Chen Chao's thick Lunan accent made Duan Fang sound a little difficult, but he still heard it clearly. Shandong dialect must be understood, and in a sense it has become the official language.

The attempted assassination on April 28 was undoubtedly part of the Zongshe Party, and a Manchu named Ye Wu was arrested when he entered the square, and a German-made wooden-handled grenade was seized from him. Ye Wu is a soft bone, and at the first surprise trial at noon that day, he confessed that the bomb was given to him by a person named Na Song, in order to take advantage of the opportunity to assassinate President Long Qian when he walked down the city tower and parade, if he didn't have the opportunity, it would be good to kill other big people. For this reason, Ye Wufen took 700 silver dollars (about 500 taels of Kuping silver) from Na Song's hand, and after the matter was completed, Na Song would give him 7,000 silver dollars.

According to Ye Wu's confession, Na Song, who had been on an errand in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for many years, was arrested at the Qianmen Railway Station on the morning of April 29, and a deposit certificate of 14,800 yuan from Zhengjin Bank, about 1,000 yuan of Xinhua yuan banknotes, and 120 silver dollars were found from him, as well as a revolver and 12 rounds of ammunition.

The interrogation of Na Song revealed that Na Song had been instructed by Prince Su Shanqi to recruit assassins, but Shanqi was no longer in Beijing, and the State Security Bureau had already ascertained Shanqi's whereabouts, and he had already bought a house in the Japanese Concession in Tianjin, and it seemed that he was going to live there for a long time.

In addition, Nasong's family has moved to Tianjin and become neighbors with Prince Su Shanqi.

"Minister Chen, it seems that the case you talked about only implicates Shanqi, and has not been involved with Pu Wei and others?" The end side expressed doubts.

"If there is no evidence, how can we arrest people indiscriminately? Let's tell you the truth. Three other people were arrested at the scene on Chang'an Avenue that day, and one of them was also instructed by the head of the Zongshe Party. Of course, there are middlemen among them. It was Jiang Yun who answered.

"Who is it?"

"The case is still under investigation, and I cannot comment on it." Jiang Yun rejected Duan Fang's request, "Shanqi hiding in the Japanese concession is not over. The concession is also the territory of our country, and one day it will be taken back, and the Japanese will not be able to protect him. Even if he escapes from the country, I will capture him if he escapes to the edge of the world! ”

Because Shanqi successfully escaped, Jiang Yun was severely criticized. This is one of the major mistakes of the General Administration of National Security. So, mention the good elderly. Jiang Yun hated from his heart.

"Minister Chen. In my opinion, some of Pu Wei and others may be suspected of assassination, but they may not all be involved in the conspiracy against the president. Is it inappropriate for the Police Department to do this? "The end side did not believe that all the people arrested were involved in the conspiracy.

"Shanqi has escaped, and we can't help but learn a lesson. There are foreigner activities behind the Zongsha Party. The situation is extremely complex. If the evidence is conclusive. That's more than just an assassination. Because the nature of traitor is more strict. We do this with the intention of protecting them. They are here, unmistreated. You can go and meet them. However, if it comes to the case, don't mention it, so as not to embarrass me. I am here today to verify the detention of important suspects, and I do not want to have accidents. Chen Chao said.

I don't want to see it. Tie Liang has broken off his friendship with him, and Pu Wei hates himself even more, and there will be no good words when they meet. Duan Fang declined Chen Chao's kindness, left Dongjuzi Prison, and drove to Prince Gong's Mansion to see Zaifeng and Longyu.

Sure enough, Zaifeng, the former Manchu regent of the Qing Dynasty, uncharacteristically "received" Duan Fang. Originally, Zaifeng hated Duanfang's betrayal. Zaifeng Tong Guò made a request to Long Qian, that is, the royal family moved out of Beijing to the Chengde Summer Resort, and promised never to ask about political affairs. In addition, Zaifeng asked Long Qian for leniency with the members of the Zongshe Party involved in the case.

