The road to raising wages for the self-made government has encountered unexpected setbacks, and the news of Lao Xiucai's corpse fluttering in the wind, or the news of several women jumping into a well and hanging a beam, does not seem to detract from the great glory of the uprising. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info but the results it caused exceeded Liu Feng's expectations. The results of the fundraising efforts have been mediocre, and the number of donors has been far less enthusiastic than expected. The self-made donations collected were less than 10,000 yuan, which could not solve the problem at all.

This uprising was not in the plan of the Xingzhong Society. Since the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising, the Xingzhong Society has suffered a major setback, the funds and personnel are insufficient, and it is in the stage of recuperation, and its forces are deployed in the southeast of the Yangtze River, and the arrangement in Shandong can only be regarded as a random hand. At the headquarters and local personnel, they never thought that they could achieve results in a short period of time in Shandong, and the arrangement would not be sufficient.

This time, Zhao Guanhou was assassinated, not from the Xingzhonghui headquarters, and there was no preparation in advance, so it was naturally too late to provide military salaries. It will also take time to raise funds and personnel assistance from overseas.

Originally, I heard that Zhao Guanhou got a large amount of silver from Songjiang, which could not only feed the soldiers of Shandong Province, but even raise the armies of several provinces. But now that the treasury can't be used, the bank has hit a nail again, and there is a big problem with self-sufficiency, so don't think about reporting to the headquarters.

Meng Siyuan originally contacted two foreign companies to buy equipment. However, after the egg-bombing incident, the two foreign banks had already received a note from their consulates prohibiting trade in the self-made military government's government, and since the self-made army could not pay for the goods, business could not be discussed. The self-made army itself is not fully equipped with weapons, and it is difficult for soldiers to pay their salaries, so there is no way to grasp training.

When going out to pay for the military, the second problem is arms. Although Jia Maoqing has arms, he is not too wealthy, and the daily munitions can be extracted from the arsenal or received by waterways and railway stations as long as there are procedures. Reinstein's foreign soldiers suddenly blocked the military factory, cutting off their access to ordnance, and it was also very difficult to use the standard weapons to help the civilian army.

A telegram from Yankee sent to Nanxun with only four letters on it, eeee. Although the agents of the Jin Kingdom detected the telegram information, they did not know what the meaning was. Soon after, a sum of 200,000 yuan was transferred to Meng Siyuan's account through HSBC. However, it is still far from enough to solve such a big problem with this funding.

Zou Jingze pondered, "It's better to disarm some of the officers and soldiers, and hand over the ordnance of these suspicious people to our more reassuring troops." Also, the police investigation in Jinan can also think of a way. In their hands, they have a lot of fast guns......"

"Shibo, please think again." Meng Siyuan stood up and expressed his opposition, "Now that the hearts of the people in the Fifth Town are fluctuating, if the guns are surrendered at this time, I am afraid it will arouse the resistance of the soldiers, and the situation will be out of control." We have already sent people to handle the police investigation in Jinan, but I think we should still take the regular route when it comes to arms. To negotiate with the consuls of the two countries, as long as the consuls of the two countries nod, Reinstein's foreign soldiers cannot continue to control the warehouse and are not allowed to extract it. ”

Jia Maoqing shook his head and said, "It's not urgent." This method is good, but if it is to be done, it will not take a day or two, and now that so many soldiers are in the city, they must be paid and given weapons. If we can't distribute the armament to them as soon as possible, once the imperial court sends troops to attack us, it will be difficult for our current strength to resist. ”

Su Zhenbang said: "Brother Jia, you don't have to worry, we have sent a telegram overseas, Mr. Sun will raise military salaries for us, and send follow-up troops to meet us." $200,000 has arrived, and it can always be dealt with for a while. With money, it opens up the situation. We have great righteousness in hand, and we have military salaries, and the soldiers of the fifth town will soon be annexed, and then, it is very easy to use the fifth town to expel the foreign soldiers, and then use this to recover the domain. ”

"Yes, if the name is not right, it is not good, and now that our orders are spread, no one listens. It is necessary to seize the time to establish a legal government and issue orders to the outside world, so that order can be restored to the market as soon as possible, and then the entire territory of Shandong can be quickly unified. ”

Zou Jingze said: "Slow, I think we still have a henchman problem that has not been solved at the moment." The one in St. Mary's Hospital does not know what life and death will be, and if this great danger is not removed, the officers and soldiers will not really obey us. It is necessary to solve the nails in the hospital in the shortest possible time. ”

Meng Siyuan's expression changed, "Ze Weng, you promised the juniors not to hurt the crown marquis......"

