After Xu Shichang sent Chen Ke out of the gate of Yuan Shikai's mansion, he immediately rushed back to Yuan Shikai's study. I didn't expect to see Yuan Keding passing by in the middle hall. Xu Shichang spoke respectfully about the world, and when he saw Yuan Keding's awkward appearance, he knew that Yuan Keding was not passing by accidentally, but deliberately waiting for him here. Xu Shichang was trying to avoid Yuan Keding, but saw Yuan Keding greet him warmly.

"Uncle Xu, you worked hard yesterday." Yuan Keding smiled brightly.

"Nephew, your father is still waiting for me to reply." Xu Shichang didn't want to get entangled with Yuan Keding.

Yuan Keding didn't seem to see the meaning of Xu Shichang, and he said with a straight face: "Uncle Xu, now the world knows that Chen Ke has bad intentions, but you and my father are tolerant in every way. Uncle Xu, it's not a way to go on like this in the long run. ”

"Nephew, your father naturally has a decision on these things, I'll go to him first." Xu Shichang replied in a calm tone very coldly. After speaking, no matter what Yuan Keding thought, Xu Shichang strode straight to the study. Leave the stunned Yuan Keding behind.

Entering the study, Xu Shichang saw Yuan Shikai taking the plan written by Chen Ke and reading it carefully. I saw Yuan Shikai's expression focused, his brows furrowed, and he couldn't tell whether he was for or against. Xu Shichang didn't want to disturb Yuan Shikai, he sat down quietly.

"Juren, what do you think is the origin of this Chen Ke?" Yuan Shikai asked coldly.

"Huh?" Xu Shichang felt a little surprised, he had never been concerned about intelligence work, and he had no understanding of Chen Ke's background. Moreover, Yuan Shikai has been dealing with Chen Ke for a long time, Xu Shichang can't understand how Yuan Shikai could ask about himself. Even so, Xu Shichang couldn't shirk that he didn't know, he pondered for a moment before saying, "Seeing that he is acting, it should be everyone's background." But it doesn't look like he's been disciplined in any way. ”

Xu Shichang's casual answer made Yuan Shikai feel concerned, and saw Yuan Shikai put down the document in his hand, nodded and praised: "It is indeed a lack of discipline." Seeing Chen Ke like this, he actually wanted to command the central government locally. What did his parents teach him? ”

For some reason, Xu Shichang felt a little relieved after hearing this, and he smiled: "President, don't you want to cooperate with Chen Ke?" ”

"You can't do what Chen Ke says." Yuan Shikai replied.

Xu Shichang stared at Yuan Shikai, and the meaning in his words was quite rich. It seems that Yuan Shikai is not opposed to taking money from Chen Ke, but he will never give up his dominance.

"Juren, as far as you can see, will Chen Ke be stubborn?" Yuan Shikai asked.

"I'll take a look at the one Chen Ke wrote first." Xu Shichang did not directly give his own answer.

The content of the plan is exactly what Chen Ke said, and all the content revolves around how to gain control of the customs. Xu Shichang felt a little surprised. Chen Ke's plan does not have the slightest fear of the analysis of foreign devils. Does Chen Ke really think that foreign devils are all good friends?

But Chen Ke rose in the Yangtze River Valley, which was the territory of the British. Not only the British, but also France, Germany, Russia, and Japan all have their own presence in the Yangtze River Basin. And after Chen Ke seized these territories, the foreign devils did not have the slightest objection. This in itself is quite abnormal. If Chen Ke had betrayed China's interests, it would be impossible for Beiyang not to know. It's just that Chen Ke is just doing business with foreign devils. The two sides were uneventful. Could it be that the foreign devils Chen Ke met are all different?

"What do you mean by the British, President?" Xu Shichang asked after putting down the documents in his hand.

"The British are simply wearing a pair of pants with Chen Ke, and they insist that we, like the People's Party, conduct quota trade with the British." Speaking of this matter, Yuan Shikai's face became quite unsightly.

"President, our Beiyang is located in the north, and there are not as many products as in the south. In my opinion, in the past two years, we have not been able to compare with the People's Party in quota trade. Xu Shichang replied.

As soon as he mentioned the matter of money, Yuan Shikai's face became even more ugly. "Juren, Chen Ke has only been in the south for five years, how can he make so much money."

