The aftermath of the Ito Trading Company bombing in Guangzhou was still reverberating, and the caustic and violent side of the people began to show, and after the futile protests did not achieve any goal, the people who were rampant in northern China committed a number of murders, which finally caused the humiliating Chinese people to rise up and resist, and the Chinese people from all walks of life launched an overwhelming condemnation of the evil deeds of the people.

The arrogant politician took the opportunity to announce the dispatch of troops to the Shanghai Concession and the Consulate General in Guangzhou.

In just five days, more than 3,000 officers and men of the Saiben Marine Corps forcibly stationed themselves in the Shanghai Concession and the Yueqiao District of Guangzhou. This hegemonic act has not only aroused strong opposition from the Chinese people, but also aroused dissatisfaction and hostility from European and American countries whose interests in China have been seriously threatened.

The reaction of the British political axe was the strongest, from mediation to opposition, and then from opposition to warning, and when the British felt that their mouths had no effect, they finally took practical action in a fit of rage.

On 25 May, British Minister to China Zhu Erdian, who had not been guaranteed any benefits in Yanjing, led more than 10 diplomats to visit Nanjing in a high-profile manner, and held a three-day "friendly talks" with General Xiao Yimin, commander of the Nanjing camp of the Chinese Central Military and Political Department, and the heads of various departments.

At 4 p.m. on 28 May, the talks were successfully concluded.

China and Britain jointly held a press conference at the Overseer's Palace, at which Xiao Yimin and Zhu Erdian jointly ascended the rostrum, and British Minister Wilkins in Nanjing, Commercial Counselor Johnson, Gu Weijun, director of the Nanjing Foreign Affairs Committee, Zhang Jian, director of the Economic Committee, and Wang Zhengting, director of the Finance Committee, sat on either side.

Under the watchful eyes of more than 300 Chinese and foreign reporters, Zhu Erdian highly praised the friendly and pragmatic attitude of Xiao Yimin and various institutions in Nanjing, and was satisfied with the talks and the many results achieved.

"1. Immediately lift all trade blockade in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China, and carry out more active economic and trade exchanges and exchanges in various fields with Nanking and the western provinces of China;

"2. Expand the British Consulate in Nanking to a larger scale in order to play a more active role;

"3. The British government recognizes the actual leadership of the Nanking camp over the provinces in the Yangtze River basin and the southern part of China, and will carry out friendly exchanges and cooperation with the Nanking camp in various fields."

Xiao Yimin also highly praised the results of the talks, thanked the British government for its respect for China's territorial sovereignty, and finally announced three decisions that were exciting to the Chinese people:

"1. In order to ensure the safety and smoothness of the Yangtze River waterway, the Nanjing Xingying will establish and reorganize the Yangtze River Defense Command in the shortest possible time, reorganize the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Defense Force, quickly restore the Wusong Fort, and establish the Jiangyin Fortress;

"2. In order to ensure the safety of Shanghai, the first international metropolis in the East, and to ensure the normal economic and trade exchanges and investment security between China and Europe and the United States, Nanjing will carry out more active exchanges and cooperation with European and American countries in various fields;

"Third, the Nanjing camp has been reported to the central political axe, that is, it will send invitations to all provinces and provinces, colleges and universities, local chambers of commerce and well-known associations, and it is scheduled to hold the first sports meeting of national colleges and universities and the first China Commodity Expo from October 10 this year, and the venue of the two sessions will be set in Nanjing."

Public opinion at home and abroad was deeply surprised by the rapid reconciliation between the British political axe and the Nanjing camp and the achievement of a number of substantive results, and almost all the newspapers were hotly discussing the tremendous impact of the "Sino-British Nanjing talks." The political axe was annoyed and angry at this, vigorously opposed it, and issued a threat of war to the Nanjing camp, and the Yanjing political axe also set off an uproar, and the pro-Japanese politicians jumped up and down, denouncing the "separatist act" of the Xiao Yimin clique for its "ill-intentioned and extremely arrogant."

However, under the cover of the wave of public opinion of the Xiao Yimin group, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums that have benefited a lot, and the British and American countries, all the opposing voices seem so pale and weak.

