Yanjing, the official residence of Acting President Feng Guozhang.

Seeing off Wang Shizhen, a good old man from Beiyang who came to visit, Chen Zhiji quickly returned to Feng Guozhang's hospital bedside. Feng Guozhang, who was sick and skinny, snorted a few times, and saw that the person who came in with Chen Zhiji was actually the confidant Ni Sichong, who loved Li Chun and served as the overseer of Anhui, he was very excited, and ordered the young and beautiful lady Zhou Di to help him up.

Li Chun and Ni Sichong saw that Feng Guozhang barely opened his deep sunken eyes, the two big blue and black eye bags seemed to be filled with stagnant water, and patches of old age spots had grown on the freshly shaved heads, and they were sad, and hurriedly stepped forward to ask Feng Guozhang to lie down.

Feng Guozhang smiled with difficulty, raised his thick hand and shook it slightly: "I can't die of illness at this point, don't say it, the two German doctors that Duan Zhiquan sent me are better than Dr. Yuben, otherwise I won't be able to wake up, cough cough...... It's okay, Xiushan, Danchen, sit down and talk! Shu Liang, go get a pot of tea. ”

Chen Zhiji hurriedly persuaded: "Father-in-law, the doctor said that you can't ...... during the treatment."

"Go, don't listen to the nonsense of those Chinese medicine doctors and Dr. Yuben, I really have to listen to them, I can't even drink a little gruel with meat stars, or the German doctor said well, drink some light green tea appropriately, it is good for my recuperation, go quickly."

After saying so many words in one breath, Feng Guozhang was panting, his face was flushed, and he seemed to be very sick, and his body had reached the point of being very weak. Chen Zhiji turned his head and glanced at the young mother-in-law, and when he saw the mother-in-law nodding slightly, he turned around and went out to prepare tea, Li Chun and Ni Sichong both showed unbearable expressions on their faces.

Feng Guozhang adjusted his breathing slightly, and motioned to his wife to add a small kapok pillow to his waist, and a toss actually made his head sweat bead slightly, Li Chun and the two stood up and whispered comfort, complaining that they shouldn't come at this time, but they were stopped by the generous Feng Guozhang with a smile, comforting the two and saying that it was good to sweat, if they didn't sweat, it would be bad.

Adjusting the reclining posture, Zhou Li said goodbye and left tacitly, and before leaving, he repeatedly told him not to be excited, Feng Guozhang agreed to come down, and after his wife left, he looked at Li Chun and Ni Sichong, who were still standing:

"Sit down! Dan Chen, you are the overseer of Anhui, a member of the party, how can you leave your post without permission at such a sensitive time? ”

Ni Sichong, who had just sat down, hurriedly stood up, saw Feng Guozhang's displeased eyes, and hurriedly sat down again: "Dashuai, my subordinates are really not worried about Dashuai's condition, and my brothers always hope that Dashuai will recover as soon as possible!" ”

Feng Guozhang smiled with satisfaction, looked at Li Chun, and asked kindly, "Xiushan, didn't you go back to Nanjing to reorganize the army?" Why haven't you left Beijing yet? Is it that you and the arms business of the Taiping Company have gone bankrupt? ”

Li Chun was stunned: "Dashuai, this thing actually stabbed you here?" Who did this to you? ”

Feng Guozhang couldn't help laughing, but coughed for a while, just as Chen Zhiji led the two maids to bring fragrant tea, Feng Guozhang drank two sips to moisten his throat before he felt better:

"Zhiquan came to see me last night, chatted with me for a long time, and when it came to your private purchase of Yueben arms, he was still very supportive, but I just suggested that you pay attention to the unification of armaments, at present, the three major arsenals in Hanyang, Jinling, and Gongxian can produce German-made standard rifle cartridges, and then get some Yueben rifles back, it is indeed inconvenient to supply them in the future, you have to think about this carefully."

