Beijing, Presidential Palace.

"Xiaofeng, what do you think about this?" In the president's office on the second floor of Jurentang, Li Yuanhong sat behind Yuan Shikai's large desk, holding a report in his hand and said to several of his henchmen. In a row of Taishi chairs in the room, Zhang Guogan, secretary general of the Presidential Office, and Ha Hanzhang, Jin Yongyan, Li Shu, and Jiang Zuobin, the "Four King Kongs," were all seated.

"What kind of participation in the war is nothing more than a trick played by that little fan military plane to gain military power for Duan Qirui." Jin Yongyan snorted in his nose and said with squinted eyes.

Li Yuanhong became the founding father of the country in a vague way during the Wuchang uprising, and after Yuan Shikai's death, he inexplicably ascended to the throne of the president. To tell the truth, Li Yuanhong has not lived a comfortable day since becoming president. Li Yuanhong's foundation is still shallow, and if it weren't for Yuan Shikai's will, the Beiyang Department of the Beijing government would never let him sit in this position. Although Duan Qirui had no choice but to make him president, he was never willing.

Yuan Shikai believed that Li Yuanhong was a figure who could reconcile the north and the south, and only in this way could he ensure that the north and the south were reconciled, and that there would be no major turmoil in the country after his death. But Duan Qirui couldn't understand Lao Yuan's painstaking efforts, and fought against Li everywhere. Li Yuanhong had no soldiers and no power in his hands, and he could endure it at first, but after a long time, the two sides inevitably felt dirty.

After Lai took over as president, he didn't care about all the state affairs at that time at first, and all the decisions were made by Duan, and then he was unwilling to be a rubber stamp all the time, and began to gradually meddle in state affairs. This made Duan feel unbearable, and the relationship between the presidential palace and the State Council gradually became evil, and then it became a fire and water.

Li Yuanhong has no soldiers and no power in his hands, but Duan Qirui is not much stronger, Duan Qirui is the prime minister and army chief, although he has been in charge of the military for a long time, but he does not have his own lineage. After Li Yuanhong arrived in Beijing, Yuan Shikai not only let him continue to be vice president, but also let him concurrently serve as chief of staff.

Yuan's original intention was to cede the military power of the Li Division. During Yuan's lifetime, the power of the General Staff Headquarters expanded rapidly, and under Yuan's instructions, the personnel authority of the Army University and the Baoding Military Academy was transferred from the Army Department to the General Staff Headquarters, and the appointment and distribution of officers were also managed by the General Staff Headquarters. Most of the power given to the War Department was assigned to the General Staff Headquarters, and Lai's chief of staff was almost on a par with Duan's army chief, and the principals and education chiefs of the two military academies were also replaced by Lai's cronies.

Now that Duan Li is fighting, although Duan has the upper hand, there is no good way to bring down the opponent, because neither of them has many soldiers in their hands, and they are afraid of causing chaos in the world.

"Well, I got the news from Hu Longxiang that Xu Shuzheng wanted to form a descendant army for Duan in the name of participating in the war." Ha Hanzhang said that although Xiao Xu is talented, he is too arrogant, which can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye.

"There is another matter, a few days ago, the Chamber of Commerce in Russia and Liu Jingqing, the minister in Russia, sent a telegram back, saying that about 50,000 Chinese workers in Russia were arrested by the Austrians, and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the Austrians, but they were suppressed by Xiao Xu, what is going on?" Zhang Guogan said.

"I know a little bit about that." Jiang Zuobin said, "I heard that Xu Shuzheng reached an agreement between Europe and Austria, and the Austrians promised to help him train and equip his troops. After Xiao Xu returned to China, he began to actively publicize this matter, but the British and French tried their best to obstruct it, and most of the laborers recruited by Xiao Xu in the name of recruiting Chinese workers were brought to France by Lu Chengxiang and Shi Zhaoji, which made him busy in vain. Later, Xiao Xu thought of a way, pretending to go to Russia, I think these people may have deliberately let people arrest them or ran away to Austria themselves. ”

"This is a big question, Yuyan, how many people has Xiao Xu gotten to Austria." If Xu Shuzheng is allowed to do this, then with military power, the presidential palace can only bow its head in front of Duan Qirui. Jin Yongyan was a little anxious and hurriedly asked.

