Shandong Peninsula, the Dezhou region adjacent to Hebei.

Although a month earlier, the governor of Shandong, Yuan Shikai, had issued a notice claiming that there was a bandit problem in the northern region, and he would personally lead a large army to quell the bandits.

However, in the past month, Yuan Shikai's army only stopped when it marched near Texas, and the nearly 20,000 troops did not carry out any action to suppress bandits, and the entire military camp ate and slept every day except for training, which did not look like a sign of suppressing bandits at all.

And it is precisely because of the abnormal reaction of Yuan Shikai's army in the past month that it has not only caused panic among the people in Texas.

At the same time, it also caused the panic of the yamen on the opposite side of Hebei, and after repeated negotiations to no avail, Wuqiao Zhixian directly reported the situation to the superior yamen, and Mei Dongyi, the general soldier of Cangzhou, was also anxious and couldn't sleep after receiving this situation.

Although Mei Dongyi can be said to have the power of life and death in Cangzhou, his status can be counted in the entire Manchu Dynasty, because there are only 83 soldiers in the entire Qing Dynasty, including 70 in the army, and Mei Dongyi is one of them.

But in front of Yuan Shikai, the giant, the power in Mei Dongyi's hands is still much smaller after all, and even, if Yuan Shikai has the heart to clean him up, Mei Dongyi has no possibility of resisting at all.

In this urgency, Mei Dongyi immediately went to Dezhou to negotiate with Yuan Shikai in person, but he did not see Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Shikai's general named Cao Kun received him.

Although Cao Kun's answer was still a bandit, this answer obviously could not satisfy Mei Dongyi.

So, after returning to Cangzhou, Mei Dongyi immediately wrote an excerpt about the situation in Dezhou and sent it to the imperial court.

It's just that this excerpt was not sent to the emperor or the Empress Dowager Cixi as desired, but was directly sent to Wang Sirui.

After seeing this excerpt, Wang Sirui ordered someone to find Yuan Shikai with this excerpt, which was not approved, but Yuan Shikai knew very well the significance of Wang Sirui's move.

In fact, this can be regarded as Wang Sirui's ultimatum to Yuan Shikai, and finally, after some careful consideration, Yuan Shikai asked for a pen and paper, wrote a letter in person, and asked him to send it to Texas to be handed over to Wang Shizhen and others.

"Bastard, I'm going to lead the troops to the capital, I'm going to kill Wang Sirui's bastard." Cao Kun slapped the table angrily and roared.

The other generals were not surprised by Cao's angry behavior, but they did not pay much attention to it.

They have been able to get to this point, naturally not ordinary people can do it, everyone is like a mirror in their hearts, and they have their own judgments about the current situation.

Cao Kun can point at Wang Sirui's nose and scold him, which no one else has to say. Although Cao Kun's current position is not high, and even the lowest among the generals here, the existence of the bottom, but there is no way, who makes the background hard?

It is also a coincidence that after joining the army, Cao Kun heard that Yuan Shikai's uncle and grandfather Yuan Jiasan had a subordinate brother Cao Kezhong, who was very powerful in the local area and was called the marshal.

So he went to see Cao Kezhong with many gifts, as the so-called etiquette is not strange, Cao Kezhong is also from Tianjin, and he still takes care of his little fellow.

As a result, people checked their family tree and found that Cao Kun was their grandchild, so they were naturally even happier, so they recognized Cao Kun as their grandson and asked his aunt to go to Yuan Shikai to accommodate him.

It is precisely because of this relationship that Cao Kun is led by the gang and led by the gang, and led by the gang leader, and Cao Kun is currently a commander under Yuan Shikai.

It can be said that Cao Kun is Yuan Shikai's absolute confidant, although his grandfather has been dead for five years, but Cao Kun has been firmly close to Yuan Shikai's big tree, and has won Yuan Shikai's trust.

"Zhong Shan, don't be in a hurry to get angry, for now, we should focus on discussing countermeasures, instead of messing around here." Wang Shizhen glanced at everyone, and finally stood up and said.

"What else is there to discuss? Now that the palace guard has been arrested, what can we do? In my opinion, there are only three ways to go at the moment, the first of which is to seek a better future by taking refuge in Wang Sirui. The second is to send troops into Beijing to announce the world's crusade against Wang Sirui, and the third is to take off this military uniform and go home to retire. Feng Guozhang was a little dissatisfied.

Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, although these three people are known as the three heroes of Beiyang, but these three people have always been incompatible.

In the past, Yuan Shikai was here, and he could forcibly suppress the three of them, plus Yuan Shikai reconciled with him, although the three of them did not deal with each other, the relationship was also in the past.

