Beijing, the official residence of Acting President Feng Guozhang.

Seeing Wang Shizhen, a good old man from Beiyang who was visiting, Chen Zhiji quickly returned to Feng Guozhang's hospital bed. Feng Guozhang, who was so sick and skinny, snorted a few times. Seeing that the love general Li Chun and his confidant Ni Sichong, who was the governor of Anhui, came in with Chen Zhiji, he was very excited and repeatedly ordered his young and beautiful wife Zhou Di to help him up.

Li Chun and Ni Sichong saw Feng Guozhang barely opening their deep concave eyes. The two big blue-eyed bags seemed to be filled with water. The shaved forehead had already grown in patches. In a sadness, they hurried forward and asked Feng Guozhang to lie down.

Feng Guozhang smiled with difficulty, raised his thick-boned hand and shook it slightly: "I can't die of illness at this point, don't you say that the two German doctors Duan Zhiquan sent me are better than Japanese doctors, otherwise I wouldn't wake up, cough cough... It's okay, Xiushan, Danchen, sit down and talk! Shuliang, go and get a pot of good tea."

Chen Zhiji hurriedly advised: "My father-in-law, the doctor said that he could not..."

"Go, don't listen to the lies of Chinese medicine and Japanese doctors. If you really want to listen to them, I can't even drink some porridge with some meat stars. It's better for the German doctor to say that drinking some light green tea will be beneficial to my health. Go quickly."

After saying so many words in one breath, Feng Guozhang breathed and his face flushed. He seemed to be very sick and his body had reached a very weak point. Chen Zhiji turned his head and glanced at the young mother-in-law. Seeing that his mother-in-law nodded slightly, he turned around to prepare tea. Li Chun and Ni Sichong both showed unbearable expressions on his face.

Feng Guozhang adjusted his breathing slightly and signaled his wife to add a small kapok pillow to his waist. After a while, a little sweat came out of his forehead. Li Chun and the others stood up and whispered to comfort him, complaining that he shouldn't have come at this time, but the generous Feng Guozhang smiled and comforted them and said that it would be good if they were sweating, but it would be bad if they didn't sweat.

Adjusting his leaning posture, Zhou Di said goodbye tacitly and left, and before leaving, he repeatedly reminded him not to be excited. Feng Guozhang agreed, and after his wife left, he looked at Li Chun and Ni Sichong who were still standing:

"Sit down! Danchen, you are the governor of Anhui, a senior official. Why did you leave your post without any responsibilities at such a sensitive time?"

Ni Sichong, who had just sat down, quickly stood up, saw Feng Guozhang's unhappy look, and hurriedly sat down: "Master, I am really worried about the Marshal's condition. My brothers under my command always hope that the Marshal will recover soon!"

Feng Guozhang smiled with relief. Looking at Li Chun, he asked kindly: "Xiushan, have you returned to Nanjing to reorganize the army? Why haven't you left Beijing yet? Is the arms business of you and Japan's Taiping Company ruined?"

Li Chun was shocked: "Master, did this happen to you? Who did it?"

Feng Guozhang couldn't help laughing, but he coughed for a while. It happened that Chen Zhiji led two maids to bring fragrant tea. Feng Guozhang took two sips to moisten his throat and felt better:

"Zhiquan came to me last night and talked with me for a long time. When talking about your private purchase of Japanese arms, he is still very supportive, but he only advises you to pay attention to unified arms. At present, the three major arsenals in Hanyang, Jinling and Gongxian can produce standard rifles. If you get some Japanese rifles back, it is indeed not convenient to replenish future supplies. You have to think carefully about this."

Li Chun was quite annoyed: "I guess Duan Zhiquan also told you that this batch of arms is more than 650,000, but 1.65 million, right?"

Li Chun's innocence made Feng Guozhang feel very kind:

"It doesn't matter how much money it costs, just take it yourself. However, I have to tell you something. According to convention, the new military and political chief Xiao Yimin may be in Nanjing to take charge. Several army chiefs and naval chief Liu Guanxiong supported him to control the military affairs of various provinces in Jiangnan. One of you and Danchen are the governors of Anhui, the other is the governor of Jiangsu, and the other is Xiufeng, who has just become the governor of Jiangxi, will probably not have a good life in the future."

