After breaking up with Liu Runsheng, Yang Du left the Executive Yuan quickly, as soon as he walked out of the gate of the Executive Yuan, the indignation on his face suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a faint indifference.

"Master, you're out." Seeing Yang Du come out, a middle-aged man wearing a robe and a horse coat who looked like a subordinate immediately rushed over, walked to Yang Du and walked to the front and back, but after looking left and right, he lowered his head and asked in a low voice, "How is the situation?" ”

"Hey, what else, no." Yang Du sighed.

"Why, they dare to risk the world's condemnation?" The middle-aged man looked angry.

"In these years, what is the world's disapproval." Yang Du smiled playfully, and then shook his head, "Anyway, I have already protested to them about this, but as I said before, this can only show our attitude, and it is useless to the actual situation. ”

"Is there no room for redemption?" The middle-aged man frowned.

"Unless Li Zhigao goes crazy, or dies suddenly." Yang Du smiled, "Otherwise, if you were a normal person, you wouldn't have agreed to hand over those four boats." ”

"But ......"

"Okay, you're just one of my subordinates." Yang Du glanced at him lightly, "These things are not for you to worry about, you just need to do your duty well." ”

"Yes." When the man heard this, he immediately lowered his head again, and asked no more questions.

Seeing that he had stopped, Yang Du shook his head slightly.

Now, although the Qing court collapsed and the imperial system was ostensibly eliminated, there was no real republic of China. Moreover, the long-term superiority and humility have not been completely eliminated, so normally, it is impossible for a subordinate to discuss these things with his master so casually.

However, Yang Du's subordinate is different, the difference is that this person was originally Yuan Shikai's family. Later, when Yang Du was sent here, Yuan Shikai saw that Yang Du was alone, so he sent this strong martial artist to Yang Du as a current person and guard, specifically responsible for Yang Du's safety, which was regarded as a favor.

Of course, in addition to guarding Yang Du, this person also has a special mission to monitor Yang Du and deliver news, to put it bluntly, this person is a secret agent. on this. Yang Du knew it, so he was polite to him in the past, and he never took the posture of the master.

Of course, even if it is a secret agent, it is said that Yang Du should not ask these questions casually, it is really that this secret agent is from the military, and he is not very professional in the secret agent industry, and he has always been loyal to Yuan Shikai. In addition, Yang Du was very polite to him before, so after such a big incident happened this time. He asked without words, and there was no tone between the subordinate and the master at all.

Now that he was reprimanded by Yang Du, he also reacted, thinking that Yang Du was reminding him that he was in danger and couldn't talk nonsense, so he continued to lower his eyebrows. No more talking.

Seeing that this "subordinate" no longer talked more, the corners of Yang Du's mouth twitched slightly, and he walked with him to the Chang'an Starlight van specially allocated to him in the parking lot, planning to take this "high-end car" back to rest.

However, just as he opened the car door. Suddenly, a voice called him: "Brother Huizi, don't come unharmed!" ”

Hearing this call, Yang Du stopped getting into the car, turned his head and saw that it was a middle-aged man wearing a suit and glasses, with short hair of four or six minutes, and a gentle smile.

Seeing this middle-aged man, Yang Du's eyes immediately widened: "Cultivator? It's you? ”

"yes, it's not me." The man smiled and nodded.

This person who was called the father of the cultivator by Yang Du, his full name was Xia Shoutian, and he was a friend and classmate with Yang Du in the past, and they were all under the great educator, family and Wang Minyun, who was known as the emperor's teacher.

In the 24th year of Guangxu, Xia Shoutian won the eighth place in the Jinshi, and also won the list in the palace examination, and achieved the best results in the imperial examination in southern Hunan in the Qing Dynasty. It's a pity that he later defended his father, angered the court and was dismissed, and gradually faded out of the historical stage.

In another time and space, he would become the civil governor of Hubei Province in the first year of the Republic of China, and later Yuan Shikai was called the emperor, and he was a person who vigorously advocated the imperial system and the art of the emperor.

But in this time and space, his life entered another turn, and he became the confidential secretary of the Executive Yuan of the Jiangnan Government, and was very respected by Liu Runsheng.

The reason why he was revered by Liu Runsheng is because Liu Runsheng came from a humble background after all, so he has a lot of trust in those cultural people, especially those who have meritorious cultural reputations, and Xia Shoutian once served as a role model, wrote a good hand, and after being dismissed, his temperament was smoothed out a lot, and he was more tactful in dealing with people, which only entered Liu Runsheng's eyes, and after Tao Chengzhang left his post and Liu Runsheng became the president of the Executive Yuan, he was promoted to the confidential secretary of the Executive Yuan.

