108221908 Far East Maniac Chapter 341 Remedy

Sultry. The haze in the sky was getting thicker and thicker, and the light was getting darker and darker. Yo Fan, the stuffiness in the air is heavier, since the end of summer, the city of Beijing has not rained, and the dark clouds in the sky are drifting towards the city. I'm afraid it's a storm.

There were many fewer pedestrians on the group, and the vegetable vendors and vendors looked at the dark and dreary sky, thinking about whether they needed to close their stalls, and the beggars on the street also crowded into the city gate cave and the land temple. As for those who went out, they also found a place to hide from the rain in the teahouse on the side of the street.

As a result, the teahouse in the capital with a light business was suddenly full of people, and the tea doctors were very busy.

Since the revolution, there has been little change in the city of Beijing, the people are still those people, the officials are still those officials, and even the braids on the men's heads have not been seen much less, the only thing that makes people feel is that. The number of badly dressed flag men is getting more and more, and the bird cage and marriage box in their hands are almost invisible, and they are completely depressed.

People can't live anymore, what kind of birds do they raise, what kind of smoke do they raise?

In the old teahouse, it was always the flag man with the highest voice. But after the revolution, the flag people are all like frosted eggplants, not to mention bragging, they can't even talk to people, as for those flag people who used to drink tea by removing accounts, they can't enter the teahouse at all, even if you are a former Qing Baylor and Beizi, and you don't have money, you don't want to take out the banner man's shelf again!

The way of the world has indeed changed, the country of the banner people has been destroyed, and the "hardcore crops" of more than two hundred years. also fell, once a son of heaven and a courtier, the era of the banner man has passed.

Not all the bannermen are in the capital. After the suspension of the flag salary, some flag people went to Guanwai together, saying that they were going to break into Kanto, but whether they went to Kanto to dig ginseng, or to participate in the "Eight Banners outside Guandong" is not clear, these years, everyone only cares about their own future, where will they care about other people, as for the future of this country, the big people who have their own presidential palace and headquarters worry about the small people, or they are good at themselves.

Originally, I thought that the Manchu Qing Dynasty had fallen, and the people's life could be better, but I didn't expect that the Manchu Qing Dynasty would fall, and the world would be more chaotic, compared with the chaotic southern provinces, the northern provinces were relatively calm in the past, but since the news of the defeat of the Beiyang Army in southern Henan came a few days ago, the northern provinces also had signs of chaos. As a result, this teahouse has become a place for the people to get all kinds of news.

"I've heard that this time the Beiyang Army was defeated. It was a fiasco, and the Second Army of Beiyang's southward advance collapsed. The four division commanders all ordered people to be killed, and Feng Guozhang heard that he also died in the chaos

"Where did you hear that? That's not what the foreigner's newspaper dagger said, the Beiyang Second Army collapsed, but only three division commanders died, Wu Peihu called the United Front to capture him alive, as for Feng Guozhang, the foreigner guessed that he had fled, but he didn't know if he could return to the north. ”

"Feng Guozhang doesn't have the courage to go back to the north, his second army is completely annihilated, President Yuan can't spare him, if you are Feng Guozhang, do you dare to go back to the north?"

"That's right! This battle was fought. Tens of thousands of people were killed and wounded in Beiyang, and tens of thousands of people were captured alive

"Beiyang's vitality is greatly damaged, will the revolutionary army in the south fight to the north?"

"It's hard to say, it's hard to say.

Beiyang is a strong army, this battle wiped out forty or fifty thousand Beiyang army, the southern army suffered many casualties but no one knows, if both are defeated, the southern army can not go north, at least not now. ”

"Lose-lose? You're dreaming! Yesterday, I had a meal with a comprador of a German foreign firm, and I heard him say that in this battle in southern Henan, the casualties of the united front in the south were very light, and the people won easily. Now it is advancing northward, and I heard that Zhengzhou has been taken. ”

"How did the German foreign firm know so clearly? That's not what the British newspapers say. ”

"Cut! Haven't you heard that the Germans sent an ironclad train to the United Front, that thing can't be pierced by guns, can't be blown up, and the Second Army of Beiyang Southward was defeated by that ironclad train, otherwise, how could the United Front be stunned so easily? Of course, there is also a saying that the ironclad train was built by us Chinese ourselves, but if there is no German fire, it will not be easy for the Southern Army to win this battle. As for the British? Of course, the British have to say good things for Beiyang, and when Beiyang collapses, the British will jump over the wall. ”

"Shhhh Be quiet! Haven't you heard? Now the plainclothes team is searching for the rebels all over the city, and if you don't want to be arrested, you should keep your mouth shut. Don't say anything you shouldn't say. ”

The teahouse was full of people, and the topic that the tea guests were most concerned about was the battle between the north and the south in southern Henan, but now all kinds of news and rumors are flying all over the sky, and the people are somewhat at a loss.

