"Matsudaira-kun, I heard that Yuan Shikai has grounded Yuan Keding. In the past two days, he has been preparing to invite Yan Fu to become the prime minister of the cabinet. Is there really peace talks between the North and the South? Japanese Minister Hikoyoshi Ijiin asked. Across from him was the First Counsellor Matsudaira Tsuneo, and on the table in front of them was a bottle of mulberry wine and pickled fish, drinking and talking about the recent situation.

Matsudaira was born in the Aizu Matsudaira family, and was the sixth son of Matsudaira Yoho, the former lord of the Aizu domain and the guardian of Kyoto. Mother Rongbao's side chamber. He has been studying at the Gakuin since he was a child. Later, he married one of the four strongest feudal clans at the end of the Edo period, the fourth daughter of Naodai Nabeshima, the lord of the Hizen Nabeshima domain. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University in 1902, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After being a real Japanese famous family, he is also a real law student. As a minister, Hikoyoshi Ijiin was also very polite to him.

"If there is really a peace talk, why invite Yan Fu to be the prime minister?" Matsudaira Kano did not lose his manners because of his status, he respectfully poured a glass of wine for the Minister of Ijiin, and after kneeling back in his place, he replied, "The conflict between the north and the south is only a matter of time, or it is all about the relationship between Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke. If the two lose mutual trust, the war will begin immediately. ”

The Japanese are well-versed in infighting and look at these issues very thoroughly.

It's just that judging from the current situation, Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke seem to be trying their best to avoid conflict. Both of them were able to control their subordinates, and there was a lot of concern in the country. I recently heard from the British and French embassies that they were trying to find out about the secret agreement between Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke. There was a look of worry on the look of Ijiin.

There is a long-term secret agreement between Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke, which is now the consensus of the ministers of various countries in China. As for the content of this "Yuan Chen Secret Contract", it is a bit of a divergent opinion. In general, the ministers of various countries probably think that now Yuan Shikai is supporting on the table, and Chen Ke is responsible for doing the dirty work.

It's not uncommon for two hostile parties to hook up behind the table. At least in Europe, the United States and Japan, this is commonplace. In the face of such a situation, all countries hope to be able to reverse the current situation.

Generally speaking, on both sides of the conflict, the "rebel" forces are trying to betray the country, while the organizations in the official government are shouting about the national interest. Now the situation is completely reversed, and the BJP, which is in the position of a rebel army, has taken a very tactful and hard-line attitude towards foreign intervention, and the central government has been quite ambiguous in this regard.

This situation is very tricky, unless Yuan Shikai, like the Manchu government, completely pulls down his face and uses foreign forces to deal with the People's Party. Otherwise, if they want to attack the BJP, they will have to jump out and go it alone. The People's Party's outlet to the sea is only Lianyungang. The Yangtze River is an inland river, and warships with too large tonnage cannot drive into it, and on such a long river, there is a possibility of attack at any time.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty was overthrown, and one of its crimes was "betraying the country", wanting Yuan Shikai to use foreign forces to suppress the People's Party, Yuan Shikai obviously refused to bear this reputation. Because of the People's Party's affairs, it is even more impossible to achieve the goal of raising troops against Yuan Shikai's central government. Unless Yuan Shikai really wants to be a "traitor", he will flee from Beijing, and he will definitely not agree to do so. Not to mention the existence of the "Yuan-Chen Secret Treaty" that the ministers of various countries believe. Under strong external pressure, if Beiyang and the People's Party abandon all contradictions and unite with the outside world, things will really be difficult to handle.

"We have to make the contradictions between these two sides public." Matsudaira Kano said his thoughts bluntly. Ijiin frowned slightly, not because he was against it, but because Matsudaira Kano's overly direct idea really didn't fit the traditional Japanese "ventriloquism" model.

However, this is not a big problem, and Yijiyuan immediately smiled, "I think the ministers of various countries have this kind of thought, which is why everyone is so polite to Yuan Keding." ”

Sometimes the contradiction does not necessarily have to be the supreme leader to turn his face personally, and the so-called "situation" refers to the layout and the general trend. The reason why the "Yuan-Chen Secret Treaty" is a secret agreement is that there must be large votes of opponents within the two major forces. There are many opponents in Beiyang, not only Yuan Keding, who was played with in the palm of his hand by ministers from various countries. There is really no high-ranking official of the People's Party in Beiyang.

On the contrary, the People's Party is more troublesome, and in official contacts, the People's Party cadres have never had any contact with each other alone, as if they had received compulsory training, and everyone spoke exactly the same words. And this emerging power has adopted strong controls on the movement of people on their turf. Under this paramilitary control model, it goes without saying that white spies with very different appearances from Chinese will enter the base area like mud cattle not long after entering the base area. The Japanese side had to pull down its face and find the People's Party through channels and ask the People's Party to inquire about the missing Japanese citizens. The BJP said that all foreigners who had been reported at the BJP customs had never disappeared. Forced into desperation, the Japanese side had to admit that some people "may be lost."