However, the matter of Xia Shoutian becoming a confidential secretary has just happened, and since it has not been officially appointed, outsiders don't know much, so Yang Du doesn't know about it.

"Wow you!" Yang Du smiled and pointed at Xia Shoutian, "Don't say a word when you come here." Hey, look at your outfit, what's the matter, you're here ......."

"Huh." Xia Shoutian smiled, "It's inconvenient to talk here, and besides, I'm hungry, why don't you invite me to dinner?" ”

"Hahaha, the autumn wind hit me on the head." Yang Du smiled, "Okay, you haven't seen you for so long, since you want me to have a treat, then I definitely can't refuse." Say, what do you want to eat? ”

"Then let's go to Delicious House." Xia Shoutian said with a smile, "The Maofeng smoked anchovy and fish bite sheep there are very famous, and I have wanted to eat them for a long time." ”

"Delicious house? You're really going to choose. Yang Du smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Meiweiju is a restaurant, mainly based on Yanjiang cuisine, this restaurant has a short history, and it has been open for less than half a year in total, but although the time is short, the fame is great. The reason why it is famous is that the decoration of this restaurant is luxurious enough, the master is level enough, the taste is authentic enough, the service is thoughtful enough, and the price is expensive enough. The most important point is that the backstage of this restaurant is tough enough.

The owner of Meiweiju is a woman, and her husband's surname is Chen, so everyone also calls her Chen. Chen is a local and was originally inconspicuous, but she still has a little relationship with Li Zhigao, because her husband is Chen Dashao, the owner of the original Chenjiazhuang, that is, the first Chen Dashao to sell a manor to Li Zhigao.

As mentioned earlier, Chen Dashao is an addict because he has been smoking a lot since he was a child. The poor body is a mess, and if you don't achieve anything, you will just keep losing. Half a year ago, this Chen Dashao fell one by one, and suddenly died somehow, and since then Chen has become a widow.

After the man died, the Chen family's property was also robbed by Chen Dashao's cousins, and the Chen family was helpless and helpless. And because of his good looks, he was taken by his husband's cousin. kept making things difficult, and in desperation, she thought of Li Zhigao, but she didn't dare to go directly to Li Zhigao, so she found Liu Runsheng's wife Zhang.

Although the Zhang family is still nominally Li Zhigao's housekeeper, there are many secrets because of Li Zhigao. Therefore, he rarely lives in Chenjiazhuang, which is basically for Zhang's and Liu Runsheng's mother, and Li Zhigao has another place to live outside.

Thinking of this old feeling, coupled with Zhang's soft-heartedness, after listening to Chen's crying. The freshmen took pity on it and personally stepped forward to be Chen's backer. As soon as the Zhang family came out, not only did the Chen family immediately break off their evil thoughts about the Chen family, but also returned the family property of Chen's dead husband to the Chen family, because of gratitude, and also wanted to have a stronger backer, the Chen family worshiped the Zhang family as a sister.

This Chen's first-hand cooking, especially good at Yanjiang cuisine, once she came to Chenjiazhuang to visit the door, personally cooked some private dishes, just Li Zhigao came to talk to Liu Runsheng about things, so he stayed for a meal, during the banquet Chen's dishes were full of praise, even said delicious. After that, the Chen family also thought about it, and simply co-opened a delicious house with the Zhang family, specializing in cooking dishes along the river.

Because Meiweiju has Liu Runsheng's wife Zhang as the backstage, and Li Zhigao and Liu Runsheng often go to eat, many high-ranking officials gradually follow the past to consume, so that this Meiweiju has gradually become popular and has an endless stream every day. Later, Chen listened to Li Zhigao's suggestion, changed the style of the hotel to a higher level, spent a lot of money on decoration, invited many famous chefs, and added other facilities such as a stage, bath and sauna, and turned the original ordinary restaurant into a high-end private club.

In short, being able to go to Meiweiju for a meal is a proof of strength in itself, although Xia Shoutian has just been appointed as the confidential secretary of the Executive Yuan, he is not rich in his hands, so he thought of asking Yang Du to treat him.

As for Yang Du, it is said that he himself has no money, but as a liaison envoy, all expenses are paid by Yuan Shikai, in other words, he can eat and drink at public expense, so he is so confident.

In this way, the group took Yang Du's bus, came directly to the delicious house, asked for a private room, ordered a few signature dishes, and then began to chat while eating.

At the beginning, Xia Shoutian and Yang Du were both reminiscing about the past eventful years, that is, recalling the past years, but as he spoke, Yang Du found that things were a little wrong, because Xia Shoutian later said a lot of metaphors, obviously there were words in the words, that is, he was looking for himself to eat today, and the purpose was not simple.

