Fujian Mawei Military Port, Beiyang Navy Minister Sa Zhenbing sat alone in his office, the guards outside the door tightly guarded the gate, Sa Zhenbing ordered, no one was allowed to come in without his personal order. Ensuring that he would not be interrupted by an unexpected visitor, Sa Zhenbing opened the letter written to him by his old classmate and comrade-in-arms Yan Fu. This is the third letter Yan Fu has written.

The content of the letter was simple, and Yan Fu frankly admitted that the People's Party's plan to march into Korea had failed due to the intervention of the British. Since foreign war is no longer feasible, China's raging war is bound to sweep the domestic battlefield. In the letter, Yan Fu officially invited Sa Zhenbing to join the People's Party for the first time and contribute his strength to New China.

The letter was not long, Sa Zhenbing read it carefully several times, and after confirming that he had not misunderstood Yan Fu's meaning at all, he carefully collected the letter. Sa Zhenbing was born in 1859, five years younger than Yan Fu, who was born in 1854. In the winter of 1876, he, together with Ye Zuqi, Liu Buyun, Fang Boqian, Yan Fu and others, were sent to the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England to learn driving. After graduating from the British Naval Academy, Yan Fu became a teacher at the Beiyang Naval Academy, and Sa Zhenbing became the captain of the Beiyang Naval Division. After the First Sino-Japanese War, all the surviving officers and soldiers of the Navy were dismissed from their posts and sent home. Yan Fu continued to teach while translating books. When Sa Zhenbing returned home, he was destitute and had to become a private school teacher. Later, he was able to return to the Navy. After the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, Yan Fu left the imperial court and went to the people, but Sa Zhenbing was always in the navy. However, the world is impermanent, and now the two are on opposite sides again.

Although they are enemies of each other, Sa Zhenbing is very envious of Yan Fu, the eldest brother. Just after translating "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution", Yan Fu is already a world-famous university scholar. Sa Zhenbing had long heard that Yan Fu was the principal of the People's Party Naval Academy, as the teacher of Chen Ke, chairman of the People's Party, and as the founder of the People's Party's sailors, Yan Fu is now in a situation full of peach and plums. Many of the steamers running in the Yangtze River were built by the People's Party itself, and I heard that the number and tonnage were not comparable to those of the Manchu shipping bureaus. Sa Zhenbing knows very well that today, when the Chinese Navy is declining, Yan Fu, as a university scholar and a great contributor to the revival of the Chinese Navy, will definitely go down in history.

In the letter, Yan Fu assured that if Sa Zhenbing could lead Fujian's Beiyang Fleet and Nanyang Fleet to defect to the People's Party, the People's Party would appoint Sa Zhenbing as commander-in-chief of the navy. Sa Zhenbing's assurance to the eldest brother also believes that it will not be a deception. Khazarian had no intention of defecting to the BJP.

As the Minister of the Navy of Beiyang, Sa Zhenbing was well aware of the people's revolutionary policy of the People's Party. For this, whether Sa Zhenbing sincerely supports it or not, he can still accept it. However, the agrarian revolution carried out by the People's Party, Sa Zhenbing felt that it was too radical. As for the class struggle led by the People's Party, Sa Zhenbing felt that this was simply nonsense.

Like ordinary people in this era, Sa Zhenbing believes that there are good and evil, good and bad in this world. But what people are good or bad or good or bad should be determined by their actions. Sa Zhenbing believes that there is no traditional Chinese view of good and evil in the program of the People's Party. The class struggle is not concerned with individual actions, but with or without money. Those who have money are bad people, and those who don't have money are good people. When Yuan Shikai was still alive, Mr. Sa Zhenbing and other high-ranking officials in Beijing thought that this simple and crude attitude was simply ridiculous.

But the facts have inexorably proved one thing, no matter how outrageous and unreasonable the BJP's policies are, the actual effect is obvious. Chen Ke started in Fengtai County, but he overthrew the Beiyang government in just ten years. It also inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army in the northeast. The southeastern provinces had a great deal of contact with foreign countries, and the full text of the armistice agreement signed between the People's Party and Japan was published in Shanghai newspapers. It was the first time in decades that China had won a war from a foreign power and regained some of its sovereignty. Japan's rights and interests, such as concessions and extraterritoriality, were completely deprived. The reparations against Japan and the indemnities in the Treaty of Shimonoseki were all terminated in the treaty.

The foreign country that Sa Zhenbing hated the most was Japan, and the Beiyang Naval Division was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War. It led to a war of unprecedented humiliation in the Manchu era. Now the People's Party has annihilated more than 100,000 Japanese troops with the strength of several provinces, and such a record and the subsequent treaty have proved the strength of the People's Party with indisputable facts. The Beiyang and Nanyang sailors, including Sa Zhenbing, were greatly shaken. If it weren't for Britain's strong intervention and the entente as Japan's backing, Sa Zhenbing believed that the People's Party would have swung its army into Korea as Yan Fu said, and would have forgotten the humiliation of the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. However, the concept of "class struggle" of the People's Party still could not make Sa Zhenbing choose to defect to the People's Party.

