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After Li Hongzhang's state funeral, Song Xiaofei's Baath Party took control of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, and was elected interim president of the First Republic.

By June 1895, the provinces under the full control of the Baath Party included the three northeastern provinces, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanghai, Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, and Korea. There are also Hubei and Hunan controlled by Zhang Zhidong, the former governor of Huguang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces controlled by Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, Guizhou and Xinjiang controlled by Wang Wenshao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, as well as Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and other places.

In July of that year, Song Xiaofei summoned Xu Shichang, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen, Dong Fuxiang, Nie Shicheng, Cao Kun, Zhang Xun and other army generals to the presidential palace chamber for a meeting to discuss the great cause of reunifying China.

There is an oval table in the conference hall, similar to the round table of the White House in the United States, and on the opposite wall hangs the map of the First Republic of China in the shape of "begonia leaves", and the place controlled by the Baath Party is marked in red. ”

After speaking, Song Xiaofei clenched his right fist, raised his fist and added: "The central government must be strong!" ”

Xu Shichang nodded and said, "If you want to have a strong central government, you must first remove the independent military power of the governors of various places. At present, 70,000 of the 100,000 allied troops are local troops, and they are still stationed in Shanhaiguan, which is a great opportunity to relieve the governors of various localities. ”

Song Xiaofei agreed. Asked Nie Shicheng: "I am ready to take all the 100,000 allied troops borrowed from various places to fight against the Japanese army, and I will not transfer them back to the provinces, do you think it will provoke a mutiny?" ”

Nie Shicheng replied: "According to my observation, these soldiers are all old soldiers who eat military salaries, as long as the state can increase their military salaries. Indeed, they will be of use to the nation. ”

Song Xiaofei nodded and asked, "How many silver taels do you need?" ”

Nie Shicheng replied: "According to each soldier's salary of ten taels of silver a year, the salary is about one million taels a year, plus the cost of grain, grass, military uniforms, pension silver, weapons and equipment, etc., it will cost about five million taels of silver a year, and if all the new army is trained, the annual cost should be about ten million taels." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Now that the country is in ruins, it is in urgent need of money, and the Japanese side pays 33 million taels of compensation every year, but it can be paid from here." Then it will be decided, and I will personally discuss it with Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi, Wang Wenshao and others at that time. ”

Xu Shichang also felt that this method was feasible, and said: "Liu Kunyi and Wang Wenshao do not attach much importance to military power, and now the key is Zhang Zhidong, who trained 15,000 new troops in Hubei and Hunan, and sent 10,000 coalition troops to participate in the battle against the Japanese army last time. Three thousand were lost, and another seven thousand new troops had already retreated to Hubei. ”

Cao Kun stood up and said, "If they don't agree, I will lead my troops to destroy these old troops." ”

Song Xiaofei raised his hand to signal him to sit down, and said, "Chinese fighting Chinese is not a skill. In my opinion, it is better to adopt it peacefully, and we can give the provinces appropriate compensation in silver. ”

Compared with Xu Shichang, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, and Wang Shizhen, Cao Kun is a rising star, eager to perform, and said: "Zhang Zhidong, that old fox, I'm afraid he won't let go easily." He has more than a dozen sons, and the little land in Hubei and Hunan is not enough for his family. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Zhang Zhidong is not our problem for the time being. I heard that Zhang Zhidong set three indisputable rules for himself, one is not to compete with the laity for profit, the second is not to compete with the literati for fame, and the third is not to be idle with a meaningless life. In Hubei and Hunan, the ban on smoking, the establishment of official money bureaus, the recruitment of iron factories, the establishment of military schools, and the reform of academies are similar to what we have to do. I also believe in Zhang Zhidong's ability, we might as well give him a few more years. However, now that bandits are rampant in Qinghai and Gansu, there are many complaints among the people, and there are many Hui people in the local area, so we must first solve the problems in these two provinces. ”

Dong Xiangfu stood up at this time and took the initiative to ask for his life: "Dong is not talented, and he is willing to lead 5,000 soldiers back to his hometown to quell the chaos for the country." ”

Song Xiaofei nodded and said, "General Dong's courage is commendable, and I also have this intention, I will send Cao Kun to bring 5,000 new troops from the Third Town of Beiyang to help you quell the chaos." ”

Dong Xiangfu was ordered to sit down, but he was a little sullen, he thought that Song Xiaofei did not fully trust him, so he sent Cao Kun with 5,000 new troops to help him suppress the bandits in the open and suppress his Gan army in secret.

In this way, the problem of Mongolia and Tibet was not easy to solve, and at that time, the Russians were already preparing to make a move, preparing to plan for foreign affairs. Song Xiaofei sent Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang to garrison Inner Mongolia while secretly contacting the Mongolian princes, promising an annual grant of one million dollars. Tibet was interfered with by the British, so Song Xiaofei sent Wu Tingfang to negotiate with the British, and authorized the British to build a railway in Sichuan in exchange for the British's explicit recognition of China's sovereignty over Tibet.

These things have an eyebrow, but I don't know if they will be solved smoothly, and Song Xiaofei fell into the predicament of a shortage of funds. At this time, China's central government only had an annual income of 90 million taels, and it took money to do everything, and half of the annual expenses of the army and naval divisions were spent, and there was not much left except for the expenses of administrative personnel, and sometimes it was difficult to pay the salaries of the legislators on time.

Song Xiaofei knows that "you can win the world immediately, you can't rule it immediately", where does a large amount of money come from? Because the formal government had not yet been established, Song Xiaofei did not dare to immediately carry out the reform of the financial system, and the money given to the army and the Mongolian princes could not be delayed, so he decided to attract investment while looking for foreign foreign companies to borrow.

Just when Song Xiaofei was busy with the lack of money, Sheng Xuanhuai, the chief financial officer, came to visit. Song Xiaofei met with Sheng Xuanhuai in the living room, "You came at the right time, I was about to go to you recently to discuss the currency reform." ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Over the years, the abnormal opium trade has caused the outflow of silver from China, resulting in a silver shortage, the price of silver has soared, a large number of foreign silver dollars have flooded China, China's copper mining is insufficient, and the value of foreign copper is expensive, which has directly affected the amount of money minted, and there is a shortage of money in many places. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Since you are clear, why don't you draw up a reform plan as soon as possible?" ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Now that Shanghai is the center of China's economy and finance, we have to get the support of one person to implement the currency reform." ”

Song Xiaofei guessed a few points in his heart, and asked Sheng Xuanhuai: "You mean Xi Zhengfu?" ”

Sheng Xuanhuai did not shy away from it, and said bluntly: "I came today to be a lobbyist for the Xi family, and I hope you can marry the Xi family!" ”