While the tea guests were talking about the Great War, a four-wheeled carriage turned over the potholed streets, and the five-color flag hanging from the back of the car was particularly eye-catching.

Some knowledgeable tea merchants recognized the carriage and exchanged their heads.

"That's the Foreign Ministry's carriage, right? How come there are no guards? ”

"That's right, the carriage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I don't know who is sitting in it."

"Who else could it be? In the past few days, Tang Shaoyi, Cai Tinggan and their gang have been all over the world, going to the legations of various countries to negotiate, asking all countries to jointly come forward to help Beiyang maintain the situation. I guess, in that carriage was either Tang Shaoyi or Cai Tinggan. ”

"How do you know so well?

"A coachman in the presidential palace is a relative of mine, and he said something different."

"Then you, why didn't Tang Shaoyi join the United Front? Didn't he join the League? ”

"You ask me, how do I know? This officialdom is something that we ordinary people can't figure out. ”

The people in the teahouse guessed the identity of the passengers in the carriage, but in fact they didn't guess correctly, neither Tang Shaoyi nor Cai Tinggan were sitting in the carriage, and the passengers were not even from the Beiyang government.

There were only two passengers in the carriage, one was the British Minister to China, Zhu Erdian, and the other was Song Jiaoren, the head of the "peace delegation" of the United Front, who went to the presidential palace to meet with Yuan Shikai, the provisional president of the Republic of China.

The expressions of the two passengers were slightly different, Zhu Erdian looked solemn, but Song Jiaoren was relaxed.

After the news of the annihilation of the Second Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance in southern Henan reached the Tianjin Concession, the Southern Peace Delegation, represented by Song Jiaoren, was at first somewhat unconvinced, until a little later, foreign newspapers in the Concession made a brief "roundabout" of the incident on the front page. These members of Congress woke up from a dream on our behalf, cheering and then cheering.

Unexpectedly, the Beiyang Army of the whole four divisions was completely annihilated by the United Front troops, this is a decisive victory, before the fight, everyone was still worried about defeat, but the facts have proved that Commander-in-Chief Zhao is correct, the Beiyang Army is strong and capable, and it is not the opponent of the revolutionary army at all, and now, everyone admires the commander-in-chief's strategic vision even more.

At that time, the majority of the deputies suggested that they should use this opportunity to seek negotiations with Yuan Shikai again, and strive to end the confrontation between the north and the south as soon as possible so that the congress would truly become the master of the country.

In other words, it should be the Beiyang side that is more active in the peace talks now, not the United Front side.

Song Jiaoren understood Zhao Bei's intentions, but he was unwilling to wait, he had his own plans, so he sent people to Beijing at that time to get in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Beiyang Government, ready to immediately contact Yuan Shikai for peace talks, but to his surprise, Yuan Shikai rejected the proposal for peace talks.

This made Song Jiaoren very indignant, remembering Zhao Bei's reminder, he could only change his strategy, and simply waited patiently in Tianjin, which was two days, until this morning, the British minister Zhu Erdian personally went to Tianjin, sent someone to invite Song Jiaoren out of the German concession in Tianjin, and then hung up a special train and drove straight from Tianjin to Beijing.

In this way, under the mediation of Mr. Zhu Erdian. As the plenipotentiary representative of the United Front in peace talks. Song Jiaoren arrived in Beijing to prepare for peace talks with the Beiyang side, and as for his attaché, he was still in a hotel next to the Daqianmen Railway Station in Beijing.

The carriage drove straight to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China Government, and when they arrived at the place, they got off the carriage, but there was no government official to greet them, which made Zhu Erdian a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, but your central government seems to be lacking in etiquette."

