The draft contract for the Sichuan-Hankou and Guangdong-Hankou railways signed by US Consul Stade was not Xi Jinping, but at least the commander-in-chief found out the bottom of the US consortium, and on the issue of railway loans to China, the US consortium did not mind taking the local line, and even did not hesitate to explain its request and was willing to jointly manage the two Chinese railways with the Chinese consortium.

According to the estimates of the American consortium, the construction of a railway from Sichuan to Hubei requires an investment of at least 20 million silver yuan, but considering the special terrain conditions of Sichuan, this investment does not include the funds for digging hidden passages and erecting bridges.

For the current Republican Army zhèngfǔ. This means that unless the Chinese consortium can also come up with sufficient funds, the American consortium will still control the management and management of the railway, that is, Zhao Bei must form a Chinese consortium, and considering the "fairness principle" proposed by the US side, this consortium cannot have any official background.

Where to gather so many wealthy Chinese businessmen?

Maybe you can use the Hankou Stock Exchange to issue shares?

Either way, it must wait until the situation is clear, and now that Yuan Shikai intends to disarm, the dispute between the north and the south will become more intense, and before the winner is decided, that will be the case. How dare a businessman betray his sincerity to a local warlord?

The businessmen are all jīng Ming, and they can't be fooled by setting up a stock exchange.

"Yiren, let's go, follow me to the securities Shuangyi Institute to see how Hanye Jiang's stock market is?"

Zhao Bei took up his military hat from the table, but he didn't wear a tip yet, "Tian Jinfu, who was assembling the guards, walked back to the headquarters.

"Commander, Mr. Tan Shiping asks to see you. There was also a Mr. Song Jiaoren from the Ran League, and it was Chief of Staff Lan who led the way. ”

Tian Jinfu walked into the headquarters and presented a letter of worship.

"Mr. Song Jiaoren? When did he arrive in Wuhan? ”

Zhao Bei took the post, glanced at the name on the post, and then instructed Tian Jinfu to welcome the guests.

After a while, the two followed Ran Jinfu and Lan Tianwei into the small courtyard of the headquarters, and Zhao Bei walked down the steps to greet him.

"Shi Lao, you are a rare guest, and Mr. Song is even more of a rare guest. The two of them visited together, and my small courtyard was full of splendor. ”

"The commander-in-chief is angry. In fact, I wanted to meet the commander-in-chief at the stock exchange, but I didn't think that the commander-in-chief was busy with affairs and didn't rush to cut the ribbon, so the two of us could only take the liberty to come and bother. ”

The person who spoke was an old man with white hair, none other than Tan Renfeng, who was known as "Bai Tan" and "Tota Heavenly King", followed by a middle-aged man. He was dressed in a straight dress, wearing a black sè top hat, shiny leather shoes on his feet, and carrying a slightly old bag in his hand.

In fact, as soon as the person in the back appeared, Zhao Bei felt a little familiar.

Song Jiaoren, one of the three giants of the Alliance. It was his assassination that directly led to the "Second Revolution", and the posthumous photo after the assassination is also a famous historical photo, and Zhao Bei was deeply impressed.

As the most representative figure of China's modern constitutionalism, Song Jiaoren failed to play an important role in the political arena of modern China, which is of course his personal tragedy, but it is also a tragedy of carrying the country in this era, perhaps China in this era does need many martyrs like him, or maybe this era is not a stage for martyrs like him at all.

Zhao Bei was very respectful of such a martyr, and although he insisted that Song Jiaoren's political ideas were not suitable for China in this Ren era, this did not detract from the prestige of this constitutionalist doer, and in fact, his political skills were not inferior to those of any of the giants in the League. Even the draft constitution was drafted by him.

However, Zhao Bei still waited patiently for Lan Tianwei's introduction, Lan Tianwei was a secret member of the Alliance, and he was also a senior cadre, if he didn't know the main leaders of the Alliance, it would be strange.

"Commander-in-chief, Mr. Tan, you have already seen it. This is Mr. Song Yuchu of the Alliance. He is a native of Hunan, and he joined Mr. Huang Keqiang's Huaxing Association in his early years, and is also one of the founders of the Alliance. He has been running for the revolution for many years, and he can be regarded as a veteran of the revolutionaries. At that time, the Liaodong branch of the League was founded by Mr. Song, and I was one of the leaders of the branch.

"Long admiration, long admiration." Zhao Bei stretched out his hand. "I heard that Mr. Song has studied constitutionalism thoroughly. He can be called a constitutional leader of the revolutionaries. ”

"Where, where. The commander-in-chief has an overreputation, and the contempt is just a cat and a tiger, compared with the time when the commander-in-chief founded this revolutionary republic. I, the constitutional leader, really dare not be. Song Jiaoren was polite.

"I don't know when Mr. Song arrived in Wuhan?" Zhao Bei quickly cut to the chase, considering the secret actions of the League in history, this jǐng fear xìng really can't relax.

"Yesterday, I arrived on the net, and I have stayed in the Hankou Concession for one night, and I have a long conversation with Shi Lao until late at night, and I take the liberty to visit, and I hope that the commander-in-chief Haihan will be rude."

Song Jiaoren smiled faintly and shook hands with Zhao Bei, also surprised by the young man of the commander-in-chief.

"Some time ago, I asked someone to bring the letter to the commander-in-chief, has the commander-in-chief read it?"