Duan Fang forwarded Zaifeng's handwritten letter to Long Qian to Haiyantang on the same day. But he didn't see Long Qian himself -- he went to inspect the construction site of the Shijingshan Power Plant.

Events continue to develop. On the same day that Duan Fang visited Zaifeng, seven more people were arrested in Beijing, five of whom were Manchurian.

On May 4, the Suncheon Times reported an interview with Shanqi, officially revealing the new regime's mass arrests of Manchu nobles. Shanqi complained about the political persecution of the former Qing dignitaries by the new regime, claiming that all the charges were fabricated and that they were completely the puppet regime's planned purge and persecution of the former Qing dignitaries. The attention of the international community was called upon and sanctions were imposed on the new regime. At this point, Shanqi officially embarked on the road of betrayal.

The Japanese-run Chinese-language newspaper of the Shuntian Times has a stable readership in Beijing and Tianjin. As soon as the interview with Shanqi appeared in the newspaper, it immediately attracted widespread attention. Ta Kung Pao immediately revealed Beijing's secret arrests of key members of the Zongshe Party, confirming that former Qing dignitaries Tie Liang, Pu Wei, and Zaitao had disappeared. Not only that, about dozens of former Qing officials and Manchu civilians were arrested and their homes were raided. Hundreds of thousands of Manchus in Beijing were in great fear. Ta Kung Pao's reporter's request to interview Zaifeng was denied, and Prince Gong's palace was under the close guard of the Beijing Police Department, and he was not allowed to enter the palace compound where the former Qing ruler lived without a special certificate from the Ministry of Police.

Ta Kung Pao's influence surpassed that of Suncheon Times. In this case, the Ministry of Police must step in. On May 6, Ms. Qiu Jin, Director General of the General Administration of Press and Publication, presided over a press conference and invited reporters from 12 news media in Beijing to attend. Xu Gongzhi, vice minister of police and director of the Capital Police Department, gave a brief briefing on the attempted assassination of the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on April 28 and read out the testimonies of some of those involved. Xu Gongzhi said that if it were not for the good and the elderly to spread rumors, the Ministry of Police would report on the case after it was basically concluded. The reason why I am now reporting to the press about what happened is because of the need to calm people's minds. The government had no plan to purge and persecute former Qing officials, let alone the ordinary Manchu masses. The actions of the new government since the occupation of Beijing are sufficient proof that the new government strictly adheres to the agreement of understanding reached with the Manchus. It was not the government that violated the agreement, but a handful of restorationists. The Ministry of Police and the judicial system will act in strict accordance with the law and will never implicate innocent people in connection with the alleged assassination of the leader of the Republic.

While reprinting the press conference, government mouthpieces such as "Zhonghua Daily" and "Daily News" organized forces to severely refute Shanqi's traitorous behavior.

However, the press conference did not reveal another clue to the assassination case -- the arrest of KMT elements involved in the case.

On the evening of May 8, in Xin'an, Guangdong. Agents of the General Administration of National Security captured Jiang Zhiqing, a suspect who was preparing to flee Hong Kong. According to the evidence already available, Xu Chongzhi, deputy director of the Mobilization Department of the Southeast Military Region, who had covered Jiang Zhiqing's absconding and issued false documents to provide him with travel expenses, was arrested. Xu Chongzhi, who studied in Japan and graduated from Japan at the same time as Jiang Fangzhen, Cai Yi and Zhang Xiaozhun, was an early member of the League and had a very good personal relationship with Jiang Zhiqing. After Jiang Zhiqing absconded back to Hangzhou, Xu Chongzhi thought that the wind in the southeast, especially in Shanghai and Hangzhou, was too tight, and Jiang went to Guangdong for temporary refuge. Xu Chongzhi helped Jiang Zhiqing get a ticket from Ningbo to Guangzhou and personally escorted him onto the ship. But Xu didn't expect that he had already been targeted by the State Security Bureau, which controlled all of Jiang Zhiqing's social relations, and the reason why he was not arrested in Zhejiang was to dig out more clues. However, after Jiang Zhiqing arrived in Guangzhou, he did not contact anyone, but ran all the way to Huizhou, and then to Xin'an County, which is on the verge of the mouth of the Pearl River, and began to plot to go to sea by boat. The Operations Department of the State Security Administration and the Guangzhou Station are no longer "fishing". The arrest was immediately carried out and the navy was quickly mobilized to escort him to Beijing.

