The news of the failure of the negotiations was for the north, especially for Yuan Shikai and others, who did not think that it had much to do with it, and even had some secret joy in their hearts.

Yuan Shikai and others knew what the conditions they put forward were, and although it was best to get them at the negotiation table, since they couldn't get it, it was not a big deal to simply show their own force, and in the end, it was not a big deal to play politics with the guns in their hands.

But then again, if all the demands at the negotiation table can really be met without a single shot, Yuan Shikai will really be surprised, at least for now, it seems that there are still some people in the south who have backbone.

Beijing, Yuan Gongbao's Mansion.

Yang Du had just come back from Shanghai, and he didn't dare to delay for a moment and ran to Yuan's mansion to find Yuan Shikai to restore his life, at this time, Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang, the three heroes of Beiyang, received Yuan Shikai's note and came to Yuan Shikai together, and Yuan Shikai asked Yang Du to tell him about the negotiation.

Yang Du has been smart since he was a child, and his memory is even better, and he told almost everything about the negotiation process, especially the last negotiation.

When Yang Du said that the southern army was going to fight to the north, several people couldn't help but laugh at it, who didn't know their own situation in the south now? If it is true that the south can defeat Beiyang and directly overthrow the Qing court, then what else do you need to negotiate, the south wanted to negotiate first, but the north did not bring it up first.

Everyone was sarcastic in their hearts, could they really regard Sun Yat-sen as a saint who didn't even want the president of the country? It's not that the southern government is about to lose its support, and besides, it has always been called the interim president, which is quite unjustifiable, how can Sun Yat-sen not notice the cattiness among some people in the south himself?

Yuan Shikai and the others listened carefully to what Yang Du said, in this process, Yuan Shikai found a comfortable position to sit on the chair, he was short and fat, and the whole person was almost covered by the chair from behind, but for this somewhat funny posture, no one in the room dared to laugh.

"What Huizi just said, you also heard it, the south is going to fight this time, it's really a long skill, Pingqing, what do you think?" Yuan Shikai said to Wang Shizhen, who was sitting.

Wang Shizhen hurriedly sat up straight: "My lord, the south is going to fight, we are not afraid, we still have some hope for negotiations, we just want to use the other party to achieve our own wishes, but at this time, only by beating the arrogance of the red guys in the south can we sit down and talk, my opinion is that either they don't fight, since they are going to fight, they will be completely scared, so as to suppress them, and the province will be this and that when the time comes, so I don't get bored." ”

Yuan Shikai smiled silently at Wang Shizhen, and said, "What Pingqing said is good, that is, you have to beat them to be afraid before you can talk about it-" Over there, Feng Guozhang also nodded and agreed with Wang Shizhen's statement.

Only Duan Qirui and Yang Du on one side did not speak.

Yuan Shikai glanced at Duan Qirui and asked, "Zhiquan, what else do you think, say it, there are no outsiders here, don't worry." ”

Duan Qirui is very supportive of the decision to promote negotiations with war, but after he recently learned about Beiyang's finances, he is still a little worried, although his personality is arrogant and rude, which is intimidating, it does not mean that he is not shrewd, otherwise he would not be able to support the lives of his three young siblings alone when he was not successful before, let alone be valued by Yuan Shikai, so as to turn around and become the tiger of Beiyang feared by outsiders.

Duan Qirui hesitated, he didn't want to disturb Yuan Shikai's good mood, but he had to say it: "My lord, it is imperative to fight a tough battle this time, but I took a look at our Beiyang's current finances two days ago, and although we can still support a large-scale war, after the war, we may enter a state of financial shortage." ”

Yuan Shikai just fancied Duan Qirui's point, what to say, not to say what should not be said, but what should be said is never hidden.

But this time, Yuan Shikai didn't speak after hearing this, but looked at Yang Du next to him who had never had a chance to speak, Yang Du was signaled by Yuan Shikai, and suddenly said with some joy: "Lord Duan, although what you said is true, but you still didn't think of another point, our war is for the Qing court, not for ourselves, then the court can not pay a part of the army promotion fee, otherwise it will not be able to say, besides, we have contacted the ministers of various countries, and the ministers of various countries also support us, When the time comes, the Nanjing government will impose a blockade, how long will they be able to hold out? If we don't have military spending, won't they have even less, look at it, this war won't last long, the south can't afford to fight even more than us, they are not afraid, what are we afraid of? ”

This sentence is already very unkind to Duan Qirui, alluding to Duan Qirui's timidity and fear, who can't hear this? Even Yuan Shikai glared at him.

However, Duan Qirui smiled and did not speak.

For Yang Du himself, the so-called Beiyang Sanjie, he himself looks down on it a little in his heart, and always thinks that his talents are above them, but he can't be reused, and he is very unfair.

Yang Du didn't notice Yuan Shikai's eyes, thinking that this was an opportunity for himself, and then said: "Lord Yuan, the south is now difficult to ride a tiger, we just use this opportunity to completely defeat them this time, let's drive the army directly to the south now, my lord, the opportunity is rare-"

When Yuan Shikai and the others heard this, they were stunned, and hit Nanjing? If we can really put out the revolution once and for all, will we still be able to get to this situation? Can the revolutionaries still establish a provisional government? Now it seems that the Nanjing Provisional Government is in difficulty, but it would be a joke to think that the revolution can be completely extinguished.

