Yuan Shikai was a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty and the best example of traditional morality. Because of his efforts, Guangxu was able to have a state funeral treatment, and the old and young of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ministers and petty officials were not all stripped of their net worth, and the new court finally left them with five years of salary and saved a decent one. The real estate of the banner people in Beijing was not completely redeemed at a low price, and some of the banner people who did not rely on the flag salary and lived on the rent stayed strong in the city of Beijing, but when they registered their household registration, they all changed their surnames to Han to avoid possible liquidations in the future.

If we use exact figures, Yuan Shikai's savings allowed the central government to spend more than 11.3 million taels of silver to buy the hearts of the people in the first year of financial difficulties, and made 70% of the annual tax revenue of about 25.15 million yuan in Zhili go to the local government; He also nominally retained the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 27th Manchurian military towns, which totaled more than 44,000 people at the time of the armistice last year, and because of the three-year retirement system, there were about the same number of veterans scattered in Zhili, Shandong, and Henan in Beiyang towns.

Such a person who has brought huge losses to the new government, Yang Rui and the people of the Revival Association do not have the slightest resentment towards him, but have a lot of good feelings, at least, Yuan Shikai is a person who understands current affairs, he knows what can be done and what cannot be done. Because of him, Zhirui, who was not trusted by everyone and was still thinking about how to renew his life for the Manchus, was replaced, and the old state of affairs between Beijing and Tianjin was quickly restored, and peace was quickly restored to the country. For a nascent regime, peace is precious. Especially at that time, it was still fighting against Japan.

But such an important person was assassinated on the first day of the official founding of the country, and Liu Boyuan did not need to explain. Yang Rui can understand the severity of the problem, and he can also understand Chen Qimei's plan: that is, if the assassination of Zhu Kuanfu fails, he will immediately assassinate Yuan Shikai to stir up discord between the old and new forces. Yuan Shikai is aware of current affairs, but are those people below him aware of current affairs? If there is another evidence related to the Revival Society at the time of the assassination, the sky does not know whether those reckless men in Beiyang can see through the provocation.

After thinking about all these things in his heart, Yang Rui calmed down and ate. He began to wonder how these things could be. After waiting for a while, he said, "You asked Li Zilong to find Mr. Cen, he and a friend were wandering around the capital to see feng shui." You find him, and I'll go back as soon as I'm done. ”

For such an important matter, Yang Rui was not in a hurry, and Liu Boyuan only suspected that he had heard it wrong. Wait for Yang Rui to say it again. He hurried away. He knows that Mr. Cen, a person who doesn't talk much, but he is also Yang Rui's staff, especially in dealing with internal relations, he is actually looking at feng shui now, where should feng shui be?

On the Chengtian Gate of the Forbidden City, escorted by several forbidden soldiers, Cen Chi was walking slowly on the city tower with a tall and thin gentleman in a blue shirt. They were followed by a boy in the same blue shirt, carrying several cloth bags on his back. There is also a compass in the hand. This Chengtianmen is located on the central axis of Beijing's north and south, more than ten meters high on the city tower, down you can see the straight thousand-step corridor and the Daqing Gate and Zhengyang Gate in the distance.

He is like this, but the tall and thin gentleman is not, he twisted his beard and looked at the scenery to the south and said thoughtfully: "Oh, Beijing is an old thing in the former Ming Dynasty, although there are many changes in the Qing Dynasty, but it is not a big deal, just keep it as it is." It's just that Yang Jingcheng and the Forbidden City are not in agreement, and after the opening of the mansion, it is still in Prince Zheng's mansion, although it is not in the middle, but the feng shui of the capital is expensive in the west, and the east is cheap, and it is better than Nanhaizi over there. ”

"Yes, Mr. Li. I've told him about this a long time ago. Cen Chi said. I'm ......just worried," he pointed to the embassy area at the east gate of Tianjie, "It's really bad feng shui over there, foreigners are still building a city and garrisoning troops inside, and if they don't go, this country will definitely not be able to live in peace!" ”

"What can't go, the time has not come, so naturally I won't go!" Mr. Li is there, "The embassy of foreigners is just a trivial matter. Don't you think it's a little strange about the virtue of the dynasty? ”

Seeing that Mr. Li talked about virtue, Cen Chi pretended to be relaxed and said: "What's so strange about this. The Son of Heaven in this dynasty is the remnant vein of the former Ming Dynasty, and when it is the same as the former Ming Dynasty, it is a fire virtue, and the color is still red. Now the flag of the Revival Society, the military flag, and the official uniform of this dynasty are all red. As for the country name 'China'...... "Cen Chi can't make it up anymore."

