Feng Guozhang and Cao Kun, who were in Jinan and Xingtai, hesitated after receiving the ultimatum from the Nanjing government, but neither of them led their troops out of the city to surrender unconditionally at the last moment according to the requirements of the Northern Expeditionary Army, because they thought that they still had military power in their hands, and they also had a lot of troops, and they should be treated very well, rather than surrendering unconditionally. Therefore, the two were quite unbalanced in their hearts, and they were determined to fight the Northern Expeditionary Army to the death. When the time for the ultimatum came, both Cai Guodong and Zhang Xiaozhun were ready to command their troops to launch a final attack on Feng Guozhang and Cao Kun respectively.

On September 19, a major battle broke out again in the east and west battlefields, and the overwhelming artillery fire shrouded the two battlefields, the momentum of the Northern Expeditionary Army was like a rainbow, while the morale of the Beiyang Army was low, and the will to fight was not strong, how to win this battle? In less than two days, Feng Guozhang's troops and Cao Kun's troops were defeated one after another, and the two were wrapped in the rout of the army and fled in all directions by the WWW.UUXS.CC of the two people, and the Northern Expeditionary Army immediately waved their troops to pursue, and soon, the two were captured one after another, and the Northern Expedition War ended here, and the Beiyang Group was officially swept into the dust of history.

With the news of Feng Guozhang and Cao Kun's arrest, those old and young people were completely disappointed, and even Yuan Shikai, Xu Shichang and Duan Qirui, who were under house arrest, seemed to be much older.

After the collapse of the Beiyang government, the country could not always be without political power, and could not deal with national affairs without a president or head of state, Xiao Zhenlei had not yet thought about the matter of reforming the government, but the members of the provisional Senate in Beijing began to think about this issue and actively prepared.

Now everyone knows that the new president is none other than Xiao Zhenlei. No one else is qualified for him, not even Sun Wen. Sun Wen is only the chairman of the Kuomintang Party, although there are many members of the Kuomintang Party. However, it does not have much advantage over other political forces, among which the Predator has more members in all provinces than the Kuomintang, and if the Senate is re-elected, the Kuomintang may not be able to outcompete the Predator. Although there are still many people in the Kuomintang who have military power, they are too far behind Xiao Zhenlei's power.

On 22 September, the constitutionalists headed by Zhang Jian and Yan Fu, the Guangfuhui led by Zhang Taiyan and Cai Yuanpei, and the leaders of various political forces such as Wu Tingfang sent a telegram to Nanjing at the same time, asking Xiao Zhenlei to go north to Beijing to serve as provisional president and discuss the formation of a new government.

After receiving calls from all parties, Xiao Zhenlei replied one by one, saying that he was young and ignorant and had little qualifications. Lacking in political integrity and low prestige, it is not enough to serve as the interim president, so please choose another meritocracy.

After the news of Xiao Zhenlei's refusal to take the post of interim president spread, all walks of life immediately looked at Xiao Zhenlei with admiration, at least in the eyes of many people, although Xiao Zhenlei was a young man, he was an old man and a serious man, and many old guys who had been in politics for many years could not compare with him. And now he has politely refused the post of interim president, which shows that this person is not like some people who are staring at the position of president, and for a while, many celebrities and people from all walks of life have a good impression of Xiao Zhenlei.

But the gang in the provisional Senate knew very well that the new government would not have Xiao Zhenlei in place. If the new president is not Xiao Zhenlei, he will definitely not be able to play, first of all, there is no money. Moreover, there are no powerful and powerful figures in charge, and no one in the local government will give face to the central government. Although Sun Wen's prestige is high enough, it can be seen from the period between the establishment and abolition of the Nanjing Provisional Government that Sun Wen could not play the position of president at all.

Next. Various quarters also sent telegrams to Xiao Zhenlei, again inviting him to go north to Beijing to assume the post of provisional president and to discuss the establishment of a new government with all circles. After receiving the telegram, Xiao Zhenlei replied again one by one politely refused, and recommended Sun Wen to the provisional Senate to take over the post of provisional president.

After Xiao Zhenlei's telegrams were sent, many KMT figures in the Senate agreed that Sun Wen should take over the post of provisional president, but other political forces in the Senate did not agree, and there was no unity of opinion within the KMT, and some people even suspected that the assassination of Song Jiaoren had nothing to do with Sun Wen, so the matter of electing Sun Wen as provisional president had to be abandoned.

