The Nan'an Mansion in the sixth year of Shenwu was completely different from a hundred years later, not to mention the city wall, but the traffic just off the train made Yang Rui unacceptable. The winter was too warm, there was no snow in Nan'an, and the rain made the already bad roads even more muddy, which made the joy of returning home in the hearts of the great people disappear without a trace. Fortunately, his wife and children are not squeamish people, and his uncle Yang Maocai invited a few more sedan chairs to prepare, so he arrived at 'home' safely. When I arrived at Yangjia Village outside the south gate of Nan'an Mansion on the morning of this day, looking at the beautiful banks of the Zhangjiang River under the warm sun, the line that popped out of Yang Rui's mind was actually 'High heaven and thick earth, ancestral gods, I, Huang Jingbo, are back.' ’

The Prime Minister returned home, and the whole government shook. The villagers who got the news early all gathered in Nan'an Mansion City to watch the excitement, and the crowds were very similar to the temple fairs in the north. Yang Rui didn't care about this, but the Yang family was all frightened, but then these people felt that their faces were several times bigger, and they talked and walked a lot.

Recognizing ancestors and returning to their ancestors, celebrating the New Year's Day, these days in Nan'an, are the purest days for Yang Rui in the past ten years. There is no state affairs, no business, and on weekdays, I just recognize relatives and talk about the past, and time seems to be frozen here, only people don't know the length of time. However, the former prime minister, who had worked hard, was approached on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year. On this day, when he was lazily basking in the sun, Yang Du and Xu Guantian came out.

"Why are you here, aren't you at home for the New Year?" Yang Rui muttered when he received the report from his subordinates, and even more muttered when he saw people again.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister is enjoying Qingfu here, so of course you have to follow." Yang Du came from the north, but the temperature at noon in Nan'an was more than ten degrees, and he was wearing a fur. It's not good to give the hot one.

After Yang Du finished speaking, Xu Guantian said: "It turned out that you are here to spend your life." Have fun, we people. The whole year has not been a good day, and there are also those foreign ambassadors and consuls, Chinese and overseas Chinese, who ask Chong'an and Hanzhang every day when you will go back ....... As soon as you resign like this, the whole country will be in chaos. ”

"What's the mess about this? The government and the Inspectorate had anticipated this situation at the beginning of their establishment, and wasn't the caretaker cabinet also a cabinet? Yang Rui had long known that his resignation would cause such a result, but he was silent in his words.

"Yes, all the ministries and bureaus are fine, but everyone's hearts are empty." Xu Guantian said. "Chong'an said that you are not sure about the size of the diplomatic involvement, and now Europe is using troops. The use of troops in the Western Regions can be described as difficult to ride a tiger, and he has no bottom on how to decide and negotiate. By the way, New Russia and the Germans were negotiating to withdraw from the war, and the British and French who heard the news were completely panicked, urging us to increase our troops every day.

And Hanzhang is also here. The European war has been fought for almost four years, how many ships will be built this year, and when will it stop, he said that he has no bottom at all. If a bad ship is built too much, the country will lose money. If there is less, the country will lose money; He also didn't know how to decide on financial control and the conversion of the silver standard to the gold standard. To put it bluntly, they can keep it. But if you want to decide big things, you can't do without it. ”

Xu Guantian chattered. The official business that he hadn't heard for a long time got into his mind again, which made Yang Rui even more helpless in addition to being cordial. The situation is changing too fast. He thought that even if he went out of the mountain, it would take March or April, but he didn't want those people to wait now.

"The government is still on holiday, and the Inspectorate has not yet opened. I guess it would be too short for you to ask for these questions. Yang Rui smiled lightly. Besides, I, who voluntarily resigned, ran back to my, do you think it's funny? ”

The previous sentence still made Xu Guantian scratch his head, but the meaning of the latter sentence couldn't be more obvious, Yang Rui wanted to go down a step. He immediately said: "Yes, I will re-propose you as a candidate for prime minister, and after the vote of the Inspectorate, you will be inaugurated as the prime minister of the second cabinet." ”

"The second one?" Yang Rui didn't know why, he didn't object, and he couldn't see that he agreed, so he didn't speak.

