"Ladies and gentlemen, it won't do us any good to talk about Chen Ke's affairs. Now that the court is in chaos like this, if we say the wrong thing, I'm afraid that someone will immediately move their brains. After Zheng Wenjie finished speaking loudly, he couldn't help but cover his mouth and yawn. From dark to now, everyone has been talking for five or six hours, and it is almost two o'clock. The members of the revolutionary group yawned one by one.

Looking at the sluggish crowd, Zheng Wenjie continued: "That's all for today, and I'll continue tomorrow." When they heard this, they said to each other, "I must come tomorrow," and got up to leave.

Zheng Wenjie was absent-mindedly busy with errands all morning, but in fact, he was thinking about Chen Ke's affairs. At noon, he felt that he couldn't hold back any longer, and he had a strong urge to find Wang Simiao immediately. On weekdays, Zheng Wenjie can still find a reason to leave, but now it can be said that people's hearts are fluctuating in Beiyang. Since Cen Chunxuan was appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, not only did he not take office immediately, but Cixi continued to call Zeng Chunxuan into the palace to discuss state affairs. This has been the third consecutive day to enter the palace to see the driver, if someone says that there will be no earth-shattering events in the capital, a fool will not believe it. So Zheng Wenjie didn't dare to walk around at this juncture. It's not that he's busy with his errands, but if Zheng Wenjie himself is not at his post, he will be maliciously explained by a "well-intentioned person" about his whereabouts. As a person from Beiyang, he can't get out of the group's actions at this time.

I don't know how many cups of tea I poured and how many times I went to the toilet, and I finally waited until it was time to get off work. Pushing down all invitations to dinner, Zheng Wenjie first ran all the way home and ate. As soon as it was dark, he went to the meeting place.

The others had already arrived, and as soon as Zheng Wenjie entered the door, he saw that what was said in the house was in full swing. Several old members were foaming at the mouth and talking about the past, "Who can afford Chen Ke at that time!" Meng Shu pouted and said, "A person who doesn't know the origin still wants to point fingers in the capital." At that time, the brothers refused to lose their identities, otherwise they would have torn their faces and driven him away. If it weren't for the help of his brothers, Chen Ke would not have known Shang Yuan at all. ”

The newcomers looked at Meng Shu with envy and jealousy one by one. Zheng Wenjie knew that what Meng Shu said was. Back then, Chen Ke first met Shang Yuan, and then met his own people. It's not what Meng Shu said at all. But Zheng Wenjie listened to Meng Shu's words of extreme contempt for Chen Ke, and felt very good in his heart.

"Brother Meng, if we go to Anhui, we can also take on the heavy responsibility?" The new members asked excitedly.

"Cut, that Chen Ke is very unkind, and he is very cold to his subordinates. There used to be a boxer who followed him, named Chai What. Brother Zheng, what's that person's name? ”

"It seems to be called Chai Qingguo, right?" Zheng Wenjie responded.

"That's right, it's called Chai Qingguo." Meng Shu recounted Zheng Wenjie's difficulties for Chai Qingguo at that time, and as a result, he voted to add fuel and vinegar to Chai Qingguo's expulsion from the revolutionary group meeting. Now the people in the "revolutionary group" are all mixed with officialdom, and they can't help but laugh when they hear the "wonderful".

"In the end, Chai Qingguo was kicked out, and he left Beijing when he landed, and he never disappeared again." Meng Shu summed up with a look of arrogance.

