Zhou Shuren thought that he would stay in Rizhao for a while, but he did not expect that under the order of the People's Party, the field hospital and the wounded were sent to Qingdao by train. Zhou Shuren himself has decided to stay first, he is just the medical team of Hangzhou Hospital can go back smoothly. Everyone has their own aspirations, the medical team has done their best, and the doctors and nurses have the intention of returning to Zhejiang.

"Dean Li, what are these wounded people doing when they are transported to Qingdao?" It is impossible for Zhou Shuren to go straight to the point.

"It's not all to Qingdao, after arriving at the Jiaoji line, we will turn directly to Jinan and hand over these wounded to the Beiyang side." Li Bing replied. This is the tradition of the BJP. Because they had a family and a good mouth in Hebei, very few officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army would surrender to the People's Party, and in order to expand the influence of the People's Party's "preferential treatment of prisoners", the wounded would be sent back to the Beiyang side.

After listening to Li Bing's introduction, Zhou Shuren continued to ask, "Dean Li, I wonder if you can send our medical team back first?" ”

"Those volunteers can be sent back first. However, the members of the medical team should not go back for the time being. Li Bing's expression was more serious.

"Why?" Zhou Shuren was puzzled, since there were no wounded to treat, there was no point in forcing the medical team to stay. The BJP does not lack such doctors, let alone the skills of these people.

"The message above is so ordered. The reason is not very clear, but it is probably that Mr. Cai is preparing to purge the party within the Liberation Society. Li Bing replied with some hesitation.

"Purging the party?" Zhou Shuren became nervous when he landed. When he remembered it, Cai Yuanpei's confidant Wu Yutang insisted on asking Zhou Shuren to "draw a clear line" with the branch of the Zhejiang West Liberation Society.

Li Bing nodded, "Since it is said above, there should be this matter, but I don't know much about the more specific content." The above said that this matter is very complicated, there are many forces involved, many of you are from western Zhejiang, and now I am afraid that it is not very suitable to go back, so we want to forcibly keep you. We have no ill will, but since we have such an order, we must also carry it out. ”

Zhou Shuren was silent, this news was too unexpected, "Who is involved in this matter?" ”

Li Bing said comfortingly: "I don't know about this, but it shouldn't be a small person." Brother Zhou, it's useless for you to be in a hurry, just take the colleagues from Hangzhou Hospital to take advantage of this time to have a good exchange of medical skills, don't waste time. ”

This suggestion can't be said to be bad, Zhou Shuren responded with a wry smile. knew that Li Bing could only say so much to himself, but Zhou Shuren was very uneasy about who the "big man involved in the Qing Party of the Guangfu Society" was. If you think about it, you can understand that if there is a big person involved, I am afraid that it is Yuan Shikai. But Zhou Shuren obviously felt that things were by no means so simple.

It is true that Yuan Shikai is not the only big man who supports Cai Yuanpeiqing's party, and the British have played a big role in promoting the southern provinces to join the anti-people's party alliance this time. Even before Japan's defeat in World War II, the British tried to approach Cai Yuanpei, the speaker of the Zhejiang Provincial Assembly and the president of the Liberation Association.

This change came from the British side's survey of the BJP's railway system. After the People's Party seized Qingdao, all Germans were detained, and German assets were taken over. Among them, there are a number of industrial enterprises such as the Sifang Machinery Factory, as well as railway experts and the like. As for the design drawings of the German railways, they did not run away at all. The British didn't care about this, the defeated were controlled by the victors, and it was a matter of course. It was only after the People's Party had effectively started operating these factories and the railroads under its control in a short period of time that the British began to wake up. After investigation, the British found that there was no shortage of German students in the People's Party. Among the heads of the industrial sector of the People's Party, there are quite a few who have studied in Germany. It is clear that the People's Party is absorbing and digesting the railway technology of the Germans.

After the People's Party officially stated that it wanted to expel the British, the British began a full-scale investigation of the strength of the People's Party. After analyzing the power of the BJP railway, the British were stunned. Centered on Hanyang Iron and Steel Group, Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Group, Zaozhuang Iron and Steel Group, and Hefei Iron and Steel Group, the People's Party's four current coal-iron composite industrial bases, the People's Party is building railways at an astonishing speed. These areas were inherently landlocked, and the British did not penetrate deeply, and the intelligence processing was limited and insufficient. When the BJP's railway system was put together, the British found that there were more than 2,000 kilometers of railways that they knew had been completed and opened to traffic. More than 6,000 kilometers of railways are under construction. The railways of this year are certainly not as high as those of the 21st century, the technical content is not high, and the construction is relatively easy. The British would not have thought of making a longitudinal comparison between these railways and the 21st century railroads they had never seen before. But the British understood one thing very well, the role of railways for the interior.

