Iron Lion Hutong, since Yuan Shikai's death, this once the core of North China Hutong has been deserted. Up to now, except for some old servants of the Yuan family, only Yuan Shikai's family is still in the presidential palace to arrange for him after his death...

Now the most lively place in the entire Yanjing City is probably only Xu Shichang's mansion.

There was a wireless telegraph in Xu Shichang's mansion that had just been sent by the telegraph office not long ago, and Xu Shichang came to contact him with Wang Zhanyuan, Jin Yunpeng, and others in Ezhou. And now in Beiyang, as long as there is no end to the heart of the career, almost all of them have gathered here in Xu Shichang.

"Hire-king? Are you really going to Tianjin? ”

In his study, looking at Wang Shizhen in plain clothes, Xu Shichang said with some reluctance.

After hearing Xu Shichang say this, Wang Shizhen just shook his head.

"Gong Bao is dead, and two of the three heroes of Beiyang have also gone to the concession, Brother Xu, do you think it is possible for me to stay in Yanjing alone?"

Wang Shizhen is the dragon of Beiyang among the three heroes of Beiyang, and he is also the oldest of the three heroes of Beiyang. However, compared with Xu Shichang, Wang Shizhen, the eldest of the three heroes of Beiyang, is several years younger than Xu Shichang.

In addition, Xu Shichang is still Yuan Shikai's brother, so Wang Shizhen still respects Xu Shichang very much.

However, although Wang Shizhen respects Xu Shichang very much, he is ready to go to live in the Tianjin Concession like Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, avoiding the rights and wrongs of the outside world.

Although after negotiating with Yan Guang, many people in Beiyang can stay in the New Deal Axe, but are those who stay still from Beiyang? Wang Shizhen is not young, after experiencing the collapse of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Beiyang, his career is also much weaker, and now what he wants to do is just find a quiet place to enjoy his old age.

Xu Shichang also knows Wang Shizhen's character, as Yuan Shikai's brother, Xu Shichang should not have stayed, but if he was asked to step down from the stage, he would not be reconciled...

Looking at Wang Shizhen with an indifferent face, Xu Shichang was really envious.

"Since you have made up your mind, then I will no longer force it. In this case, I will go to Mr. Zhu Erdian in a moment, and hope that he will arrange a good place for you and Huafu in the presence of the deceased palace guard. And Kung Pao-sama's wife and children are small, and I will take care of them in the future, and this is the last thing I will do for Kung Pao-sama..."

Hearing Xu Shichang say this, Wang Shizhen nodded.

In the final analysis, Xu Shichang is also Yuan Shikai's brother in the alliance, and the sons left by Yuan Shikai are not very angry, if they really leave it alone, I am afraid that it will not take long for the Yuan family to decay, and when Yuan Shikai passed away, he also asked them to take care of their family. At this time, it is probably the most appropriate to let Xu Shichang, the alliance brother, come forward.

"That's fine."

Wang Shizhen nodded.

"From then on, Brother Xu..."

After greeting for a quarter of an hour, Wang Shizhen left Xu Shichang's mansion in his plain clothes, and looking at Wang Shizhen's back, Xu Shichang's heart was also full of complexity. For a moment, Xu Shichang even thought about quitting the stage like Wang Shizhen, but in the end, he still couldn't let go...

Just when Xu Shichang was standing in front of the door of the mansion and didn't know what to think, a subordinate suddenly ran over and bowed.

"Master, Lord Lu asked you to come over, saying that there was a telegram from Wuchang..."

No one knew that this seemingly loyal servant had thought about "taking" some of the finances in the house to return to his hometown when Yuan Shikai passed away, after all, Beiyang at that time looked unlucky no matter how you looked at it.

However, when it was soon reported that Beiyang was going to negotiate peace with the national society and military, and it seemed that most of the people in Beiyang were likely to stay in the newly established political axe, this seemingly loyal servant stayed. Because his master's rights were preserved, he naturally had no reason to betray. Of course, more importantly, since Xu Shichang's rights have been preserved, if he sneaks away again, Xu Shichang also has the ability to find him out and then "bring him to justice".

