Due to the deliberate propaganda of Yuan Shikai and even Sa Zhenbing and others in the north, the Feihong and even the former Qing Dynasty's purchase of warships were in an uproar, and newspapers all over the country were reporting, and even once became a national surname, at the beginning of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces were the same, for several days in a row in the newspapers about the things on these naval warships, these public opinions almost all have a unified point of view, that is, the central government is short of money, then the provinces should follow the old practice of the former Qing Dynasty and share the military expenses of the navy, especially Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other provinces. Among them, because of the Feihong, the spearhead was pointed at Chen Jingyun.

At the same time, Chen Jingyun was a little annoyed by this situation, and at the same time, he ordered the Investigation Bureau to immediately investigate the driving force behind the scenes, and then completely banned the continued propaganda of this matter in Fujian and Zhejiang through various means, and the Investigation Bureau even set up a propaganda department for this purpose to supervise the newspapers in the territory, and those newspapers that openly criticized Chen Jingyun and the military and political axes, and even had a tendency to incite riots, were all closed, and then a newspaper management system was introduced, and the newspapers that published their publications could only be reopened after registration and examinationThere are dozens of newspapers in Fuzhou alone.

In recent years, ordinary people have a very single source of information, mainly focusing on newspapers, as long as the newspaper is under control, it will be much easier.

As for the so-called "talk about self" reason, ordinary people in this year do not have such a high spiritual demand, this thing is generally in a peaceful and prosperous world, everyone is bored after eating enough will find that they still lack a word "talk about self" reason, in the troubled times, to survive is the key, when you can't eat enough, you will not care if you can scold the government casually.

Under the vigorous and resolute action of the Investigation Bureau, public opinion in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces reappeared calm in almost two days, accompanied by the closure of many small newspapers or joined forces or were acquired; after this rectification, several influential newspapers began to appear in the newspaper industry of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, such as the private Fuzhou Bao, Hangzhou Bao, such as the Fujian Business Daily, which was dominated by the military and political axe, and the Zhejiang Business Daily. In addition, in order to control public opinion, the Investigation Bureau acquired the National Newspaper, which was jointly established by many small newspapers.

Public opinion in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces has calmed down, and what the provinces are saying is beyond Chen Jingyun's control. It's just that if it continues to be preached like this for a long time, I'm afraid that Chen Jingyun's reputation across the country will drop sharply, and in the end, maybe he may become a great warlord who is a scholar who is shouted and beaten by sincere people, well, Zhu Rui was almost like this before.

For this reason, under the hint of Chen Jingyun, the Propaganda Department of the Investigation Bureau actively launched a public opinion counterattack, vigorously criticizing Yanjing's central political axe for ignoring the interests of the national navy and attempting to sell the two British-built cruisers, and even canceling the shipbuilding contracts in Germany, Italy and Austria. Then he said that the navy and military affairs were the work of the central government, and that forcing the local provinces to run the navy was putting the cart before the horse, and then he also said that since Beiyang was so short of money that it could not maintain the existence of the central government's political axe, and could not even come up with tens of millions of dollars to build ships, then it should give up its position.

This makes it clear that the navy is the responsibility of the central authorities, and we cannot overthrow Chen Jingyun. If Beiyang really can't help it, then it's simple, Yuan Shikai, you step down and change someone up, such as Sun Wen.

This public opinion counterattack does not involve the two provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, mainly in Shanghai but other parts of the country to control public opinion, and the method is similar to Yuan Shikai's, which is nothing more than asking someone to write a manuscript or simply running a newspaper himself.

In short, the purpose is one, to muddy the waters.

These superficial public opinion turmoil actually seem to be very big, but in fact they have no practical effect, at most, they are just occasionally talked about when people chat, and they will not actually affect the judgment and choice of real power figures in various places.

For example, Chen Jingyun did not faint because of the influence of public opinion and threw out thousands of dollars, Yuan Shikai never expected these public opinions to affect Chen Jingyun's choice from the beginning, Yuan Shikai's purpose is very simple, that is, disgusting Chen Jingyun, casually collect the loyalty of the navy and the good impression of the ordinary people towards the central government.

Sa Zhenbing and Lin Yingqi were disheartened after knowing that Chen Jingyun clearly refused to buy the Feihong, Lin Yingqi also went to the Fuzhou Naval School to take up the vice principal, although the vice principal brought a vice-principal, but because the principal is Chen Jingyun, the actual management of the naval school still has to be carried out by the vice principal, Lin Yingqi is still satisfied with such an arrangement.

As for Sa Zhenbing, after staying in Fuzhou for five or six days, he also felt bored and was about to go back, but after he even bought the ferry ticket, he was about to go back to continue to be the principal of his Shanghai Songhu Merchant Marine School, but someone found him, and he was a foreigner.