Inland transportation is inconvenient, and a study of the route of the People's Party's railways shows that the construction of the People's Party's railways is very utilitarian and practical. It is either to connect important steel bases with important cities, or to connect important cities with important food producing areas. The construction of the railway required a lot of food. The People's Party used enormous manpower to connect the grain producing areas, not to mention its military role, and the food consumption alone on the saved transportation was enough to feed more than 100,000 railway builders.

After confirming these news, the British face turned green. One reason they weren't too keen to support Yuan was that the British didn't really believe that the People's Party really had an army of more than a million. At least in terms of the direct and indirect contacts of the British, the British, who believe that the total strength of the BJP is between 200,000 and 300,000. Yuan Shikai repeatedly said that the People's Party had 800,000 troops, but the British did not believe it. Because Yuan Shikai told the British that most of the 800,000 troops were in the countryside. The British legation felt that Yuan Shikai looked down on the intelligence of the British. The army stationed in the countryside is a big joke. They even thought that Yuan Shikai had counted the local tax collectors of the People's Party as the army.

After determining the construction of the People's Party's railway, the British counted the People's Party railway soldiers provided by Yuan Shikai, and then they really believed that Yuan Shikai was not wrong. If you want to build more than 2,000 kilometers of railways in just two or three years, it is impossible without 200,000 people, and these 200,000 people must be hardcover laborers. Although it is not known how well the so-called "railroad soldiers" are trained, in Britain, 200,000 sturdy men who build railways can pick up rifles and go to war with a little training. Moreover, the British also believed what Yuan Shikai said about the "engineering troops" of the People's Party. During the investigation of Huaihai Province, the British found that the People's Party had dredged canals, built dams, and built irrigation canals. None of these things can be done by the Chinese people, and since there is a matter of the railroad soldiers in front, the British no longer dare to regard the "engineering troops" of the People's Party as non-existent.

In a rather conservative calculation, the number of BJP engineers would also exceed 100,000. The total number of 100,000 engineering troops, 200,000 railway troops, and 300,000 field troops and defense troops is also above 600,000. This is twice as much as the British originally thought. The current number of the Beiyang Army is just approaching 1.2 million. There are still 600,000 troops from Yuan Shikai's expectation of 1.8 million. In terms of the fighting power displayed by the People's Party, the British did not consider the 1.2 million Beiyang Army to be the opponent of the People's Party's more than 600,000 troops.

The British also had a psychological bottom line. If the People's Party enters Hebei, this is the psychological bottom line of the British. At that time, they thought that they must start doing something to Beiyang, either to support or to abandon. Now Britain has found that the reason why the People's Party did not attack Hebei, but turned to attack Hunan, was not because the People's Party was insatiable or insufficient. Rather, the People's Party is making comprehensive preparations, and when the railway system and logistics system can put the 600,000 troops of the People's Party into Hebei to fight, Beiyang will face an irresistible and devastating torrent.

After determining the results of the deduction, Sir Humphrey immediately said that he would simply abandon Beiyang. Since it is impossible to give Beiyang a chance of victory in any case, then either the Japanese will be released, or the British will carry out comprehensive intimidation of the People's Party. Or try to maintain the situation, and wait until the war in Europe is over, and then the British will return to Asia with the victory to defeat the BJP.

However, the rest of the legation did not support this, and the expectations of future war in Britain were not optimistic. Originally, Britain thought that Germany could only hold out for half a year at most, but after the Battle of the Marne, Britain thought that defeating Germany would only be a year and a half later. As far as the performance of the People's Party in the current frenzied construction of the railway, a year and a half later, not to mention that Beiyang is afraid that it has been destroyed. Even if Beiyang had not fallen, the People's Party's railway construction mileage would have exceeded 6,000 kilometers. The Germans made full use of the railway to mobilize troops in the Franco-Prussian War and carried out the internal line movement. So the victory over the French army.

The People's Party is the first snake in China, they have enough railways as a means of transportation, how many people do the British have to send to China to defeat the People's Party, which can produce its own weapons and ammunition?

So now it is no longer a question of how to support Beiyang, but how to deal with the People's Party. The British Legation no longer regarded Chen Ke as an uneducated and uneducated rebel against Chinese native products. They now admit that the People's Party (BJP) led by Chen Ke is also a very different kind of "near-industrial political organization" that can only grow stronger over time. The British Legation no longer dared to make a big deal about this. If the BJP is given time, the price to be paid by Britain against the BJP is likely to grow greater. Whether to negotiate peace with the People's Party or strangle the People's Party in the early days, the British found that time was not on their side.

So after a long discussion, the British decided to try to form an anti-BJP coalition first, and then move on to the next steps.