26 Infatuated

At the gate of the presidential palace, looking at the backs of Feng Gengguang and Zhang Zongxiang, Huang Xing finally said the meaning of coming with Li Xiang:

"Lan Tianwei, the governor of Guanwai, led three cruisers, "Hai Rong", "Hai Chen" and "Nan Chen", set out from Shanghai and passed through the northern expedition in Yantai. The Northern Expedition Fleet arrived in Yantai, and then more than 200 people from Liu Jiyan's headquarters of the Shanghai Army's Northern Expedition Pioneers also arrived in Yantai by four ships from Shanghai, and successively occupied Dengzhou and other places. However, Lan Tianwei's plan to march northeast on the Liaodong Peninsula was blocked by Japanese imperialism. Japan refused to land on the Liaodong Peninsula, and the Northern Expeditionary Army had to land near Pei Ziwo through Huayuankou to the neutral area of Dagu Mountain. The great powers not only prevented the revolutionary army from landing. Today, everyone saw that the warships of the great powers demonstrated on the Yangtze River, and the diplomatic missions stationed in Beijing arrogantly announced that they were not allowed to fight within ten miles on both sides of the Beijing-Feng Railway. Russia and Japan have increased troops to the Northeast and Inner Mongolia respectively..."

At the same time, imperialism took advantage of Sun Yat-sen's eagerness to ask the powers for recognition to continue to put pressure on him. The eager desire to be recognized by the great powers was the common psychology of many revolutionaries at that time. However, imperialism did not recognize this nascent republic. Mo Lixun, a reporter from the British Times in Beijing, commented: "It is a delusion to warn the republican leaders in Shanghai that Sun Yixian, who knows nothing about China's national conditions, is delusional to win the early recognition of China by foreign powers. He said that only Yuan Shikai could gain the trust of foreign countries, and the leader of the Revolutionary Party assured Mo that they would make Yuan the first president.

Foreign bourgeois newspapers try their best to publicize that the great powers will intervene, and the constitutionalists are alarmist that once imperialism intervenes, China will be in danger of subjugating the country and destroying the species, and most revolutionaries seem to be in the face of a great disaster.

Sun Yat-sen read the telegram brought by Huang Xing, as if he had been splashed with cold water, and walked to the office very dejectedly. Li thought that they followed closely.

Li Xiang cursed: "Imperialist motherfucker, you are also confused!" Why do the warships of the great powers only dare to block in Nanjing and not in Hankou? It's not because of you soft balls! Since the peace situation has never broken down, the seemingly grand plan of the Northern Expedition of the Sixth Revolutionary Army is just a piece of paper!"

Li Shucheng, the president's military secretary, sneered and said, "Without food bombs, how can hundreds of thousands of troops go to the north?" Not to mention straightening up with foreigners!"

The financial difficulties made the Nanjing Provisional Government hard, and the haze of imperialist interference made the revolutionary party more popular. Although the Northern Expedition has won a certain victory, it is difficult to continue.

"What a funny theory." Lixiang also sneered, "Can poverty give up dignity? Can we give up the revolution if we have financial difficulties?

"As long as the Manchurian court is overthrown, the revolution will succeed. As for who overturned it, we don't have to worry about it. Li Shucheng said, "The governors of all provinces, such as Tan Yankai, Cheng Dequan, Zhuang Yunkuan, Tang Shouqian, Lu Rongting, Sun Daoren, etc., and the generals of the provinces, such as Shen Bingkun, Wang Zhixiang, etc., are the great bureaucrats and local gentlemen of the Qing Dynasty. In their opinion, Yuan Shikai, who has a similar smell, is naturally better than those revolutionaries who don't know each other. It's better. At that time, if the peace agreement broke down and asked them to listen to the orders of the revolutionaries to fight against Yuan Shikai, they were likely to be against each other. Since there is a shortcut to the success of the revolution, why do we have to take that difficult detour?

In a very critical situation, Li Xiang was speechless and stared with anger. After the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government and the beginning of the North-South Conference, the revolutionaries generally hoped to win the abdication of Yuan Shikai and the Qing Emperor through peaceful negotiations, so as to end the revolution as soon as possible. At the same time, they made it the primary goal of the interim government to strive for recognition from imperialist countries. This is the fundamental reason why the revolutionary destination of the League is vague, which leads to the tragedy of the 1911 Revolution.

