At the beginning of the day, the street lights are on. The Bund of the Shanghai Gongqi Concession is hidden in the shield beater, the house says, in the light, looking far away at night, there seems to be a hazy and luxurious temperament, which makes people yearn for it.

Ten miles of foreign field, worthy of the name.

A night stroll on the Bund is also one of the nightlives of this ten-mile ocean, where frustrated politicians can relieve their frustrations, proud businessmen can show their tastes, foreigners living in China can find a little bit of a European shadow here, couples pursuing a new cháo can experience the romance of the industrial age here, country men who have just entered the concession to make a living can open their eyes here, and even those swingers can find fun in the wandering warblers here."

The Bund in Shanghai at night in summer is always so bustling.

In the bustling crowd, four unobtrusive men, two of them older, about forty, were wandering aimlessly along the road along the Huangpu River, and the other two were younger, the youngest of whom looked to be in his twenties.

These four people are not ordinary people, they are either judges or lawyers, or they are members of the Constitutional Council, the older two are Xia Shoukang and Zhang Zhenwu, and the younger one is Pu Dianjun. The youngest is Gu Weijun, who is only twenty-one years old this year.

Pu Dianjun and Zhang Zhenwu were the judges presiding over the "Chuanhan Road Deficit Case," and Gu Weijun was the head of the legal defense team for the defendants in the case.

Since the Republican Army had taken control of most of the people involved in the "Chuanhan Road Deficit Case", the trial of the case became very smooth, although the main culprit in the case, Zhao Erxun, died suddenly and violently before the trial, which affected the progress of the trial, but everyone worked together. The facts of the case have been basically straightened out, except for the funds embezzled by Zhao Erxun that cannot be recovered, and the parts that were embezzled and misappropriated by the other criminals have basically been recovered. The relevant criminals were also punished by law, and in the rumbling sound of the "war of rebellion", the "Chuanhan Road Deficit Case" was announced.

When they rushed to Shanghai this time, Pu Dianjun, Zhang Zhenwu, and Gu Weijun came to report to the Constituent Assembly, because after all, it was the Constituent Assembly that decided to set up a special tribunal, and the judges should be responsible to the Constituent Assembly. As for the head of the defence counsel corps, he is also required to submit a report to the Constituent Assembly.

The three of them only arrived in Shanghai this afternoon, just in time for the adjournment of the Constituent Assembly, so the closing report had not yet had time to be submitted, so the three of them made an appointment to enjoy the night view on the Bund of the Public Concession. Let's hang out in this ten-mile ocean.

"Shaochuan, how is the scene here compared to the United States?"

Xia Shoukang pointed to the office buildings of non-Chinese foreign companies on the side of the road and asked Gu Weijun, who was following behind.

"It's everywhere in big cities in the United States."

Gu Weijun's words seemed to be the answer to the question, but the listeners understood what he meant.

Pu Dianjun sighed: "Mobi, Mobi." The more depressed it becomes, it's better than in the past, a few years ago, this Bund was still a small Wang village. ”

Zhang Zhenwu snorted and said, "What if it is better than the United States?" This Bund is the territory of foreigners, we Chinese hang out here, and look at the faces of foreigners. I don't know when we will be able to take the Bund back, we Chinese manage it ourselves. ”

"It's hard. With the current national strength, the recovery of the concession is far away. Pu Dianjun shook his head and sighed again.

"Last" Salary State Tragedy. After that, the Republican Army said that they would take back the Hankow concession, but they have not seen them act until now, which shows that they also have scruples. Xia Shoukang also had a helpless expression.

"Accept it, you are not in Wuhan, so naturally I don't know. Although the Republican Army did not forcibly reclaim the concession, it is still imposing a blockade on the concession, and the foreign companies in the concession have closed their doors one after another. This is a remarkable achievement, and if you change someone else, I'm afraid you won't even dare to block it. Zhang Zhenwu defended the Republican Army a few words.

