In 1907 and 1908, Song Biao was no longer as busy as he had been when he first became governor of the three eastern provinces, and he had more and more time at his disposal, so that he could calmly sit and watch the political situation in Northeast Asia change from the new governor's palace building of the military headquarters.

He was a true thinker.

From an ordinary soldier to the king of the three eastern provinces, it took him three years.

When he constructs the overall framework for the new three eastern provinces, establishes a new legal system and a new administrative system, and a new military system, he will be able to sit on the top of everyone and look down on the insignificance of the entire three eastern provinces.

In this world in the three eastern provinces, no one can be above him, and he basically uses 39 people and 21 organizations to completely control all the military, political, financial, and industrial powers in the three eastern provinces.

These people are the smartest people, everyone has a stronger side than him, most of them are smarter and more knowledgeable than him, and there are not many people in this who can be regarded as his friends, but he is the one who leads everyone in this way.

In other words, what he promoted in the three eastern provinces was an enlightened [***], he did not need a constitution at all, he did not need a constitution, he did not need a consultative bureau, and he actually used the consultative bureau to govern the three eastern provinces.

Whether it is the weekly meeting of the New Army, or the monthly meeting of the New Deal of the three eastern provinces, or the annual meeting of the Far East Foundation, he is always like the person above the clouds, indifferently observing the people below there to discuss various affairs, make decisions, and put them into practice and efforts.

There are no issues that will really catch his attention and make him consider handling it himself.

Most of the time, all he had to do was to lightly sign his name on the final approval order, and now, he uses more names like "Song Zhizhong" and "Song Aurora", because every day the editorials of the "Northeast Daily" are written by his think tank team, using the pen name "Song Zhizhong", while within the Chinese Revolutionary Association, he secretly uses the name "Aurora".

He was calm and became less talkative.

Because of this, everyone was even more in awe and fear of him.

If you want to lead hundreds or even thousands of people forward, you just need to make people like you, but if you want to lead tens of millions of people forward, you have to make people respect you, both to fear you, but also to respect you, but also to admire you.

Therefore, the editorial of the "Northeast Daily" has always been a must-do.

A daily commentary on social, national, regional, national, international, cultural, economic, military, public security, and other topics can generally enable those who read the newspaper to find a sense of direction for the country and the nation.

Song Biao is trying to turn "Song Zhizhong" into a bright light to illuminate the direction of Chinese progress, although "Song Zhizhong" should be said to be the collective wisdom of everyone within the secretariat, but he must be very unceremonious to incorporate these achievements and wisdom into his own name.

During this time, Song Biao liked to read, he liked to think, he had a lot of time to read, and he also had a lot of time to think, and he could spend his time reading "Three Kingdoms", or he could spend reading "Introduction to the Art of War", and he could also spend time on the original English version of "On the Rich Country".

He was in the new Doge's palace to read and think, live and love.

This is a new Governor's Mansion of the Three Eastern Provinces, located in the place commonly known as Bajiazi, and is also the westernmost section of the Tanglin Military Headquarters of the Northeast New Army, which is eight miles away from the Governor's Yamen and Shengjing Palace in Fengtian City, the consulates of various countries and foreign expatriates in the Shenyang New Area on the south side, the military industry center of the three eastern provinces on the north side, and the military headquarters and agency headquarters of the New Army on the east side.

This is a very beautiful Governor's Palace, because the German architect Marc was invited to participate in the design work, the whole Governor's Palace has an obvious special architectural style of Chinese and Western combinations, the entire Governor's Palace adopts the layout of the Oriental garden, covering an area of 30 acres, the whole sits in the north and faces south, divided into two areas, the main building uses a large number of granite for the building materials and decoration, and the top of the building adopts the traditional cornices and tower structure.

There are auxiliary buildings on both sides of the main building, the east side of the auxiliary building is the office area of the government affairs system, the financial department, the academic administration department, the police department and so on of the new policy system are located here to work, the west side of the auxiliary building is the office area of the military affairs system, the main building is also in accordance with the principle of east and west, the east side is the secretariat, the new political bureau, the research bureau and other internal bureau offices, and the west side is the military secretariat, intelligence office, political office, staff three offices, and the German advisory office.

