Under the fierce flames, there was a sea of people on the China Merchants Wharf in Nanshi, Shanghai, teachers, students, coolies, and many people waved flags and shouted revolutionary slogans.

There is a flower shop under the first-class pier of the pier. Colorful flags fluttered, and military bands stood in line by the flower shop. Following the rhythm of the conductor, he played sonorous foreign music.

In this noisy atmosphere, a passenger ship flying the five-sè flag slowly approached the pier, and the people who had been waiting on the pier for a long time looked forward one after another, and many people even squeezed forward, but they were soon driven back with wooden sticks by the military jǐng who maintained order, and there was some chaos on the dock for a while.

A tugboat "squeaked" to the passenger ship, pushed the stopped passenger ship onto the pier trestle, the passenger ship unhurriedly lowered the anchor, and the sailors and crew quickly threw the cable ashore and tied it firmly. Then a whistle blew and the gangplank hitched onto the trestle.

Waiting for the representatives of Zhu Shen under the trestle, the leading figures greeted one after another, standing in front of the flower shop and looking at the deck of the passenger ship, and soon saw several mermaids leaving the cabin and stepping onto the gangplank, the first person looked to be no more than thirty years old, dressed in a straight deep sè dress, wearing a narrow top hat, and the black sè leather shoes under his feet were polished.

"It's Mr. Tao!"

"It should be called" Tao Leader, yes. ”

"People are" the leaders of the Kuomintang. Called "Party Leader." It's more appropriate. ”

"No, no. I heard that their party practices the "prime minister system" and has to be called "Premier Tao."

The people waiting under the pier had seen each other's faces, but they still disagreed on what to call each other, and they were really not sure whether the man in the dress who was walking towards them was the same Mr. Tao.

Mr. Tao is Tao Chengzhang, the president of the Restoration Society, and he is the honored guest that everyone wants to greet today.

After the abdication of the Qing Dynasty, the League and the Liberation Society began negotiations for merger, preparing to form a large party in order to defeat the other parties in the upcoming parliamentary elections, gain a majority in the parliament, and form a de facto cabinet of party responsibility.

However, due to the delay in reaching an agreement on the selection of the party leader, the merger negotiations between the alliance and the Guangfuhui were delayed until the "Hunan and Guizhou Incident" was not over, until the Hunan and Guizhou Incident broke out, the rebel army was formed, and Zhao Zhenhua, the commander-in-chief of the rebel army, sent a national telegram and once again took a clear stand to support Tao Chengzhang as the leader of this united party. Tang Shaoyi of Beiyang also sent telegrams in the name of groups or individuals, announcing his support for Tao Chengzhang to become the party leader, and at the same time, Sun Wen, the leader of the League, announced that he would withdraw from the party leadership race and leave the country to raise funds in Nanyang.

At this point, Tao Chengzhang's position as party leader has been basically secured, and all that remains is to go through the election process, and without surprise, he was elected as the leader of this new coalition party by an absolute majority.

This coalition political party, called the "Chinese Kuomintang", implements the system of party premiers, with a single secretary-general and a party council to make decisions on major affairs together with the party leader.

The original purpose of the establishment of this coalition party was to participate in the parliamentary elections, and to this end it did not hesitate to revise its program, and to win over the small parties composed of constitutionalists, revolutionaries, zìyóu factions, and nihilistic factions in the provinces, and to win a majority of seats in the parliament with an overwhelming numerical advantage. It is used to contain the power of the president of the Republic of China.

However, with the outbreak of the Hunan-Guizhou Incident, the fighting spirit of the Southern Revolutionary Party with the same hatred and hatred made all party members realize that perhaps the upcoming parliamentary elections and the official presidential election could become the place where this coalition party could be used, and it was certainly satisfactory to occupy the majority of seats in the National Assembly, but if the "provisional president" Yuan Shikai was removed from power at the opportunity, then the revolutionaries would not necessarily be unable to win the formal presidential election.

Seeing this, the Kuomintang decided to formally nominate Tao Chengzhang as the party's only "official president" candidate to participate in the official presidential election as Yuan Shikai's opponent.