No one knew that this seemingly loyal servant had ever thought of sneaking away with the finances of the house, and Xu Shichang naturally didn't know it, after all, he didn't know the spells of his heart.

So after seeing that his servant's loyalty was still the same, Xu Shichang nodded with satisfaction.

"Got it..."

When Xu Shichang returned to the hall of the mansion, more than a dozen people in the hall were spinning around a telegraph, and even when Xu Shichang walked in, only one or two people turned their heads back.

"Lao Xu, are you back?"

It was Lu Jianzhang, who was just over fifty years old, who had just asked Xu Shichang's subordinates to run to inform Xu Shichang. Standing next to Lu Jianzhang was Cao Kun, who was about the same age as Lu Jianzhang, and behind Cao Kun stood a middle-aged man who looked no more than thirty years old.

"Wu Peifu..."

Cao Kun is the commander of the Third Division, the only remaining core force of Beiyang in the north, and even Cao Kun's status has risen sharply. And Wu Peifu behind him is the commander of the Third Artillery Regiment of the Third Division and Cao Kun's confidant. Because of Cao Kun's recent rise in status, Cao Kun brought this henchman over.

Cao Kun is a famous bribe president in history. In order to become the fifth president of the Republic of China, Cao Kun decided to bribe the members of the parliament who attended the election to give a check of 5,000 yuan each. In order to raise funds for bribery, in the name of borrowing military salaries, he ordered the 170 counties under his direct command to be divided into large, medium, and small levels, and each county to borrow between 10,000 and 30,000 yuan. He used the more than 13 million yuan he looted to buy a group of congressmen. On October 5, 1923, he was elected as the fifth president of the Republic of China.

After the Lugou Bridge Incident, the bandit Yuan Kenji repeatedly asked Cao Kun to be the leader of the pseudo-organization, but Cao Kun's elderly Cao Kun, under the persuasion of his wife, vowed to rather drink gruel than do things for himself. In 1938, after learning the news that the Kuomintang army had won a great victory in Taierzhuang, Cao Kun said repeatedly: "I don't believe it, we can't beat that little story." On May 17 of the same year, Cao Kun died of illness in his apartment in Quanshanli, Tianjin British Concession, at the age of 76, and before his death, he also said to his daughter Cao Shiying: "After the victory of Taierzhuang, I hope that [***] can take advantage of the victory to recover the lost land. (See Ta Kung Pao, Changsha, May 26, 1938).

In addition to Cao Kun, he also paid special attention to winning over high-ranking officials and eunuchs in the Beiyang period, such as Duan Qirui, Wu Peifu, Yuan Shikai's son Yuan Keding, Jin Yunpeng, etc., but these people refused. Especially Wu Peifu, who was standing behind Cao Kun, was poisoned by himself because he refused to cooperate with him.

――――――――――

Seeing that it was Cao Kun, Xu Shichang smiled. Now Cao Kun has the only remaining third division in the six towns of Beiyang, Yuan Shikai is dead again, and no one can govern Cao Kun, so Xu Shichang is also quite polite to Cao Kun.

"Zhong Shan, who is the one behind you?"

But it was Xu Shichang who looked at the middle-aged man behind Cao Kun with some eyes, and thought that he didn't seem to have invited this person, so he asked.

Now after all, Yuan Shikai has just died, and Cao Kun has not sprung up a lot of ambitions so quickly, not to mention that the current situation also makes him not in that mood, so after hearing Xu Shichang's question, Cao Kun hurriedly replied.

"This is Wu Peifu and Wu Ziyu, my subordinates." Cao Kun scratched his head as he spoke. "Old Xu, you also know that I have always had no ideas, and it is usually Ziyu's idea for me in the army, because this time the matter is too important, so I brought Ziyu over."

Saying that, Cao Kun stabbed Wu Peifu with his hand.

"Haven't you seen Xu Lao yet?"

Wu Peifu didn't understand the current situation like Cao Kun, and knew that the third division in the hands of his boss was simply a strange commodity at this time. But even so, when he saw Xu Shichang, Wu Peifu still said respectfully.

"Old Xu..."

Hearing that Wu Peifu was Cao Kun's subordinate, Xu Shichang also nodded.