"Chen Ke is too affectionate." Liu Yongnian is a newcomer, and after hearing this, he couldn't help but shake his head again and again, "Then how did he gather such a big force?" ”

This question spoke to the hearts of the new party members, Meng Shu was too full of words at first, but it was not easy to end it immediately at this time. But he didn't want to say a few nice words for Chen Ke, so Meng Shu snorted, "There is a brother named Shang Yuan who is with Chen Ke, and he is about to go to Fengtai County, Anhui Province to take office, if there is no Shang Yuan's support, Chen Ke has no way at all." ”

This explanation is extremely serious, and if Chen Ke himself is here, it is impossible to refute it. Liu Yongnian nodded with a sudden realization, "Brother Wang, what is the position of this Mr. Shang Yuan in the base area now?" ”

Wang Simiao has been silent, he knows the current situation of the base area better than anyone else, and Meng Shu's words are completely wishful thinking. Hearing someone ask herself, Wang Simiao had to answer: "It is said that he is in a high position, but I have never seen it." It shouldn't be in Fengtai County. ”

"Look, I'll just say that Chen Ke is cold." Meng Shu immediately began to show his "foresight".

Hearing this, Zheng Wenjie shook his head secretly. If Meng Shu had stopped just now, he would still be able to justify what he had said before. And these last few sentences are a complete addition.

If the cowhide thing is blown occasionally, it can still bluff people. But the cowhide is blown too much, and a lot of logical contradictions appear. If Chen Ke is really as cool as Meng Shu said, why do so many people follow Chen Ke? Zheng Wenjie saw that some people have realized this deep logical contradiction. But these people have never been to the Anhui base area before, and if they say it so bluntly, they will inevitably directly refute Meng Shu's face. But the original enthusiastic expression soon turned cold. Obviously, he was a little dissatisfied with Meng Shu's words.

Liu Yongnian is one of the people who have begun to realize that he didn't look at Meng Shu at all, but said to Zheng Wenjie: "Brother Zheng, we must have a charter for this matter." Everyone is waiting for you to come and discuss together. ”

Zheng Wenjie was very satisfied with Liu Yongnian's statement, if everyone didn't wait for themselves to start, then they wouldn't give themselves face. But satisfaction is satisfaction, Zheng Wenjie has not thought about how to use Chen Ke until now. Beijing and Anhui are too far apart, and the People's Party founded by Chen Ke has never been in contact with Beijing, so everyone can call themselves uncle in Beijing, or they can laugh at Chen Ke in Beijing. Once he arrived at Chen Ke's territory in Anhui, not to mention Zheng Wenjie, even the nonsense Meng Shu had to bow his head and listen to Chen Ke's orders. Regarding the truth that "county officials are not as good as being in charge", Zheng Wenjie is very clear.

Meng Shu really knew this truth very well, and after listening to Liu Yongnian's question, Meng Shu immediately said: "He takes his Yangguan Road, let's take our single-plank bridge." Don't think about counting on Chen Ke. When he encounters a hurdle that he can't get over, he will naturally obediently ask for the door of our brothers. ”

Zheng Wenjie agrees with such a point of view in his heart. If Chen Ke wanted to rely on these brothers in Beijing, he should have sent someone to contact him a long time ago, and he would not have been without news for so long. But Liu Yongnian obviously didn't think so, and no matter what Meng Shu said, Liu Yongnian continued to ask Zheng Wenjie, "Brother Zheng, do you think Chen Ke can win against the Beiyang Army?" ”

"He's definitely not going to win." Zheng Wenjie said proudly. Zheng Wenjie is very confident in the strength of the Beiyang Army. This is an army that has been thrown out with money, and the salaries, weapons and equipment, and training of officers and men are the best. Chen Ke could not have such financial resources under any circumstances.

Liu Yongnian is a member of the household department, and he actually agrees with Zheng Wenjie's point of view, "Then Chen Ke's matter will definitely be known by Lord Yuan." When the Beiyang Army went to Anhui to suppress bandits, was Chen Ke unable to escape? ”

"Lord Yuan now knows about Chen Ke, Lord Wang Shizhen has specially sent people to Anhui, how can Lord Yuan not know?" Zheng Wenjie replied, "But Chen Ke's luck is too good, or he can't help but be too good at the time." At this time, Lord Yuan is too busy to deal with Cen Chunxuan, and it is impossible to have the spare strength to deal with Chen Ke, and Anhui can still be free for a while. ”