"I don't know." Jiang Zuobin said, "However, the General Staff Headquarters of Xiao Xutong Guò has sent more than 160 officers to Europe, including 17 graduates of Lu University. And now he has also transferred Wang Ruqin's 5th Mixed Brigade to Russia. ”

"What is he trying to do?" Li Yuanhong said, "I am not afraid that the Germans and Austrians will settle accounts with him." ”

"Hmph, what kind of account are the Germans looking for him, he is secretly crossing Chen Cang." Ha Hanzhang said, "Wang Ruqin told me that there were Austrians on the Russian side to answer, and Xiao Xu had a good calculation. ”

The military aides of these presidential offices often insisted that they must exercise military power, and their reasoning was that "the responsible cabinet system means that the president does not interfere in the affairs of the government." In terms of military affairs, since the president is the supreme commander of the army and navy of the whole country, he cannot ignore the military, and the generalissimo has no military power, so what is the value of the president? Li listened to these words very well, and he has been trying to figure out how to control the army.

Now that Xu Shuzheng has taken the lead in this regard, Li Yuanhong is unwilling, and after thinking for a while, Li Yuanhong said to Jiang Zuobin: "Yuyan, we can't watch Xiao Xu completely control this army, if these people return to China, then Duan Qirui will be even more incapacitated." You have been the deputy chief of staff for many years, and you have met all these officers who went to Europe, and they also went out from the staff headquarters. I mean you're going to Europe......"

Jiang Zuobin said: "Well, I understand, I will try my best." ”

……

"Boom!"

The sound of broken teacups coming from the office of the secretary general of the State Council caused the clerks outside the secretary-general's office to look sideways at the secretary-general's office, which was half-closed. People were curious about what made Secretary General Xu, who rarely got angry and always regarded himself as a scribe, lose his temper.

"Li Songqing, you play yin for me!" After throwing out the teacup in his hand, Xu Shuzheng turned his gaze to Wen Jiàn on the table again, still feeling angry. Li Yuanhong did not say a word, and directly issued an order in the name of the president, appointing Jiang Zuobin as the head of the military observation mission to Europe. This was completely unexpected by Xu Shuzheng, he wanted to directly chase Jiang Zuobin back and declare the presidential decree invalid without the countersignature of the prime minister, but Jiang Yuyan had already boarded the passenger ship to Europe.

This was clearly a preparation for the dismantling of his platform, and the target was the Chinese army that was being trained and equipped in Austria. This is Xu Shuzheng's hard work, in the past two years, most of his energy has been spent on this, and now that he has just made some achievements, Li Yuanhong wants to reach out and pick peaches. With Xiao Xu's cleverness, how can he not see the cattiness in it.

This is the root cause of Xu Shuzheng's anger.

Xu Shuzheng has been trying many times to master a reliable army for Duan Qirui. But in Yuan Shikai's era, Yuan's control over the army was very strict, and Xu Shuzheng, as the deputy minister of the army, basically had little say in personnel appointments and dismissals. In order to weaken Duan Qirui's power, Yuan Shikai even set up a staff headquarters and a generalissimo coordination office, and even single-handedly created a model officer corps, preparing to abandon the Beiyang generals and build another military force that obeyed him.

Now, Lao Yuan is gone, Xu Shuzheng is finally in power, and he is about to show his strength, but Li Yuanhong, who thought he was very honest, jumped out and opposed him everywhere.

It almost drove him crazy.

"Li Songqing's treacherous plan must not succeed!" Xu Shuzheng stood up, walked out of the office, glanced at the prime minister's office, who almost never saw anyone, couldn't help frowning, and then said to the adjutant: "Come on, prepare the car, now go to Chief Duan's house!" ”

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