Although the newspapers did not report on the massacre, the turmoil caused by the incident did not subside, and the voices of discussion from all walks of life were as fierce as ever, and some literati published articles in the newspapers one after another, saying that the military top level would set up an investigation team to go to Kyushu Island to conduct an on-the-spot investigation, and that it would be best if such an incident did not occur during the investigation, and if the investigation revealed that such an incident occurred, it must not be tolerated, and the generals who gave the order should be held accountable, on the grounds that the war has nothing to do with civilians, and under no circumstances can the army massacre civilians. This is true even for foreign civilians.

Public opinion is not a one-sided trend, and there are many newspapers with official backgrounds to fight back on this matter, believing that the initiator is creating something out of nothing, fearing that the world will not be chaotic, and the photos disclosed in the newspapers before do not explain anything, since it is a war, how can there be any innocent people, and it is normal for civilian casualties in the war, those photos can only show that the soldiers are burying the corpses, what else can they say? In addition, according to information from the front, when the Wehrmacht was fighting with the Japanese army, many Japanese civilians attacked the Wehrmacht with weapons in their hands, and since they had weapons, they were no longer civilians, and it was normal for them to be killed.

For a while, the two sides were back and forth in the newspapers, fighting with each other, and it was a lively scene. For such a thing, even Xiao Zhenlei is not easy to intervene, after all, it is not a feudal empire now, it is a republican era, and speech is free to a certain extent, are you still not allowed to speak and express your own opinions? Newspapers were previously prohibited from publishing F-FDT-related reports on the grounds that they were characterizing F-FDTL conduct without conclusive evidence. Moreover, the Press Control Bureau has also been subjected to a major change of blood during this period because of problems in the control of news publications, and the officialdom has been shaken, in this case. No official of the Press Control Bureau dares to neglect his duties, and any news that the newspapers want to publish must be strictly censored, and the situation must not be allowed to repeat.

Xiao Zhenlei has been paying attention to this matter, and Yang Yongtai has to report to him every day on the follow-up development of this matter.

"President, the investigators have not been able to find evidence of the other party's involvement in this matter until now, do they want to continue to follow up on this matter?" Yang Yongtai asked.

Xiao Zhenlei flicked the cigarette ash. With a thoughtful expression, he got up and walked to the window to look at the scenery outside and said: "Judging from the development of this situation, I suspect that the other party must have a photo that is really unfavorable to the military, and this can be seen from the fact that the other party published the photo in the newspaper step by step according to the plan. However, because we took timely measures, the Press Control Bureau blocked the other party's access to the newspapers and closed the tabloids, interrupting the implementation of the other party's plan. I'm sure the other side will definitely find a way to make another move. Once the photos in his hands that are really unfavorable to the military come out, it will cause very serious consequences, so before they make another move, they must find a way to get the things back, and the people directly related to this matter must shut them up."

"Yes, what about the other American journalist Browns? He's an American, and he signed up at the embassy," Yang Yongtai reminded.

Xiao Zhenlei turned to look at him and asked, "What do you say?" ”

looked at Xiao Zhenlei's eyes. Yang Yongtai felt a chill in his heart, and hurriedly said, "Yes." Humble duty understood! ”

For Xiao Zhenlei, let alone an American journalist, even if he is the president of the United States, he can be killed for the sake of political needs. What makes Xiao Zhenlei quite helpless is that although the time for the establishment of a new government is not short, the country's national strength is also thriving, and the people's national self-confidence is gradually beginning to recover, and it is no longer possible to say anything to the outside world, but there are still many people who are still a little in awe of foreigners in their bones.

January 8, 1917.

In the morning, Xiao Zhenlei was working in the presidential palace, and the secretary Xiao Gao knocked on the door and rushed over and said, "President, something happened." I have just received news that a bill has been submitted to the Right House of the Diet to order the Supreme Military Council to organize an investigation team to investigate the incident on Kyushu Island! ”

Xiao Zhenlei's face changed when he heard this, and he slapped the table and said angrily: "What? I think they're crazy, trying to meddle in the military's affairs, and they're stretching their hands too long, so I'm going to pay close attention to this matter, and I'm going to see what they want to do! ”

"Yes!"

Xiao Zhenlei said again: "Do you know who proposed the proposal?" ”

Xiao Gao said: "It seems to be Wang Zhaomin and Chen Yingshi of the Kuomintang Party."

Xiao Zhenlei's face changed again: "Hmph, these people are always afraid that the world will not be chaotic!" ”

In the next few days, the news spread that Wang Zhaomin, Chen Yingshi, and others proposed in the right house of the Diet that they should order the Supreme Military Commission to set up an investigation team to investigate the Kyushu Island massacre.

