It is located in the iron lion alley of Yanjing East City and the prince's mansion, covers a wide area, magnificent, the majestic lion in front of the door has been covered with a thin layer of snowflakes, the vicissitudes of life are like a canopy-like ancient cypress clothed in silver, different from the past is this famous for a hundred years, the luxury mansion of the famous Chinese and foreign countries, now has changed the owner, outside the majestic vermilion gate, there is a plaque of the Prime Minister of the Republic of China.

Located in the center of the wide courtyard building complex of the European classical style main building, was built in the Guangxu period, has now become the office building of the Beiyang political axe premier, the rest of the annex buildings and as many as more than ten large and small courtyards, has been occupied by the yamen of the prime minister's office, the huge guard and the food and ordnance that supplies the Beiyang army.

Duan Qirui, who had returned from Feng Guozhang's mansion, entered the prime minister's office on the east side of the second floor, and Li Chun, the newly promoted Jiangsu overseer, arrived by car.

Duan Qirui took the reorganization plan handed over by Li Chun, hurriedly flipped through it, and happily picked up the pen and signed his name.

Li Chun never expected Duan Qirui to be so generous, and it seemed that he was not critical of him because he was a general under Feng Guozhang, this result made Li Chun very surprised, and he was also quite moved, and took over the plan sent back by Duan Qirui, and was so excited that he couldn't speak.

Duan Qirui just smiled kindly, and instructed Li Chun to go to the various departments of the military department to complete the formalities, and then stood up and sent Li Chun, who was grateful, to the door.

An hour later, Li Chun, who had successfully completed all the formalities, left the prime minister's palace in a hurry, and three of the four King Kongs under Duan Qirui's command, Xu Shuzheng, Qu Tongfeng, and Jin Yunju, arrived almost at the same time, and the number of guards inside and outside the prime minister's office quietly doubled, and all officials and phone calls who asked to see Premier Duan were politely declined.

In the closed office, Xu Shuzheng and the three of them sat around a circle of Western-style sofas, and their extremely shocked eyes turned back and forth on Duan Qirui's face and the secret electricity on the coffee table in the middle.

Seeing that the three henchmen gradually calmed down, Duan Qirui calmly put down the teacup and looked at the faces of the three of them one by one, and then asked in a harmonious voice: "Yiqing, Weiqing, and Youzheng, you all talk about it, what do you think of this generous gift from Brother Yiming?" ”

Jin Yunju, the deputy commander of the army surnamed Gengzhi, was the first to speak: "Zhishuai, is Xiao Yiming's promise credible?" ”

Duan Qirui said with a smile: "His credit is still quite good, so far, no one is critical of his credit, whether it is the person who scolds him or the person who praises him, he and I realize that now, we have cooperated with each other many times very happily." ”

"Brother Yiqing, although Xiao Yiming was born in the market, he is generous and very committed, which can still be assured."

Xu Shuzheng, who also served as the vice minister of the army, shook his head slightly and directly expressed his opinion. As a think tank, he and Duan Qirui spent the most time together to discuss and make decisions, and he was the person in Duan Qirui's faction who knew most about Duan Qirui and Xiao Yiming's secret cooperation, and he had a good impression of Xiao Yiming, who was generous and kept his promises.

Qu Tongfeng, the lieutenant general of the First Division of the Beiyang Army who guarded Yanjing, was surnamed Ge Neitrovert, this brave general who was born in the Beiyang Naval Division and participated in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle did not express his position easily, and just nodded solemnly at the moment, and did not express his opinion, but he saw Duan Qirui's orientation from a few simple words of Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng.

Duan Qirui saw that everyone had no intention of speaking, so he simply put out all the gains and losses for everyone to weigh: "To be honest, Xiao Yiming's promise makes it difficult for me to refuse, but in such a life-and-death matter, I don't dare to act arbitrarily, so I have to call you together." ”

After a pause, Duan Qirui picked up the secret telegram on the coffee table again, flicked his fingers lightly, and said solemnly: "If this secret telegram had been sent three days ago, I would definitely not have taken it out, I would have only struck a match and burned it, but it was sent early this morning, alas, ......"

Everyone nodded knowingly, and Jin Yunhe asked in confusion: "Things will never be so coincidental, could it be that Feng Huafu has Xiao Yimin's secret agent by his side?" Even if Xiao Yimin is in the south, can he learn about Feng Huafu's illness in a timely and accurate manner? ”

Duan Qirui looked at the three henchmen who suddenly woke up, nodded, and replied a little helplessly:

"Not only that, but I'm afraid there are a lot of them, our Sichuan Provincial Political Axe Office in Beijing south of the Prime Minister's Office is Xiao Yiming's clear place in Yanjing, and the mansion left by Lord Zhao Erxun after he left Beijing, which is also an important intelligence collection point for Xiao Yimin. There must be something we don't know, at least I know that the fifty-member guards and a few Sichuan cooks sent by Xiao Yiming to Lord Zhao Erxun have been living in Tianjin and Qingdao, and their identities are not as simple as they seem.

"Another one, since five years ago, the Sichuan Army Military Academy has opened communications majors and staff officers, and in the past few years, no less than 500 intelligence personnel have graduated, and this is not counting the Hongmen children who are all over the Yangtze River Valley. A few years ago, he clearly told me that in order to build Xikang, he had to monopolize the opium trade in Xikang and the Sichuan-Yunnan region by force, so I very much doubt that he basically sold up to 3,000 quintals of opium a year to the Qinggang in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. ”

Jin Yunyu and the three of them gasped, looked at Duan Qirui in disbelief, but they were quickly calculating in their hearts: I will earn at least tens of millions this year!

