The Times reporter Mo Lixun, who was scheduled to cover Shandong, left Beijing on June 2 and embarked on his journey south to Shandong under the escort of four soldiers. He did not take the waterway of the Grand Canal, but went to Shandong along the line of Zhengding and Hengshui.

Since the second half of 1906, the political situation in the Qing state has become strange. The uprisings instigated by the revolutionary party, which was supported by the Japanese government and the people, broke out one after another in the south of the decaying empire, which shocked the Qing center three times overnight. It is said that the body of the Queen Mother, who has controlled the court for 40 years, is declining, and she can't hold on to the court discussion for a long time. The center of the Qing court has recently undergone major changes, the reform of the bureaucratic system, the fall of Qu Hongzhen, the nominal loss of military power by Yuan Shikai, and the emergence of a group of young nobles in Manchuria on the stage of supreme power...... As an important member of the British Empire (Australia is a member of the British Commonwealth and not formally independent) in the Qing Dynasty, although it is not an official diplomatic envoy, it has an important mission...... The British Empire must know exactly where this vast and decaying empire is headed. How to ensure the influence of the British Empire in the center of the Qing Dynasty and ensure the interests of the British Empire in the Far East in the rapidly changing situation?

Sir Zhu Erdian, Minister to China, instructed him to make a trip to Shandong as soon as possible. Learn more about Shandong's political, military, and economic conditions. By all indications, Shandong, not far from Beijing, suddenly seemed to have become conspicuous among the nearly 20 provinces of the Qing state, and this province with a population of 30 million and occupying an important geographical position was not only growing by leaps and bounds economically, but also making a stronger and stronger voice politically and militarily.

Jurdian told Morrison that for several years. U.S. investment in Shandong is showing explosive growth, and the cumulative investment has reached nearly 10 million US dollars! The inflow of these funds and technologies has contributed to Shandong's leap to become the province with the strongest industrial strength in the Qing Dynasty! Aside from the basic industries in Shandong that cannot but be noticed - electricity, coal, steel, cement, etc., a large number of daily industrial products are produced in Shandong, flow to Beijing, flow to the whole country, and even begin to be exported to Nanyang and even the United States! When the news of the decision to build a car factory in Shandong Province came, even without the instructions of Sir Zhu Erdian, Morri, relying on the intuition of a journalist, was in a hurry to make a trip to Shandong.

Except for the United States. Germany, which has a special interest in Shandong, has also increased its investment in Shandong. Mainly military. The arms factories that sprung up like mushrooms in Shandong that uneasy the Qing state center had the shadow of Germany behind them, otherwise, how could Shandong even build 75mm cannons?

America's cowboy nouveau riche is not a military enemy of Britain, and at most there is friction in trade. But Germany is. Two major military blocs have emerged in Europe. France and Russia formed an alliance with Germany and Austria. This was a serious disturbance to the British Empire, which had always adhered to the weakening and control of Europe as its basic foreign policy. In the event of a war between the two blocs, the British Empire is not the United States, and a choice must be made.

The reality is. The strengthening of the German Empire's power in the Far East directly harmed the interests of the British Empire.

In the Qing Dynasty, the influence of the British Empire definitely exceeded that of Germany, a rising upstart in Europe. Britain followed the strategy of direct control of the center, and had real interests in the Yangtze River valley. Germany, which is weaker than Britain, has only established itself in Shandong, and it is not surprising that it has chosen a spokesperson in Shandong, but now the strength of this spokesperson seems to have increased too quickly.

Morrison felt that his trip to Shandong was too late! He was supposed to leave after the Chinese New Year, but the sudden outbreak of political controversy in the center of the Qing Dynasty delayed his trip, and The Times even directly participated in the struggle for the interests of the British Empire in China. Fortunately, the result was acceptable, Yixuan was still the foreman of the military aircraft, and Yuan Shikai, who was friendly with the British Empire, also entered the military aircraft department. Because of this, Moritson's trip to Shandong has been delayed until now.

The reason why he took the land route was because he heard a message from his old friend Yuan Shikai that the Shandong soldiers and the Beiyang Army had a serious confrontation at the junction of Zhili Shandong, and there was a possibility that they would misfire! Yuan Shikai, who finally entered the Military Aircraft Department, supported his old friend to go to Shandong, and even sent a telegram to the Shandong Governor Yamen in the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking them to receive him properly.

Morrison was attracted by Yuan Shikai's intelligence. In case the Beiyang Army and the Shandong Army exchanged fire, it would be a big event. Mo Lixun was unwilling to let go of such an opportunity, so he gave up the comfort of the waterway and insisted on going to Shandong by land.