Although because of the rapid rise of Xiao Yimin's clique and the establishment of the Nanjing camp, the two camps of the north and south of China have been formed, and the "division of the north and the south" that no one wants to face can no longer be reversed.

As long as Xiao Yimin continues to support the leadership of the Yanjing Central Political Axe, the legally existing "Nanjing Xingying of the Central Military and Political Department" will continue to exercise all functions and powers in accordance with the law, unless the Yanjing Central Political Axe controlled by Duan Qirui passes a bill again to cancel the establishment of the Nanjing Xingying.

However, if the Duan Qirui group dares to do this, I am afraid that it will fall into the hands of the Xiao Yimin group, and the increasingly powerful Xiao Yimin group will definitely launch a-for-tat counterattack, and maybe it will follow the example of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary party, establish its own central government, and compete in the world.

The second Sino-British meeting in Nanjing was held in secret at the Nanjing Military Enlargement Conference.

More than 30 generals, including Wang Lingji, Wang Jian, and Liao Zhen, gathered in the West Garden of the Overseer's Mansion, and more than 10 people, including Yang Du, Zhang Jian, Sun Baoqi, Gu Weijun, Zhang Qun, Wang Zhengting, Wang Chonghui, and Lin Baishui, who had faintly become Xiao Yimin's chief think tank, attended the meeting with excitement.

The wide curtain that hung from the ceiling to the ground slowly opened, revealing a huge map of the southeast in front of the attendees.

Xiao Yimin personally stood in front of the map, picked up the baton, and briefed everyone on the military situation:

Among them, General Liao Zhen's Sixth Army and General Wang Jian's Seventh Army have gained a firm foothold in Jiangsu, and the Fourth Army is Xuzhou, and three divisions are stationed in Xuzhou, Suqian, and Haizhou; General Wang Jian's Seventh Army headquarters was located in Pukou, and the three divisions under his command were smoothly stationed in Bengbu, Yangzhou, and Nantong, and together with the Pukou military base under construction, the defense north of Nanjing was fully guaranteed. ”

Everyone in the audience nodded in unison, and it could be seen that everyone was very relieved about Jiangbei.

Xiao Yimin's baton pointed to Wuhu in the upper reaches of Nanjing: "Because we don't want to make too much trouble with Yanjing, Wuhu has been handed over to the new Anhui overseer Wu Guangxin's department to take over the defense, in order to ensure the production safety of the Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Plant on the south bank, we have stationed a reinforced regiment in Ma'anshan for a long time, after two secret increases, the Ma'anshan garrison regiment has increased to three regiments and two battalions with a total of 7,800 officers and soldiers, plus the newly established Ninth Army is about to enter southern Anhui, the west of Nanjing will be with the First Army, Jiangxi, where the Fourth Army is stationed, is connected together, and it can be said that there is basically no worry about security. ”

Xiao Yimin's baton moved to the direction of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai:

"Our main task in the next step is: to vigorously reorganize the local troops in Zhejiang, this task will be very resistant, although we have reached a preliminary agreement with the Zhejiang side before, allowing Zhejiang Province to maintain the regular troops of the three infantry divisions, but the Zhejiang side obviously has not implemented this work, as many as eight divisions have not been abolished.

"These local armies, which are under-manned, outdated in equipment, and have a loose work style, are almost all in the hands of warlords in various parts of Zhejiang, and behind this rabble are salt merchants, Han compradors, and traditional landlords who are hostile to us, and they are still clamoring to overthrow the political axe of Zhejiang Province that has betrayed their interests, and to clamoring for Zhejiang's reading power, and there are also black hands in Guangdong and Guangdong who are fueling the troubles.

"Our next plan is to send three main divisions to forcibly enter Zhejiang on the basis of quickly recovering the dominance of Suzhou and the surrounding areas! Now, I invite you to speak freely. ”

Xiao Yimin returned to his seat, picked up the teacup, and listened to everyone's discussions and suggestions while drinking tea.

