Song Biao's appointment as the governor of the three eastern provinces is strange from top to bottom, and it is extremely strange.

In the history of the Qing Dynasty, it was very common for a governor not to go to Beijing to meet the emperor to receive the grace of the emperor before taking office, but it was almost impossible for a governor to be a feudal official who controlled the military and political power of the provinces, and on one side he was the emperor of the soil.

The Empress Dowager Cixi also wanted to summon Song Biao, leave Song Biao to live in Beijing for a period of time, and make a decision after careful observation, but she just thought about it.

The situation in the northeast is urgent, and the local displaced people must settle down as soon as possible to avoid civil unrest, and the negotiations with the Russians must also be stepped up, and the Russians cannot be allowed to continue to occupy the northeast indefinitely.

In addition, if Song Biao felt that the imperial court was going to invite the king into the urn, capture the thief and capture the king first, disrespect the decree, and refuse to enter Beijing to meet him, then where would Cixi's face go?

Song Biao's Northeast New Army is the confidant of the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Manchu court, it doesn't matter if you lose the Northeast, the court is at least still concerned, but if Song Biao rebels with the Northeast New Army, can the Manchu court still be able to stop it?

In this matter, Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai hit the nail on the head.

After receiving the telegram order from the Qing Zheng axe, Song Biao thought that the official uniform and official seal would not be delivered to him until at least November, but the result was very unexpected, just when Song Biao set up a temporary governor yamen near the Tanglin Wei military camp, he suddenly got the news, saying that the Minister of Military Aircraft, Prince Qing Yixuan, as the minister appointed by the Empress Dowager Cixi, personally went to Fengtianfu to recruit An, and had already arrived in Liaoyang.

This made Song Biao very surprised, he didn't know how Yixuan came so quickly, and he received the telegram only two days ago.

Because the other party had arrived in Liaoyang at noon yesterday and would arrive in Shenyang Tanglingwei this evening, Song Biao had specially arranged someone to be responsible for greeting him since the morning, at least the surface work had to be done sufficiently.

Yixuan came too fast, Song Biao was also caught off guard, not to mention that he had not yet retired from the Russian army at this time, for the sake of grandeur, he was wearing a blue-black military dress of a senior general of the Russian army, with brown thin leather gloves, and expensive deerskin military boots were bright and visible, Grand Duke Mikhail on behalf of Tsar Nicholas II presented Song Biao with a gold-plated St. George saber inlaid with a white enamel cross, symbolizing "the noblest bravery", replacing the original Brass handle St. Anna's saber presented by His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin.

Because there are still many things to deal with, Song Biao has been waiting for Yixiao's arrival in another carriage at Tanglingwei Railway Station, and used this time to discuss the issue of the demutualization of the Far East Coal and Iron Company with Shu Fangxin, who arrived in Shenyang yesterday.

At half past five o'clock in the evening, the whistle of the train was finally heard in the distance, and Song Biao paused the negotiation with Shu Fangxin and walked out of the carriage with a number of officers from the staff of the Northeast New Army.

It was not a pity that Yiliang came too quickly, because most of Song Biao's headquarters participated in the battle of suppressing bandits in Liaozhong County, and the four infantry regiments separately cleared more than 20 bandit arms, and the scale of the operation involved almost the entire Liaozhong County.

Therefore, Song Biao could only arrange for the Russian army officers in the staff department to attend the welcoming ceremony. Brigadier General Brusilov, Colonel Maltos and Colonel Pakilov were also invited.

When he was in front of the platform at the train station, Song Biao subconsciously glanced at the watch on his wrist and realized that this would be a moment that would be recorded in the history of his life, and it would not be long before he would officially become the king of the Northeast and become the co-owner recognized by all parties.

Before the Qing Zheng Axe, Russia, the French and the British had already admitted this in different ways, and the Qing Zheng Axe was the last to react, realizing that he had absolutely no other opponents in the Northeast.

The train slowly stopped in front of Song Biao and the others, and waited for about a few minutes, and the old Prince of Qing, who was wearing the official uniform of a first-class official of the Qing Dynasty, walked out of the carriage step by step with the support of others.

It looked like he was going to be a dying person, and the moment he walked out of the carriage and saw the lineup in front of him, the whole person was completely shocked, and his eyes were full of fear, as if he didn't realize what a powerful person Song Biao was until this moment.