And now that Yuan Shikai has been captured, although Wang Shizhen is a staff officer, Feng Guozhang, the general who commands the army, is very dissatisfied.

"What Hua Fu said is only the final decision, now let's discuss the countermeasures first, the palace guard is only being arrested now, not killed, we should unite as one." Duan Qirui said.

Duan Qirui's words made Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang both a little dissatisfied, and the fight between the two people in front of the relationship is now making you a pot of soup?

Although Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang were very dissatisfied with Duan Qirui, they had to admit that Duan Qirui's move was very subtle, at least his move had been recognized by most generals, especially those who were loyal to Yuan Shikai.

And when there is Yuan Shikai on weekdays, Wang Shizhen's status is still heavier.

But now that Yuan Shikai has been captured, Wang Shizhen is just a staff officer, and he doesn't have much power in his hands, and compared with Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, the two big men who hold military power, the right to speak is almost negligible.

And Duan Qirui won the support of those Yuan Shikai diehards, so the three of them just said a word each, which gave Duan Qirui the upper hand faintly.

"I think we can do what the palace guard asks, and from this letter, it is not difficult to see that the palace guard seems to have reached an agreement with that Wang Sirui, at least in the short term, the palace guard will not be in any danger. And as long as our army here moves, I'm afraid that the palace guards won't be sure. Wang Shizhen squinted his eyes slightly, and after calculating in his heart, he continued to speak.

Seeing that Wang Shizhen didn't mention the matter of discussion at all, he decided to do it according to Yuan Shikai's request, and Wang Shizhen's suggestion also made the hearts of those who had just chosen to support Duan Qirui shake a little.

"In that case, why not discuss a bird? Wouldn't it be okay to just reply to them? Let's come here just to give us a word of notification? Feng Guozhang said with a hot temper, although it seemed that he was opposing Wang Shizhen, in fact, he vaguely mentioned Wang Shizhen's ambitions, so that everyone was more or less prepared, so as not to be cheated and didn't know what was going on.

"Huafu, when will your temper change?" Duan Qirui spoke again, first counting down Feng Guozhang, and then continued: "Actually, I also think that we can do what the palace guard asks, but let's not forget who gave us today?" Therefore, after entering Beijing, we only have one condition, that is, to ask Wang Sirui to release the palace guard, as long as Wang Sirui agrees to this condition, if the palace guard has no intention of continuing at that time, then we will find our own way out. ”

"Well, that's a good idea." Wang Shizhen nodded, agreeing with Duan Qirui's words.

It's just that in his heart, Wang Shizhen has almost abandoned Yuan Shikai, because by Yuan Shikai's side, he has always been just a person who doesn't have much real power, and if he wants to overpower Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, it is simply a fantasy.

Why, then, did he hang himself from a tree? If Wang Sirui can meet his conditions, then it is also a good choice to take refuge in Wang Sirui. At least, Wang Sirui now represents the orthodoxy of the country, doesn't he?

"Then go get back to them." Feng Guozhang also agreed to Duan Qirui's proposal.

It's just that Feng Guozhang also has his own little Jiujiu in his heart.

At the same time, Duan Qirui's heart is also not bent on rescuing Yuan Shikai, of course, if he can save it, he will save it, if he can save it, he will push Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang to the opposite side as much as possible, so that Yuan Shikai can see who is trustworthy.

If you can't save it, then you don't blame yourself, anyway, everything that should have been done has already been done, what else can you do with me?

As for the other generals here, they don't have the right to speak at all, even Yuan Shikai's favorite general Cao Kun has no right to speak at this time, who let his biggest reliance be captured?

Soon, Wang Shizhen and the three found the soldier who came to inform them, and after receiving an accurate reply from the three, the soldier did not hesitate.

Directly took out a holy decree from his body, allowing the three of them to enter Beijing with a small number of escorts, and the rest of the troops returned to their respective stations, and their daily training was carried out as usual.

And since they have agreed to go to the capital to meet Wang Sirui, the three of them are not too wary, and the only one who needs to be guarded against is Yuan Shikai's diehard Cao Kun.

After the three of them secretly discussed, they decided to take Cao Kun to the capital with them, so that Cao Kun would not be able to make small moves when the three of them were gone.

And Cao Kun was also anxious to see Yuan Shikai, so he agreed to the request of the three.

On the second day of the second lunar month, March 21, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and Cao Kun each led a battalion of troops to the capital with the soldiers who came to report.

And because they held the holy decree in their hands, the three of them crossed the border with their troops, which did not cause panic in various places. On the contrary, after learning the news that Yuan Shikai's army had returned to the station, Mei Dongyi, the general soldier of Cangzhou, instantly became happy, and hurriedly ordered someone to prepare a table of good wine and food for himself to suppress the shock. (To be continued.) )