108481908 Far Eastern madman

It's late at night. Beijing, Presidential Palace.

The lights are still transparent here, and the lights are also on in the office of Acting President Xu Shichang, but Xu Shichang himself is not in the office, there are only some confidential personnel working here, and as for President Xu himself, he is now in a small garden by the Taiye Pool in Xiyuan.

A few days ago, at the suggestion of a British doctor. Yuan Keding has moved Yuan Shikai from Jurentang to this small garden, and used this place as Yuan Shikai's place of recuperation, because the British doctor said that a quiet and beautiful place is more suitable for stroke patients to recuperate. This is actually the back garden of the Presidential Palace, and Yuan Shikai still can't rest assured that he is in the center.

Although the British doctor had issued a critical illness notice a few days ago, I don't know if it was Western medicine that worked, or President Yuan Da's belief in Chinese medicine did not live up to his expectations, in short, Yuan Shikai's condition is basically stable at present, although the symptoms of stroke are still the same, but the condition has not continued to deteriorate, and the right arm has finally avoided the loss of function, can barely use the finger as a pen to write with ink, and his mind is still clear, but he still can't speak, plus his legs are still weak, and his heart is still irritable.

Although he is currently the acting president of the Republic of China. But Xu Shichang knows very well in his heart that as long as Yuan Shikai does not die for a day, his catty, the "acting president" is the emperor, and the only one who can really suppress the situation is this paralyzed President Yuan Da, so every day after work, Xu Shichang always has to take a long-term entourage to the garden, and sit in front of Yuan Shikai's sickbed for half an hour. This feeling is also real, and it is not comparable to other people in Beiyang.

Now, Xu Shichang has been sitting next to Yuan Shikai for half an hour, Xu Shichang said, Yuan Shikai wrote, the two also talked happily, and both of them tried to avoid talking about state affairs and politics, because they both knew in their hearts that stroke patients were the most afraid of being stimulated, and what they were talking about at the moment was just some old news in the officialdom in previous years. Occasionally, it is mixed with some memories of the small station training in the past. Looking back on the past, both of them felt a little emotional in their hearts.

"Tip kiss, it's time to drink the medicine."

Yuan Keding held a bowl of traditional Chinese medicine, walked to Yuan Shikai's sickbed in small steps, followed by Yuan Kewen, holding a copper basin in his hand, and a towel was placed on the edge of the basin. There was hot water in it, which was used for Yuan Shikai to wipe his body, and in the past few days, the two brothers had done their best to serve, although their main job was only to bring the medicine and hot water to the sickbed. The specific work is still left to the servants, but. As a member of a family, it is not easy for them to do this, after all, not everyone who has suffered from stroke paralysis has the patience to serve.

Xu Shichang stood up with interest and whispered to Yuan Shikai: "Xiangcheng, you can rest assured, I will handle state affairs, you can rest assured." ”

Yuan Shikai nodded, but Xu Shichang did not leave immediately, but took the towel and wiped his hands for Yuan Shikai personally, and then handed the towel to a servant, took a step back, stood at the head of the bed, and waited for Yuan Keding to hand over the medicine bowl to another servant, Xu Shichang beckoned to Yuan Keding, and the two exited the bedroom together, standing in the garden and whispering.

"The British and French ministers came to visit Ling Zun today, did they say anything?" Xu Shichang asked.

"I didn't say anything else, but the British minister suggested that when my father had recovered his strength, he would be sent to England for recuperation, and if it was too far away, he could also go to Hong Kong or Singapore."

Yuan Keding couldn't see any expression when he spoke, so Xu Shichang didn't know if this Yuan Gongzi heard the voice of the British minister.

Xu Shichang understood that the British minister's suggestion was ostensibly for Yuan Shikai's recovery. However, the real intention of the British was to keep Yuan Shikai away from the central power and the Beiyang Group, and only in this way could Xu Shichang, the acting president, become a real president, and administrative affairs would not be interfered with, which would be conducive to the British's direct support for Xu Shichang's position.

Now there is still a state of war between the North and the South. The armed forces of the United Front are also getting closer and closer to the Beijing-Tianjin area, and the situation is very unfavorable for Beiyang. Xu Shichang was helpless about this, and he believed that the best option for Beiyang at present was to make peace with the United Front. Even if you have to accept the harsh armistice conditions of the other side, you will not hesitate, and now Beiyang has reached the point when its fate is hanging by a thread, and it is impossible to slow down a little. will be killed, Xu Shichang is in peace, this is to make Beiyang recover from this predicament.

However, this proposal for peace was opposed by Duan Qirui and other Beiyang generals, who were not opposed to peace, but to accepting harsh armistice conditions. The "minimum conditions" of the United Front challenged their bottom line and made them feel that they were in a state of despair, so they opposed the pursuit of peace talks on the basis of this armistice condition, preferring to choose another gamble.

