10801908 Far East Madman Chapter 369 is inefficient and efficient

At present, the problem in Beiyang is not only the inefficiency of doing things, but also the discord between the old foxes and the development of the situation, which is the most fatal problem in Beiyang.

Due to the lack of professional intelligence organs, Beiyang is not only unable to accurately grasp the actions of the armed forces of the United Front, but also inefficient even the intelligence gathering work under the nose. Because Yuan Keding was supported by the First Army of Beiyang Southward as the acting president of the Republic of China, the Beiyang side woke up, and they found out. Their so-called "plainclothes team" can only be used to cover their ears and steal bells, and their role is not even as good as that of the infantry army commander Yamen that continued from the former Qing Dynasty.

Without accurate and timely intelligence, Beiyang is a blind man riding a blind horse, not to mention confronting the aggressive United Front troops, and even holding this Beijing-Tianjin area is a fool's dream, that is, even what is happening in the direction of Nanjing now, the Beiyang Center is completely confused, and it is not even clear who the supreme military commander who is now sitting in Nanjing.

Originally, Yuan Shikai sent Wang Shizhen south to Nanjing, sat in the southeast with the title of "Southeast Patrol Envoy", and commanded the first army of Beiyang to the south. The Second Army should attack Beiyang in Hubei from Henan. After Feng Guozhang's Second Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance was annihilated in southern Henan, the first army of the Beiyang Southward Advance with a complete system became the Beiyang pillar that actually supported the southeastern half of the wall, and Yuan Shikai still let the "Dragon of the Beiyang" Wang Shizhen sit in Nanjing, and even when the military situation in the north was at its worst, he did not dare to transfer Wang Shizhen's troops back to the north.

Wang Shizhen sat in Nanjing, not only to keep an eye on the United Front troops in the direction of Hangzhou, but also to control the most important industrial and financial zone in the southeast, in case the situation in the north corroded, the power center of Beiyang could also be completely transferred to Nanjing.

But just last night, a telegram from the Nanjing Presidential Palace to the Beijing Presidential Palace shook the entire Beiyang high-level.

The southeast tour made Poison Shizhen assassinated in Nanjing!

This telegram was sent to Xu Shichang half an hour after Yuan Keding was jointly elected as the acting president of the Republic of China by the generals of the First Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance.

Moreover, it was precisely because of this second telegram that the top brass of Beiyang immediately linked these two incidents, and they all speculated that there was a causal relationship between Wang Shizhen's assassination and Yuan Keding's promotion. Because the telegram was sent out too strangely, the performance of the brigade commanders and regiment commanders of the First Army of the Beiyang South was too strange.

Although the Beiyang New Army is known as the "Yuan Family's Army", Yuan Shikai is the operator of this war machine. However, Yuan Keding, as the eldest son of Yuan Shikai, is only in his early stages this year, and he has never been trained in the army, so it can be said that Yuan Keding has almost no foundation in the Beiyang Army. Although he is the son of Yuan Shikai, for those Beiyang generals, this Yuan Dagong is indeed too tender.

Wang Shizhen, known as the "Dragon of Beiyang", will not fail to see this, even if he does not agree to Xu Shichang taking over Beiyang, he will definitely not recommend Yuan Keding to be the acting president, and this person has always been steady and low-key. Such a person is in control of the first army of Beiyang's southward advance, not only Xu Shichang is at ease. The other bigwigs in the top management of the Beiyang Group are also relieved.

Wang Shizhen was suddenly assassinated, and during the time of his assassination, some brigade commanders and regiment commanders of the First Army of Beiyang Southward Advance actually jointly sent a telegram announcing the nomination of Yuan Keding as the acting president of the Republic of China.

But the problem is that due to the low efficiency of intelligence gathering, until now, Xu Shichang and the top officials of Beiyang still do not know the details of Wang Shizhen's assassination, and it is only certain that Wang Shizhen is indeed unable to command the First Army of Beiyang's southward advance, and the weapons that assassinated him seem to be one or several bombs.

It is now the day after Wang Shizhen's assassination telegram was photographed at the presidential palace, it is already dark, the curfew and the ban have begun again, and there are no pedestrians in sight on the street, only those Beiyang troops are transferred around.

A four-wheeled carriage with the emblem of the Presidential Palace left the Presidential Palace, headed for the east of the city, and soon entered the embassy area of Dongjiaomin Lane, where it was stopped by the foreign soldiers guarding the intersection.

A man walked down from the carriage, negotiated with the officer led by the foreign soldiers for a moment, and was quickly let go, and the carriage continued to drive forward, and in a moment it was in front of the British Legation in China.