"Si Yuanxian nephew, Ci is not in charge of the army, and he must be decisive in doing great things, and he can't look forward and backward. He never hesitated to kill the rebels. Brotherly love, to give way to the national righteousness, I think you should understand. We are in the hospital, always with an internal response, a pharmacist at St. Mary's Hospital. He is responsible for doing it, and if necessary, he can ask Zhenbang's nephew to provide cooperation, I think it is not difficult to solve Zhao Guanhou. ”

Zou Jingze thought for a while and said: "As for the current issue of soldiers' salaries, I have thought of a way. In Jinan, there are quite a few alternate officials distributed by the province, some of them are rich and poor, some of them are very poor, but there are also some people who have a lot of money in their pockets and have a large amount of ill-gotten wealth. With the establishment of our new self-made government, it is naturally impossible to recognize these former Jin-appointed officials and use their ill-gotten gains to serve as the military expenses of the Shandong Yishi. ”

Liu Feng, the head of the Liu family, also said: "There are also those foreign businessmen, who come to earn Shandong's silver, and they should contribute to Shandong." I propose that a non-Shandong businessman who engages in commercial activities in Shandong should be levied a management fee to make up for the shortfall in military salaries. With these two sums of money, it is enough to survive the current crisis. ”

Meng Siyuan shook his head and said: "Brother in-law, you are fishing in the dry water, and being xenophobic like you will seriously affect the normal trade of Shandong." ”

"Siyuan, what you said is not right. Everyone has their own position, and these businessmen are no exception. In the matter of Shandong self-control, there are only two attitudes, either for or against. Those who support it should sponsor military salaries for us, and those who oppose it are not worthy of living in Shandong and should be expelled. What's more, isn't it normal for the poor to give their lives and the rich to pay? Since they are not allowed to give their lives, they should pay an extra sum of money. ”

Zou Jingze waved his hand, "Don't quarrel between the two of you, I think that since we have established a self-made mansion, we should vote by show of hands in accordance with the regulations we have agreed upon." ”

In the temporarily established Shandong self-made Zhengfu, the local gentry in Shandong accounted for seventy percent, and merchants from other provinces had been dissatisfied with seizing the market for a long time. The raised hand represented the will of the gentry, and Meng Siyuan could do nothing but let out a long sigh. In the afternoon, the Jinan Provisional Guard, composed of various families, began to sweep several eunuch platforms in Jinan, and then went to St. Mary's Hospital to arrest those alternates.

As for the local magistrates, because the relationship between them and the gentry was good and bad, it could not be generalized, and no one had to attack them for the time being, so they could only wait for screening and then deal with them according to the "public opinion".

The arrest did not go well, and as soon as the self-made army entered the city, the officers began to search for a way and seek refuge by all means.

In the city of Jinan, many foreign companies have become an ideal refuge. As long as they pay a rent and insurance money to the foreign merchants, they can live in the foreign firms. Based on the dire aftermath of the Flying Tigers incident and the Yankee steamer explosion, the Yankees' attitude toward the Göming Party changed significantly. If you continue to offend foreigners at this time, you will be blamed on the entire Yankee government and even the Tessie powers. In order to avoid angering the foreigners, the self-made army did not dare to rush into the foreign bank to arrest them, but they only caught a group of poor candidates who had no money to live in the foreign bank for a long time. These people are poor people with no savings, no money, and a lot of debts. It didn't help in raising military salaries.

Soon after the arrest operation began, the self-made army received a note from the Prussian consulate that Jinan had made its own government and would not be recognized by the Prussian government. The Jinan self-made army must ensure the personal and property safety of every Jin official in Jinan, otherwise, the Prussian military will help Shun to attack the rebellion, cooperate with the Jin court, and take military action against the rebels.