Huang Xing said to Sun Yat-sen, "The bookstore believes that the current situation is unfavorable and we need to reconsider the strategy. I think he has a point. Please talk about it again. Let's study it."

Li Shucheng said: "At present, Tan Yanqi from Hunan, Sun Daoren from Fujian, Lu Rongting from Guangxi, Shen Bingkun and other local authorities with troops have passionately called the Nanjing government, saying that they firmly opposed the continuation of the armistice and insisted on an immediate attack to the north. They replaced their actions with empty talk, and added all the responsibility for the negotiation and timidity and the resulting surrender of Yuan Shikai to the Nanjing Provisional Government. Nanjing relies on the mai official industry to raise military expenditure, which is not sustainable. The future of the war is not optimistic, and now there is still something to be done. Under the internal and external troubles, at present, only by asking the president to make a decision can we save the Republic of China.

Li Shucheng is good at words and speaks very beautifully.

Hu Hanmin had long been rebellious by Wang Jingwei and immediately said, "Brother Shucheng's insight is clear."

Li Shucheng and Hu Hanmin tried their best to encourage Huang Xing to agree to make peace.

Since its establishment, the Nanjing Provisional Government has faced a very serious financial crisis. Many of the taxes levied by the Qing government have been abolished; the customs and some customs and salt taxes are held by the imperialists and refuse to be handed over to the provisional government; Tianfu and other taxes in various places have also been intercepted by the provincial military governments and not handed over to the central government. The military supplies were in an emergency and the money was not available, and telegrams for money came one after another. The civilian army near Nanjing was "waiting to be fed, and there was a rush to collapse every day". There were dozens of people who went to the Army Department to ask for pay every day, causing Huang Xing, the commander-in-chief of the army, "sup and food, and spitting blood".

Huang Xing pondered for a long time, and Fang said, "Please make a decision, and I will follow the order."

Seeing their pessimism, disappointment and at a loss, Sun Yat-sen rose a clear fire and said, "Strive for the abdication of Yuan Shikai and the Qing Emperor through peaceful negotiations, so as to end the revolution as soon as possible. If you follow this sentence three days ago, you can continue to talk to Yuan Shikai's representative. I'm afraid it's too late today. The Northern Expeditionary Army has reached Xuzhou, and the Beiyang Army has also been hit with a bayonet. How can we talk about it?

"It doesn't matter. We still have chips. It's not too late to mend." Hu Hanmin was a little embarrassed to say. Wang Jingwei has been working for Yuan Shikai in the Nanjing Presidential Palace for a long time. He was originally one of the counselors of the Southern Conference and Representatives, so he took Wu Tingfang's Guandulu in Shanghai and Sun Yat-sen's presidential palace as his activity base in Shanghai. When the peace talks stopped, they often ran between Ningxia and Shanghai. When I came to Nanjing, I often came to the Senate to talk with my comrades, always talking about how Yuan Shikai helped the revolution in the north, and how to clean up the overall situation. Because of his kind attitude and flexible wrists, ordinary people have a good impression on him and unconsciously become his microphone.

Sun Yat-sen ignored him and then said, "On the one hand, the resourceful Yuan Shikai said to the Qing court that he wanted to kill himself and become be benevolent, and took the heart of the ancient sages as his heart... He vowed to protect the society for the Qing court; on the other hand, he instructed the front generals of his close friends to be thorough and could not easily supervise the teacher to enter. Attack, the Qing court and our revolutionaries are trying to win over Yuan Shikai, and Yuan's good thinking is to take advantage of the contradictions and weaknesses of the two sides to raise their own value, so as to achieve the goal of killing two birds with one stone.

After listening to Sun Yat-sen's first-line analysis, everyone was still indifferent. Only Li wanted to say, "Only the Northern Expedition can completely eradicate the Republic of China and establish a republican regime." No one else has expressed their willingness to "exter the Northern Expedition of the Republic of China".

Hu Hanmin laughed and said, "If the financial problem is not solved, we have to give up power to Yuan Shikai, who is regarded as Marshal Li, who is regarded as "the dragonfly of the Republic of China."

They have discussed how to find ways to negotiate with Yuan Shikai, especially with Hu Han's democratic power, and Li Shucheng echoed Hu Hanmin's ideas.