"Commander-in-Chief Zhao is indeed a patriotic general, and it is no wonder that so many people went to Wuhan to join him. After submitting the closing report, I also plan to go to Wuhan for a long time. If I can't serve the military, I'll open a law firm there and put what I have learned into practice. ”

Gu Weijun planned his future seriously, so that Pu Dianjun, who was walking beside him, was slightly stunned, paused in his footsteps, and then followed.

Although Pu Dianjun also studied law in the country, after all, he has been mixed in the officialdom for a few years and has a deep understanding of human affairs, although he also admires the commander-in-chief Zhao of the Republican Army, but what he admires is not the commander-in-chief's national and nationalist position, but what he admires is the commander-in-chief's scheming methods.

Pu Dianjun has always believed that the death of Zhao Erxun, the main culprit in the "Sichuan-Han Road Deficit Case", is very suspicious, and the conclusion of "suicide" is somewhat untenable, he has carefully studied the relevant documents, and found that Zhao Erxun died and he was locked in a cell with several co-defendants, but when Zhao Erxun died violently, the whereabouts of those co-defendants did not know, and the prison guards said in unison that those people had died in the fire in the prison, and there were no bones, which can be said to be dead without proof. %%Browser Input-8.%%

But Pu Dianjun is skeptical of this claim. Linked to the commander-in-chief's handling of Zhao Erxun's family after the incident, Pu Dianjun always felt that the commander-in-chief had an inexplicable connection with this matter.

After all, "although the Hanlu money deficit case has been tried, there are still more than two million taels of deficit silver missing, and these deficits have been counted on Zhao Erxun's head, and it is impossible for the dead to defend themselves, so if anyone wants to profit from it, this is a good scapegoat."

However, if it is said that the commander-in-chief swallowed up this road payment. Pu Dianjun didn't believe it, judging from what the commander-in-chief did, he didn't seem to be a greedy person, and as the commander of the first army, he had the opportunity to make money openly, and there was no need to risk the anger of the public, so if it was really the commander-in-chief who planned Zhao Erxun's death, then he must have other reasons.

But what the reason is, Pu Dianjun can't guess at all, but through this matter, his sense of awe for the commander-in-chief has been further deepened, and he faintly feels that the commander-in-chief is no worse than Yuan Shikai and the commander-in-chief is more clever in the place of bowing..."Exploiting" public opinion. Small.

This era was an era of "public opinion," and several of them reported to the Constituent Assembly. This in itself is also an explanation of public opinion.

However, this era is really "public opinion." Decide everything? If that's the case. Why did Wu Peihu dare to shoot at the petitioning people in Zhengzhou? Aren't those people the "will of the people"? If this is not "public opinion", then what is "public opinion"?

A series of question marks swirled in Pu Dianjun's mind, he shook his head vigorously, looked left and right, and found that several people around him were missing. Stopped and looked back, and found that the other three were falling behind them more than a dozen paces, standing under a lamppole, staring intently at a newspaper held by Gu Weijun in his hand, and a pound of small newsboys standing not far from him, counting the copper plates in his hand.

Apparently, a few people had just bought an evening newspaper online. There seems to be something new that has caught their attention.

Pu Dianjun hurriedly walked back, also stood under the lamppole, and looked at the newspaper, only to see a whole page of the assassination of Speaker of the Privy Council Ito Hirobumi in Běijīng Daqianmen Railway Station.

"You haven't seen enough, have you? Since the day before yesterday, this newspaper has been full of news of Ito's assassination, and although it is also an international event, it has been reported over and over again. It seems to be a big fuss. ”

Pu Dianjun complained a few words, and he didn't read the newspaper feature carefully. In fact, after the assassination of Hirobumi Ito the day before yesterday, major Chinese newspapers began to report on the incident one after another. Even the report of Yuan Shikai's joint loan from the four countries was squeezed to the corner, Pu Dianjun and others came all the way from Wuhan, and when they walked to Nanjing, they saw the relevant reports, although several people were very surprised, but they didn't really take it seriously, after all, it was Jin Rì himself who died, and the assassin was a North Korean, and it seemed that they had nothing to do with China.

"Brother Pu, this is not a trivial matter, this is an international event! You see, the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, Zhao sent another telegram and refused the request for the extradition of the assassins! ”

Gu Weijun handed the newspaper to Pu Dianjun's eyes and shouted a few words loudly.

