Everyone couldn¡¯t help but look at each other: Duan Qirui¡¯s words just now were in vain!
At this time, Wang Shizhen stood up and said: "Everyone, Wang is exhausted from the journey and cannot bear to sit for a long time, so I have to excuse myself for the time being! After resting, I will come back tomorrow to pay homage to the commander-in-chief. Please atone for any rudeness I have done!"
According to the customs and habits of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the number of days for mourning and hanging at home should be an odd number in principle. For large funerals, the number of days is "seven", such as the first seven, three seven, and five seven, and the highest number can be seven, seven, forty-nine. sky. During the funeral period, close relatives and friends have to go to pay homage on a daily basis. Yuan Shikai's funeral is now so grand, it will definitely not be over in three to five days. That's why Wang Shizhen said this.
Cao Kun took advantage of the situation and stood up to say goodbye: "Cao came here to express his condolences as soon as he got off the plane. He didn't bother to go home to send a letter. He also wanted to go home and clean up first, so as not to worry about his wife, children, and children at home!"
Seeing that both of them were indeed busy with life, Duan Qirui, Xu Shichang and others could not dissuade them, so they had to respectfully send them out of the house.
After walking out of Xinhua Gate and looking around, Cao Kun asked in a low voice: "Brother Pinqing, why did you help Zhou Zizhen out of the siege just now? Obviously Duan Zhiquan hopes that he can take office in the Presidential Palace, so as to lay a foundation for the future. Nail. Your move undoubtedly ruined his wishful thinking. Aren't you afraid of his revenge in the future?"
"You actually saw it?" Wang Shizhen smiled slightly, seemingly unconcerned, "I didn't expect that Zhou Zizhen was actually a smart man. Seeing that something was impossible to do, he immediately said, 'A good bird chooses a tree to roost, and a wise minister chooses his master. '. Brother Yu, of course, wants the beauty of an adult. As for Duan Zhiquan, I think he is purely motivated by profit. Now the commander's body is still cold. He is eager to capture people's hearts and form gangs to make himself king. But he doesn't want to think about whether he has this ability!
"If he really has the power to bring the fragmented Beiyang back together and compete with Sun Baixi in the Central Plains, Wang is optimistic about success and may even take the initiative to help. But I and him After dating for nearly thirty years, I have known him for a long time. No matter in terms of talent, courage or power, he is far inferior to the commander-in-chief. Previously, the commander-in-chief used the dignity of the president to lead the people of Beiyang to compete with Sun Baixi for the world. Even more Those who drink hatred and die, how much less those who wait and wait?"
Cao Kun had some contacts with Duan Qirui, and he quickly helped to explain: "Back then, Brother Pinqing, Commander Zhiquan, and Governor Huafu were known as the 'Three Heroes of Beiyang', and the commander had high hopes for you. The entire Beiyang group also valued you. The three of them are the leading figures under the commander-in-chief. Now the commander-in-chief has lost his ambition. It should be replaced by the three of you. If Brother Qingqing comes to serve in power, Chief Zhiquan will naturally give up. But Brother Qingqing insists. That¡¯s right, Commander-in-Chief Zhiquan has no choice but to do his duty, otherwise, wouldn¡¯t Beiyang be leaderless?¡±
Wang Shizhen immediately shook her head: "Now that the country has reached this point, why can't Brother Zhongshan still see the development of the situation clearly? The so-called 'small victory depends on wisdom, big victory depends on morality', and the current situation has fully proved this. In In the eyes of the world, Sun Baixi just knows how to write articles and teach students. Can he also open a factory and earn money? In terms of courage and ability to adapt to changes, how can he compare to the commander-in-chief? Why did Sun Baixi win in the end? The commander-in-chief was defeated? The bottom line is that the word "private" is inseparable from all over Beiyang. I have selfish thoughts, exclusive rights, personal use, personal gain, and private wealthalmost everything is selfless, even to the country. Famous utensils and military subordinates are regarded as private property and others are strictly prohibited from getting involved. But what about Sun Baixi?