Li Chun was quite annoyed: "It is estimated that Duan Zhiquan also told you that this batch of arms is not only 650,000, but 1.65 million, right?" ”

Li Chun's uprightness made Feng Guozhang feel very cordial:

"It doesn't matter if you have more money or less money, you just have to take care of it yourself. However, there is one thing I have to tell you, according to the usual practice, the new military and political vice minister Xiao Yimin is afraid to go to Nanjing to take charge, several army vice-ministers and navy chief Liu Guanxiong all support him to control the military affairs of the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, you and Dan Chen one is the Anhui overseer, the other is the Jiangsu overseer, and the other is Xiufeng, who has just become the Jiangxi overseer, I am afraid that the future will not be very good. ”

The Xiufeng that Feng Guozhang said is Feng Guozhang's confidant Chen Guangyuan, who took over Li Chun's post as the superintendent of Jiangxi, a native of Tianjin, the former lieutenant general and division commander of the 12th Division of the Beiyang direct line, surnamed Girritable and greedy for money, and the relationship with today's powerful Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and most civilian officials is not good, and now he is the overseer of Jiangxi, but he has only one brigade under his command.

What worries Feng Guozhang even more is that Chen Guangyuan went to Nanchang, spent all day drinking, wanton extortion, not only did not get the support of the local army in Jiangxi, but also offended a large number of gentry and celebrities, and now the fourth army of the Sichuan army Wang Zan Xu, which has entered southern Jiangxi, is staring at Chen Guangyuan with fierce eyes, if Chen Guangyuan, who has mediocre intelligence, does not find a way to transfer it as soon as possible, I am afraid that even the bones will be swallowed by others.

The three generals then began to analyze the current situation, discussing the combination of the Anhui system and the Sichuan army, and finally Feng Guozhang earnestly admonished:

"Don't easily let go of the military power in your hands, now it seems that having soldiers in your hands is the foundation of your life, you two sit on the two richest provinces in the north and south of the river, as long as you don't make mistakes, no one dares to exclude you, as long as you live well, even if I leave tomorrow, you can rest assured!"

"Handsome ......"

Hearing this, Li Chun and Ni Sichong were already full of tears, and they couldn't help but kneel down in unison, crying silently

Yanjing Jingcheng and the Prince's Palace, the official residence of the Prime Minister.

In the two-story small western-style building on the east side of the office building, the energetic Duan Qirui listened to Wang Shizhen's words, raised his thick eyebrows, and laughed in a low voice:

"It seems that Brother Huafu is really not at ease! Under the pretext of asking for last year's arrears of military expenses, Li Chun has been staying in the capital for activities up and down and refusing to leave easily, and Ni Sichong left his post without reporting to the War Department for approval, and actually ran to the capital. ”

Wang Shizhen persuaded: "Zhiquan, let's still value peace, we have worked hard to get the support of Xu Dashuai, and the generals of our Beiyang army have gradually seen the situation clearly, and the Senate and the House of Representatives have set up shelves one after another, and the situation is gratifying!" At this critical time, we must not affect the hard-won stability of the overall situation because of local decision-making mistakes! I guess Brother Yiming will agree with me as well. ”

Duan Qirui smiled again: "Don't worry, Li Chun is also your and my comrades no matter what, at this time I will never do a stupid thing to destroy the Great Wall, not to mention that it is not me who should have a headache for this, but Brother Yiming, don't forget, Brother Yiming's appeal of 'sincere unity and hand in hand' has not only won the support of all walks of life across the country, but also received unanimous praise and response from all factions in the central government, even he can face political enemies with a peaceful and open-minded attitude, I can't be worse than him, right?" Ha ha! ”

Wang Shizhen nodded, smiled but was a little worried: "It stands to reason that Brother Yiming is not the kind of surname that must be compared, but this time he did not hesitate to offend Li Chun for the purchase of more than one million arms, which is quite puzzling, could it be that Yiming wants to take this deal for the Sichuan Arsenal?" ”

"No, Yiming's explanation is very clear: the reform and rectification of the national army cannot be delayed, and the rectification and development of military industrial enterprises is imperative. Thanks to Sichuan's vigorous support, the country's largest Sichuan Arsenal is about to be handed over to the Central Military and Political Headquarters, and the plant's plans for technical exchanges and cooperation and personnel training with the four major factories in Hanyang, Gongxian, Jinling, and Shanghai have been basically completed, and the unified production standards for various weapons and ammunition will soon be implemented.

"At this juncture, Li Chun still goes his own way, and repeatedly asks the headquarters to fund him to purchase weapons, which is undoubtedly disrespectful to Yiming, and Yiming's rare opposition to Li Chun's appropriation is understandable, not to mention that the weapons and ammunition produced in Sichuan are well-known, both quality and price are not under this product, there is no need to spend more money in vain!"