After he passed Zhengding, he met the Beiyang regular army retreating north along the way, and asked the officer sent by Yuan Shikai to escort him into Lu to inquire, and it turned out that the sixth town troops stationed in Hengshui had withdrawn north, and he encountered one of the step markers. Morrison breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that the battle could not be fought. He did not go to interview the commander of the pace, and Morrison was more interested in Shandong.

Morrison entered the city of Texas on June 6, and he was "captured" by a group of soldiers while observing a fortification that was clearly built by the army in an area about 20 miles of the city, and after informing him of his identity, he was taken to Ye Yanbing's command post and met with the commander who had just learned the name of the road.

The city of Texas is not big, but it is very clean, and there are no imaginary groups of soldiers in the market, and the people live as usual, as evidenced by the fact that the commercial market around the North Gate is open as usual. Of course, there were soldiers of the Shandong Army guarding the city gate, and Mo Lixun paid special attention to the equipment and clothing of the soldiers, and found that the color and style of the military uniforms of the Shandong Army were not at all the same as those of the Beiyang Army. The chaotic Qing State is simply unimaginable that it is difficult to unify even the clothing of its own army.

"General Ye," Mo Lixun felt, there was nothing wrong with calling the general, the young officer in front of him was a standard beautiful man with the eyes of the Qing people (Mo Lixun thought that he had completely mastered the aesthetics of the Qing people), and he could go to the theater to play Zhao Zilong, who was seven in and seven out of Changbanpo, without makeup.

"General Ye, I'm a reporter from the British "Times", passing by Texas, and I want to interview you with a few questions, is it okay?"

"Yes, as long as there are no military secrets involved. By the way, don't call me a general, I'm not a general, just an ordinary officer in the Shandong Patrol Battalion. Ye Yanbing smiled.

Morrison wanted to ask a military question, but he didn't expect the young and handsome officer to block back as soon as he opened his mouth. But. As a veteran reporter, he naturally won't stop there, "General Ye, the question I asked has nothing to do with military secrets. Recently, it has been rumored in Beijing that the Shandong Army and the Beiyang Army are facing each other in the Dezhou area, and a major war is about to break out. Is this true? ”

"That's the military problem. I can tell you, though, that it's a rumor. Ye Yanbing replied.

"But in the north of the city, I saw your army building fortifications......"

"Drills. Do you understand? This is a routine exercise of our army. ”

"Why do you want to conduct such an exercise? You must know that this may bring misunderstanding to the troops on the Hengshui side. ”

"That's not your business. You're asking too much. Ye Yanbing said with a straight face. I read the certificate issued to you by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can go to Jinan or other places in Shandong for interviews. However, the area around Texas is an exercise area, so in order not to cause misunderstanding, please leave Texas immediately. ”

"Ah, that's a shame. I would like to protest against your unfriendly attitude towards the British Empire......"

"You go and protest to the Yamen of the Governor of Shandong. Take them away. Ye Yanbing waved his hand. Put a blindfold on them. Until out of the exercise area. ”

"Ahh I protest...... You have violated my freedom in life! It was the first time that Morrison had suffered such a "humiliation" in more than ten years in China, but he was dragged up by two soldiers. pulled out Ye Yanbing's command post.

When Morison was in Texas and met Ye Yanbing's cold reception, Chen Chao was receiving two German guests at home. One of them was an old acquaintance, Drodek of the Rhine Company, and the other was the "envoy" of the governor of Tolpar, named Gottlieb. Feng. Jia Gao, on behalf of the German Governor in Qingdao, came to visit Chen Chao.

The Mengshan Army system maintained a close relationship with the German army in Qingdao, but it was mainly limited to cooperation in the military field. Since Long Qian opened the prelude to the far-reaching cooperation between the German military with a design drawing that surpasses the Madsen light machine gun and the improvement plan for the Type 98 rifle, in the past few years, the Mengshan Army has successively purchased a large number of weapons and military materials such as artillery, heavy machine guns, rifles, binoculars, and sapper shovels from arms tycoons such as Rheinmetall and Krupp, and has also purchased a large number of military technology and production equipment from the German side. It can be said that the arms industry, which was initially formed by the Mengshan Army but was still very young in the eyes of the Germans, came from the German side in terms of its main technology and equipment.

Not only that, the Mengshan Army and the German Army also held two military exercises, which completely changed the Germans' perception of the Mengshan Army. Later, in accordance with Long Qian's suggestion, the regular coordination meeting was set up to communicate and coordinate the contradictions between the German army stationed in Qingdao and the Mengshan army, so that the Germans could feel the profound understanding of the international situation and a certain advanced nature of military technology by the main military leaders of the Mengshan army. This has laid the foundation for cooperation between the two militaries. Generally speaking, during the period when the Mengshan Army was in charge of the political situation in Shandong, the cooperation between the Qingdao German Army and the Mengshan Army was extremely pleasant.

However, it was the first time that the governor sent a "special envoy" to solemnly meet with Chen Chao, who had a transcendent position in the Mengshan military system.