The bill was submitted to the left councillor for review as soon as it was approved in the right chamber. In the evening of the same day, Liang Qichao, speaker of the Left House, called over, the former speaker of the Left House was Zhang Jian, who had been in office for two years, and Liang Qichao was the current speaker of the Left House, and he was also the deputy head of the presidential staff group.

Liang Qichao said on the phone: "President, the Kuomintang people recently put forward a bill in the Right House, which proposes to order the Supreme Military Council to set up an investigation team to investigate the Kyushu Island massacre, and they provided a lot of photos that are unfavorable to the military at the hearing, so they have won the support of many parliamentarians, and the bill has been approved and submitted to the Left House, I don't know if the President knows about this matter?" ”

It turned out that the Kuomintang gang actually took out a photo that was unfavorable to the military in the right house, and Xiao Zhenlei immediately said: "I heard about it! Whether it's the cabinet, the government, or the military, it's good to have someone to supervise, but their hand is too long, right? There are different opinions that can be put forward through formal channels, and we all accept them with an open mind and will try to correct them, but I am against not following the rules, the Supreme Military Council is a military body under my great president, and according to the regulations, the National Assembly has no right to have anything to do with the Supreme Military Council, even if the evidence they put forward is true, even if the proposals of the left and right houses of the National Assembly are passed at the same time, the Supreme Military Council will not pay attention to them, this is my attitude, I will say hello to you first, don't make the National Assembly unable to come to power at that time. It's not good to have a damaged face! ”

Xiao Zhenlei's attitude has been very clear: Even if the military really did something on Kyushu Island, and if others have any objections to it, they can only follow the normal procedure, that is, report and complain to the Military Police Command under the Supreme Military Council, and the Military Police Command will immediately send someone to investigate after accepting the case, and if the results of the investigation are true, they can file a lawsuit with the Supreme Military Court, which will hear and pronounce the verdict.

The military is Xiao Zhenlei's imprisonment, and people from other factions can't intervene at all, of course, those people in the Kuomintang know that if they follow the normal procedures, there will be no results in this matter at all, and whether they investigate or not is a matter of Xiao Zhenlei's words, so they can only take the sword sideways and take the road of the Congress, and want to use the strength of all factions in the Congress to force Xiao Zhenlei to make concessions, so as to extend his hand into the military, but how can Xiao Zhenlei compromise lightly?

Liang Qichao listened to Xiao Zhenlei's words and said, "Okay, I understand!" ”

The next day, the Left House of the National Assembly rejected the bill submitted by the Right House on the grounds that the proposal was within the jurisdiction of the military and that the House had no authority to examine the proposal, and the bill was returned to the Right House. The reaction of the Left House made Wang Zhaomin, Chen Yingshi, and others extremely annoyed, and they believed that the two houses of the National Assembly should be one, and if this matter was done, it would not only be beneficial to the Right House, but also to the Left House, and from then on, the National Assembly would be able to meddle in military affairs in a fair and open manner, ending the situation in which the president alone has the final decision-making power over the military. But they didn't expect that the Left House would not cooperate at all, so why didn't the Left House move in the face of such interests?

Why didn't the Left House cooperate? Only Liang Qichao knows best, he wants to snatch the control of the army from Xiao Zhenlei, this is basically the rhythm of snatching food from the tiger's mouth, and now Xiao Zhenlei is still talking about the rules, because the rules are set by him, everyone is playing in this prescribed system, but if someone wants to ignore the rules to play, it will force Xiao Zhenlei to not talk about the rules, and then they will have no time to play.

Liang Qichao knows that the country is developing rapidly and is already catching up with and surpassing the powers, and if it drags back at this time, it will really be pointed out by thousands of people, and without the support of the people, no party can survive. Therefore, he resolutely rejected the Kuomintang gang, who only knew that there were more failures than enough successes, and he disdained to be in the company of such people.

After this road failed, the Kuomintang wanted to directly confront Xiao Zhenlei and take out photos of what the military was doing on Kyushu Island face to face, so as to force Xiao Zhenlei to give in, and they concluded that Xiao Zhenlei did not dare to open his eyes and say nonsense, and after seeing the real photos, he was completely fine.

On this day, Wang Zhaomin came to the presidential palace with a briefcase to find Xiao Zhenlei, as one of the officials of the Legislative Bureau of the National Assembly, he has this qualification. Xiao Zhenlei took the time to meet him, and after the two sat down, Xiao Zhenlei asked, "Is there anything wrong with Zhaomin looking for me?" ”

Wang Zhaomin took out a brown paper envelope from his briefcase, took out a stack of photos from it, handed it over, and said: "President, look at these photos, this is simply outrageous!" The army is a weapon to defend the country, not a butcher, and the military's actions on Kyushu Island have damaged the international image of our country, and I demand that the generals who gave the order for the massacre be investigated and punished immediately! (To be continued......)