Mr. Li continued with his words: "Zhong, Nei, the five elements belong to wood; Hua, Gutong flowers, flowers, and the five elements also belong to wood. Your country name and five elements belong to wood, but the person who sits in the world is surnamed Zhu, which is incompatible; Then the Qing is the virtue of water, the former Ming is the virtue of fire, it is to overcome fire with water, and replace it, and now the dynasty still calls itself the virtue of fire, how can this fire overcome water? With such an imbalance of yin and yang, and the five elements are chaotic, something big is going to happen in this country. ”

"This ......" Cen Chi knew that what Mr. Li said was right, but there were some things that he couldn't explain, so he had to say: "Mr. Li, don't worry, I can have today's miracle, and it is also the help of God and man, Mr. saw that it was actually achieved." Besides, if this fire can overcome water, isn't it a gram now? If it is decided today, the four seas will be peaceful, and the national situation will ......"

Before Cen Chi finished speaking, Li Zilong's voice came from behind, "Mr. Ren, the prime minister is looking for you......

Hearing that Yang Rui was invited, Cen Chi's eyebrows just jumped, and he said quietly: "What's the matter, I'm accompanying Mr. Li to be a good feng shui, this is a big deal." ”

"Mr. Ren, is it ......" Li Zilong looked at the person beside Cen Chi, walked two steps, and said in a low voice, "Sir, there is a big incident in Tianjin, Yuan Shikai was stabbed to death, and the prime minister is anxious about this matter......

Hearing that Yuan Shikai died, Cen Chi knew that he had to go, and just as he was about to apologize to Mr. Li and retire, Mr. Li over there gave him his hand and said: "If there is an urgent matter, then go." I'll just walk around. ”

Seeing Mr. Li say this, Cen Chi hurriedly bowed his hand, and then hurriedly went. As soon as he walked here, the boy who followed behind Mr. Li said, "Teacher, this foreigner's envoy area." Is it really out of the way? ”

"How do you say that?" Mr. Li stroked his beard, "When the city of Beijing was built, in order to suppress the evil dragon here. I had to build an eight-armed city. Zhengyangmen is Nezha's head, this imperial city is Nezha's five organs, the eastern suburbs are Nezha's shoulders, and the guns of the foreigners' barracks are nothing more than swords and necks, although they are hindered, they are not fatal for a while. The one who worries the most today is still the discord of the five elements, and it goes on like this. The evil dragon is in turmoil, and someone must be martyred! ”

Mr. Li said that when he was martyred, Yang Rui had already finished eating. returned to Prince Zheng's mansion early. He only has a very unlucky feeling now, today is the founding ceremony, and two people have died in a row, one is Fang Junying. He was shot dead in the attic on Zhengyangmen Street. Originally, he had explained that it was best not to see blood today, but the situation was critical at that time, Bai Ru did not hurt the killer, and Zhu Kuansu died in case of death, it would be very unlucky; Then there is Yuan Shikai, among the old ministers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he has more influence than Shen Jiaben, after all, he has territory, soldiers and money over there. It is also next to the Tianjin Nine Nations Concession, and the foreigners stand up. Both men died tragically on the day of the founding of the country. Yang Rui only felt really unlucky.

But if it's not lucky, it's unlucky. Things have to be dealt with, Fang Junying's death is secret, but what should I do with Yuan Shikai's death? Although the four towns on his side have all been reorganized into the General Staff, the defense areas of each department have also been transferred, and most of the squad and platoon commanders have been mastered, once they are not dealt with, they will have to fight a small battle. Moreover, in terms of people's gains and losses, this is very unfavorable to the central government, especially the foreign ministers have a good impression of Yuan, thinking that he abides by the duties of a courtier.

