The newly appointed Governor of Lushun, Akiyama Shinyuki, once again arrived at the military headquarters of the Northeast New Army, and it had been a year since he last came here and hurried away, when he came out of the carriage wearing a white naval cadet uniform, put on his military cap, looked up at the building of the military headquarters of the Northeast New Army in front of him, and sighed in his heart that the old diehards of the Admiralty and the Imperial Cabinet were really joking, and they actually sent him to do such a thankless task.

Is the Imperial Foreign Minister a bastard who eats idle meals and therefore only gets paid for nothing?

When the Admiralty sent the order by telegram, Akiyama Shinyuki, who had just become the Governor of Arthur and the commander of the Arthur Detachment of the Second Fleet, shouted that he really felt that the old guys on the Imperial side were trying their luck with him, and then counting on a miracle to happen again.

Unlike other officers and staff officers, on the first day after meeting Song Biao, Akiyama Mayuki firmly believed that Song Biao would one day lead the Northeast New Army into the customs and completely overthrow the rule of the Manchu royal family over this ancient empire.

This is a point that cannot be doubted.

Only a fool would believe that General Song was truly loyal to the Manchus and content with the status quo.

Akiyama Shinyuki was known for his mischievous character since he was a child, and it is always surprising that the people of the Admiralty have to describe him with the word "astute".

Stepping on this solid ground and school ground, Akiyama Shinyuki took out the white gloves from his pocket and put them on quite seriously, and continued to scold Foreign Minister Lin Dong again in his heart, and then hoped that Lady Luck would take care of him again.

It was Shu Fangde, the chief adjutant of the military secretariat, who came to greet Akiyama Shinyuki, because there had been a lot of contacts, and the two just saluted each other very casually when they met, and then, Akiyama Shinyuki went to the agency accompanied by Shu Fangde.

Walking on the smooth concrete road, Akiyama Shinyuki looked lazy and cunning and asked Shu Fangde: "Regarding the large-scale arrest of the samurai, General Song should be very proud now, right?" ”

Shu Fangde sighed and said, "It should be said that he was very angry, so he was angry for a long time." ”

Akiyama Shinyuki emphasized slyly: "So I have been planning for a long time to give these samurai a little color, I am really lucky, my brother and I are also from these down-and-out samurai families, and when I was a child, I was ridiculed by the children of the neighbors because of this, but fortunately, I have now become a real soldier." It's just that when I look back at these samurai who are still living in the past years, I really feel sympathy, and I always think, these stupid people, when has it been! ”

Shu Fangde smiled slightly, he didn't want to discuss too much with Akiyama Shinyuki in this regard.

Accompanied by Shu Fangde, Akiyama Shinyuki once again came to the second floor of the New Army Building, he thought that he would still meet with General Song in the reception room, but he did not expect to be invited directly to General Song's office.

For Akiyama Shinyuki's visit, Song Biao specially prepared a small gift, an ancient book of "Xunzi" during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, because it is an official engraving book, the printing volume is very small, and it is even rarer to survive to this day.

Song Biao was concentrating on personally wrapping this gift, ordering a cypress wooden box, and placing an ancient book empty, and the ancient book was wrapped with a layer of blue-white silk.

Entering this office, Akiyama Mayuki immediately stepped forward and bowed to Song Biao and said, "Your Excellency General Song, I apologize for the illegal armed incidents caused by our citizens in the three eastern provinces, as well as the trouble caused to you and the three eastern provinces. ”

Song Biao raised his eyes slightly, glanced at the other party a little coldly, and said, "Welcome to your visit again, Your Excellency the Governor of Akiyama." ”

With these words, he took out the packaged cypress box and gave it to Akiyama Shinyuki, and said, "In order to welcome your visit, I personally prepared a thin gift, and I hope you can accept it." ”

Mayuki Akiyama took the gift in both hands and replied, "Thank you very much." ”

Song Biao invited him to sit down, and he also sat at the desk, he was not in a hurry to directly discuss the matter of the Ronin with Akiyama Shinyuki, or other things, and he rarely took out the time of the past few days, ready to slowly deal with himself.

Therefore, Song Biao was not in a hurry to pop out a cigarette from Tieting and light it for himself.

This kind of cigarette named "Shengjing" brand is the first kind of cigarette produced by the Fengtian Cigarette Factory, and it is still a trial production period, and the first batch is specially sold to the military department, because the cigarettes produced by the locally grown local yellow flower tobacco are too spicy, and this batch of trial production of cigarettes are all imported from Mexico, which can be regarded as a by-product of Song Biao's visit to Mexico.

He smoked.

Shinyuki Akiyama sat on the chair next to him with a gift in his hand, thinking about a solution to the matter.

