Speaking of which, Xu Shichang and Guo Yu really don't have a deep relationship, but they helped Guo Yu twice at the right time, but throughout the entire Republic of China government, the ones who can talk to Guo Yu are Xu Shichang and Liang Shiyi, but Liang Shiyi is now wanted and has fled to Hong Kong for refuge, so he can only come forward by Xu Shichang, who has been idle at home.

Before Yuan Shikai's death, Xu Shichang chose to resign and retire to the mountains and forests because Yuan Shikai failed to claim the emperor, and Xu Shichang chose to resign and retire to the mountains and forests when he saw that the world was difficult.

Xu Shichang served as the Hanlin of the Qing Dynasty, and the highest official in the Qing Dynasty was the governor of the three eastern provinces and a scholar of Tirenge. and Yuan Shikai are brothers, and in 1914 he served as secretary of state, that is, during Xu Shichang's tenure as secretary of state, Guo Yu was given the position of president of the 'China Charity Relief Federation'. In 1915, Yuan Shikai was ready to implement the imperial system, and Xu Shichang retreated to Shuizhu Village, Hui County, Henan Province because the situation was uncertain. In March 1916, Yuan Shikai was forced to abolish the imperial system, restore the era of the Republic of China, and appoint Xu Shichang as secretary of state. Xu Shichang did his best for Yuan Shikai in both public and private aspects. Due to the refusal of his request for an armistice with Yuan Hu*, Xu strongly recommended Duan Qirui to succeed him after only one month in office. After Yuan Shikai's death, Li Yuanhong served as president and Duan Qirui served as prime minister. Xu Shichang returned to Shuizhu Village, Huixian County, Henan Province to live in seclusion, when Xu Shichang was over 62 years old.

And when Guo Yu took office as Su Changzhen's envoy, it was also a coincidence, it happened to be more than a month during Xu Shichang's reign, Guo Yu met Xu Shichang for the second time, and the two were also acquaintances. So it was a pleasure to meet.

Xu Shichang, who resigned again, thought that he would become a reclusive monk in the future, but by October 1918, because of the dispute between Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui's government. Xu Shichang was carried out of the mountain again and was elected president of the Republic of China. It was not until 1922 that he was forced to leave the opposition again due to factional struggles, and only then did he really become a reclusive monk until he died of illness in Tianjin on June 6, 1939, at the age of 85.

Xu Shichang went into seclusion in Tianjin, and in his later years, the Japanese tried to invite Xu to serve in the North China government, but Xu Shichang refused to participate in the puppet government of North China formed by the Japanese army. The national integrity has been maintained.

In the Xu family in Shuizhu Village, the housekeeper walked into Xu Shichang's study with a telegram. Xu Shichang loves calligraphy and painting, he learned to paint at the age of six, at this time he has a deep attainment in both calligraphy and painting, at this time Xu Shichang is painting a pine and bamboo fan. This is also Xu Shichang's best.

After the housekeeper entered the door, he didn't dare to disturb, and stood aside and waited for Xu Shichang to finish the painting before he spoke: "Master, a telegram from the capital." ”

Xu Shichang picked up the towel on the table and wiped his hands and said, "Take it for me to see." ”

The housekeeper hurriedly sent the telegram, Xu Shichang read the contents of the telegram and roughly understood the whole story. Although he lives in seclusion in Shuizhu Village, after all, he is a big man who has been the secretary of state, and caring about politics has become a necessary part of his life, and various newspapers are usually sent in time. In addition to his close subordinate students reporting the dynamics of the Republic of China from time to time, he is naturally very concerned about the two things that have been noisy during this period of time.

One thing is that Yuan Shikai died of illness, although Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang are brothers. But because of the long distance and Xu Shichang's advanced age, Xu Shichang had no choice but to send his son in the capital to attend Yuan Shikai's state funeral. The second thing is the declaration of independence by Guo Yu, the envoy of Su Changzhen. Although Guo Yu established a special economic zone when he publicized it to the outside world, the newspapers of the Republic of China still used the word independence in their reports on this matter, after all, people have no impression of what special economic zones are.

