Before arriving at the Zhabei Railway Station in Shanghai, Lu Wan took a pen and finished all the sample questions of the official examination in the newspaper, and also made two articles on the two articles, but unfortunately the answers to the test can only be available in the next issue of the newspaper, so he can only let Sixi take these questions and wait for tomorrow's answers.

There is no electric light in the third-class carriage, and when the sky is confused at more than five o'clock, the carriage is dim, and it is snowing outside, which only makes people feel cold, fortunately the train has been close to Songjiang, and it will be in Shanghai in two or three hours. Hearing the shouting of the tea worker again, Lu Wan asked for a cup of boiling water, and then when he gave the small tent, he gave two foreign dollars with his own hands, and Lu Wan also smiled and said: "Mr. Kong is well-read, although the official examination is difficult, but the new dynasty has a lot of talents, and those who go to the exam can probably be ...... high school."

When a revolutionary army lord spoke to himself, the tea worker was startled, because he was panicked or afraid, his hand to take the small account was beaten by the two foreign dollars, and he wanted to retreat and listened to the other party's persuasion to take the exam, and bowed with a red face and retired. After the tea worker left, Sixi suddenly said: "Battalion commander, am I going to take the high school exam?" ”

"You're a high school." Lu Wan scolded with a smile, "You can't tell who the east evil and the west poison are, stay with me honestly, and then recognize a few more words in the future." ”

Sixi was stunned by Lu Wan's words, and suddenly didn't dare to speak, and this silence was not until the train arrived at the station, and he packed his luggage and prepared to get off. Because there was only a car to Nanjing on the second day, I could only spend the night in Shanghai and leave again the next day. When the two of them left the station, they saw the strange family again, and saw that they were taken away by the people who were soliciting guests, so they didn't bother with anything. But when he got on the train on the second day, he saw that the family was escorted on the train by soldiers, and Lu Wan understood that these were also martyrs. He immediately got up and said to the sergeant who sent them to the car, "How do you work?" Can these few big living people be lost? If something happens to them on the road, are you responsible, and how can you explain this to the dead comrades?! ”

A lieutenant colonel was mad at himself, and the sergeant had to bear it, and when his anger was over, a comrade who was old but did not wear a military uniform came over, and he introduced himself as a member of the political department.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. This one...... The main thing is that they ......" The cadre of the political department was also indescribable when he talked about the affairs of this family, and he finally had to whisper, "Comrade." These martyrs were ...... Alternatives, the man in charge committed suicide in the purge a few years ago, and now the superiors say that they want to correct the names of those people, and I don't know if it's true. That's ...... Ay. A few years of alternative molecules. They were afraid when they saw us and didn't want to go with us, so they got lost in Hangzhou......"

The words 'alternatives' only shocked Lu Wan's heart, he understood the meaning of these four words, there are not many people in the base area, but I often see that most of these people are landlords who are unwilling to divide the land, and clans who are unwilling to command. A small part are traitors in their own ranks. Of course, the word traitor is not an established word. It is a hypothetical word, that is, if there is an opportunity, it means to rebel. At the time of the purge in the meeting, Lu Wan was studying at the military academy, so he had never really seen the purge and said that he was an old cadre, and his good impression of that family was not only lost, but also had the meaning of respecting and staying away.

The cadres were very satisfied with Lu Wan's reaction, at least, the young lieutenant colonel in front of him would not report to his superiors that his people were not handling things well, he got off the train that was about to leave in Lu Wan's stunned, leaving only a young man with a emblem on his left chest to take care of the family, he only sent these people to Nanjing, and when they got there, there would be other people to escort them to Beijing.

When Lu Wan retreated to the side, the young man escorted him to take care of him wholeheartedly, but his care only made Han Yuxiu's family uneasy, as the family members of the other, they were afraid of every revival member, whether they were wearing military uniforms or wearing a badge on their chests, which made them extremely distrustful. This is not only the innocent death of the husband, but also because of the different treatment in the past five years. The fields are gone, the cattle are gone, the family wealth is gone, and even the cheeks are firmly trampled under the feet of those people. Following the will of her father-in-law who had just died, Han Yuxiu didn't care if what they said was true or not, she didn't care if it was true, anyway, what she was going to was Jingshi, what she wanted was to go to the emperor to sue the emperor, she believed that only the emperor in the world could administer justice to herself.

The young man with the emblem on his chest didn't know that the alternative elements he was escorting had such a conspiracy, and Lu Wan didn't know that the family who went north with him in the same car would make a big mess in the future, and the group just took the train for three days in a drowsy manner, and then arrived at the Zhengyangmen East Railway Station in the capital. The crowded train station, in the blink of an eye, this family disappeared again, and more than an hour later, they appeared outside the Daming Gate of Tianjie.

