"Is Chen Jingyun really willing to take out the money to buy the Feihong?" Tang Qianming said this with surprise on his face.

Liu Guanxiong nodded and said: "Sa Zhenbing and Lin Yingqi's joint telegram does say so!" Then Liu Guanxiong handed the telegram in his hand to Tang Qianming: "Take a look for yourself!" ”

After receiving the telegram, Tang Qianming frowned after reading it carefully: "So, in the future, this Feihong will be regarded as the Fuzhou fleet?" ”

"There's no way around it! If you don't do this, how can Chen Jingyun come up with the money! Liu Guanxiong has recently turned gray in order to build a ship: "Anyway, as long as Chen Jingyun agrees, this ship can finally return to China." “

Tang Qianming also sighed and said: "Although they are all our Chinese fleets, the fleet of Fuzhou and the fleet of Guangdong do not listen to the dispatch of our Admiralty!" ”

Liu Guanxiong disagreed: "Not to mention, you probably know, now the president is waiting for the aftermath of the big loan, and when the money arrives, you can probably guess what will happen next, the southern governors will definitely not be able to resist, and when the president unifies the southern provinces, whether it is the Fuzhou fleet or the Guangdong fleet, they will not all have to return to the Admiralty." ”

Hearing Liu Guanxiong say this, Tang Qianming also showed a faint smile: "This is also what he said!" So then promise to Fuzhou? ”

Liu Guanxiong said: "It's useless for us to agree, and now Chen Jingyun hasn't agreed, if this matter is to be successful, Sa Zhenbing and Lin Yingqi have to worry a lot!" ”

Tang Qianming said: "I'll give them electricity later, so that they can bother more!" Speaking of this, Tang Qianming hesitated for a moment and said: "However, now the two of them don't have a name in Fuzhou, you see if our Admiralty will give them titles, so that they can have a name!" ”

Liu Guanxiong was embarrassed when he heard this: "This matter is not easy to do, our navy is different from those armies, and the army can issue ranks at will, but our side is different." Lin Yingqi said that there is no problem with letting him get the rank of major general first, but Sa Zhenbing's words, if he still insists on not coming to Yanjing to serve, I am afraid that the president will not be at ease! ”

Sa Zhenbing's influence in the navy is too high, Yuan Shikai has been wooing this Sa Zhenbing before, trying to persuade him to go north to take up a post, but Sa Zhenbing has never gone north, so Yuan Shikai, who is afraid of Sa Zhenbing's influence, has always refused to give Sa Zhenbing the title.

Tang Qianming said: "In this case, Nasa Zhenbing will ignore it for the time being, and give Lin Yingqi a name first, well, what I discussed with Fuzhou before was that after the Fuzhou Shipbuilding School was renamed Fuzhou Naval Academy, the principal Chen Jingyun would personally concurrently serve as the principal, and then the position of the vice principal would be given to us, so let Lin Yingqi serve as the vice principal of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Academy nearby and confer the rank of rear admiral,"

When Lin Yingqi received the appointment telegram from the Admiralty, the whole person showed an obvious smile, although he Lin Yingqi had to stay in Fuzhou temporarily because of the Xinhai Revolution, but he also expected the Admiralty to reactivate himself, and now the appointment is finally here, although he can no longer manage the fleet, but he is a rear admiral, and it is not low to become the vice principal of the Fuzhou Naval School.

"Brother Lin, congratulations!" Sa Zhenbing is really happy for his old friend, and he also knows that his old friend is different from himself. In terms of his prestige in the navy, as long as he is willing to go north, it is not surprising that he is in a high position, and his old friend, who has not had a good opportunity over the years, is now a very good result if he can be reappointed by the Admiralty.

Lin Yingqi was also full of joy: "The Admiralty has finally not forgotten my old bone!" ”

"What are you talking about, you and I are close in age, don't you say I'm old when you say you're old!" Sa Zhenbing pretended to be dissatisfied.

However, after the two looked at each other for a long time, they laughed.

After the laughter, Lin Yingqi said: "But although the Admiralty has hired me, this burden is not light!" ”

Sa Zhenbing smiled and said: "That's for sure, as the so-called capable people work hard, if this burden is not heavy, why should they use you!" ”

"Brother Sa, tell me, what should we do about this?" Lin Yingqi did not lose sight of reality because of the title of rear admiral given to him by the Admiralty.

He knew very well that in this meeting with Chen Jingyun, he was only a supporting role, and he mainly relied on Sa Zhenbing. Although Lin Yingqi didn't know much about Sa Zhenbing, the Admiralty and Yuan Shikai's many twists and turns, he still knew very well that this meeting was hosted by the Admiralty Akari, but in fact, the host should be Sa Zhenbing.

Sa Zhenbing said: "The old way, now Chen Zihua didn't say that he should think about it, then we won't think about it for too long, and we will go to the Governor's Mansion again tomorrow, and let Chen Zihua settle this matter as soon as possible, so as not to have too many dreams." In addition, Yu Wentao is a very important person, I have to talk to him well, after all, if this ship comes back, it is the ship of his Fuzhou fleet, with this person's help, things will be much easier. ”

Lin Yingqi said: "In this way, how about inviting Yu Wentao over tonight?" ”

Sa Zhenbing nodded and said, "Well, that's fine!" ”

When Sa Zhenbing and Lin Yingqi were planning how to get Chen Jingyun to come up with the money to buy back the Feihong, the matter also slowly spread out.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, and I don't know where the news was revealed, and in just a day or two, many people learned that Chen Jingyun was going to take out the money to buy back the Feihong.