The First Staff Department, the Second Staff Department, the Logistics Department, and the Franco-Russian Adviser Office continued to remain at the headquarters of the military department, while the military institutions located in the Governor's Palace were collectively called the Second Department of the Military Department, and the two departments were one kilometer apart.

It has been more than a month since the relocation to the new Governor's Palace, Song Biao still has some discomfort during this time, he has always insisted on not importing people, although the floor is installed, all the wooden floors are made of local red pine, because of the construction period, the wooden boards are directly dried by the machine after processing, and there is still a faint pine fragrance in the room.

The quality of the electric lamp is not very good, three bulbs were replaced in just one month, this is the first batch of domestic goods of the Shenyang Electric Light Factory, Song Biao can only endure it, and it is safer to use natural light as much as possible.

In order to encourage local industries, the Governor's Office has used all of these "Ji Bao Heng" brand copper-handled wooden telephones, and as long as they can be seen, they have used local products from the three eastern provinces as much as possible.

For this reason, Song Biao couldn't wait to post an editorial under the pen name of "Song Zhizhong" when he first moved in, actively praising the matter, but now it is somewhat embarrassing, for example, the door lock in the office is too strong in anti-theft, and even the key issued by the factory often cannot be opened.

Song Biao's office is okay, two of the six locks in the Secretariat often have problems, and about 40 locks have to be changed from the entire Governor's Palace.

What to do?

Now this is the case, the beginning of the industry is always like this, fortunately in the textile industry, agricultural products processing industry these industries can be easily developed, small hardware is no problem, mechanical locks, iron locks, lights, telephones really need a little time to develop slowly, the equipment is generally imported, the key is that workers need more experience.

Song Biao believes that in the next few years, these will gradually not be a problem.

At this time, he was sitting in his office looking at the new editorial prepared by the Secretariat for tomorrow, entitled "A New Treatise on 'Honoring the Virtuous and Virtuous'", which was put forward by Zhang Binglin, who had returned from an inspection in Germany, and more than a dozen editorials had recently been written by Zhang Binglin.

The new editorial "New Treatise on "Longli Respecting the Virtuous" is Zhang Binglin's reflection on the past "Longli Respecting the Virtuous", advocating the new and new era of "Honoring the Virtuous", that is, he said that he attaches great importance to education, he believes that "etiquette" and "virtuous" are both part of education, and "etiquette" and "virtuous" are humanistic quality education, and improve the rule of law, etiquette, honesty, morality, and natural education of the nation.

To this end, he also advocated new rites and new sages, promoted new education, and preached new humanistic quality education, following the example of Germany.

Song Biao read the article again, and although some points of view did not completely satisfy him, on the whole, it was definitely a good editorial that could make people wake up suddenly.

Song Biao also attaches great importance to education, he just thinks that Zhang Binglin's advocacy of the full implementation of university education is a bit too high, China is indeed short of university talents, but there is also a shortage of technical secondary school type of talents.

When talking about education with Chen Baochen, the newly appointed director of the Department of Academic Administration, Song Biao said very realistically that the current focus of education in the three eastern provinces is two things, one is the continued implementation and optimization of the school teacher system, and the other is the popularization of secondary vocational education.

Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Binglin's views are wrong.

Song Biao read the whole article three times, still not sure if he could issue this editorial, and after thinking about it for a while, he finally wrote a revision suggestion of more than 100 words in the blank space at the end of the manuscript, hoping that Zhang Binglin would add a "but" to the editorial.

His meaning is very simple: to promote university education, it is necessary to honor the virtuous, "but "the three eastern provinces now also need universal education, from comprehensively improving the quality of the nation, the need for universal primary and secondary education and specialized education, followed by the elite education that represents the top of the nation."

