At this time, almost no one in the Kwantung region knew how long the Russo-Russian War would last, maybe it would be another three or five years, maybe the Russians would fight back to Lushun, or maybe they would fight Harbin, no one could say.

People are panicking everywhere, and the business opportunities here are naturally not small.

Now is a good time to make a fortune, as long as this year's business is done smoothly, in the next five or six years, Song Biao's Manchurian infantry division will not worry about military salaries, Xue Changqing and Lao Jintou can only work hard, too late to take a short rest in Niujiabao, so they will re-embark on the road with a huge horse team and transport 10,000 loads of grain to Fengtianfu.

Just waiting for Xue Changqing and them to set off in the morning, this afternoon, Aoki Xuanchun once again came to Nandian Tunzi to meet Song Biao.

Song Biao knew that Aoki Xuanchun was here to talk about the arms business this time, so he immediately asked him to be invited to the inn, and he hurried over to the meeting. When Song Biao arrived at the inn, he saw Aoki Xuanchun again in the reception room in the east wing, and saw that Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo had re-put on the uniform of the general, which was a black military uniform inside, and a khaki tweed M1904-style coat with a pullover hat on the outside, and he was also wearing a saber.

The two will not be as awkward as last time when they meet again, and they can talk to each other on an equal footing.

Seeing Song Biao come in, Aoki Xuanchun, who was sitting on a chair, immediately got up, took out a small black wooden box and offered it, bowed down and said, "Mr. Song, Aoki came to thank you for saving your life this time, I am grateful, this is another little heart, and I hope Your Excellency can accept it." ”

Aoki Xuanjun did not mention the capture and release, and changed his words to "life-saving grace", which seems to be the consistent style of Xiao Yuben, who wants to save face if he dies.

Song Biao didn't care about him either, and said with a smile: "Aoki Dazuo is too polite, why thank you for your efforts." ”

Aoki Xuanchun said with a smile: "I made my own opinion, and a few days ago I recommended your talents to the Governor of your country, Yuan Shikai, Lord Yuan, who has a good impression of you, and also admires your bravery and talent, so let me forward you some small gifts and congratulate you on your promotion to colonel of the Russian army." ”

"Oh?"

Song Biao was a little curious, so he took the wooden box, and when he got to his hand, he knew that this thing was very heavy, and when he opened it, he found that it was a pair of golden tiger talismans, which added up to almost a hundred taels, and the last tiger talisman was engraved with "Megatron Kanto", and the next tiger talisman was engraved with "Fuze Fang".

This pair of tiger talismans has no practical effect, it is a pair of valuable gifts.

Outside of this pair of golden tiger talismans there is a letter, which is Yuan Shikai's handwriting.

Song Biao opened the letter and read it carefully, it should be said that Yuan Shikai's calligraphy is also very neat, the chapter is rigorous, and it has the style of regular script.

Song Biao had never seen Yuan Shikai before, and Yuan Shikai had never seen Song Biao, and the two had never interacted.

In terms of identity, Song Biao was still an unknown little person a few months ago, it is said that he studied in the church school of the Russians, learned the art of war with his uncle, and when he was down, he worked for the Russian army, carried sundries, cleaned up, and the most proud time was when he inherited a few horses from his uncle, and followed others to sell horse gangs for a living, and he was really a low-born person.

It is said.

Yuan Shikai was already the governor of Zhili of the Great Qing Dynasty, holding heavy troops, arriving at the Beijing Division, shining in the world, standing above the temple, ranking first among the Han Chen.

But in this letter, Yuan Shikai's words were very polite and elevated, and he called Song Biao a brother.