Get off the wrong foot.

Expectedly, the Ge Ming party was good at negotiating with foreigners, and the governments of various countries did not have a good impression of the Dajin court, so it was unlikely that they would speak for the Dajin country. In the Guangzhou Uprising, the foreigners were also able to strictly abide by neutrality and did not participate, but in this Jinan self-control, they stood on the side of Zhao Guanhou with a clear banner, which caught the newly established self-made army very unprepared.

The next day, another surprising and somewhat angry news arrived. The Huaishang Army, which also belonged to the camp of Ge Ming's army, entered Shandong Province from Xuzhou through Pei County. Under the banner of recovering Shandong, and appointing the governor of the capital and the military and civilian governors on its own, it refused to recognize the legal status of the incumbent self-control association in Shandong.

Although the two armed forces belong to the same system, there is no clear command relationship between them. If such a banner is flaunted, there is doomed to leave no room for negotiation. Once it enters Shandong, it will inevitably cause entanglements on the turf. What is even more worrying is that the main members of the Huaishang Army are refugees, as well as Huaishang horse bandits, which are close in nature to the people's army and the bandit army, and it is difficult to guarantee military discipline.

The self-made army composed of the Shandong gentry will naturally not welcome such a starving soldier into Sangzi, but at present, the armed force of the self-made army is only a few thousand armed militias, and then there is Jia Maoqing, who lacks enough ammunition. If you want to stop the Huaishang army from entering the country, you can only rely on the Green Battalion, the Defense Battalion, the Fifth Town, and the Second Mixed Association, which are still loyal to Dajin, to keep the Imperial Invaders outside.

Ge Ming's armament, hoping that the anti-cave armed forces would also beat Ge Ming's armed forces out of the country, this situation made the minds of several self-made soldiers feel helpless and laughing. As a military commander, Jia Maoqing feels that he has a heavy responsibility, and he can only play back according to the facts

"If Zhao Guanhou is dead, I, as their co-ordinator, can order this standard to obey my orders. But if he doesn't die, these soldiers will always be loyal to him, and it will be difficult for me to command the movement. Not only me, but also tens of thousands of new troops in Shandong at present, which is basically such a state, commanders at all levels rely on prestige to restrain the troops, and can only maintain daily life, if you want to gather forces, you can only look forward to the life and death of Zhao Guanhou, and there is a quasi-letter. ”

Capital.

The assassination of Zhao Guanhou and the unknown news of his life and death made the imperial cabinet quarrel. The cabinet composed of relatives and nobles does not humble each other because they are of the same race. On the contrary, the struggle for power is fierce and abnormal, and the regents of the queen mother are incompatible with each other with the cabinet as the battlefield. With an annual income of tens of millions, Shandong is currently the richest province in the north, and has surpassed Shanxi, so it has naturally become the target of all forces. Shandong's self-control is also an unprecedented precedent in the north, and there must be a disposition.

Xiao Gong Wang's family advocated the use of force against Shandong, crusaded against the self-made army, and militarily solved the fifth town and the second mixed association. Empress Dowager Longyu also supported this idea. However, the purpose of its main battle is not to really rely on military affairs to solve the problem, but to rely on this proposal to solve the alcohol king's lineage.

The use of force requires soldiers and generals' salaries. The brothers held military power, but they could not bring troops to quell the rebellion, and there was no pay to pay the soldiers. As long as this incident is big, the alcohol king can only take the blame and resign. Naturally, the faction of the alcohol king also advocated not fighting and resolving the matter by peaceful means.

King Xiao Gong is menacing, and there is the support of the Queen Mother behind him, if you want to fight him, Chengfeng can only find allies, and the ally he chose is King Qingwang Yikuang. King Qing, who was once in name only, was respected by him as a real cabinet minister, and expected him to preside over the overall situation.

