In the face of the suppression of the Qing court and the retraction of military power, the Beiyang people led by Yuan Shikai naturally will not sit idly by.

The rights of the Beiyang faction, whether it is Yuan Shikai or Zhao Dongyun, their rights come from the army under their command, once they lose the army, then they are nothing.

Therefore, it is easy for Qu Hongzhen and Cen Chunxuan to suppress Yuan Shikai, but if the Qing court wants to take this opportunity to recover military power, then it is very difficult.

In August 1906, almost when the War Department was first established, Yuan Shikai immediately dispatched the fourth town to Shanhaiguan, and said that the foreign enemy was still there, and specially dispatched the fourth town to reinforce Shanhaiguan in order to prevent instability in western Liaoning.

This is a very obvious political signal, which means that the foreign enemy is used as an excuse to refuse to surrender military power.

At the same time, Zhao Dongyun also received a secret telegram from Yuan Shikai, which said that Liaodong Japan and Russia were still there, and hoped that Zhao Dongyun could continue to maintain the stability of Liaoxi.

Now that the contradiction between Yuan Shikai and the imperial court has been superficial and public, Yuan Shikai suddenly sent this seemingly nonsense secret telegram, and Zhao Dongyun naturally knew what Yuan Shikai was doing this for.

immediately replied to the secret telegram: "Dongyun will not die, and Fengxing will not be lost!" ”

On the surface, this is still said by Japan and Russia, what do you say that if I Zhao Dongyun does not die for a day, this Fengtian will not fall into the hands of the Japanese and Russian armies, but whether it is Yuan Shikai or Zhao Dongyun, they all know that this number is Zhao Dongyun's oath of allegiance, and the so-called foreign enemy does not refer to Japan and Russia, but specifically to the imperial court!

Immediately, Zhao Dongyun played the imperial court, saying that in order to prevent the westward advance of Liaodong and Japan and Russia, the first town of Fengtian had been sent to leave Jinzhou and enter Xinmin and other places.

This matter doesn't seem to be anything on the surface, but after it is connected with Yuan Shikai's chapter of sending the fourth town to Shanhaiguan to garrison, the meaning of that government is very obvious, that is, Zhao Dongyun is firmly on Yuan Shikai's side.

That is, the so-called political zhì stand in line and express a position!

In this political turmoil that spread throughout the government and the opposition, and in the face of a war in which almost the Qing court and other governors joined forces to suppress the Beiyang system, it was impossible for Zhao Dongyun to walk a tightrope like ordinary careerists, and he could not be offended.

Because Zhao Dongyun himself is the backbone of the Beiyang system, speaking of Beiyang, most people know that Yuan Shikai is the leader of the Beiyang faction, but what are the main roles of the Beiyang people? There are civil officials such as Xu Shichang, military generals Duan Qirui, Wang Yingkai, Feng Guozhang and others, and although Zhao Dongyun is the minister of Xinjiang, strictly speaking, he can be regarded as a military general.

It can be said that almost everyone in the whole country knows that he Zhao Dongyun is the core person of Beiyang, and the imperial court wants to suppress Beiyang, but also to suppress him Zhao Dongyun, if Zhao Dongyun does not support Yuan Shikai with a clear banner at this time, then it will be a heavy blow to the Beiyang faction, which may cause the split of Beiyang.

And once Zhao Dongyun loses the big tree of Beiyang as a support, unless he is really ready to rely on the tens of thousands of troops under his command to rebel now, otherwise as soon as Yuan Shikai falls, he Zhao Dongyun will immediately have to get out of the position of General Sheng Jing, and it is estimated that he can only 'call himself sick and return to his hometown' like Yuan Shikai at that time.

So whether it's for Beiyang or for himself, Beiyang can't fall, and Yuan Shikai can't fall either!

He doesn't care whether Yuan Shikai lost or won in this battle in history, in short, in this era, if anyone dares to pull Yuan Shikai from the position of governor of Zhili, he has to ask him if the tens of thousands of troops under Zhao Dongyun agree!

Therefore, in the summer and autumn of 1906, on the one hand, he continued to expand the army, not only expanding the first and second towns of the Fengtian Standing Army to full strength, but also expanding the scale and establishment of the Fengtian patrol police, and transferring patrol police from many prefectures and counties to train the first, second, and third standards of the Fengtian patrol as auxiliary forces, so as to free up more field troops to deal with the situation.