"Mr. Chan, Your Excellency the Governor has entrusted me to convey to you a few messages," said Gottlieb, of about forty years, with curly flaxen hair, and a gray eyeball that was always moving, and he looked shrewd.

"What's the news? Mr. Jia Gao? Chen Chao listened to Long Qian tell in detail about the characteristics of the names of the Germans, and knew that this "Feng" was the symbol of the Junker aristocracy, but he still did not understand what Junker was. However, he finally knew the name structure of the foreigners, and he called his surname instead of his name.

"Recently, your government has studied a series of personnel appointments for Shandong, I wonder if Mr. Chen has heard of it?" The translator is Derodek, who has been in Shandong for many years, and his Jiaodong dialect is very standard.

Chen Chao's ears pricked up, "What kind of personnel adjustment?" The recent events in Jinan and the military confrontation on the "border" of Texas made Chen Chao unable to pay special attention to the actions of the imperial court.

"According to reliable information, your imperial court has removed General Long Qian from his position as the governor of Shandong, and Mr. Bai, the political envoy, has also been transferred to Beijing as a deputy minister."

"What?!"

"Congratulations to Mr. Chen, you have taken over Mr. Bai Ruiting's place."

"Me? I'm a political envoy? That's impossible! It's a fantasy! ”

"The appointment came to Shandong very quickly. Mr. Chen, Your Excellency the Governor of Tolpar has sent me with a more important message to you, and through you to General Long Qian. ”

"What message?" Chen Chao suppressed the shock in his heart and stared at Gottlieb.

"You can take the attitude of His Excellency the Governor General as the attitude of the German Government." Gottlieb thought for a moment, "Your Excellency the Governor has great respect for General Long Qian, and thinks that he is a person capable of leading the future of your country. His Excellency the Governor-General, on behalf of the German Government, wishes to further strengthen cooperation with General Long Qian. This cooperation is not limited to the military aspect...... The German government could provide technical skills and loans to help General Long Qian further develop his power so that he could achieve a higher position and be responsible for a larger aspect...... The German Government understands General Long Qian's current situation, and if it is concerned that Shandong will not be militarily attacked by the central government of your country during General Long Qian's absence, the German Government has a unique role to play......"

Chen Chao basically understood what Gottlieb meant.

"Understood, I will tell Long Qian what you say."

"That's great. His Excellency the Governor was anxious to receive a reply from General Long Qian. ”

After the German guests left, Chen Chao immediately sent someone to inform Fang Shengyuan, Ning Shijun and Song Jinguo to come to the meeting.

Chen Shu felt that her uncle was worried about her uncle during dinner. After dinner, Chen Shu went to her uncle's study and saw her uncle sitting in front of the bookcase in a daze.

"Did you get into any trouble? Is there really going to be a war? ”

"Shu'er, do you remember our days in Chenjiaya?"

"Of course I do."

"Do you think it was better then or now?"

"Why do you ask this? I just want to go back, and the house is also given to others. ”

"The house can be bought back or rebuilt. But those days will never go back. ”

"Is there something wrong with my uncle?"

"Today the Germans told me the news that Long Qian had been dismissed from his post as Admiral."

"Oh, huh? For what? ”

"Shu'er, the court is eyeing him, and it's eyeing Shandong. I'm afraid he won't be able to come back, no, I mean Long Qian and the Fifth Town, the court doesn't plan to let them come back. ”

"If you don't let them come back, where will they go?"

"I don't know where to go. But what I know is that if Long Qian doesn't turn his face with the court, the battle won't be able to start for the time being. Because Lord Bai has transferred the Beijing division as an official. And Lord Bai's political envoy, the imperial court actually entrusted me! ”

"What?" Chen Shu, as well as You Shi and Chen Xian, who had just entered the room, exclaimed at the same time.

"Strange, right? I was promoted to the high position of political envoy all of a sudden. That's a high-ranking official from the second grade. Am I on my way? The topic was very relaxed and festive, but Chen Chao's expression was extremely solemn, "There is no way back now." It is also up to him to turn the country into a home, and it is also up to him to cut down all the doors. Chen Chao glanced at Long Xinghua, the second son of Long Qian, who was holding in Chen Xian's hand, "I want to lead the yellow dog out of the east gate again, but I can't do it." Long Qian is here, the family is naturally as stable as a mountain, Long Qian is defeated, let's finish together. ”

You Shi was stunned for a long time, she naturally couldn't understand Chen Chao's allusions, "Our family is not short of money, it's really not good, let Long Qian resign, let's not do it?" ”

"Ha Luha," Chen Chao smiled, with a desolation in his laughter, "It's really a woman's opinion." Do you think that now, you can still give up wealth and become a commoner? Stop dreaming! (To be continued......)