With the renovation that cost more than one million taels, the city towers and city walls inside and outside the capital have been renewed. At the beginning of the implementation of the face project, the project attracted opposition from everyone in the committee, but with the change of the appearance of the entire capital, those who opposed it before increasingly agreed with Yang Rui's point of view, that is, Beijing is the face of China, and Beijing is tattered, that is, China is tattered, although Beijing is not tattered, China is tattered, but at least Beijing is better-looking, and people from other places in Beijing have a higher degree of recognition of the current government, and they should also recognize the ruling ability of the Fuxing Association.

The renovated Daming Gate is the best embodiment of the face project, because this is the closest place for ordinary people to reach the emperor, because there are often people outside the Daming Gate who complain about injustice, especially the first property embezzlement case wins, more Han people enter Beijing to sue the Manchus for embezzling their ancestral property hundreds of years ago. Most of them held genealogies, and a few held land deeds, and as soon as they arrived in the capital, they knelt outside the Daming Gate and shouted grievances. These people who have good things to do with it, so that the Praetorian Guard soldiers guarding outside the Daming Gate have already seen too much, and as soon as they see them kneeling, they send them to the Dali Temple on the right, which is the place to receive the order.

Han Yuxiu led her mother-in-law and two little uncles to kneel outside the Daming Gate, and the Praetorian Guard soldiers asked them who they were going to sue, but she just lowered her head and didn't speak. The soldiers couldn't, seeing the heavy snow, kneeling here would only freeze to death, so they had to say bluntly, "The emperor will not accept the case, you guys, let's go to Dali Temple, that is the place to complain...... and lead them to the Dali Temple next to them.

Dali Temple is indeed the place where the form is received, but Han Yuxiu's condition is ...... The person she wanted to sue was Yang Jingcheng, the leader of the Revival Society. This only startled everyone, including Shen Jiaben, if it weren't for Yang Jingcheng being another revival member, it would be easy to take it. But the one who sued was Yang Jingcheng, this is the prime minister today, with hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands, and people who are admired by all the people, is it so easy to sue? "This is ......" Xu Shiying, the secretary of the Criminal Department, stuck his beard, and looked at Tingwei Shen Jiaben and Zhang Shizhao who brought people over while talking, and couldn't go on after saying a few words. He was a smart man, and he knew that the independence of the judiciary that the Revival would talk about was just an archway. If it really shakes the foundation of the Renaissance Society, then this torii will be demolished immediately.

"I think this case should be accepted, Yang Jingcheng has always said that the judiciary is independent, and even let Lord Shen do the position of Tingwei. It shows his sincerity. If the Revival Society does not interfere in this case, then the judicial independence he says is really independent, and if the Revival Society wants to interfere in this case, then it can only be said that the judicial independence advocated by the Renaissance Society is false. I will wait for you to deal with yourself in the future, and it will be very clear. Zhang Shizhao said. After being excluded by the Huaxing Society, he could only go to Dali Temple to live with his professional diploma in law.

"Xingyan is right, since this case has been sued. Then we have to take it, this is not just Han Yuxiu's business. It is also a matter of whether the law can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Wu Tingfang of Dali Temple said, he has just been appointed as the supreme justice, and the revival will now be bent on abolishing holes, only making him dissatisfied in his heart, he just wants to see if this revival will really speak better than sing.

At this time, Yang Rui was meeting with Harfort, who had come all the way from England. Mackinder, he listened very carefully, because Mackinder's political stance will make his words reserved, and some of the views he listed are purely academic, some are from Mackinder's unintentional mistakes and deliberate tendencies, and some are from the instructions of the British Minister Zhu Erdian, how to get the essence from it, it can only depend on Yang Rui himself.

"Your Excellency, in my mind, the whole world can be divided into 'pivotal regions', 'inner crescents' and 'outer crescents'. The 'hub' is located in the middle of the Eurasian continent, where the terrain is flat and the climate is either arid or cold, with steppes and deserts in the south, taiga and swamps in the north, mountains, plateaus and basins in the east and south, and the East European Plain in the west;

The 'Inner Crescent' is a ring around the 'Nexus', bounded to the east by East Asian Buddhism, to the south by South Asian Brahmanism, to the southwest by the Islamic realm of Southwest Asia and North Africa, and to the west by the Christian realm of continental Europe. the outer edge of the region and the coasts where the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet; The 'outer crescent' is the rest of the world, which includes islands outside Eurasia, such as Britain and Japan, Africa south of the Sahara Desert, and all of North and South America and Oceania.