Pu Dianjun was quite surprised, took the newspaper, hurriedly glanced at it a few times, and couldn't help but be shocked, it turned out that the current topic of this newspaper was about Zhao Bei's telegram against the extradition of the assassin An Chonggen to Rìben for trial.

Hirobumi Ito was assassinated by a North Korean patriot. On the surface, it seems that it was only a matter between Rìmoto and North Korea, but in fact the matter did involve Chinese interests, because the location of Ito's assassination was at the Daqianmen Railway Station in Běijīng, which was neither a foreign concession nor a leased land of Rìmoto, and legally the assassination took place within the sovereign jurisdiction of China.

Therefore, if this case is to be heard, according to international practice, only the Chinese side can set up a tribunal to hear it.

However, Rì本zhèngfǔ did not see it that way, and after the news of Ito Hirobumi's death was transmitted back to Rìben, the first decision made by Rì本zhèngfǔ was to go to China and ask for the extradition of the Assassins, and in a very arrogant tone.

But now, the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, Zhao Bei, has clearly sent a telegram to the whole country, rejecting the unreasonable demand from a legal point of view, for a very good reason: to safeguard China's judicial sovereignty!

As soon as the telegram came out, the press and diplomatic circles were again jumping.

This seems to make some sense, Pu Dianjun was stunned for a moment, and his hand holding the newspaper trembled a little.

"What" seems to make some sense,? It's just right! Gu Weijun's eyebrows flew and he gestured with his hand. In terms of national strength, we are not as good as rìben, but in terms of law, we can't make rìben compare! This is the best opportunity to showcase China's legal civilization! We can't miss it! Why do the Great Powers insist on extraterritoriality in China? Isn't that an excuse for China's backward laws? Now let's show them that our Chinese legal profession has kept up with the footsteps of powerful countries. Let them lose this excuse and safeguard our China's judicial sovereignty! ”

"That's right! Safeguarding judicial sovereignty is a fitting slogan! Yuan Shikai can't object! Zhang Zhenwu echoed.

"Let's go! Let's rush back to the hotel and sort out the details of this case, and once the trial begins, we can come in handy. Perhaps, one of our family members will be the presiding judge of this case! ”

As soon as Gu Weijun proposed, several other people immediately agreed. So he stopped visiting the Bund, turned around and left the public concession and returned to the hotel where he was staying.

The hotel is next to the auditorium of the Constituent Assembly, and several people rushed to the hotel, and saw from a distance that the auditorium of the Constituent Assembly was transparent, and there were people coming and going in front of the door, some people crying and some shouting, which seemed extremely chaotic.

"What happened?"

Gu Weijun and Xia Shoukang glanced at each other, hurriedly rushed over, and hurried back to the hotel after a while. brought Pu Dianjun and Zhang Zhenwu a news that shocked them even more.

"Tao Chengzhang, the prime minister of the Kuomintang Party, was assassinated at a dinner party of the Ministry of Industry of the French Concession in Shanghai!"

Hearing the news, Pu Dianjun and Zhang Zhenwu, like Gu Weijun and Xia Shoukang, did not speak for a long time.

Tao Chengzhang originally planned to visit the French Concession the day before yesterday, but for some reason it was postponed for two days, and it was not until this morning that the French Consul General in Shanghai, Yin Maili, formally invited Tao Chengzhang to visit the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Concession and set up a dinner at the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry. Warmly welcome the leader of the "largest party in China".

However, before the dinner officially began, an Assassin fired two shots at Tao Chengzhang with a pistol in the garden, one in the shoulder and the other in the waist, Tao Chengzhang was immediately seriously injured, although he was quickly taken to the best hospital in the concession for treatment. But there is no way to return to heaven, and he will eventually pass away.

When the news came, the Constituent Assembly and the Kuomintang party delegation had to urgently convene a meeting to discuss the aftermath, which is why there was transparency in the auditorium.

At this moment, Pu Dianjun, Gu Weijun and others had only one thought in their hearts:

"This is truly an era of assassins