"It is well known that Sun Baixi's family has a billions of wealth that rivals the country. With his power and wealth, what is the difficulty even if he buys half of the capital? But in the capital, he still lives in a house given to him by his uncle Sun Wenzhenggong. Jing either lives in the New China Party Guesthouse or in the dormitory of Jingshi University, and his access and etiquette are not even as good as those of my general division brigade commander in Beiyang! However, when he was penniless, he invested huge sums of money to build Jingshi University and became rich and powerful. After that, he spent thousands of dollars to vigorously promote compulsory education, benefiting millions of students across the country; he also generously exempted nearly ten provinces in the west from taxes for several years, and invested in setting up enterprises and building roads to benefit the people. Who among us in Beiyang has such courage? ?¡±
Cao Kun couldn't help but blush: Although he usually calls himself loyal and kind, he is not immune to the general environment of Beiyang and often does some private work for personal gain. Regardless of his shares in the company and deposits in the bank, among his subordinates are his fourth brother Cao Rui, seventh brother Cao Ying, nephew Cao Shijie and many other nepotistic figures.
Wang Shizhen continued: "As early as the late Qing Dynasty, students all over the world respected him as the 'sage of today'. People in the western provinces were even more grateful to him and regarded him as the savior and sage king. Brother Yu often lived in seclusion in his hometown in Zhengding with the countryside The old farmer gossiped and heard a lot of rumors about Sun Baixi. I can briefly tell Zhongshan a few of them.
"The first is when I just returned to my hometown in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Relatives and friends came to meet and reminisce. One of the old farmers suddenly asked me: 'After Emperor Xuantong abdicated, did he pass the throne to Emperor Sun? 'At that time, I thought he was talking about Sun Yat-sen, who was the interim president at the time. Unexpectedly, he took out a silver dollar from his arms, pointed to Sun Baixi's portrait on it and said: 'Don't you see that there are other people's portraits printed on the ocean? ? ¡¯
"The second story is that in the winter of the first year of the Republic of China, I heard a few old farmers chatting in the sun in a corner. Someone suddenly said angrily: 'I heard that all the prefectures and counties in Shanxi Province next door have reduced their money and grain, so why are our Zhili's taxes higher than those of others? The usual increase is 10%?" Someone immediately added: "I heard from the teaching gentlemen that Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places don't even need to pay food now!" Everyone discussed for a long time, and finally unanimously said with emotion: When will Sun Shengren, who has reduced the money and food, be able to control us? What about Zhili?
"The third thing happened a few days ago when your third division arrived in Zhengding to prepare to face the enemy from Shanxi. Originally, once a war breaks out, people everywhere should be panicked, and they should pack up their gold and silver and prepare to take refuge everywhere. I don't know why. Someone spread that Sun Baixi's troops were going to attack Zhili. The atmosphere in the countryside suddenly changed. Despite the panic, there was a bit of hope. The old farmers even celebrated in private: "Now, Sun Shengren is finally going to fight." coming!'
"Although these experiences of Wang Mou are just a glimpse of the leopard, it can still be seen. If the people all have such thoughts, what do you think our Beiyang chances of winning are?"
Cao Kun couldn¡¯t help but exclaimed: ¡°Is this the ¡®Eastern Conquest and Western Resentment¡¯ recorded in the book? Sure enough, the benevolent are invincible. It seems that Cao was defeated without any resentment at all!¡±
Wang Shizhen continued: "Duan Zhiquan did not know the support of the people. He only thought that the defeat of this war was due to low morale, insufficient food and wages, and shortage of ammunition. He also tried to clean up the remaining troops and make a comeback. The reason why he provoked Zhou Zizhen to ask Sun Baixi for the chief of staff and the secretary-general of the presidential palace The purpose of taking the position was just to drive a wedge between Sun Baixi and Li Songqing. Little did he know that now Li Songqing had no money, no soldiers, and was in name only, and was not Sun Baixi¡¯s enemy at all. How could he go against Sun Baixi¡¯s wishes? Even if Sun Baixi really acted in such a transgressive way , Li Songqing was just grumbling inwardly, how dare he challenge Sun Baixi blatantly?
