"I have always admired Keqiang, because Keqiang is a real doer, not a person who is good at letting go of empty cannons." Yang Shuoming looked at Huang Xing and said.

Of course, Huang Xing knew who Yang Shuoming said about "good air cannons", and a bitter meaning appeared on his face.

"Actually, it can't be said that he doesn't do practical things." Yang Shuoming handed Huang Xing the newspaper that carried the news of Huang Yuansheng's murder and the report of his assassination on the street, "It's just that this kind of thing is inevitably despicable." ”

"I don't know what happened to him." Huang Xing sighed and shook his head, "I know it's wrong, but I still have to continue to do it." ”

"There are still so many hot-blooded young people blindly following him," Yang Shuoming remembered that his beloved wife and the "Sister Jiang" she had always admired were once members of the revolutionary party, and couldn't help sighing, "Every time I see so many outstanding young people throwing their blood in useless places, I feel extra heartache." ”

"That's why I left." Huang Xing's eyes also flashed with sadness, and his voice became a little choked.

Seeing Huang Xing's uncomfortable appearance, Yang Shuoming didn't want to stimulate him anymore, who was not in good health, so he didn't continue.

After a while, Yang Shuoming saw that Huang Xing's emotions gradually calmed down, and changed the topic and asked, "Do you want to know the recent progress of the peace talks this time?" ”

"Of course I want to know." Huang Xing nodded, smiled bitterly, and said, "If there is anything harmful to the country's sovereign interests, Huang should refuse to do so." ”

Hearing Huang Xing's words full of bitterness and helplessness, Yang Shuoming also sighed, and then talked to Huang Xing about the peace talks in the past two days.

After the US side proposed to adjourn the meeting, the Chinese and Chinese delegations began to "rest" under the arrangement of the US side, but in fact it was not really an adjournment, and the US side seized the opportunity to have informal contacts with the principal representatives of the two countries separately to listen to the attitudes and demands of the two sides on the peace talks, and to make preparations for mediation and mediation.

Because Gu Weijun and US President Wilson had a very close personal relationship, and Wilson and Lansing also repeatedly expressed their desire to help China, the members of the Chinese delegation were very happy, and the two sides held many secret consultations in a good atmosphere, and finally reached a certain consensus.

From the point of view of the United States, although China has won a considerable victory in resisting the "military action" of the "military action" (in order to facilitate the peace talks, the United States has deliberately avoided such sensitive words as "war") has won a considerable victory, but on the whole the situation of "saying that China is strong and China is weak" has not changed much; therefore, the Americans believe that in order to reach peace talks, necessary concessions are necessary, and if the peace talks eventually break down, the United States will launch a full-scale war of aggression against China after recovering from the damage caused by the plague, and with China's current national strength, it will still be difficult to resist. The Chinese delegation is also well aware of this, so it agrees with the views of the United States and expresses its willingness to make concessions.

Yang Shuoming told Huang Xing that before the Chinese delegation left Beijing for the United States, Yuan Shikai held a special meeting on the bottom line of concessions in this negotiation, and the policy set was to "secure Shandong, shelve Taiwan, and cede profits to Fengtian," that is, to ensure as much as possible that the forces in the country would withdraw from Shandong, and in the northeast side agreed that the forces in Japan would retain the benefits they had gained since the victory in the Russo-Russian War, and strive to limit the forces in South Manchuria. As for the Taiwan issue, it was used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Yu himself, and he did not expect to succeed.

Yuan Shikai's policy of negotiation was actually quite rational, and he did not have the same wisdom as some people in China who shouted slogans for the recovery of all rights and interests, nor was he weak enough to sell the fruits of victory in exchange for peace.

Expecting to completely expel the forces from China now is tantamount to a fool's dream.

After informing the US side of the bottom line, the Chinese delegation's generosity and rationality have won the appreciation and support of the US side. Unlike the good atmosphere that was created during the contacts between China and the United States, the contacts between the United States and this delegation were much more laborious.

