"This Chen Jingyun made this power-on silently!" Huang Xing smiled and held the message, but his tired face still couldn't stop the joy on his face.

As a resolute revolutionary, Sun Wen's loyal follower Huang Xing has always regarded the revolution as his life's work, and in his heart he wants the Northern Expedition more than anyone else to enter Yanjing City, but the reality is unsatisfactory most of the time.

Others may not know, but Huang Xing, as the commander-in-chief, knows very well how vulnerable the Hubei People's Army is at the moment, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a rabble.

The newspapers said every day that he Huang Xing lost the battle as soon as he came, and lost Hankou as soon as he took over the command, but they never mentioned that the main force of the Hubei People's Army, the soldiers of the New Army in the former Eighth Town, had already lost all their losses when they fought a tug-of-war with the Beiyang Army near Liujiamiao, and when he Huang Xing took over the command, he was faced with tens of thousands of urgently recruited recruits.

After the defeat and retreat to Hankou, Huang Xing vigorously rectified military affairs and finally stabilized his position temporarily! Even so, he is somewhat sure of holding the three towns of Wuhan, so after hearing that the ninth town failed to attack Nanjing, Huang Xing lost hope of winning in the south, as a high-level member of the alliance, he knows very well that although the current southern provinces are almost recovered, but except for Jiao Dafeng, who sent a reinforcement to Hubei, other provinces are either watching or have no ability to come to support, in other words, he is currently relying on Hubei to fight against Beiyang.

As for the integration of southern forces, he himself does not believe in such things, if he continues, he will not wait for the alliance to integrate the southern provinces, Hubei will be finished, and Jiangsu will also be unhappy, and there is the Jinpu line in the Beiyang Army can go south at any time. It was precisely because of the premonition that Jiangsu and Hubei were in danger that Huang Xing had the idea of seeking peace.

As for who is the president, it doesn't matter now, as long as the republic can be realized, whoever is the president is the same, even if Yuan Shikai becomes the president in the future, then he can limit Yuan Shikai's full strength through the parliament and the cabinet.

Based on this, Huang Xing took the initiative to send a signal to Yuan Shikai to make peace! After sending the letter, he already knew that a large number of party members were dissatisfied with his actions. But he didn't expect that in just half a day, Chen Jingyun of Fujian issued a telegram to support his own ideas, and even made his words clear, as long as Yuan Shikai could send the Manchu Dynasty into the garbage heap of history, they would support Yuan Shikai as the president.

"Look!" Huang Xing handed the telegram to Song Jiaoren, and Song Jiaoren nodded after reading it: "It seems that there are still people who think the same as you think!" ”

"It's a pity that many people don't understand! In their opinion, the revolution should be to fight all the old affairs, but they do not understand that the revolution is to make China rich and strong! Huang Xing took a deep breath: "As long as you can get the republic, what's the harm in letting Yuan Xiangcheng be the president!" ”

Song Jiaoren said: "That's the reason, when the time comes to form a responsible cabinet, what's the matter with the presidency being given up!" ”

Speaking of this, Song Jiaoren's voice changed: "Now that the war is tense, Fujian is the second province to be recovered, and it has been twenty days now, can you let him send the Fujian army!" ”

Huang Xingdao: "I also sent a report to ask about the reinforcements before, but the reply over there said that they only have a total of three associations and one standard, and those three associations have also been sent to all parts of Fujian, and Fuzhou has only one target force!" I'm afraid that this little person is not even enough to deter the province! ”

"Why so little? I remember that in other provinces, there were as few as 20,000 or 30,000 people, and as many as 50,000 or 60,000! Song Jiaoren was a little puzzled: "Now that the situation is tense, why doesn't he Chen Jingyun recruit more?" ”

Huang Xing knew that Song Jiaoren was a pure politician and was not familiar with the military, so he explained: "Fujian has always been poor, and the previous Tenth Town was also in vain, only ten infantry battalions are still presentable, and there is no arsenal in Fujian, and there is no money in the finances, so it is naturally not easy to expand the army." ”

Huang Xing didn't expect Chen Jingyun to have a great determination to expand the army at all, although the financial situation is now poor, but he has already placed several million arms orders, and the six brigades and two regiments in the plan are fully staffed, and they are taking the road of elite troops against the Beiyang Army. It's not like other provinces that pull people over and just issue an old rifle, or even a front-loading gun or something.

"No matter what, send a telegram to ask, Hubei is far away and they can't come, but he can go to Jiangsu!" Although Huang Xing didn't have any hope, he felt that it was better to ask again.

At the same time, in the Fujian Governor's Mansion, Chen Jingyun was receiving an important guest, the British Consul in Fuzhou, Otto? Jones.

As one of the first five treaty ports opened by the Qing Dynasty, Fuzhou was also the first city to be stationed in consulates of various countries, and so far there are 15 consulates of large and small countries, most of which are at the level of consuls. In view of the complexity and importance of diplomacy, Chen Jingyun sent troops to guard the embassy area in Cangqian Mountain on the night of the Fuzhou uprising, just to prevent the chaotic troops from storming the embassy area and causing a diplomatic incident.