If the Kuomintang could control both the National Assembly and the Presidential Palace, then the power of the whole country would be in its hands.

In order to remain invincible in the presidential and parliamentary elections, Tao Chengzhang decided to lead a delegation of political parties to tour the northern and southern provinces, not only to propagate the KMT's ideas, but also to further consolidate the position of the party leader and to establish contact with powerful figures in various places.

As the most important commercial center in China and even in the Far East, Shanghai is the first stop of Tao Chengzhang's speech, in order to welcome the leader of the "China's largest party", but also to establish parliamentary politics as soon as possible and unify the national decrees, Shanghai has all over the industrial and commercial circles to welcome Mr. Tao's visit.

It is worth mentioning that the scale of this welcoming ceremony far exceeded the welcoming ceremony when Mr. Sun, the leader of the Alliance, returned to China, and not only many representatives from the Chinese community, but also representatives from the foreign concessions in Shanghai, and even President Yuan Da sent a special envoy. Stand on the China Merchants Wharf to greet Mr. Tao.

In the words of the foreign newspaper of the concession, it was "unprecedented" on this pier

Among the multiple... Take a fancy to Mao. Li Xianhe is the most eye-catching figure, because his status is not Shang: "He is not only a high-ranking cadre of the former Guangfu Society, but now also holds the post of "secretary general of the party affairs conference", and his status in the party is second only to Tao Chengzhang.

The coalition party has a total of 10 secretaries-general. The League and the Liberation Association each account for three, and the other four secretaries-general are elected by other small parties, and all major affairs are decided by the 10 secretaries-general at a meeting. This shows the weight of the power of this "secretary general".

The reason why Li Fanhe was appointed secretary general of the Kuomintang was mainly because he had made a lot of contributions to the matter of selecting party leaders, and he had gone to Wuhan to meet Zhao Bei some time ago for the sake of the selection of party leaders. It's just for the reward.

A few days ago, Li Bianhe returned to Shanghai from Wuhan, just in time for Tao Chengzhang to decide to tour Shanghai, so he stayed here for a long time, and a few days ago he was elected by people from all walks of life as a ceremonial officer, presiding over the welcoming ceremony. And he personally presented a list of party members to Tao Chengzhang, and Wang Shizhen, the plenipotentiary representative of Yuan Shikai and President Yuan, became his foil.

Surrounded by everyone, Tao Chengzhang walked up to the China Merchants Wharf, and Li Shouhe led representatives of people from all walks of life to greet him.

After a humble concurrence, Wang Shizhen, the acting mayor of Shanghai, delivered a speech, welcoming Premier Tao on behalf of people from all walks of life in Shanghai. Wang Shizhen suggested that he should take a break at China Merchants first.

Entering the China Merchants signing room, Wang Shizhen only sat with him for a moment, and then left under the pretext of arranging the venue. The others also retreated in amusement, and only a group of senior Kuomintang cadres remained in the room.

Without outsiders, these people can speak more bluntly.

"Hasn't Ajine come back yet?" Tao Chengzhang asked Li Suhe.

As a senior cadre of the Liberation Association and a great contributor to the uprising of Anqing, Xiong Chengji can be described as a hard worker. He has always been firmly on the side of the Liberation Society on the issue of the selection of party leaders, so he is now also one of the ten secretaries-general of the Kuomintang, and the other secretary general of the Liberation Association is the current commander-in-chief of the rebel army, Zhao Bei, Zhao Zhenhua.

Xiong Weigen stayed in Wuhan and became Zhao Zhenhua's senior military staff officer, offering advice and suggestions for sending troops to aid Hunan and Guizhou. Now that he is in Changsha, yesterday he also took a telegram asking about the premier's visit to Shanghai. ”

At this point, Li Suhe took out a letter. Chengzhang, who handed it over, said: "This is a letter sent by Xiong Weigen a few days ago, it is a letter to the prime minister, and there is a draft from Citibank in the United States. 50,000 yuan of Yingyang, this is the first salary provided by Zhao Zhenhua for the Liberation Army, which can be used for the expenses of two infantry divisions for a month. ”

"The co-pay of the two divisions? How is this calculated? "Tao Chengzhang is a little strange.