Duan Qirui and others were originally enemies, and they opposed Xu Shichang because he was the new leader of Beiyang. But the problem is that the Beiyang generals have the support of Yuan Shikai, these days, Duan Qirui, like Xu Shichang, will visit Yuan Shikai's sickbed every day, but he is not after work, but before going to work. deliberately staggered the time with Xu Shichang, as for why Yuan Shikai would support the position of Duan Qirui and others, this is also very understandable, because the armistice conditions of the United Front clearly stated that the "war scourge" should be severely punished, this kind of clamor did make Yuan Shikai very annoyed, although Yuan Shikai's condition did not aggravate because of this, but his stubborn temper also came up, and he wanted to gamble with Duan Qirui and others again, and he would not give up if he did not fight for the old book of Beiyang.

This is the true character of the hero, Xu Shichang is ashamed of himself, and the British minister Zhu Erdian is very anxious, both of them realize that if Yuan Shikai does not leave the political center, the war between the north and the south will not stop, and this battle must be fought until the violent transfer of central power is completed.

The day before yesterday, Song Jiaoren and Zhang Xiaozhun jointly sent a telegram back, informing the Beiyang side that Chairman Zhao of the United Front had nodded and agreed to a formal armistice between the north and the south to negotiate peace, but the precondition was that the southern army should occupy Baoding.

Xu Shichang Xingchong convened the Beiyang generals to discuss, preparing to withdraw all the Beiyang troops south of Baoding, avoid unnecessary combat losses, and achieve a truce between the north and the south as soon as possible, but even such a proposal that was beneficial to both sides was opposed by Duan Qirui and others, who believed that Baoding was the gateway to Beijing and Tianjin and could never be controlled by the united front, and the lawsuit finally went to Yuan Shikai, who only used a fork. This opportunity for peace was denied.

Xu Shichang even began to wonder if Duan Qirui's gang intended to use this method to aggravate Yuan Shikai's condition, otherwise, it would not be enough to explain why they continued to reveal the battle situation on the front line to him when they knew about Yuan Shikai's condition.

It is no longer important how to speculate on the thoughts of Duan Qirui and the others, the important thing is that at noon, a battle report came from the front line, the vanguard of the United Front had captured Fangshun Bridge, which was only a few miles away from Baoding City, and throughout the afternoon, the defenders in Baoding City saw at least two United Front planes, and the whole city was panicked. Although the Beiyang Army did blow up the Fangshun Bridge and block the railway traffic, with the speed of the United Front repairing the Yellow River Railway Bridge, the repair of the Fangshun Bridge would only take two days at most, and then the Jinghan Line would become the thoroughfare of the Southern Army.

Although Duan Qirui and others suggested completely demolishing the railway, preparing to move the capital to Nanjing, and taking Yuan Shikai to defect to Wang Shizhen, who was sitting in Nanjing, Xu Shichang was not enthusiastic about this, losing Beijing and Tianjin, Beiyang is equivalent to losing his roots, and without the northern base area, where to find the "north" in this "Beiyang"?

So, from the bottom of my heart. Xu Shichang hoped that Yuan Shikai would go to Britain to cultivate, stay away from the whirlpool of this catty of politics, and stay away from the powerful Beiyang generals, which is good for Yuan Shikai himself and his Yuan family.

"Nephew, if you want Ling Zun to recover as soon as possible, it's best to stay away from this place of right and wrong, and stay away from those duplicitous people."

Xu Shichang's words were very clear. If Yuan Keding is still with an ignorant expression. Either there is a problem with his comprehension, or he is pretending to be stupid, for such a family, Xu Shichang can see it clearly when he asks himself, and the "nephew" is enough to explain his position.

"My father doesn't want to leave, and I can't do anything."

Yuan Keding's words were tricky, which made Xu Shichang unsure for a while whether Yuan Shikai was too greedy for power, or Yuan Keding didn't want to leave this feng shui treasure of political power.

However, Xu Shichang had no time to figure out Yuan Keding's thoughts, and a confidential official of the presidential palace hurriedly walked into the garden and handed Xu Shichang a copy of a telegram.

There was no light in the garden, Xu Shichang didn't go under the eaves, and used the electric lamp to identify the text on the telegram manuscript, and his chief saw that the light here was not bright, so he went to look for the lantern, but when he rushed back with the lantern, he was surprised to find that Xu Shichang's face had become whiter than the telegram, and his arms were trembling.

"Master, what's wrong?" Chang Sui hurriedly went over and held Xu Shichang up.

"Let's go, grab the lantern and follow me."

Xu Shichang glanced at Yuan Shikai's bedroom. He hurriedly walked back into the darkness with Chang Sui, then took the lantern in his hand, and instructed Chang Sui to go to Yuan Shikai's bedroom to invite Yuan Keding out again.

Not long after, Yuan Keding rushed back to Xu Shichang's side, holding an empty medicine bowl in his hand.

"Uncle Shi, what are your orders for calling me over?" Yuan Keding asked.

Xu Shichang glanced at the medicine bowl held by Yuan Keding, handed over the telegram manuscript in his hand with a gloomy face, and lifted the lantern.

"Keding, this telegram has just been sent from the confidential room, you be careful."

Yuan Keding was very surprised, took the telegram, read it carefully by the light of the lantern, and soon, his arms also shook violently