When Yang Rui and his entourage arrived at the Governor's Mansion of Zhili, the chefs of the Governor's Mansion had already prepared a banquet, in addition to the officials of the various ministries of Zhili, Zhao Bingjun also invited many celebrities from Tianjin and some former Qing relics to the banquet with the permission of Yang Rui. However, Yang Rui was unwilling and not good at dealing with these old men, and after receiving a few toasts and a toast to the audience, he only concentrated on eating. The rest is just because Xu Huafeng is more enthusiastic, and Tianjin is originally a city with more industry, and celebrities frequently toast him, and everyone led by Zhou Xuexi wants to pry some business information out of his mouth.

The European foreigners started fighting, and the factories built by the Ministry of Industry before were all made into the capital every day, and the saliva of the business gentry was drooling, but the capital in their hands was limited, and the manpower and information were even more insufficient, and they could not be caught, and they were in a hurry to die, and now it is rare for the prime minister and the Ministry of Industry to go to Tianjin in person, and they vow to ask for something.

Xu Huafeng only said a few polite words to them at first, and finally he couldn't get out of being entangled, so he had to say: "Everyone, it has been two years since the European war, and the countries have shown fatigue. The Ministry of Industry is that if the factory cannot be completed and put into operation by the end of this year, then it is better not to build it, unless you can be sure that you can return to the cost within two years......"

As soon as Xu Hua's feudal yì was exported, the merchants and gentry exchanged heads and ears, and then they stared at Yang Rui - although this is a construction, it is equivalent to telling everyone the timetable of the Ministry of Industry and even the government for the war in Europe, and at the end of this year, two more years will be added, that is, three years. If there are any more surprises, the war in Europe will be four years at most. I believe that the lucrative business can be done for three or four years. Everyone's blood is hot, but this is just Xu Huafeng's construction. The prime minister didn't say a word, just stared at the food in front of him with a bowl, and his expression was unmoved, as if he hadn't heard everyone's questions.

If everyone's gaze could be realized, Yang Rui's chopsticks would have already become powder. Zhou Xuexi, who couldn't help it, glanced at Zhao Bingjun, and Zhao Bingjun, who couldn't shirk it, whispered to Yang Rui, "Your Excellency, what advice do you have for running an industry at this time?" The elders of Jinmen are like taking advantage of this east wind to set up industries to strengthen and enrich the people......"

Yang Rui, who hadn't eaten a big meal for a long time, couldn't bear to worry about the chopsticks for a minute after he spoke. A little impatiently said: "Time is the most critical, do everything quickly." After he said that, he wanted to move his chopsticks again, but found that everyone was still staring at him, as if he had to say a way, so he said, "If you really want to make money, then build a ship." Building a good one is a one, and there is no risk. Now there are more than a dozen shipyards in the Ministry of Industry, and they are building ships every day. Why don't you make it? ”

"This ......" Zhao Bingjun doesn't know how to talk about industry, so he doesn't know how to ask next. Fortunately, Zhou Xuexi, who was standing next to him, bowed and said, "Your Excellency, the price of steel is extremely high now. There are also insufficient shipyards and shipbuilders...... "Zhou Xuexi can't say that the docks and shipbuilders have been occupied by the Ministry of Industry, and private capital not only has no place to build ships, but also has no manpower.

"Then why don't you look at what North Korea is doing?" Yang Rui asked rhetorically.

Yang Rui mentioned North Korea. This next week, Xuexi doesn't know what's going on, but fortunately, there are people among the gentry who are doing business in North Korea. At that moment, one of them stood up and bowed, "Dare to ask the Prime Minister, are you talking about the construction of wooden boats by North Korea?" ”

"Hmm. Sawmills have been built in eastern Liaodong. The purpose is to build a standard 400-ton wooden ship. This kind of ship power does not use sails, uses diesel engines, and is faster than ordinary merchant ships. If you have spare money, you can find a carpenter to study at the wooden shipyard in Andong Korea for half a year, and you can also set up a ship and build a ship in Tianjin when you come back. Hundreds of tons of docks, just find an excavator to dig a dig, there send someone to learn shipbuilding, here at the same time in the invitation to build a dock, after learning less than half a year can be shipped, as fast as three or four months can be completed. Three to four ships a year, six to eight ships in two years, which is also a good volume of two or three thousand tons. Yang Rui said.

Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister was not talking about any industry, but about wooden boats, everyone looked at each other, at a loss, and Zhou Xuexi, the representative of everyone, said: "Your Excellency, the government has built so many ships, if we also build them, I am afraid it will be ......."

"It's just a matter of making it your own." After Yang Rui finished speaking, he ate with peace of mind and did not explain again.