It's just that if you don't defect to the People's Party, where is the way out for the Beiyang Navy Division and the Nanyang Navy Division? Sa Zhenbing is 57 years old, and he is no longer the age when he dares to do anything. He knew very well that even without the size of Japan's powerful fleet, the current North and South Sea fleets alone would be enough to block the sea lanes of the People's Party. Even if the People's Party is now quite the strongest army in the Far Eastern land war.

When the navy has coal and shells, it can crisscross the seas, but when the coal, shells, and food are exhausted, they still have to obediently return to their home port to replenish and repair. Fujian is mountainous and not rich in minerals. The Beiyang Navy Division fled from Tianjin to Fujian in a hurry last year. Now many warships have been moored in the port for almost a year, short of coal and ammunition. Most of the ships are still not able to operate at all, and many small ships are leaking seriously because they have no money to repair them. If this situation continues, within a few years, this fleet will be completely ineffective in rust.

Even if Sa Zhenbing specially asked the guards to guard the door, someone was still able to let the guards come in and report, "My lord, the officers and soldiers of the Navy Division are willing to ask for a meeting on behalf of the representatives." ”

Sa Zhenbing couldn't help but sigh, since the fall of the Beijing government in Beiyang, Feng Guozhang has completely lost his source of funds. After the Beiyang Fleet went south, it did not pay its military salaries on time for most of the year. Even if a little military salary is paid, it is still in arrears. An important means of maintaining discipline in the Beiyang Army is to pay salaries on time, and Feng Guozhang does not have the appeal of Yuan Shikai. There was no food to eat, and the officers and men were excited, and they had recently reached the peak of boiling.

"Let's send someone to persuade me first." Sa Zhenbing really had no way to solve this problem, and after saying this, Sa Zhenbing's brows were tightly furrowed again. Only a strong country can have a strong navy, because the navy is a gold-eating beast, and it costs a lot to build a warship, and it costs more money to maintain the combat effectiveness of a warship than to build or buy a warship.

Sa Zhenbing couldn't help but waver in his heart, even if it was quite different from the political views of the People's Party, looking at today's China, the only political force that could afford to build, maintain, and even develop the navy was the People's Party. Moreover, the BJP also really wants to build a strong navy. The palm of his hand was pressed on his forehead, and Sa Zhenbing had mixed feelings in his heart.

In the current war situation, there is no possibility of victory at all, Feng Guozhang once tried to plead with the British, and the British gave Feng Guozhang a very miraculous reply, "Britain does not participate in the war between the People's Party and Feng Guozhang, if Feng Guozhang sends a fleet to attack the People's Party, it must not affect the free passage of British merchant ships." And the Beiyang Fleet could not anchor in Shanghai. ”

Feng Guozhang took these words as a "pass" given by the British, and Sa Zhenbing was almost fainted by Feng Guozhang. The British said that they told Feng Guozhang, "You love to die as much as you like, but if you dare to let us have any loss, we in Britain will immediately clean you up." ”

For the temperament of these European and American powers, Sa Zhenbing is very clear. If Feng Guozhang can keep the three southeastern provinces, perhaps the British can still force Feng Guozhang to sign some treaties in exchange for some benefits. The People's Party can even wipe out the Beijing government in Beiyang, and even the Japanese can run away, so how can Feng Guozhang resist the attack of the People's Party? There is not the slightest credibility in any agreement signed between the British and Feng Guozhang. In the current situation, it seems that the British still want to cause some trouble for the People's Party, so they have some contact with Feng Guozhang. If the People's Party could give benefits to the British, I am afraid that the British fleet would have happily sailed over to help the People's Party encircle and suppress Feng Guozhang.

But Feng Guozhang was completely dizzy at this time, and he couldn't see the situation clearly at all, and only thought about relying on the three southeastern provinces to resist stubbornly. Even if the Beiyang Fleet sailed into the Yangtze River to engage the People's Party, it would be able to attack a few cities along the river of the People's Party at most. The People's Party's army was still able to march into the three southeastern provinces with great swagger. The Navy is no longer useful in this war. Not to mention the current situation of ships in the Navy, there are simply not a few ships capable of maintaining combat effectiveness.

Is there no other way out for the Navy than to surrender the BJP? Sa Zhenbing had to think desperately. And judging from the situation that can be deduced from reality, unless the Beiyang Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet disintegrate on their own, there is really no other way out.

After painful thinking, Sa Zhenbing finally sent someone to contact Yan Fu.