However, at the moment, Xu Shichang is most concerned about the Wuchang negotiation, so after greeting Wu Peifu, he turned his face to Lu Zhengxiang.

"Zixin, what is the situation from Wuchang?"

There were two people surnamed Lu among the people present, one was Lu Jianzhang, and the other was Lu Zhengxiang.

Among them, Lu Zhengxiang is the chief diplomat of Beiyang, and Lu Zhengxiang is also responsible for all diplomatic matters, so Xu Shichang also handed over the negotiation with the National Social Army to him.

After hearing Xu Shichang's words, Lu Zhengxiang hurriedly replied.

"The telegram that has just come back from Wuchang says that Yan Guang of the National Social Army personally came forward to talk to Zichun (Wang Zhanyuan)..." This is a telegram just sent back, Zichun said, the surname Yan said that as long as we are willing to abide by the above conditions, then the National Social Army can accept our Beiyang line..."

Speaking of this, Lu Zhengxiang smiled bitterly, accept? A year ago, who in China would have dared to say such a thing?

Xu Shichang did not open it after receiving the telegram, but asked.

"Conditions? Is it harsh? ”

Lu Zhengxiang shook his head.

"I can't say it's harsh, but many places don't match the conditions we put forward at the beginning..."

Hearing Lu Zhengxiang say this, Xu Shichang hurriedly opened the telegram in his hand and read it carefully.

In fact, the conditions on the telegram are very simple, and there are only a few in a simple summary.

The most crucial thing is that, with the exception of the Beiyang elite such as the Third Division, all other mixed brigades or miscellaneous divisions must be broken up and reorganized by multiple units, and the original Beiyang officers must also be transferred out and assigned to new units according to their original posts.

This is also to prevent Beiyang from backing against water, after all, after accepting Beiyang, Beiyang will be equivalent to a line of the National Social Army, and it will also be a member of the National Defense Force in the future. At that time, it was naturally impossible for Yan Guang to be divided into three, six, nine and other ranks in the army, and by the way, suppress the miscellaneous troops in the army.

Under such circumstances, if Beiyang is allowed to continue to exist while retaining the original structure, not to mention anything else, after giving them the same equipment as the National Social Army, if the original Beiyang troops make trouble, Yan Guang may not have the confidence to suppress it.

As for the retention of such units as the 3rd Division? I have to say that the strength of the six towns of Beiyang is really good, and in terms of quality, it is even a few points higher than that of the national social army, and it would be a pity if such a force was split up like this.

Therefore, Yan Guang is ready to give them some official numbers, and even the commanders of each division will keep them, anyway, in the future, the defense areas of the six towns of Beiyang will almost be separated by thousands of miles, and all the surrounding areas are troops of the National Social Army, is it possible that Yan Guang is afraid that their troops of less than ten divisions will turn the sky upside down?

Cao Kun and Wu Peifu were naturally quite satisfied with this, after all, the Third Division was their old unit, and if they were suddenly transferred to other units, I am afraid this would not be acceptable to them. However, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu are satisfied, but it does not mean that others are also satisfied, such as those Beiyang people who must split their troops and themselves must serve in other units...

What's the use of just being dissatisfied? Looking at Cao Kun's appearance, you can know that the people of the Six Towns of Beiyang will never be on their side in this matter, and they have already failed on the battlefield.

"I can't help it, I can only pinch my nose and admit it..."

In fact, Yan Guang is still very relieved about Beiyang, after all, Beiyang does not belong to a revolutionary group like the Kuomintang, and will always do something to ask for trouble for the sake of the revolution or something. This is also why Yan Guang chose to accept Beiyang instead of the Kuomintang, because in the future, Yan Guang is likely, or will definitely do something that the world, at least the group of revolutionaries of the Kuomintang, cannot accept, if he accepts the Kuomintang, then the revolutionaries of the Kuomintang will definitely jump out to find trouble for themselves. In contrast, people in Beiyang are much more "acquainted".

Moreover, there were more talents in Beiyang during the same period, and in comparison, the Kuomintang, as a revolutionary group, was suspected of indiscriminate use...