The telegram was sent in the name of Duan Qirui. After all, Duan Qirui is now the prime minister and the chief of the army, and has direct jurisdiction over Guo Yu's matter. And the relationship between Duan Qirui and Xu Shichang is also good. That's why Duan Qirui personally sent this telegram.

The content of the telegram is roughly that at this time, President Yuan Da has passed away, and the provinces have announced the revocation of independence, and the government of the Republic of China is really moving towards reunification.

Peace talks have been the consistent practice of the government of the Republic of China, because the central government's control of the local government is very weak, and the bigwigs of the Republic of China can only control the party to which they belong, but these people still have such and such differences, usually intrigued, and now when they see someone being slapped in the face, they are naturally willing to watch jokes on the side, so it is not realistic to send heavy troops to encircle and suppress Guo Yu, otherwise there will be no independence of the provinces and the central government can do nothing, and this is the status quo of the Republic of China.

The telegram was earnest, hoping that Xu Shichang would go out of the mountain, and persuade Guo Yu to do so for the sake of the country and the true unification of the Republic of China, so as not to let his own people shed blood and tears, and let others reap the benefits.

Xu Shichang took the telegram and thought for a while, and finally had to sigh and take the task. Although Xu Shichang has the brain of a politician, he also has a patriotic heart, he really doesn't want the country to be torn apart, Yuan Shikai's death, no one can see where the country will go in the future, and he can only do his best to reduce the disaster for the country as much as possible.

He instructed the butler and said, "Wangnian, go and tell Sù Holly, let him prepare and prepare, and tomorrow we will leave for Suzhou." The housekeeper took the order, but Xu Shichang stood in front of the window and looked at the bright red flowers blooming on the pomegranate trees in the courtyard and thought about it.

Holly's full name is Wang Rui, the word Holly, is Xu Shichang's secretary, has followed Xu Shichang for more than ten years, is Xu Shichang's closest person, and Wang Rui is also a smart person, many things can give Xu Shichang advice, and he also plays the role of half of the staff by Xu Shichang's side.

At this time, Xu Shichang's train was about to arrive at Suzhou Station, and in the independent box of the train, Wang Rui asked the question he wanted to ask most along the way: "My lord, you can be sure of the success of this trip." ”

"What is success and what is failure, I just don't want to have a warlord scuffle, as for whoever takes advantage and who suffers, then what do I do." Xu Shichang's answer surprised Wang Rui slightly, this is okay.

After three long train whistles. Slowly entering the station and stopping, Xu Shichang stepped off the train and saw a group of people standing on the platform, and some people were holding banners. The person at the head was thirty years old, tall and burly, with bright eyes, wearing a straight black and gray military uniform, with a gold star epaulette on his shoulder, and on his right arm was an armband with a golden phoenix pattern, this person Xu Shichang recognized at a glance. It is the protagonist of this trip, Guo Yu.

Guo Yu went up and saluted first. Then he stretched out his hands to hold Xu Shichang's hand and said: "Lord Xu, since I received the telegram from you to Suzhou, Guo has been looking forward to it day and night, and today I finally look forward to your arrival in Suzhou." It's really troublesome for adults to be old, and they are still working hard for the affairs of our juniors. Guo Yu's impression of Xu Shichang is very good, in just two contacts, Xu Shichang did not hold his own identity and looked down on Guo Yu, at that time Guo Yu had just come to the Republic of China time and space, no foundation and no strength, to get the courtesy of Xu Shichang naturally there is a gratitude in his heart, and now Xu Shichang came to Suzhou in person. No matter which side he is for, Guo Yu will receive this old man who is now idle at home with the highest standard.

And today's scene is very similar to when Guo Yu came to Suzhou, when the local officials and gentry in Suzhou greeted Guo Yu. It's just that there are some changes in personnel.

"Guo Zhenshou, thank you for coming to greet me as an idler, in fact, you don't have to go through such a lot of trouble." Xu Shichang is modest, although he doesn't like extravagance, but Guo Yu's respect still makes him happy in his heart.

