Chapter 413 Grand Cross Project (Part I)

Beijing, Presidential Palace.

The night was dark. The whole city is shrouded in darkness, and only this presidential palace is brightly lit, since the death of Yuan Shikai, the city has not been peaceful, first the banner people rioted, and then the heavyweight veteran of the United Front Song Jiaoren was also assassinated in the inner city, now this situation, no one dares to be careless, now President Zhao Da came to the national capital to see things, the alert level in the city suddenly mentioned the highest, the curfew was issued again, the residents of the city had nothing to do, so they had to turn off the lights and rest early.

There is a reason why the presidential palace is brightly lit, and tonight, a formal dinner will be held here, mainly attended by envoys from various countries in China, and it is Zhao Bei, president of the Republic of China, who presides over the dinner.

As the head of state, it is indeed very necessary to strengthen ties with other countries, which is not only the need of national interests, but also the needs of Zhao Bei's personal interests, for this need. In order to show his sincerity in getting along with other countries, Zhao Bei stood in front of the auditorium of the presidential palace and personally greeted the envoys of various countries who came to the banquet, and this small hall was also the restaurant for the banquet.

On the other hand, as foreign affairs officials, observance of time is not only a virtue, but also a professional requirement; at present, most of the foreign affairs officials have rushed to the presidential palace ahead of schedule, and only the British minister and the French minister arrived in time, and only five minutes before the banquet began, they rushed to the presidential palace one after the other, dressed very formally, not like attending a dinner party, but like attending an international peace conference.

"British Minister, Mr. Jur. Jurdian."

As a ceremonial officer, Cai Tinggan stood at the forefront, took the business card and invitation card handed over by the British minister attaché, and then introduced Mr. Zhu Erdian to Zhao Bei, who was standing on the steps.

"Welcome, Mr. Jurdian."

Zhao Bei walked down the steps and shook hands with the British minister, the smile on his face was professional. In stark contrast, Zhu Erdian's facial expression has been stiff, as if his facial muscles have been paralyzed, and he is like a difficult brother to the Japanese minister who just entered, and it is difficult to say whether they have been discussed in advance.

In contrast to the stiffness of the British minister, the French minister showed a hint of enthusiasm, and even took the initiative to ask if there was a pastime after the dinner, and if there was a ball, the French minister did not mind dancing a few dances with the 'female' secretary standing behind the president.

"Sorry, Mr. Minister, there is no ball tonight, only a tea party." Zhao Bei politely apologized.

"Mr. Ministers, please come with me."

Tang Shaoyi, the Minister General of Foreign Affairs, who was standing behind Zhao Bei, took two steps and led the two ministers into the restaurant, while Zhao Bei was still waiting on the steps.

"Do you want to push again?" Of course, Cai Tinggan knew who Zhao Bei was waiting for, so he asked in a low voice.

"No need, when the time comes, start the banquet on time, and you can't delay the foreign 'handover' affairs because of a person being late."

Zhao Bei shook his head expressionlessly, he invited Duan Qirui to come over to today's dinner. But until now, Duan Qirui has not come, and he has not even spoken back, this shelf is inevitably too much, but Duan Qirui is now the 'spirit' idol of Beiyang, which is useful for Zhao Bei to digest the political legacy of the Beiyang Group, so Zhao Bei still decided to continue to wait until the banquet time.

Finally, when he was less than a minute away from leaving the banquet, Duan Qirui finally arrived, and only brought an adjutant with him.

"Zhiquan, you're a busy person, if you're half a minute late, you won't be able to catch the banquet."

Zhao Bei greeted him and shook hands with Duan Qirui.

"I was waiting for the telegram from the south just now, it's too late, please President Haihan." Duan Qirui said.

"What telegram is Duan Zhiquan waiting for? Could it be that there is a change in the military situation in the south? ”

Zhao Bei asked with great concern, now the situation is delicate, he really must be vigilant, especially in the southeast direction, there is a bit of a whip that is beyond the reach of the whip, although the first army of Beiyang southward has fallen to the united front, but if you want to completely digest it, it will take wrist and time.

"It's nothing, but I just asked about Wang Pingqing's injury." Duan Qirui said.

