In July 1906, the first anniversary of the end of the Russo-Russian War, with the clarification of the administrative division of the three eastern provinces, the abolition of the dual system of banners and people, the gradual improvement of the new policy institutions of the provinces, provinces and prefectures, the arrival of officials from all over the country, the re-establishment of the three eastern provinces as autonomous special regions of the Qing Empire in a certain sense and foreign relations, and the gradual improvement of the new policies and laws, the new policies of the three eastern provinces began to gradually enter a new stage of stability and rise.

Similarly, the relationship between Song Biao and Miss Shu Xuan is also in a steady rising stage, and the correspondence between them is more like the kind of friendship between male and female classmates of high school students.

If it is calculated on third base, then even the first base has not broken through, and this speed is definitely a turtle speed creeping forward for Song Biao.

Song Biao's mind is definitely not very pure, and it is difficult for him to determine whether Shu Xuan is the woman he really wants, and Shu Xuan has not considered this matter, she is more worried about Song Biao's special identity and status as the leader of the three eastern provinces.

So at this complex stage, most of the correspondence between Song Biao and Shu Xuan is official business, or communication, as well as Yingxi.

In view of the reality of dealing with Britain and the United States for a long time, Song Biao has been working hard to learn English in convulsive time, and his two English teachers are Li Enfu and Shu Xuan, and with Shu Xuan, they also often talk about Europe, America and poetry.

Shu Xuan has been working hard to translate Walter during this time. Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", but with her talent, translating such poems is a very difficult thing, Song Biao has been encouraging, but I can also feel that Shu Xuan still lacks such skills, which not only requires a very good appreciation of English poetry, but also requires first-class Chinese culture skills, although Shu Xuan is to use the vernacular as much as possible to translate, but in the process to consider the rhyme and the beauty of the vernacular, which is more difficult.

Song Biao's intuitive feeling is that the poetic charm of the original English version of "Oh, Captain, My Captain" read by Shu Xuan is very different from the vernacular poetry manuscript she painstakingly translated.

This made Song Biao and Shu Xuan feel a little discouraged, but Song Biao still encouraged Shu Xuan to continue trying.

On this morning, when there were not many things to be busy, Song Biao would not meet Zhang Zuolin, the commander of the Jilin Provincial Right Road Patrol Battalion, until after ten o'clock, and after the morning was over, he took advantage of this time of leisure very interestingly, and read softly in front of the office window the new draft of "Oh, Captain, My Captain" translated by Shu Xuan again.

After several painful attempts, Shu Xuan still did not give up her efforts in rhyme, but also followed Song Biao's advice and focused more on the complete expression of the original meaning and the accurate translation of the poem's emotions.

Oh, the crimson blood is cathartic; My captain lay on that cold deck; He has fallen, he is dead, he has cooled; Oh captain, my captain, arise, and listen to the bell; Get up, and the flag will be displayed for you; Arise, and the trumpet will sound for you.

…… Compared with the previous two translations, Shu Xuan changed the original "blood leakage" to end with "flowing", although the meaning of the word has changed, but it has captured a new rhyming root.

At least in Song Biao's opinion, such a translation is already perfect, and there can't be a better Chinese translation than this.

After reading several times in a row, Song Biao couldn't suppress the joy in his heart, and couldn't wait to pick up the phone and call Shu Xuan, who was in the art troupe. ”

Shu Xuan also just arrived at the art troupe, and was naturally very happy to hear such praise, and said with a smile: "Really? ”

Song Biao praised: "Yes, it is indeed very good, if we can all have this level, I think we can publish this translation poetry collection, which is a very important thing, which may be an important starting point for modern Chinese poetry." ”

Shu Xuan was slightly stunned, and said with a smile: "Don't say that, I will feel more pressure." ”

Song Biao thought about it and was about to comfort her again, when Shu Fangde hurriedly knocked on the door and came in, and reported to Song Biao: "Military seat, Zhang Zuolin, the commander of the right patrol battalion in Jilin Province, has arrived at the military department in advance, do you want to meet him now, or let him wait until ten o'clock?" ”

Song Biao turned his face sideways and looked at the time, and found that it was eight o'clock in the morning, Zhang Zuolin had come for a full two hours, but Song Biao had no other arrangements in these two hours, today was the weekend, Song Biao deliberately asked Shu Fangde and the Secretariat to arrange less work, so that he could have time to stop and think and rest.