After realizing that something was wrong, Yang Du quietly found an excuse and sent the long entourage sent by Yuan Shikai away, and after there were only two people in the room, Yang Du simply put down the wine glass: "Brother Cultivator, there are no outsiders here, if you have anything to say, you can say it directly." ”

"Huh." Xia Shoutian smiled and put down his wine glass, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you." Okay, since you ask, then I'll open the skylight and say something. Brother Xian, before I say that, I want to ask you, what do you think about the current situation in the future? Or rather, whose hands will this world most likely fall into? ”

"That's a big topic." Yang Du smiled faintly, "What, what good advice does Brother Cultivator have?" ”

"You, you, it's all at this time, and you're still hiding." Xia Shoutian pointed at Yang Du and shook his head, "I don't know you yet, so don't pretend to be confused, if you don't have any ideas in your heart, will you come over with me for dinner?" I don't believe you don't know what I'm looking for you for. ”

"Huh." Yang Du smiled, picked up the wine glass again, and took a sip gently, "Good wine, really good wine." ”

"Forget it. I won't beat around the bush with you. Seeing his appearance, Xia Shoutian simply shook his head, "Actually, I came today because I was dragged by someone, you just met this person, he is President Liu of the Executive Yuan." ”

"Oh." Yang Du's eyes narrowed. "You mean Liu Runsheng?"

"You." Xia Shoutian smiled bitterly and shook his head, "People are the president of the Executive Yuan who is above 10,000 people under one person, so you call him by his name?" ”

"What's that for him?" Yang Du pouted, "He doesn't seem to have a name, and he's proud of it." ”

Indeed, Liu Runsheng used to be a merchant and had no trade name, and later followed Li Zhigao to make a fortune, but he still didn't give himself a trade name. Instead, I'm proud of that. Although Liu Runsheng's style has won the popularity of many middle- and lower-class people, intellectuals like Yang Du are quite unimpressed.

"Forget it, I'm not going to fight with you about this." Xia Shoutian shook his head, "It's useless to say it anyway." ”

"I'm weird." Yang Du said, "How did you become a lobbyist for him?" ”

"No way, who made me his subordinate now." Xia Shoutian finished speaking. told me that he had just obtained the position of confidential secretary of the Executive Yuan.

"Oh, congratulations. It turned out to be a high ascension. Yang Du arched his hand, "Brother Cultivator, you will be like a prosperous future in the future." ”

"Teased." Xia Shoutian smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Since it's all said, I don't have anything to hide." Dean Liu means that he is very optimistic about your talent and wants to attract you to our side. Because according to the message. Recently, the north wants to change you back to be a senator, and Tang Shaoyi to be a plenipotentiary envoy, so Dean Liu wants you to be an internal response, and after going to the north, he will pass on the news of the high-level in the north. ”

"You want me to be a traitor and a spy?" Yang Du asked with a smile. "Do you think it's possible?"

"I think...... Possible. Xia Shoutian looked at Yang Du fixedly, "You are a smart person, and you have been here for so long, you will not fail to see what the general trend of the world is." To tell the truth, judging from the current situation, even if Yuan Shikai's plan to expand his army of 500,000 can be realized, he will not be able to be Chairman Li's opponent at all. What does Yuan Shikai rely on? It's nothing more than relying on money, but compared to money, who in this world can compare to Chairman Li? What's more, Chairman Li also has mysterious forces as his backers, not only with money, but also with a large number of advanced weapons and equipment.

Then, you have also seen the situation here, it can be said that it is changing with each passing day, there are new changes every day, and there is a new atmosphere full of vitality. To put it mildly, if Chairman Li wants to send troops now, Yuan Shikai can't stop it at all, even if he waits a little longer, Chairman Li's strength will only get stronger and stronger, and Yuan Shikai can't catch up no matter how much he catches up. ”

"Hehe, there are some things that don't just look at the comparison." Yang Du smiled faintly, "I haven't really touched it, who knows if it's a grass-headed soldier, if that's the case, everyone doesn't have to fight, everyone just queues up and counts the heads, whoever has more heads will win." ”

"You're making a fool of yourself." Xia Shoutian shook his head, "What era is this?" These days, it's about who has the money, who has more soldiers and new weapons. Yuan Shikai even stumbled over the army, and I heard that he didn't even have all the weapons, but Chairman Li didn't lack weapons at all, there were aircraft artillery, and there were many heavy artillery...... Forget it, I won't talk about this, you must know better than I am. In short, if there is no accident, sooner or later, the surname Li will be in this world.