"This is calculated according to the salary standard of the Republican Army's Division B, which is two oceans per soldier per month. This military salary standard is indeed a little lower. However, the finances of Sichuan and Hubei provinces are also very tight. The work of Xikang Province also needs financial assistance, and aid to Hunan and Guizhou is inseparable from military spending, so it cannot be paid according to the military salary standard of the A division, and now even the republican army only has two catties. A Seed Division. ”

Li Suhe explained very clearly, Tao Chengzhang did not dwell on this issue anymore, opened the envelope, looked at the letter, and then handed the bill of exchange to an attaché standing behind him, and said to him: "You immediately send a telegram to Xijiang, and ask them to send someone over to collect the salary immediately. A part of the arrears of the month was repaid, and the general calmed down before saying anything else. ”

"What about the salaries of our Allies?" Huang Xing, who was sitting next to Tao Chengzhang, hurriedly asked Li Zanhe.

Without waiting for Li Suhe to answer, Tao Chengzhang said: "Keqiang, now that it has been merged, there is no distinction between the Alliance and the Liberation Association, and this assistance is all from the Kuomintang." In the future, the revolutionary armies of the southern provinces will be reorganized into the national army, and if the party wins the parliamentary and presidential elections, even the Beiyang Army will be incorporated into this national army. ”

Huang Xing nodded, and didn't say anything, just walked towards Li Sue and looked at it, obviously still thinking about the co-pay.

Li Suhe said: "Zhao Zhenhua gave a total of two bills of exchange, one was sent by Xiong Weigen, and the other was handed over to Tan Shiping, if you want to, go to Tan Shiping." ”

"Tan Shiping also returned to Shanghai? Why didn't he come over today? Why did Song Yuchu disappear? Tao Chengzhang was a little strange, glanced at Huang Xing, who was sitting beside him, and saw that he was a little embarrassed.

Now the two parties have officially merged, and the members of the two parties are also being re-registered, but only two pounds. The long-term estrangement and coarseness between the revolutionary organizations could not be eliminated in the short term, and now Tao Chengzhang has become the party leader because of the support of the local powerful faction. Although the Restoration Association was elated, there were many people in the Alliance who were worried about this, which can be seen from the members of the welcome team on the spot, there were few well-known League figures, and as for Huang Xing, he came from Hangzhou with Tao Chengzhang.

The three giants of the alliance, Sun Wen, Huang Xing, and Song Jiaoren, there was only one Huang Xing present, which is indeed easy to make people think.

Actually, Huang Xing

““… Yun has to be weird, because Song Jiaoren is very flexible in the right field with the top candidate. He has no opinion on Tao Dun's appointment as the leader of the party, and he is very enthusiastic about the merger of the two parties.

Thinking of this, Huang Xing looked at Li Zahe, hoping that he could give an explanation.

"Tan Shiping went to Shanghai yesterday, and he came by boat from Wuhan on the day the rebel army peacefully took over Changsha, and he originally said last night that he would come over with Song Yuchu to greet the prime minister, but he didn't know why he hadn't seen anyone until now

Li Suhe's words made Tao Chengzhang's face a little ugly, hesitated for a moment, and asked again, but saw the figure outside the signing room flickering, and the two people walked into the signing room one after the other, and the person in front of him was Tan Renfeng, who was known as "Bai Tan", and the person who followed him was also Tao Chengzhang's acquaintance, Song Jiaoren, the second person in the Alliance.

"Premier Tao arrived, and the two of us were delayed due to business. It's a step too late, and I look at Haihan. "Tan Renfeng and Song Jiaoren made a full number of courtesies.

"It's good to come, it's good to come." Tao Chengzhang nodded, and his hanging heart relaxed. and Tan Song warmly greeted each other for a while.