"Yes, but Zhao doesn't plan to change his court, he still wants to be my recovery member. I was going to reply to Mr. Song, but the person who sent the letter didn't explain it clearly, and I really didn't know what address to send it to, so I didn't write the reply for a long time. Actually, in my opinion. Soldiers. It is better to be pure, and it is not appropriate to get involved in partisan disputes. Instead, the interests of the county should be the only goal. ”

Zhao Bei understated a few perfunctory words, in fact, Song Jiaoren's letter he "glanced at it simply, he was not enthusiastic about the suggestion of joining the Alliance, his brother Du Shan was trying his best to eliminate the mark of the Liberation Society, how could he find a nominal boss to point fingers at him?" The so-called "purification of the military" is simply a façade. As for the so-called political parties. What is it in front of an army with guns and cannons?

"The commander-in-chief is a nostalgic person who does not want to abandon the Restoration Society. is a person in love, from the beginning to the end, Song is extremely clever about this. But now that the League and the Liberation Society are about to merge to form a coalition party, it seems that the commander-in-chief will no longer have to divide each other.

"Oh? Has the merger of the League and the Restoration Society been negotiated? Who's the real guy? ”

Zhao Bei was a little strange, although the newspapers were boiling and saying that the alliance and the Guangfu Society were about to merge. But according to Xiong Chengji the other day. Due to the differences between the League and the Liberation Society on the issue of the choice of the leader of the coalition party, the matter of the merger seems to be unclear, but now listening to the meaning of Song Jiaoren's words, it seems that the dispute between the party leader has been resolved?

"It's hard to say who will be the party leader, it depends on the election, and this is why I came to Wuhan

"What do you mean?"

Zhao Bei pretended to be confused with Ming Ran, pointed to the detention room, and said, "It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go in and say. ”

A few people entered the signing room, Zhao Bei ordered the guards to guard it tightly, and served tea to a few people, and then got down to business.

"Mr. Song, please speak directly, don't beat around the bush."

Zhao Bei glanced at Qin Sihu and Tian Jinfu standing beside him, with these two people to protect them, it should be foolproof. After all, the Alliance would be in another boat. Bu Xin sailed the ship of ten thousand years. Although Song Jiaoren is a weak scholar, the white-bearded Mr. Tan is not a weak scholar, but he has a background in the party, has participated in many uprisings organized by the League, and has traveled south and north, and he is also a man who licks blood on the knife's edge, and he is a legendary figure in history.

In these turbulent years, if you want to distinguish who is friend or foe, you can't just pay lip service, and it is understandable that the commander-in-chief is cautious about visitors.

"Negotiations on the merger of the League and the Liberation Association have been started a long time ago, and it is because the choice of the party leader has not been decided for a long time that it has been delayed. Now that the Constituent Assembly has gone berserk about the Constitution, the next thing is to elect the official president, and at the same time to elect the members of the Parliament and form the Senate and the House of Representatives. At the beginning, the commander-in-chief also said that our country should take the choice of the presidential system as the best policy, but it is not appropriate for the president to have too much power, so it is necessary to use the congress to restrain the president, Yuan Xiangcheng is an old minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he responded to the revolutionary republic but was forced to be helpless. It is up to Congress. If we revolutionaries can occupy a majority of seats in the Diet at the Ran Council, we will be able to form a de facto cabinet of party responsibility, and all the members of the cabinet will be appointed in the hands of the Diet, and even the president will not be able to act rashly.

In order to gain a majority in the National Assembly, it is necessary to form a united party to unite the majority of the revolutionary forces, and this is the fundamental purpose of the merger of the League and the Liberation Society. Now we see that the Diet is about to be formed. If the battle for the leader of the party cannot be resolved, the big party will not be formed, and the parliamentary elections will not be able to occupy a majority of seats, so in any case, the united party must prepare well before the congressional elections. Now there are several arguments. Two leaders of the United Party have been decided, one is Mr. Sun, the leader of the League. One of the members is Mr. Tao, the leader of the Liberation Society, and the other candidates have voluntarily abstained from voting. I have come to Wuhan this time to be a lobbyist for the League, and I hope that the commander-in-chief will support Mr. Sun of the League as the leader of this united party. ”

Song Jiaoren carefully explained the purpose of his trip, observing the commander-in-chief's face as he spoke, but found that the other party was always indifferent, and he couldn't touch his mind at all.

"This time I went to Han, and I made a hasty decision at the beginning. So there was no telegram beforehand. However, this matter is quietly important, and the commander-in-chief should still consider it carefully. ”

Tan Renfeng on the side was also helping, but he was not as slow and logical as Song Jiaoren, and his words were a little anxious.

The woman was silent for a moment, and then said slowly: "I understand Mr. Song's sensation. However, as a soldier, I have always believed that it is not appropriate for a soldier to interfere in the affairs of political parties, otherwise I would not have promulgated the "Decree of Mutual Assistance". And as a member of the Liberation, how can I support the leaders of the Alliance? ”

Song Jiaoren and Tan Renfeng frowned when they heard this.

They were aware of the IRA's Solidarity Order, although they did not approve of it. But there is really nothing that can be done about it, and can only watch the influence of the same people in the Republican Army gradually decline. Although some high-ranking military officers still wore the Confederacy's signs, they had in fact consciously or unconsciously alienated themselves from the Confederacy's headquarters, and some even published notices in newspapers announcing their withdrawal from the Confederacy.

Although Zhao Bei's statement was high-sounding, the delusional layers of the Alliance insisted that this practice was weakening the power of the Alliance, but it was beyond the reach of the whip and could only be resigned.

But Zhao Bei can leave the Alliance, but the Alliance can not leave Zhao Bei, and now the Alliance will have a fierce dispute with the Restoration Society for the merger, both sides want their own people to be the party leader, and no one will back down. But the League and the Restoration Society could not be delayed.