Zhu Erdian smiled apologetically at Song Jiaoren, and deliberately accentuated the tone of the four words "central government", and the implication of this statement is also very clear, that is, no matter how badly Beiyang loses in this battle, Yuan Shikai is always the president of this government. He represents the central authority, and as for Song Jiaoren, he is just a negotiator of a local powerful faction, and he cannot be on an equal footing with Beiyang in any case.

"Mr. Minister, there is something wrong with what you said. Although the National Assembly election has ended, the election of the official president has not been held, and the official cabinet has not been formed, so this is a "central government." The term is less rigorous, and it is still called "caretaker government." It's more appropriate. ”

Song Jiaoren also smiled slightly, and corrected the other party's point of view without being humble or arrogant, and the meaning of these words was also very clear, and the United Front had some objections to Yuan Shikai's "center" status. As for whether Yuan Shikai, the interim president, is a transitional figure, it still depends on the outcome of the peace talks.

Zhu Erdian didn't want to fight with anyone on this issue, and he was not in the mood to dwell on it. It is now very clear who will win and who will lose between the north and the south, and the Beiyang government will certainly be strongly shocked by the first battle in southern Henan and the total annihilation of the Beiyang Second Army. The British government, which was far away in Europe, was also shocked by this, they never expected that Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army would be so vulnerable, and what made the British government even more worried was that, according to the report of British hidden spies in Germany, two ocean-going freighters full of munitions in the German port of Hamburg had cobalt the day before yesterday. The destination was Hangzhou, China, and it was precisely after the end of the Battle of Southern Henan that it was no coincidence. Apparently. Through this battle, the German government realized the potential value of the united front and decided to increase its assistance to the united front; if it received strong support from Germany, the united front would certainly kick the vulnerable Beiyang bloc off China's political stage, and this was by no means what the British government wanted to see.

Britain will never allow a pro-German regime to emerge in the Far East, which will affect Britain's strategy in the Far East and even in the world, so the British government must find a way to prevent the fall of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government, at least until Britain finds a more suitable agent, the Beiyang government cannot fall.

As a result, Zhu Erdian began to campaign for the North-South peace talks, trying to maintain the crumbling Yuan Shikai government in this way.

But it is not easy to get Yuan Shikai to accept the proposal for peace talks, as a friend of Yuan Shikai, Zhu Erdian is very aware of Yuan Shikai's anger now, since the news of the annihilation of Feng Guozhang's Beiyang Second Army has returned to the Presidential Palace. Yuan Shikai was furious, summoned a group of cronies of the new army of the small station, held meetings one after another, and threatened to "drive the personal expedition" to snatch back the face of Beiyang. We must continue to fight the united front to the end.

Fight to the end? Easier said than done, the problem is not that there are not enough troops in Beiyang. Nor is it that there is not enough pay and ammunition. The crux of the matter was that if Yuan Shikai continued to wage war with the powerful factions in the south, it would have a serious negative impact on Britain's Far East strategy.

Britain's strategy in the Far East is a balancing strategy. The alliance between Britain and Japan was to balance the power of Russia, and the alliance between Britain and Russia was also to balance the power of Japan, and at the same time to draw Japan and Russia together to suppress the power of Germany, but the precondition of this balancing strategy was that the situation in China did not change drastically.

It is precisely for this reason that after the outbreak of the "Wushen Revolution", the British government immediately took measures to fully support Yuan Shikai's seizure of power, trying to use this as a means to quell the chaos caused by the revolution as soon as possible, maintain the balance in the Far East, and make it impossible for those powers with a covetous heart to take advantage of it.

But as the confrontation between the north and the south escalated, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang group and Zhao Bei's united front finally met each other, and the two sides fought a small-scale modernization war in Henan, before the war. The British were more optimistic about Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army, because they were fully equipped and had the support of Britain and Japan, and generally speaking, it was impossible to be defeated. But the outcome of the war was a resounding slap in the face to the British government, and the United Front won a resounding victory. The defeat of the Beiyang Army was a mess, which shocked the British government very much, and only then did it realize how weak the Beiyang Group was.

But regret was too late, and the British government had to take immediate remedial measures to maintain the balance in the Far East.

What surprised the British government even more. Yuan Shikai, who suffered a big defeat, still wanted to fight. It's just overwhelming!