Listening to Xiong Bingqi's words, Tanaka Yu couldn't help but be surprised, and said, "This kid is Wu Dashuai's person?" ”

Xiong Bingqi said: "Isn't it, this kid is Ziyu's baby bump, thanks to Ziyu's lack of daughters, otherwise he will definitely be recruited as a son-in-law." ”

Tanaka Yu looked at Chen Zikun again, a handsome young man in the wind of Yushu, tall and heroic, courteous and courteous, indeed a talent, and just listened to his narration of going deep into the bandit's den, he is a brave and strategic, affectionate and righteous man, if he has a daughter in the boudoir, he is also willing to recruit such a coquettish guest.

The two of them are an overseer, a provincial governor, and naturally they don't need to speak softly, so this conversation was listened to by the officers behind them, and everyone had a somewhat arrogant attitude in front of this little lieutenant, but now they were all deflated, and the co-author is a celebrity under Wu Dashuai's account, and he is returning from studying in the United States, speaking fluent foreign Chinese, such a background, so capable, and so modest and low-key, which is really admirable.

Since then, everyone's favorability of Chen Zikun has increased by another point.

After listening to Chen Zikun's statement, the military and political officials and foreigners present were relieved, at first the foreigners were robbed, everyone thought that it was a repetition of the Gengzi incident, and it was a torture and killing action against Westerners, but now it is finally clear that the bandits are just seeking money, so that everyone's pressure is much less, and the current problem is how to rescue the rest of the hostages.

Chen Zikun put forward his own opinion, the bandits have been gathering in the Wuthering Mountains forest for a long time, they are familiar with the terrain, and they also have eyeliners in the surrounding villages, and the meat tickets are held in different places, if the attack is too much, I am afraid that the bandits will take risks and kill hostages, and the best way at present is to negotiate.

But who is going to negotiate, military and political officials like Tanaka Yu and Xiong Bingqi will definitely not be able to go, and He Fengyu, who is also the guard of Yanzhou Town, the Sixth Mixed Brigade and Yanzhou Town Guard, he and Sun Meiyao have a blood feud, and they will definitely not be able to come back, let alone the foreign adults, the bandits are unreasonable masters, and if they detain people, this matter will be even more troublesome.

It is not appropriate to send the following small roles, the squires dare not go, even the status of the platoon commander is too low, and he can't speak, in case Sun Meiyao mistakenly thinks that he looks down on him, he may be killed on the spot, speaking of which, everyone's eyes are still focused on Chen Zikun.

He is a member of the War Department, although the rank is a little lower, but it is reasonable to say, he has already dealt with bandits once, he knows the roots, he is familiar with the way, and he is also a member of the mission, he should have dealt with this matter.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Chen Zikun stood up even more relentlessly and said, "I'll go again, but there is one condition." ”

Tanaka Yu immediately said: "You just say, as long as I can do it, I will be satisfied." ”

Chen Zikun said: "When I took these five meat tickets, I had an agreement with Sun Meiyao that the ticket price of one hundred and fifty taels of gold per person was brought by someone, and it was time to fulfill the promise." ”

As soon as these words came out, the nest immediately exploded below, five hostages, one hundred and fifty taels each, that is, seven hundred and fifty taels of gold! It is equivalent to 75,000 yuan, which is not a small amount, and the foreigners will naturally not pay, and the overseers and governors will not pay, and this account will definitely be spread on the 6th Mixed Brigade and the Yixian authorities, who are responsible for defending the territory, and let them take out 750 taels of gold, which is simply pumping their tendons and drinking their blood.

There was a mess in the conference room, and no one was willing to pay this money, the foreign adults were suddenly furious, and left the table angrily one by one, Chen Zikun smiled and said nothing, anyway, Jianbing had been rescued, his pressure had plummeted, and whether he could rescue the rest of the hostages had nothing to do with him.

Once vital interests are involved, no matter how big the official is, he can't suppress the scene, and the meeting is difficult to continue, so Chen Zikun quietly withdrew and went to Stilwell.

In Stilwell's room, Chen Zikun took out a note from the American journalist Powell C. Powell, which was a letter written on the back of a cigarette case, scribbled and concise, and told the story of the crime and the specific situation of the bandits in the simplest language.

The bandits had at least 1,000 soldiers, well-armed, with English interpreters, the safety of the hostages could be guaranteed for the time being, shoes and food were stockpiled, and an incomplete list of hostages was attached, including two U.S. Army majors, Italian lawyers, Mr. Messo, legal adviser to the Shanghai Opium Tobacco Association, Mexican industrialist Wei Ruia, and U.S. Senator John Murphy. Stanley's only daughter, Time reporter Catherine Brown. Stanley.

Chan also gave Stilwell a detailed account of what he had seen in the bandits' den, including brand-new Japanese equipment and an English translation of what appeared to be Japanese, all of which he had just overlooked at the meeting.

Stilwell immediately became vigilant: "Chen, these situations you mentioned are very valuable, after the Washington Conference, Japan's rights and interests in Shandong have been greatly weakened, these insidious guys are very likely to manipulate this matter to retaliate against the United States, you know, there are no Japanese in the hostages, and the Japanese minister, who has always liked to join in the fun, is actually very low-key this time, these are very suspicious." ”

Chen Zikun said: "According to my observation, Sun Meiyao is simple-minded, has developed limbs, and is a person with a temperament, if I can fulfill my promise and pay the ransom, he will believe in me even more, in this way, it will help the smooth rescue of the rest of the hostages, but these ransoms ......"