Song Biao covered the microphone and instructed Shu Fangde: "Then you let him in, tell him that I will only give him a quarter of an hour, think clearly what to say and then come to see me, don't waste my time." ”

Shu Fangde bowed slightly, and hurriedly left the office.

Song Biao continued to say to Shu Xuan: "I think the translation of Walter. Whitman's poetry will be a very difficult work, it will take several years of long-term work, you don't have to rush, you can translate it one by one, and think it slowly, as if you are re-creating it yourself. ”

Shu Xuan sighed with great ambition, and asked a little nervously: "Will you always help me and be my first reader?" ”

Song Biao replied with certainty: "Of course, this is our common ambition!" ”

Maybe many people have used this trick to get close to literary beauties.

Of course, Song Biao is definitely not [***] silk.

A man with a net worth of more than 100 million, as the governor of the three eastern provinces, has an iron army of tens of thousands of people, which is really unreasonable.

Song Biao had no interest in modern poetry at all, and he would rather practice target shooting with everyone in the barracks or go out hunting than waste time on this kind of poetry, but he was really happy to encourage Miss Shu Xuan to achieve something in this area and leave her name in modern Chinese poetry and history.

Therefore, Song Biao did not deceive his surname by using the word "common aspirations" instead of "common hobbies".

Shu Xuan continued to ask him: "Have you read the new translation of "Song of Self", as a poet with more modern free cooking ideas, I think "Song of Self" has a stronger will to be free to cook than "Captain". ”

Song Biao smiled: "I just finished reading the previous one and couldn't wait to call you, I haven't seen it yet, wait for ......!" ”

As he said this, he translated out the new translation of "Song of Self" and roughly skimmed it, compared to the previous two translations, it was more coarse, for a girl, it is very difficult to grasp this kind of free-spirited thoughts and emotions, and Shu Xuan should say that she has done a very good job.

Song Biao has always felt that many things focus on opening a precedent, rather than the actual level.

Just as Yan Fu's translation of The Wealth of Nations is extremely scarce, because he lacks a basic understanding of the country's tax and fiscal system, and it is mixed with forty percent of private goods, including the translation of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution", Yan Fu's name lies in the fact that he opened this precedent.

As a pioneering work, Song Biao at least felt that the Chinese translation of Shu Xuan's "Leaves of Grass" was very readable and could withstand the scrutiny of time.

After reading the new "Song of Self", Song Biao was about to speak, when there was a rush of footsteps outside, Shu Fangde immediately led Zhang Zuolin into the office, and after pushing the door open, Zhang Zuolin, who was wearing a four-grade military attache uniform, hurriedly stepped forward to pat his sleeves and worship, bowed his head and said: "The lowly Zhang Zuolin has seen the governor!" ”

Song Biao raised his eyes and took a closer look at Zhang Zuolin on the opposite side, the future king of the Northeast was established at the time of his thirties, in the tide of bandits in the three eastern provinces, he was one of the very few people who could seize the opportunity to rise to become the king, his luck was so good, the bandits who were bigger than him, Feng Linge, who was only one step away from Zhao'an, had been completely eradicated by Song Biao's Northeast New Army mercilessly, but he relied on the protection of Zeng Yun to find a foothold in Jilin.

The Zhang Zuolin in front of Song Biao is not tall and lean, he looks more like a scholar, and he can't see the posture and background of the bandits, perhaps, this is the most different side of Zhang Zuolin and the big bandits of the same era.

Song Biao glanced at Zhang Zuolin a few more times, and then ordered: "Sit down, I'll talk to you after I call!" ”

Zhang Zuolin replied cautiously and hurriedly: "In front of the Governor, where is the qualification to sit in the lowly position, let's stand and answer!" ”

Song Biao glanced at Zhang Zuolin again, and there was no kindness and accommodation in his eyes.