The general meaning of this letter is like this, Yuan Shikai said, I, Yuan Shikai, have been living in Beijing for the past few years, my ears and eyes are unknown, and I rarely know what is going on outside, even so, I have heard about your deeds of Song Biao, and they all say that you are not very old and have experienced hardships, but you are familiar with military books, and you are a person with great ambitions, using soldiers like gods, and hiding 100,000 elite soldiers in your chest, just like Han Xin in the world; The Russians respectfully call you a Manchurian general, and praise you as the butcher of the army; I respectfully call you the Tiger of Kwantung, and you have defeated many famous generals in the Yue Army, and you are so famous that after you arrive in Tonghua, the bandits and wolves in Liaodong are scattered, whining and wailing, and they dare not offend you, and the Yue Army does not dare to enter Tonghua again, and the Russian army is restless and shouts lucky.

Since ancient times, heroes have been born in troubled times, and in the bitter cold land of Kanto, wolf smoke is everywhere, a genius hero like you stands out, perhaps it is the destiny of heaven, I Yuan Shikai admires you very much, and I envy you for being able to make great achievements at such a young age, and your talent is outstanding.

I, Yuan Shikai, have no talent, but can bear hardships and stand hard work, so I have been appreciated by the queen mother and the emperor, and I am ashamed to sit in the position of the governor of Zhili, and the most envious of my life is precisely a promising young man like you.

Now that the society is in turmoil, and the foreign thieves are going to be the enemy of our China, the imperial court is the time to employ people, I have recommended you to the imperial court, after hearing about your deeds, the government and the opposition are shocked, and they want to recruit you quickly and give you reuse.

You are young and promising, talented, and use soldiers like a god, which really makes me a leader who has been fighting for more than 20 years, but has no merit and envy, but you are young after all, and some things are not very thoughtful, I Yuan Shikai took the liberty to ask, why did the Russians start a war in the eastern part of the country, these people are to carve up my land in China, although I have selfish intentions, but it is also a way to form an alliance against the Russians, you have the courage to help the Russians, so that Russia has a big victory, and the arrogance is even more arrogant, I am afraid that my country will cede land to them in the future.

Everyone has their own ambitions, you are still young, you can do whatever you want, and even if you are wrong, you have a lot of time to correct it.

I, Yuan Shikai, am not a person who likes to criticize others, and I don't like to impose my own ideas on others, I think you may also have a lot of hardships, or you hate yourself to the core, I heard that your uncle once served in the Qing army, and was defeated by himself, and since then he has been ashamed.

If so, I think what you have done is also worthy of my admiration and understanding, and I can't simply comment on what is right or wrong.

Since ancient times, heroic people must have a broad mind, can tolerate others can not tolerate things in order to achieve great causes, to this day, should you also reflect on it, are you helping the Russians too much, for the country and the people are a little inappropriate?

You are now also a heroic man on one side, dare to exterminate bandits, dare to fight against Russia, and protect the safety of the people, this kind of ambition makes me Yuan Shikai sigh to himself, I am so young that I am just an incompetent person who can't read and doesn't know how to fight, it is because of this, if you can use your talents to serve the court and do things for the common people in the world, your future achievements will definitely be much higher than mine.

Although I have fought wars, I don't like them very much, but there are always reasonable people in a country, and Mr. Aoki is such a person.

Mr. Aoki is an old friend of the Imperial Court and mine, this gentleman has always been able to read people, and he knows at a glance that you will definitely be a promising person, and I believe that he will not be mistaken, and there is absolutely no possibility of mistake, so I hope you will cherish your future.

We haven't dealt with each other before, and I took the liberty of writing to you, but also to talk about the amazement and envy in my heart, and send a pair of golden talismans, which is a little bit of my old soldier's heart, and I hope you can accept my advice, if you have the opportunity to come to Beijing in the future, I must invite you to drink a few glasses of wine, drink and talk happily, discuss important matters together, and do your best for the court and the people of the world, and die for yourself.

Take a look......!

Yuan Shikai is indeed a bit peculiar, if Song Biao didn't know about this person's life, he would definitely be very moved now. It is indeed rare for a governor of Zhili to write such a sincere letter to him in his own hand.

Song Biao read the letter twice, and felt a lot of emotion in his heart, he felt that when our descendants look back on history, they always like to describe those who make mistakes and enemies as very low-level, for example, we have always described the generals of the Yue army as very stupid.

What is the actual situation?

