The group went down the Yellow Crane Tower and sent Zhao Bei to Jixia, which stopped, Yang Du said: "Yang has been living in the Speaker of the Li Mansion these days, if the commander-in-chief makes up his mind, he can send someone to inform him, and now the imperial court is sincerely constitutional, and it is easy to say what conditions are." ”

Zhao Bei arched his hand and said: "Huizi, whether it is a republic or a monarch, this is not up to me to decide, all the officers and soldiers of the republican army have the final say, and the people of the world have the final say." Taking a step back, it is a constitutional monarchy, and we have to find a Han to be the emperor, the banner people have stepped on us for more than 200 years, and we can't tell them to step on it anymore, right? We revolutionaries have been shouting 'racial revolution', we can't shout in vain, right? If the flag man doesn't let the country, won't we slap ourselves in the mouth? ”

Everyone's faces changed, and the meaning of Zhao Bei's words couldn't be clearer, even if he agreed to a constitutional monarchy, I am afraid that it does not refer to the monarchy of the Qing court, but Yang Du was not too surprised, and pondered for a moment, and said: "The words of the commander-in-chief, Yang has written it down." ”

Zhao Bei nodded and said to Zou Tingbi, who was standing aside: "Mr. Zou, on the way here, I heard that Mr. is an industrialist, originally I had something to say to Mr., but I was busy talking about Junxian just now, I don't know where Mr. stays?" Zhao went to visit when he had time. ”

Zou Tingbi said: "The commander-in-chief is polite, in fact, Zou also has important matters to discuss with the commander-in-chief, if it is convenient for the commander-in-chief, let's talk about it on the road." As he spoke, he pointed to Li Yuanhong's carriage.

"It's okay, said on the way. Speaker Lai, I will lend you a carriage. Zhao Bei nodded, regardless of whether Li Yuanhong was happy or not, as soon as the whip was raised, he took Tian Jinfu into the car, Zou Tingbi and several people sued him, and hurriedly took a servant to the car.

Surrounded by the guards, the carriage started slowly.

"If Mr. Zou has anything to say, let's just say it, Lao Tian is my guard captain, not an outsider." Zhao Bei pointed to Tian Jinfu, who was sitting opposite. Now that the situation of the struggle is complicated, there is no distinction between the enemy and me, no matter where Zhao Bei goes, he must take at least one company of guards, and Tian Jinfu is his personal bodyguard.

Zou Tingbi hesitated for a moment and said, "Actually, Zou is not here to establish a constitution. ”

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. Zhao Bei was a little curious.

"I'm not afraid of the commander-in-chief's jokes, now the contemptible people are almost cornered, and I came to Wuhan just to ask the commander-in-chief for help." Zou Tingbi sighed and explained the matter one by one, and Zhao Bei understood why he came to Wuchang.

This Zou Tingbi was born in a school family, the family was poor, when he was a teenager to Shanghai as an iron apprentice, when Shanghai has opened a port, foreign businessmen gathered, Zou Tingbi saw this situation, buried in the hard study of foreign languages, many years of cold and summer, in the end to repair the right fruit, in a foreign bank to do a small comprador, since then soaring, and later left the foreigners to work alone, created their own business, now the name of the industry is numerous, involved in steel, grain and oil, construction, medicinal materials, pawn, cotton, silk weaving and many industries, although not a rich and noble person, but also can be regarded as a business wizard, after Gengzi, The Qing court implemented the "New Deal", Zou Tingbi entrusted people to go to the relationship, and finally got on the line with Prince Qing Yixuan, with this royal umbrella, Zou Tingbi's career is in full swing, not only opened a new silk factory, but also set up a bank two years ago, called "Xincheng Commercial Savings Bank", through the relationship between Yixiao's son Shangshu Zaizhen of the Ministry of Commerce, this private bank even obtained the privilege of issuing banknotes.