The British Minister to China, Mr. Zhu Erdian, was already waiting on the steps of the embassy, wearing a silk nightgown very casually, obviously getting up from the bed with a net, and his eyes were also red.

Can you not stay up late? As a British diplomat in China, Zhu Erdian has also been restless and anxious in recent days, like those high-ranking figures in Beiyang. He was very worried about the current situation in China, and when he learned yesterday that Yuan Keding was supported by the generals of the First Army of the Beiyang South as the acting president of the Republic of China, he completely lost sleep.

As a China expert, Zhu Erdian knows too well the political essence of this ancient oriental country. The political viewpoint of "the family in the world, the death of the father, and the succession of the son" that has been practiced in this country for more than 2,000 years is deeply rooted, and no one can guarantee that there will not be a "Yuan dynasty" now, and if Yuan Keding takes over the central power from Yuan Shikai, this will give the revolutionary forces in the south an even more high-sounding pretext for war.

Zhu Erdian, who "defends the republic," has even drafted revolutionary slogans for Chairman Zhao and Commander-in-Chief Zhao of the United Front, and he does not even have the slightest doubt that once Yuan Keding declares his inauguration as president of the Republic of China without knowing the sky, Yuan Shikai and the entire Yuan clan will become rats crossing the street, and the corpses on the streets will be light.

It is true that the degree of social development of this country is not enough to establish an American, French-style republic, so, in Jurdian's view, whether it is a constitutional monarchy or a parliamentary republic, this is not a fundamental question, the fundamental problem is that the country must remain formally complete and independent, otherwise. would pose a threat to the strategic balance of the entire Far East, and in turn to British interests in the Far East.

Therefore, after Zhu Erdian learned of the telegram of support for the First Army of Beiyang South, he immediately made an appointment with the ministers of the other seven countries in China, and the ministers of the eight countries visited Xu Shichang, the acting president of the Republic of China, and then Zhu Erdian went to visit Yuan Shikai on the sickbed alone, and told the paralyzed patient who was recuperating without mercy the news that Yuan Keding was elected as the acting president, and forced Yuan Keding to "automatically" withdraw from this power struggle game through Yuan Shikai's direct pressure.

In front of Yuan Shikai's sickbed, Zhu Erdian even hoped that this old friend of officialdom for many years would be aggravated by excessive stimulation and die with a whimper, in that case, the matter would be easier to solve.

But Zhu Erdian was disappointed, it seems that the British doctor said it well, this patient who was paralyzed by stroke is now recovering, and the news that Yuan Keding was elected as the acting president did not worsen Yuan Shikai's condition, and Zhu Erdian at that time even seemed to be

That's right, reassuring. Yuan Shikai may also be the same as the eldest prince of Yuan who does not know the height of the sky. They all thought that there were loyal ministers in the Beiyang Army, and they all thought that the Beiyang generals were out of loyalty to the Yuan clan and sent a telegram.

However, Yuan Shikai is a political veteran after all. Relieved to be relieved, but he still did not hesitate to call Yuan Keding, and only wrote five words with his fingers dipped in ink, and immediately made Yuan Keding dispel the idea of being president.

Those five words are "not allowed to be president", which works better than anything else, in this country, no one's order is better than the father's order to make the son submit, this is the so-called "three outlines and five constants", the ancient order of the country was built in this way, and it is still the case in this era. Because that's how the whole human society has developed.

Zhu Erdian opposed Yuan Keding's presidency in order to maintain the strategic balance of power in the Far East, and Yuan Shikai opposed Yuan Keding's presidency out of order to protect the mouth of the Yuan family.

After solving the problem of Yuan Keding, the remaining thing is the problem of the first army of Beiyang south, for the sake of Yuan Shikai's understanding of current affairs, Zhu Erdian concealed the news of Wang Shizhen's assassination from this paralyzed patient, but as the key to the whole thing, the issue of Wang Shizhen's assassination still wrapped around the heart of the British minister like a poisonous snake, and he still had insomnia.

In order to get a good night's sleep, Zhu Erdian used almost all resources to find out the news from Nanjing. But judging by the intelligence fed back to the legation. The entire city of Nanjing seems to have entered a state of martial law. The cable telegraph could not be reached, and the British Far East intelligence agencies did not know what was happening to the First Army of the Beiyang South.

Since even the professional intelligence agencies can't figure out exactly what's going on, Zhu Erdian instead became open-minded, and with the narcotic effect of alcohol, he went to bed after the sky net went dark, however, the quality of this sleep is really not very good, as soon as the phone rang downstairs just now, he immediately woke up, it was a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, telling the British Embassy that Tang Shaoyi, acting foreign minister of the Republic of China, and Zhao Bingjun, chief of internal affairs, were about to visit Mr. Zhu Erdian, So Zhu Erdian stood on the steps of the embassy in pajamas to greet the two high-ranking officials, he deliberately dressed like this to show his dissatisfaction with Beiyang, if Beiyang was willing to accept the peace conditions, the situation in the country would have stabilized long ago. Then Mr. British Minister will be able to sleep peacefully.

