received a secret letter from Li Hongzhang again, but Song Xiaofei did not return to China quickly. Song Xiaofei knew that it would take a lot of preliminary work to get rid of Hu Xueyan's business empire that had taken 30 years of painstaking accumulation overnight, and to make "the people have no objections", so Song Xiaofei asked Zhang Jian to rush to Shanghai to connect with Sheng Xuanhuai, find out Hu Xueyan's family background, see how much money he had, and collect evidence of Hu Xueyan's embezzlement of state funds and reselling military supplies, these two charges were enough for Hu Xueyan to kill his head. Song Xiaofei chose Zhang Jian, because although he was a talent, he was very industrial-minded and knew how to keep accounts, and after Wu Changqing died of illness, he helped Song Xiaofei supervise the coal mines, artillery factories, and post offices in North Korea.

Another reason why Song Xiaofei was not in a hurry to leave North Korea was to deal with the bloody coup d'état of the North Korean "Enlightenment Party". This coup d'état was provoked by Shinichiro Takezoe, the new minister stationed in the DPRK, and he also had a secret identity, that is, a lieutenant colonel of the army, and the "enlightened faction" of the DPRK attempted to seize power by using the troops stationed in the DPRK led by him.

After Song Xiaofei's coup d'état in the pacification of Dayuanjun, Concubine Min returned to power, and the ministers of North Korea split into two factions, one was the "pro-China faction" led by Concubine Min's nephews Min Yongyi and Kim Yun-sik, who admired Song Xiaofei's courage and knowledge so much that they fell into power and obeyed their words; The other faction is the pro-called "Enlightenment Party", which is dominated by the "gentlemen's tour group" that Guangxu went to in the seventh year, including Kim Ok-kyun, Hong Young-sik, Park Yong-hyo and others.

After Song Xiaofei became the Minister of Trade and Commerce of North Korea, he sensed the ambitions of these Enlightenment Party members, but because most of their members were young Korean scholars, it was inconvenient to kill them all, and North Korea also needed them to engage in foreign affairs, so he asked Concubine Min to suppress the Enlightenment Party.

When Song Xiaofei was in North Korea, the Enlightenment Party did not dare to act rashly, China and France went to war, Song Xiaofei took 2,000 Huai troops to Taiwan to support Liu Mingchuan, and asked Tang Shaoyi to send people to keep an eye on the Enlightenment Party and the Embassy. Jin Yujun, the leader of the "Enlightenment faction", found that Tang Shaoyi was relatively "weak" and thought that the opportunity had come, and they were no longer satisfied with a war of words with the "pro-China faction" in the court of Gyeongbokgung Palace, so they seized the time to plot a bloody coup d'état with Takezoe Shinichiro. After all, Tang Shaoyi came back from studying at Columbia University in the United States, and was affected by humanitarianism and did not like to use bloody conflicts to solve problems, so he wrote to Song Xiaofei to inform him of the changes in North Korea.

Song Xiaofei led 1,500 Huai troops to rush back to North Korea from Tamsui, and it was already the season when the autumn wind rose and the red maple leaves fell. The Kaihwa Party members have repeatedly convened meetings of their henchmen in the middle of the night to formulate a coup d'état, and cooperated with Shinichiro Takezoe, the minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the DPRK, to have the army smuggle weapons and ammunition into the Joseon royal palace in preparation for a terrorist coup.

As soon as Song Xiaofei returned to his residence in Seoul, Tang Shaoyi came to him and sent him an invitation to the completion of the General Post Office of the DPRK, inviting him to attend the ceremony the next day. ”

Song Xiaofei asked Tang Shaoyi: "Brother Shaochuan, who is the Minister of the General Post Office of the DPRK?"

Tang Shaoyi replied: "The general office is Hong Yingzhi. ”

Hong Yingzhi is one of the three backbones of the Enlightenment Party, and when Song Xiaofei heard that he was the Minister of Post, he felt that this was a conspiracy, so he said to Tang Shaoyi: "You will go on my behalf tomorrow, just say that I am suffering from the wind and cold, and my body is sick." ”

Tang Shaoyi nodded in agreement, and Song Xiaofei took out a black-shelled Mauser from his waist and handed it to him: "Bring it tomorrow, and if there is any abnormal movement, you will shoot." ”

There were blood stains on the trigger of the black-shelled Mauser gun, and the twenty-two-year-old Tang Shaoyi waved his hand when he saw it, and said: "It's just an inauguration ceremony, so I don't need it, I'm not used to using guns." ”

Song Xiaofei stuffed the Mauser gun into Tang Shaoyi's hand and said, "You, you have a basket of knowledge, you are too kind, I should really take you to the Taiwan battlefield." You'll carry this gun with you every day from now on. I also know that 'life is precious,' but you must always remember that to be merciful to your enemies is to be cruel to yourself! ”

Tang Shaoyi took the bloody black-shelled Mauser gun, guessed that tomorrow's ceremony would not be simple, and asked Song Xiaofei to teach him how to fill bullets and shoot.

The next day, the autumn wind blew strongly, and the red maple leaves fell on the streets of Seoul. Hong Young-sik, 28-year-old director of the General Post Office of the DPRK, dressed in a traditional Hanfu costume and with a red face, bent down and smiling to greet the distinguished guests.