Stilwell said: "Of course, the ransom should be paid by the Chinese government, you don't need to worry about that, I believe there will be a conclusion early tomorrow morning." ”

In order to smoothly solve the problem of the robbery in Lincheng, the telegraph room of the Zaozhuang Zhongxing Coal Mining Company was on duty all night, and the telegraph offices of all cities on the Jinpu line were also on duty to send and receive telegrams, and the foreign adults sent urgent telegrams to the Beijing embassy to demand a solution to the ransom problem, and the Dongjiaomin Lane side stayed up all night, waiting for news from Zaozhuang all night, and after receiving the telegram, the ministers were furious and filed the strongest protest and urgent note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China overnight, demanding that the central government rescue the hostages within 24 hours. If the time is exceeded, the compensation will be doubled.

In Beijing, Xinhua Palace, President Li Yuanhong was woken up from his sleep by his attendants, and what awaited him was an urgent note from the ministers of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, and other countries in China, as well as an urgent military situation report from the Department of the War Department and the Navy Department.

The situation had reached the most critical juncture, the troops of the great powers in China began to build, the American and British warships in the waters of Dagu Kou in Tianjin raised their guns, and the envoys mentioned in their strongly worded diplomatic notes that if the Chinese political authorities failed to fulfill their responsibilities to protect foreign nationals, then Western troops would take over the Tianjin-Pudong Railway.

Li Yuanhong's head was covered with cold sweat, this incident can be called the most difficult diplomatic issue since the founding of the Republic of China, 39 Western hostages, enough for the powers to start a war, he quickly asked his attendants to connect the phone of Premier Zhang Shaozeng, and ordered him to solve the hostage problem within 24 hours at all costs.

After receiving Li Yuanhong's phone call, the two consulted for a while, and respectively issued a strong-worded order to the Shandong Governor Tian Zhongyu and the provincial governor Xiong Bingqi in their respective names, ordering them to settle the hostage issue within 12 hours.

Zaozhuang was not idle here, and it was absolutely impossible to get the local authorities to pay money, even if the foreigners bombarded Tianjin and sent troops to Beijing, they had nothing to do with them, and it was even more impossible to let Tanaka Yu and Xiong Bingqi pay out of their own pockets, so a telegram with euphemistic but resolute wording replied to the Beijing authorities.

That night, the telegraph line from Zaozhuang to Beijing was not idle, and it was not until early in the morning that a compromise plan was come up, and the money must not be paid by foreigners or local authorities, and this money should be spread on the Ministry of Communications.

The Jinpu Railway is under the management of the Ministry of Communications, and the foreigners were robbed on the train, and the most important point is that after the situation deteriorated, the armies of the great powers took over the Jinpu Line, and the Ministry of Communications was the party that lost the most, so the money deserved by the Ministry of Communications.

Of course, it is impossible for Wu Yulin, the general director of the Ministry of Communications, to carry so many gold bars with him, and it will take time to transport them from Beijing, and if there is a delay, it is not a joke for the foreign people to get angry, so the money will be paid by the local authorities first, and then by the Ministry of Communications later.

After a night of trouble, the dust finally settled, but a new problem came again, the fucking bandits offered a little too ruthlessly, a full seven hundred and fifty taels of gold, that is, seventy-five ten taels of big strips, Zaozhuang poor and remote areas can't take it out at all, even if it is a big enterprise with a head and a face like Zhongxing Coal Mining Company, there are only more than 10,000 oceans on the counter.

There is no way, let's make it up, but despite the guarantee of Tanaka Yu and Xiong Bingqi and the endorsement of the Ministry of Communications, the landlords and gentry in Yi County still did not buy it at all, only He Fengyu, who could not escape the involvement, took ten gold bars privately, plus 10,000 cash from the coal mining company, and even half of it was not enough.

These people have a very clear calculation, five hostages will cost 750 taels of gold, that a total of 39 Western tickets, more than 70 Chinese tickets, wouldn't it cost millions of silver dollars to redeem it, according to historical experience, the expenses of the government in the end are all on the heads of the people, so, out of the concept of self-preservation, the gentry in the Zaozhuang area invariably pretended to be deaf and dumb, and at most they only took 500 yuan out of cash to make up the number.

Wu Yulin, the chief of transportation, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and the ticket money on Jinpu Road was an important part of the revenue of the Ministry of Communications, and it was really going to be taken over by the Western army.

The problem came again, the money of the Ministry of Communications was deposited in the Bank of Communications, without the signature of the general director, no one dared to put such a large sum of money out, President Wu was furious, personally called Beijing, lost his temper to solve, put down the phone, looked up to the sky and sighed: "When the country is in trouble, there are no loyal people to share the worries of the country, it is really sad." ”

Suddenly, the guard came to report: "Chief, there is a gentleman from Shanghai who asks to see you." ”

"Nope!" Wu Yulin was upset and immediately refused.

"Chief, this is the gentleman's post." The guards still offered a prayer post.

Wu Yulin took it and took a look, and there were three words on the post: "Golden Rong!" ”

"Please!" Chief Wu stood up with a spirit.