Shu Fangde, director of the secretariat and adjutant of staff, who accompanied him, said to Zhang Zuolin: "Zhang Tongdao, there is nothing you want and don't want to do here, and there is nothing you think is appropriate or inappropriate. ”

Hearing what Shu Fangde said, Zhang Zuolin only felt a chill in his heart, his back was cold, and he hurriedly promised: "Thank you for your humble position, Your Excellency, for giving me a seat!" ”

Shu Fangde sneered silently, which made the orderly bring up the chair and let Zhang Zuolin sit on the west side against the wall, while Shu Fangde continued to stand on the east side to accompany him.

Hearing the conversation in the office, Shu Xuan asked Song Biao cautiously, "Is there something wrong with you over there?" ”

Song Biao snorted, continued to lower his head and glanced at the translation again, and said, "This new translation is not bad, okay, let's talk to you at lunchtime, I think it's very good anyway." I've got something going on here, so get busy first! ”

"Okay!"

Hearing Shu Xuan's reply, Song Biao put down the phone and handed the poem manuscript to Shu Fangde and said: "Shu Xuan's new translation is much better than the previous one, you can also take a look!" ”

Shu Fangde was not only happy, but also continued to nod his head very cautiously and solemnly, and said, "Thank you for your concern." ”

Song Biao still hummed simply, and then asked Zhang Zuolin: "I have always heard that you are secretly expanding the army with the support of Lord Zengyun, the governor of Jilin, if I am not mistaken, two months ago, I have already sent someone to inform you, what did I say at that time?" ”

Zhang Zuolin was quiet, his whole body was cold, and he couldn't help but get up and bow down after just sitting down for a moment: "I am guilty of my humble duties, and I also ask the governor to spare my life, but the local bandits in Jilin are rampant, the strength of the left battalion is not enough to quell the bandits, and there are strict orders from the imperial court, so I have to change the suppression to recruitment, and recruit several bandits as soldiers and include them in the service of the lowly command." The humble post has no intention of expanding the army, it is really difficult to disobey the order, and please ask the governor to be aware of everything! ”

Song Biao didn't answer coldly, and after a while, he asked Shu Fangde: "How did I let you pass the word at that time?" ”

Shu Fangde replied briefly: "Junzuo, you let the humble post pass on a very popular sentence to Zhang Tongdai, saying that it is 'don't give face'!" ”

Song Biao sneered at this time, and asked Zhang Zuolin: "Zhang Tongdai, my eyes are not blind, my ears are not deaf, and there are some people who are me on your side, so I still know the situation on your side very well." In March, you were only five battalions, a total of 5,700 men, but now in just three months, you have seven battalions, close to the size of 10,000 troops. Why, do you want to rebel, or do you want to go to war with my Northeast New Army, or do you really want to lose face to me? ”

Zhang Zuolin sweated like rain, and replied tremblingly: "Your Excellency the Governor, it is really unjust to be humble. In fact, the bandits from all walks of life in the three eastern provinces know that the Northeast New Army is about to suppress the bandits for the second time, and the focus is on Jilin. In order to seek stability and avoid forcing the bandits, Governor Zengyun agreed to recruit peace. Since the construction of the right patrol battalion has been suspended, and the police bureaus of various provinces have refused to accept the recruitment of bandits, they can only be placed in the lowly left patrol battalion. Even if he had 10,000 guts, he would not dare to disobey the orders of the Governor, and although there were many troops now, it was actually a temporary measure, and the Governor was also looking for another good way to settle these bandits. ”

Song Biao still sneered.

This kind of thing is said to be for various reasons, but Song Biao believes that Zhang Zuolin and Zeng Yun have plans to secretly expand their troops, and the Qing Zheng Axe has also given Zeng Yun a lot of support.

Song Biao is not such a good talker.

Even if Yin Chang, the governor of Fengtian, and Cheng Dequan, the governor of Heilongjiang, were honest people, they both stopped running the patrol battalion, and handed over the affairs of the patrol camp to the defense bureau under the governor Song Biao's yamen, and the patrol battalions of the two provinces were abolished on the spot and changed to patrol detachments of various prefectures and counties, with the establishment of each detachment being about 600 people, and the establishment of the patrol brigade being about 300 people.

Zengyun, the governor of Jilin Province, was disobedient, to be precise, Zengyun was in a dilemma on both sides, on the one hand, the imperial court officials secretly informed him that he must maintain a certain size of troops in the three eastern provinces, and on the other hand, he could not afford to offend Song Biao.