Because of the good personal relationship between Gu Weijun and Wilson, Wilson told Gu Weijun the details of the private contacts between the US side and the Chinese side, so that the Chinese delegation could keep abreast of the situation of the off-site talks between the US side and the Chinese side. At the same time, the United States also promised to put appropriate pressure on the Chinese side to accept China's conditions.

This is because in this negotiation, the "external contacts" between the US side and the other side are not only for China.

In order to test the cards of the present side, US Secretary of State Lansing held secret talks with Takaaki Kato and Kikujiro Ishii, during which the two sides had heated arguments, mainly focusing on the two aspects of "open door" and "special interests."

At the beginning of the talks, in a pragmatic manner, Lansing admitted that "from the geographical location of Yuben, he has special interests in China", but Lansing also insisted that such interests are not "political interests".

Foreign Minister Takaaki Kato, on the other hand, completely disagreed with Lansing's statement, insisting that "the interests of the company exist in the whole of China," which of course could not be accepted by the Americans, and the talks between the two sides reached a deadlock from the very beginning.

Seeing that the Americans only recognized the "special interests" of the United States in South Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, Kikujiro Ishii even went so far as to use the pretext of the "Monroe Doctrine of Asia" to compare the relationship between China and the United States to that of Mexico.

The stiffness and arrogance shown by the American side made the Americans very angry, and the American side also realized the ambition of the original side, so in the subsequent negotiations, the American side has always spoken on the side of China, intentionally or unintentionally.

Under pressure from the United States, the two sides no longer demanded that the "21 Articles" be used as the basis for negotiations, but instead insisted on inheriting all German rights and interests in Shandong, as well as "having special interests in Manchuria and Mongolia," and demanded that China compensate for the losses incurred in the war, while the Chinese side resolutely refused to discuss the Shandong issue and only agreed to discuss the South Manchurian issue. Seeing the tough behavior of the Chinese delegation, Foreign Minister Takaaki Kato interrupted the talks several times and withdrew from the talks, and threatened that "only then will you wake up when the sound of artillery can sound again in this land."

"Although our country has repelled the invasion of the Japanese army this time, the situation of the enemy's strength and weakness has not changed. Huang Xing listened to Yang Shuoming's explanation, and said worriedly, "Although the country has suffered heavy losses due to the plague, it has gradually subsided, and once the national strength is restored, it is very likely that troops will be used against our country again. ”

Hearing Huang Xing say this, Yang Shuoming nodded approvingly.

Huang Xing's words once again proved his previous judgment, as the same revolutionary fathers, Huang Xing and Sun Yat-sen are two completely different types of people.

"During the peace talks, Wang Hanzhi and Lu Gu Ergong went all out to protect the country's rights." Huang Xing continued.

"This is natural, Keqiang can rest assured." Yang Shuoming said, "I invited Keqiang here today to talk to Keqiang about military matters." ”

"In terms of military affairs, Xing doesn't dare to get an axe in front of Hanzhi." Huang Xing smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Xing is known for being a soldier in the party, but his life's record is that he has many defeats and few victories, and he is ashamed to think about it, how dare he say it again." ”

"The ruler is short, the inch is long, Keqiang doesn't have to be polite," Yang Shuoming said, "Yi Keqiang sees, this time in the peace talks, my country will not be able to recover all the rights and interests in the case of victory in the war, where is the difference?" ”

"The strength of our navy and army is too far from the original." Huang Xing sighed and said, "Especially the navy, I personally saw the ship 'King Kong' damaged for our army at the dock on the eve of my departure, although the ship was damaged, but at a glance, its power is still not comparable to our navy. When I think about it now, I am still shocked. ”

"What Keqiang said is good, iron and blood are the foundation of a strong country, without a strong military and developed industry and commerce, free cooking is empty talk." Yang Shuoming nodded, "What I want to do now is to strive to let Keqiang see my Chinese Navy and this majestic giant ship within a few years." ”

"How is that possible? Capital, technology, talent, we now have nothing! Huang Xing's eyes widened for a while, and he stared closely at the handsome face of the young man in front of him, trying to figure out if he was joking.