The liaison officer didn't have to go far, Yan Fu was no longer in Wuhan now, but in Shanghai. Temporarily living on the heavily guarded campus of Shanghai Renxin Medical College. Since the collapse of the Beijing government in Beiyang, the People's Party's presence in Shanghai has become completely public. The consular corps of various countries in Shanghai turned a blind eye to the entry of a division of the People's Party into Shanghai by boat, and Wang Youhong, the governor of Jiangsu, who theoretically had administrative jurisdiction over Shanghai, also turned a blind eye to this. With Shanghai Renxin Medical College as the core, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army set up its own garrison area. The British flag that was originally flying at Shanghai Renxin Medical College has also become a five-star red flag.

When He Rujie, the envoy sent by Sa Zhenbing, entered Yan Fu's office, he found that his younger brother He Ruqing was also there. He Rujie and He Ruqing are both the younger brothers of Chen Ke's father-in-law, He Ruming. He Ruqing has been working in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and He Rujie is the pipe band of the Nanyang Naval Division. Because of their relationship with Chen Ke, the three brothers of the He family did not have much pain and loss about the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Beiyang, after all, people are all future-oriented. As long as the three of them don't mess around, the glorious future of the He family is not a very outrageous thing.

Yan Fu and the father of the three brothers of the He family, Mr. He, are friends of the same generation, if from the perspective of mentorship, Chen Ke should actually call the three brothers He Ruming brothers. But now that the He brothers saw Yan Fu, they didn't dare to make the slightest mistake. Respectfully saluting Yan Fu with the courtesy of the juniors, He Rujie handed a letter to Yan Fu with both hands, "Mr. Yan, the juniors came to deliver the letter on the entrustment of Lord Sa. Lord Sa asks the juniors to greet you. ”

"Sit." Yan Fu asked the He brothers to sit down. didn't read the letter, Yan Fu said: "When Mr. Lingzun He passed away, I couldn't go to worship, and I feel very sorry every time I think about it." When I went to Beijing a few years ago, I went to the tomb of Mr. He to pay respects, and this is what I wanted. ”

He Rujie bowed and said, "Mr. Yan, you can go to worship in person." My father must have been very pleased to know about it. ”

Yan Fu waved his hand, "Sit, sit." Our own family doesn't have to do these clichés. The main reason why I came this time was that the People's Party wanted to settle the situation in Jiangnan, and I was very concerned about the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Beiyang and Nanyang Navy, so I came to Shanghai to preside over this matter. ”

He Rujie hurriedly got up and replied: "Mr. Yan, you are the old-timer of the Beiyang Naval Division and the Nanyang Naval Division, and at this time, you, the old-timer, must show us the younger generations the way." ”

He Ruqing also got up and said: "Mr. Yan, Shanghai is also the original place of Wenqing's prosperity, but I didn't know such a hero as Wenqing at that time, so I missed the opportunity to make friends." When Wen Qing sees that he wants to dominate the world, if there is a place for me, I hope Mr. Yan will say it clearly. I'm sure I'll do what dogs and horses do. ”

Yan Fu knew that the He family had a very good tutor, although these two were also Chen Ke's uncles-in-law, but they didn't dare to show the "style" of their uncles. Obviously, he has a very clear understanding of the fact that his net worth and life are in the hands of others. The two clearly stated their positions and attitudes. Yan Fu was not a person who liked nonsense, but since this was the case, he opened Sa Zhenbing's letter.

Unlike Yan Fu's concise and concise letter, Sa Zhen wrote a long letter to Yan Fu. In the letter, Zhenbing elaborated on his political differences with the People's Party, but did not say much about China's two fleets that are still alive at the moment. The general idea is that it is hoped that Yan Fu will try his best to make the People's Party not act recklessly politically. The status quo of the two fleets is that it is not possible to surrender, and it is hoped that Yan Fu can mediate in the middle to ensure the interests of the two fleets.

After reading the letter, Yan Fu asked about He Rujie's situation in Fujian. He Rujie smiled bitterly: "Supervisor Feng is short of money and people at the moment, and the entire Jiangnan is in chaos. Some of the Overseers tried to intervene in the Maritimes, and the Lord had to deal with them while placating the Marisal's brothers. But the sailor hasn't been paid for several months, where is it so easy to be able to hold back. ”

After He Rujie finished speaking, seeing Yan Fu's regretful appearance with a helpless sigh, he said tentatively: "Mr. Yan, the junior has a reluctant request. Now that the situation has become like this, the whole southeast knows that it will be a matter of time before the People's Party comes to fight. President Yuan still can't resist it, let alone Feng Dujun. Why don't you give some money to the juniors now, and when the juniors go back, they will use the money to help the brothers who can't eat. Look at what these brothers are going to do. If the situation is feasible, the People's Party will send a fleet of ships to carry the army directly to land in Fujian. Attack it unprepared, and take the Overseer's Mansion in one fell swoop. At that time, the whole of Fujian was at your fingertips. ”

This plan is really quite desirable, and Yan Fu feels that He Rujie is also very decisive in selling the chief. If this plan can be successful, Sa Zhenbing's attitude will no longer matter.