Although Yin Chang also got such a secret order, he was under Song Biao's nose, and he knew that Song Biao's bottom line was to strictly control the army, so he shirked this secret order on the grounds that it was not appropriate to easily offend Song Biao and the Northeast New Army in Mukden.

Song Biao knew that the central court of the Qing Zheng Axe was playing tricks behind his back, but he had always been a person who spoke by strength, and he didn't intend to play tricks with the Qing Zheng Axe at all, so he directly used his strength to break the unrealistic idea of the Qing Zheng Axe.

Zhang Zuolin is a person who is extremely good at observing words and feelings, and at a glance, he knew that Song Biao did not accept these prevarications that he and Zeng Yun had thought about a long time ago, and he was even more anxious.

At this time, Zhang Zuolin was even more worried, and he didn't know how to answer and justify for a while, although he knew that his secret expansion of troops would not make Song Biao happy, but he thought that he was a close confidant of Zengyun, the governor of Jilin, after all, and Zeng Yun won the trust of the imperial court, how could Song Biao not directly get him, right?

It turned out to be a wrong guess.

Song Biao asked Zhang Zuolin to come over this time, just to directly order Zhang Zuolin's left governor's battalion to be removed.

Song Biao's army commander's office was silent for a while, Zhang Zuolin was already in a cold sweat at this time, the sweat particles the size of beans on his forehead slowly slipped down, and there were too many unspeakable fears and fears in his heart.

When Zeng Yun mentioned that Song Biao might win over Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zuolin also patted his chest and promised that he would only listen to the court and Zeng Yun, which made Zeng Yun extremely relieved and made it clear that he would continue to promote Zhang Zuolin to the court.

Song Biao indifferently drank the Wuyishan black tea in the big tea jar, continued to look at Miss Shu Xuan's translation, and compared it with Whitman's original English version, he calmly immersed himself in this wonderful atmosphere, and sighed Walt. Whitman's free cheers and indulgent singing also mocked Zeng Yun and Zhang Zuolin's shamelessness.

After turning two pages of poems, Song Biaocai lightly instructed Zhang Zuolin: "The patrol battalions of the three provinces have been abolished, what are you still doing?" Originally, I saw that your governor was still a person who knew the general situation, and I wanted to save some face for him, so I also sent someone to inform you, who knew that you were shameless. Go back and tell Zeng Yun, don't expect to use intrigue and those sesame rules in the officialdom to toss with me, the imperial court is a system in Guannei, and another in Kanto. The three eastern provinces are where I have the final say, I will say a word today, your patrol battalion has been withdrawn, if you still want to continue to be an official in the imperial court, then go to the Guannai to mix, you can't get along with me here, and naturally there is no place for you to mess around. If even a person like you dares to fight against me with thousands of foreign guns in your hand, how can I, the governor of the three eastern provinces, still be the governor? ”

Zhang Zuolin was shocked, and hurriedly bowed down again: "My lord's forgiveness, I know that I am wrong, I will follow my lord in the future, and I will never dare to have anything to do with Guannai again!" ”

Song Biao looked at Zhang Zuolin coldly and asked, "Do you think I will give you a second chance?" ”

Zhang Zuolin's face was like ashes, he thought about it dejectedly, and then said: "My lord, we are all from beards, and it is not easy to be good. I don't know what to do, but I ask the adults to give the other brothers a way to live, they are all people with families and children, just looking for a livelihood! ”

Song Biao said: "If you want to find a livelihood in the three eastern provinces, where can you not find it?" When a beard kills people, it's easy to get money quickly, there is no royal law, everyone wants to do it, if I give a way to live here and a way to live there, wouldn't I connive at others to be beards and wait for me to recruit peace? It will be easy to survive, and within a week, you will drag all my troops to Tieling and wait for me to take them in. I have to set up construction corps in Yanji and Dandong, and I have to set up military reclamation farms in the rest of the country, half army and half civilian, reclaiming heavy land in my spare time, and being responsible for expelling the Korean barren people when I am busy. You take a patrol detachment to Jinzhou to be promoted by the police bureau to assist Lord Zhizhou Qiutongfu in governing Jinzhou. You don't have to worry about anything else. ”