"Uncle Qing, the current situation is critical, you must come out to preside over the overall situation. Once the tens of thousands of rebellious troops enter Shandong, and they get the money and food supplies from the Shandong Domain, it will be like a tiger with wings, and it will be difficult to shake. This is no small matter and should not be taken lightly. ”

King Qing smoked his pipe unhurriedly, and the carefully baked tobacco shreds could affect King Qingwang's heart more than state affairs. After a long time, he said as if talking to himself:

"A man does not walk without a head, and a bird does not fly without a head. Shandong's new army, that is really capable of fighting. But no matter how hard you can fight, someone has to bring it, otherwise you can't use it. Now the army's heart is unstable, and it is still a stalemate with the Huaishang horse thief, and when it really comes to the chilling of the soldiers, it will be a complete defeat. If these soldiers are coerced by the chaotic army and follow the thieves, when the time comes, hehe, it will be a lot of fun. ”

King Xiao Gong arched his hand, "King Qing, tell me, what should I do?" ”

"I'm an old and useless person, but there's nothing I can do, in fact, I'm ready to resign. When you are older, your energy and physical strength are not as good as at the beginning, and you should retreat to the forest and enjoy a few days of happiness. King Gong is in the prime of life, is thriving, presumably there must have been a successful case, how to suppress the thief and quell the rebellion, there is a comprehensive plan, just ask King Gong to come out to preside over the overall situation, the old decay is not here to annoy people. ”

Cheng Feng hurriedly scolded, "King Gong, Uncle Qing is an elder in the clan, I can't agree if you talk to an elder like this." Uncle Qing, don't be with this little inappropriate general knowledge, even if you don't rush him, rush to Uncle Six, you have to let him go, don't you? Now is the time when the country is unstable, and we can't be angry. You are resourceful and knowledgeable, so please mention it, and we will know how to deal with it. ”

"Mention? It's not a one-sentence thing. If you want to do it, it's actually very simple, if Zhao Guanhou is really assassinated, don't do anything in Shandong, you have to lose it by him. If he lived, he had a way to go. Electrify and reward, give him benefits, and let him come out and do things. He is not so much recuperating from his injuries now, I think it is more like being angry, if you don't let him get this breath over, why should people help you fight. ”

Pu Wei answered: "I don't know how else he will be smooth. The matter of eight million taels of silver, the court did not mention a word, and let it go. What the hell did he want? ”

"Shandong does not change the governor, this year, next year, two years of taxes will not solve the Beijing salary, which can be regarded as compensation for his disaster relief losses. If the imperial court can issue such a will, I will not show my old face and send him a telegram, even if he can't get up from lying down, he will have to take me sick to go on the expedition. But if you can't do it, then well, you can ask for another skill. What do I know about Wu Dingzhen, Lan Tianwei, and Zhang Shaozeng, they are all great talents, well, you can send them to take command of Shandong, I look forward to victory. ”

Chengfeng knew that the people King Qing said were either far away and couldn't quench their thirst, or they couldn't be mobilized if they were guarding in Beijing, and the Fifth Town and the Second Association were very xenophobic, so if such an officer went, it was likely that he wouldn't even be able to command the troops. Present said:

"Isn't that the condition? I'm on it. As long as he can retire the self-made army and the Huaishang army, I promise that within ten years, Shandong will not change its governor. ”

In St. Mary's Hospital, Yu Meiren stood in two rows in the corridor with a dry warbler from the girls' school, and some of the female students had to be arranged in other wards, making the hospital look like entering the Grand View Garden.

Although the self-made army emphasizes military discipline, after all, it is a squire's family, and it cannot be compared with the regular army, and Zou Jingze himself is the backbone of the Confucian church, and he has a lot of complaints about girls' schools. There has long been the idea of seizing the girls' school, and as soon as the self-control association is established, the girls' school will bear the brunt. But Yumei was prepared, changed her life, and took teachers and students to the hospital together.

Zhao Guanhou's ward, arranged like a command post, hung on the wall with a high proportion of Shandong military maps, telegrams from the front line, all in the hospital, more than Jia Maoqing mastered. Zhao Guanhou himself was dressed in military uniform, full of energy, how could he look a little injured.

On both sides of the map of Shandong, there is a pair of couplets nailed, the calligraphy is very sloppy, and the pen power is also poor, which is from the handwriting of Zhao Guanhou. The words and sentences are the works of Yuan Weiting when he was a teenager: Daze Longfang sting, and the Central Plains deer is fat. (To be continued.) )