Just when the cannons were roaring outside Beijing, Sun Yat-sen, accompanied by Hu Hanmin and others, arrived at the Jinliyuan Wharf of Shiliupu in Shanghai, where he was warmly welcomed by Huang Xing, Chen Qimei, Cai Yuanpei, and representatives from all walks of life in Shanghai. High-speed updates //

Sun Yat-sen wore a black tweed coat with a smile on his face, and frequently nodded to the audience. As soon as he landed ashore, he was surrounded by a group of Chinese and foreign reporters, and everyone asked:

"May I ask Mr. Sun, how much money and how many weapons did you bring back to China this time?"

"According to the Guangzhou special telegram published in the "Declaration", you have ordered 18 warships from a certain European country, and you have not paid for the time being, and you have signed a contract. Is this true? ”

"Mr. Sun, it is reported that there are three large warships returning to China with you, and the crew and passengers are all students studying in the UK. What's really going on? ”

……

Sun Yat-sen raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then replied with a smile: "Sun returned to China this time, without bringing any money or weapons, and only brought back the revolutionary spirit. I believe that under the encouragement of this revolutionary spirit, the revolutionary righteous men will certainly work together to annihilate the Manchu government and establish a brand-new Republic of China at an early date! ”

The reporter wanted to extract more news from Sun Yat-sen's mouth, but he quickly left the dock under the escort of Huang Xing, Chen Qimei, Cai Yuanpei and others and came to the headquarters of the Shanghai Allied Army in the French Concession.

As soon as everyone sat down in the hall, Huang Xing couldn't wait to say: "Brother Yixian answered the reporter's question on the dock just now, which is witty and funny, but also avoids reality and fiction, which is really wonderful!" But now that all of you are colleagues in the party, Brother Yixian might as well talk openly and honestly, how much money and how many weapons did you bring back to China this time? ”

Huang Xing was defeated by Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army in Hubei, and if it weren't for Wu Luzhen and others in Zhili to force the main force of the Beiyang Army to retreat north, the revolutionary army in Hubei would have been driven out of the three towns of Wuhan long ago. Now Huang Xing wanted to take advantage of the Qing court's lack of time to look south, and gathered the remnants of the army to make a comeback, but he had no weapons and food in his hands, so he had to come to Sun Yat-sen, the big boss of the League and the god of wealth, for help.

Sun Yat-sen shook his head with a smile: "Keqiang, what I said on the dock is not a lie. I really didn't bring a penny, a gun or a weapon with me when I came back this time! However, when I was passing through Singapore, I met Mr. Tan Kah Kee, the leader of the Nanyang overseas Chinese, and after some conversation, he promised to raise $50,000 for the government of the Republic of China. But before it arrives, I'm afraid it will take another month or two! ”

"A month or two?" Huang Xing's disappointment was palpable. Like today's gathering of the clouds. The situation on all sides is changing rapidly, wait a month or two? At that time, the daylily was already cold!

The corners of Hu Hanmin's mouth smirked: "Brother Keqiang, there are two gods of wealth in front of you, and you still have a relationship with Mr. Sun, isn't it a leaf that can't see Mount Tai?" ”

Huang Xing looked at Hu Hanmin suspiciously: "What do you mean by Zhantang?" ”

Hu Hanmin said: "For example, today, who doesn't know that Shanghai Tang is ten miles of gold and silver? Now Brother Yingshi (Chen Qimei) is the governor of the Shanghai army, if you ask him for help. Could he still be stingy? ”

Chen Qimei is in her early thirties, wears a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and has a full face, so she can't tell that he is the leader of the Green Gang who mixes restaurants, teahouses, theaters, bathhouses, and brothels. Hearing this, he hurriedly replied: "Cousin Zhan said he was laughing!" It's true that Shanghai Tang is flowing gold and silver, but it's all someone else. As a member of the revolutionary army, how could Chen be as prey as the Qing court officials? There is a cloud in Su Dongpo's "Former Red Cliff Fu": "Between heaven and earth, everything has its own master." I don't have it, but I don't take anything. It's beautiful. May this phrase be used as an inscription and placed on the motto! ”

Hu Hanmin was noncommittal about this, turned around and introduced: "Another example is Brother Xiaomin." There are at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver handled every year, and there are random leaks in his fingers, which is not enough for your Hubei Revolutionary Army to eat a fat brain? ”

Cai Yuanpei was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly explained: "Brother Zhantang may not know that although Cai handles hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year, these are all special funds for Sun Baixi to take out the profits of the family business to set up primary and secondary education. Cai was valued by him, entrusted with a big responsibility, and was responsible for the use of funds, how could he go against the purpose and divert education funds for other purposes? ”

Hu Hanmin pursed his lips disapprenosingly: "Sun Baixi is willing to be cheap." As a slave and a dog for the Manchu Tartars, he was in a high position, and he was a prestige, but I am afraid that a lot of the silver he gave you was the fat and ointment of my Han people! It is reasonable for us to borrow the blood and sweat of these Han people to overthrow the rule of the Manchu Tatars, right? ”

Cai Yuanpei replied: "Could it be that the Han people who were officials in the Qing court were willing to be lowly. Are they all fish and meat people? I'm afraid that Brother Hu is too biased! It's hard for others to say, but I can guarantee Sun Baixi that he has definitely not done anything hurtful. Even if he occasionally accepted some Bing Jing and Tan Jing from his subordinates, he used the money for free to set up education, and he didn't get it? In short, these funds handled by Cai will never be diverted for other purposes, and please ask Zhantang and Keqiang to think of another idea! ”

