fear the United States anymore. ”

Wilson finished reading the telegram, his brow furrowed, and little by little he fell into deep thought.

After a long time, Wilson raised his head and asked the colonel who had sent the telegram, "Can you guarantee the real surname of this telegram?" ”

"The British side has undoubtedly confirmed the real surname of this telegram." The colonel replied, "It was intercepted and deciphered by the British Office No. 40, and they sent the original copy of the telegram as well, and said that if we did not believe the contents of the telegram, we could decipher it ourselves and check it." ”

"What they mean is that they don't want people to know that they have transmitted the information to us," said one general, "and they use this way to believe that we have intercepted and deciphered it ourselves." ”

Wilson handed the telegram to Lansing and did not speak.

"If the content of the telegram is true, it is easy to understand how I have behaved these days." Lan Xin said with some anger, "Their ambitions are indeed beyond our imagination. ”

"We should bring about a peace treaty between China and Ben as soon as possible, and not give Ben a chance to accept Germany's temptation." Wilson nodded, "We don't have enough strength to stop Ben from invading China now, and it is necessary to take action together with the British." ”

"We would do well not to give the public the impression that the American political axe is too zealous for wars in Europe and Asia." Lansing suggested.

Wilson heard the accusation in Lansing's words and nodded, "If China participates in the war on the side of the Entente, it will not only stop Ben's aggressive ambitions, but will also bring unexpected benefits to the United States." ”

"That's right." Lansing agreed with Wilson's idea, "The premise, of course, is that the peace treaty between China and the original is signed under conditions that are more favorable to China." ”

"The Chinese foreign minister has repeatedly told me that he wants American capital to participate in the construction of Manchuria," Mr. Wilson said, "and I believe in his sincerity and in the willingness of the American public to participate, although I don't like to see such a deal myself." ”

Lansing understood the meaning of Wilson's words, but just smiled and didn't continue.

Because of the strength of isolationist forces in the United States, Wilson, who won re-election with "he kept us from going to war," has always made Lansing, as secretary of state, very worried. Wilson certainly understood this, but Wilson's ultimate goal was to make the United States play an important role in international affairs, and Lansing's opposition could not prevent him from realizing his ideas.

(To be continued)