"Duan Zhiquan thinks that his current actions are to unite and save Beiyang, but in fact? He just wants to satisfy his own selfish desires. But he wants to push the entire Beiyang group into an abyss of eternal destruction. Of course, Wang did not expect Zhou Ziyao to be like this He is alert and can see through Duan Zhiquan's intentions at a glance. Not to mention Zhou Zizhen himself saw through his trick. Even if Zhou Zizhen didn't see through it, how could Wang let him get what he wanted!"
Cao Kun frowned and asked: "Brother Pinqing, is it that Beiyang is so unbearable now that we can only sit back and wait for death to be slaughtered? Cao feels that Beiyang still has a glimmer of hope!"
"Oh? I'd like to hear your opinions!"
Cao Kun said carefully: "Sun Baixi is preparing to gather his elite troops to fight Japan to the death in Shandong. His courage to challenge the great powers and his patriotic loyalty. Cao admires him greatly and sincerely wishes him immediate success and complete defeat of the invading Japanese pirates. , averting China's nearly century-old humiliation. However, as the old saying goes: 'Before thinking about victory, think about defeat first.' Moreover, you and I have personal experience of the tyranny of the Japanese army. If Japan finally wins, all the elite soldiers under Sun Baixi will be lost in Shandong. , is it possible for Beiyang to take advantage of this opportunity and rise?"
Wang Shizhen did not answer but asked: "What do you think, brother Zhongshan?"
Cao Kun said: "Cao thinks it is very possible! Why? Because once Sun Baixi loses all his elite troops, his reputation and power will inevitably be greatly reduced, and he is likely to retreat to the northwest to recuperate. His influence on the southern provinces will also drop sharply. However, our strength in Beiyang has not been greatly damaged, and the Japanese army cannot now engulf our whole country. All we want is to cede Shandong and pay compensation. Then we can start peace talks with Japan in the name of the Presidential Palace and try our best to suppress Sun Baixi's command. The development of each province; on the other hand, in the name of the central government, the southern provinces are included, at least to keep them neutral, so as to slow down the recovery speed of Sun Baixi's ministries. Given time, it may not be impossible to compete with Sun Baixi!"
Wang Shizhen chuckled and said, "I'm afraid Duan Zhiquan is thinking the same thing, right? In Wang's opinion, you guys are too fanciful! First of all, whether it is due to terrain restrictions or safety considerations, it is impossible for Sun Baixi to bring all the elite men under his command." They all gathered in Shandong. If he was so stupid, he wouldn't be alive today.
"Secondly, the three provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Zhili and Northeast China now occupied by Beiyang may become the direction of assistance for the Japanese army, and they are also Sun Baixi's natural barrier. If he wins the battle, there is no need to say anything else. If he loses the battle, he will retreat. As for the northwest, can the Japanese army cross these provinces and attack the northwest?
"Third, as Sun Baixi said, it may be difficult for the various units under his command to deal with the Japanese army, but it will be difficult to deal with several divisions of the Northern Army.The army is definitely not a problem. Even if he was defeated in Shandong, would the Beiyang Army, which was short of pay and guns, dare to risk the disapproval of the world and immediately send troops to attack the righteous army that resisted the invasion of foreign invaders? Beiyang didn't dare, and the governors of other provinces even less dared! "
Cao Kun couldn't help but be silent when he heard this.
Wang Shizhen asked at this time: "Brother Zhongshan, you have met Sun Baixi once. What do you think of him? In less than ten years, he has jumped from a scholar to an important member of the cabinet, and now he is the president, upholding national affairs." . Wang is very curious about him!"
Cao Kun was stunned: "Why, Brother Qing wants to pay a visit to him?"
Wang Shizhen asked calmly: "Isn't it possible?"
Only then did Cao Kun understand that Wang Shizhen, the "Dragon of the North", was not the divine dragon like Qin Shihuang who swept across the country and swallowed up all the wasteland, but the Crouching Dragon like Zhuge Liang, who chose the emperor when the time came. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!