If he hadn't rushed to Wuhan to meet Zhao Bei, the Republican Army might not have made its support for Tao Chengzhang so clear.

For Song Jiaoren, Tao Chengzhang was very grateful in his heart, and the two belonged to different camps before. Now that the two parties have merged and the "stumbling block" in the alliance has disappeared, the friendship between the two has naturally deepened a lot.

The two of them discussed the future of constitutionalism as if no one was around, and they talked for more than half an hour before they could finish their fun, when Wang Shizhen had sent someone to tell them that the podium had been set up and asked Premier Tao to give a speech to the national deputies.

Tao Chengzhang stood up, sorted out his appearance, and then led everyone out of the signing room, rushed to the China Merchants Auditorium on the west side of the wharf, and walked to the podium accompanied by Song Jiaoren, and began his first speech on this tour of the northern and southern provinces.

Taking advantage of this, Huang Xing pulled Tan Renfeng to the corner of the auditorium and asked him in a low voice the real reason why he was late.

"It's not because of Chen Yingshi?"

Tan Renfeng shook his head and sighed: "Ince has always been unaccustomed to President Tao, and has always been opposed to the matter of him becoming the leader of the party, and he has even spoken out disrespectfully. Yesterday, Rì heard that I had arrived in Shanghai from Wuhan, so he came to look for me. When he said that Premier Tao was going to make a speech in the northern and southern provinces, he was even more furious. threatened to give Premier Tao a little bit of Yan Sè. I'm afraid he'll do something out of the ordinary in anger. So I dragged him to the French Concession in the name of worshipping the mountain, so that he would not make trouble here, and Song Yuchu went with me, so we came a little late. ”

Huang Xing was stunned when he heard this, but he was helpless. Chen Qimei has always looked at Tao Chengzhang unpleasantly, of course he knows this, and as the most radical follower of Mr. Sun of the Alliance, Chen Qimei has always been angry about Mr. Sun's "going abroad", thinking that Mr. Sun was betrayed.

"Ince's xìngzi is really a little noisy. Now that the Alliance has been disbanded, there are quite a few unconvinced cadres like Ince. We have to think of a way to mediate and mediate, otherwise, although our coalition political party has been formed, the people are not in harmony, and I am afraid that it will also be scattered and have no combat effectiveness. ”

Huang Xing sighed, turned his head to look at the podium, changed his words, and said: "In the end, the scholar is a little angry, and some things don't work by voting in the Congress." ”

Tan Renfeng also looked up at the podium. looked at Tao Chengzhang, then looked at Song Jiaoren, who was about to stand beside him, sighed softly, took out a bill of exchange, and handed it to Zhenxing.

"This is Zhao Zhenhua's salary, 50,000 oceans. Or Zhao Zhenhua can see clearly, everything is fake in these years, only strength and the army are real, and dealing with Yuan Shikai, it is not possible to have no strength. In addition, I heard that Zhao Zhenhua also asked Xiong Weigen to send someone to Li Bianhe to send five self-hindering pistols, saying that it was equipped with Premier Tao's guards, so as not to be ridden by villains. ”

"Oh? Zhao Zhenhua is thoughtful. I heard that there is an elusive "bald army" in the Republican Army, and it would be safer if they could protect Prime Minister Tao. ”

Huang Xing nodded thoughtfully and looked at Wang Shizhen who was standing on the side of the podium. But he saw that the other party was smiling, and took the lead in applauding from time to time.

"It's a catty, the ability of "Beiyang Dragon" to act on the scene is not bad, you are smiling and applauding here, what about Yuan Shikai who is sitting in Beiyang? He's probably restless now. ”

Concubine Xing's brows furrowed slightly, and she had something to say in her heart, but she didn't know where to start.

Now Tao Chengzhang and the Kuomintang are ready to attack the throne of the president of the Republic of China, but Yuan Shikai is indifferent, and no one knows what he is thinking.

But in this situation, according to common sense, it is impossible for Yuan Shikai not to be in a hurry.

Perhaps, this is where Huang Xing's hidden worries lie.