Jiang Zhiqing's case implicated another important KMT figure, Zhang Zengcheng. He said that Zhang Jingjiang was much more familiar with it. This person is a Zhejiang business tycoon who once vigorously funded Sun Wen's anti-Qing Dynasty. Sun Wen once wrote a couplet for Zhang's family: a full house of 3,000 drunken guests. A sword frost cold forty states. Zhang Jingjiang did not flee abroad because of Sun Wen's failure. Still in his business. It is said that someone had seen Chiang in Zhang's mansion in April. For this reason, the Zhejiang Police Department summoned Zhang, but soon released him.

Although Zhang's interrogation by the National Police Department was short, it caused panic among wealthy businessmen in Zhejiang. Even Zhang Jian felt uneasy. Ran to ask Prime Minister Fang Shengyuan. With the release of Zhang Jingjiang, the turmoil gradually subsided.

Jiang Zhiqing had no official position in the new dynasty. It has been ascertained that Jiang followed his eldest brother Chen Qimei to Japan last year. When he returned to China and began to carry out the assassination will be a matter of interrogation and investigation later. But the State Security Administration will not let Xu Chongzhi go. Because Hsu was an active-duty officer, the Ministry of Police had no authority to investigate the military, so the case was transferred to the Ministry of National Defense, and the purge of the two major military regions, the southeast and south, which were basically the Kuomintang troops that had rebelled at the beginning, began to be purged. A number of military generals from the Kuomintang were summoned or arrested, including Zhang Xiaozhun, commander of the engineering corps of the General Staff Headquarters, Jiang Fangzhen, principal of the Baoding Military Academy, and Cai Yi, commander of the 38th Brigade, to learn about Xu Chongzhi's social relations. Zhang Xiaozhun was worried, but Jiang Fangzhen was calm and calm, and said to his old classmates that he would not do anything bad and not be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. We don't have any dealings with the Kuomintang, and you don't have dealings with those people, so what are you worried about? In addition, the president relies on this army, so he will never let everyone in the army put themselves in danger.

Jiang Fangzhen's estimate was right. The investigation of the military was soon terminated, and except for the two major military regions in the southeast and south, the rest of the military regions were basically not involved. The arrest of the Manchu "remnants" in Beijing has gradually come to an end, and there is less and less news of the arrests, and some of the innocent people have been released, and those who have been in public office have returned to work. The first turmoil that marked the establishment of the new dynasty gradually subsided.

But it is impossible to completely cover up the incident. The Times was quick to report on the purge of the army. It is claimed that the government of the Republic of China intends to clean up and purge the Kuomintang and the former Qing forces through a fictitious assassination case.

The Times is a British-owned newspaper with considerable influence around the world. During this time, the newspaper did a lot of distorted reports around the Tangnu-Ulianghai conflict.

As if to fight back against the British, the Wehrmacht newspaper, the mouthpiece of the military, born out of the Fifth Town Newsletter, officially reported on the course of the battle of Tangnu Ulianghai on May 9, enthusiastically eulogizing General Lu Shan, who sacrificed his life for the country, and the expeditionary force of the Northern Military District, which fought valiantly, and confirmed that the division had withdrawn from Tangnu Ulianghai -- this move was not a submission to Russian military intervention, but a concern for peace in the Far East -- after the outbreak of war, some countries concerned about the situation in the Far East mediated in the hope that both sides of the conflict would exercise restraint, As far as possible kuài restore the original state of the area...... There's the British government. The British Government's report of distorting the facts is irresponsible and slanderous against the Chinese Government and the National Defense Forces, and the Chinese people and military express great indignation at this.