After Yuan Shikai heard the news, his first reaction was to be surprised by the money in Chen Jingyun's hand: "Where did he get so much money!" However, when he thought that Chen Jingyun had already controlled the two provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, he was relieved, if Chen Jingyun looted harder, he should have a lot of money in his hand.

When he thought of this, Yuan Shikai thought for a long time, and then said: "He, Chen Jingyun, isn't rich, then let him spend it, a Feihong is only two million, but now the two British cruisers and the ships ordered by Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy have not been given, so tell Liu Guanxiong and let him ask Chen Jingyun for money!" ”

Yang Du, who was listening to Yuan Shikai's words, was puzzled: "Yuan Gong, I am afraid that so many arrears add up to more than 10 million, Chen Jingyun is willing to take it out?" ”

Speaking of this, Yang Du was a little worried: "And if this is the case, I'm afraid the navy will be resentful!" ”

Yuan Shikai smiled and said: "You think too much, as you said, this batch of arrears is as high as 10 million, let's not say whether he can take it out, even if he has money, if he doesn't think he has a lot of money in his hand, he will definitely not take it out, you say, when the whole country knows that he has money, but he refuses to take it out, what do you say outsiders will think, what will the navy think?" ”

Hearing this, Yang Du already understood Yuan Shikai's thoughts, and also showed a smile: "After Chen Jingyun is so disgusting, I'm afraid that the burden will still fall on our shoulders!" ”

Yuan Shikai snorted: "Can you still count on those warlords in the south for the burden of rebuilding the navy?" Those guys who support the army and respect themselves will never know what the national interest is! ”

"There has been a lot of delay in these times, and the Ministry of Finance has to find a way to get those warships back, and if we don't have cash for the time being, we can use state bonds and other temporary collateral. As for the Feihong, it's really expensive, don't get it for the time being, sell the ship and use this batch of money as a study abroad fund, I'll talk to Liu Guanxiong about it in the navy! ”

"Yuan Gong is good!" Yang Du lost no time in complimenting.

In the early years of the Republic of China, there was no one else who could be willing to spend tens of millions to redeem these warships for the navy except Yuan Shikai. Chen Jingyun, if Chen Jingyun dares to open this mouth with 2 million yuan, the group of people in the National Army and the Army will dare to directly launch a mutiny and do what the monarch is doing. As for Cai Yi, although he made a lot of money by relying on Yungui's tobacco and soil, he also had to raise the Yunnan army, which was much poorer than Chen Jingyun, and he couldn't make up the tens of millions even if he squeezed him dry. As for Sun Wen and Huang Xing, not to mention, they all talk about it powerfully, but I haven't seen them do a few practical things. Historically, since Yuan Shikai raised money to pay off the arrears of these warships and got them back in the early years of the Republic of China, the navy was silent for nearly 20 years, and it was not until the thirties that a small-scale shipbuilding trend began.

Yuan Shikai's mind is very simple, that is, Chen Jingyun is willing to come up with money to do better, as long as Chen Jingyun can put tens of millions of huge sums into the navy, then it means that the army under Chen Jingyun will have less than 10 million military spending, and the army will naturally expand the army slowly, and the pressure on him when he unifies the south will be much smaller in the future, if this happens, Yuan Shikai can wake up with a smile in his dreams. If Chen Jingyun refuses, then mobilize public opinion and let the people see the face of Chen Jingyun, a big warlord, clearly, and then the navy will completely turn against Chen Jingyun and stand firmly on the side of the center.

Either way, it's a good thing.

Therefore, under the instruction of Yuan Shikai, the Feihong incident was also revealed through several channels, and the newspapers began to report on the Feihong, and in the north and some newspapers that favored the central government's political axe, almost all of them said that the central government was in financial difficulties, and the southern provinces with large financial endowments should assume the responsibility, imitate the old practice of Beiyang in the former Qing Dynasty, and raise money by the provinces to pay for the construction of ships, among which the spearhead was directly aimed at Chen Jingyun, who occupied Fujian and Zhejiang.

Yuan Shikai made such a big fanfare, and the governors of other provinces also came together to join in the fun, after all, Chen Jingyun, who occupied Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, was an enemy to many governors in the south, just like Beiyang. The governors of Jiangsu and Shandong successively sent telegrams to Chen Jingyun, saying that since you Chen Jingyun are rich, then you should contribute to the country. Even Huang Xing in Nanjing and Sun Wen in Shanghai sent telegrams one after another, urging Chen Jingyun to be anxious about the country's needs and contribute to the rise of the Chinese Navy.

Not only that, but even Cai Ye also sent a secret telegram to Chen Jingyun, persuading Chen Jingyun to also contribute, and claimed that as long as Chen Jingyun contributes money, he Cai Ye will not be left behind, and has remitted 100,000 yuan to the Admiralty for special shipbuilding.

Under the deliberate promotion of the warlords in Beiyang and the south, the Feihong incident, which was originally just a trivial matter, suddenly became an incident with a national surname, which Chen Jingyun and the Admiralty could not have imagined.