The French Consul General in Shanghai, Mr. Lone Mailey, was correct in his view, and Yuan Shikai borrowed foreign money from the four countries of "Lamb", "Rì", and "Russia", and the purpose was indeed not to build a railway.

Now the "war of rebellion" is coming to an end. The powerful factions in the south have a great attempt to occupy half of the south in one fell swoop, and the relations between the north and the south are tense and on the verge of rupture.

Once it breaks up, it will be a tragic war, and if you want to become the final victor in this war, you must have enough strength. In other words, to put it a little more clearly. It is necessary to have a stronger army!

The formation of a stronger army is inseparable from more abundant funds, military salaries, weapons and ammunition, barracks, and military tents. Even the pensions of the dead and disabled are inseparable from the guarantee of funds, and the Beiyang Army is a killing machine that is built and maintained with money, and without military spending, this machine will not be able to function. You can't fight the world and strengthen the domain for Yuan Shikai and Yuan Laoshuai.

In order to fight the world, in order to cut down the strong domain, this time Yuan Shikai planned to go out, desperately being pointed out by Wanfu, desperately being scolded by the people, he also wanted to borrow foreign money, turn this Beiyang army into a killing weapon in his hands, and wipe out the powerful faction in the south in one fell swoop.

However, Yuan Shikai has the intention and determination to borrow. This does not mean that he will be able to borrow foreign money, although he has decided to go all out to the Entente. However, the Entente group did not share the same hatred on the issue of loans to China.

The reason is very simple, because now even a fool can see that his position as president of Yuan Shikai and Yuan Xiangcheng is unstable, and he may be ousted from power at any time. In technical terms, it's called "Shimono." ”

What's more, at the beginning, the "Three Kingdoms Bank Group." At the beginning of its establishment, Zhao Bei, commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, sent a national telegram. If there is no signature between him and Tao Chengzhang, the leader of the Liberation Society, no matter which side of the North and the South are allowed to borrow money from foreign countries, otherwise the loan contract will not be recognized by the Chinese people!

With these two stumbling blocks in front of them, Yuan Shikai's borrowing road was not smooth, and although the British and Rìben expressed strong interest, the French and Russian envoys to China told Yuan Shikai on the day that President Yuan Da met with them that they could not answer immediately and needed to report to their own country.

If France and Russia can't express their support for the establishment of this international loan as soon as possible, then it is difficult for Britain and Russia to guarantee that they will not back down, after all, the amount of this international loan is too staggering and the risk is too high.

This is not out of economic considerations, but mainly out of political considerations, because no one believes that Yuan Shikai's loan was agreed by the powerful faction in the south, and the British minister Zhu Erdian clearly told the French minister that the main purpose of this loan is to expand the Beiyang Army and update its weapons, so once this international loan is established, the outbreak of the Great War between the North and the South is only a matter of time, but as a creditor, no one dares to guarantee that the Beiyang Army will be able to defeat the Southern Army. If the Great Powers take away the collateral in accordance with the loan contract, it will only further provoke China's radical forces, nationalists, and nationalists, and this will strengthen the revolutionary forces in the South, which is not what the Great Powers want to see.

Thus, in the face of great temptation, both the French and Russian ministers showed a rare Jiang Shen, in sharp contrast to their performance at the time of the establishment of the republican zhèngfǔ network.

Their caution is understandable, because since the "War for the Founding of the People's Republic of China", the most prominent person in the whole of China is not Yuan Shikai and President Yuan Da, but the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, Zhao Bei and Zhao Zhenhua, from the "Xinzhou Incident" to the "Sichuan-Han Road Deficit Case" and then to the current "War of Rebellion" In the open and secret struggle with Commander-in-Chief Zhao, President Yuan's performance is really unsatisfactory, he is calculated step by step, and he is seized by others step by step, and even foreign reporters have to admit that the current leader of the Chinese revolution is Zhao Bei, as for Yuan Shikai, It's just a speculative politician who took advantage of the general trend of the revolution to ascend to a high position, but this general trend of revolution seems to have been provoked by Zhao Bei.

