Huguang Governor's Mansion, a subordinate helped Zhang Zhidong, standing at the door, not far away a convoy slowly approached, stopped at the door and Zhang Zhidong stepped forward, the car door opened, a slightly young man walked down, looking at Zhang Zhidong with a smile.

"Xiang Shuai, it's been a long time." Zhang Zhidong knew that he was Lu Liang, but after seeing the real person, he couldn't help but be shocked by his youth. Zhang Zhidong specially trimmed his hair for this meeting, and the hairstyle that was originally cut off the long braids became the current popular board inch, and the body was specially customized Hanfu, and the body was straight, and the old man who was over seventy years old actually showed a refreshed posture, but he could still see the weakness of his body.

Lu Liang stepped forward quickly, replacing the subordinate to support Zhang Zhidong, and the two entered the governor's palace hand in hand. A few simple words on the road made Zhang Zhidong feel the unique temperament of this great revolutionary, which was straightforward, sincere, and vigorous, as if he saw the rising sun, which made people feel warm and couldn't help but be attracted.

"Does the Prime Minister have any plans for this Northern Expedition?" Seems to have been infected by Lu Liang, Zhang Zhidong's speech became straightforward, and after the two sat down, he asked bluntly.

"Don't hide it from Xiang Shuai, this Northern Expedition National Army has enough strength to fight all the way to Beijing, but I am not ready to do this, for many reasons. Each division of the Nationalist Army has an artillery regiment, equipped with 60 large-caliber guns, and its weight far exceeds that of the light mountain artillery equipped by the new army, even if there are sufficient trucks, there are no corresponding transportation conditions, which is also the main reason why I chose the Northern Expedition in the dry season. Hitting the south bank of the Yangtze River is already the greatest ability. Second, after attacking the south of the Yangtze River, many recovered provinces need to be integrated, and if the defense is unstable, the frontline operations will be affected. ”

"Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, he is young but old-minded, and I agree with you. In addition to the above two points, is there any other reason? Zhang Zhidong asked.

"And the most important thing is that foreigners. The area south of the Yangtze River, especially the Liangjiang region, is the sphere of influence of the foreigners, especially the British, who have been operating for many years since the First Opium War, and whose power cannot be underestimated, and who have huge interests and privileges in these places, and they will not sit idly by and watch us recover those places and thus lose their vested interests. ”

"Can we issue a statement to make peace with foreigners for the time being, and we can guarantee that their original interests will continue to remain the same, and that being able to ensure the neutrality of foreigners will be the greatest victory for us."

"The road was blocked by ourselves, the sinking of those three destroyers was irretrievable, and we could not provide better conditions than the Qing court. Our revolutionary nature dictates that we must take back the privileges of the Great Powers in our country, whether it is five or ten years, but from now on! This is the commitment of the Zhenguo Party to the people, and it is also the foundation of ensuring our interests. ”

"Interests? Mr. Prime Minister, can you elaborate? ”

"Xiangshuai, I'm a junior, you can call me Lu Liang, or Mr. Lu, the title of Mr. Prime Minister is too polite! Speaking of interests, this is the foundation for the progress and development of the world. Europeans were blocked by the Ottoman Empire because of oriental specialties such as spices, silk, porcelain, and tea, and had to demand new shipping routes, which was the driving force for the opening of the Age of Discovery. Because the Manchus were closed and self-sufficient, the British had to import opium to gain profits, and then launched a war because of Lin Zexu's ban on smoking. Now the Zhenguo Party has built a large number of factories in Guangdong and trained a large number of capitalists, whose factories need more raw material production areas and larger markets, and this will inevitably lead to competition with the Western powers, which is a conflict of interests. Even if the government declares to defend the interests and privileges of the great powers at home, the capitalists will not be able to agree, and the capitalists, who are the force I value the most, are the foundation on which the country can progress and become strong, and must be fully supported. ”

Lu Liang's words made Zhang Zhidong ponder for a long time, these things were like fog to him, and Lu Liang's words helped him get out of the fog, and he suddenly had a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

"Lu Liang, then what do you say is the root cause of our country's backwardness and beating?"

"Our backwardness is backwardness in all aspects, and it is the backwardness of the entire civilization. The development of civilization has gone through four stages: primitive society, slave society, feudal society, and capitalist society. Our civilization has stayed in the feudal society for too long, due to the limitation of the regional environment, it is difficult to have foreign civilization influence here, even if the invasion of the northern nomads, will be assimilated by our civilization and become one of us. In the land of the East, our civilization slowly decayed, until Westerners opened their doors through the Age of Discovery, through the vast sea, the Europeans took the lead in entering the capitalist era, and the industrial revolution allowed them to catch up with us at the level of civilization, and greatly surpassed, and finally overwhelmed us. People of insight like Xiang Shuai began to look for a way to strengthen the country, and the Reform and Westernization Movement were such attempts, but unfortunately, the Reform and Reform failed and the Westernization Movement was struggling because of its own defects and the squeeze of the great powers, and the great powers regarded our country as a raw material source and a dumping ground for commodities, and would never want to see our rise. ”

"So how did you get to this point in Guangdong?"