Once the domestic situation changes, he needs to respond in a timely manner, and even he has considered that once Yuan Shikai has made up his mind to turn his face with the imperial court, then Zhao Dongyun will immediately lead troops into the customs without saying a word, and then push Yuan Shikai to the position of president of the republic.

At this time, the negotiations between Japan and Russia also entered a critical moment, because the current situation and history are very different, although the Russian navy has suffered a heavy defeat, but on land there is no victory, and it is not known who will win and who will lose if it really wants to fight.

Based on this, the demands of the Japanese for reparations, land cession, and the like were unceremoniously rejected by the arrogant Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who shouted the slogan of not paying a single ruble and not ceding an inch of land.

Although Lushun is Chinese territory, Russia is also resolutely unwilling to cede to Japan, and even shouted slogans to prefer to return to China rather than give Japan, this slogan has made many people in the country a little excited, but this possibility is too small, if you don't get some benefits in Manchuria, the hundreds of thousands of people in Japan will not die in vain!

This has led to an impasse in the negotiations.

In July, the two sides fought again during the negotiations, and after each suffered tens of thousands of casualties, the two countries finally lost their temper, and at this time, Britain, the United States, France and other countries proposed a third solution, that is, to propose a multinational trusteeship.

That is to say, the Eastern Railway under the control of Russia should be jointly operated by all countries, and Lushun should be changed to a public concession under the trusteeship of many countries.

This time the Americans provided Japan with a large amount of money, and the direct purpose was to suppress Russia, but the other main purpose was to carry out economic penetration in the northeast region.

Britain, France, and Germany originally had no interests in the Northeast, but now that they heard that they could intervene in it, they could still take into account what Japan and Russia were thinking, and they immediately agreed to it.

Naturally, Japan and Russia did not agree to this move, but Japan's opposition was even more fierce than Russia's, and although the Russian side clamored that it would not pay a single ruble or cede an inch of land, the situation had reached a point where it would actually be very difficult for him to protect his interests in the northeast. And he was even more reluctant to cede most of his profits to Japan.

If it is managed by many countries, Russia can at least share a little, which is much more cost-effective than letting Japan occupy it, so it will casually resist one or two.

However, the resistance of the Japanese side was particularly fierce, because in the eyes of the Japanese themselves, this was completely a copy of the intervention of the three countries to return Liao, and the day of the First Sino-Japanese War was forced to let China redeem the Liaodong Peninsula under the oppression of various countries, but now again, how can they be willing.

In order to force the Japanese to cease the war, Britain and the United States even completely stopped buying Japanese bonds, which made Japan's already extremely difficult economy even worse, and it is estimated that Japan's finances will go bankrupt in a few months.

In the end, in the face of the joint oppression of various countries, Japan and Russia succumbed and signed an armistice treaty in Britain, the general content of the treaty was that the two sides would cease war, their respective armies would withdraw from the Northeast, and the China Eastern Railway should be operated and developed by a multinational company, and Lushun would be changed to a multinational trust concession, becoming a public concession and a free port similar to Shanghai.

This treaty is not good for China on the surface, but in fact there are benefits, and the multinational joint management means that neither Russia nor Japan can fully encroach on the interests of Northeast China, and this is good for curbing the infiltration of foreign forces, especially Japanese and Russian forces, into Northeast China.

"Now that their treaty has been signed, it's time to take back Liaodong!" Zhao Dongyun frowned as he spoke: "But you still have to be cautious and avoid clashing with the armies of the two countries!" ”

The end of the Russo-Japanese War was something that Zhao Dongyun had long expected, although the multinational co-management of this matter was beyond his expectations, but the difference was not big, anyway, after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, both Russia and Japan had no energy to launch a large-scale war, and they would be able to operate in Mukden for a few years with peace of mind.

Now Zhao Dongyun's focus is still on the domestic situation!

Not long ago, Liu Yongqing, one of the bigwigs of the Beiyang faction, died of illness while serving as the governor of Jiangbei, and then before Yuan Shikai could react, the Qing court sent Yin Chang to succeed him as the governor of Jiangbei.

This Yin Chang, like Tie Liang, was a more famous Manchu general in the late Qing Dynasty, and the Qing court used Yin Chang to snatch the governor of Jiangbei, which means that the Beiyang system has lost the position of a feudal minister.

