After years of development, Beijing, which is full of new buildings, now has a lot of meaning like a city that never sleeps, especially in the new urban area where Guoshe Avenue is located. After all, 80 percent of Beijing's new buildings are concentrated here, and even though it's late at night, pedestrians can still be seen walking in the streets of the new city under the light of street lamps.

In the majestic presidential palace, although it is already early in the morning, the entire building is still brightly lit.

The long marble gallery, with oil paintings hanging on the walls, makes people who pass by want to stop and admire. These were all purchased by Yan Shao and Elaline from abroad, and some of them were even in the British Museum or the Louvre.

Naturally, the British Museum and the Louvre must be reluctant to sell these things to Yan Shao, but just like the Portland vase back then, Yan Shao was also the original owner who contacted first.

After all, these collections are only temporarily stored in the above-mentioned museums, and there is no so-called ownership. In addition, after the end of the European War, the economy of both Britain and France was relatively difficult, and many capitalists or aristocrats living in Europe were also hit hard.

So no matter how reluctant they were, Britain and France could only watch these collections flow into China, just like China back then...

It's just that they used to rob it back then, but Yan Shao bought it with it...

Not...

It can't be said that they were all bought. It's also a bit robbed...

After all, no matter what, Yan Shao has taken away almost two-thirds of Russia's territory, and it is impossible to gain nothing at all. At least there are many famous paintings in Russia. In the end, they all fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht, including even the national painter Vasily? Ivanovich? Surikov's famous 1879 historical painting "The Morning of the Guards' Execution", as well as Ivan? Nikolaevich? Kramskoy's "Moonlit Girl" and "The Unknown Girl" and Aivazowski's "Nine Waves", among others.

Many generals, including Cai Yi, naturally admired these paintings very much, but they also knew very well that Yan Shao attached great importance to these artworks, so they ordered people to send them to Yan Shao―――――― anyway, they were also hung in the presidential palace, and they could not be regarded as bribes.

Naturally, it's not all robbed. But in such a war-torn era...

Prosperous antiques, troubled gold, I believe that the Russians even do not understand this sentence. I can also understand the meaning of this sentence. No matter how precious a painting is, it obviously has little meaning in such a war-torn era. Therefore, some of these paintings were indeed looted, and some of them were bought by the Special Service Bureau at a very low price after receiving the news.

Honestly. Maybe it's because I don't have that artistic cell. Yan Shao really couldn't figure out what was so good about those artworks. At least he thinks the paintings are a little better, and there is nothing out of the ordinary.

However, perhaps out of a collection mentality, or a kind of show-off mentality, he hung all these things on the walls of the presidential palace, so that every guest who came to visit could see them clearly, and these paintings did bring a lot of face to Yan Shao...

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The Western paintings hanging in the gallery are indeed very beautiful, especially the Ivan? Nikolaevich? "Moonlit Girl" by Kramskoy. Even in the eyes of a layman, Yan Shao, it is very beautiful...

Therefore, those who are new to work in the presidential palace often stop by. But now they obviously don't have that time. Although it was already early in the morning, they still had to be on standby. They didn't complain about this, after all, the salary here is very high, and the presidential palace has made it clear to them before they came.

There's no way, other things may be able to give you a more accurate working time, but national events or something, who knows when there will be a big problem, so since you are already working here, you can't complain about staying up late...

At this moment, two maids were walking in the direction of the conference room with coffee and other drinks.

In front of the door of the conference room, several guards were standing in front of the door with solemn expressions. When he saw the two maids approaching, he immediately swept over with his eyes. However, after noticing the identification papers they wore on their chests, he quickly withdrew his gaze and turned to push the door open for them to go inside.

Nodding to the guards, the two maids walked into the meeting room with their drinks.

In the conference room, Yan Shao, Duan Qirui and others were sitting in their seats with solemn faces, quietly waiting for news.

"Mr. President, this is what you want...", first walked up to Yan Shao, and the young maid who looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old handed Yan Shao the juice on the plate.

Glancing up at him, Yan Shao found that it was a very pretty-looking girl. However, he had seen a lot of beautiful women in his life, so he didn't show any unbearable expression, just nodded, and continued to look at the map hanging on the wall―――――― in this case, it seemed that only the map on the wall could divert some of his attention.

After putting down the juice that Yan Shao needed, the maid handed the other things on the plate to everyone one by one. There is tea needed by Duan Qirui and others, as well as coffee needed by some other people who live more Westernized lives...

After putting all the drinks everyone needed on the table, the two girls withdrew from the conference room, leaving only Yan Shao and the others in the room.

“……… Isn't there any news yet..."After waiting for the only people left in the room, Yan Shao took a sip of the juice on the table, and then said to Caterina on the side.

On the side, Caterina was arranging her hair somewhat absentmindedly, her fiery red hair reaching her hips. Although she looks very good with her figure and appearance, she is a little troublesome in daily life...