This incident was originally a very embarrassing situation, because when Akiyama Shinyuki was young, he had already forbidden Samurai to carry swords in the country, which was the famous "Knife Ban Order", and if it was forbidden for Samurai to hold swords in the three eastern provinces, Samoto Masatake had to jump out to stop such a thing, which would be a very stupid thing anyway.

Therefore, Akiyama Shinyuki had already communicated with Prime Minister Saionji Gongwang in a telegram that the prohibition of Samurai holding swords was within the scope of legal constraints, and that it was necessary to respect the "Statutes of the Five Nations Entente between the Three Eastern Provinces of the Great Qing Dynasty and Russia, France, Britain, and Germany."

After a little thought, Akiyama Shinyuki and Song Biao sighed: "Your Excellency, General, I personally support you in grabbing those ronins and beating them well, telling them that if you can't carry a knife to the market in your own country, you shouldn't be like this in a foreign country." Just because I was also from the samurai class and this family that was eliminated by the great era of history, I sympathize with their plight. I think they must have been similar to me when they were young, because they were born as samurai, and they happened to be born in this down-and-out environment, and when they were children, they were always forced to go hungry because of their father's helplessness, and they must have had a lot of regrets and pains in their hearts, but they couldn't bear to abandon the glory and tradition of the family and the like, in short, it was with this mood that they came to a foreign country to find a new world of samurai spirit. ”

Song Biao was not interested in the young affairs of the Akiyama brothers, and replied simply: "If it is really necessary to have a sword in order for them to find the dignity of bushido, then let them go to Korea, the laws of the three eastern provinces are not something they can trample on at will." ”

"Yes, I regret that too."

Akiyama Mayuki replied cautiously, and said, "Because I was born in the samurai class, my father was in the most painful period, and he was abandoned by the feudal lords, and he was so poor that I had to sell it, but fortunately, my brother's guy swore that he would work in the bathhouse, and that he would earn a lot of money to support them in the future, so I left me in the Akiyama family and grew up wearing my brother's rags." In retrospect, I really hate and sympathize with these fools like me, so much so that I have to say a few words of persuasion for them, or I would like to ask your men to be merciful, and please be lenient, and if so, I will be grateful. ”

After saying this, Akiyama Shinyuki got up again, bowed again and pleaded, "Please." ”

In the past three days, Song Biao has arrested nearly 600 people from the world, detained them all, and prosecuted them in various foreign-related courts on various prepared charges.

Because this is the first large-scale arrest of foreigners by the police system of the three eastern provinces, and the Western-style prosecutorial system has been adopted to openly prosecute them for violating public security regulations on behalf of the political axe, demanding collective sanctions such as confiscation of weapons, fines, and forced deportation, and a small number of people who have committed more crimes, such as the Lang and right-wing intelligence members, will be sentenced to several months or even several years in prison.

The foreign-related prison set up in Golden State is still empty so far, and it seems that it will be filled with Yue himself at once in a few months, and this foreign-related prison seems to have been established to imprison him.

This is simply terrible for Yue Ben, not only is it very humiliating, but it will also make the European and American forces in the three eastern provinces full of ridicule and contempt for them, and it is extremely unfavorable to Yu Ben's long-term plan to plot the rights and interests of the three eastern provinces.

The first reaction of the prime minister of the cabinet, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang, after hearing this incident, was "very bad, and it must be interfered with", if it happened in any place in the Qing Empire, it would be like a good opportunity to blackmail the Manchu royal family and the fat sent to the door, but it happened in the three eastern provinces is another matter, because General Song Biao, the governor of the three eastern provinces, who led this matter, once killed 100,000 soldiers of the Yue army like cutting wheat, and was known as the "god general of China" and the executioner who slaughtered the souls of a hundred thousand troops".

It was under these circumstances that Akiyama Shinyuki was personally entrusted with the important task by Prime Minister Saionji Kobo, and used a telegram from Saionji Konobu to describe Akiyama Shinyuki's mission, that is, "Settle this matter no matter what, Akiyama-kun, please think of more ways."

In the face of Akiyama Shinyuki's request, Song Biao hardly had any compassion, and instead asked, "Don't you want to see what the gift I gave you is?" ”

"Oh?"

Akiyama Mayuki felt that there must be a mystery in this, so he couldn't wait to open the cypress box, took out the book "Xunzi" from it, and immediately replied: "It turned out to be the ancient book of this Spring and Autumn sage, it is really a very good gift, I heard that His Excellency the General admires such a sage very much, and even inscribed in the school motto of the Far Eastern Army Non-commissioned Officer School: 'Honoring the virtuous and king, respecting the law and loving the people and tyranny'. ”

"yes!"