Of course, Yang Du, who came with Xu Guantian, knew what he meant, so he immediately said: "Brother Guantian, the opening of the Suspicion Institute is still after the Lantern Festival, from Nan'an to Beijing, take the railway for a maximum of five days, so don't worry about it first." It's not that the prime minister doesn't want to do it, but some people make irresponsible ....... Let's take a break, take a shower and have a meal before talking about the details. Hey, it's winter, why is it so hot? Look at this sweaty, this hungry ....... Prime Minister, do you have anything to eat, if you don't give anything to eat, Yang Du will faint. ”

Yang Du gaged, the originally serious atmosphere immediately relaxed a lot, Xu Guantian also felt that he was too eager to say things as soon as he entered the door, and immediately began to drink tea and eat, and when the people of Yang Mansion boiled hot water, Yang Du politely asked him to take a bath first. Taking advantage of this gap, Yang Du said: "Prime Minister, this time, Mr. Xiao Min can't stay in the cabinet, otherwise it will be a bad thing." ”

"He ......" Yang Rui sneered, one of the purposes of his resignation was to clear Cai Yuanpei, at least from the cabinet, the school department could no longer be in his hands, it would be very dangerous. With his resignation, it is a matter of course that Cai Yuanpei will disappear from the government department, and only in this way will this person be kicked out so that it will not arouse the disgust of members, officials and public opinion. Now that this problem has been solved, another problem is still thorny, that is, how to kick Cai Yuanpei out of the Standing Committee? And just like he was kicked out of the government, don't cause everyone to resent it.

"This is also a palliative rather than a cure." Yang Rui sneered but still shook his head.

"But that's enough." Yang Du's words are exactly the same as what Cen Chi said a month ago, thinking that Cai Yuanpei will do nothing after stepping down.

"How?" This time it was Yang Rui who looked at him and felt a little interesting.

"No matter how good a person is, if this person is not trusted, then it is difficult for everyone to believe what he says." Yang Du said. "After the resignation of the prime minister, the people of the whole country said that Cai Xiaomin was wrong. How so? Because the people did not believe him as a person, no one believed him, even if he said it beautifully. My lord, Du thought it was time to part ways with Mr. Xiaomin. ”

After looking at Yang Du deeply, Yang Rui applauded: "Mr. Ren also has such a suggestion. ”

Before saying this, Yang Du was still a little apprehensive, if Yang Rui didn't trust him. Then his words will be regarded as sowing discord, but Yang Rui can be heard approving it. He suddenly became excited and said, "The first thing in politics is the first thing." It's about taking a clear stance. Instead of being vague and ambiguous with Mr. Xiao Min and others, it is better to draw a clear line and show the banner. Even if this stance and attitude are not liked by some people, the people often prefer a more rigid and reliable prime minister. ”

"Hmm." Yang Rui finished laughing, "What position does that person think I should state?" ”

"This ......" Yang Du tilted his head and thought for a while, and suddenly said: "The prime minister's position is the same as Mr. Xiaomin's position." In this case, it is better to give Mr. Xiao Min a position that the people do not like, so that our position will be clear. Du thinks that the title of Donglin Party is not enough, and it is better to call it an empty talk party. ”

"Haha......" Yang Rui laughed. Said: "You don't want to say, 'Work hard to prosper the country, empty talk will lead to misinformation about the country', right? ”

"Exactly." Yang Du couldn't understand why Yang Rui was laughing, he didn't know how popular these eight words would be a hundred years later. "Mr. Xiaomin, those people can only say, they can't do it, and they are all talking about the same set of things as foreigners. Now that there is a war in Europe, many foreigners are asking me why the situation has become like this, is it because there is a problem with European tradition? When they talked about Eastern civilization, they felt that the East was better than the West. Now Mr. Omin and others are bent on Westernization. I did not expect that the Europeans would abandon Western civilization and convert to Eastern civilization. They don't do anything, they just know what they say, and what they say, what they praise, which Europe is about to abandon, is simply empty talk. It is not good for the country or the people. ”

"They're not praising Europe, they're praising the United States." Yang Rui has thought about this question for a long time.