The people who attended the meeting were all middle and low-level bureaucrats in the imperial court, and they all had some understanding of the current situation. As soon as Zheng Wenjie's words came out, everyone nodded. Zheng Wenjie has always wanted to become the leader of this "revolutionary group", and seeing that his words were agreed by everyone, he immediately continued to analyze: "When Chen Ke got married, it was Lord Yuan who helped him raise his relatives. Now Cen Chunxuan and the others are doing everything possible to find trouble with Lord Yuan. In addition to the clichés that Lord Yuan is corrupt and corrupt, as well as forming a party for personal gain, Cen Chunxuan can't come up with any other explanations. But if Chen Ke's matter was known by Zeng Chunxuan, it would be a great deal. At the root of this matter, Lord Yuan had no room for justification. As long as he sat down, Lord Yuan had to resign. ”

"So who should we help?" Liu Yongnian asked.

Zheng Wenjie said with a smile: "I'd rather help Lord Yuan, and I definitely can't be cheap Cen Chunxuan." If Cen Chunxuan, a hypocrite who sells his reputation and reputation, controls the government, can we have any good end? Moreover, Lord Yuan and those Manchurians are actually not all the way at all, if our brothers don't help Lord Yuan, they must not stick a knife in their backs at this time. ”

"Although Cen Chunxuan is famous, he is not a hypocrite, right?" Liu Yongnian still didn't believe it.

Zheng Wenjie said categorically: "If you don't believe it, let's wait and see." Let's see what tricks Cen Chunxuan can come up with. If he can really come up with a constitutional system instead of engaging in party strife, then even if I, Zheng Wenjie, don't know anyone. Blind. ”

Everyone was stunned when they saw Zheng Wenjie swearing like this. Zheng Wenjie actually has his own ideas about Chen Ke's affairs, but the top priority is not Chen Ke, who is thousands of miles away, but how to take advantage of the current opportunity to completely establish his position within the "revolutionary group". Now that he has decided to make a difference, Zheng Wenjie simply broke the boat, "Brothers, let's not care about Chen Ke's affairs now, let's look at the results of this party struggle first." In the future, everyone will get together every day to straighten out and see through this party dispute. I think that this party struggle has decided the life and death of the imperial court. ”

Things turned out as Cheng Wenjie expected. On the day that Cen took office as the secretary of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, he verbally impeached Zhu Baokui, the left waiter. At this time, Cen Chunxuan was quite favored by Cixi, and there was a group of "clear streams" supporting him in the back. Zhu Baokui, the left waiter, was immediately dismissed. Cen Chunxuan then directly attacked Yixuan for engaging in fake constitutionalism, being greedy, and citing inhuman.

As an important minister of the clan, Yixuan has been in power since the Gengzi Incident, and Cixi has long been very dissatisfied with him. It's just that Yixuan and Yuan Shikai are the inside and outside, and the Beiyang Group has deep roots and leaves, so it can't be easy to do it for a while. As soon as Cen Chunxuan impeached Yixuan, Yixuan knew that his position was already in jeopardy, and he had to ask Cixi to retire.

There are people from all yamen and factions of the "revolutionary group," and the efficiency of gathering information is faster than that of the top level. In the memories of these days, everyone has heard that Cixi even hatched a plan to open vacancies; There are rumors on the Beijing-Tianjin Road that Chun Xuan will be the direct governor of Shikai. Even Yuan Shikai said stupidly, "I have been going for a long time, and I would like to plan Cen Chunxuan or Wujin Sheng Xuanhuai to come to the future." From this point of view, the use of Cen to replace Yuan is by no means just hearsay.

So far, a personnel change, although it has a great eyebrow, is still on the right path. Everyone knows that Zheng Wenjie regards Cen Chunxuan as a hypocrite. There is a general perception that Cheng Wenjie's view is incorrect. However, the next development of events made everyone look at Zheng Wenjie with admiration.

