Jiang Baili, the military attache, hurriedly walked to the door of Yuan Shikai's office with the latest telegram, he first stopped and settled his mind before knocking on the door. Soon, the guard opened the door, and a scent of smoke mixed with a slight smell of urine came from the open door.

Due to the lack of modern medical knowledge, Jiang Baili naturally did not know that this smell was one of the symptoms of advanced uremia. But Jiang Baili's sanity made him believe that no one in the house, including Yuan Shikai, would pee his pants. So Jiang Baili's determination as a soldier soon made him ignore this taste. Standing on his military hat, Jiang Baili strode into the president's office.

"President, the foreign military observation group in Handan caused a bombing by a People's Party plane, and suffered heavy casualties!" Jiang Baili handed over the latest information to Yuan Shikai and made a brief description at the same time.

Yuan Shikai's fat cheeks trembled slightly, and he didn't turn on the telegram immediately, but asked Jiang Baili first, "Do the British know about this news?" ”

"I don't know yet." Jiang Baili hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Now that the People's Party has surrounded Handan, it is impossible for the British to get the news so quickly. ”

After finishing speaking, Jiang Baili secretly looked at Yuan Shikai's expression, as far as Jiang Baili himself was concerned, he was quite happy, the People's Party is now offending the British to death, and the British have not moved. Now that foreign military observer missions have suffered heavy casualties, it's time for the British to take a stand, right?

However, Jiang Baili was disappointed, and Yuan Shikai did not have the slightest joy after reading the telegram, but frowned. After thinking for a moment, Yuan Shikai ordered: "Baili, you go and tell the War Department that this news is absolutely not allowed." ”

"President......" Jiang Baili couldn't help but say.

Yuan Shikai sneered, "Baili, you may think that the British are dead, and they will definitely not give up with the People's Party." That's right, the British always use dead people as an excuse to blackmail China, but that's because the British are sure that they can beat China. If the British had been sure that they could beat the People's Party, they would have done it a long time ago. Since the British have not done it yet, they will not do it if some of the people of the Military Observer Corps have died. ”

Jiang Baili is also a smart person, although he was once blinded by the changes in front of him, he quickly understood what happened when he heard Yuan Shikai say this. Sometimes it's not necessarily a good thing to understand too well, and after determining that the British were unreliable, Jiang Baili's mood plummeted. To be more precise, Jiang Baili's mood has returned to the normal level of the past two days. He replied dejectedly, "Yes." "Just go outside.

"Baili." Yuan Shikai stopped Jiang Baili from behind.

"What else does the president command?" Jiang Baili turned around and replied.

Yuan Shikai hesitated for a moment before saying, "Baili, do you think Wu Peifu can withstand it?" ”

Jiang Baili was silent, he really couldn't answer. Whether Wu Peifu can withstand it is no longer a problem on the battlefield, and Jiang Baili truly realized for the first time how terrible a general war at the national level is. Although the recruitment and training of the troops were arduous, there were many bad people in Beiyang, and with the support of foreign countries, this arduous process was finally survived. Now that these hundreds of thousands of people are scattered outside, the scope of the war is even only in Hebei and Shandong, and Beiyang can no longer bear it.

The first is refugees. Thanks to the Beiyang Demon's recent efforts to demonize the blessings of the People's Party, a large number of local wealthy people learned that the war had begun, and the People's Party came over. They dragged their families to the city. These people want to get as far away from the war as possible, so they set their sights on big cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Jinan. Since the news of the outbreak of war broke out in mid-May, more than 100,000 people have fled into these major cities one after another. When these rich people are new to a place, they naturally have to live, eat, and use. Prices in several large cities are already very high, and where can they withstand the sharp increase of more than 100,000 people. Prices, especially food prices, went up like crazy.

There were not many locomotives of the Beiyang Army, and after the railway was taken over by the army, it was still insufficient to transport equipment and troops, so where was there spare power to transport food. As a result, food prices rose three times a day. Beiyang recently forcibly asked merchants to sell grain at a low price, and finally barely suppressed the situation.

Jiang Baili didn't understand the economy, and he once naively thought that if the government came forward, grain prices could be stabilized. But reality taught Jiang Baili a good lesson, and his family told Jiang Baili two days ago that there was no food in the house. Jiang Baili knew that the price of grain had risen recently, but fortunately, the salary of the attendant officer was not low, so Jiang Baili asked casually: "Didn't I just give a hundred oceans?" ”

"The price of grain has not changed now, but there is no food in the grain store." Jiang Baili's family anxiously explained.

Jiang Baili didn't understand what was going on at first, but his family carefully explained the situation, since Beiyang ordered grain merchants not to sell grain at high prices, the government arrested people everywhere, and finally deterred grain merchants. However, with the "stabilization of food prices", all the grain shops have run out of food.

Jiang Baili was surprised by this news, and he asked, "Is there no grain in the grain store near our house?" ”

"It's not near our house, I ran half of Beijing. All the grain shops said that there was no food. Jiang Baili's family replied.

"What?" Jiang Baili finally knew that something was wrong. asked his family about the situation in detail, but Jiang Baili still couldn't believe it. Beijing is the capital, and it is a big deal to be able to get a grain store without grain to sell. But he was just an attendant military attaché, and it was not his turn to interfere in the matter of food. If Jiang Baili made a statement to Yuan Shikai, it would be a substitute for Yue Li, and the people in charge of civil affairs did not know how to give Jiang Baili Hall black bricks behind his back.

No matter how troublesome it is in the officialdom, the stomach will simply get hungry. There was no food at home, and Jiang Baili had no choice, so he could only arrange for his family to eat in the canteen of the Beiyang Army. After serving as the military attache of the president's chamberlain for so long, Jiang Baili used his identity for the first time. Unexpectedly, the reception person was not embarrassed at all, and it was easy to arrange it for Jiang Baili's family. Jiang Baili couldn't help but ask the reason, and the answer he got was that since the price of food rose wildly, many people in the presidential palace arranged for their family members to mix rice with the presidential palace canteen. The total number of people who mix rice is as high as hundreds, and Jiang Baili is now arranging for his family to come over, and the people in charge of the canteen in the presidential palace have long had rules. The person in charge even explained: "Lord Wang Shizhen has already arranged it privately, all the attendants can bring their families to eat, everyone is dedicated to the country, and they can't even eat without food, right?" ”

Hearing that Wang Shizhen had personally arranged this matter, Jiang Baili's heart was cold. Wang Shizhen intervened in this matter, and naturally it had reached an extremely serious level. And Wang Shizhen has intervened, and it is impossible for Yuan Shikai not to know.

It was from this time that Jiang Baili's mood fell to the bottom. As soon as this war was fought, the food sector was depleted, so how could it be fought in the future? That's why Jiang Baili was happy because of the heavy casualties of the foreign military observation mission. On weekdays, at the level of Jiang Baili, it would be really difficult for this idea to affect him.

Yuan Shikai naturally didn't know Jiang Baili's thoughts, and seeing that Jiang Baili was silent, Yuan Shikai asked, "Baili, do you have anything bad to say?" ”