The Qing Dynasty had a population of more than 400 million, did it have a strategist general and a dead Humpty Dumpty like Dashanyan, who was very good at using soldiers and people? Dashanyan was beaten like a grandson by Lijian Shangwen before, it was very embarrassing, when Dashanyan was planning for the Russian War, he was able to transfer the opposing faction like Lijian Shangwen into the army as a senior general, and he led the most elite division, and this kind of mind was still a few [***] commanders in the late Qing Dynasty who could have?

Was there a general like Lijian Shangwen in the Qing Dynasty at this time? Is there a cloud of Hankami "Akiyama good old"?

No.

The Qing Dynasty had only a bunch of fools.

What about Yuan Shikai, is it more stupid for a one-sided and stubborn person who understands him as a vulgar fool?

Song Biao carefully folded the letter and re-packed it with the Golden Tiger Talisman. Even if Aoki Xuanchun was captured by accident, he was still a very wise person, he categorically did not mention Yuan Shikai's matter, but put forward another list, and said: "Colonel Song, this is a part of the captured materials that our army has sorted out so far, and some of the captured materials of our army that our army wants to exchange, some of which may not be in your hands, which may require you to take some special measures, and what I can do on behalf of our army is to guarantee that I will never regard you as an enemy again, and will never treat you badly." ”

"Really?"

Song Biao seemed to smile suspiciously, and took the list from Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo's hand and carefully skimmed through it.

The materials captured by the Russian army mainly came from two parts, the first was the Battle of Arthur, and the second was the retreat of the Russian army from Liaoyang, especially the second time, which actually left a large amount of materials for the army, so that the army used Russian equipment to fight on the front line to a large extent.

The number listed in this list is only a part of the materials captured by the Russian army, and the total scale is already very amazing, including 40,000 Mosin Nagant rifles, 12 million Nagant rounds, 27 Makqin machine guns and 52 Russian M1904 76mm field guns. This also fully illustrates the difficult situation of the Japanese army in this war, their supplies are completely insufficient, and now they have to reorganize new troops to the battlefield, which requires more temporary supplies to supply and re-equip.

After Song Biao looked at it carefully, he confirmed that he could basically get it done, so he said to Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo: "There is no problem, I will find a way to deal with it." So, when are you going to trade? ”

Aoki Xuanjun said: "The sooner the better." If you confirm that it is correct, I will transport all the goods submitted on the list to Jiangdian Town, which is the border between the forces of your and our armies, and our army still retains a squadron of garrisons there. If you trade there, it's suitable for both you and me, right? ”

Song Biao nodded and said, "Yes." ”

Aoki Xuanchun said: "Our army has two other insincere requests, and I hope Your Excellency will agree." ”

Song Biao said: "Please speak." ”

Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo said: "First, the reason why our army also included machine guns and Russian field artillery in the list, in addition to wanting to exchange our army's more abundant machine guns and field artillery, is also that these materials will definitely stay with you, rather than becoming the equipment of the Russian army again, at least only a small batch of Russian equipment." So, I'd like to hear an accurate answer from you on this matter! ”

Song Biao replied very cheerfully: "Don't worry, I will only consider exchanging equipment for equipment if I have to, and as far as I know, the Russian generals also seem to like rubles, not their weapons." ”

Aoki Nobujun Daisa seemed to have expected it, but he still smiled happily: "This is really good news for you and me." ”

Song Biao asked him, "What about the other thing?" ”

Aoki Xuanjun Dasa said: "This matter may be even more embarrassing, because General Akiyama Yoshiko's parents are old, and he is a hero and legendary figure admired by our soldiers, because he was captured by you, so my country's political axe would like to ask you to mediate with the Russian army and release His Excellency General Akiyama in advance, and our army promises to let him retire immediately, and he will definitely not participate in the war of Russia again." ”

"Oh, that's ......!"

Song Biao sighed, pondered in his heart for a while, and then asked Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo: "I heard some intelligence officers on the Russian side say that his younger brother is the most important staff officer of your navy, maybe because their brother's relationship is very close, in order to avoid his younger brother being distracted, so your country found a way to take him back to China in advance?" ”

"...... this?"