When the official carriage representing China arrived at the door, Hong Yingzhi hurriedly ran over to greet him, and when he saw that the person who came was not Song Xiaofei, but Tang Shaoyi, he was a little panicked, and asked, "Why didn't you see the arrival of your country's martial arts general?" ”

Tang Shaoyi said with a smile: "General Manager Hong's office is very well-informed, our adults have just been named a martial arts general by the imperial court, you know." He said that he was ill today, and he entrusted me to participate, don't you welcome it? ”

Hong Yingzhi hurriedly said: "Where, where, Lord Tang, please." ”

Tang Shaoyi took two attendants into the building, walked to the North Korean postal hall, and found that a large square table was arranged in the center of the hall with a layer of snow-white tablecloth, on which were placed wine and food, knives, forks and tableware, foreign cigarettes, wine and a large cluster of pink and purple double-petaled hibiscus flowers, and more than ten sandalwood Taishi chairs surrounded the square table.

There were a lot of guests, bustling, some were already sitting on the Taishi chair in front of the table, Tang Shaoyi looked around at the visitors, most of them were old acquaintances, Hu Cao Counselor Kim Ok-kyun, Seoul Prefecture Judge Yoon Park Yong-hyo, American Minister Ford, British Consul General Aston, etc., as well as the secretary of the embassy, Shimamura Hisashi, and the interpreter Kawakami Rice Field, but there was no mention of Takezoe Shinichiro, the minister of the embassy.

Tang Shaoyi had doubts, and stepped forward to ask Minister Shimamura Takezoe why he didn't come, Shimamura smiled, and said a few words, and the translator Kawakami explained: "Minister Takezoe has recently contracted a cold and can't come because of his health." ”

When Tang Shaoyi heard this, why did this reason sound so familiar, and she had to admire Song Xiaofei's foresight. After a while, the pro-China ministers Min Yongyi, Han Gyuji, Li Zuyuan and others were almost there, and Hong Young-sik ordered someone to lock the main gate from the outside.

The ceremony is simple, followed by a banquet, where the beautiful Korean dancers wear traditional costumes and sing and dance, and the guests stand up and mingle and mingle.

However, Kim Ok-kyun, Hong Young-sik, and Park Yong-hyo were not in the mood to enjoy these songs and dances at all, and according to their plan, during the banquet, the Minister of Honor Takezoe Shinichiro would order people to set fire to the main entrance of the North Korean General Post Office building, and then they shouted that it was on fire, causing chaos in the living room, and then took advantage of the chaos to let the recruits who were ambushed in the post office building kill Min Yongyi and other conservative ministers. For this coup, Park Yong-hyo has secretly created a private army of 1,000 people with Shin Bok-mo, who graduated from the Non-commissioned Officer School, as the backbone. Then they brought people into the palace and lied that the Qing soldiers were in rebellion, and took the opportunity to detonate the explosives hidden in Gyeongbokgung Palace, creating even greater chaos, and finally asked Takezoe Shinichiro to bring the soldiers stationed in the court into the palace King Qin, control Concubine Min and King Li Xi, and seize power.

The banquet was almost over, and no one was set on fire outside the main gate, so Jin Yujun hurriedly stepped forward to talk to Shimamura for a long time, what was going on. Shimamura didn't know what was going on, and at this time, the interpreter Kawakami Inada hurried back from outside the door and said to Shimamura Hisashi: "It's not a good thing, all the soldiers who set fire outside the door have been arrested by the Qing soldiers, and there are also heavily armed Qing soldiers who set off from the camp and rushed towards the post office. ”

Thirty-three-year-old Jin Yujun panicked when he heard that the conspiracy of the Enlightened Party and the Political and Political Rebellion might have been exposed, but he had visited Yuben for three months, had seen the world, and still knew Yu himself well, so he quickly calmed down and asked Shimamura what his attitude was, and if he supported him, he would give up his surname and do it.

Shimamura said: "Of course, my country will fully support you. Before I came to attend the ceremony, Minister Takezoe had ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle, and as soon as Gyeongbokgung Palace exploded, they would immediately enter the palace. ”

Jin Yujun heard it: "Without further ado, I'll do it right away!" You hurry back and inform Minister Zhu Tian and ask him to bring troops into the palace to help. ”

No one set the fire outside the house, and Jin Yujun didn't care so much, so he ordered someone to set fire to the newly built post office. After a while, smoke billowed from the hall and a fire raged. Kim Ok-kyun, Hong Young-sik, and Park Yong-hyo took the opportunity to shout: "It's on fire, don't panic, go through the back door!" ”

On the way to the back door, Park Yong-hyo ambushed the pro-soldiers, and the ministers of the "pro-China faction" approached and killed one by one. The first to bear the brunt was Concubine Min's nephew Min Yongyi, as soon as he walked out of the living room, he was slashed into blood by a group of recruits who rushed up, and fell to the ground and died.

Tang Shaoyi saw this bloody scene in the panicked crowd, and quickly pulled out the Mauser gun given by Song Xiaofei, and fired two shots with a bang, injuring two recruits who cut people.