More than ten minutes later, Zhang Jian stood up:

"Dashuai, ladies and gentlemen, before this, according to the requirements of Dashuai, I have repeatedly joined with Mr. Gong Baoquan, the governor of Zhejiang Province, and others to negotiate with various consortia in Zhejiang, coupled with the decisive action of Dashuai to strictly investigate and deal with the Sheng family, as well as the solemn promise not to expand and not implicate, so that most of the forces in Zhejiang have returned to their hearts, but there are still a small number of stubborn people who refuse to cooperate, especially the three major coastal salt works, have been recruiting troops and buying a large number of weapons.

"I believe that it is difficult to achieve long-term peace and stability through blind repression, and at least we have no more suitable excuse for sending troops until the call for 'nationalization of the army' put forward by the marshal is not enacted by the central government and officially implemented...... I hope that the marshal and you will consider this carefully. ”

The generals attending the meeting immediately raised their voices of dissatisfaction, unanimously agreeing that it must not be tolerated and annihilated, otherwise it will seriously affect the stability of the situation in the entire south of the Yangtze River, and then jeopardize the entire great cause of reunification; even Wang Lingji pointed out that the salt merchant forces, which have existed for hundreds of years, have always been a huge cancer on the entire country and nation, and that the camp must come up with the means used to rectify the salt merchants in Sichuan in order to fundamentally solve the problem.

Sun Baoqi, who was a veteran, couldn't help coughing lightly, and just as he was about to stand up and speak, Xiao Yimin asked him to sit down with a smile and said, and took this opportunity to announce a rule: If you want to speak in the meeting, you only need to raise your hand, and you don't need to stand up.

Sun Baoqi still stood up and thanked him with a smile, and then sat down slowly, looked around, and talked eloquently:

"The whole of China, including myself, very much agrees with the new salt tax policy in Jiangsu, which has already been implemented, and even the central Ministry of Finance, the Government Council and the two levels of parliament have given high praise to the new salt tax policy initiated by the marshal, and the salt merchants of the two Huai provinces have also dispelled their concerns and actively cooperated with the implementation of the new policy, but why do the traditional salt merchants in Zhejiang still refuse to accept this good policy?"

Everyone was quickly whetted by Sun Baoqi, and they all wanted to hear his high opinions.

Sun Baoqi said slowly: "In fact, the reason is very simple, the new salt tax policy implemented in Jiangsu is only to collect taxes at the source of production to ensure that the total national tax revenue continues to grow, and at the same time, it greatly stimulates salt merchants to introduce advanced equipment and expand production, and also completely liberalizes the entire circulation market, cancels the tax cards set up in various places and the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, so that the shackles that have bound the salt merchants for hundreds of years are broken, so they have won the strong support of the salt merchants." ”

Everyone echoed the voices, and everyone has seen that the salt merchants in Jiangsu have spontaneously organized themselves, abandoned the backward traditional family closed management mode, and established three major salt joint-stock companies, which not only paid a year's salt tax to the central government in advance, but also enthusiastically worked and studied and built roads and bridges to benefit one party.

What satisfied the generals attending the meeting the most was that the three major salt companies all consciously accepted the rectification and dismantling of their own defense forces by the Nanjing camp, and after receiving a written protection commitment from the Nanjing camp, they gladly took the initiative to donate more than 8 million yuan to the Nanjing camp in the form of congratulatory gifts and sponsorship.

Sun Baoqi didn't care what the generals thought, and continued:

However, there is an essential difference between the three major salt farms in Zhejiang and all the salt farms in Jiangsu, that is, nearly half of the sea salt in Zhejiang is controlled by Yue himself, and the major salt merchant families that have been inherited for a hundred years have an inexplicable and unclear relationship with him, so this new policy will be strongly opposed by Zhejiang salt merchants.

"In such a situation, the old man believes that a multi-pronged approach should be taken, and if necessary, decisive measures must be taken! Blindly being gentle or compromising is by no means the way to long-term peace and stability, but will boost the arrogance of the opposition forces in other provinces! ”

Seeing the old and strong Sun Baoqi leisurely lifting the teacup, and then looking at Gu Weijun, Wang Zhengting and others who were smiling and nodding from time to time, the generals knew that the opinions of resolute suppression had become the majority, and a pair of eyes invariably turned to Xiao Yimin's face.

At this time, Xiao Yimin was still calm, and with a slight groan, he turned to Yang Du, who was silent on his left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(To be continued)