The "National Defense Forces Daily" claimed that the Tangnu-Ulianghai is China's undisputed territory, and the Russian army's entry into the Tangnu-Ulianghai area is a naked aggression against China. The withdrawal of the Wehrmacht from the Tangnu-Ulianghai is an expression of respect for the mediation of the international community and demands that the Russian army immediately withdraw from the area, otherwise, the Wehrmacht retains the right to take military action.

Public opinion shifted from the purge of former Qing dignitaries and the Kuomintang to the military. On May 12, 100,000 people gathered and marched in Beijing. Protest against the Russian aggression against the Tangnu-Ulianghai.

This is the third large-scale rally and march in the capital. In addition to the National Day celebration parade, two times it was for Tangnu Ulianghai. In view of this, the Russian Government was extremely indignant, and Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Gausovic convened a meeting of the ministers of the great powers in Dongjiaomin Lane, and was entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hope that the great powers would reach an agreement on relations with China. The core is not to establish diplomatic relations with China, and to impose sanctions on China in terms of economy and politics. Tsar Nicholas II had already decided to "back down", and after the Chinese expeditionary force took the initiative to withdraw from the Tangnu-Ulianghai area, all the military plans against China were suspended, and even the Russian cavalry units that had entered the Tangnu-Ulianghai area and suffered severe losses had begun to withdraw northward in batches. It is a helpless fact that it is not possible to divert energy to the Far East. But that doesn't mean the Russian government can stop there. In the face of surging public opinion in China. The Russian government decided to suspend the establishment of diplomatic relations with China and instigated its isolation from China.

But the Russians miscalculated. It's not ten years ago. The contradictions between the great powers, especially the two camps of Europe as imaginary enemies of each other, have been formally formed, and it is impossible for the great powers to reach a consensus on the China issue.

In addition to Germany, the envoys of the great powers stationed in Beijing attended this meeting. But no agreement was reached. France expressed its support for Russia. Japan and the United Kingdom attitude**. The United States and Austria have expressed opposition. They have received clear instructions at home that diplomatic relations can be established with the new Chinese regime if the necessary conditions are met. So. The U.S. minister said that it was not in the interest of the United States to exclude China from the civilized world, but that the treaty in question must be recognized by the new Chinese regime is a major precondition.

Kousoviecz was surprised by the British attitude, and he thought that in the present situation (the anti-British sentiment exuded by the new Chinese government), the British would certainly act. But the British did not even make a clear statement in support of the Russian proposal. This was a great disappointment for the Russians.

The disappointment of the Russians is yet to come. Two days later, the U.S. government took the lead in establishing diplomatic relations with China, at the ambassadorial level. The next day, Germany and Austria also established diplomatic relations with China at the ambassadorial level. What makes the Russians even more angry is that the diplomatic announcement jointly issued by the German government and China specifically states that the Tangnu-Ulianghai region is China's inherent territory. It was a vast territory 800 kilometers long from east to west and 300 kilometers wide from north to south.

As a matter of fact, the United States and Germany have been secretly consulting with China on the establishment of diplomatic relations for a long time. The negotiations were successful and evaded other countries, not in Beijing but in Jinan. Since Shandong Industrial Co., Ltd. has close cooperative relations with Germany and the United States, the visit of American and German officials to Shandong did not arouse special suspicion from Britain and Japan.

Once the ice is broken, the initiative shifts to China. The formal establishment of diplomatic relations with Europe and the United States has made all those who are concerned about foreign affairs in the country rejoice, and since the outbreak of the Battle of Tangnu-Ulianghai, the attention to the purge of certain forces has been diverted, especially after the National Day. The victory of diplomacy greatly encouraged the people and consolidated the new regime.