"Guo respects the character of the people, and it is a blessing for the whole city of Suzhou that you can come to Suzhou. Please call me Hanyang, Lord Xu, and let me introduce you to the officials and celebrities in Suzhou. With that, Guo Yu took Xu Shichang's hand and walked into the neatly lined greeting team.

"Lord Xu. This is Wu Erzhu, the commander of the first division of the Huafu Army. Guo Yu introduced Wu Erzhu, who was in first place.

Wu Erzhu hurriedly gave a standard salute and shouted, "Welcome Lord Xu to visit Suzhou." ”

Xu Shichang held Wu Erzhu's hand and said, "I didn't expect General Wu to be so young, I heard on the way here that General Wu captured Yang Shande and Lu Yongxiang by surprise, as well as more than 20,000 soldiers under them. ”

"This is all my master's command, Erzhu just acts according to orders, and he should not be praised by adults." Xu Shichang heard Wu Erzhu call Guo Yu his master, it seems that this is Guo Yu's retainer, he is really a tiger general, and this Guo Yu is also discerning.

Guo Yu continued to introduce Xu Shichang to other people, Zhu Youkang, the mayor of Suzhou, Zhou Shutong, the mayor of Changzhou, and the county magistrates of Changzhou counties in Suzhou.

After Guo Yu sued Su Chang, he directly took down the county magistrates of the original counties, and in the end only two people were left, namely Zhu Youkang and Zhou Shutong, and the others were handed over to the court for handling in the name of corruption. To say that Zhu Youkang and Zhou Shutong are not particularly honest people, but Zhu Youkang can be a person, he is also very good at handling government affairs, and he is loyal to Guo Yubiao early, so he was left behind in the end, but no one believes in Guo Yu's selfishness here, Zhu Youkang is really good at serving people. And Zhou Shutong is a talent who has been recruited before, so after the restructuring of Su Chang and the establishment of a city-level unit, he appointed these two experienced old men to be the mayor directly, and the county magistrates were all selected by the original secretary group to serve as competent talents.

Then Guo Yu introduced the local gentry and celebrities in Suzhou, Wang Zhaoxiang, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and Qian Simao, the patriarch of Jiangyin, who were all among them, and Qian Simao was fortunate to participate in such a grand event and meet the secretary of state because he climbed the big tree of Guo Yu and did shipping business for Huafu Shopping Mall.

After everyone greeted each other on the platform, Guo Yu invited Xu Shichang to get into his car and came to the restaurant on the second floor of Desheng Building. Guo Yu didn't dare to pull Xu Shichang to the painting boat like the local officials entertained him when he first came, and it was estimated that he would be scolded very badly.

And Desheng Lou is one of the most famous restaurants in Suzhou, located in Suzhou Creek, the scenery is very good, at this time the second floor has been all wrapped, everyone sat down and drank a few cups that is, to eat and chat, to no one dared to make a toast to Xu Shichang repeatedly, because the status is not equal, in saying that Xu Shichang is also old, dare not drink more.

That night, Xu Shichang lived in Yuguanyuan, a garden villa, which was originally a garden house of a big businessman, and was later converted into a hotel, which is one of the few garden-style hotels in Suzhou.

On the second day, Guo Yu took Xu Shichang to start playing in Suzhou Garden, Humble Administrator's Garden, Lion Forest and other famous gardens, and on the third day, he turned to Wanxiu Textile Factory, Xu Shichang was very concerned about this silk textile factory with an annual output of 3,000 tons, he had been an official for many years, and he had also been the secretary of state, so he naturally knew that the textile industry of the Republic of China was not as good as in the past, and had been surpassed by the Oriental people, which was also a pain in the hearts of the Chinese people, and now Suzhou such a factory can produce 3,000 tons of raw silk. Xu Shichang was very shocked and very happy, and repeatedly told Guo Yu that he must protect such an enterprise, and not be exploited and disturbed by officials, so that the silk textile factory could not operate normally. This Xu Shichang boss didn't know that this Wanxiu Textile Factory was owned by Guo Yu, the biggest bureaucrat in Suzhou. (To be continued) R466