The People's Party gave the Japanese delegates a good idea of the "Customs Law" enacted by the People's Party. This made the Japanese side angry. It's just that Japan is not ready for war against the People's Party at the moment, so these things have not been known to passers-by.

"I think Yuan Keding wants to get rid of Chen Ke very much, and he has an attitude of doing whatever it takes." Matsudaira said.

It's still too straightforward, but Ijiin doesn't care about it anymore. He was not worried that Yuan Keding would send someone to assassinate Chen Ke, the success or failure of the assassination was not important, the important thing was to make this assassination incident known to the world. If such an effect can be achieved, Yuan Shikai will either have to go to war directly with the People's Party, or he will have to take responsibility. Either way, China's current situation will be completely broken.

"We just need to pay attention to this matter." Ijiin said. As long as Yuan Keding gives some hints at the key, there is no need to get involved. It is far from the point where Japan must go into battle shirtless. Moreover, Japan has just annexed Korea, and there are many domestic affairs, and Japan is powerless in many things.

Of course, there is no need to deliberately explain these things, and Ijiin believes that Matsudaira still has this minimum judgment ability.

"This mulberry wine tastes pretty good." After drinking twice as much as the special sake of the estate, Ijiin said, "The fish tastes good, and the spices are well blended." ”

Both of these products are commodities from the People's Party's base areas, not to mention wine and fish, at least the glass bottles are beautifully made.

While he was talking, the embassy staff came in and delivered a telegram, and after reading it, Yijiin showed a strange smile, "Those people in the country have begun to support the League again." ”

Wang Ching-wei did not expect that he would become the negotiator of the League and the Japanese minister in China, and this was the first time he had been entrusted with such a major task. Wang Jingwei was really pleasantly surprised. Since the League would rise up in the pre-Qing Dynasty to make a revolution, the Japanese government has always been very polite to the League and has also kept a good distance. After Yuan Shikai seized the central power, the Japanese government adopted an attitude of turning a blind eye to the League. In 1911, the Japanese government began to support the League again.

It's just that at this time, the League has really become a political party led by Sun Yat-sen alone. The Liberation Society returned to Zhejiang, and the Huaxing Society returned to Hunan. Prominent people from other places have also left, and now that they are republicans, sometimes the political system of inter-provincial autonomy needs new faces to fill the scene. And these well-known revolutionaries are the best choice. Give them a few seats in the legislature and a few officials to be in office, and they can also declare their provinces to "support the republic".

According to Sun Yat-sen's reputation, he should have no problem mixing up as a parliamentarian in Guangdong. But something went wrong. The new nationality law stipulates that the new Chinese government does not recognize dual nationality. Anyone who has ever acquired foreign nationality cannot be regarded as a Chinese citizen.

In the eyes of the Liberation Society, this provision was clearly aimed at Sun Yat-sen. Because at least until 1909, Sun Yat-sen held American citizenship. In particular, in November 1908, Sun Yat-sen visited Siam (Thailand) and gave a speech to the overseas Chinese community, advocating revolution and overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty, causing the Qing court to protest to the Siamese authorities. The mayor of Bangkok and the chief of police summoned Sun Yat-sen and ordered him to leave the country.

Sun Yat-sen then went to the U.S. Legation, where he met with Minister Hamilton King, where he asked the U.S. government for protection and issued him a U.S. passport (different from the U.S. passport in Hawaii) on the basis that he had been born in Hawaii. During the meeting, Minister Jin had a good impression of Sun Yat-sen, and reported to the State Council that "Sun speaks English very well, although he has a slight accent, and he is extremely intelligent and polite......

Sun Yat-sen could not wait for the State Department's reply before leaving Bangkok, and on December 10 he was transferred to Singapore, leaving the address of the Lion City to Minister Kim.

The U.S. State Department spent months studying Sun Yat-sen's case, and finally on March 11, 1909, Secretary of State Elihu Root (Lute stepped down in January, and Sun's case was presumably decided during his tenure) informed Minister Kim that Sun Yat-sen was not eligible to register as a U.S. citizen or to request a U.S. passport on the grounds that "American citizens have rights, but also responsibilities and obligations, and instead of fulfilling their obligations as an American citizen, he [referring to Sun] devoted himself to Chinese politics, especially He is the leader of the agitation of the Fan government, and this government has friendly relations with that government." For these reasons, Sun Yat-sen's U.S. citizenship was revoked and his U.S. passport revoked.