"There are a lot of untold stories in between, and it's not just the Americans who support it, but I can't tell you right now. It can only be said that Guangdong is based on the achievements of Western civilization, has a large amount of financial support, and has the support of a large number of outstanding talents, and it is not easy to come to this point, and it cannot be replicated. ”

"In this way, how will Lu Liang deal with the threat of foreigners after entering the Liangjiang region?"

"The Nationalist Army has shown good combat effectiveness in repeated wars, and it is impossible for foreigners to send a large number of ground troops to attack from land, and I am also sure that they will defeat them, and the gains outweigh the losses that foreigners are unwilling to do. A large-scale invasion like the one in Gengzi could not have taken place in the south, which means that the Western powers, represented by the British, were most likely to send warships to harass the coastal areas and strongly support Yuan Shikai to use him as a proxy to fight a proxy war to eliminate our revolutionary government. The Nationalist Army will enter Shanghai and other places where the Western power is strong, but it will not take the initiative to enter or attack the leased land and the foreign army, and I will not take the initiative to provoke a war with the Great Powers until I am sure, of course, the shore artillery and the coastal fortifications along the Yangtze River will teach the warships of the Great Powers a lesson. ”

In fact, there is another crucial point that Lu Liang did not say that the contradictions between the Russians and the Japanese in Korea and Northeast China are becoming more and more obvious, and the war of 1905 is imminent, and he must take advantage of this time to make all preparations, and there is not much time left for him. This is the most important reason why the Northern Expeditionary Army will not cross the Yangtze River, and the rectification of the newly recovered areas and the preparation of the army will become the main work in the next stage, so now the Manchus can only linger for a while.

Even if there are repeated orders not to engage in personality cults and hang Lu Liang's portrait, they still can't stop the surging reverence of the people, people have been groping in the dark for too long, and they need a leader, an idol, and a belief too much. Lu Liang is like a touch of golden sunshine, shining on the black earth, and the people can't help but be attracted by this ray of sunshine.

In the army, in the government offices, in the chamber of commerce, in the school, everyone regarded Lu Liang as a saint, and the object of their worship was not God, not an ethereal immortal, but a real person. The affluent and peaceful life made these people extremely fanatical about the revolution, everything was brought by the Zhenguo Party, and Lu Liang was the guiding light for everyone.

The news of the Northern Expedition ignited this frenzy even more, and all the people were burning, and burst out with the greatest energy to dedicate their share of strength to the revolutionary cause.

The No. 3 Police School in Guangzhou was established in 1902 to train police personnel and enrich the barren police stations in various places. At present, there are 1,700 students, and this is only one of the five police schools, and the police department is hungry for talent, and has absorbed retired soldiers on a large scale, but now there are very few retired soldiers, and the army is constantly expanding. Moreover, after the victory of the Northern Expedition, there are more places where police officers need to be placed, so the scale of the existing police academy needs to be expanded.

"The latest news from Guangzhou Daily!" Wang Ping, a cadet of the police academy, waved the newspaper in his hand and ran into the dormitory, and suddenly a room full of people gathered around, and the people in the dormitory next door were also gathering in this direction. This has been done every day since the Northern Expedition, and one of the cadets is responsible for picking up the newspaper in the office and then returning to the dormitory to read it aloud.

"According to the news from Yuxi, Yunnan Province on 17 October, a certain unit of the Sixth Army of the Zhenguo Army successfully captured Yuxi City, destroying 320 enemies, capturing 516 enemies, and suffering two casualties of its own. At this point, the Sixth Army had completed the encirclement of Kunming, and the rest of the Sixth Army was expanding around Kunming, with the 1st Mountain Brigade reaching Chuxiong west of Kunming and the 2nd Mountain Brigade arriving at Mengzi south of Kunming. Yunnan's recovery is just around the corner! ”

After Wang Ping finished reading, the students whose faces turned red suddenly howled loudly, as if only such a howl could vent the excitement in their hearts. Su Zhengtao, a student who had already joined the party, took the lead in shouting: "Long live the revolution!" Long live the Zhenguo Party! Long live Premier Lui! The slogan represented the voice of everyone, and under the leadership of the party member, the students chanted the slogan, and the sound shook the sky.