Yang Rui thought about these things in a mess, and Li Zilong accompanied Cen Chi, and he was not polite when he saw someone coming, but said: "Mr. Ren, Yuan Shikai is dead over there." ”

"I see." Cen Chi had already heard Li Zilong say this, "Who killed it?" ”

He wanted to know the process of the matter, so as to arrange the things behind, Yang Rui then looked at Liu Boyuan, Liu Boyuan hurriedly said: "Today Yuan Shikai doesn't know why he wants to go to the concession, when the carriage entered the concession, he was rushed out of the queue by a crazy carriage, and when the guards stopped the carriage, a young woman came out of the carriage and fired several shots at the carriage that Yuan Shikai was sitting in. Yuan Shikai did not die immediately, but after being sent to the French hospital in the concession, he could not be rescued and finally died. ”

"Young woman?" Cen Chi asked, "Where did this woman come from?" ”

"The woman's name is Fu Wenyu, who claims to be a member of the Revival Association, and said that she knew that Yuan Shikai was a remnant of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and a traitor of the Han people, and she wanted to eliminate harm for the country, so she wanted to assassinate him." Liu Boyuan said that not long after the murder in Tianjin, he knew the inside story.

"Is she a Renaissance member?" Cen Chi asked, he knew that the Revival Society was a secret party membership system, and it had not been completely changed after the founding of the country, especially since the Zhili side was Yuan Shikai's sphere of influence, and ordinary members would not disclose their identities.

"She's not." Liu Boyuan said. "It's just her own nonsense. The most strange thing now is that she said that this matter was her own solo act, but the more this is the case, the more Zhili will think that we are intentional. Coupled with the opening of the Luan Coal Mine some time ago, Yuan Shikai still has opinions. ”

Kaiping Coal Mine was taken advantage of the opportunity of Gengzi by the British, a few years of lawsuits, the coal mine is still British, in this regard, Zhili Yamen in order to deal with the Kaiping Mine under the control of foreigners, under the strict order of Yuan Shikai, a new Luanzhou Coal Mine was established, the mining area surrounded the Kaiping Coal Mine, and then began to fight a price war with Kaiping, a few years ago the coal in the Kaiping Mining Area was about to be dug up, the British wanted to let the Manchus spend tens of millions of taels of silver to redeem Kaiping, but Guangxu refused. Seeing that this Kaiping Coal Mine was about to collapse, but because of the revival of the revolution, Yuan Shikai, who had earlier encircled and suppressed the Kaiping Coal Mine, actually applied for the merger of Kaiping and Luanzhou Mines in order to gain the support of foreigners in some Cheng Dù.

Yang Rui may have agreed to do other things, but he had already paid attention to the matter of Kaiping Mine when he opened Changxing Coal Mine several years ago, and although Yuan Shikai's policy of encircling and suppressing Kaiping pulled down the income of Changxing Coal Mine, he still applauded for it. On that day, Yuan Shikai's application was handed over, and he immediately rejected it, and he also put a sentence on the application, saying: 'Since you want to merge today, why did you open it in the first place?' It only made Yuan Shikai ashamed and ashamed, and it was not easy for him to participate in the founding ceremony. Zhou Xuexi, who was around him, and others, in order to shirk their responsibilities, said that the prime minister was too picky and wanted to suppress Zhili economically. These may be trivial things in normal times, but they are magnified by assassination. That's a big deal.

Without thinking much about the Luanzhou Coal Mine, Yang Rui looked at Cen Chi and said, "Mr. Ren." Now this shape shì, how should it be good? Could it be that in order to win the trust of the people in Zhili, I have to go and condolence in person? ”

"Don't go!" Liu Boyuan and Cen Chi shouted in unison. One of them thought that it would be dangerous for Yang Rui to go to Tianjin, and the other thought that Yuan Shikai's death was suspected to be related to the Fuxing Society.