In order to cooperate with Cen Chunxuan's attack, on May 7, Zhao Qilin accused Duan Zhigui of buying a courtesan Yang Cuixi in Tianjin for 12,000 gold, and from Wang Zhulincuo of the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce 100,000 gold as a birthday gift, so he jumped from a Taoist to the governor. Cixi was furious when she saw this, and immediately ordered the removal of Duan Zhigui's governor of Heilongjiang, and ordered Wang Zaifeng and Sun Jianai, a scholar, to investigate the case. The "Yang Cuixi case" has become a hot spot of public attention, and it has also become the focus of the struggle between the Beiyang forces and the clean forces.

This kind of gift-giving was commonplace among the princes and ministers of the imperial court, and many people in the "revolutionary group" thought that Cen Chunxuan would seize the leading power of the government by seizing his position and promulgating the constitution. Unexpectedly, Zeng Chunxuan actually started from a courtesan. The crowd was immediately overwhelmed. If such things can be used as an excuse, then at least half of the officials in the court must have lost their black yarns. In response to these indiscriminate practices, the members of the "revolutionary group" immediately had a 180-degree change in their views on Cen Chunxuan.

Zheng Wenjie saw that his prophecy had indeed come true, and he said loudly in the party: "Cen Chunxuan has always had the reputation of a clean official, if Zeng Chunxuan uses his prestige to promote the constitution, then many people are afraid that they will be temporarily neutral." If Cen Chunxuan's goal is only Yixuan and Lord Yuan, after defeating these two people, he will be able to unite the two constitutional forces. Then he's going to win. But this hypocrite is only engaged in party disputes, he prides himself on being clear, and actually uses the method of corrupt officials attacking each other. He didn't want to think about it, how did Yixuan and Master Yuan climb to this position, and could they do it with this method? Just this one thing, Cen Chunxuan's villain's true face was exposed. ”

Although everyone admires Zheng Wenjie's vision very much, but now Cen Chunxuan is the one who takes the initiative to attack, and he has the support of Cixi. Many people think that even if Cen Chunxuan is a hypocrite, he may not lose.

Zheng Wenjie scoffed at everyone's opinion, "I don't know who killed the deer in the end, but Cen Chunxuan will definitely not win." There are not all clear streams or corrupt officials in the court, if Cen Chunxuan is allowed to open this opening, he will do the same after he takes power. How many people have to die without a place to be buried? Everyone looks back, and these people definitely don't end well. ”

After finishing speaking, Zheng Wenjie didn't say much, sat down and started smoking. Seeing that everyone was talking, Zheng Wenjie was thinking about his own affairs. A few days ago, he had privately sent to Anhui with the latest information on the changes within the imperial court. The person who sent it is Zheng Wenjie's cousin and his own confidant. Although these latest changes in the imperial court are not important news for Zheng Wenjie, they are definitely very important things for Chen Ke. Zheng Wenjie even wrote a letter in which he roughly discussed the impact of the recent party strife in the imperial court on Chen Ke.

If Chen Ke was just an ordinary rebel, the value of these things would be very limited. If Chen Ke really did what he said more than a year ago, he aims to build a new China. The value of this information is now invaluable. After Wang Simiao returned to Beijing, Zheng Wenjie had several private talks with Wang Simiao. He had a certain understanding of the size, strength, and financial resources of the base areas established by Chen Ke. Zheng Wenjie has a lot of puzzles about Chen Ke's actions, but Chen Ke can still be "nameless" when he has built such a large territory, which makes Zheng Wenjie sure that Chen Ke has a strong ability to control. Which of the rebel forces that occupied half of the province in history did not spread all over the world? It is far more difficult to keep this kind of power silent than to be famous in the world. Zheng Wenjie firmly believes that Chen Ke, who can do this, does have real materials.