After the signing of diplomatic relations with the United States and Germany, the relevant economic and military cooperation negotiations have been accelerated, involving transportation, industry, and military aspects. In particular, the United States, which is in an overproduction position, urgently needs to find an emerging market, so the United States has expressed great interest in China's request for loans to buy equipment and build factories. The Chinese have a big appetite, and the list covers more than a dozen industries, with loans totaling up to $80 million. The Chinese have made no secret of their ambitions for industrialization. The US side suggested that the Chinese side organize a high-level delegation to the United States to conduct relevant talks, and China expressed its approval. And Rockefeller, DuPont and other conglomerates can't wait, and they urgently need to increase investment in China in order to obtain greater benefits. Americans are fed up with the discrimination of the old powers, and on a global scale, a possible market has almost been divided between Britain and France, and China should be the last big market. After the U.S. diplomatic establishment in China concluded that the Mengshan junta was in good hands, it allowed U.S. capital to enter the Chinese market.

"It is no longer indisputable that Japan regarded the United States as an imaginary enemy after the Russo-Japanese War. The Chinese's desire for money and technology to build their extremely weak industries is good for the United States, and they cannot pose any threat to the United States, which can control China. In particular, China's demand for strengthening its navy should be satisfied, and the gradual strengthening of China's navy is a realistic check on Japan, which will be conducive to the security of the Pacific. In short, it is in the interests of the United States for a pro-American China to rise in the Far East. "The U.S. Minister to China, Philip Philip Will, now ambassador, reads in his report to Washington.

The Germans were not far behind. After obtaining the exclusive right to build the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, they promised to cooperate more closely with China in the military field, promising to transfer a series of military technologies such as chemistry, optics, and metallurgy, and to establish joint ventures to establish related factories. In addition to being repaid by customs duties, Germany wanted to receive Chinese minerals, especially oil. The Chinese side agreed.

There is a price to be paid for the establishment of diplomatic relations. That was the recognition of a series of treaties that humiliated the Manchu Qing dynasty - the Gengzi indemnity, customs duties, and the legitimacy of the concessions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been under great pressure from the military, but was suppressed by Long Qian.

At a secret meeting on the evening of May 10, Long Qian told the main heads of the military and government that there is no mystery in diplomacy, but all about strength. Don't thank the United States and Germany, if they don't have interests in China, they will be like Russia. It is unrealistic to hope that the sovereignty betrayed by the Manchus will be taken back at once, and it is necessary to take it slowly. The conclusion of diplomatic relations with the great powers is conducive to the recovery of the country and, even more, to the development of the country. We must first swallow this breath and concentrate on doing our own thing, and let's do our own thing well. Strengthening armaments is a legitimate demand of the military and, all the more, the aspiration of the people of the whole country. However, to strengthen armaments, we need to first improve the economy, and even children can understand this truth. Therefore, we must live a long and hard life and make concerted efforts to do a good job in economic construction, which is the overall situation of our long-term life. Tangnu Ulianghai will take it back, and the next time we send troops, we will not retreat again. Not only Tangnu and Ulianghai, but also Taiwan, Penghu, Hong Kong, Macao, and all the territories occupied by the foreign powers must be recovered. I have the determination to do this, and even if I do not see this day in my lifetime, I believe that our descendants will accomplish this great deed. Some people may say that you are too discouraging to say this, and Yan zhòng lacks courage. No, it's not a matter of courage, it's about strength! Don't be discouraged, I dare to assert that in less than five years, the international situation will certainly change in our favor, and our opportunity will come. The opportunity is there, but if you don't have the strength, you won't be able to seize the opportunity even if it comes. Comrades, let us strengthen our confidence, tighten our belts, and calm down and work hard for a few years. (To be continued......)