Song Biao sighed thoughtfully, and said: "I give you a book like "Xunzi", precisely because I handled the new policy in the three eastern provinces and governed this place, I followed Mr. Xunzi's words. If a philosopher like Fukuzawa Yukichi were still alive and visiting the three eastern provinces, I would have welcomed him with great honor, and even if he despised the obsolescence and pedantry of the Qing Dynasty, I would say that I had read your book, that it was very well written, and that it inspired me, and that China needs a thinker like you. In the same way, I also abide by the principle of emphasizing the law and loving the people, and since I have reached an agreement with Russia, France, Britain, and Germany, prohibiting foreign citizens from possessing standard weapons and firearms in the three eastern provinces, then I should strictly follow the provisions of the law to govern the locality! ”

Akiyama Shinyuki, who understood this intention, felt helpless, so he could only continue to plead: "Even so, I still hope that you will compromise on this matter, please be sure not to handle this matter through a foreign-related court, if you can handle it privately, my political axe will be grateful." I must apologize for the trouble they have caused you, and we will consider other ways to compensate for it. ”

Song Biao said: "The provisions of the law are the principle that must not be compromised. Now that you are here, I will give due consideration to pardoning some of them and allowing them to suspend their imprisonment after paying a hefty fine. ”

Akiyama Mayuki thought for a moment and asked, "Under what circumstances would you consider leniency and reduce this matter to a small matter and a small matter?" ”

Song Biao replied calmly: "With all due respect, I didn't think about this at all before this. If I really only plan to do it privately, why should I spend my energy to promote the Westernization of the police in the three eastern provinces and establish a strict foreign-related court and prosecutor system? That's it, because there are too many ronins involved this time, and the ronins who have not caused serious social security problems can leave as long as they pay the fine. As for some old cases filed by various police bureaus, the charges may be withdrawn if they have not caused physical harm. In the course of the current crackdown and arrest, the armed resistance of Benronin and some special organizations to the police in the three eastern provinces, as well as the part that caused police casualties, must all be formally handled through foreign-related courts. I have heard the following report that more than 20 people will be prosecuted in a foreign-related court, all of whom are charged with serious injury and breach of public order, as well as spying on military intelligence. Forget about the part of spying on military intelligence, there is no need to make such a big fuss. ”

Akiyama Shinyuki knew that the matter was no longer private, so he had to retreat and say, "Can you hand over the list of charges to me and allow my country to extradite me for trial?" ”

Song Biao said: "According to the "Three Eastern Provinces and the Five-Nation Agreement", only after the trial by a foreign-related court, according to the severity of the crime, can be extradited back to China according to the regulations, this is a clause approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself. Of course, you have the right to send police officers and lawyers to participate in the whole process of the case, and you can also let them deny all of them, but I can tell you with certainty that I am very well prepared, and in the process of this arrest, I have arranged for French and Russian police inspectors to accompany me, and the trial is also handled by French prosecutors. This is because the problem of the Ronin has affected the security of citizens in the three eastern provinces of various countries, as well as the stability of investment. ”

Akiyama Mayuki took a deep breath and plucked up his courage to say, "Although it is true that things have reached such a difficult point to clean up, I still want to say that Your Excellency the Governor, there is really no need to make things so stiff. There is an old saying among the Chinese that killing chickens and scaring monkeys, if it is really necessary to try a few samurai to rectify the public order of foreign citizens, we are willing to bear such pressure, but at the same time accusing dozens of people, filling foreign-related prisons with Yue himself, and at the same time only Yu himself, that may not be a good thing for the three eastern provinces and Yu Ben, and for you and Yu Ben. What's more, the investment of Chinese businessmen in the three eastern provinces is increasing, and the economic exchanges between the two sides are frequent, and such a thing will certainly have a very adverse impact on both sides. ”

Song Biao smoked coldly and sat down to think about the problem.

What to talk about?

What is there to talk about?

He wanted to talk to him about the abolition of all kinds of unreasonable provisions in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, but would he be willing to talk about it?

Is it possible?

He wanted to borrow tens of millions of silver yuan from Benbai for political axe expenses, would he borrow it for nothing?

After thinking for a moment, Song Biao asked Akiyama Shinyuki with a hint of sneer: "What is there to talk about?" ”

Akiyama replied sincerely: "Yes, at first glance, Germany, the United States, Russia, and France have actively provided all the cooperation you need, and it is indeed insignificant. I guess that's the sorrow of Asia. If you are really willing to talk, we are willing to cooperate further on the basis of the secret agreement. ”

Song Biao said in a very soothing tone: "Governor Akiyama, sit down and talk, it is indeed a situation where there is nothing to talk about, and it will be a headache to really talk about it." ”