Xu Shichang actually didn't understand this matter very much, as a famous able minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, in 1907 when the Northeast was reorganized into a province, Xu Shichang was appointed as the minister of the Qincha, the governor of the three eastern provinces and in charge of the affairs of the generals of the three provinces. At that time, the Northeast was in the midst of the Russo-Japanese War, and the foundation of the Qing Dynasty was encroached upon. and implemented a new policy in the northeast as a way to resist the Japanese and Russian control of the northeast.

Xu Shichang supervised the Northeast for only two years, the Northeast took on a new look, and the Qing court was a nobleman who returned from the European Examination Army, and saw the roads, electric lights, and military and police all equipped in Fengtian (now Shenyang), and the market took on a new look. ”

However, these achievements that made Xu Shichang think he was proud of were overshadowed by Chen Ke's achievements. Xu Shichang had someone in the court, and he was quite trusted by Cixi. In the Northeast, the power is in place, and this is how it is performed. Chen Ke was still alone in 1905, and now he has made a name for himself. It means to be on an equal footing with the center. At the same time as the war, Chen Ke did not delay in making money. Xu Shichang heard Yuan Shikai say that Chen Ke and the British signed a quota trade agreement. Imports and exports reach 20 million pounds a year. The total trade volume of 40 million pounds a year, 5% tariff alone, and the annual income is as much as 2 million pounds. In this regard, Xu Shichang knew that he was indeed inferior to Chen Ke.

"President, I heard people say that Chen Ke's honeycomb coal factory and carriage and horse shop in Beijing now earn thousands of taels of silver every day. When it comes to business, Chen Ke is an expert. Xu Shichang said.

Yuan Shikai was noncommittal. Regarding Chen Ke's ability to make money, Yuan Shikai also felt speechless. When more than half of the more than 100,000 households in Beijing use honeycomb coal, they get 200,000 yuan a day. Chen Ke earns a penny for a piece of honeycomb coal. You can make a net profit of 200,000 wen in one day. Now copper coins are expensive, and 200,000 wen has to be 500 taels of silver. And the carriage and horse shop can easily earn a few hundred taels a day. It's not a thousand dollars of silver a day.

Moreover, the People's Party has begun to build a honeycomb coal plant in Tianjin. Even if you only earn 3,000 taels a day, it's 1 million taels a year. The wealthy and wealthy families have only a million fortunes, but the People's Party can create a wealthy family's property in a year by relying on two cities. If it weren't for someone specifically reporting this matter to Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai really couldn't believe that it was true.

Chen Ke didn't do anything great, but with such an ordinary move, he amassed wealth that others couldn't even think of. Yuan Shikai found that he couldn't figure out what was going on.

Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang are thinking about Chen Ke's affairs, and the People's Party is also thinking about Beiyang's affairs. Since Chen Ke and Yuan Shikai discussed the matter in detail, the People's Party delegation also held a meeting.

Regarding the future development, Chen Ke asked all members of the delegation to speak freely. Huang Yuyue was originally going to take on the work of a clerk, but she didn't expect Chen Ke to let her speak first.

Huang Yuyue didn't expect that she could also comment on such a big thing, she was nervous in her heart, for fear of saying the wrong thing. Because I was in a hurry, my face was a little red. After thinking for a while, Huang Yuyue said: "Chairman Chen, comrades, I don't think Yuan Shikai really wants to cooperate with us. ”

Everyone in the delegation looked at Huang Yuyue, and Huang Yuyue felt extremely pressured, and she was speechless for a while.

Chen Tianhua couldn't let Huang Yuyue just stand there without saying a word, he smiled: "Comrade Huang Yuyue, since you say so, you always have your own reasons, right?" Let's hear it. ”

can be elected as a member of the delegation, it is naturally impossible to be a person who cannot be unreasonable, Huang Yuyue quickly restrained her uneasiness and returned to her normal state, her face has returned to normal, and her voice has become stable, "Generally speaking, everyone only sees what others get, but they don't look at what others give." I see myself as Beiyang, and then I feel that Beiyang will never be willing to cooperate with us. They think we're making too much money. ”

The young people in the delegation were quite unimpressed by Huang Yuyue's statement, and Li Mingren pouted. Although he did not interrupt soundly, the attitude of opposition was very obvious on his face.

"Beiyang Group now wants money, but it doesn't want to work. When we work, we must meddle in many industries, and Beiyang will be very jealous of us. It's impossible for outsiders in our base to do what they want. Therefore, I don't think Beiyang will really cooperate with us. Huang Yuyue wanted to sit down after saying everything she could think of. But she suddenly realized that she had said one less word, and quickly stood up straight, "My words are over." ”

"You may be seated." Chen Ke said.