Aoki Xuanjun Dasa hesitated for a moment, and then said frankly: "That's true, please help Your Excellency, my country's political axe and Chief of Staff Akiyama must be grateful." ”

Song Biao pondered for a moment and said: "In this way, it's not good for me to go directly with the Russian army to ask for someone, so I will think that I need a staff officer to provide some advice for the preparation of a cavalry brigade, and find a way to transfer him to me and protect him in a semi-detained way." Please rest assured, I have heard a little about this general's personality and courage, and I admire him very much, let alone holding him in my hands as a threat. When the war was over, I sent him home. On the other hand, I heard that he was an extremely strict person, and for soldiers, it was the most basic rule to become a prisoner of war after losing a battle, and there was no reason for early release, right? If an elder brother was released in advance by bribery because his younger brother was a senior naval officer, he should not be able to accept such an insult, right? ”

Aoki Xuanjun praised and said: "Yes, you seem to know the general's mind better, I actually look at this issue in the same way, so it's okay, stay with you, of course I will be more at ease." Then, in return, we will send you 10 more Russian 76mm field guns on the basis of the original promise, hoping that you will accept our kindness. ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said: "For a soldier who first established himself and then established the country, since I have already defeated him and did not kill him on the spot at that time, then there is no need for me to humiliate him again, I think that any gift is a bribe, so forget it." ”

Aoki Nobujun Osa thanked him from the bottom of his heart: "Thank you, Your Excellency. ”

The two of them had actually finished talking about the matter, and at this time, Aoki Xuanchun asked cautiously: "Your Excellency Colonel, as for Governor Yuan, do you have a return gift, or a reply?" ”

Song Biao thought about it for a while, called Li Dayun who was accompanying him at the door, and asked Li Dayun to take the sword called "Izumi Shou Kanding", and handed it to Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo and said: "This is my return gift, I killed General Lijian Shangwen and his troops, and then I captured this knife, and gave it to Governor Yuan, it must be very meaningful." As for replying to the letter, I don't even have anyone around me who is proficient in calligraphy, and my pen and ink are even more unsightly, so I can only thank Aoki Xuanjun Daisa on my behalf and ask him to let me think about it again. ”

Aoki Xuanjun Dazuo reminded: "For the sake of your future, I suggest that you write a letter to this governor as soon as possible, he is indeed very appreciative of you, and now that your country's political axe is in the right place to employ people, he is also in dire need of manpower." ”

Song Biao said: "If it is not flattery, nor is it an eagerness to seek refuge in the governor, it is futile to write any kind of letter, as far as the current situation is concerned, if I can keep the safety of the people in Tonghua and Hunjiang, this is already a great good, and other things should not be done in such a situation." ”

Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo was silent, and thought for a moment before asking, "Your Excellency Colonel, what kind of person do you think Governor Yuan is?" ”

Song Biao said: "I don't know, after all, I haven't even met in person, what do you think?" ”

Aoki Xuanjun said: "Among the officials I have seen in your country, he is the only one who really understands war, and among the generals I have seen in your country, he is one of the very few people who really understands the politics of your country. ”

Song Biao laughed, feeling that this evaluation was indeed a classic, but he couldn't help but sigh: "Soldiers, first of all, you can understand the meaning of people before you can be qualified to be a soldier." Because I know that the enemy is a person with parents, wives, daughters, and families, a person who knows that the enemy is a person with ideals and dreams, and a person who loves his motherland and homeland and is willing to sacrifice his life for it, I will defeat or even kill tens of thousands of such enemies at all costs. ”

"That's ......!"

Aoki Xuanchun Dazuo was amazed, and after pondering for a long time, he was more and more able to understand the various meanings of Song Biao's words, and he couldn't help but agree: "Your Excellency, I thought that you were probably the only soldier in your country, and there are few such real soldiers in my country. ”

Song Biao replied lightly: "Dazuo praised!" ”