"But the common people only know foreigners." Yang Du emphasized. "Even ordinary scholars don't know much about Western countries."

Yang Du's words were to the point. Those who understand know that America is America and Europe is Europe. But most people know that there are only two types of foreigners, one is the Oriental. The other is Westerners, and there is no alias. Even if Hu Shih's group of Westernizers tried their best to disband, everyone still thought that the foreigners in the world were one family, not to mention that the United States was originally established by European immigrants.

"Prime Minister, when I traveled around the world this time, I suddenly discovered a previous fallacy." Yang Du said with emotion, and his expression became eager, "When I used to study in Japan, I only thought that Japan could be rich and strong, and that was because the system was better than the Qing Dynasty, the luck was better than the Qing Dynasty, the location was better than the Qing Dynasty, and the government was better than the Qing Dynasty." But now it seems that it is not, the fundamental reason why Japan can rise is that the Japanese are proud of being Japanese, while the Qing people are ashamed of being a Qing countryman. ”

"Good! Well said. You go on to say. Somehow, Yang Rui suddenly thought of a traitor book "Don't Be a Chinese in the Next Life" in his mind.

"Only by being proud of being Japanese can you like this country, do practical things for this country, and sacrifice for this nation. It is said that during the Russo-Japanese period, if the son was not admitted to the army because of a failed physical examination, the mother would commit suicide in shame, and the soldiers were even more proud of the jade that died in battle. Every Japanese person has worked so hard, how can there be a reason why the country is not strong? Spirituality and spiritual pride are the most important things for a strong country!

Since the beginning of the Sino-British War in Daoguangnian, scholars have always said that the West is good, although the old-fashioned gentry do not say, but from the bottom of their hearts, the scholars are still afraid of foreigners, and the arrogance of the scholars has long been worn out after the accumulation of prestige in the past few decades; The first day was defeated by Japan again, and the last bit of face that Li Zhongtang had to hold on to was gone. Sun Wen has always said that he wants to learn from the West, but the more he learns from the West, ......"

Hearing this, Yang Rui stood up with a slight excitement and walked slowly in the courtyard with his hands on his back. Yang Rui stood up, Yang Du also stood up, and he continued: "...... The more we learn from the West, the less we have that spiritual pride, and without this pride, the people of that country will never be able to unite. So it becomes such a cycle: first defeated by foreigners, and then begins to deny themselves and learn from foreigners; But the result? Or was defeated, and then even more violently ashamed of himself, hungry to learn the West, but still not rich and strong, in the end, only to make people not like people and ghosts, not like ghosts, everywhere feel useless, will eventually make the country a colony. ”

These words are not new, Yang Rui was aware of this problem when he gave a speech at Zhang Yuan in Shanghai more than ten years ago. After that, the deeper he went into this era, the more he ignored it, and now he has to go toe-to-toe with Cai Yuanpei, which is just another weapon.

"Good. O Son, you mean what you say. Sort it out and write an article. Longer, more rigorous. Mobilize the China Times, the title is called "Reviving the Chinese Spirit". Yang Rui commanded.

"Yang Du understands." The plan was successful, Yang Du smiled happily, and felt that it was too right to let Xu Guantian go to take a bath first.

Ten days later, when Xu Guantian unexpectedly renominated Yang Rui as a candidate for prime minister, the entire Academy erupted in thunderous applause, which is equivalent to saying that Yang Rui, who had resigned with iron heart, was finally persuaded by everyone. After agreeing to be the prime minister again, and being complained about by the people and newspapers for a month or two, they can finally breathe a sigh of relief. On the same day, except for a few representatives of the Kuomintang, Yang Rui, who was not in Beijing or made any campaign speeches, was almost unanimously elected as the second cabinet premier of the Greater China Cabinet.