"Technology and talent are indeed in short supply in our country." Yang Shuoming nodded, revealing a confident smile, "As for the funds, there is no big problem now. ”

Of course, Yang Shuoming will not tell Huang Xing what is the real source of the large amount of money he spent on buying artillery, trucks, and other equipment from the United States because he was able to defeat the Chinese army in Shandong repeatedly.

Investing all his earnings in the overseas gold futures market, only he, a traveler from later generations, dared to make such a desperate bet.

"It is not too difficult to solve the problem of warships, and it is the people who are responsible for the warships that are difficult to solve." Yang Shuoming said, "I invited Keqiang to come today, just to discuss this matter with Keqiang." ”

"What does Hanzhi want to do?" Huang Xing's face showed excitement and asked.

"I plan to set up a navigation school in the United States to train my Chinese maritime talents, is Keqiang willing to help me?" Yang Shuoming said, "Keqiang has been overseas for a long time, and he is very popular, and with the help of Keqiang, he should get twice the result with half the effort." ”

Huang Xing understood what Yang Shuoming meant, excitement flashed in his eyes, he nodded solemnly, and began to ask Yang Shuoming about the details.

It may be that the relationship has been talked about for a long time, Yang Shuoming noticed that Huang Xing's face was not very good, he knew that Huang Xing's liver disease was quite serious now, so he stopped the conversation in time and took Huang Xing to his place to let the "medical team" that came with him treat Huang Xing.

When Yang Shuoming returned to his residence, it was already late.

"Why did you come back so late? Mr. Gu and Mr. Lu both came to ask, where have you been? Huang Yunzhi gave Yang Shuoming a cup of hot coffee and said, "Manager Sun and Lao Wu have sent a telegram, they should be able to arrive tomorrow." ”

"Got it." Yang Shuoming drank the coffee and nodded.

"I saw Huang Keqiang today." Yang Shuoming returned the cup to his beloved wife and said, "Have you seen Mr. Huang?" Huang Yunzhi's water-cutting eyes lit up immediately.

"I invited him to join the Socialist Party, and he promised to consider it." Yang Shuoming looked at her excited appearance and smiled slightly, "It's just that his physical condition is not very good, and I have already arranged for Miss Liu to give him medicine." ”

"Sister Jiang will be very happy to find out." Huang Yunzhi said happily.

"Mr. Gu and Chief Lu didn't tell you about the progress of the negotiations?" Yang Shuoming looked at his watch, gave up his plan to go to Lu Gu and the others for details, and casually asked his beloved wife.

"Nope." Huang Yunzhi said, "But I heard from Mrs. Lu that she still insisted on wanting Shandong, and said cruel words to the Americans, threatening to withdraw from the talks." ”

"Really?" Yang Shuoming sneered, "Then I'd better consider giving them some explosive news now." ”

Huang Yunzhi was puzzled by Yang Shuoming's sentence of "explosive information", she didn't think much about it at this time, but got up and went to prepare some food for Yang Shuoming.

At this time, she had no idea that the revelation that her beloved husband was about to break would change the course of World War I.

Yanjing, Zhongnanhai, Jurentang.

"How did this get out?"

Yuan Shikai pointed to the news on the front page of the "Shuntian Times" that "China is preparing to send troops to Europe to participate in the war at the invitation of the Entente Powers," and angrily asked Xu Shuzheng, vice minister of the army.

"This could never have been passed on by someone from the War Department." Xu Shuzheng shouted in his heart that he was wronged, and replied stubbornly, "The only person in the ministry who knows about the relevant situation is myself, and General Manager Duan doesn't know." ”

At the beginning of 1916, after seeing China's military strength in defeating the Allied powers, Britain, France, and Russia, the main members of the Entente bloc in the European theater of tension, urged China to join the Entente side to fight.