"Actually, the plan now is not to think about how to justify. The more you argue, the darker it gets. Let's think about how to deal with the aftermath first. Since Yuan Shikai is dead, who should be awarded the post of governor of Zhili? Cen Chi said, only pulling Yang Rui out of Yuan Shikai's death. He was thinking about what to do in the chaos in Tianjin.

"Yuan Shikai has a lot of abilities over there, Xu Shichang, Yang Shiqi, Zhou Xuexi, Wang Shizhen, these people can all be the governors of Zhili." Yang Rui said, feeling that this is not a difficult thing.

"It did. These people can all serve as governors of Zhili. But it is precisely because these people can do it, so they can't do it. Once the internal stability of Zhili is stable, no matter whether Yuan Shikai was killed by us or not, the spearhead of Beiyang will be pointed at us. The best thing to do is to choose an unqualified person as the governor of Zhili, so that they will be caught in infighting, so that they will not have the heart to think about how to deal with us. Cen Chi's idea was not to settle people, but to think about how to take this opportunity to seek some benefits.

"Mr. Ren, this may not be impossible. But what if Yang Shiqi and others are resentful because of this, or point the finger at Beijing? Yang Rui pondered his thoughts. I think it's still a bit risky.

"It did. Now the situation is different from the past, the country is decided, the Congress has been opened, since the person who assassinated Yuan Shikai has been arrested, then the trial according to law is, whether the assassination was committed by us or not, it cannot be determined by a woman's words. Zhili is full of smart people, whether it is the person we killed is afraid that he already knows in his heart. Cen Chi said, "Appointing a person who can't sit as a governor as a governor, this person will be more inclined to the central court in isolation, and what can Yang Shiqi and the others do even if they are dissatisfied?" These people are just ministers, and they don't have the courage to rebel.

Then I really want to comfort the people on Yuan Shikai's side, the best way is to ask King Min to issue an order to comfort and comfort his family, isn't there still an idle official in the palace, Yuan Shikai's eldest son can completely reward something and seal an idle official. This matter is handed over to King Min, everyone will never think that Yuan Shikai was assassinated by King Min, right? ”

As soon as Cen Chi said that Zhu Kuansu came forward, Yang Rui thought that it would be best for him to come forward, and the only one who was the emperor was to order his courtiers to commit suicide, and he never sent someone to assassinate him. Chen Qimei only wanted to provoke disputes between the two associations, but there was a king Min as the third pole to preside over justice, even if those people in Beiyang were dissatisfied, they would only cry on the table, instead of drawing their swords at the beginning. The imperial power was useful, but he didn't think that it could be used like this, and he was happy at the moment: "Then who will be appointed by the next governor of Zhili?" ”

Yang Rui asked Cen Chi, and Cen Chi looked at Liu Boyuan, the person over there was still Liu Boyuan who was most familiar with. Seeing this, Liu Boyuan thought for a while and said: "Most of the people in Beiyang are talented, and it is not easy to choose people, but in terms of seniority, Zhao Bingjun is the most suitable." He was born as a policeman, originally Zuo Zongtang's person, and later followed Yuan Shikai. It is precisely because of this that the military generals from Xiaozhan are idle and he is a policeman, and those literati are idle because he has never read and is a small guy, so they all look down on him. If he is appointed as the governor of Zhili, then Zhili will be lively. ”

"Zhao Bingjun?" Yang Rui muttered the name of this person, this person is considered to have entered the text from martial arts, and in his early years, he actually followed Zuo Zongtang to fight in Xinjiang, and later began to make a classic history of his military exploits, and then was accepted by Yuan Shikai as his own, starting from the patrol police, the official to the patrol police department, and then was lifted down because of the political struggle. He immediately said, "Well, let's decide this person." There is also how to write the soothing decree of King Min, please ask Mr. Ren to bother. ”

Yang Rui was as good as a stream, Cen Chi was happy, and immediately drafted a soothing manuscript with affection, which was sent to the palace for polishing and becoming a holy decree, and then sent to Tianjin that night.

The power of the holy decree is greater than the pale and weak telegram, although Yang Rui, who awarded the medal to the meritorious hero in the afternoon, received the news that Yuan Shikai was killed from Zhili, and sent a condolence telegram according to the general reaction, but this condolence telegram had no effect, but it was the holy decree sent by the palace, which touched the people on the Zhili side for a while. Looking at Shen Jiaben, who came with the holy decree, he didn't speak.