Hearing this, Huang Yuyue immediately sat back in her seat, and she exhaled softly to relieve her nervousness.

Li Mingren immediately raised his hand and asked to speak, and Chen Tianhua asked Li Mingren to stand up and speak.

"Now it's not a matter of whether Yuan Shikai wants to cooperate or not, but that he can't not cooperate. Beiyang is now financially depleted, and if it wants to ease its breath, it will definitely need a sum of money to maintain its operations. If you don't cooperate with us, who will Beiyang cooperate with? Li Mingren completely has his own ideas, so he speaks loudly and fluently, "Beiyang doesn't trust us, it's not a problem. That can only be done to a certain extent, and there will never be a situation of complete non-cooperation. ”

After saying this, Li Mingren glanced around, Chen Ke's face was expressionless, and Yan Fu was always serious. So I can't tell what the hell the two of them are thinking. Judging from the expressions of the other comrades, there were many people who praised Li Mingren.

Guan Zizheng was one of the disapproving ones, and when he saw that Li Mingren was probably finished, he immediately raised his hand and asked to speak. After getting Chen Tianhua's consent, Guan Zizheng got up and said: "Since Yuan Shikai needs a sum of money now, as long as he can afford it, he will borrow it from whoever he can borrow." Foreign banks have already begun to negotiate with Yuan Shikai, and if Yuan Shikai feels that there will be endless troubles after cooperating with our People's Party, even if the interest rate of foreign banks is high, Yuan Shikai will borrow it. ”

Li Mingren frowned, and then replied, "Is Yuan Shikai willing to suffer such a big loss?" ”

Guan Zizheng shook his head slightly, "If Yuan Shikai only has one way to borrow money from foreign banks, he will definitely suffer a big loss." However, since there is such a choice as our People's Party, Yuan Shikai can use his status as a central committee to use us to lower prices to foreign banks, and he can also use foreign banks to suppress our People's Party. No matter how bad Beiyang is, at least they know how to play with this method. ”

The young comrades of the delegation found themselves a little confused, and the comrades who originally thought that what Li Mingren said were reasonable, now felt that Guan Zizheng's reasoning had somewhat prevailed.

However, Li Mingren was not persuaded by Guan Zizheng, he immediately responded: "This is just wishful thinking." If we want to do that, we have to put ourselves in a state of opposition to foreign banks. That is to say, both parties must insist on lending Yuan Shikai money. But this is clearly not the case now. Yuan Shikai was not in a situation where he could protect himself militarily. Even the minimum safety cannot be guaranteed, Yuan Shikai wants to play with others in the palm of his hand, but he is afraid that it is wishful thinking. ”

Guan Zizheng also has no intention of giving up, "Fighting is for profit." If the foreign devils are fighting Beiyang for loans, won't the gains outweigh the losses? We also want to cooperate with Yuan Shikai now, so we will not easily choose military struggle within a certain range. As long as Yuan Shikai limits the struggle to this range, his safety is still guaranteed. ”

"That's Yuan Shikai thinks he's safe. Yuan Shikai is not for development, but just to tide over difficulties. Then he has only one choice left, borrow money from foreign bank groups, but make full use of our People's Party to bargain with foreign bank groups. And the direct result of this kind of loan is that all provinces have reason to criticize Yuan Shikai for betraying the country. Isn't that more than worth the loss? ”

Hearing Li Mingren say this, Guan Zizheng gritted his teeth and was happy, "Beiyang is not our People's Party, I think what Comrade Huang Yuyue said just now is very right." Beiyang is a collection of ordinary people. At least their level of political consciousness is no different from that of ordinary people. Our People's Party is the vanguard of the proletariat, and in terms of understanding and cognition of society, Beiyang is really incomparable with us. ”

Having said that, there is a scope that goes beyond the negotiation itself. Lee Mingren felt a little difficult to deal with. "Do you mean that the negotiation itself is likely to be a no-go trip?"

"Sometimes you have to run empty." Guan Zizheng replied confidently.

Hearing this, Chen Tianhua hurriedly stopped the discussion. He was very experienced in the development of this situation, and when Chen Tianhua was making revolution in Japan a few years ago, when the revolutionary youth first talked about revolution, they were able to have some interesting views. However, after the conversation, everyone will encounter seemingly unsolvable problems, and then the discussion will become a battle of will. It's better to break up unhappily, and it's common for arguments to turn against each other in the end.