Because the Chinese Army has been learning from the German Army, and most of the guns are German, Yuan Shikai has a considerable understanding of Germany's strength, and the successive defeats of the three major Entente powers in the European theater have aggravated Yuan Shikai's worries and fears about the consequences of "standing on the wrong side". In order to prevent the leakage of information from causing unnecessary turmoil, Yuan Shikai has always taken extremely strict secrecy measures against the negotiation of entering the war with the Entente bloc, and only a very small number of people in the top echelons of China's political axe know about it.

But what Yuan Shikai didn't expect now was that such a "core secret" would appear in the newspaper!

"I sent someone to the newspaper to ask, and they said it was reprinted in an American newspaper." Liang Shiyi looked at Yuan Shikai's face cautiously and said, "It shouldn't have been spread from within the political axe." ”

After listening to Liang Shiyi's words, Yuan Shikai's color was a little dark, and Xu Shuzheng breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and he still looked sincerely frightened on the surface.

"Looking at what is said in this newspaper, the language is vague, and most of it is speculation, and it is likely that the Sun family made up something out of nothing against the party." Yang Du took the newspaper in Yuan Shikai's hand and looked at it, and said, "The Sun family's assassination of Huang Yuansheng in San Francisco before the rebel party may be to clear the way. ”

"If it's really Sun's anti-party actions, what benefits can they get by doing this?" Yuan Shikai paced in the room with his hands behind his back and in annoyance, "It is said that Ben has spared no effort in the newspaper to slander the combat strength of our army, which shows that he is afraid that my country will enter the war, and the party is going against the party at this time, what is the reason?" ”

Listening to Yuan Shikai's words, Yang Du frowned, and fell into contemplation little by little.

It is no secret among the officials of the Chinese political axe that China's participation in the Entente's war against Germany would enhance China's international standing because he was so angry that he obstructed Britain, France, and Russia in trying to win over China to the war.

At this time, of course, Yuan Shikai would not have thought that the Sun family, who was far away in Tokyo, was also puzzled by this.

"On the matter of participating in the war, Yuan Zhengax has many internal opinions, and there are both those who are in favor and against it." One said that he looked at the KMT leader, whose face was becoming haggard, and said, "According to reliable information from the imperial intelligence service, Li Yuanhong is one of the opponents. ”

"The most favorable scenario for us is for China to fight on the German side." One Chinese said, "But I think it's very unlikely." ”

"Of course, Yuan Shikai is not a fool, he will either remain neutral, or join the Entente to fight, and will never choose Germany." Yu himself glanced at the Chinese contemptuously, as if mocking the Chinese's low intelligence, "Yuan Shikai is very proficient in the study of standing in line. ”

"Lin Shen mistook me!" The KMT leader didn't seem to hear their conversation, but slammed his fist on the newspaper on the table, startling the two of them and the girl who was standing aside.

"You can't blame Lin Shen for this matter, all the people he sent out are the best people, and he has done his best." The Chinese saw the leader's dissatisfaction with Lin Shen's assassination failure, and defended Lin Shen, "It can only be said that this Yang Shuoming is more cunning than Zheng Rucheng, and he will preemptively attack." ”

"This incident also shows that the quality of the personnel of the North American branch of your party is too poor," said Yue himself with irony, "if they have received special training from the Imperial Intelligence Service, maybe they can complete this task alone, instead of using hooligan fighting to complete the task like your people." ”

Listening to his own words, the leader of the Kuomintang nodded unconsciously.

"Including the action of killing Huang Yuansheng, they didn't do it well." He himself continued, "The black cauldron that killed him should be carried by Yuan Shikai, just like Song Jiaoren did that time." But they made it clear that they had done it. The greatest benefit of this event was not only wasted, but it had an even worse counterproductive effect. ”

(To be continued)