Because of the hard backing, the bank is operating well, but who knows that the good times will not last long, "Wushen Revolution" together, Xiong Du Du raised the banner to order Anhui, Commander Zhao swept Huguang, the revolutionary parties around the country responded, the scale was huge, bank depositors were worried that the war would affect Jiangsu, so they withdrew money one after another, Xincheng Bank was Zou Tingbi to raise corporate funds, lack of liquidity, catch up with this run frenzy, can not cope with it for a while, seeing that it is about to go bankrupt, Zou Tingbi had to borrow everywhere, and finally barely coped with the past, But who knew that Yuan Shikai was reversed, the Beiyang Army was ordered to crusade against the governor of Liangjiang, the war spread to Jiangsu, social turmoil, and as a result, more and more depositors were run, and the Xincheng Bank could no longer hold on, Zou Tingbi's backer Yixuan also saw that he was difficult to protect, no one was willing to borrow from him anymore, the situation was turbulent, and even the factory could not be mortgaged, and there were only two ways in front of Zou Tingbi, either to find a new backer, or to go bankrupt and collapse.

The current situation is very clear, the north is Yuan Shikai commanding the world, and the south is the republican army, Zou Tingbi's choice is almost only these two directions, either defect to Yuan Shikai, or defect to Zhao Bei, he pondered carefully: Yuan Shikai is majestic, but he is wealthy, and he may not look down on his small bank, on the other hand, the republican army, although it is a new force, but it is full of vitality, a momentum that swallows thousands of miles like a tiger, and what is lacking seems to be the full support of powerful industrialists and businessmen. Zou Tingbi ran to Wuchang, first to meet Li Yuanhong, and then through Li Yuanhong to catch the line of Zhaobei, to see if he could find a savior, today he proposed to visit the Yellow Crane Tower, the main purpose is to visit the commander-in-chief.

Of course, Yuan Shikai also had to send someone to explore the way, after all, he Yuan Xiangcheng seemed to have signs of sitting in the world, and he couldn't help but stutter, as a result, Zou Tingbi himself ran to Hubei, and at the same time sent his son to Tianjin to see if he could catch Yuan Shikai's line. However, this matter cannot be told to Commander-in-Chief Zhao, and in the same way, Yuan Shikai in the north does not know the real reason why Zou Tingbi did not visit in person.

After listening to Zou Tingbi, Zhao Bei frowned and pondered carefully for a moment.

The thing is clear, this is a very speculative businessman, and he is very bold, and he is indeed a rare business wizard when he wants to do it, but the question is, why should Zhao Bei help him?

Zhao Bei said: "Listen to the meaning of Mr. Zou's words, Xincheng Bank is going to fail? ”

Zou Tingbi said: "If the commander-in-chief helps, the bank will not fail, and if the commander-in-chief does not help, the bank will fail." Whether it will go out of business or not, it is only in the thought of the commander-in-chief. ”

"Why should I help?" Zhao Bei asked.

Zou Tingbi blinked and said, "I know that the commander-in-chief has been buying saltpeter and sulfur everywhere recently, and if the commander-in-chief is willing to help, the contemptible people are willing to serve the commander-in-chief." ”

"You're well-informed." Zhao Bei nodded, acquiescing to Zou Tingbi's words.

Now the Hanyang Arsenal is working overtime to produce weapons and ammunition, and the consumption of raw materials is very large, but the concession of Hankou is still "armed neutral" and cannot be purchased nearby, except for relying on a little smuggling, it is only necessary to send people to other places to purchase, during this period of time, Zhao Bei has sent several groups of people to the east, trying to purchase raw materials in Shanghai and other places, but so far no news has been returned, which makes him very anxious.

"It's not a secret, this visit to the commander-in-chief, the contemptible people have brought 10,000 catties of Japanese sulfur and 10,000 catties of Chilean saltpeter with the ship, just on the dock of the Siguandian, although there are not many, but talk about the heart, the commander-in-chief can send someone to pick it up immediately." Zou Tingbi said.

Zhao Bei thought about it for a moment and asked, "How do you want me to help you?" If you ask me to throw some cash into your bank, I'm afraid it won't work, and the revolutionary army is not financially rich now. ”

"As long as the commander-in-chief sends a telegram, stating that from now on, all the financial surplus of the whole province will be deposited in the Xincheng Bank. As soon as the statement is issued, the run will be stopped. ”

"It's that simple?" Zhao Bei was a little surprised, if it was that simple, it would really be a benefit and no expense.

"Of course, it's better to deposit some cash, in front of the run depositors, 500,000 yuan can be deposited, deposited during the day, and quietly withdrawn at night."