The People's Party also has the advantage that the party committee meetings discuss and handle affairs, so that someone can hold the position. In particular, Chen Ke presided over this meeting, and as long as the comrades were not allowed to quarrel, the situation could always be stabilized.

"Chairman Chen, what do you think?" Chen Tianhua asked.

With Chen Tianhua taking the lead, all eyes fell on Chen Ke.

Chen Ke listened to the arguments of the young comrades, and he was actually quite happy in his heart. Everyone is able to have their own opinion, which is a good thing in itself. As long as there is no conflict of wills, everyone can understand each other and learn from other people's ideas, then we can achieve the effect that Confucius said, "Threesomes must have my teacher". Chen Tianhua controlled the discussion in a timely manner, and this decisiveness and grasp of the timing were also in place.

Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to speak, Chen Ke immediately said: "First of all, I personally oppose the idea of running empty. This perspective is not comprehensive. If we don't succeed in the negotiation this time, then we also need to know clearly why we can't negotiate. If there is no investigation, there is no right to speak, and we are here to say that it is good to run empty, or to think that Beiyang will do something that does not outweigh the losses, and I think these ideas are correct. However, none of these ideas were actually investigated as a supporting ......"

The comrades thought that Chen Ke was going to decide who was right and who was wrong, but they didn't expect Chen Ke to start "making peace with the mud", and the young comrades were very surprised. The comrades who were unhappy because they did not have Chen Ke's support naturally had a disappointed look on their faces. However, some comrades have vaguely understood what Chen Ke meant. For example, Huang Yuyue's expression was quite dignified.

"Comrade Huang Yuyue, don't think that you are a girl, you can not undertake the next work." Chen Ke said with a smile.

"Chairman Chen, do you want me to visit the officials in Beiyang?" Huang Yuyue is still shallow in the city, and Chen Ke couldn't help but tell the truth.

"That's right, let's start in a while, everyone's advanced etiquette training. It is also necessary to learn some words from the Beiyang officialdom. By the morning after tomorrow at the latest, everyone will go to visit the officials of Beiyang. Start the actual investigation. And we're not just investigating, since we're here, we have to let people know. We have come to negotiate in an open and honest manner, and there is no need to hide some basic information. Moreover, the comrades in our delegation, the male comrades are all heroic and handsome, and the female comrades are elegant and beautiful. When I visited, it also represented the image of our People's Party. ”

Li Mingren and Guan Zizheng didn't expect Chen Ke to finally lead the controversy that seemed to go straight to the end to a specific investigation, and both of them felt a sense of sudden enlightenment in their hearts.

"In addition, many comrades are coming to Beijing for the first time, and everyone can also visit the city. As long as the discipline allows, everyone can go and have a look. Chen Ke knew that everyone wanted to walk around the capital after they arrived in Beijing. Chen Ke himself loves to travel, and he believes that getting around is a good way to improve people's horizons.

Hearing this, the house immediately boiled. The delegation was strictly disciplined, and everyone did not dare to visit Beijing without permission. The young man didn't say anything, but he was still a little anxious in his heart. Listening to Chen Ke's words, he could go around the capital, Li Mingren didn't care about thinking so much, he asked excitedly: "Chairman Chen, can we go to the Forbidden City to have a look?" ”

"Haha." Looking at Li Mingren's excited appearance, Chen Ke remembered the excitement he felt outside the door when he went to the Palace Museum for the first time, and he smiled, "What's there to see in the Forbidden City?" The yard is a bit bigger and the door is bigger. It's actually gloomy inside, there are a few big dings, some old trees, and the others are nothing special. ”

"Really?" Huang Yuyue asked in surprise.

"Really. I've been there a few times, and I don't think it's a big deal, the emperor's seat on the Jinluan Hall looks good, but it's too hard, and it's not as comfortable as sitting on the sofa. It's a good Summer Palace, and it's a bit interesting. It's okay to row a boat in Kunming Lake. Chen Ke couldn't help but talk about his experience.

The surroundings immediately quieted down, and the comrades looked at Chen Ke dumbfounded, Chen Ke didn't know what was going on at first, and he immediately understood......

"Chairman Chen? Have you ever been in the Forbidden City and sat on a dragon's bed? Li Mingren's eyes widened and asked.