Nowadays, more and more people of insight have seen it, and according to me, Chairman Li is indeed a person who has achieved great things, so for your own good, I think you should abandon Yuan Shikai's doomed ship as soon as possible and seize the ladder here as soon as possible. ”

"Hey, I know what you say." Yang Du sighed, "It's a pity that Gong Yuan took me as kind as a mountain, and I can't bear to abandon it." ”

"Grace as a mountain? Not necessarily. Xia Shoutian sneered, "If you really value you, why did you leave you here for so long?" And, why did you transfer you back recently? Isn't it because you're dissatisfied with your recent job? If it's really good for you, why just give you a position in the presidential office? ”

"Okay, Brother Cultivator, don't talk about it." Yang Du waved his hand, "Today we will only talk about personal relations, no matter what else, if you say it again, then I will leave!" ”

"But ......"

"Brother Ploughman!" Yang Du looked at Xia Shoutian fixedly, "I also know that Yuan Gong can't compare to Li Gong at present, but being a man must have a beginning and an end, I can't eat the north of the country, be an official in the south, and can't be a spy, that's the real destruction of me." Even if I want to come here in the future, I will definitely resign seriously first, and I will not divulge the affairs of the north, so that I can be a trustworthy person, what do you say? ”

"This ......"

"Alright, alright!" Yang Du poured wine for each other, "You and my brother finally met, don't mention these unhappy things, come, do it, we won't get drunk today!" ”

"Okay, then we won't get drunk!" Xia Shoutian nodded.

Just when Yang Du raised his glass and drank bitterly, he kept sneering in his heart.

Who is Yang Du? That's the most clever master, he knows this classmate too well, he is narrow-minded, so he is not so kind to invite himself to be a colleague.

In Yang Du's opinion, Liu Runsheng was born in a small businessman's family, although he is more calculating, but he is loyal by nature, and it is unlikely that he will make a proposal to make himself a spy, so the proposal to be a spy is put forward by Xia Shoutian.

It is conceivable that once he accepts this proposal, then his career will be considered to be the end, because no government is willing to let a spy get a high position, which is completely different from the situation of the early Qing Dynasty who rewarded the sincerity, not to mention that since ancient times, none of the people who have done this have a good end.

Moreover, Yang Duxin is arrogant, in his opinion, Liu Runsheng can only be a town mayor at most in terms of ability, no matter how high he is, the only thing he can do is to be loyal enough, and the other is good luck, he is the first person to follow the dragon.

However, judging from the new atmosphere of Li Zhigao's government at present, Li Zhigao is paying more and more attention to ability, because what Li Zhigao is doing now is not something that ordinary people can do, so once the whole country is unified in the future, it will inevitably be capable people who will obtain high positions, and as long as he Yang Du does not make big mistakes, he will be able to gain a place in the future fertilizer distribution sooner or later.

Therefore, although Yang Du has long been not optimistic about Yuan Shikai, but in this matter of dominating the world, it is difficult to know who killed the deer until the last moment, and secondly, even if he wants to change the court in the future, he must be innocent, at least he has to resign from his position in the north first, and then he can come here to take refuge, and he must not do that kind of work as a spy.

Being a spy may be able to make a profit for a while, but sooner or later he will be taken care of, he understands these things, and Xia Shoutian also understands, so Xia Shoutian let himself do this, but he didn't have a good heart.

However, thinking of this, Yang Du had to sigh in his heart again.

In all fairness, Yang Du was originally optimistic about Yuan Shikai, he thought that Yuan Shikai could win the world as early as the Qing Dynasty, but who knew that a Li Zhigao would appear out of thin air, and he didn't know where to get the support, he had achieved such great results in just over a year, and he was getting stronger and stronger, and he threw Yuan Shikai away all of a sudden, and he threw him farther and farther.

Now, even Xia Shoutian, the lord who doesn't see rabbits and doesn't scatter eagles, has begun to plan in advance, which shows that more and more people are beginning to be optimistic about Li Zhigao and not Yuan Shikai.

When I didn't come to Taiping Mansion before, I was just looking at flowers here, but when Yang Du came here in person and lived for a while, he would understand the gap between the two more and more.

In short, compared with Li Zhigao, Yuan Shikai is not as good as his financial strength, his military strength is not as good, and even his support is not as good, if there is no accident, such as Li Zhigao's sudden death, otherwise it is difficult for Yuan Shikai to have much chance of winning in this game of fighting for the world.

In Yang Du's view, now that Li Zhigao has become a big trend, he is not fighting for the time being, but he is just cautious and wants to be fully prepared. Therefore, the best strategy at present is to persuade Yuan Shikai to let go of his obsession and surrender to Li Zhigao as soon as possible, so that he may be able to get a place in the future.

But the question is, can Yuan Shikai let go of the obsession of the first person in the world? Can you put down your body again and stoop down to Li Zhigao, a young man who is only in his twenties?

Forget it, do your best after going back this time, as long as you are worthy of Yuan Shikai's kindness, it is enough to return the favor to him, as for the future, it can only be said later. (To be continued......)