Duan Qirui smiled bitterly: "Don't doubt Xiao Yimin's strength, as long as you look at Cao Zhongshan, who was beaten by him and fled, look at the 100,000 soldiers who waved the two lakes as soon as he made a move, and look at the current situation in Hunan, Guizhou and Shaanxi, you will know how strong his strength is."

"It can be said that his promise to put me in the position of president is by no means arrogant, as long as we promise to cooperate with him, and then control our Beiyang armies, stop the split, and unify the whole country is not an unattainable luxury. The risk sounds great, but the opportunity is not small, and the opportunity is particularly rare, if we don't grasp it in time, I'm afraid that I Beiyang will lose more than just an opportunity! ”

After listening to Duan Qirui's emotion, they can all think of the world war that could end at any time after four years of fighting, Feng Guozhang, the most powerful political enemy in Beiyang today but who is so ill that he is delirious, the Southern Revolutionary Party that was still shouting for Li Yuanhong to come to power at the beginning of the month, and the dark tide of separatism under the big tree of Beiyang's direct line......

While Duan Qirui and his henchmen were struggling to weigh up, Xiao Yimin, the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, who had secretly arrived in Yuezhou, was also contemplating.

At this time, Xiao Yimin stood on the towering Yueyang Tower at the head of Yueyang West Gate, through the continuous winter rain, admiring the vast scenery of Dongting Lake, and his mood was the same as the surging lake, ups and downs.

During the three days, Xiao Yimin held secret meetings with Tan Yanmin and Cheng Qian, and signed the "Sichuan-Hunan Economic Joint Development Agreement" with Governor Liu Renxi very smoothly.

What pleased Xiao Yimin and Sichuan Provincial Government was the most gratifying thing was that the Sichuan Army, in the name of joint defense, officially obtained the right to garrison troops and mining rights in Chenzhou, Hunan, to make up for the more than 3 million yuan that Hunan borrowed from Sichuan for the reunification war.

It can be said that Xiao Yimin is very satisfied with the development of the situation in Hunan, and although there are still as many as 10 large and small hostile armed forces still stubbornly resisting the Hunan-Guizhou and Hunan-Guizhou borders, Hunan's complete reunification has become unstoppable.

What worries Xiao Yimin a little is:

After the end of the war, Hunan, which was poor and white, was in an extremely difficult situation, the political situation was also very complicated, and there were many large and small political factions, so it can be said that it had reached the point where there were many mountains and political views were chaotic, but as long as Tan Yanmin and Cheng Qian could firmly grasp the military power, the political situation in Hunan could gradually stabilize, and in addition, a division of the Sichuan Army was stationed in the Chenzhou area connecting Hunan and Guangdong for a long time, and Hunan's stability and recovery were within reach, and the huge investment made by Xiao Yimin and the Sichuan political axe was also guaranteed to be recovered.

What Xiao Yimin is most worried about is how Yanjing Zhengaxe will react, and how Duan Qirui, the Beiyang giant who has been working well before, will think of his suggestion. Taking advantage of the fact that the strategic center of gravity of the European and American powers is still in Europe, taking advantage of the fact that Feng Guozhang, another giant in Beiyang, is seriously ill and unable to see things, and taking advantage of the rapid accumulation of wealth in Sichuan and the rare tranquility of the two lakes region, the Sichuan army and Beiyang will unite and work together to create a more relaxed and more potential living environment for the country and the nation, no matter how much it costs, it is worth working hard.

To this day, Xiao Yimin sees himself very clearly, he knows that he is not a saint, and his ambition is not inferior to Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Sun Wen and others, or even stronger and more impulsive, but now Xiao Yimin already knows how to make trade-offs and how to achieve his goals.

After more than three months of repeated consideration, weighing and deduction over and over again, Xiao Yimin and his think tank finally came to the most advantageous and only feasible decision - to unite with Beiyang, through war, armed annexation, coercion and inducement and other available means, to form a new national political axe, and on this basis, slowly rectify the whole [***] team, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve anything.

Looking at the overall situation, with the current strength of Xiao Yimin and the whole province of Sichuan, it is simply impossible to challenge the Beiyang First Line, which still has more than 400,000 regular troops, and the revolutionary army entrenched in Guangdong and southern Fujian at the same time.

Wang Jian, He Qiwu and other generals who accompanied Xiao Yimin to enjoy the lake view, were in a very relaxed mood.

If there is any regret in the battle between the two lakes that lasted for more than a month, I am afraid that no one expected that the war would be won so easily and so quickly. However, all the generals and schools were able to learn a lot from the Battle of the Two Lakes, and they had a deeper understanding of the rich connotations and subtle relationships between war and politics.

However, Wang Jian and the others didn't know Xiao Yimin's sincere fear at the moment, and they didn't notice that Xiao Yimin's body trembled slightly, and even Tan Yanmin and Cheng Qiannei didn't realize that a huge change was quietly brewing, a magnificent new era was coming, and the huge wind and thunder brewing silently would surely stir up a monstrous wave that would completely change the fate of China, and countless people would disappear in the wild current of the big waves.

(To be continued)