Britain and Rì Ben fully supported Yuan Shikai. That's because they offended the Republican Army, offended the Commander-in-Chief, they were a target erected by the Commander-in-Chief, a tool for the Commander-in-Chief to stir up public sentiment and public opinion, and if Britain and Rì did not support Yuan Shikai, once the Commander-in-Chief defeated Yuan Shikai, then the prospects of the two countries in China would become very bleak.

But France is different from Russia, and while Zhao Bei is strongly anti-British and anti-rì, he has never looked at them squarely, perhaps this is the strategy of the commander-in-chief. Perhaps the commander-in-chief does not intend to offend so many powerful countries at the same time, and judging by the good relations between the commander-in-chief and the American and German business circles, it seems that he does not exclude sharing benefits with foreigners, so. The French and Russian ministers felt the need to wait and see for a while, and they felt that Yuan Shikai's decision to make a loan this time was "too sudden" and had the flavor of pulling people on the thief ship, and they decided to throw this hot potato to the politicians in China and let them decide the future of this international loan.

Although the French minister and the Russian minister were not in a hurry at all, Yuan Shikai was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and as soon as the international loan could not be established, he would be restless, and considering that the expansion and rectification of the army could not be completed in a short time, even if the international loan could be taken now, the Beiyang Army would never be able to fight south before the congressional and presidential elections.

In the congressional election, Yuan Shikai has little hope now, and even Zhang Han, the leader of the Constituent Assembly who he has high hopes for, was pulled over by the Kuomintang. Becoming one of the "Ten Secretaries-General", many members of the Constituent Assembly also turned into members of the Kuomintang, and suddenly changed from Yuan Shikai's political allies to political opponents, and began to clamore for "occupying the National Assembly." Finish.

It must be admitted that the "war of rebellion" jointly launched by the powerful factions in the south played the purpose of killing two birds with one stone, not only maintaining their rule in Hunan and Guizhou provinces, but also at the same time

"Just... A large number of Gutang party members were injected. Prompting them to turn the political landscape around. The Shaker faction became a revolutionary.

And the powerful factions in the south also saw their own strength and united power through the war of rebellion. They have to look forward to Shu. Not only do they want to win the parliamentary election, but they also want to take this opportunity to attack the throne of the official president, and the most intuitive evidence is that Tao Chengzhang, the party premier of the Kuomintang, has announced that he will participate in the official presidential election.

Yuan Shikai was not confident of winning the congressional election. Now that even the position of the president of the Republic of China is shaking, can he not be nervous? Isn't it like an ant on a hot pan going around in the study of the presidential palace?

Yuan Shikai walked around the study with his hands behind his back, and his eldest son Yuan Keding stood behind the door, standing with his hands down, no expression on his face, his eyelids drooping, as if he was standing and sleeping.

There is no one else in the current study of the presidential palace. Only Yuan's father and son were in the house, and the door was also closed, and on a hot day, even the windows were closed and the curtains were closed. It's all about an electric fan on the desk to beat the heat.

"Keding, you have a lot of eyes, give your father ideas, how to win the presidential election?"

Yuan Shikai stopped and sat back at his desk. glanced at Yuan Keding.

Yuan Keding raised his eyelids, faced the desk and whispered: "Father, don't worry, since Hong Shuzu has found the person who destroyed the pottery, and he has taken a telegram to ask for credit, he must have been completely sure, now he just needs to wait for good news." ”

Yuan Shikai retracted his gaze, looked at the stack of documents on the table, and sighed.

"How can it be that simple? Tao is just a figure standing in front of the stage, Sun Wen and Huang Xing of the Alliance. Xiong Chengji and Li Suhe of the Restoration Society are all prestigious figures, and Tao is gone, but the Kuomintang is not dissolved, but it is not a long-term solution after all. In fact, this risky move for the father is just an emergency. If you want to sleep soundly. The Kuomintang still needs to be dissolved

After listening to Yuan Shikai's words, Yuan Keding said: "Father taught that. Tao Chengzhang is just a clown who jumps off the beam, relying on the power of the Kuomintang. In order to unify the decree, the Kuomintang must be eliminated.