When this exciting news spread throughout the capital, the new school of people in the School of Liberal Arts of Peking University who were discussing the abolition of classical Chinese immediately changed color. A small man with a flat head and a thick mustache between his lips and nose scolded in Beijing dialect with a Shaoxing accent: "If you want to resign, you can resign, and if you want to be elected, you can be elected. Come when you want, go when you want! ”

"Yushan ......" Seeing that his brother was too excited, Zhou Zuoren hurriedly dissuaded him, now is not the time to scold. It's about discussing how to deal with it in the moment. "We still have to negotiate a countermeasure."

"There's nothing to discuss, what else to discuss? As soon as Yang Jingcheng comes back, will he still let Mr. Xiaomin enter the cabinet? Although Zhou Shuren was excited. But the problem is very clear, "when the Inspectorate is completely under his control." The best way for him to crack down on Mr. Xiao Min is to resign, which is more than a hundred times better than directly dismissing Mr. Xiao Min's school book. Mr. Xiao Min is not in the cabinet. Can Mr. Jidao still be the president of Peking University? ”

"Brother Yushan, procedurally speaking, Yang Jingcheng's resignation is legal, and his re-election is also legal. Besides, at that time, he resigned only saying that he wanted to avoid becoming the second Napoleon and Wang Mang in China, and hoped that the representatives of the Inspectorate would accept his resignation and elect the prime minister after serious consideration, and he did not say that he would no longer serve as prime minister. Hu Shi, who is gentle and elegant, and is kind to others, even enemies, said softly, which makes people suspect that he is on Yang Jingcheng's side.

"But Yang Jingcheng's coming to power is equivalent to Uncle Zhang Mei coming to power, so let's just wait and cry." After Zhou Zuoren finished speaking, he picked up the cigarette, and his expression was depressed.

"yes." Chen Youji, the dean of the School of Liberal Arts, who had been silent for a long time, also spoke, but what he said was not Yang Jingcheng's election, but an editorial article in the China Times, "Look, revive the spirit of China, a bullshit article." Before Yang became an adult, his doglegs began to preach the quintessence of the country. Ladies and gentlemen, if Yang Jingcheng does not nominate Mr. Xiao Min as the secretary of the school, then we will launch a progressive youth strike and protest until he has to agree. ”

"Mr. Zhongfu, but there is a revival YMCA among the students, I'm afraid I won't be able to move." Among the people present, one of the two students, named Fu Sinian, opened his mouth to remind. Although this person is a student, he has extraordinary knowledge, and the most important thing is to dare to speak and do, and he is the second-year student leader of the Department of Chinese Literature, and is known as 'Fu Cannon'.

Fu Sinian was like this, Chen Youji's eyes were cold, but he said, "Then we are like when we were in Japan before, prepare some sticks, and beat anyone who doesn't strike class, these backward young people will not make progress if they are not whipped." ”

Back then, in order to 'mobilize' the students during the general strike, iron rods and pistols were prepared. Now in the capital, it is difficult to get a pistol that is forbidden, and the iron rod is afraid of killing people, so the wooden stick must be prepared.

Chen Youji said so violently, a certain nerve on Hu Shi's face trembled, his flesh trembled violently, and he forced a smile: "Zhongfu, such a fierce ......, I mean I'm afraid it's not good." ”

"What's so bad!" Chen Youji said indifferently: "There are some backward students, it doesn't make sense for you to reason with them, and the best way to deal with students who don't go to class and don't march is to give them a few sticks." Fit, you don't care about this matter, you see if you can go to the Americans to think of a way, let them help Mr. Xiaomin talk, no matter how tough Yang Jingcheng is, in the end he still has to care about the opinions of foreigners. If Mr. Xiao Min is here, then there is hope for China's democracy, if he is gone, will we still be able to stay at Peking University? ”

"Mr. Zhongfu, in addition to this university, I think Yenching University can also unite to strike and march together, and some schools in Tianjin and Shanghai can also win over." Another student, Luo Jialun, said. He just entered the English Department of the Faculty of Arts of Peking University last year, and as soon as he entered the school, he joined the New Trend Society, and at the end of last year, he joined the New Trend Club and became the editor of the New Trend Magazine.