At the same time, with the end of the Russo-Japanese War, there were rumors between the government and the opposition that they wanted to establish a province in the northeast, which was originally nothing, but as the two strong candidates of the Beiyang faction, Zhao Dongyun and Xu Shichang did not get the support of the government and the opposition, but Zhao Erxun, who was defeated in the battle for General Shengjing last year, won the support of a large number of important ministers of the government and the opposition, saying that he was preparing to serve as the governor of the three eastern provinces after the establishment of the northeast province.

"Are they still looking at us?" In the Fengtian Supervision and Training Office in Jinzhou, a group of generals under Zhao Dongyun sat together, all of them had heavy faces, and Xu Bangjie had a gloomy face: "I just want to send someone to be the governor of the three eastern provinces, and I don't look at who has maintained the situation in the Northeast in the past few years, if there is no adult in our family, if there are no tens of thousands of soldiers in Beiyang such as us, this western Liaoning would have been eroded long ago!" ”

Although the Fengtian Standing Army has the name of Fengtian, everyone knows that this is the army of the Beiyang faction, so Xu Bangjie added up the two towns and the third town of the Fengtian Standing Army to tens of thousands of Beiyang soldiers, but it cannot be said that it is wrong.

Meng Enyuan also took a deep breath: "In the past two years, the court has indeed passed a little!" I waited for the Beiyang soldiers to work hard to protect their families and defend the country in this cold land in the north, but the Jingshi side was thinking about guarding against me every day, and at the beginning of the year, Lord Yuan had already resigned from a number of part-time jobs, but those adults were still not satisfied! ”

Although Wang Zhanyuan on the side is not a descendant of Zhao Dongyun, he is also a descendant of Beiyang, and he is naturally full of worries about the current predicament of Beiyang: "I heard that the government and the opposition are not only going to send Zhao Erxun to be the governor of the three eastern provinces, but also preparing to transfer Lord Yuan into the center to serve as a certain Shangshu!" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately jumped up: "Brother Zichun, is this true?" ”

Don't think that entering the center to serve as a certain Shangshu is a promotion, for the contemporary political scene in the late Qing Dynasty, the local governor is the real power faction, and any real power governor is a powerful minister and a famous minister. For example, today's Yuan Shikai, Cen Chunxuan, the older generation of Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi and others are all of them, and their every move will affect the situation in the country.

However, how many of those ministers and even the ministers of military aircraft know their names?

Therefore, the central ministers of the late Qing Dynasty are nominally good, but for a faction leader like Yuan Shikai, it is definitely a bright rise and a secret descent.

And even if it is Mingsheng and secretly descended to the center, this center is also divided into high and low, if it is a foreman military aircraft like Yixuan, or a military minister like Qu Hongzhen who is also a certain secretary, then it can barely be regarded as the central real power faction, as for the others, they are all scum.

Not to mention Yuan Shikai, even if Zhao Dongyun, the general of Shengjing, gave him a household book, he would not change it!

Wang Zhanyuan said: "I just learned about this news, it came from Jingshi, not to say that it is ten percent true, but there are still seven or eight points!" ”

Chen Guangyuan on the side opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't know what to say, and finally he could only sigh: "It's so difficult to do something these days!" ”

In the end, Lin Yongquan said: "You don't have to worry too much about these things, the sky can't fall, even if it collapses, there are adults on top of it, what I have to do is to do the errand at hand, first take back Fengtian and Yingkou, and then gradually take over Liaodong and other places!" ”

At this time, Kong Guanbei on the side suddenly said: "I don't know how the adults are talking with other adults in Shanhaiguan now!" ”

Lin Yongquan frowned when he heard this, and immediately spoke: "My lordship went to Shanhaiguan to talk about the existence of my Beiyang, you should be cautious!" ”

The others also tightened their mouths when they heard this, as a few high-level generals of the Soviet system, they naturally knew that since Zhao Dongyun learned that the situation had changed, they went to Shanhaiguan to meet Wu Fengling, the commander of the second town, and Duan Qirui, the commander of the fourth town.

What they didn't know was that in addition to Zhao Dongyun going to Shanhaiguan, several other bigwigs of the Beiyang faction also secretly arrived at Shanhaiguan one after another.