Seeing this situation, Sun Yat-sen was not sure. He felt that the Northern Expedition also depended on them, and the peace negotiation also depended on them. I had to say, "As long as everyone agrees that the peace can succeed, I will order to reopen the peace, but the revolutionary forces cannot stop the Northern Expedition until Yuan Shikai agrees with the republic. If you can do this, I can give the order.

Seeing that Sun Yat-sen was a little sad, Huang Xing said, "If there is no peace, the Northern Expedition will not be ruined."

Sun Yat-sen smiled bitterly.

The more Li thought about it, the more wrong it became. He strongly objected, roared and said, "You are afraid of death and want to compromise and seek peace. Is that the way? Why don't you concentrate on the yellow dragon? If the revolution is not complete, there is a danger of a second revolution. How much blood does it have to shed? You should consider this adverse consequence. My Ezhou Revolutionary Army has made two lines, and I have never been afraid.

Seeing that Li Xiang still had courage, Sun Yat-sen immediately became energetic again and shouted, "The Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, carry out the revolution to the end!" Li Shuai is good, just do as he says.

In this way, everyone has nothing to say.

Seeing this situation, Huang Xing also turned the rudder with the wind and said, "Of course, it is the best strategy to win. The matter of peace talks may as well be postponed for the time being."

The result meeting broke up unhappily.

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

Shanghai, Aili Garden.

"There is no sensational news about China's current situation. The development of the situation is as cold as an iceberg. Every event was rumored weeks or even months ago, and in the end, it will always happen as scheduled. Of course, I'm referring to what Chinese observers are most afraid of. The speaker is the representative of Mobil in Shanghai. After inspecting the representatives of the British Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce sitting around the table, he said, "The 15th U.S. Infantry Battalion is going to Qinhuangdao, but we still can't ignore the latest situation that has attracted wide attention. At present, the U.S. military has entered North China as part of the joint intervention force and has stated our position - according to the treaty obligations, we cannot ignore this until social security is stable and the government regains control of the situation, no matter who is in power.

Obviously, these foreign business representatives are the only ones who are the only ones.

He said oilyly, "The 15th Infantry Battalion and Machine Gun Battalion of the U.S. Army carried by [Rogen] will arrive at Qinhuangdao and disembark and land on the ship after four days of bumps along the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea before they get out of control along the relevant railways. Although they are not invincible troops, they are representatives of the entire U.S. military. And then more troops will be transferred from Manila and other regions until China's complex situation completely subsides.

Nash knew that sending the U.S. troops to North China did not mean that it was a relaxing and pleasant experience. On the contrary, everyone understood that it was an adventure. But we do this only to fulfill our treaty obligations and are entangled in many complex factors. When the Yihe Boxing Movement was suppressed, the Western powers rebuilt friendly diplomatic relations with the Chinese government, and the two sides reached an agreement on a new mode of communication to prevent the recurrence of the siege of the embassy and the obstruction of the road between the Chinese capital and the port.

An old foreign devil said: "A formal agreement has also been signed between the great powers to reach an agreement on how to re-divide the fortresses to the port when there are dangerous signs, and to stipulate the number of troops sent by each. One of the most important points is that the Chinese government must agree to accept foreign interference and, if necessary, regard the great powers as the only arbiter. The timing of intervention is never easy to grasp, and the timing, form and reason for the termination of armed intervention are extremely difficult to deal with in the past, present and future.

Another foreigner frowned and said, "Armed interference is like jumping into a dark trap. No matter how the sophistry denied it, the appearance of our army in China is a kind of interference, and it is also an armed intervention. How far we will be forced to go on this road, or how deep we will be dragged into the quagmire, as people who can't know the course of future events, there is no way to assert. Intervention has always been like jumping into a dark trap. No one can predict when the light will be seen again. Things are gradually moving forward, the defense of the embassy has been continuously strengthened, and foreign troops continue to enter the concession area along the coast of China until it almost reaches the number of the Yihe Boxing Movement.

