"Congratulations to Yuan Zhongtang!"

Before Yang Chao returned to Shandong to take office, he also had some activities in Beijing, and the former governor of Shandong, the current minister of Beiyang, and the governor of Zhili were naturally the first to come to visit. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"A mere courtesy is not a respect!"

A huge ivory pen holder, although it is a little shabby, but the sesame pattern carved on it, the meaning is still very good.

"Yang is polite."

Yuan Shikai not only showed cordiality, but also said with the majesty of the governor that he had adapted well to his new identity.

"I heard that Yang Guan has just been rewarded by the emperor, this shouldn't be a gift from the saint, if so, shouldn't it be increased at will!"

Yuan Shikai Dun said in general.

The news that Yang Chao has received a large number of imperial rewards cannot be concealed in Beijing, and everyone in the officialdom knows that Yang Chao is the new celebrity around the emperor.

followed Zaifeng to visit Germany and Japan, during which he also made great contributions, no matter how you look at it, he is not only sad to go to the country with the emperor, but also a meritorious minister, and he has won the emperor's trust, which is not surprising at all.

Yang Chao also knows this, in fact, he also knows very well that Zaifeng is using this matter to win over himself and configure his cronies.

But Yuan Shikai is also very attentive to himself, the first is because of the emperor's attitude, and the second is that he is also optimistic about Yang Chao.

Yang Chao inadvertently became a figure who, like Yuan Shikai in the past, was trusted by both the imperial power and local officials.

"Hehe, the lower officials have the courage to give away the holy reward casually. This is owned by the lower officials. ”

Yang Chao explained to Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Shikai sighed in his heart, now that there are more people who pay attention to Yang Chao, there are more people who dig into his identity and background. Some people have even been meticulous enough to find the fisherman Wang Fu that Yang Chao met on the first day of going ashore, but Wang Fu only knew that he had just returned from fishing and was stopped by Yang Chao from behind, it seems that Yang Chao came from the sea, but the clothes are dry, and there are no other boats on the sea.

So up to now, everyone still only knows that Yang Chao himself said that he came from Nanyang, and then he easily became a translator for the Germans, and then he was recognized by the governor, helped the governor to do a private matter, and had a friendship with Yuan Shikai, and then visited abroad to persuade the Germans to give up the reparations and so on.

Yuan Shikai knew more, because he was also one of the first people to contact Yang Chao, and he was the governor of Shandong, so he felt Yang Chao's every move clearly, and he didn't care how Yang Chao got ashore, maybe it was by boat, maybe it was just the beach from somewhere else, and he didn't agree with the old fisherman's statement.

After that, when he went to contact the Germans, and then approached himself, Yuan Shikai always felt that there were too deliberate signs. The more plausible it was, the more suspicious he became. But he has no ill will towards Yang Chao at the moment, even if he firmly believes that the Germans are behind all this. Because Yang Chao has always had a deliberate attitude towards him and Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Shikai, who also believed that Yang Chao was a nail arranged by the Germans, had reason to believe that the Germans seemed to have some kind of hope for him and were very optimistic about him. The Germans did these things quietly, and Yuan Shikai felt that he understood. There are some things that need not be broken, and he knows how to do it.

"I'm going to go to Shandong to be an official. Come to meet the boss, and I hope the boss will teach you a lesson or two. ”

Yuan Shikai became the governor of Shandong, and now there is a very popular minister, but the forces in Shandong are probably involved in Yuan Shikai, and he wants to go to Shandong to do things, without Yuan Shikai's support, I am afraid that it will be difficult, although he did not enter the political circles in later generations, but Yang Chao has made good friends with politicians, and it is not too much to say that he is a politician and businessman, so he is also well versed in officialdom.

Yuan Shikai smiled and nodded: "Yang Observation, the official has already prepared, you just have to do it." ”

Yang Chao expressed his gratitude with relief, obviously Yuan Shikai had already been deployed, and he had greeted the Shandong officialdom, and he would get the cooperation of his subordinates and the care of his superiors, at least he would not get trouble.

"I have a letter here. If you encounter difficulties, go to the governor Zhou. ”

Yuan Shikai said and took out another letter.

The new governor of Shandong is Zhou Fu, who is also a descendant of the Huai faction, and can even be said to be the most upright old-timer in the Huai faction.

The Huai faction was raised by Li Hongzhang to form the Huai Army, and Yuan Shikai's uncle Yuan Baoqing was the general of the Huai Army, but compared with Zhou Fu, let alone Yuan Shikai, even Yuan Baoqing could only stand aside.

Because the Huai Army itself was formed by Li Hongzhang and Zhou Fu together, but Zhou Fu has been standing behind Li Hongzhang since then, silently doing things for Li Hongzhang as a staff member, so he is not conspicuous.

Zhou Fu's significance to Li Hongzhang is far greater than that of Yuan Baoqing and other generals, not to mention Yuan Shikai, the second-generation figure of the Huai School.

When the Huai Army had just been formed, Li Hongzhang had five taels of silver a month, three of which were directly given to Zhou Fu, because Zhou Fu's mother was sick and needed treatment, and the two of them could be called good friends like Uncle Bao and Guan Zhong.