While thinking about it, Song Biao added a theory of spine and mind at the end, saying that "universal education is to cultivate the spine and limbs of the nation" and "university education is to cultivate the mind and soul of the nation".

After thinking about these things and adding his own revisions, Song Biao put the editorial draft back and waited for the Secretariat to send someone to take it back at noon, and Zhang Binglin himself could come over to get the manuscript, or even talk with Song Biao for fifteen minutes.

Although the time is very free now, Song Biao can take a few hours to discuss things with others, but his rules are still the same, the meeting will end in 15 minutes at most, and everyone is required to think clearly about what issues to talk about, how to express their opinions concisely before coming to see him, don't come in after Rory is verbose for a long time and can't find the point.

Someone outside the door hurriedly approached and knocked on the door, and then, Shu Fangde opened the door and walked in, saluted and reported to Song Biao: "Military seat, Master Zhang Zhidong of the Beijing Division is in an emergency." ”

"Oh!"

Song Biao didn't care very much about Shu Fangde, took the telegram book and looked through it, with the improvement of the confidentiality system, now even Shu Fangde is not allowed to look at these telegrams, unless he continues to send them back to the secretariat.

At this time, Zhang Zhidong had already arrived in Beijing to fill the body of Renge University, and was awarded the Minister of Military Aircraft, handling the affairs of the school, in fact, he was stripped of the military and political power of the Governor of Huguang, and Yuan Shikai was also ordered to be transferred to the Beijing Division as the Minister of Military Aircraft.

Fengtian Governor Yin Chang is said to be transferred to the Beijing Division as the Minister of the War Department, commanding and preparing the new army of the 36 towns, I don't know if it's true or not.

Song Biao and Zhang Zhidong have always been very close to each other, and the two also advocated the establishment of the New Deal Strong Power Council together, including Yuan Shikai, many local governors and officials are in the New Deal Strong Power Council, and everyone intends to use this platform to "silently" resist the Qing political axe to try to weaken the local governors and strengthen the centralized power.

It's a pity that the arm can't twist the thigh, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai, these two prestige is too high, so high that the Qing Zheng axe has been difficult to control the governor was promoted to the Minister of Military Aircraft, deprived of military power, Qing Zheng Axe also wanted to transfer Song Biao into Beijing, in November 1907, because of the signing of the "Hanqing Trade Renewal Treaty" success, he was crowned as a co-organizer of the university, and this month he was awarded the title of university scholar, showing that there is a posture of promoting Song Biao into Beijing.

As the Manchu and Han disputes began to become more and more fierce at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and Yuan Shikai's real power became bigger and bigger, there were many people among the Manchus who proposed to kill Yuan Shikai, especially the Manchu people, Yuan Shikai had to retreat.

Among the Manchus, there are more people who want to kill Song Biao, not only the Manchus want to kill, but there are also many Han officials who shout to kill Song Biao, and there are many crimes, not to keep braids is the first capital crime, because not only Song Biao does not keep braids, according to the military discipline of the Northeast New Army, all captains and colonels in the whole army are not allowed to keep braids, and the soldiers decide for themselves, basically 1/3 of the soldiers do not keep braids.

In the position of the new Minister of Finance, Zhao Erxun even accused the Daqing Bank of repeatedly seizing the Kwantung currency under various pretexts to prevent the circulation of the Kwantung currency in the Zhili area, so that during this time, there was a turmoil in the ticket.

Song Biao didn't take these things seriously at all, and he even published an editorial under the pseudonym of Song Zhizhong, "The Crime of Wanting to Kill, the Dispute between the Manchus and the Hans", and as a result, more Manchu Hanchen wanted to kill Song Biao in order to avoid feudal chaos, but the Manchu court center and Cixi must have been shocked into a cold sweat, just as Song Biao had just dealt with the ronin incident in the three eastern provinces, and the court hurriedly issued a decree to reward and appease Song Biao.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty is now a nest of Manchus who bully the weak and are afraid of the hard, and they want to continue to maintain the Manchu royal rule for 10,000 years, and they are a nest of waste, shouting fiercer than anyone else, doing things more confused than anyone else, and being afraid of being weaker than anyone else.