Mobil's representative Nash leisurely took a sip of the cigar, spit out the haze, and smiled, "The mutual relations between the great powers are very unclear, and the domestic situation in China has not changed much. All attempts to reach a reconciliation between the opposing sides failed for their own reasons, even if it was a temporary settlement. The royal family of the Qing Dynasty was unwilling to give up power, and the revolutionaries failed to seize power. Bandits were everywhere, and all Chinese people were aroused xenophobia, which was also reasonable. To some extent, even if there is no treaty obligation, we have a legitimate reason to send troops to protect threatened expatriates. Other powers that will jointly send troops are also for the same purpose, although it is still to be determined. This is the real difficulty we are facing at present. The timing of the dispatch of troops has not been determined, let alone the location and method. The danger of jointly sending troops to occupy North China and the fortresses leading to Beijing is as obvious as its necessity. Once the revolutionaries continue to go north, the danger will increase day by day... As in the past, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between Chinese patriots and bandits; for the Chinese, foreign soldiers who want to distinguish between maintaining public security, protecting the lives and property of their compatriots and foreigners who take advantage of the fire to rob and add fuel to the fire, the same Difficult."

Nash is thinking: If the Chinese can stay calm enough and pay attention to the events that endanger their personal and the survival of the country, they should now show great appreciation and respect to the Great Powers, just as between the semi-official media in Tokyo and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, instead of building all day long. It's nerve-wracking to establish a real republic or a constitutional monarchy.

St. Petersburg's invitation to Japan is very dangerous for China. Tokyo's newspapers today regard Russia's so-called expansion of Mongolia as a matter of course. They said that this was just a burden on the white people, and the Russians needed to maintain order between the Mongols, princes, lamas and camels. In short, they must maintain peace in Russia.

Subsequently, Russian newspapers responded in this compliment competition in an obscure way that under the current chaotic situation in China, it is the time for advanced and civilized countries to lend a helping hand at any time. They believed that Japan would fulfill its due obligations and suggested that the Kanto region, the influential region of the Regent of the Qing Dynasty, should be the scope of its activities. The Russian editor said that the Japanese are very well aware of the local situation, and their intervention will be very happy. He also warns that their former enemies are also their current friends. They should be fully prepared to prevent them from being caught off guard in China's future complex situation.

All these remarks are undercurrent and meaningful. If they want to express something, it is for Japan and Russia - they are certainly very concerned about it - the fate of northern China has been decided. This decision does not seem to be a republic or a monarchy, or even an "open door". In 1895, the Russian fleet at that time was considered invincible by the Japanese, and the Russians carried out the Tsar's order to drive Japan out of Kanto. Now, it is very interesting for St. Petersburg to send an invitation to Japan, and it is even more dangerous for China.

Nash said: "At present, the deadlock between the two sides of China's civil war is a great threat to world peace and a great interference to the great powers trying to avoid China's split. Obviously, this impasse is mainly due to the need for money and lack of mutual trust between the Revolutionary Party and the Manchurian camp. Launching a revolution or defending the royal family is just a form of war. War requires funds and huge amounts of money. Sun Yat-sen declared in the telegram that he was ready to lead 100,000 or one million troops to advance towards the capital. Although the numbers may be different, in this dangerous situation, it is impossible for him to advance north from land or water without huge loan support. The Qing royal family, with or without Russian support, is preparing to defend Beijing to the death. But their guards are also in urgent need of arms. Without huge loans, it is impossible to buy arms.

Everyone savored Nash's words.

The revolution has made great achievements, which mainly rely on donations from overseas Chinese, especially those from the Malay Peninsula, the Straits Settlements, Thailand and Java. There, they have gained considerable wealth and mastered a mature business management model, which is what China lacks. Even so, the funds of the revolutionaries are now cut off.

Revolutionaries, like all laymen, are too optimistic. They underestimate the cost of the revolution. Their amazing achievements can attract more donations, and funds will undoubtedly come from the source, but at the same time, priceless and precious opportunities are also missed.

On the other hand, the Manchu royal family owned funds, but was not willing to use royal wealth to carry out an unknown military adventure. As a privileged class, it is not surprising that they are cautious. For the past 300 years, they have been enjoying state subsidies, and suddenly they find that an unstoppable torrent will deprive them of their privileges in the future. The question now is, will the Manchu Qing royal family use savings as a bet in exchange for the privilege of continuing to enjoy subsidies in the future, or give up their subsidies as a last resort and live on the wealth accumulated over 300 years? Of course, they hate Yuan Shikai very much. Yuan seems to have ruined their retreat, because until recently, he has maintained contact with the revolutionary camp.

All the shrewd foreign devil merchants have thought that Yuan Shikai is going to take action, and it's time for them to take action!