This was not a special privacy, but when the Beiyang Congress convened to discuss the fate of the Manchus, major newspapers began to publish the question of Sun Yat-sen's nationality. "American Sun Yat-sen" has become the talk of many people after dinner. Even though Sun Yat-sen was revoked of his citizenship by the United States, he did not return to China to ask for his Chinese nationality to be restored, and he did not even publish a statement in the newspapers. So according to the new nationality law of the base, Sun Yat-sen is now a stateless black hukou.

The local government of Guangdong originally intended to invite Sun Yat-sen to return to Guangdong to become a legislator, but he experienced such a trouble. The Guangdong government also understood the intentions of the Beiyang Central Committee. They naturally refused to offend the Beiyang government for the sake of Sun Yat-sen alone. What's more, the new Nationality Law requires foreigners to apply for Chinese citizenship in Beijing for approval by the Vice Minister of Civil Affairs. That is to say, no matter how grand Sun Yat-sen's own political goals are, if he wants to be a Chinese, he must first obediently go to Beijing and bow his head to Beiyang to apply.

Sun Yat-sen naturally refused to do so, but Beiyang found a way to deal with Sun Yat-sen. Of course, a considerable number of newspapers that have taken a stance in favor of Beiyang have used the title "American Sun Yat-sen" to ridicule Sun Yat-sen wherever they have mentioned Sun Yat-sen since then.

This caused a great disadvantage to Sun Yat-sen, and it was nothing to be ridiculed by Beiyang. However, the leaders of several revolutionary parties in China, such as the People's Party, the Guangfu Society, and the Huaxing Society, have no experience of becoming "foreign citizens" at all, and this incident has further reduced Sun Yat-sen's influence in the domestic revolutionary party.

Not to mention the Huaxing Society, which is at war with the Hunan government, the Guangfu Society, which was the first to oppose the Alliance, and their leaders Cai Yuanpei, Tao Chengzhang, Qiu Jin and others, have been officially elected as members of the Zhejiang Council, and the local councilors of several counties in southern Zhejiang are also from the Guangfu Society. And Cai Yuanpei was even elected as a representative of the new Zhejiang Provincial Congress. In other words, in the future, there will be a loud voice in the Diet.

At the end of the day, the Japanese government's support relieved the Coalition, at least financially. Many people have left the Alliance, not only because of manpower, but more seriously, because there are fewer and fewer people who provide financial support. If you receive favor, you will be rewarded. After Sun Yat-sen's negotiations with Japan were completed, Wang Jingwei was appointed by Sun Yat-sen to negotiate with the Japanese minister in China, or to accept the task.

"Mr. Wang, do you know who provided the part of the Yuan Shikai government on the nationality law?" Matsudaira asked.

"I really don't know." When it came to this nationality law, Wang Jingwei was angry. If it weren't for this nationality law, the League would not have suffered such a heavy blow. After finishing speaking, Wang Jingwei asked tentatively: "Is it the US government?" ”

"Huh." Matsudaira smiled, "This is not provided by the U.S. government. This is a bill provided by the People's Party to Beiyang. ”

These words made Wang Jingwei stunned like thunder, and Matsudaira Huan did not give Wang Jingwei time to regurgitate the news, "I have heard a news in the diplomatic circles of various countries that the People's Party and the Beiyang government have a secret agreement on the "Yuan-Chen Agreement", and the current situation in China is not as everyone sees, which is driven by the blood of revolutionaries from all walks of life. Chen Ke and Yuan Shikai had already reached an agreement with Beiyang on behalf of the People's Party. They teamed up to act in such a play for everyone to see. ”

"They have a common enemy......"

"They have taken a fairly consistent approach to supporting each other on all sides......"

"Why did the People's Party release prisoners of war and high-ranking generals from Beiyang? ……”

"Why did the People's Party never have any more wars with Beiyang after that? ……”

"Why was Hebei turned upside down by horse bandits? ……”

"Why ......"

“……”

One by one, one by one, Matsudaira is engaged in diplomacy after all, and his access to information and his ability to handle intelligence are far from being comparable to those of the Alliance.

"Wang Jun, all the young people who once thought that Chen Ke was a revolutionary party have been deceived by Chen Ke. And there is one thing I think you know very well, it is Yuan Shikai who is the matchmaker for Chen Ke. And recently we got the news that Yuan Shikai is ready to ask Yan Fu to become the prime minister of the cabinet. Yan Fu is Chen Ke's teacher and Yuan Shikai's close friend. Moreover, Mrs. Chen Ke's grandfather, Mr. He Lao, is a close friend of Yuan Shikai and Yan Fu. When Mr. He was alive, Yuan Shikai and Yan Fu often came to his house for gatherings......"

At all times, facts speak louder than any inference. Especially in situations where there is a strong hint of the facts, which have been carefully edited and screened.

Listening to Matsudaira Huanxiong's words, Wang Jingwei had clenched his fists unconsciously, he was so hard. So much so that the joints turned white.