Duan Qirui is very polite in his attitude towards the various ministries in Beiyang, if there is no secret support from Sichuan and the payment of five million taxes in advance, I am afraid that he will not even be able to pay the salaries of thousands of officials of the central government, where is the money allocated to the armed forces of the hostile camp to update their equipment?

Wang Shizhen, who came out of the mountain again, knew very well the embarrassing financial situation of the central government, and he did not doubt it at the moment, so he nodded and turned the topic to Xiao Yimin:

"Speaking of which, Brother Yiming is still very righteous enough, if it weren't for his generous help, I'm afraid the British wouldn't be so easy to loosen up, alas! I wonder if the 'Mir' freighter he bought back for $1.8 million set sail? ”

Duan Qirui was quite touched, and picked up the teapot to add tea to Wang Shizhen:

"Before, we only paid lip service to declaring war on Germany, so where could we really send troops to war? If it weren't for Yiming taking out this 6,500-ton freighter that he had just bought back from the United States, loading it with 2,000 tons of flour, and joining the Far East transport fleet of the Allies in the name of the country and sailing for Britain, I am afraid we would still not be able to break the predicament! ”

Speaking of this, Duan Qirui took out a document from the drawer and handed it to Wang Shizhen: "This matter needs to be kept secret, you can take a look." ”

Wang Shizhen was extremely shocked after reading it, he never thought that the large ocean-going transport ship that Xiao Yimin spent a huge amount of money to buy back from the United States was a pretense, and the ultimate goal was to cooperate with the Admiralty presided over by Liu Guanxiong, in exchange for Britain's support for Duan Qirui's reorganization of the central political axe, and the additional conditions were only to require the British Naval School to accept 150 Chinese cadets and train 1,000 Chinese naval officers and sailors on his behalf.

Duan Qirui smiled at the stunned Wang Shizhen: "From this, you see Brother Yiming's fist and pure heart, right?" Even Liu Guanxiong, a Fujian barbarian, was moved by him, who would dare to say that he had ill intentions? Brother Yiming has a country and a nation in his heart, and it is not an exaggeration to praise him for taking into account the overall situation, right? Could someone like him be the careerist that the revolutionaries and the left call him? ”

Wang Shizhen exhaled his turbid breath heavily, and sighed convincingly: "I am convinced!" The next time I see Brother Yiming, I will apologize to him personally. ”

Duan Qirui laughed: "It's not enough to apologize, you just need to support him a little more, although he is capable and full of strategy, but after all, he is still young!" At least Li Chun, Ni Sichong and Chen Guangyuan are not convinced that the reason why Yiming has not been in Nanjing for a long time to take up his post is probably also based on this consideration, if Ni Sichong, who dominates Anhui, and Li Chun, who controls the military and political power in Jiangsu, unite, it is a question whether Yiming's brother can enter Nanjing City! ”

Wang Shizhen was silent, he knew that Duan Qirui had basically controlled the armies of Beijing, Tianjin, Zhili and several northern provinces, and surpassed Feng Guozhang as he wished, becoming the actual helmsman of the Beiyang factions, but it was not binding on the provinces south of the Yangtze River at all, except for Duan Qirui's descendant general, Songhu Protector Lu Yongxiang has been firmly in control of Shanghai, the power of the rich Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces is in the hands of Feng Guozhang's henchmen and generals, which is undoubtedly a huge trouble for the new military and political deputy minister Xiao Yiming, It's hard to imagine that Xiao Yiming can't go to Nanjing at all, let alone exercise power.

After thinking about it for a long time, the kind-hearted Wang Shizhen asked, "When will Brother Yiming go to Nanjing?" ”

Duan Qirui replied unapologetically: "I don't know, but I believe he can overcome the difficulties." ”

Wang Shizhen smiled helplessly: "Yes, there seems to be nothing he can't do...... Zhiquan, let's be honest, what can I do for you and Brother Yiming? ”

Duan Qirui was overjoyed, stood up and walked around the table to Wang Shizhen's side, and took out a neatly folded strip from his pocket.

Wang Shizhen took it and opened it, nodded solemnly, slowly closed the note, picked up the match on the table and lit the note.

(To be continued)