This foreigner is not an ordinary foreigner, but the representative of the shipbuilding industry of the United States of America in the Far East: Navy Captain Gillis, who is also the deputy military attache of the United States in China, is a very important role in the naval relations between the two countries in the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China, and to some extent, more important than the American minister to China.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, when the Qing court planned to rebuild the navy and purchase warships from abroad, the United States also vigorously competed for the shipbuilding contract, and in order to avoid several shipyards in the United States from competing with each other to dismantle Taiwan, the United States sent Navy Colonel Gillis to represent the American shipbuilding industry and be responsible for marketing American warships in the Far East.

It was his fierce competition that allowed the United States to get the order for the Phillip. At that time, the United States did not value the cost of 200,000 pounds sterling, but hoped to open up the Chinese warship market with the help of the Feihong. Before World War I, or before the end of World War I, American warships did not have much competitiveness in the international market, and when most countries purchased warships, the first choice was Britain, the second choice was often Germany, and the third echelon was France, Italy, and even Austria-Hungary. It is not an easy task for the US warship manufacturing industry to open up the international market.

Therefore, although the order for the Phenom at that time was only for the hull, and even the weapons were designated by China as British goods, the United States still accepted the order with great interest. Of course, this situation makes the big arms dealers in the United States particularly dissatisfied, because weapons, especially the specifications of the giant cannons on warships are very important, once China uses all British weapons at the beginning, then often they will continue to use British weapons in the future, so the American [***] fire giant Bethlehem Company almost broke its head for the weapons on the Phenom, and the US Secretary of State and even the Minister to China were involved, but in the end they could not change China's determination.

However, the Bethlehem Company, which still wanted China's huge arms market, was not reconciled, and it happened that China also had the intention of expanding its navy on a large scale at that time, so it had a plan to help China rebuild its navy. At that time, the United States was carrying out the policy of 'golden yuan diplomacy,' in order to safeguard the interests of arms dealers and to expand the influence of the United States in China; at the same time, more importantly, the navy was getting bigger and bigger, which put great pressure on the US navy in the Pacific, and there was also a British alliance that was always pressing the United States, so the US political axe also had the idea of supporting the Chinese navy.

In the present period, the foreign policy of the United States is based on the principle of neutrality, supplemented by gold-dollar diplomacy. That is, to avoid military conflicts as much as possible, and then use a lot of dollars to open the way, advocate an open door, and seek an international market for American capital and products. However, in recent years, almost the whole world is full of hegemonism, and there are naked predators everywhere, and it is difficult to open the door to others with money alone.

Especially in the Far East, the previous US railroad industry in Northeast China has suffered a tragic Waterloo, almost to the point that the meat in the mouth has been robbed by the United States and Russia, and at the same time, because of the relationship between Britain and the United States, the pressure on the US Navy is too great.

Under such circumstances, it is not difficult to understand why the United States has the idea of supporting the Chinese Navy, because the benefits are obvious: domestic arms dealers can obtain large quantities of arms orders from China, and at the same time, they can expand their influence and influence in China, and the US Navy can also use the growth of the Chinese Navy to reduce the huge pressure on the Chinese Navy.

However, Minister to China was vehemently opposed, and in his letter to the Secretary of State in June, he concluded: "If I may be allowed to express my opinion on this plan, the fact is that China does not need any large navy; They may only need the existing gunboats, yachts, etc., needed for coastal and river patrol police, or for the suppression of smuggling and the suppression of rebellions and the training of officers, but warships are of no use to them. They had no money to pay for these ships, and they did not have officers and men who could indulge them. This is the prevailing view at present: if they have one or more warships, they can only strengthen or expand their navy to some extent, because if they get into trouble with China or other countries, they will seize these warships when they need them, and neither China nor other countries can prevent it from happening. Because of their stubbornness and conservatism, the Chinese have a lot of imagination and arrogance, they are keen on superficial articles and do not care about the essence of things; They like to have all the hallmarks of a great power and be respected like a great power. As a result, they want army and navy, guns and forts, battle flags, war drums, and bugles, while not having the experience or ability to use them, and they don't need a battleship as much as a child needs a gun. Given that many of the practical reforms they have initiated and the educational work and the development of business and resources that they are advocating are in dire need of money, and also because their tax or other sources of revenue are stretched to the limit, it seems to me that it would be unwise and even unfriendly to encourage them to go into debt to develop their navy or to make huge naval investments. I don't think there's any bigger waste of money than that. I have such a strong belief in this project that I can't help but express my opinion" This paragraph is excerpted from the Internet material "Efforts to Rebuild the Navy in the Late Qing Dynasty - Navy Minister Zaixun's Visit to the United States and the Sino-US Naval Cooperation Plan", students who are interested in the Bethlehem contract or the navy in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China can search for it. ’

Despite Jialeheng's strong opposition, under the impetus of the Bethlehem Company and the U.S. Navy, the former Qing Dynasty and the U.S. political axe still negotiated and signed a contract in the form of a secret agreement at the time of the Wuchang Uprising, and this secret contract is also known as the 'Bethlehem Contract'.