"How is Wang Pingqing's injury?"

Zhao Bei asked with concern, but he sneered in his heart.

Wang Pingqing is Wang Shizhen, the "Dragon of the Beiyang", and since he was bombed in Nanjing, Wang Shizhen has been seeking medical treatment in the Shanghai Concession, although he is seriously injured. However, this person has a great life, and he actually survived, but he is not able to move freely at present.

Duan Qirui also sneered in his heart, although there is no conclusive evidence in Beiyang, but many people, including Duan Qirui, think that Wang Shizhen's assassination case is inseparable from Zhao Bei, but now Zhao Beigui is the president of the Republic of China, making a concerned appearance, but Duan Qirui can't expose his tricks, officialdom is a theater, and acting on the scene is the basic skill of an official.

"Thank you President for your concern, although Wang Pingqing is still unable to walk around the ground, he can already eat, if it weren't for the government affairs, Duan Mou also planned to take a look at him, among the Beiyang generals, Wang Pingqing is the best to speak, he is a person who has no quarrel with the world."

This is said to be a 'stick', and Zhao Bei can also understand it, but it doesn't matter whether Wang Shizhen is really a person who has no quarrel with the world, what matters. Wang Shizhen blocked the way of Zhao Bei's advance, he had to get out of the way, in the same way, Song Jiaoren was also the one who blocked Zhao Bei's way, so they all encountered accidents, if Duan Qirui also insisted on 'obsessed' and did not come to his senses, no one could guarantee that Duan would not encounter an accident, this is politics, and it is also thick black.

In these days, it is not enough to rely on fair and honest means to engage in politics. Despicable and shameless tricks must also be used, which are both historical experience and practical needs, and have nothing to do with morality, only with interests.

"It's good to have no quarrel with the world, if everyone had no quarrel with the world, the world would not be so 'chaotic', and the country would have been peaceful a long time ago."

Zhao Bei also had something to say, he didn't talk nonsense with Duan Qirui, and the two walked into the restaurant one after the other.

After entering the restaurant, Zhao Bei saw the British minister and the Japanese minister sitting together, biting their ears and muttering, and he didn't know if he was planning some 'yin' scheme. Originally, Zhao Bei did not plan to invite the Japanese minister over, but Tang Shaoyi resolutely opposed it, because it was too rude to do so, and if the Japanese minister was not invited, then it was very likely that the British minister would not come, and even all the foreign 'diplomatic 'envoys' of all the Allied member countries in China would not come, which would not only cause a foreign 'diplomatic 'exchange' incident, but also affect Zhao Bei's prestige.

The band played, the ceremonial officials gave speeches, and there was a lot of red tape, but the real highlight was the speech of President Zhao Bei.

"Zhao is fortunate to have dinner with all of you, which is not only a testimony to the friendship between China and foreign countries, but also the first step for me to formally establish a 'private' friendship with you. Let's raise a glass. We wish world peace and human progress! I wish the friendly relations between China and foreign countries to further develop and the trade between China and foreign countries to further develop! ”

As for the people who are thinking about how to stumble on each other, there are still similarities between domestic politics and international politics.

During the whole dinner, almost everyone was thinking about it, Zhao Bei pondered the strategy of using razing to defeat razing, the British minister and the Japanese minister pondered how to deal with the new changes in the pattern of the Far East, the German minister and the American minister sat together, and from time to time they 'exchanged' their eyes and changed their eyes.

This dinner, where eating is secondary, focuses on interests, national interests, personal interests.

Therefore, everyone, including Zhao Bei, hoped that the banquet would end as soon as possible, so that everyone could cut to the chase and seek the greatest interests for their country.

Finally, the dinner was over, the wine banquet was removed, and the long table in front of him was placed with Chinese-style dim sum and tea, just like Mr. President just said, there is no dance party tonight, only a tea party.

At this moment, Zhao Bei also cut to the chase in a timely manner.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is important to invite you to come over today for a dinner party and enhance friendship, but there is another reason that cannot be left unmentioned. Now, please take a look over there. ”

Zhao Bei glanced at an adjutant behind him, who nodded, walked to the wall to the east, stretched out his hand to open a curtain, and a huge map of China's territory hanging on the wall appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Zhu Erdian's eyes widened, carefully studying the map, in fact, when he entered the restaurant, he found the huge curtain, he had been curious about what it was, and now the mystery was revealed, but he was even more sleepy.