Therefore, after the recovery of Fuzhou, Chen Jingyun was busy rectifying military affairs, finances and other matters, and there was time to go to these professional diplomats to sharpen their mouths, so he made up his mind not to provoke those foreigners for the time being, and just sent Lin Changming, the chief foreign minister, to deal with ordinary foreign affairs.

But today the British consul Otto? When Jones asked to see Chen Jingyun again, he said that this was a matter of British interests in Fujian, and Chen Jingyun must be seen. Lin Changming didn't dare to stop this, so he had to inform Chen Jingyun.

"If he wants to see it, then he will see it!" Fujian has been recovered for 20 days, the southern republic is a foregone conclusion, and the next north-south peace talks will not change much, and after so many days of military operations in Fujian, Chen Jingyun has relied on the national army to initially control most of Fujian, leaving only one Xu Jingqing still entrenched in the Jianning area.

At this time, it is necessary to take a look out of Fujian Province and take a look at the outside world.

"General! You're so much younger than I thought! "Otto? As soon as Jones saw Chen Jingyun, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, and then he walked in with a smile on his face.

Chen Jingyun looked at Otto carefully? Jones glanced at him, this man was much taller than the Orientals of this era, slightly fat, wearing a tuxedo, holding a civilization staff in his hand, and he had already taken off his bowler hat at this time.

"Mr. Consul, you are also much younger than I thought!" Chen Jingyun also put a professional smile on his face, and quickly replied in English. This is not a formal diplomatic occasion, just a private conversation between the two of them, and it is more convenient to talk in words that both of them can understand.

"Hehe, I'm not young anymore!" Otto? Jones, it was not strange to hear Chen Jingyun answer in English, although there are not many Chinese who understand English these years, but there are definitely a lot.

"I wonder what Mr. Consul is here for?" Chen Jingyun asked while drinking tea.

Otto? Jones said, "The main purpose of this visit is to ask the general a few things!" ”

"Oh?" Chen Jingyun vs. Otto? Jones's obviously questioning tone was a little unpleasant.

"First of all, we need to know whether the military-political axe will guarantee the interests of British merchants and expatriates!" Otto? Jones asked.

Chen Jingyun replied: "There is no doubt that the military and political axe will guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of all foreigners in Fujian, including Britain, whether it was before, now or in the future!" ”

Hear that, Otto? Jones was satisfied: "Can I know when the National Army will be able to lift the lockdown order on the embassy district!" ”

Otto? The blockade order in Jones's mouth was issued after the recovery of Fuzhou, and it was strictly implemented in the first few days, but it was later canceled in the city, but the garrison of the guard regiment deployed defensive positions in the key areas of Fuzhou, prohibiting ordinary people from passing, including the Cangqian Mountain embassy area, of course, in order to avoid diplomatic disputes, the martial law in the embassy area does not include foreigners, but only for Chinese, without permission, no Chinese are allowed to enter the embassy area, although this ensures that the rebels cannot scratch the embassy area, It also prevented a large number of Manchu elites from absconding in the embassy area, but the inability of Chinese to enter the embassy area also caused great inconvenience to the lives of foreigners in the embassy area.

Chen Jingyun felt that it was still necessary to continue to blockade the embassy area now, after all, there were still many Manchu magnates who had not been caught, in case they were allowed to flee to the embassy area, it would not be troublesome, but they should also be treated differently, so he said: "I can order the blockade to be lifted, but in order to ensure the safety of foreign friends, I still have to arrange a considerable number of guard troops in important areas!" ”

Otto? Jones is already satisfied with this, the Chinese blockade line is on the periphery of the embassy district, and the target is only for the Chinese, it is just inconvenient for the embassy district, as for what army threatens nearby, Otto? Jones was not worried at all, anyway, the embassy area was deep in the interior of Fuzhou, and there was no essential difference between a hundred meters and ten kilometers from the embassy area.

So he continued: "Because of the war in Fujian, our merchants have been forced to suffer heavy losses, and we want to know when the military and political axes will be able to ensure the safety of the whole province, so that the commercial activities of our merchants can be carried out normally!" ”

Chen Jingyun frowned when he heard this: "At present, our army has cleared most of the Qing army in the former Qing Dynasty, and all departments are currently cleaning up the remnants of the Qing army and bandits, Your Excellency don't worry!" ”

For Chen Jingyun's frown, Otto? Jones didn't seem to see it, but continued: "It's the best, I hope that the war won't affect normal business activities!" ”

Speaking of which, Otto? Jones paused and looked at Chen Jingyun and said, "We got news that the general bought millions of yuan worth of arms from Germany, I don't know if this is true?" ”

Hearing this, Chen Jingyun quickly flashed a few thoughts: It was not difficult for him to know about this batch of arms deals, but why did he ask this question? Could it be that it is because the German [***] fire will affect their interests after entering Fujian? Are they going to thwart it?