Besides, not to mention anything else, even if they can really be extinguished, Yuan Shikai is not willing to do it, when the time comes, will he still be as popular as he appears in the Qing government? How can they use the South to realize their intentions in the future?

Duan Qirui and the others glanced at Yang Du gloatingly, this Yang Du has learned everything, but he takes everything for granted.

The corners of Yuan Shikai's mouth moved, and when he saw that Yang Du had the intention of continuing, he hurriedly said: "Huizi, you are tired when you just came back, hurry up and go back to rest for two days, I didn't think of this at first, blame me, you go down first." After speaking, he no longer paid attention to Yang Du's expression.

When Yang Du heard this, how could he not hear what Yuan Shikai meant? was immediately hit hard, and he flicked his sleeves out without saying a word.

After Yang Du left, Yuan Shikai said to Duan Qirui: "Zhiquan, don't take what you said to heart just now, he doesn't know you, I still don't know you, this is for the good of our Beiyang collective." ”

"How can you be angry, my lord, I also know that Yang Du is also for the good of Beiyang, we just disagree, and it's not other private matters, Brother Huizi just didn't think about it so much, I won't be angry anyway." Duan Qirui is not a simple person, saying this is not only to show his generosity and to please Yuan Shikai in everything, but also to give the other party an eye medicine here, he said that the other party is not thoughtful, wouldn't Lord Yuan think that Yang Dufan would not use his brain? That's a good thing to kill two birds with one stone.

"That's good, or Zhiquan has the courage to tolerate others." Yuan Shikai praised the other party, and he also heard the meaning of Duan Qirui's words, how could he not understand what the other party meant to say to him.

However, for Yuan Shikai, it is normal for his subordinates to have some contradictions, if there is no contradiction at all, then he will be worried.

Yuan Shikai only didn't hear Duan Qirui's last sentence, of course, for Duan Qirui, he didn't care if Yuan Shikai had an opinion on Yang Du, but as long as Yuan Shikai understood the meaning of the last sentence, he knew what kind of subordinates Yuan Shikai wanted.

So, everyone had a tacit understanding and didn't mention Yang Du again, as if it hadn't happened before.

In the following time, Yuan Shikai discussed with a few people about sending troops, and finally decided on a general plan, that is, to use the Jiang Defense Army and the Anwu Army to support the front line for a few days, feel the details of the other side, and then organize the main forces in the rear, implement the pressure of the army in the south, quickly end the battle in a short time, completely play the prestige of the north, and force the south to take the initiative to return to the negotiating table again.

As soon as he finished discussing these things, he heard the next person say that the soup was ready, Duan Qirui and the others said goodbye and left, and Yuan Shikai also waved his hand a little tiredly.

When they reached the door, the three of them happened to meet the next person who came in with a bowl of milky white human milk, and several of them frowned, and then left the place as if nothing had happened.

Although Yuan Shikai didn't care, it was good news for Tie Liang and some other stubborn royalists, and it was good news for Yuan Shikai and the Southern Revolutionary Party to eat dog, hoping that the war would be as ruthless as possible.

How many people are still in the imperial court who really worked for the Manchus? On the surface, he said that he was loyal to the imperial court, but secretly I don't know how many people secretly took refuge in Yuan Shikai, and even some Manchu princes betrayed the imperial court.

Some time ago, when the peace talks between the north and the south, the imperial court was three shocks a day, the Empress Dowager Longyu went to the court all day long to hug the little emperor in the main hall and cry and cry Can't think of a good way, even with them these people are worried all day long, even if one day Yuan Shikai led the troops into the palace to arrest them, fortunately, the north and south are at war, and they can sleep peacefully for the time being, and even today the Empress Dowager Longyu looks much better, and she is no longer like crying and crying a while ago.

Tie Liang had just returned home from the court, sitting on a chair thinking about what had happened recently, and said secretly in his heart: "Now you can't just count on Yuan Shikai and the south to lose, but also rely on yourself, now it is still the most important thing to seize the army, and if something happens to the army in your hands, you won't be too flustered." After thinking about this, he got up again and walked towards the Praetorian Guard barracks.

Now in the entire city of Beijing, there is only one Praetorian Guard that can be controlled by the imperial court, and all of them are the children of the Eight Banners, although the combat power is not very good, but it is also a dependent.

For the last army of the Qing court, Tie Liang and others made a lot of money, took out some money from the treasury of the imperial court, and took out some money from themselves and some officials and ministers loyal to the Qing Dynasty, and changed the weapons of the entire Praetorian Guard, which was no worse than that of several core armies in Beiyang, which was also the confidence of Tie Liang and others.

Of course, if you really fight, you don't know if this kind of confidence pipe will not work, and there are still a few people who can die for the Manchu Qing, but at least now Tie Liang is still very confident in this army that he has carefully built.

But Tie Liang didn't know that the elite Praetorian Guards in his heart, if they removed the equipment in front of Yuan Shikai and others, it was not worth mentioning, and he didn't even take it into consideration, and even thought that all the good equipment in the Guards was just the mobile arsenal of the Beiyang elite.

This is also the reason why Tie Liang and others cultivated cronies in the Praetorian Guard and invested in equipment, but Yuan Shikai didn't care about it, and even secretly supported them to buy equipment, the more sophisticated the better.

If Tie Liang knew what Yuan Shikai and the others thought, it is unknown whether he would vomit blood in anger.