Of course, the most important thing is that Yan Guang doesn't like people to restrain himself when he is doing things, such as participating in European competitions. Yan Guang is sure that if the European war breaks out, as long as he makes the decision to participate in the European war, the Kuomintang people will definitely jump out against him...

So...

"Now that the people of Beiyang have been served, it is time to completely eliminate the Kuomintang..."

To put it simply, it is to sweep away the Kuomintang's power in China again, as it did during the Second Revolution. For this reason, Yan Guang also ordered the personnel of the Military Intelligence Bureau to make more preparations, so that they could have a reasonable reason to take action against the Kuomintang at the appropriate time.

Of course, the Kuomintang is also well aware of this, so after returning to China, it has been restraining the Kuomintang army and even the members of the Kuomintang, and must not create an excuse for conflict for the Kuomintang army. For this reason, on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders, the Kuomintang patrol troops even had to take a detour when they saw the Kuomintang Army...

However, as long as you want to find this kind of thing, you can always find it―――――― although such an excuse can never hide it from the discerning person, but as long as the Kuomintang forces in Suzhou, Anhui and other places can be wiped out in the shortest possible time, then even if the Kuomintang wants to avenge it, there is nowhere to stretch out...

Of course, after cleaning up the Kuomintang, Yan Guang would not forcibly dissolve the Kuomintang like Yuan Shikai, after all, this is really too annoying. What's more, after the establishment of the new political axe, Yan Guang also needs to have a few vases placed there...

――――――――――

Fujian...

"Governor, the ship is coming..."

Beside Sun Daoren, a pro-soldier whispered.

"Really?"

Sun Daoren nodded, then stood up.

"Since the ship is coming, let's go out..."

"Yes..."

Behind Sun Daoren, the person in charge of the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau hurriedly nodded.

It has been a few months since Yan Guang ordered 10 million pounds of various equipment and goods from the Germans, and in the past few months, the British have already prepared some of the goods after preliminary preparations, and are ready to deliver them to Yan Guang, who was fighting with the Beiyang Army in Wuhan at that time.

However, after learning the news that the goods had been prepared, Yan Guang asked the Germans to transport part of the shipbuilding equipment to Fujian first, which is now the Mawei Shipbuilding Bureau, to unload the cargo.

The goods were all paid for by Yan Guang, and the Germans naturally had no opinion on this, not to mention that if they were unloaded in Fujian, they could save time and fuel.

As for why Yan Guang unloaded in Fujian?

As the largest shipyard in China, the Mawei Shipyard can be said to have a long history. Although this year has become inaccomplished due to the early establishment of the Republic of China and the chaos of state affairs, in the Manchu Dynasty, that is, around 1900, the 850-ton Jian'an and Jianwei destroyers were built, which can be regarded as having a certain foundation.

In this case, to transport a full ship of shipbuilding equipment to Yucheng, which is clearly not suitable for the construction of large ships? It is better to transport it directly to the Mawei Shipyard and turn the Mawei Shipyard into the largest shipyard in the Far East.

You must know that as the largest shipyard in the Far East, the Mawei Shipyard has a fairly strong foundation in terms of personnel, and it is definitely much more convenient to re-establish a shipyard in Mawei than to re-establish a shipyard in Guangzhou or Shanghai.

Therefore, after the victory was established in Wuhan, Yan Guang had already sent a telegram to Sun Daoren, who had many contacts with him, indicating that he had decided to re-establish the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau in Fujian, hoping that Sun Daoren, as the governor of Fujian, would give him some convenience.

Sun Daoren naturally did not dare to have any objections to this, so when the German transport ship was about to arrive in Fujian, Sun Daoren also went to the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau to greet him.

Of course, for the re-establishment of the Mawei Ship Political Bureau, the happiest person is definitely not Sun Daoren, the governor of Fujian, nor can it be Yan Guang, who contributed to the re-establishment. It was Chan Siu-cheung, the director of the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau. As the director of the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau, seeing the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau gradually abandoned, the most distressed person is definitely Chen Zhaoqiang. Now seeing that the governor of Sichuan, surnamed Yan, had invested in the purchase of so much equipment and decided to re-establish the ship's political situation, Chen Zhaoqiang was naturally ecstatic.

After Chen Zhaoqiang and Sun Daoren walked out of the room, they came to a pier of the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau in a short time.