The Xiufeng mentioned by Feng Guozhang is Chen Guangyuan, a confidant general from Feng Guozhang who took over Li Chun's position as the governor of Jiangxi. He is from Tianjin and is a lieutenant general of the 12th Division of the Beiyang Zhili Division. He is irritable and greedy for money. He has a relationship with the current powerful faction Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and most civil officials. Now he has become the governor of Jiangxi, but he only has one brigade of troops under his command.

What made Feng Guozhang even more worried was that Chen Guangyuan went to Nanchang and spent all his time and extorted randomly. Not only did he not get the support of the local army in Jiangxi, but he also offended a large number of gentry and celebrities. The Fourth Army of Wang Zanxu, who had entered southern Jiangxi, was even staring at Chen Guangyuan with a fierce look. If Chen Guangyuan, who was not talented and mediocre, did not find a way to transfer it as soon as possible, he would probably even be swallowed by others.

The generals and the generals then began to analyze the current situation and discuss the combination of Anhui and Sichuan Army. Finally, Feng Guozhang warned:

"Don't put down the military power in your hands easily. Now it seems that having soldiers in your hands is the foundation for your life. You two are in the two richest provinces in the north and south. As long as you don't make mistakes, no one dares to exclude you. As long as you live a good life, even if I leave tomorrow, I can rest assured!"

"Master..."

Hearing this, Li Chun and Ni Sichong were covered in tears, and they couldn't help but kneel down together and cried out in a daze.

......

Beijing Dongcheng and Prince's Mansion, Prime Minister's Residence.

In the two-story small western-style building on the east side of the office building, Duan Qirui, who was refreshed after hearing Wang Shizhen's words, raised his thick eyebrows and laughed in a low voice:

"It seems that Brother Hua Fu is really uneasy! Li Chun used the excuse to ask for military expenses last year and stayed in the capital for activities and refused to leave easily. Ni Sichong left his post without asking the Ministry of Army to agree and actually ran to the capital."

Wang Shizhen advised: "Zhiquan, it's better to be harmonious... We have worked hard to get the support of Marshal Xu, and our generals of the Beiyang army have gradually seen the situation clearly. The Senate and House of Representatives have successively set up airs. The situation is gratifying! At this critical moment, we cannot affect the hard-won overall stability due to local decision-making mistakes! I guess Brother Yiming will agree with my opinion."

Duan Qirui smiled again: "Don't worry, Li Chun and his colleagues are all your and me, no matter what, I will never do stupid things to destroy the Great Wall at this time, let alone it is not me who should be troubled by this, but Brother Yiming. Don't forget that Brother Yiming's appeal to "integrity and unity and work together" has not only won the support of all walks of life across the country, but also received unanimous praise and response from all central factions... Even he can face political enemies with a peaceful and open-minded attitude, and I cannot be worse than him. Are you right? Haha!"

Wang Shizhen nodded, smiled but was a little worried: "In theory, Brother Yiming is not the kind of complacent personality, but this time he did not hesitate to offend Li Chun for the purchase of arms of only one million yuan, which is quite puzzling. Could it be that Yiming wanted to take this deal for the Sichuan Arsenal?"

"No. Yiming's explanation is very clear. The reform and rectification of the national army is urgent, and the rectification and development of military-industrial enterprises are imperative. Thanks to Sichuan's strong support, the largest Sichuan arsenal in the country will be delivered to the Central Military and Political Headquarters. The factory's technical exchanges and cooperation, personnel training and other plans with the four major factories in Hanyang, Gongxian, Jinling and Shanghai are basically completed. The unified production standards for various weapons and ammunition will be implemented soon.

"At this moment, Li Chun still did his own thing and repeatedly asked the headquarters to fund him in purchasing Japanese equipment. This was undoubtedly a disrespect for Yiming. Yiming rarely opposed the grant of funds to Li Chun. Moreover, the weapons and ammunition produced in Sichuan are well-known, and they are not inferior to Japanese products in terms of quality or price. There is no need to spend more money!"