The map had two very thick black 'coloured' lines, one east-west and one north-south, zigzag and 'intersecting' together, and the British minister could not 'understand' what they meant because of the distance.

"I beg your pardon, but in order to make it easier for you to see, I suggest that we all stand in front of the map."

Zhao Bei stood up first and walked to the map, and then, the American minister and the German minister also stood over, although a little arrogant, but the British minister also hurriedly stood over, as the British follower, the Japanese minister stood beside the British minister.

When everyone stood in front of the map, Zhao Bei turned around with a smile and faced everyone.

"First of all, I would like to give you important news. Just this afternoon, Mr. Stade, the US minister, and Mr. Rex, the German minister, have reached an agreement with me that in order to develop the 'communications' in China's central and western regions, China will cooperate with the United States and Germany in building a trunk railway running from east to west, which will run from Haizhou in Jiangsu Province in the east to Lanzhou in Gansu Province in the west, passing through Xuzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Xi'an, Baoji, and other places, that is, the so-called 'Longhai Railway.' ”

When Zhao Bei said this, the adjutant standing in front of the map picked up a slender whip and slowly pointed it from east to west on the map, starting from Haizhou on the eastern coast and finally Lanzhou in Gansu in the west, which is the location of the "Longhai Railway" on the map.

Only then did the British Minister Zhu Erdian understand what the two black 'colored' lines on the map meant, it turned out that the east-west line was the Longhai Railway, and the north-south line seemed to be the Jinghan Railway plus the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway that had not yet started. However, as a hostile foreign 'communication' official of Germany, Zhu Erdian naturally poured cold water on this railway development plan.

"Mr. President, as far as I know, it seems that the right to build the Longhai Line has been acquired by a Belgian consortium, and it seems that other countries do not have the right to 'interfere' with this railway."

"Mr. Zhu Erdian, many years ago, the Belgian consortium did obtain the right to build the Longhai Railway from the Manchu court, but so far, only the construction of the railway line between Kaifeng and Luoyang has been completed, which is the so-called 'Bianluo Railway', as for the entire Longhai line, the Belgian consortium obviously does not have enough financial resources to build, so it can be regarded as the Belgian consortium has given up the right to complete the entire railway line. I believe that when the Chinese government and its people are ready to build a Longhai railway on their own, the Belgian government will not oppose it, because this involves foreign 'relations' and also directly affects the 'diplomatic relations' between the two countries. ”

U.S. Minister Stade answered this question for Zhao Bei, while further emphasizing the U.S. position.

"According to the idea of the American consortium, we will buy the Jinghan Railway and the Bianluo Railway from the Belgian consortium, and once the Longhai Railway is completed, then there will be a huge cross-shaped railway network in the vast territory of China, and when the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway is completed, the southernmost part of this railway network will extend all the way to Guangzhou and even Hong Kong! On the basis of this cross-shaped railway network, more feeder railways will also be built to further improve China's 'transportation' conditions, and at that time, the world's goods and China's raw materials will be transported in any direction through these railway networks, making the country more closely connected with the world trade circle. This ambitious rail development plan is what we call the 'Grand Cross Project'. ”

After Si Dad finished speaking, without waiting for the translation to be completed, the adjutant picked up the slender whip and moved it up and down the map, stretching from Beijing in the north to Guangzhou in the south, extending from north to south, and the north-south railway line on the map and the Longhai line in Zhengzhou were 'intertwined' in Zhengzhou, intuitive and eye-catching, and every foreign 'hand' official present was 'disturbed' by this railway development plan.

"I must admit that this railway plan is very ambitious, but I would like to ask how this plan will be carried out if the Belgian consortium does not intend to sell the Jinghan and Bianluo lines?"

The Belgian minister shrugged his shoulders, and his assumption caused the British and French ministers to laugh.

However, several ministers soon discovered that the other side had been prepared for this assumption of the Belgian minister.