The history of the whole world is influenced by the nomads who occupy the 'pivot area', whether it is the early Huns, Alvas, Bulgarians, or the late Magyars and Mongols, they all attacked the areas outside the 'pivot area' from the 'pivot area', and for Europe, they entered the hinterland of Europe in batches through the passes between the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea and the southern Russian steppe, either through the Eastern European plain north of the Carpathian Mountains, or through the Danube valley in the south of the Carpathian Mountains. The Mongols marched westward, establishing the Golden Horde in southern Russia, the Ilar Khanate in Southwest Asia, and the Yuan Dynasty in China. So it seems to me that the civilization of Europe is the result of opposition to the invasion of Asia, and the history of Europe should be subordinated to the history of Asia.

However, in the last 300 years, the European sea route through Guò broke through the European scope to the world, they used the fleet to establish sea supremacy, in the 'inner crescent region' and the 'outer crescent region' to establish large colonies, on land, the Russians used the Cossacks to cross the Ural Mountains, through Guò Siberia, to the Pacific coast, and then into Central Asia, the sea and road cooperation offset the original 'hub' nomadic strategic advantage.

But today's situation has taken a new turn, the invention of the steam engine, the construction of railways, once again changed the role of the land power, he replaced the mobility of horses and camels in the past, restored the pressure on the surrounding areas, and appeared as a 'pivot area' on the world politics. The expansion of the countries in the 'pivot area' to the periphery of Eurasia has turned the balance of power in his favor. This will allow him to use the huge continental resources to build a fleet, and such a country will become a world empire......"

Mackinder's long account took a long time, and he didn't say what China should do. Yang Rui didn't ask what happened to China, he just emphasized the importance of the 'hub area', although the examples he gave were all from Europe, but from the perspective of Chinese history, the threat of nomads has been throughout the history of Asia, and China's two deaths were because of the invasion of nomads. Excluding history, according to Yang Rui's understanding, there are countless resources in the 'hub area' that Mackinder said. Minerals from Afghanistan and oil and gas in the Caspian Sea are all capital for world hegemony, but what should China do?

"Mr. Mackinder. What are you talking about as a world empire? Yang Rui asked carefully. The word world empire Mackinder said it many times.

"Your Excellency, I'm talking about Russia!" Mackinder said neatly, "Of course, it's not exactly Russia, if you want to really become a world empire, you should add Germany." Germany becomes a purely sea power, and Russia becomes a pure land power, then they will become a world empire. So I say, who controls zhì in Eastern Europe. Whoever controls the 'pivot zone' rules the 'pivot zone' rules the world island, and whoever controls the world island. Whoever rules the world. ”

The famous words spread by later generations finally found a source at this time, Yang Rui's heart moved slightly, but he asked, "Mr. Mackinder, but some people say that the United States is the real land and sea power, and its unique position can make his influence radiate to Europe and Asia, and what happened in Eurasia will not affect him, but he may benefit from it." This is like the Warring States period in Chinese history, the last victory was the outermost Qin state, and the 'pivot region' of Korea and Wei lost the power to compete for hegemony very early, what do you think of this? ”

"Sengoku?" Mackinder obviously didn't know the history of the Warring States, and when the general on one side told him about it, he still didn't understand, "Your Excellency, please forgive me for not knowing much about the history of your country, but for the United States, I don't think it will become a world empire, although North and South America are rich in resources, and the United States now has a prosperous industry, but he is still on the edge of the world stage, and the sphere of influence he can establish can only be the entire Americas, and if he wants to rule the world, it is simply impossible." ”

Yang Rui is talking about the history of the future, while Mackinder is aimed at the current situation, Yang Rui is not surprised by his answer, in today's colonial system, the United States has to compete fiercely with Europe even in South American countries, and in East Asia, there is only the Philippines that was snatched from Spain, so to speak, as long as the colonial system survives for a day, he is only a regional power and cannot be a world hegemon.

Thinking of the United States, thinking of China, and comparing the history of the past hundred years, when Yang Rui sent Mackinder to rest, he called all the people in the staff who were eavesdropping next door to the study, and after he smiled at Leo, he pointed to the map and asked, "He said that the German-Russian alliance will be a world empire, is this true?" ”

Leo, chief of the general staff of the Renaissance Army, had just arrived from Mukden this month, and he had single-handedly planned the war against Japan. Knowing the nature of the Japanese army, he played a great role in the battle, frequently causing the Japanese army, which advocated flank attacks, to fall into the trap of the revival army, and finally had to take a frontal attack and fell into street battles where the power of artillery was difficult to use. Although the street fighting was also tragic, it was at least not one-sided and tragic, and the fall of a soldier required at least one and a half Japanese soldiers to reach their lives, so the battle only lasted for several months.