Seeing that Song Biao in the general's uniform was so young and cold, there were so many senior Russian generals standing beside him, there were many medals on his chest like stars, and the saber was like a pure gold forging, and the craftsmanship was exquisite and dazzling...... At this moment, Yixuan's heart was like being stabbed by someone, and he was so frightened that he wanted to hide back in the carriage, unwilling to face this reality.

The reality is cruel, and the Song general standing in front of him is already recognized as the tyrant of the three eastern provinces.

The Qing political axe can not be the Northeast, but the countries hope to have a Northeast that can stabilize and ensure that the interests of all parties are effectively protected, and the person who can achieve this is obviously impossible to come from the Qing Zheng Axe, and there is no second suitable candidate except for General Song.

If he came a month late, Song Biao would get a specially customized military dress from the French, representing his special authority as the supreme commander of the Northeast New Army.

Unless he was going to Yanjing, Song Biao basically had no plan to wear the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty, he was in the northeast, and even he only planned to wear military uniforms in his life, and from these few months onwards, he would always wear the military uniform designed by himself.

Whether it's figure, appearance, dress, temperament, age, authority...... Song Biao trembled in all aspects of the Prince of Qing, ashamed of himself, and said in good conscience that Song Biao was the most effective image spokesperson in China at this time, at least compared with Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui, Wu Peifu and others, even from the aesthetic point of view of Europe and the United States, he can be regarded as a tall, handsome and healthy model.

looked at Song Biao in a daze for almost ten seconds, Yixuan didn't move a single step, until the people around him whispered a reminder, Yixuan seemed to suddenly wake up, this is about to step forward, want to take out the holy decree, and I don't know whether to issue an edict in front of so many Russian generals.

This made him very embarrassed, he originally thought that he could make a decree in front of Song Biao very vigorously, and then on behalf of the Queen Mother Lafayette, he would reward Song Biao with a flower feather.

Song Biao raised his eyes and glanced at Yixuan coldly, then directly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to shake Yixiao's hand, and said: "Your Excellency Prince Qing, welcome to visit the garrison barracks of the Northeast New Army, under Song Biao, the supreme commander of the Northeast New Army. ”

After introducing himself, Song Biao personally introduced a number of high-ranking Russian generals to Yixuan, and then said: "Your Excellency Prince Qing, we have prepared a carriage and a welcome dinner for you, please go to the barracks with me." ”

Yi Xuan was stunned and didn't know how to answer, he was a little overwhelmed in front of the large formation of thousands of elite soldiers.

Without waiting for him to answer, Song Biao gave a slight high-five, and had already arranged for Shu Fangde to drive the prepared carriage over, invited Yixuan to get into the carriage, and rode the black carriage with him to the camp office.

From beginning to end, the entire itinerary was completely controlled by Song Biao, and Yixuan didn't even have a chance to say a word "no", how could he drag his old body and fear to follow Song Biao's various arrangements.

Song Biao specially arranged a Western-style welcome dinner, but prepared a very special "pepper beef fillet rice bowl" on the dish to pass the Yixuan, and the banquet lasted for more than two hours before it ended, making Yixuan dizzy.

After the Russian generals left one after another, Song Biao continued to invite Yixuan to the West Flower Hall for talks.

It was only at this time that Yixuan seemed to be tired and faint and changed his senses, and finally took a breath, and felt that Song Biao was still very polite, and the arrangements were very thoughtful, giving him enough face, at least the pomp and circumstance before and after were very grand, but he was tired.

This sat down, and finally took a cup of Longjing tea from Shu Fangde and others, sat on the low couch and took a sip gently, and Song Biao, who was sitting on the left side, sighed: "The world says that the general is the young and handsome man in the world today, and he is mighty and powerful. General Song has such attainments at a young age, which is really not simple, and I also admire it. ”

Song Biao accompanied him to drink tea and drink, and replied with a lukewarm expression: "The prince is really a winner, and I am still just a grass man in the Qing Dynasty!" ”

Yixuan hurriedly said: "General Song don't have to worry, I came here to be sent by the Queen Mother Lafayette, and went to the decree in person, there were foreigners in the past, I am inconvenient to announce the decree, general, now there are no outsiders, then come forward to listen to the decree and receive the reward!" ”

After saying this, he took out a yellow silk satin shaft from his cuff, which was the holy decree of the Qing Dynasty.