At this time, some members of the Senate said that the reason why Xiao Zhenlei was unwilling to take up the post of provisional president was because he was unwilling to set up the capital in Beijing, but in Nanjing? When everyone heard this, they thought that this was really possible, so the representatives of all the forces in the Senate sent telegrams to Nanjing one after another, saying that the Senate was willing to set up the capital in Nanjing, and Xiao Zhenlei could take the oath of office in Nanjing.

has been invited three times in a row, Xiao Zhenlei feels that it should be enough, and if he continues to do this, he may be called hypocritical, so he called back to say that he was loved by all parties, and it was difficult to resist, and he reluctantly accepted the post of interim president, and said that the capital was still located in Beijing, and he was about to go north to take up his post in the near future.

After the news broke through the news media that Xiao Zhenlei had accepted the invitation and was about to go north to take up the post of provisional president, all localities immediately rejoiced, especially representatives from all walks of life in the four eastern provinces of East China and Hubei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong, which had already been recovered, expressed their support for Xiao Zhenlei.

On the 25th, Xiao Zhenlei convened a meeting of the high-level officials of the Governor's Office and the high-level of the Iron Blood Party to discuss the matter of taking office in the north, and the meeting decided that Song Shijie would temporarily stay in Nanjing to deal with the affairs of the four provinces in East China and the provinces of Xinguangfu, and the others would go with him to Beijing to form the presidential palace and prepare for the new government.

On the 29th, Xiao Zhenlei and most of the people in the Governor's Mansion took a train north, and arrived in Beijing two days later.

On the morning of September 31, more than a dozen cars with national flags were driving towards Yongding Gate under the protection of dozens of military trucks full of soldiers, and the road outside Yongding Gate was full of crowds on both sides, these were the residents of Beijing who spontaneously came to greet them, standing in front of Yongding Gate were Cai Yi, commander of the West Route Army, Yao Chengcheng, commander of the 22nd Division, Deng Jiaming, Xiong Kewu, Liu Cunhou, Xu Chongzhi, Li Gengen, commander of the 21st Division, Zhu Xi, commander of the 23rd Division, and Lin Sen, Zhang Jian, Yan Fu, Kang Youwei, Temporary Senate Chairmen. Liang Qichao, Zhang Taiyan, Cai Yuanpei, Tang Hualong, Wu Tingfang and many other representatives, in addition to the ministers of various countries in Beijing, such as the British Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China, Zhu Erdian, the French Counsellor Acting Minister to China, Pegger, the United States Minister Extraordinary to China, the Russian Minister to China, Kuminschi, the Japanese Minister to China, and other foreign envoys to China.

"Look, it's coming!" One person in the crowd shouted.

Tens of thousands of people in front of Yongding Gate craned their necks to look at the end of the road when they heard this, and sure enough, they saw the convoy appear. There are also large military trucks full of soldiers along the way to protect them.

The crowd was in a commotion, except for the bigwigs who sniffed the people. Crowds on both sides of the road were waving small flags. The convoy gradually approached, and finally stopped in front of the Yongding Gate. The doors of each car were opened, and several people came out of it, adding up to dozens of people.

After the secretary Xiao Gao got out of the car, he first opened one side door, Xiao Zhenlei came down from the sound of the car, he turned to the other side and opened the door, Cheng Baguio and Wang Yanan got out of the car, holding his arm by his side.

"Welcome, welcome, warm welcome??????" There were shouts from the crowd on the side of the road on both sides.

Xiao Zhenlei only felt chills all over his body when he heard this voice, who made this such a disgusting person? Although it was quite uncomfortable. Xiao Zhenlei had to pretend to be smiling, raising a hand and waving it to the crowd on both sides, he believed that most of the tens of thousands of people present came here to sincerely welcome him, and some people may have been organized by some people who wanted to pat on the back.

Cai Ye and other soldiers came over together and stood up to salute Xiao Zhenlei, Xiao Zhenlei returned a military salute, and then stepped forward to shake hands with them, and kept saying, "Hard work!" ”

Then there were the provincial representatives of the Senate, Zhang Jian stood in the first place, Xiao Zhenlei hurriedly walked over and stretched out his hand to hold it and shook it: "Champion Gong, Mr. Ji Zhi." It's so grand that you guys have made such a big battle, I can't stand it! ”

"Eh, the world doesn't have to be presumptuous! Not really. How do we show our sincerity? Zhang Jian laughed as he spoke, and then said, "Besides, these people were not forcibly brought by us. Rather, they heard that you would come today, and they came spontaneously. Now you're here. We old fellows can rest assured that the government cannot live without a president for a day. A country cannot be left without a leader for a day! Oh, by the way, let me introduce you, this is Kang Guangxia."