Several times she planned to cut it shorter, but was stopped by Yan Shao...

"Not yet. But don't worry, there is no news at this time, which is not good news, not to mention that you still don't trust General Cai? The people in this operation were all selected by him, and he may not have a good eye for people, but in terms of ability, you should still know very well..."

Feng Guozhang and the others on the side didn't say anything. But in fact, he had already pricked up his ears and listened attentively, but now when he heard Caterina comment on Cai Yi, they all immediately smiled bitterly.

It's just that kind of 'looking at people's eyes' and so on. They couldn't say anything to justify Cai Ye, because although his vision was very powerful in military affairs, he was really not very good at looking at people.

For example, when the Xinhai Revolution had just succeeded, it was because Cai Ye misjudged Tang Jiyao. As a result, the revolutionary party in Guizhou at that time was almost completely slaughtered. However, Tang Jiyao colluded with Liu Xianshi and others in Guizhou to obtain the position of governor of Guizhou, and was finally able to sit on an equal footing with Cai Yi.

Even during Tang Jiyao's march into Guizhou, he refused Cai Yi's order to stop entering Guizhou for various reasons, and even those who rushed over to stop him were killed by him.

It can be seen that Cai Ye's vision of people is really not very good.

Later, he also mistook Yuan Shikai, thinking that he was a 'great man' level figure, okay. At that time, Yuan Shikai was indeed the only political figure that could be counted on. However, his act of becoming emperor afterwards messed up all the qiē.

The other side. Yan Shao also smiled bitterly, but it was difficult to say anything. I had to bow my head and drink my own juice, and the same was true for Duan Qirui and the others on the side, after all, they were old and their spirits were relatively poor, and they could only rely on tea or coffee to lift their spirits, otherwise they might not be able to survive so late.

But it was at this time that the phone in the conference room suddenly rang.

Hearing the ringing of the phone, everyone in the conference room was suddenly shocked, and those who were more anxious stood up directly from their seats.

"It's finally here..."Patting the table gently, Yan Shao looked at Caterina on the side.

Noticing Yan Shao's gaze, Caterina naturally knew what he was thinking, and quickly got up from her seat, walked to the phone to pick up the phone, and nodded to Yan Shao after listening attentively.

"It's a call from Yekaterinburg, the operation was successful, and some finishing touches are being done over there..."

Hearing this, everyone in the conference room immediately breathed a sigh of relief, even Yan Shao.

Although Yan Shao was extremely confident in this operation, how could he dare to rest assured that he had not received definite news...

"It seems that there is no problem...", Yan Shao looked at Liang Shiyi on the side. Minister Liang, you should be happy now! ”

"yes!" At the beginning of Yan Shao, others also looked at Liang Shiyi jokingly.

Yan Shao had an accident, and the person who was most concerned about this money was probably Liang Shiyi. After all, the Nationalist government has been spending heavily in the past few years, especially after the new territories have been established. Now that we have obtained this gold, not to mention how many banknotes can be printed with this gold, at least the government's financial pressure can be reduced somewhat―――――― but it is also the annual revenue of the national government.

Unlike Britain, China owes billions of pounds in foreign debt in order to get rid of Germany, its old enemy, and basically hollows out its old base. For Yan Shao, this money is already very supplemental...

"Sue sù Cai Ye, be sure to transfer the gold back safely, be careful along the way, and clean up the traces of the scene, don't leave any horses. If you don't do it, it's just that, since you do it, then we have to do it perfectly."

Hearing Yan Shao's words, Caterina nodded, and then repeated Yan Shao's words just now to the person on the other side of the microphone.

At the same time, Yan Shao looked at everyone present with a happy face.

"Anyway, since the action is smooth, let's celebrate later."

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Of course, it is impossible to call Cai Ye directly, and the phone at this time is not so advanced, Cai Ye received a telegram, and then understood what Yan Shao meant.

After reading the telegram sent to him by Yan Shao, Cai Yi nodded slightly. said that he understood, and then conveyed Yan Shao's meaning.

At this time, the raiding troops near the train had not yet withdrawn, but remained in place to be in charge of the guard. Not surprising. After all, the things in the car are too important, and you always have to guard against someone suddenly appearing and then coming to a black or black food or something―――――― although this possibility is not very large, but it is definitely not unexistent.

After all, there are still some resistance groups active in Siberia, and even if the activities of these people have become very few in recent years, it does not mean that there are really none, but the frequency of activities has become much lower.

On the other hand. The transport personnel, who had already been prepared early, also began to take the last few carriages of gold under the protection of the raiding troops. Loaded onto trucks...

"What are we going to do next?" asked one of Pepelyaev's men, sitting in the car, turning his head sideways.

"Yes, those Chinese shouldn't be untrustworthy, right?" The other person was also a little worried.