Song Biao actually hated this matter, but he could only step forward to obey the leader's order.

Yi Liang slowly opened the decree to read, after reading it was the Empress Dowager Cixi's decree, because Guangxu was under house arrest, her decree was the same as the decree, Cixi made a generous move, and rewarded Song Biao with 6,000 taels of silver, and gave the two-eyed flower feather and the same level of scholar as the Taibao Chaozhu.

The pearls are one hundred and eight, the larger the diameter of the beads, the longer the total length, the more noble, the specifications of this string of pearls that Cixi rewarded Song Biao are already the limit of Hanchen, and the two-eyed flower feather in the entire history of the Qing Dynasty has only been crowned twenty ministers, and it is such a high-standard reward, it can be seen that Cixi is also very attentive to appease Song Biao.

After personally entrusting these imperial gifts to Song Biao, Yi Liang gave the holy decree to Song Biao, helped Song Biao up and said: "General Song, from now on, you are the governor of the three eastern provinces of our Qing Dynasty. ”

Song Biao got up and said to Yixuan: "I naturally understand this truth, and I also ask the prince to return to Lafayette for me, just say that I am a person who understands, and I have always been loyal and patriotic, as long as Weichen is in the Northeast for a day, no country dares to invade the Northeast." If they dare to come, Wechen will definitely let them have no return, if not, Wechen will have no face to live in the world, and he is ashamed of the Queen Mother's holy family of Lafayette! ”

"Good!"

Yixuan finally relieved himself, this is the atmosphere and environment he is familiar with, which makes him feel free.

Song Biao expressed his attitude, and then took the initiative to ask Yixuan to continue to sit down with him, and then changed the topic with Yixuan and asked: "It's also curious, I only received the telegram a few days ago, why did the prince arrive in Fengtian today?" ”

Yixuan said with a smile: "This matter has been decided early, I secretly set off half a month ago, because the Queen Mother was urgent, and rushed over in the starry night." The telegram was sent late, but there were still many debates in the court about the withdrawal of General Sheng Jing, and now it is naturally known that Lord Zhao is also an old minister in the court, and he was originally intended to be the governor of the three eastern provinces, in order to appease him, the Queen Mother specially mentioned him as a co-organizer of the university, so that he could rest assured to assist Lord Song in handling the affairs of the northeast frontier. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly and said, "I see." ”

Yixuan immediately turned the topic back and said: "Lord Song, the reason why I came in a hurry this time is also to ask you a few words of truth on behalf of Lafayette, in your opinion, can you negotiate terms with the Russians, so that the Russians can withdraw early?" ”

Song Biao replied: "This matter should not be difficult, when I was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the Russian infantry before, I had a negotiation with Grand Duke Mikhail, this person is the younger brother of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, he talked with me for a while, and I feel that I can still persuade Russia to withdraw its troops." Therefore, it should only be a matter of time, and what I am trying to do now is to try to get Russia to withdraw its troops within half a year. ”

Yi Liang was overjoyed and said: "If you can withdraw your troops within half a year, Lord Song has already made a prominent contribution to the imperial court, but I don't know if the Russians still need other harsh conditions?" ”

Song Biao said: "It's not clear for the time being, I have had a lot of contacts with senior Russian officials during this time, but in some places that are too sensitive, I try to avoid talking too deeply with them." Now that I am the governor of the three eastern provinces, I cannot but negotiate, and naturally I will go all out to negotiate with Russia. ”

Yixuan sighed: "The Russians are arrogant and unreasonable, and only by relying on the divine power of Lord Song can they be suppressed, so at this time it can only rely on Lord Song's maneuvering, if Russia can withdraw without making excessive demands, it will be the best reward and merit of Lord Song to the imperial court." ”

Song Biao took a sip of tea and said, "I know in my heart, don't worry, I don't think it's too much of a request at present." The most excessive is to cede the land, followed by the lease of the land, and the third is the compensation, and I will try my best to avoid these three points. ”

Yixuan was overjoyed, and said: "That's the merit of the top, Lord Song, if you can surrender to Russia without a fight, and make it collect the troops and return, the court will be rewarded." ”

Song Biao smiled and said: "I have already been rewarded very much, now is the time for me to serve the court and the country, please rest assured that the prince and the court can do their best, but as long as I can still fight, I will definitely do my best." Russia has experienced this war, suffered heavy losses, and the country is also in civil turmoil, as long as it can be understood and reasoned, Russia will definitely withdraw its troops, but this is only a temporary measure, and when Russia recovers its strength in three or five years, it will definitely continue to invade the Northeast, and 300,000 Russian troops will enter the Northeast again, I don't know how the imperial court will stop it at that time? ”

"...... this?"