"Governor, for you..."

After seeing Sun Daoren walking to the dock, an officer behind Sun Daoren hurriedly handed over the telescope to Sun Daoren.

As the governor of Fujian, in fact, Sun Daoren has no rights, all the rights are on Xu Chongzhi and other revolutionaries, and Sun Daoren is just a puppet.

However, after the Second Revolution, the Kuomintang failed, and Xu Chongzhi had to flee from his hometown like other Kuomintang, and at this time, the power was naturally in the hands of Sun Daoren.

It was also on this occasion that Sun Daoren established his authority in Fujian. At this point, even if Yuan Shikai later allowed the Kuomintang to return to China, it was useless, so although Xu Chongzhi returned to China, he did not return to Fujian to grab power with Sun Daoren.

And after receiving the telescope, Sun Daoren looked into the distance.

In the distance, several German freighters were heading in the direction of the dock.

"Are these freighters?"

Chen Zhaoqiang nodded, and then said to Sun Daoren.

"That's right, Governor, according to Governor Yan, these are German freighters carrying shipbuilding equipment." To be honest, Chen Zhaoqiang was simply looking forward to the German freighter in the distance, if it weren't for the fact that there was only one pair of telescopes and it was in Sun Daoren's hands, Chen Zhaoqiang would even have the heart to snatch the telescope from Sun Daoren's hand.

As for the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau after the re-establishment, the position of the director is no longer Chan Siu-cheung?

For Chen Zhaoqiang, as long as the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau can be reborn, it doesn't matter who becomes the director, after all, he has persevered in such a difficult time, is it possible that he can't hold on to it now that he is rich? You know, not long ago, the National Political Axe allocated only 30,000 yuan a month (historical facts), what is such a small amount of money for? I am afraid that even the salaries of the engineers and workers in the Harbour Administration Bureau are just enough, and it is no wonder that the Mawei Harbour Administration Bureau has not made any achievements for a long time after the Republic of China.

After all, shipbuilding is a thing that requires a lot of money, and without it, you really can't build anything...

Just when Chen Zhaoqiang was about to see through it, the German freighters finally docked at the dock in the midst of thousands of calls.

Soon, more than a dozen people walked down the freighter, both white and yellow, but the leaders were all Chinese.

"May I ask you are Sun Daoren and Sun Dudu, right?"

After stepping off the boat, the leading Chinese asked Sun Daoren.

The current power of the National Socialist Army is even stronger than that of the peak of the Beiyang, so Sun Daoren didn't dare to hold it up, and hurriedly replied after listening to the words of the leader.

"That's right."

The man in the lead nodded, then looked at Chen Zhaoqiang. "You are the Director of the Harbour Master, Chan Siu-cheung?"

Although he didn't know why these people knew about him, Chen Zhaoqiang also nodded.

"I am..."

Hearing Chen Zhaoqiang admit his identity, the leader smiled, and then took a suitcase from one of the attendants behind him.

"I'll leave this to you..."

As he spoke, he handed the suitcase into Chen Zhaoqiang's hands.

After taking the suitcase, Chen Zhaoqiang was stunned.

"What are these?"

"Just open it and see..."

Hearing this, Chen Zhaoqiang hurriedly opened the suitcase.

However, after opening it, Chen Zhaoqiang was completely stunned when he saw the things inside.

"This is..."

In the suitcase, hundreds of drawings are neatly placed, and there is a stack of checks next to the drawings...

Chen Zhaoqiang saw it very clearly, the amount on the first check was 100,000, and no matter how you look at it, this pile of banknotes has the appearance of 100 sheets, that is to say, this pile of checks represents at least 10 million...

"Those drawings are the drawings of destroyers and light cruisers, designed by the designers of the Sichuan shipyard, and the governor wants to entrust Director Chen to build these two warships, and as for the 10 million silver dollars, it is the money provided by the governor to the Harbour Bureau..."

When he said this, there was a faint pride in the mouth of the young man in the lead.

And Chen Zhaoqiang has an urge to cry...

How many years? The Mawei Ship Administration Bureau has finally waited for the opportunity to build warships for the Chinese Navy!

(To be continued)