Song Biao has 100,000 heavy troops in his hands, and he is still afraid of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's grandsons?

If Cixi really dared to forcibly transfer him to Beijing now, he would directly bring 100,000 troops into Beijing to see if his Northeast New Army would die first, or would all the Manchurians die first?

It is in this situation that the relationship between Zhang Zhidong and Song Biao is extremely special, and after entering the Beijing Division, he has been acting as a peacemaker between the Manchu court and Song Biao, mediating and persuading both sides.

Song Biao opened Zhang Zhidong's telegram and saw that there were only four words on it, "must be retained", which can be called concise and to the point, telling Song Biao not to think about those things, although all kinds of voices were very noisy during this time, and there were many arguments within the Beijing Division, all of which said that they would transfer you to the Beijing Division, and if you didn't come, it would mean that you would rebel and exterminate you in advance, but the conclusion of the internal arguments within the court was very simple, that is, to continue to ask you to be the governor of the three eastern provinces.

The relationship between Zhang Zhidong and Song Biao is actually really good, he is financially tight in Huguang, and he borrowed a lot of foreign debts in order to build a railway, and he can't make up for the Hanyang Iron Works and the Hubei Yarn and Linen Silk Cloth Fourth Bureau, which are all transferred to Song Biao's Far East Consortium Commercial Office at a low price.

The reason why Wuhan was able to become the center of the textile industry in Central China has a lot to do with Zhang Zhidong's establishment in Wuhan, with a lot of investment, and it has been set up for 20 years.

After the Far Eastern Consortium won the Fourth Bureau of Hubei Yarn and Linen Silk Cloth, it also continued to invest in the establishment of Wuchang Textile Corporation in the form of joint ventures with American capital, because the Far Eastern Consortium adopted the means of joint stock operation with foreign investors in the operation of Hanyeping Company and Wuchang Textile Corporation, and as a result, Zhang Zhidong also undertook a lot of pressure, and Zhang Zhidong endured it.

Zhang Zhidong later called back to Song Biao, to the effect that "you are better than me, you can control those foreigners, but I was deceived by the foreigners very badly, Hanyang Iron Works and the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway have suffered a big loss, so to carry out a new deal in China, you have to rely on people like you, as for other people's criticism of me, I don't care, the coffin is always decided, I have a clear conscience."

There are many things that can also show that the relationship between Song Biao and Zhang Zhidong is indeed very special, for example, on the issue of the Zhihui meeting, Zhang Zhidong listened to Song Biao's persuasion, let go of all the revolutionaries he caught, secretly sent them to the Hankou Concession, and sent them to Shanghai.

Zhang Zhidong is actually a very clever person, he knows better than anyone that the Qing Dynasty will not last long, as long as thirty or forty years, as short as more than ten years, and finally perished on the issue of the dispute between the Manchus and Hans, so he wrote to the imperial court to completely abolish all kinds of Manchu and Han differences, and the Manchus are the same as the Han people.

Zhang Zhidong is loyal to the imperial court with the heart of his fist, and hopes that the Qing political axe can accept his opinions, and maybe he can continue the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty.

Do you Zhang Zhidong really think that we are full of bullies?

As a result, Zhang Zhidong was transferred to the Beijing Division, abolished the military and political powers, and was sent over to manage the affairs of Xinxue as a punishment.

After cleaning up Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, the people were full of pride, and they were going to clean up Song Biao again, saying that as long as Song Biao was transferred to Beijing again, the Qing Dynasty would be safe, but it hit a wall, and the end of the collision was blood.

There are also a lot of messy things in this, anyway, Song Biao was so angry that he almost ordered the whole army to forcibly cut his braids, and waited for the Manchurian army to lead the army to recover the three eastern provinces.