Duan Qirui was very polite in his attitude towards the Beiyang divisions. If it were not for Sichuan's secret support and he would pay 5 million in advance, he would probably not even be able to pay the salary of thousands of central officials. Where can I still have money to allocate armed equipment to various divisions in the hostile camp?

Wang Shizhen, who has returned from the mountain, is very familiar with the embarrassing financial situation of the central government. She does not doubt it at the moment, nodding and turning the topic to Xiao Yimin:

"Speaking of this, Brother Yiming is still very loyal. If he hadn't been generous in helping him, I'm afraid the British would not have let go so easily. Alas! I wonder if the "Milion" cargo ship he bought for 1.8 million US dollars?"

Duan Qirui was quite touched and picked up the teapot and added tea to Wang Shizhen:

"Before, we just declared war on Germany, so how could we really send troops to the war? If Yiming hadn't taken out this 6,500-ton cargo ship that had just been bought from the United States, loaded with 2,000 tons of flour, and joined the Far East transport fleet of the Allied Powers in the name of the country to travel to Britain, we might not have been able to get out of the dilemma!"

Speaking of this, Duan Qirui took out a document from the drawer and handed it to Wang Shizhen: "This matter needs to be kept confidential, please take a look."

Wang Shizhen was shocked after watching it. He never expected that Xiao Yimin spent a huge amount of money to buy back the large ocean transport ship from the United States was just a cover. His ultimate goal was to cooperate with the Navy headed by Liu Guanxiong, in exchange for the British support of Duan Qirui's reorganization at the cost of promising to purchase two British cruisers and six destroyers in exchange for the British support of Duan Qirui's reorganization. The additional condition was only to require the British Naval School to accept 150 Chinese students and train 1,000 Chinese naval officers and soldiers on their behalf.

Duan Qirui smiled at Wang Shizhen, who was stunned and said, "Do you see Brother Yiming's innocent heart from this? Even Liu Guanxiong, a Fujian barbarian, was moved by him. Who dares to say that he has ulterior motives? Brother Yiming has a country and a nation in his heart. It is not an exaggeration to praise him for taking into account the overall situation and being noble, right? Can someone like him who silently contributes to the ambitious people as the revolutionary party and the leftists call it?"

Wang Shizhen vomited out the turbid air heavily and sighed with conscience: "I am convinced! Next time I see Brother Yiming, I will apologize to him in person."

Duan Qirui laughed: "It's not apologizing. Just support him more. Although he has outstanding abilities and strategies, he is still young after all! At least Li Chun, Ni Sichong and Chen Guangyuan are not convinced... The reason why Yiming has not been able to perform his duties in Nanjing for a long time is probably based on this consideration. If Ni Sichong, who dominates Anhui and Li Chun, who controls the military and political power of Jiangsu, unite, it will be a problem whether Yiming can enter Nanjing City!"

Wang Shizhen remained silent. He knew that Duan Qirui had basically controlled the troops of Beijing, Tianjin, Zhili and several northern provinces, surpassed Feng Guozhang as he wished and became the actual helmsman of all the Beiyang factions, but there was no binding force on the provinces south of the Yangtze River. In addition to Duan Qirui's direct general and the guardian of the Songhu Army, Lu Yongxiang, had always been firmly controlled by Shanghai, the wealthy four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi were all in the hands of Feng Guozhang's confidant generals. This was undoubtedly a huge trouble for the new deputy military and political chief Xiao Yiming. Maybe Xiao Yiming could not go to Nanjing at all, let alone exercise his power.

After thinking for a long time, Wang Shizhen, who was kind-hearted, asked, "When will Brother Yiming go to Nanjing?"

Duan Qirui replied apologetically: "I don't know either, but I believe he can overcome the difficulties."

Wang Shizhen smiled helplessly and said, "Yes, there seems to be nothing he can't do... Zhiquan, just say it, what can I do for you and Brother Yiming?"

Duan Qirui was overjoyed, stood up and walked around the table to Wang Shizhen, and took out a neatly folded strip from his pocket.

Wang Shizhen took it and opened it, nodded solemnly, slowly closed the note, picked up the matches on the table and lit the note.

~~~~~~~~~~

ps: My eyes are getting worse and worse recently, and my vision is blurred. After watching the computer screen for a while, my eyes are filled with tears...

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Chapter completed!