After Gillis arrived in Fuzhou, accompanied and guided by the diplomatic staff of the local U.S. Consulate, Gillis did not immediately visit Chen Jingyun or Yu Wentao of the Navy Department, but first found Sa Zhenbing.

Gillis and Sa Zhenbing had met many times in the past few years because of the Phenom and the Bethlehem contract, and now Sa Zhenbing recognized him at a glance when he saw Gillis. Since they met in private, the two did not follow any diplomatic etiquette or anything like that, but conversed in fluent English.

When Sa Zhenbing heard Gillis say that he was coming for the Feihong, his thoughts that had been extinguished were rekindled, and he immediately expressed his willingness to accompany Gillis to meet Chen Jingyun in person. Even Sa Zhenbing was unwilling to delay, so he took Gillis to the Governor's Mansion that afternoon and jointly asked to see Chen Jingyun.

Chen Jingyun did not work in the front yard, the two things in the navy have calmed down, the 800,000 taels given to the navy have been decided, and the gunboats ordered at the Mawei shipyard have been signed, and the deposit has been sent to the shipyard, as for the matter of the Feihong and even the entire navy, Chen Jingyun has long been left behind, and as time passed, not only did Fujian and Zhejiang provinces not continue the navy's remarks, but even other provinces in the country have slowly calmed down. Of course, Yuan Shikai was quite satisfied with this situation, because when Chen Jingyun refused to pay for the warships purchased by the former Qing Dynasty, he Yuan Shikai announced that he was ready to settle the problem of the navy's arrears in the form of state bonds, and would pay the final payment for the construction of ships by Britain, China, and Germany, totaling several million yuan.

For domestic public opinion, Chen Jingyun also did not have a very good solution, so he could only let the people from the Propaganda Department of the Investigation Bureau do it, after the naval military was over, he was also a little idle for a few days, and after handling a few official duties this morning, it happened that Chen Yu came to the Governor's Mansion from Liuhe Lane, saying that he wanted to come and see.

For this reason, Chen Jingyun specially stayed in the backyard to accompany Chen Yu's and Lin Yun and others.

"This place is big enough, but there are fewer people." Chen Yu sat on the top and nagged: "I'll send a few more people to your side to serve tomorrow!" ”

Chen Jingyun also agreed with a smile. There are actually a lot of people in the Governor's Mansion, because it is divided into the front yard and the back yard, and the front yard is Chen Jingyun's office area, so there are people coming and going all day long, and the backyard behind is the living area of the family, in addition to Chen Jingyun and Lin Yun Luo Li, there are five or six little girls who are waiting, seven or eight old mothers, which is not a small number of people. However, this huge Governor's Mansion used to be the Governor's Mansion of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the place was naturally very large.

Chen Yu's family feels sorry for her son, and always wants to keep all the good things for her son, if it is not for the old house in Liuhe Lane, she is thinking of bringing people to live here.

After the words fell, Chen Yushi fell on Lin Yun again, sighed after looking at it for a long time, and then said: "Some time ago, the uncle sent some nourishing and good medicinal materials, and Ming'er also asked them to send them over!" ”

Although this was not obvious, Lin Yun on the side lowered her head, put a pair of small hands on her legs uneasily, and waited for Chen Yushi to say before answering: "Daughter-in-law knows!" ”

Since it was in the inner courtyard and there were no outsiders next to it, Chen Yu's surname said: "After raising your body, let me hold my grandson earlier." ”

The old man's expectations for future generations are very strong, although Chen Jingyun wants to say a few words, but it is not easy to speak, who let them and his wife get married for more than half a year, this Lin Yun's stomach has not risen yet, but this matter is not in a hurry, anyway, there is still a lot of time.

While she was talking, an old woman came in and said that someone from the secretariat had something to tell her. Chen Yu knew the priority of the matter, and knew that Chen Jingyun might have something serious, so he immediately said: "Business is important, you can go first!" ”

Chen Jingyun stood up and looked apologetically at Lin Yun on the side, and then said, "I'll take a look, Yun'er, you talk to your mother first!" ”

Lin Yun on the side watched Chen Jingyun go out a little pitifully, and then looked back at her mother-in-law who seemed to be fierce, feeling like she was trapped in a demon cave......

After Chen Jingyun went out, he saw that it was a first-class secretary of the secretariat, and he didn't need to take the initiative to ask, the secretary just said: "Mr. Sa Zhenbing and Captain Gillis of the United States Navy ask to meet!" ”

Hearing this Sa Zhenbing and Gillis jointly asking to meet, Chen Jingyun was a little surprised to arrive. Isn't everything in this navy over, why did Sa Zhenbing still come to see him? Also, who is that Gillis?

Immediately, Chen Jingyun said as he walked: "Who is this Gillis?" ”

The secretary replied: "Gillis is a naval colonel of the US deputy military attache in China and the representative of the US shipbuilding industry in the Far East. ”

"Or the Phenom?" Chen Jingyun wondered, haven't they given up yet? Forget it, let's see it first, anyway, no matter what, it is impossible for Chen Jingyun to come up with money for the Feihong now.