Zhang Zuolin breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately thanked him: "Thank you for your forgiveness." ”

Song Biao thought about it for a moment, and then said to Zhang Zuolin: "I have a very bad impression of you, I hope you pay attention to yourself, be careful in your life and do things, and make me so unhappy, I'm afraid that you won't have a chance to leave the three eastern provinces alive." As for Zeng Yun, you tell him that there are really a lot of people who don't eat and drink in the toast, don't make yourself unhappy, I have always been unable to rub sand in my eyes, if he doesn't want to do it, he and the court will ask for an order to transfer, and I will arrange another one who can really handle the new policy for the court, instead of dragging my back. ”

Zhang Zuolin nodded again and again, he wanted to say, "Lord Zeng Yun was also forced by the imperial court, and he was helpless", but he felt that he had reached this point, where would he have the opportunity to intercede with others.

At this time, Song Biao stopped talking, and quickly flipped through Miss Shu Xuan's poems.

After waiting, Shu Fangde and Zhang Zuolin said: "Zhang Tong, you can go back to Jilin." ”

Suck!

Zhang Zuolin received his order painfully, and then withdrew from Song Biao's office under the escort and supervision of the soldiers of the guard battalion, and left the military department.

It wasn't until this moment that he suddenly realized how stupid he was with Zeng Yun's idea of secretly expanding his troops.

This world is like this, there are always people who like to find unhappiness, but he didn't realize that Song Biao sent him to Jinzhou to have another "reuse", and it was a kind of "reuse" that had to be used.

After the opening of the new policy and the opening up of the three eastern provinces, the number of foreign citizens in the three eastern provinces gradually increased, because Russia's domestic politics and public order were unstable, and the economy was seriously shrinking, and it was an undeniable fact that a large number of Russians went to the three eastern provinces, followed by Yue himself.

The economic situation of this country is not much better than that of Russia, because of the huge foreign debt, the domestic financial contraction, the actual situation is worse than that of Russia, many people have been forced to move to Lushun, Dalian and other places to look for new opportunities, investment, education and skilled workers are the main groups of people in the three eastern provinces, but in addition to this, there are also a large number of people in the three eastern provinces.

In fact, after the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, a large number of people from the three eastern provinces continued to pour into the three eastern provinces, and after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the political axe of the Sao-Ben also disguised the good news and did not report the bad news, and continued to publicize the Russo-Japanese War as a kind of victory in the country through various means, and the scale of the influx of the right-wing of the Russo-Japanese people into the three eastern provinces continued to expand.

A small number of these ronins are acting as security personnel for enterprises in the three eastern provinces, and most of them rely on the funds of right-wing organizations to operate in the three eastern provinces, spy on intelligence, contact bandits, and engage in illegal trade.

What Song Biao could not tolerate the most was that these people continued to regard themselves as a warring country in China, and did not take into account the "Regulations of the Great Qing Dynasty and the Five-Power Entente between Russia, France, Britain, and Germany" reached by the three eastern provinces and various countries, as well as the "Regulations and Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Citizens in the Three Eastern Provinces". He wantonly insulted and oppressed the Chinese, and completely regarded the three eastern provinces as a colony like Korea.

In Lushun, the Ronin has been rampant to a certain extent, but unfortunately Song Biao can't control it, and these Ronin are infiltrating other areas of the three eastern provinces through various channels, the most serious situation is Jinzhou, Pulandian and other places, in Liaoyang, Haicheng, Fengtian, the total number of Ronin is also in the hundreds, a few days ago, there were even Ronin brazenly broke into the military camp to spy on intelligence.

Song Biao initially asked Yue Ben to punish these ronins through official channels, and ordered local police bureaus to confiscate the weapons of the ronin, and there were many conflicts during this time.

At this time, Song Biao could only be more ruthless.

He must seriously warn Ben that there is no room for you to be presumptuous in the three eastern provinces, and if you can't control the right-wing organizations, then you can only leave it to me.

After Zhang Zuolin took office in Jinzhou, Song Biao would tell Zhang Zuolin how to deal with the people of Yueben Ronin toughly, Jinzhou is a key area for the development of the three eastern provinces, and there must be no chaos here.

(To be continued)