"Don't worry." Pepelyaev shook his head, even though today's events had mixed feelings. But he didn't lose his cool. "Now Kolchak is dead. If Chinese don't want to be charged with Kolchak's murder, then they have to have a plausible reason, and we are the best reason―――――― Kolchak died in the infighting of the Provisional Government, such a reason, no one can say anything, can they? So it is absolutely impossible for the Chinese to attack us at this time..."

Speaking of which, Pepelyaev looked in the direction of the train. "The problem now is those, it seems that the Chinese really don't plan to leave any living mouth..."

Next to the train. The raiding force was there cleaning up the 'scene'―――――― that is, dragging out all the living ones from the inside of the carriage. Drag it to the side of the railroad tracks and kill them one by one...

Among these living mouths were the surrendered officers and soldiers of the Russian Guard, as well as the innocent conductors and those dignitaries. Whatever their original identity was, they are all the same, a flock of lambs to the slaughter...

In order to ensure that the operation went smoothly, and that there would be no trouble afterwards, apart from Pepelyaev's group, there must be no one left alive in the whole plan, including those dignitaries and dignitaries, who had already seen the true face of the raiding troops, and if they were allowed to leave China alive, they would probably do something very passive to the Nationalist government afterwards.

Instead of having a headache at that time, it is better to deal with everything now, at least that's what Yan Shao thinks. As long as they were all settled, all the world would know about was internal strife within the Russian Provisional Government, and Kolchak was replaced by Pepelyaev, in which no one survived except for those from Pepelyaev's faction.

That's all...

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"Mr. Prime Minister..." Just as Pepelyaev and the others were in the car, watching with unbearable expressions as they watched the execution of people in the distance, an officer suddenly came over and knocked on the glass passage on the window.

"What's the matter?" Looking at the young officer outside the car, Pepelyaev's face showed a hint of puzzlement.

"The news has just come from Yekaterinburg that a train has stopped there not far away, and you and your men can take that train to Vladivostok next, and as for these things now, there is no need for you to continue watching...", the young officer smiled at Pepelyaev with goodwill.

It's just that under the light of the train, looking at the blood stains on the officer's body, Pepelyaev and the others have a chill. In terms of cooperation, the curses and terrible howls of the Russians not far away before they died made Pepelyaev even more want to escape from here as soon as possible...

Therefore, after hearing the officer's words, Pepelyaev quickly nodded. "Alright, let's go..."

Although he couldn't bear it in his heart, he also knew that what was happening outside was definitely not something he could intervene in, and he and his subordinates' relatives and friends were not in the list of executed, and now the people who were executed were basically people from the Kolchak faction, or some high-ranking officials and nobles who were not of any faction, and he was now frightened by the methods of the Chinese, so naturally he did not dare to take risks for these people who had nothing to do with him.

Seeing Pepelyaev so acquainted, the officer was also quite satisfied. Soon he arranged for a vehicle to take Pepelyaev and his men away from the scene, leaving his men still 'clean' all traces in place...

Naturally, a few hundred people alone may not be able to ensure that there will really be no fish that slip through the net. However, on the hillside not far away, the snipers did not come down, but were still searching the surroundings with sniper rifles. Although the lights on the train are not enough to dispel the darkness around them, it is definitely a breeze for these people to shoot some small rats that have slipped through the net...

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The next morning, just as people had just woken up from their sleep, a piece of news that had just come from Siberia was published in almost all the newspapers.

……… Late yesterday night, while the top officials of the Russian Provisional Government were on their way to Vladivostok by car from Yekaterinburg, Pepelyaev, the former prime minister of the Provisional Government and the current chief consul of the Provisional Government, staged a coup d'état, killing Kolchak himself, his family and all the senior government officials who were effectively loyal to him...

At the same time, Pepelyaev, who appointed himself chief consul of the provisional government, also announced that he hoped to form a government-in-exile in Beijing to continue to fight against Soviet Russia entrenched in Eastern Europe.

After the news broke, the Chinese government quickly responded, expressing its disappointment with the coup d'état, but also saying that it would not interfere in the 'internal affairs of Russia', and at the same time welcomed Pepelyaev's hope to establish a government-in-exile in Beijing, and expressed its willingness to provide Pepelyaev with the necessary support, whether economically, politically, militarily or diplomatically...

A few days later, although Britain and the United States and other countries expressed their disappointment with the coup, they also recognized the legitimacy of the Pepelyaev regime, after all, they did not know the matter of the hundreds of tons of gold at all, naturally they could not think that the Chinese were behind the ghost, as for the provisional government, as long as they were willing to continue to fight against Soviet Russia, it actually made no difference to them who was in power. At this point, the whole thing is finally a little higher, and after the matter is over, Yan Shao can finally focus on some other things, some things that need to be solved.

At least Yan Shao has always felt that those Japanese have been on the banks of the Yalu River for long enough.

And always keep Dandong in the midst of war, although it is absolutely correct strategically, but all sectors of society still have some opinions on this, after all, it is the Chinese's own city after all. (To be continued......)