After Xiao Yimin had a heart-to-heart night talk with Yang Shukan, he handed Yang Shukan over to Zhang Lan, the chairman of the Mingzhuo Party, who had just returned from Yanjing.

Zhang Lan and Yang Shukan were originally old friends, no matter what they talked about, there was no problem of quarreling with each other, not to mention that today's Kuomintang is full of internal contradictions, and its strength has been greatly damaged.

The local forces in Sichuan, which have suffered repeatedly in the past few years and have gradually returned to reality, can no longer be moved by a few exciting slogans and a few worthless letters of appointment, so after a week, Yang Shukan can only reluctantly leave with regrets.

In June, Yuan Shikai, who had borrowed a huge amount of money from the four countries, began to carry out a series of preparations for restoration, which led to continuous uprisings throughout the country, and the envoys of the European powers in China, whose interests in China had been damaged, seized the opportunity to intensify pressure on Yuan Shikai's political axe, all in order to earn more privileges and benefits for their country.

The Chairman of the Legation and the British Ambassador to China, Mr. Jurbert, publicly declared:

If the Yanjing political axe does not sign the "Sino-British Tibet Simola Treaty" and completely solve the Tibetan provincial problem, the British will no longer give the Yanjing political axe preferential treatment in the fields of credit, trade and other cooperation.

Yuan Shikai's political axe has a headache for this.

The "Sino-British-Tibet-Simola Treaty" was a traitorous agreement that no one dared to sign, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not give up the sovereignty of Tibetan Province; if Yuan Shikai lost Tibetan Province, I am afraid that he would immediately encounter overwhelming opposition from all walks of life throughout the country, and the situation in the whole country, which had just stabilized, would be chaotic again.

What's more, the British also strongly demanded the abolition of the Sichuan Frontier Army and the withdrawal of all the squadrons stationed in the Kang-Tibet area, and they really wanted to agree to the British demand, and I don't know what the commander-in-chief of the border army in Sichuan, who was easy-going on the outside and tough on the inside, would do something that could not be controlled.

Next, a number of loan negotiations were unilaterally halted by the European powers, and the "Bank of China" vigorously promoted by Yuan Shikai's political axe was boycotted in nearly half of the country's provinces, and the reason is simple:

Everyone wondered whether the "Bank of China" under the leadership of the militaristic Yuan Shikai was credible? Do the banknotes issued have sufficient gold and silver reserves? What's more, the Bank of China has already taken over the task of issuing 25 million yuan of public bonds issued by Yuan Shikai's political axe, and is desperately selling it all over the country, but at this time, who dares to buy political axe bonds without any credit guarantee?

Of all the calls for boycott, Sichuan's voice was the highest-pitched.

The local forces in Sichuan, which have already formed their own political parties and have won the attention of all Chinese and foreign countries, are becoming more and more powerful, and the banking trade unions and industrial and commercial trade unions under their control are unprecedentedly united on this issue; they not only jointly boycott the opening of branches of the "Bank of China" in Chengdu and Yucheng, but also set up the "Sichuan Baiye Bank" on their own in all counties of Sichuan, and at the same time vigorously carry out storage and credit business, they are also cooperating with the Americans to set up a telegraph and telephone company, and the Sichuan branch of the "China International Commercial Bank," which has a long history under the Sheng Xuanhuai family. It was also ruthlessly squeezed out by the local forces in Sichuan in all aspects.

What Yuan Shikai could not tolerate was that all circles in Sichuan, instigated by the local political forces, refused to use all the banknotes issued by the "Bank of China"; except for the "Yuan Datou" silver dollars and copper-silver auxiliary coins issued this year, the entire circulation market in Sichuan only used silver coins and copper coins made by the Sichuan Provincial Political Axe Copper Yuan Bureau; Secondly, "Sichuan Baiye Bank" has signed cooperation agreements with the three famous banks of Britain, Germany, and the United States to vigorously develop the settlement business between each other, and gradually penetrate into the import and export business.

Once the local forces in Sichuan complete the construction of their own financial system, Yuan Shikai's political axe will completely lose its financial control and tax collection in Sichuan, not only will he not be able to obtain the rich taxes of tens of millions of dollars a year, but will also allow the local forces in Sichuan to grow rapidly, completely control the positions of the political axe at all levels in Sichuan, establish a powerful and well-equipped army, and form a de facto state within a state, which will then affect the western provinces and even affect the whole country.

In late June, the British ambassador to China, Juerdian, sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that "the border between Tibet and Tibet must be 300 miles from Lhasa, and if China does not formally sign the treaty, Britain will conclude a separate treaty with Tibetan Province and assist Tibet Province in resisting China's invasion."

This stern warning from the British political axe prompted Yuan Shikai and his staff to quickly come up with a series of plans, and Yuan Shikai began to take action against the military and political circles of Sichuan after secretly meeting with the British ambassador Zhu Erdian and obtaining a limited understanding.

On 30 June, the central government of Yanjing issued a general order to the whole country, formally abolishing the governors of all provinces, building a general's palace in Yanjing, and setting up the names of generals, stationed in various provinces, to supervise military affairs.

Hu Jingyi, the governor of Sichuan, became the overseer of Sichuan, and was named the general of Chengwu by Yuan Shikai, plus the rank of general, and was fully responsible for supervising the military affairs of Sichuan.

A few days later, Yuan Shikai's series of telegrams were issued to Chengdu again.

Hu Jingyi immediately summoned Zhou Jun, commander of the First Army and commander of the First Division of the Sichuan Army, Peng Guanglie, commander of the Second Division, Sun Zhaoluan, commander of the Third Division, Wang Jian, commander of the Fourth Division, and Wang Lingji, commander of the Fifth Division, to read out Yuan Shikai's commendation order and promotion order on his behalf, and the five division commanders of the Sichuan Army were promoted to lieutenant generals at the same time, and their treatment and powers were on the same level as Xiao Yimin, the commander-in-chief of the border army; Zhou Jun, lieutenant general of the 1st Division of the Sichuan Army, was appointed as the envoy of Yucheng City, and ordered his troops to immediately evacuate Yichang and return to Yucheng to garrison.

Xiao Yimin, the commander-in-chief of the border army, seems to have been deliberately forgotten by Yuan Shikai, and in the series of telegrams issued in succession, not a single one is mentioned, and the generals of the Sichuan army seem to realize something, and after asking the overseer Hu Jingyi and getting no answer, they all remain silent.

Immediately afterwards, the Senate of the Central Political Axe of Yanjing passed a resolution to classify Kangding, Yanjing, Luding and other Xichuan areas as "Sichuanbian Special Areas", and reappointed Zhang Yi, who had already returned to Yanjing to enjoy happiness, as the "Sichuanbian Patrol Envoy" to take over the garrisons in various parts of Sichuan, and to adjudicate civil and border affairs with full authority.

As soon as this resolution was promulgated, it immediately aroused great attention from the military and political circles, especially the European and American organizations in China.

The Sichuan Border Special Region is likely to be outside Sichuan since then, and General Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Border Army, is afraid that he will be overtaken by the Yanjing political axe, combined with Yuan Shikai's series of commendations and analyses of the Sichuan army generals, General Xiao Yimin gradually lost control of the Sichuan army.

To everyone's bewilderment, Xiao Yimin did not react at all this time, and Xiao Yimin surprisingly chose to remain silent about a series of resolutions and orders of Yuan Shikai's political axe, as if all this had nothing to do with him, but was keen to continuously publish current affairs commentary in major newspapers in Britain, Germany, the United States and Sichuan.

(To be continued)