After worshipping in the mourning hall, Shen Jiaben looked at the people sitting in the side hall: "Rest assured, as long as there are grievances, Dali Temple will definitely enforce the law impartially and seek justice for the palace protection." ”

The Shen family said this, even if it was very noisy before, Yuan Keding stopped talking. This is not because the Shen family was originally the court lieutenant of the Tingwei Mansion, but under the rule of Lunchang, the emperor has already issued an order to ask and comfort him, and no matter how big the grievances of the courtiers are, they must endure it first, at least the emperor has already expressed his position on this matter. Besides, everyone also felt a little strange, the revival society has never been assassinated, before the two sides were just unhappy because of a coal mine, but they can't kill people because of a coal mine.

Of course, there are also people who speculate that this revival will have to do something to the Beiyang family, but this is not quite right, if you want to do it, you can transfer Yuan Shikai to the capital and appoint a Shangshu of what department, isn't it cleaner and neater? Anyway, before the decree came, everyone said anything, but as soon as the decree came, everyone stopped talking. The emperor has already said that he knows about this, and he is very sad, not only comforting the palace guard's family, but also personally sending the Shen family to handle the case, what else do you have to say.

Yang Rui, who received the return from Tianjin, knew that the matter was finally over, but the matter in Tianjin had just happened. S. Anderson came running again. "Your Excellency, Mr. Rockefeller, let me greet you!" "In order to underwrite the bonds, the New York side hopes to sell a batch of Mobil shares next month, and Mr. Rockefeller hopes that Congress will approve the Guò prospecting rights and approve the agreement of Mobil to run the Shaanxi oil mine on its own in the next few days." ”

Listening to the words of the Americans, Yang Rui just wanted to shake his head, Chinese became more and more fluent, but the meaning of the words was still American-style straight and straight, he said gently: "Please tell Mr. Rockefeller that Congress will pass the Guò oil exploration case in these two days, in addition, can't the Shaanxi oil mine be replaced, haven't your people already gone there to verify?" ”

"Yes, the Shaanxi oil mine has no commercial exploitation value, but the United States has been promoting this oil mine, saying that it will become the largest oil mine in Asia, and if it can't do it alone, then the stock may not be able to open up that high." Anderson Road.

The cooperation with Mobil is a collusion between Chinese and American profiteers, one is to avoid the risk of spin-off under the antitrust case, and the other is to draw cakes and constantly blow the wind, so that Mobil can tide over the difficulties by external favorable factors, so as to borrow the dollars obtained by the partnership fraud. Although the plan is a win-win situation, there is a lot of pressure on Yang Rui, after all, the case of Zhang Hongzhao and Wu Yangzeng has not yet been tried, and once the Shaanxi oil mine is handed over to Mobil alone, then Yang Rui will become the target of public criticism. It's just that he still believes that he can control public opinion, and after half a year later, when Rockefeller's stock is sold out and Mobil announces that the previous exploration results are wrong, then the matter will pass. If Shaanxi can really produce a large oil field, it will not be unknown in the future.

"Mr. Andrew, please tell Mr. Rockefeller that this month Congress will approve the Guò prospecting rights and the Shaanxi oil mine sole proprietorship. In order not to cause unnecessary trouble, according to our previous discussion, the scope of prospecting has been readjusted: Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Gansu, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan, a total of eight provinces for 25 years of oil exploration will be awarded to Mobil China, Shaanxi oil mine will also be handed over to Mobil to undertake the contract, China according to the previous capital contribution to occupy the capital proportion of the oil mine. In addition, because of the protests of Asia Oil, we should put it aside for now. Yang Rui said.

"Yes! We totally understand this, and what you just promised is enough. Andrew was sure. You are truly a man of his promises, Your Excellency the Prime Minister. ”

As soon as he said that he kept his promise, Yang Rui just smiled bitterly in his heart, and he was waiting to be scolded by the newspaper. (To be continued......)