Yixuan didn't know how to answer for a while, and after a moment comforted himself: "Russia must not be like this, right?" ”

Song Biao hummed strangely and said, "Since the prince thinks so, and the court also thinks so, then I didn't say it." I only want to say one thing, if the Russian army moves 300,000 troops south again, I would rather resign from my official position than be in charge of this battle, and I will never fight a battle that cannot be fought. ”

Yixuan was quite dissatisfied, and also asked in shock: "Why did Lord Song say this?" Lord Song is the master of our dynasty today, if you don't defend Liaodong for the court, what use will the court do for you? ”

Song Biao said: "The imperial court has no long-term strategy, it is a day to delay, and it is a day to sit back and watch the Kwantung part of the country occupied by the Russians, what is the point of me being the governor?" ”

Yixuan defended: "Lord Song's words are wrong, Kanto is the foundation of this dynasty, how can it be lost, if Lord Song has a good plan to deal with it, please speak out!" ”

Song Biao said: "First, we must step up the implementation of the new policy, transfer officials to enrich all provinces, states and counties, and implement effective management; the second is to set up a reclamation bureau to transfer people from Zhili, Shandong and other places to reclaim the Kanto, which greatly increases the population; The third is to let me raise my own military salary in the Kanto region and train the new army of 100,000 yuan within three years. With these three points, the Northeast can be saved. ”

Yi Xuan praised: "What Lord Song said is even, just cherish the people's power, I am afraid that it is too much to prepare a new army of 100,000 in the three provinces, the imperial court's finances are empty, and there must not be much silver available, if the new army in the Northeast can reach 50,000 or 60,000, it will be about the same." If the three provinces are really in danger, the imperial court can send new troops from other provinces to come to support. ”

He thought to himself, let you train 100,000 new troops in the three eastern provinces, I'm afraid that even my Qing court will not be able to protect it.

Song Biao didn't mind, and said: "Fifty or sixty thousand is fine, barely keep Shenyang and wait for the support of the provinces!" However, when it comes to the matter of the New Deal, I think Lord Zhao is not the person who runs the New Deal, and I also ask the court to change another person. Second, the garrison generals of the three provinces should be abolished and replaced by governors, otherwise, wouldn't there be a very serious conflict between me, the governor, and the garrison generals of the three provinces, and everyone will be fighting for power internally, and no one will be able to do practical things, so I am afraid it will not be very good. ”

Yixuan was in a dilemma for a while, originally he did talk about changing the governors of the three provinces, but who can really trust Song Biao, and continuing to keep the generals stationed in the three provinces is to drag Song Biao back. In the words of the Queen Mother Lafayette, the failure of the three provinces is just a physical problem, and if Song Biao's Song Northern New Army is allowed to sit big, it will be a problem for the henchmen.

Yixuan thought for a moment and replied: "Let me discuss this matter with other ministers after I go back, and make a decision after reporting to the Queen Mother." ”

Song Biao felt that it was impossible when he heard these words, and he sneered in his heart, to put it mildly, the Manchu people would rather lose the Northeast foundation now than let him dominate the Kanto region.

Song Biao didn't bother to discuss it anymore, he just wanted a few years of buffer time, and when he got a firm foothold, he had the final say on what to do with the three eastern provinces, and he didn't care enough about the strength of the Manchu court!

He has always been a faceless person, and immediately said to Yixuan: "What should I do with the court, I have always lived one day at a time, and when I was the governor of one day, the prince didn't care, what did I care about?" ”

Yixuan's face was very embarrassed, and he was both sad and happy and sad in his heart, worrying that Song Biao really did not know the scriptures and history, and had no idea of serving the country and loyalty, and he was happy that this person did not have much revenge and ambition, and the sad thing was that this person seemed to have no intention of protecting the three eastern provinces.

He pondered that if the Russians went south one day, if Song Biao really couldn't beat him, Bacheng would directly follow the Russians, and he would definitely not be as loyal and dutiful as other officials.

This premonition made Yixuan very discouraged, and he didn't know what to do.

(To be continued)