After Li Hongzhang organized and trained the Huai Army, Zhou Fu helped him plan, Li Hongzhang formed the Beiyang Fleet, and Zhou Fu was the coastal defense support, responsible for paying the Beiyang Naval Division. Help Li Hongzhang raise funds to build railways and run minerals. He has participated in almost all of Li Hongzhang's government affairs. It's just that he has been silently following Li Hongzhang, hiding under the huge shadow of Li Hongzhang, without complaint or regret.

Li Hongzhang has not won an official position for Zhou Fu, but Zhou Fu has always been in positions such as Shanghai Customs Road, and I have to say that he was also suppressed because Li Hongzhang was too bright, because no one wanted to see Li Hongzhang's power too expanded. Li Hongzhang once wanted to seek a position as the governor of the river for Zhou Fu, but failed due to the opposition of his old opponents, and was very angry about this: "I have promoted the world's talents, and the only Zhou monarch has been in the past for a long time, and his merit is the highest. Now I am old, and I am responsible for this. ”

Before Li Hongzhang died, the Li family also called Zhou Fu forward by telegram, and when Li Hongzhang finally breathed, it was Zhou Fu who touched his eyes to reassure him, telling him what to do, and they would do it, so that he could rest assured, Li Hongzhang closed his eyes.

is such a person that Li Hongzhang trusts the most and thinks has the highest credit, and only after Li Hongzhang's death can he get a big appointment and become the governor of Shandong, replacing Yuan Shikai's position.

After leaving the governor's yamen, Yang Chao returned to his residence and immediately opened Yuan Shikai's letter to Zhou Fu.

It's not that Yang Chao wants to peep, but he knows in his heart that Yuan Shikai actually wrote this letter for himself, and pretending to make it difficult for Yang Chao to find Zhou Fu with the letter is just a pretext, Yang Chao believes that Yuan Shikai has already explained to Zhou Fu, and the content of the explanation is in the letter.

Sure enough, Yuan Shikai bluntly expressed his appreciation for Yang Chao in his heart, and asked Zhou Fu to support Yang Chao's actions in Shandong, and at the same time said that all matters of communication and negotiation with the Germans in Qingdao could be entrusted to Yang Chao with full authority.

Yuan Shikai is using this letter to win over Yang Chao, which is more clever than Zaifeng using a bunch of gold, silver and jewelry.

Yang Chao understood what Yuan Shikai meant, and after staying in Beijing for a few days, he immediately went south.

It's good to take a boat directly to Yantai, because the Yamen of Denglai Qingdao Road is located in Yantai, since the Second Yapian War, Yantai has become a port, and the Daotai Yamen has moved here, but this time Yang Chao has added a territory in his hands, that is, Jiaozhou.

Obviously, all parties in the imperial court are still very clear about Yang Chao's arrival in Denglai Qingjiaodao, these state capitals are located at the tip of the Shandong Peninsula, the north is Weihai, which was occupied by the British, and the south is Qingdao, which was occupied by the Germans.

As soon as Yang Chao leaned to the dock in Yantai, there were already three prefects of Dengzhou, Qingzhou, Laizhou and Jiaozhou, and one governor was waiting.

"Xiaguan and the others will meet Yang Observation!"

The Daotai was originally a sub-patrol road, and theoretically it was only an official position of supervision, which was different from the real power such as county orders, but things were man-made, even if Li Hongzhang was only a scholar, who could still underestimate him, and whether he could have real power, that was the result of a complicated power struggle.

Of course, if there are people above, it will be much easier to take power, and Yang Chao is a person with people above, whether it is the emperor or Yuan Shikai, they all look at Yang Chao differently, so these governors and prefects came to wait early.

The congratulatory gifts prepared were also extremely rich, each of the three prefects gave 10,000 taels of silver, and the Jiaozhou governor gave 2,000 taels.

This made Yang Chao sigh with emotion, no wonder those big men in the late Qing Dynasty were worth tens of millions of dollars at every turn, and they were indeed too corrupt.

But Yang Chao accepted it, the atmosphere is like this, he doesn't like it, he will reform, but not now.

Then in Yantai Yamen, I ate a hearty meal of Lu cuisine, which was considered to be a matter of these people for Yang Chao, and even the cooks were brought by them.

After the guests and hosts were happy, and after several officials returned to their respective posts, Yang Chao was still busy.

Because since he came to Yantai, all kinds of invitations have not been broken, and there are many people who want to confront him, a new celebrity.

But who and where will the first one go?

Without any hesitation, Yang Chao took out the invitation to the welcome banquet jointly organized by the consuls or commercial counselors of Austria-Hungary, Japan, the United States and other countries led by the consuls of Yantai and the United Kingdom.

The next night, Yang Chao's carriage traveled all the way to the Zhifu Consulate District, where the British and French consuls held a dinner.

The banquet was attended not only by consuls from various countries, the wives of consuls, but also by managers of many local foreign firms, and even wealthy Chinese businessmen.

And these wealthy businessmen are also the most active, because they have a request from Yang Chao, or they have common interests with Yang Chao.

After listening to the introduction of a British businessman who came up, Yang Chao also thought that what they said was very reasonable.

So he immediately walked in front of a very low-key Chinese.

"Boss Meng, there is a business, do you want to do it?"