When Chen Jingyun walked into the reception room, in addition to Sa Zhenbing, there was also a foreign officer in military uniform, no need to guess Chen Jingyun knew that this person should be Gillis.

Sure enough, Sa Zhenbing immediately introduced: "This is Colonel Gillis, the US military attache in China. ”

Gillis took off his hat and saluted Chen Jingyun: "Hello, Your Excellency General! ”

Chen Jingyun also said with a smile: "You're welcome, come, both sit, the two of them turned out to be guests, take a sip of tea first!" ”

After the three sat down, the three also began to talk, because it was an informal occasion, Gillis's Chinese was not too fluent, so the three of them spoke directly in English, eliminating the need for translation.

After some hypocritical polite words, Gillis tried a few more sentences before officially saying the topic of the Feihong: "General Chen, I heard that you have considered buying the Feihong, but I don't know how to think about it now?" ”

In fact, Chen Jingyun's refusal to buy the Feihong Sa Zhenbing had known for a long time, and Gillis also knew, but he still mentioned it just to cause a topic.

Chen Jingyun didn't care about the temptation between his words, and immediately said: "I'm sorry, at present, the finances of our military and political axes are extremely tight, and we can't use more money to buy the Feihong!" ”

After speaking, Chen Jingyun also sighed: "If you have money, let alone one, even if it is ten, I can buy it!" In his words, he completely looked worried about the country and the people: "My country's navy has been weak so far, and anyone who sees it is extremely distressed, and I, Chen Jingyun, am no exception." But this money ......"

Chen Jingyun was determined to pay attention, if he wanted to take out money from his pocket to buy a warship in the United States, not to mention that there were no doors, not even windows.

When Gillis heard Chen Jingyun's obvious refusal, he was disappointed in his heart, but he didn't show obvious disappointment, but continued: "In this way, the general has the intention to rebuild the Chinese Navy!" ”

Chen Jingyun immediately said unashamedly: "This is natural, and the rebuilding of the Chinese navy is something that China must do." If Jingyun has enough conditions, it is inevitable to rebuild the navy! "Anyway, it's not money to talk big, and it's not a lie, if Chen Jingyun takes control of China, then he will definitely rebuild the navy. As for the present, alas, it can only be said that the future is full of hope, and the reality is very cruel.

However, when Gillis heard this, he showed a cautious look, and said, "General, what if our country can provide a loan?" ”

Chen Jingyun quickly shook his head: "I don't have anything to take out and mortgage!" ”

Gillis said, "What if it's an unsecured loan? ”

"Unsecured loans?" This word made Chen Jingyun feel extremely surprised, this Gillis means to give money to himself without mortgage, and then let himself buy Feihong? This seems a little unusual.

Chen Jingyun's mind quickly turned all kinds of thoughts, thinking about all kinds of possible surnames, and then excluding all kinds of possible surnames, but limited to his historical memory and limited information, he still didn't understand why the Americans gave him a loan to buy the Feihong!

Although he does not know the detailed reason, the loan can fully prove that the Americans seem to want to support themselves, you know, almost all the loans to China in recent years have various political purposes. And even more so with unsecured loans, as Gillis calls today, there would simply be no unsecured loans if it were not for programs like military aid.

The thought of this possible surname almost made Chen Jingyun's heart beat rapidly.

When he said that he wanted to support himself, Chen Jingyun didn't pay much attention to it, but this United States is different from Yueben. He said that he wanted to support himself completely because he wanted to confront Beiyang, thus causing a de facto split in China, further weakening China's strength, and forming favorable conditions for a large-scale invasion of China in the future. However, the way the Americans and the others acted differently, and combined with the limited historical memory and what he knows and hears now, Chen Jingyun guessed that the Americans should want to support a more open political axe, carry out economic infiltration, earn benefits from experience, and help China develop a navy to contain the capital. From this point of view, there is a fundamental difference between the two surnames.

Moreover, the economic conditions of the United States and Yueben are completely different, and at the beginning, he said that he wanted to support Chen Jingyun, but in addition to the military instructors, he also gave a loan of 15 million yuan, and there was no more. As for the United States, this country is now very rich, and it should be tens of millions of dollars if you give a little military aid, and the two are completely different.

To put it mildly, if Chen Jingyun can keep the thigh of the United States, there is great hope for the reunification of China, and it is not impossible that he will even be able to join hands with the United States to suppress the United States in the future.

After thinking of these possible surnames, Chen Jingyun's mind became greatly active. After pondering for a long time, he re-spoken: "I don't know about this......

Gillis took out a document from the briefcase beside him at this time, and then handed it to Chen Jingyun: "I don't know if the general knows about the Bethlehem contract?" ”

"The Bethlehem contract?" Seriously, Chen Jingyun really didn't know that there was such a thing, because people in later generations who didn't know about the naval history of the Republic of China would generally not know about the existence of this thing. And now, because this contract is a secret contract, it is only known to a few high-level officials of the Admiralty and the Central Political Axe, and outsiders do not know that the former Qing Dynasty has signed a huge cooperation plan with the United States to rebuild the navy.