Song Biao was unfortunate and bitter at all, he just ordered the whole army to be under martial law and rectification, and the Manchus were also unfortunate and bitter, they really thought that Song Biao was easy to deal with, and the real hardship was Yin Chang and Zhang Zhidong, and so Yin Chang personally went to Beijing to report his duties, and by the way, he told the Manchus in Beijing that the Northeast New Army had been under martial law, and the Russian Maozi's arms were going to Fengtianyun one after another, kneeling and begging you not to toss anymore, and the Manchus knew what it meant to be afraid.

Prince Qing has always been a weak and incompetent lord, so he really told the truth - the court should take "serving the army and not chaos" as the best policy.

These things are very funny to say, but in fact they are also very pitiful, China has fallen to such a point in the last great dynasty, is there any hope at all?

After Song Biao received this reply from Zhang Zhidong, he could only sigh in his heart, and he couldn't talk about happiness, let alone disappointment, so he approved the word "read" on the telegram, and returned the telegram book to Shu Fangde: "The reply is the word 'thanks'." ”

Shu Fangde nodded silently and said, "Yes." Military seat, does the whole army still need to continue martial law? ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said, "There is no need to continue martial law, let the medical department issue an order, and reward the soldiers who cut off their braids in the name of facilitating health work." If half of the soldiers in the whole army can lose their braids, then let the Second Staff Department reorganize the regulations on military appearance, ordering the hair of all officers and men not to grow longer than an inch, and the soldiers will be repaid three silver yuan for their braids after retirement. ”

Shu Fangde nodded, and asked again: "Junzao, do you want to rectify this matter through the Xinhua Association, and secretly let a large number of soldiers cut their braids, causing a fait accompli?" ”

Song Biao weighed it and felt that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was basically speechless to him now, as long as he didn't rebel, he would probably be thankful, so he said: "You can do this." ”

Shu Fangde paused again, put away the telegram book and left Song Biao's office.

For such a thing as cutting braids, Song Biao has never wanted to do too bloody, and it is indeed not necessary, the Xinhua Association is an organization within the New Army, and it has established a perfect system, and it exists as another kind of political institution to control the New Army, in fact, the management office of the Xinhua Society is the Political Department of the Military Department of the New Army, and the counselors of each platoon serve as the head of the Xinhua Branch in charge of political education.

It can also be said that the Xinhua Society has grown simultaneously in the development process of the Northeast New Army in the past two years, and the Northeast New Army has continued to expand, and today it has secretly transformed into the armed forces of the Liberation Revolution, and Song Biao has become the political, theoretical, and spiritual leader of the Liberation Revolution.

It's a very delicate process.

Has anyone leaked it?

Definitely.

Among the 120,000-strong troops and the 63,000 members of the Xinhua Association and the Guangfu Association distributed throughout the Northeast New Army, police and patrol militia systems, are there no pro-Manchu factions and no whistleblowers?

Definitely.

The key is that the three governors and the prefects and prefectures in various places dare not report it, because reporting it is a major event that pierces the sky, even if the Qing political axe already knows, who dares to move? Who dares to say that I know that "Mr. Zhizhong" is Song Biao!! Who dares to say that the three eastern provinces are full of the Liberation Party!!

Perhaps the Qing government axe would rather Song Biao establish himself as king in the three eastern provinces, and did not want Song Biao to directly lead his troops into the customs.

At this point, even an insightful person like Zhang Zhidong only hopes that it will be delayed for a day or a year, or that Mr. "Zhong" will find his way back.

is still the same sentence, if Song Biao really wants to enter the customs, he may not be able to sit on the throne of the emperor, but the demise of the Qing Dynasty is already a sure thing.

Song Biao just continued to wait, waiting for the day when the situation would be more favorable to him.

Every day he waits, the situation is more favorable to him, the people inside the customs will suffer for one more day, and the people outside the customs will live in a very good environment as always, although this is very good, it is only relative to the customs area, at least the people of the Kanto region have higher incomes, more job opportunities, and the prices of grain, rice, oil, salt, coal, and firewood are moderate.

(To be continued)