"Yes. If Mr. Xiao Min is not appointed by Yang Jingcheng, then we will contact the National University Hall to strike together. Chen Youji said happily. The three stinkers beat Zhuge Liang, and after a while, everyone thought of a way to deal with Yang Jingcheng. "We still have to oppose Zhang Taiyan's re-nomination of the Ministry of Rites Shangshu ......" As soon as Chen Youji said this, he felt that it was too much, so he had to mention the beginning and did not continue.

The Faculty of Arts was deliberating, but a certain faculty member of the Law School in the next building was reading the spirit of revitalizing China in the China Times, which Chen Youji denounced as bullshit articles: '...... To speak of the prosperity of the country, we must first say the revitalization of the national spirit; To revitalize the national spirit, we must first have cultural pride......

Word by word, Wang Rongbao read this article carefully and read it repeatedly - with his political experience in the first few years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as his observation experience in the years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yang Jingcheng must be the first to make a big move. Unlike ordinary grass people, Wang Rongbao never took Yang Rui's resignation seriously, and his re-election after resignation seemed to be a game of playing housework, deceiving and deceiving the people who were not familiar with the inside story. In his opinion, if this is really a resignation, then the post of Taiwei Mansion and the president of the Revival Association should be resigned together, this is the real farewell to the old and returning to the hometown, what does it mean to just resign as prime minister, coax everyone to have fun?

The thought of ridicule flashed through his heart, and as a former Qing official and former member of the Qing Congress, he was no longer qualified to laugh at anyone. Although I have no worries about food and clothing as a faculty member at Peking University Law School, how can this compare to the glory of the past? The pain of losing power was like a phantom who couldn't smoke a feat, and he hadn't touched a bite for seven years, and he had had enough of it. For this reason, repeatedly figuring out the above meaning, in order to become an instant hit, and putting on the official robe again is what Wang Rongbao thinks now.

It is said that such a small person who dreams of making a career is only a drop of water in the sea, which is negligible, but the times can always create a group of big people according to their own will, obviously, Wang Rongbao, who is planning to climb up at this time, is one of them, and he is the craziest member of them.

There are such and such changes in the capital, but Yang Rui, who is already on the train, doesn't care. On the short road from the Yin'an Hall to the Mystery Courtyard that day, he had already planned everything that would happen after that. If someone really comes to power without scruples, he has a hundred ways to get him to step down automatically. Power, that's real power.

"Prime Minister, Mr. Chong'an has another urgent call. Just today, New Russia and Germany signed a peace treaty, in which Russia announced its withdrawal from the war in Europe, renounced its jurisdiction and sovereignty over Poland, Lithuania, Courland, Livland, and Estland, recognized the independence of Ukraine and Finland, and paid five billion marks in reparations to Germany......"

With Li Zilong's narration, the content of the historical Brest Peace Treaty was displayed in front of Yang Rui's eyes, although the content was roughly the same, but the time was four days late because of the butterfly effect.

"Is there a call from Pein?" Yang Rui can rest assured, but he has never forgotten Russia and Kazakhstan. So during this period of time, he has been in one-line contact with Yang Zengxin, the plenipotentiary representative in Russia, and the intelligence bureau through the military radio station.

"Mr. Pejen has not called, but the Intelligence Bureau predicts that they have been cold to Mr. Pejen for the past few months because we have not been able to support the Bolshevik supplies, and that it is highly likely that the army of New Russia will send troops to the Viceroyalty of the Steppe in the near future." Li Zilong said.

"I see." Yang Rui handed the finished telegram back to Li Zilong, and reached out to open the map on the wall of the box—this was a map of the current situation in Russia. After the peace talks with Germany, the only troops that were really in the hands of the White Russian generals were the Southwestern Front, which was fighting against the Ottomans, and part of the army of the Reconstruction Army in Eastern Siberia, and the rest of the troops were basically restored under the orders of the Soviet government. "Send a telegram to the Western Regions, I want to know the current details of the Grassland Governorate." (To be continued......)