Akiyama Shinyuki thanked him very cautiously, sat down and took the initiative to mention: "I personally guess that what you want to solve most now should be three problems, one is the problem of our country's old samurai holding controlled weapons in the three eastern provinces; second, the territorial dispute between the Kingdom of Korea and the three eastern provinces on Yanjima Island; The third is the issue of DPRK citizens staying in the three eastern provinces for a long time and not returning. If we must talk about it, our political axe is willing to negotiate with you with great sincerity about these three matters. ”

Song Biao said: "It's not a big deal, the first thing is within the law, unless you are really willing to send 100,000 troops to fight me again, and you will not hesitate to forcibly attack the three eastern provinces and destroy the foreign-related public security law reached by the three eastern provinces and other countries." The second thing is that I have secretly collected enough information and evidence in Korea in the past year, and the Kingdom of Korea is playing Laipi, so use the evidence to speak and gently slap the king's broken face. As for the third thing, I will be very clever in dealing with the DPRK and the DPRK, and I do not intend to solve these problems within 10 years. Believe me, I have the patience to knock this question out little by little. ”

His words made Akiyama Mayuki very uneasy, if he could, Akiyama Masayuki would rather persuade the Akimoto Axe to deal with these three issues quickly, the longer it was delayed, the more passive it became, and when the Akimoto Army was simply unable to go north to defend the special status and needs of the Great Tsuyomoto Empire in the three eastern provinces, the best way was not to cause so much trouble.

After thinking about it, Akiyama asked, "What kind of things do you really want to talk about?" ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said: "I hope that the political axe of the government will guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businessmen in the country and North Korea, especially for North Korea, since the three eastern provinces openly welcome the investment of businessmen, the North Korea should also be open to the commercial capital of the three eastern provinces, such as the Far East Commercial Bank under my name." On this basis, the territorial dispute in Yanji should be resolved fairly on the basis of the evidence in our possession, and all Korean citizens illegally residing in the Yanji area must leave the country within three years, and the governors' offices of the three eastern provinces will formally set up a military reclamation bureau in Yanji, and the army will directly reclaim local land. ”

Akiyama Majiko: "Yes, such a meeting is necessary for both sides, but since it is necessary to discuss so many issues, please also consider the issue of the approval of the bank's right to issue banknotes in the three eastern provinces." ”

Song Biao said: "This matter is not a big deal, according to the agreement that has been signed, the commercial bank that has obtained the right to issue notes will submit a deposit to the Northeast Bank in exchange for the Kanto silver dollar bills, and the Northeast Bank will be responsible for minting and printing all the currency." On this basis, in principle, I can give any foreign bank the right to issue notes. The problem is that Zhengjin Bank itself rejected my conditions, you know, in order to grab this seat, the Bank of America and I agreed to provide more than 60 million US dollars in deposits to the three eastern provinces within five years. HSBC also did not have an easy time, they agreed to give a 30% stake in Northeast Bank over the next three years, and Northeast Bank also had a share purchase right within HSBC, plus various other terms, before I waived Standard Chartered Bank and Favorable Bank and approved HSBC's note-issuing rights separately. As for Zhengjin Bank, it is not even willing to subscribe for the basic 15 million silver yuan of the three eastern provinces public bonds, so what else is there to talk about? ”

Akiyama Shinji: "For this short-sightedness of Zhengjin Bank, my country's political axe has already given a bitter reprimand, and I hope you will give Zhengjin Bank another chance." ”

Song Biao sighed casually: "There is no regret medicine in this world, we originally agreed to set up four new banknote issuing banks, which is why it will cause such fierce competition, if I add another one casually, other banks will regret it." It is regrettable that the Governor's Office has signed confidentiality agreements with Bank of America, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Crédit Agricole CIB, agreeing not to add new note-issuing banks for 10 years. So, I can only express my deep regret about this, and then again, I didn't ask the Northeast Bank and the Far Eastern Bank to have the right to issue banknotes in Korea, did I, Your Excellency Governor Akiyama? ”

"...... this?"

Shinichi Akiyama choked up at the moment.

Militarily, the cooperation between the three eastern provinces and Germany has become increasingly high, and the privatization has officially begun, and the Northeast Arsenal, which is included in the Far East Consortium, has reached a huge joint venture agreement with the German DWM company to build a new military factory in Benxi, with each side holding 50 percent of the shares, and the total investment scale within three years will reach 6 million pounds.

The total scale of the military cooperation carried out by the Northeast New Army and Russia, France, Germany, and the United States at the same time is so huge that the weight of the secret cooperation previously agreed between the three eastern provinces and the Northeast New Army is gradually becoming lighter, not to mention, the main cooperation between the two sides is the exchange and trade of military materials, and the main part of these secret transactions has ended, and the Northeast New Army has received a large amount of ammunition, military machinery, and Anglo stallions.

This is a secret deal in which each side takes what it needs, and neither side can use it to blackmail the other, especially under the premise that the value of such a deal to the Northeast New Army is already insignificant.

(To be continued)