Zhang Jian said and pointed to a fifty-five or sixteen-year-old man beside him and introduced, Xiao Zhenlei turned his head when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "It turned out to be Mr. Nanhai, Mr. Zhenlei has heard Mr. Da name for a long time, and I will ask Mr. for more guidance on many political affairs of the new government in the future!" ”

Kang Youwei originally looked down on Xiao Zhenlei, a person born with mud legs is now mixed with this status, with no prominent family background and no outstanding talent, how can He De steal the high position of president? But now seeing Xiao Zhenlei's humble attitude and not the slightest sign of arrogance, his heart suddenly felt a little more comfortable, his face looked a lot better, and he also sighed in his heart at the same time, this Xiao Zhenlei really deserves to be a person who can come this far, but this kind of bearing is not something that ordinary people can have.

"It's easy to talk and talk, but you don't dare to give advice, it's okay for everyone to sit down and discuss!"

"Huh!"

Zhang Jian introduced another middle-aged man about forty years old behind him, "This is Liang Zhuoru!" ”

"Mr. Ren Gong's name, the thunder is like thunder, Mr.'s "Juvenile China Says" is like a spring thunder, smashing the lifeless winter, ushering in a vibrant spring, it was exciting to read back then. In my opinion, the current China is to get rid of some decay and twilight things, and to have vigorous and upward vitality, Mr. This article can be called a classic among the classics! ”

"The president has a good reputation, the president is young and promising, full of vitality, and will definitely lead the country to the road of prosperity and strength!"

Subsequently, Xiao Zhenlei shook hands with Yan Fu, Lin Sen, Zhang Taiyan, Cai Yuanpei, Tang Hualong, Wu Tingfang and dozens of other people, among these people, Xiao Zhenlei has seen some people, and some people are seeing this for the first time, and some people want to come forward to meet Xiao Zhenlei, but their qualifications are not enough.

Next are the envoys of the outside world, regardless of whether the country represented by these foreign ministers will recognize the new government or not, these foreign ministers are here, this necessary gesture, since they are here to mingle, they can't help but visit and welcome Xiao Zhenlei, the new boss of the local snake.

Xiao Zhenlei looked at Zhu Erdian, walked over and shook hands with him and said, "Mr. Zhu Erdian, we met again, what a blessing!" ”

Zhu Erdian was a little embarrassed, he was put on a scene by Xiao Zhenlei last time, lost the Shanghai Public Concession, and returned the consular jurisdiction to China, he was originally resentful, but now Xiao Zhenlei came over with a smile on his face and shook hands with him, he still can't hate, this world is like this, you can't play with others, you can only be played by others.

"Fortunately, it seems that Governor Xiao is about to become the helmsman of this country, congratulations!"

Xiao Zhenlei smiled: "Thank you, but since Mr. Minister congratulates me, why don't you bring a gift?" How about a moment when we talk about the resumption of all British concessions in China? ”

"Huh?" Zhu Erdian was stunned for a moment, and then scolded in his heart, why is this guy so shameless? But he said haha: "Governor Xiao said that he laughed, the concession has not yet reached the deadline, how can it be returned?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei said: "Mr. Zhu Erdian is wrong, the leased land is originally my country's territory, but the temporary concession is just for your country's use, of course my country has the right to take it back at any time, just like you rented my house, I want the house to be useful now, I don't want to rent it to you, I must take it back, of course, it is not right to take back the concession before it expires, but my country can compensate for it, right?" ”

Zhu Erdian's face was a little ugly when he heard this, but he still kept his senses, still looked like a gentleman, and said: "Governor Xiao's words are good, but this matter is not something I can decide, I can convey Governor Xiao's wishes to my government, as for when my government will be able to reply, it is difficult to say, if there is news, I will inform you in time!" ”

"Well, I'm waiting for good news from Mr. Minister!" Xiao Zhenlei nodded, he didn't expect to be able to recover the concession now, he just said casually, first get vaccinated.

U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to China Nunnsch stretched out his hand and shook hands with Xiao Zhenlei with a smile and said: "Governor Xiao, congratulations on your upcoming presidency of this country, I have received a telegram from my government, as long as your new government is established, I will recognize your government as a legitimate government on behalf of my government!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei said with a smile: "Thank you, please Mr. Minister Nan Enshi congratulate President Wilson on behalf of me, congratulate him on his ascension to the presidential throne, and thank him for his support for the cause of the Chinese revolution!" ”

"Okay, I will convey your words to our president, and our president Wilson has sent a special telegram inviting you to visit the United States at some time!"

Xiao Zhenlei hurriedly said: "I will take President Wilson's invitation seriously!" ”

Subsequently, Xiao Zhenlei shook hands and greeted the envoys of the Russian Embassy to China, Kuminszi, the Japanese Minister to China, and the French Counsellor to China, and the French Counsellor and Acting Minister Peigue. (To be continued......) R1292