It was extremely difficult to convince the "revolutionary group" to reach a unified view, but it was much easier to reach an agreement with Chen Ke in private. Zheng Wenjie took the lead in expressing goodwill to Chen Ke before others made a move, and the rest depends on how Chen Ke responds.

Wang Simiao is a capable person, and this time he went to Anhui to meet Chen Ke, and the two talked about the "intelligence communication line". At present, the intelligence traffic line is divided into two roads, or one and a half roads, the starting point is from Beijing, and the traffic officer takes the train south, gets off halfway all the way, and takes Fuyang to Fengtai County. All the way to the end point of Hanyang, then take a boat to take the waterway, down the Yangtze River, into Chaohu Lake, and then to Hefei.

Zheng Wenjie himself knew that he had offended Chen Ke before, and if he went to Chen Ke with a shy face, he would just ask for his own hardship. The relationship between Zheng Wenjie and Chen Ke was that of equal cooperation by collecting intelligence through the "revolutionary group" and then providing this information to Chen Ke. If Chen Ke can really succeed in the revolution in the future, Zheng Wenjie's contribution is very great. In any case, they can protect themselves in the tide of revolution.

Seeing that the comrades of the "revolutionary group" in front of him were still arguing about the affairs of the government, Zheng Wenjie smiled secretly in his heart. But the look on his face became more and more solemn.

The two factions in the imperial court who were engaged in a great internal struggle had no idea that such a small clique with different aspirations had emerged within them. Since the struggle has turned into a familiar category for Yuan Shikai and others, Yuan Shikai immediately launched a counterattack.

After the "Yang Cuixi case" was discovered, Zai Zhen hurriedly sneaked into Tianjin to discuss a plan to bridge with Yuan Shikai, and Yuan immediately sent his subordinates to take Yang Cuixi to Tianjin. At the same time, he also used substitution techniques to let others pretend to lead Yang Cuixi. He also manipulated the "Ta Kung Pao" and "Shuntian Times" in Tianjin and other places to publish articles correcting the "Yang Cuixi case" in a matter-of-fact manner.

By the time Zaifeng and Sun Jianai sent personnel to Tianjin to investigate, everything had been arranged. Yang Cuixi has become the handmaiden bought by Wang Yisun, a salt merchant in Tianjin, and has a "written note" as proof, and Wang Zhulin, the premier of the Chamber of Commerce, also declared that he could not lend so much money to Duan Zhigui as a gift. A "public case" that is conclusive has no substantiated evidence.

Zai Feng, who is responsible for verifying this case, is not more serious, and the responsibility for investigation mainly depends on Sun Jianai. Sun is an important figure in the Laochen group, although he is dissatisfied with Beiyang, but he is not interested in the incorruptible faction, and he mainly considers this matter from his own interests. Liu Tiren's "Strange Dictionaries" has a close description of his mentality at that time: Sun knew that "the joy of public opinion is easy to inspire", but he was worried: Yi Yixuan is a prince, even if he is vacant, if he still stays in Beijing, he will still be summoned on an auspicious day for the New Year, and it is very likely that he will "make a comeback". Second, even if he can defeat Yixuan, Yuan Shikai may not be able to defeat him together, if he can't be defeated, it will be even more cost-effective. Three, "my words and actions have a huge impact on the emperor", Sun Yuan was an important minister of the imperial party, and he was implicated in Wuxu, and Gengzi had to resolve it later. Under the control of this state of mind, on May 16, Zaifeng and Sun Jianai repeated the "groundless" performance of Zhao Qilin's performance, and Cixi immediately dismissed Zhao Qilin for the crime of "arbitrary slander". As a result, the "Yang Cuixi case" is unclear. On the 17th, Zai Zhen submitted a letter of resignation, and asked to go to the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry and Commerce to write and all the messengers, which were immediately approved.

The official originally had the privilege of "rumoring about things", but Zhao Qilin was dismissed because of the impeachment of the powerful. For a while, public opinion was in an uproar.