From the Kuomintang, Zhao Bei, the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, was also the "Tenth Secretary-General." At the beginning, he swore that his father would be the president of the Republic of Fengguo, but now that he thinks about it, I am afraid that it is also forced by the situation, and now the situation has changed. It is difficult to say whether he will be able to support his father in the official presidential election. ”

"It's nice to think about that. If it is Kewen, he may not want to get this. It's a pity that you have no qualifications in the army, otherwise, you may not be able to inherit your father's career in the future. ”

Yuan Shikai is quite helpless, now the Beiyang Army has expanded to more than ten divisions, plus those local armed forces that follow President Yuan, Yuan Shikai can control nearly 200,000 armed forces, but the army has expanded too fast, it is no longer like the original Beiyang Six Towns, and now Yuan Shikai's biggest headache is that there is no one around him who is both capable and can be completely trusted to sit in the Beiyang Army for him. Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang fought in secret, Duan looked down on Feng, and Feng was not convinced. The factional struggle is fierce, no matter who is allowed to go up. The other faction will definitely be suppressed by the powerful faction, which is not conducive to the unity of Beiyang, and even more unfavorable to the balance of forces. It is impossible to go back to the north to preside over the overall situation, so that happens. None of the "Beiyang Three Heroes" can come in handy.

No matter how close the generals are, they are not as good as their own relatives, Yuan Shikai hopes that his son can help, but at present, the most promising among the sons is Yuan Keding, but since he has never set foot in the military world, this prestige cannot be talked about at all. Naturally, it is impossible to share Yuan Shikai's worries.

Hearing Yuan Shikai's sigh, Yuan Keding thought about it, hesitated for a moment, and said: "If my father agrees, Keding is willing to go to Wuhan for a trip." Be a lobbyist for his father and win over Zhao Bei. ”

"Are you sure? Yang Zhezi is such a eloquent person, and you can't let that Zhao Bei enter the building, what can you do? Yuan Shikai glanced at Yuan Keding again.

"The reason why Yang Zhezi couldn't convince Zhao Bei was simply that he had no power in his hands and couldn't give Zhao Bei enough benefits."

At this point, Yuan Keding walked to the desk. whispered to Yuan Shikai: "This time I went to Han, Keding also hoped that the top relatives could give great power, and there were enough benefits." Don't worry that Zhao Qi doesn't support his father. ”

"Now that the north-south break is imminent, it seems inappropriate for you to go to Wuhan, in case you are detained by the south, you will be a hostage."

Yuan Shikai shook his head, picked up a silk handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead, Yuan Keding, who was standing on the side, was also sweating, picked up a puff fan on the table, but did not fan himself, but fanned Yuan Shikai to relieve the heat.

There is an electric fan on one side, and a pu fan on the other, Yuan Shikai still feels that it is extremely hot.

There was silence in the study for a while, and after a while, the phone on the table rang, Yuan Shikai picked up the phone, and the voice of Foreign Secretary Cai Tinggan came from inside.

Cai Tinggan didn't say much, Yuan Shikai snorted and pressed the microphone back.

"Keding, you go to the Daqianmen Railway Station for your father to meet a guest. This guest came to visit the Father. ”

"What guest? Why didn't I make an appointment? ”

Yuan Keding was very surprised, usually speaking, the things that Cai Tinggan presided over were diplomatic matters. The guests he greeted were also supposed to be diplomatic guests, but no foreign or Southern revolutionaries had said a few days ago that they wanted to meet President Yuan.

"What guest? Hum! Who else could it be but Rì himself? ”

Yuan Shikai answered some questions that were not what he asked, and the conversation changed. Hate said: "If you take advantage of people's danger, it is the most common among all countries. Now seeing that I am in an embarrassing situation, this rì himself is even more arrogant, "The salary state incident, the negotiation has not been relaxed, if it were not for the loan of rì Ben, I would not have asked you to pick up this catty." Person. Speaking of which, this rì himself is still my old acquaintance