"The two of you are visiting now, presumably for the sake of Nanjing, right?" Zhu Erdian received two high-ranking officials of the Republic of China in the reception room, but this spirit was indeed relatively sluggish, and even the polite words were waived.

"It is deeply disturbing to disturb Mr. Minister's rest, but the stakes are so high that he must come on the liberty of coming. According to the exact information that the Chinese Government has just received, Wang Shizhen, the envoy of the southeast patrol, has been sent to the French Concession in Shanghai for treatment because of his injuries. The current situation is not optimistic. Tang Shaoyi said.

"Regarding the assassination of General Wang, I deeply regret it."

Zhu Erdian glanced at the other party expressionlessly, in fact, he got the news that Wang Shizhen was transferred to the French Concession in Shanghai for treatment two hours ago, and it was a telegram taken by the British Consul General in Shanghai. There, the British diplomat described Wang Shizhen's injuries in horrific words. According to these descriptions, the British military attache of the legation was very sure that the bomb used to attack Wang Shizhen was a special bomb, and by no means an ordinary bomb, because that kind of bomb did not rely on shrapnel and shock waves to kill the target, but with the help of a large and dense number of small steel balls to kill the target, otherwise it is not enough to explain the hundreds of small steel balls that the French doctor took out from Wang Shizhen. According to the analysis of the British military attaché, because of its size, this small steel ball can only injure people unless it hits the vital point, and perhaps, the power of this bomb is not very strong.

The problem is that the British military attache also emphasized at the same time. There is no such bomb in the world's military powers, and in order to be completely sure what kind of bomb it is, it is necessary to investigate it on the spot.

This adds to the weirdness of the matter. Zhu Erdian was very suspicious that the United Front was responsible for the assassination of Wang Shizhen, because the United Front seemed to have some strange weapons, not to mention airplanes and armored trains, and according to some information obtained from irregular sources, the cavalry units of the Republican Army were equipped with a weapon called "submachine guns", which was not only not available in Britain but also in Germany. If the analysis follows this line of thought, the United Front will create a special bomb for assassination. It doesn't seem like it's out of the question.

However, Zhu Erdian's distraction was only for a short time, and Tang Shaoyi's words quickly lifted his spirits.

"I came to visit your envoy this time, first, to formally inform him of the assassination of General Wang, and second, to ask your envoy for help, hoping that your envoy can exert diplomatic pressure on the United Front side to force them to quickly return to the negotiating table for an armistice and peace talks."

"It is a pity that there is nothing I can do about it, as your central government has rejected the peace terms of the United Front."

Zhu Erdian spread his hands and made a helpless expression, and then he saw Tang Shaoyi take out a document from his handbag.

"This is a condition for peace talks between the central government of our country, which is relatively close to the conditions for peace talks put forward by the United Front, and the central government of our country believes that this condition is able to bring about an armistice and peace talks on the united front."

"Oh? It seems that your central government has changed its position. ”

Zhu Erdian took the document and took a cursory look at it. It was found that this condition for peace talks was not far from the small "minimum conditions" proposed by the United Front. Moreover, Beiyang has decided to abandon Baoding City and hand it over to the control of the troops of the United Front, and this has been a condition for Beiyang to bite the bullet in the past few days.

It seems that the current Beiyang government has panicked. They were clearly overwhelmed by the abrupt changes in the south, and they were anxious to end the war in the north, even at the cost of making major concessions.

In the matter of peacemaking, Beiyang showed rare high efficiency, which made Zhu Erdian feel a little incredible.

Seeing off Tang Shaoyi and Zhao Bingjun, the more Zhu Erdian thought about it, the more strange he felt, so he contacted Xu Shichang, the acting president of the Republic of China, by phone, and after a short conversation, he finally understood why Beiyang was in a hurry to change his tough position.

Just now, another telegram was sent from the southeast patrol embassy in Nanjing, and more than 20 brigade commanders and regiment commanders of the First Army of the Beiyang South Advance signed a joint telegram asking the central center to appoint a new southeast patrol envoy, and they had even selected the candidates. The villain's name is Meng Enyuan, and his current position is a brigade commander of the First Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance.

However, there were several division commanders in the First Army of Beiyang's southward advance, so why did they recommend a brigade commander to succeed him as the southeast patrol envoy?

It's intriguing.