"Young, everything he says is to emphasize the importance of the 'pivot area', as an Englishman, he is not only worried about the rise of Germany, but also about the German-Russian alliance, you should not believe a word of him." Leo said word by word, although he didn't see Mackinder's expression, but from what he meant, he found that this Englishman was unreliable.

"No, there's some truth to what he said." "In fact, China's environment is very similar to Germany's, with a large land area and a long coastline, but there is an island chain that locks China in, just as Germany's access to the sea is restricted by the North Sea," Yang said. The only thing we can be thankful for is that there is no power like France in the southwest of China, there is only India across the Tibetan plateau, and although there is Russia in the north, Russia's center of gravity is far away in Europe, and even if its power reaches the Pacific Ocean, its strength is still extremely weak, and it is because of this that Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War and Japan won. But despite this advantage, once Mongolia is lost, or Tibet is lost, then these blessings will not exist, and China's hinterland will be mortally threatened. ”

"That's why you have to hold on to Mongolia?" Leo looked at the map in the study, and when the rebellion was made, the troops going to Mongolia were not only strengthened, but also set off in advance.

"That's what it means. Mongolia is lost, and Northwest and North China are uneasy. "I have never seen a threat at sea as a real threat, even if the capital is so close to Tianjin." I'm worried that it's the two lakes and the Sichuan area, which is China's last line of defense, and whoever can threaten where is the real threat to China. ”

"Two lakes, Sichuan?" Leo, a person who doesn't understand Chinese history, is puzzled, but Bei Shoutong and these staff officers understand.

From the perspective of Chinese history, the Yangtze River is the core part of China, many dynasties in history are relying on the Yangtze River region to survive, and the Yangtze River has several parts of the most critical, one is the two Huai region, the so-called guarding the river is not as good as guarding the Huai, the second is the two lakes, if you want to occupy the south of the Yangtze River, then you must first occupy the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the enemy from the north, Xiangyang is the key key, the center of gravity of the world; For the enemy from the south, that is, Hengyang and northern Jiangxi, the three Sichuan itself, southern Sichuan and Hanzhong are important places in the north and south.

Seeing that he had taken the topic away, Yang Rui had no choice but to interrupt the thoughts of the staff officers and said, "Don't think about Lianghu and Sichuan first, everyone heard Mr. Mackinder's words just now, although he is mainly thinking about the weakening British Empire, some of his statements are still very reasonable, I want to hear your opinions." ”

Yang Rui is not good at asking Mackinder questions Now ask the staff officers, and in silence, Feng Gengguang, a former staff officer of the Qing Army Advisory Office who had just surrendered, said, "Your Excellency, my subordinates only feel that the British are still afraid of the Russians. In order to prevent the Russians from expanding their influence in Europe, they supported ......" he said here and glanced at Leo, and said with some uneasiness, "They have supported Germany since the fifties of the last century, not only allowing Germany to copy British industrial technology, but also conniving at the reunification of Germany, it can be said that Germany has established and developed without the shadow of Britain; In East Asia, Britain originally wanted to support China against Russia, and the reason why Zuo Gong was able to defeat the Russians in the Western Regions also had a great relationship with the British, but in the First Sino-Japanese War, the former Qing Dynasty completely disappointed Britain, and since then Britain has completely lost heart to the former Qing Dynasty and has instead supported Japan, as evidenced by the Russo-Japanese War.

But I don't want to, but I don't want to ......" Feng Gengguang glanced at Leo again, "But I don't want Germany to be so strong now, not only to get rid of British control, but also to challenge Britain." His subordinates thought that what Germany is today will be Japan's tomorrow. If China wants to occupy a place in the world, it is not enough to rely on the army alone, it is also necessary to build a navy, and even make friends with Japan, so that we can become a truly dual-power country on land and sea. ”

After Feng Gengguang finished speaking, there was silence in the room, hatred of the sun is the concept that Yang Rui has always instilled, Feng Gengguang dared to say Lian Japan, it was because he did not come out of the revival army system, but graduated from Baoding Army University. As soon as he said this, everyone was speechless, but Leo said, "Yang, what he said is very correct!" If Germany, Russia, China, plus Japan, these four countries are aligned, then the whole world will be theirs. But the damned emperor broke up the alliance of the three emperors of Prime Minister Bismarck, and if it were not for this, plus the emperor of China and the emperor of Japan, the alliance of the five emperors, the colonies of the world would no longer be British. ”

As soon as the Five Emperors Alliance of Leo came out, everyone couldn't help laughing. With his feelings for the nation, Leo hopes that China will be pro-German, but he knows that this is impossible, not to mention that the Three Emperors Alliance no longer exists, and with his friendship with Yang Rui, he does not want to be mixed with national interests, which will only make the relationship between the two tense and contradictory.

"What do you think?" Yang Rui asked the other staff officers after laughing. (To be continued......)