After speaking, he ignored the reactions of Hu Hanmin and Huang Xing, and said to Sun Yat-sen: "Yixian, I came to Shanghai this time mainly for two purposes, the first is naturally to welcome you back to China, and the second is entrusted by Sun Baixi, hoping that under your initiative and contact, I will join forces with the provincial military governments to join forces with the governors of the military governments of all provinces to overthrow the rule of the Qing government as soon as possible!" ”

Hu Hanmin sneered: "I'm afraid that the purpose of Sun Baixi's move is not to overthrow the rule of the Qing government, but to save his Jingshi University, right?" ”

Cai Yuanpei didn't know that the reason why Hu Hanmin and Sun Yuanqi were-for-tat was because the two had formed a bond when they were at Jingshi University, but Wen Yan explained: "Yes, Sun Baixi's suggestion that the Northern Expedition may be mainly to save Jingshi University, but it is not contradictory to the Northern Expedition of the monarchs in order to overthrow the rule of the Qing government, but it is just the same thing and the same goal." And in Cai's view, the significance of solving Jingshi University is no less than overthrowing the rule of the Qing government! As we all know, Jingshi University is currently the institution of higher learning with the largest number of students, the highest level of research and the most complete discipline system in China, and enjoys a high reputation in both the East and the West, and can be described as the mainstay of China's education circles. Not to mention, the profits from the research results of Jingshi University alone support the running expenses of more than 200 affiliated schools across the country!

"Once the university suffers a heavy blow, these affiliated schools will become rootless trees and water without a source, and soon there will be difficulties in financial operation, and then they will fall into the danger of shutting down. Unless someone can provide at least 600,000 taels of silver every year free of charge, there will be tens of thousands of students who will have no school to go to school and no books to read! Today, who has both the financial resources and the courage? I think that the Qing government did not have such people, and neither did the provincial military governments!

"The purpose of our alliance is to drive out the Tartars, restore China, establish the Republic of China, and equalize land rights. From the perspective of 'expelling the Tartars and restoring China', we want to overthrow the Qing government with the Northern Expedition, and from the perspective of 'founding the Republic of China and equalizing land rights', we need to ensure the integrity of Jingshi University. After the establishment of the Republic of China, did it still depend on the revolutionary righteous men to throw their heads, spill their blood, and carry out assassination and riots? I think that in order to govern the Republic of China well, it is necessary to renew the people's morality, open up the people's wisdom, rejuvenate the people's rights, and drum up the people's strength, and these all depend on education! Today, the great influence of Jingshi University in the field of education is no less than that of Wuchang Shouyi and the Chinese Revolution! ”

The more Cai Yuanpei spoke, the more excited he became, and his voice became higher and higher. Huang Xing seemed to be infected by passion, and volunteered: "As long as Sun Baixi sponsors 200,000 taels of military expenses first, my Hubei Revolutionary Army is willing to join forces with him to go north and smash Huanglong together!" ”

Chen Qimei couldn't help but feel disdainful: Huang Keqiang, your Sima Zhao's heart is too obvious! Now that you want guns and no guns, and you want soldiers but no soldiers, how can you "join forces to go north and smash the Yellow Dragon" with others? Let the family sponsor you 200,000 taels of military expenses first, I'm afraid that you are waiting for these 200,000 taels of military expenses to save your life! Don't say whether you will turn your face and deny the account after you take the money, I'm afraid that when you buy all the guns and train the soldiers, Sun Yuanqi will be able to build another Jingshi University!

Of course, Chen Qimei was disdainful, and said with righteousness and awe: "If Sun Baixi is willing to sponsor the Shanghai Army for 200,000 taels of military expenses, we are also willing to go north and drink the Yellow River with you and gather in Beijing!" ”

Sun Yat-sen, who had not spoken, spoke up at this time: "When Sun returned to China and passed through Hong Kong, he met with Liao Zhongkai, Zhu Zhixin and other comrades. They believe that the provinces of the country are now independent, but there are quite a lot of divisions between the local military governments, and there are many internal disputes. If I go north to Nanjing and Shanghai, I will have no troops in my hands and will not leave the house, and I will end up doing nothing. Therefore, I should first go to Guangzhou, use Guangdong as a base, reorganize the army, and then raise troops for the Northern Expedition. But I refused to keep them, do you know why? ”

Sun Yat-sen immediately asked and replied: "Because I think the most pressing problem at present is that although the revolution is surging and the provinces have declared their independence, there is no national revolutionary government to lead the revolution in a unified manner, and the military governments of the provinces are going their own way, which can easily be broken by the Qing court, making the revolution fall short!" So I refused their retention and went north to Beijing and Shanghai, and the main purpose of this trip was to form a provisional central government of the Republic of China. Of course, the Northern Expedition to pacify the remnants of the Qing court and rescue Jingshi University is also very important, but the formation of a provisional central government is even more important and urgent! Because only by establishing a central government that is supported domestically and internationally recognized can we unify our orders, concentrate our financial power, and be qualified to negotiate with foreigners and avoid foreign interference in the revolution. ”

As soon as they heard that Sun Yat-sen was going to form the provisional central government of the Republic of China, everyone present suddenly became excited: although everyone has made a lot of real profits in the local area, as long as it is not approved by the central government, it is an illegal armed force. Besides, you are all the bosses of the alliance and the governors of military governments in various places, so why do you have to get an official position such as chief minister and deputy minister in the central government?

Just when everyone was complimenting and boasting to each other, Hu Hanmin said loudly: "In my opinion, everything else can be discussed, but the post of the chief of education of the provisional government belongs to the people!" (To be continued.) )