Yang Ruijian built a ship, and Xu Huafeng next to him smiled. Encouraging the people to build wooden ships has long been implemented by the Ministry of Labor, but people outside the circle always think that steel ships are the right way, wooden ships are not decent and can not compete with steel ships, and a boat is not said to use more than ten years, as soon as the European war is over, these wooden ships can only be chopped as firewood under the squeeze of the steamer, so everyone has been unwilling to invest, only hoping to order steel ships. However, the docks of more than 1,000 tons in the country have been occupied by government orders, and only some small shipyards that can build small boats of several hundred tons will accept orders from the outside world, but these small shipyards are too few, and the orders have long been crowded, so it seems that it is still Bawang.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what the prime minister said is very to the point, if you want to strengthen the country and enrich the people, shipbuilding is the most suitable industry. With the cost of wooden ships, even if the freight rate is cut by half, the profit will be very large. But, whether it works or not, it's all up to the individual. Xu Huafeng added with a smile that he was not good at saying that the shipbuilding matter was too urgent, so as to create a momentum for China's national shipbuilding, and hoped that these masters could really get involved in the manufacture of wooden ships, so that the total number of merchant ships would increase by hundreds of thousands of tons.

Pry back and pry to get such a building, Zhou Xuexi and the others are not as hot as just now, what they think is actually a business similar to tungsten sand, think about the tungsten sand a ton is worth 20,000 taels, they also want to be able to do something, so that they can sit on the ground and make a fortune, they don't want tungsten sand to have no tungsten sand, only wooden boats.

The banquet was a little cold, and when Zhao Bingjun was about to invite the prepared troupe, an official from outside rushed in, saying that the consul generals of various countries in Tianjin had heard that the prime minister was in Tianjin, and was now asking to see him outside the door.

invited the celebrities of Jinmen, the foreigners must be alarmed, Yang Rui thought that the foreigners would come back when he was going to drink tea after dinner, and he didn't want these people to come now. Today's press conference only pointed out that the matter was supported by Russia, but did not say how China would retaliate against Russia. The European war has reached a critical moment, and the Paris meat grinder has already crushed hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides. Even if China does not attack Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway, it only closes the Trans-Siberian Railway. That would be enough for Russia - the Russian army, which was short of arms, was vulnerable to a blow, and if the Allies took advantage of this to settle the Eastern Front. Then its victory is just around the corner. Therefore, China is now one of the most important weights on the balance of victory and defeat of the Entente powers.

The consuls in Tianjin came in two groups, one was the British Consul General Lu Fuli, and the American Consul General Peter Frank Frank Brown of the United States. Hertz. Tiedman, Henri A.i., Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of France in Tianjin. Bolois, Consul General of Italy in Zimbabwe, Vincenzo. Philetti, Consul General of Japan in Tianjin, Tsuneo Matsudaira; The other group was the German Consul General in Tianjin, Fritz. Winska and the Austro-Hungarian Consul General in Tianjin, Hugo. Schumpeter.

At this time, the celebrities and other irrelevant personnel of Tianjin had already left, and the two groups of people bowed to Yang Rui as soon as they came in, and then took their seats at the table under the greeting of the subordinates, Zhao Bingjun had just toasted in the name of the governor, and the British consul Lu Fuli led by the Entente provoked the topic, and he bowed and said: "Respected Prime Minister." We are very sorry to hear of the rebellion in Yunnan, and all the members of the Entente condemn such a flagrant rebellion and unanimously believe that such an act that is not in accordance with public international law and is contrary to civilization is destined to be recognized by civilized countries.

Because this matter is related to Russia, we are very worried that the change in your country's policy towards Russia will affect the Russian soldiers who are fighting bravely, and I hope that your government will exercise restraint in this regard and settle this dispute through negotiations......"

The Germans remembered what the British said, and they followed to monitor the Consuls of the Entente and the Chinese negotiations. Therefore, the British remarks were very tactful, and there were no overly irritating words.

Lu Fuli finished his speech. The French also assured, "Your Excellency, from now on, our country will prohibit the transportation of arms and military supplies from Annam into Yunnan to prevent the situation from escalating." ”

"Your country has brought all the arms into Kunming within three or four days. Of course, we can stop bringing in arms. The German Consul General Winska sneered on the side, and his words only made the French blush.

A group of people who came to force themselves to express their position, Yang Rui was unhappy in his heart. "My Government strongly condemns this outrageous act of instigation and reserves the right to retaliate and demand compensation from those responsible for the incident," he said, looking at several consuls. Moreover, my country considers such provocation to be the great enemy of the civilized world. No country should condemn such an act, not support it. Mr. Lu Fuli, no one wants to shout and kill during the Chinese New Year. After the end of the New Year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will negotiate with other countries. ”

I don't want to shout and kill during the Chinese New Year, which means that between now and before the opening of the New Year next year, the Chinese side will not do anything. The consuls of Britain, France and Italy breathed a sigh of relief, which in their view was that China would choose to negotiate a settlement of the matter. The Entente breathed a sigh of relief, but the Germans were not happy, and they thought that China would therefore declare war on France, and then attack France and Russia in the Far East, so the German consul Winska said: "Your Excellency, the joint efforts of France and Russia to provoke the rebellion in Yunnan are the worst insult to a civilized country, and if your country fails to respond, its international prestige will plummet." ”

"Of course, our country will respond! From tomorrow, all Russians on the territory of our country will be expelled in order to prevent them from provoking rebellion elsewhere again. Yang Rui finally said what he had always wanted to say, and it was in order to get this excuse that the Intelligence Bureau of the Security Bureau joined forces to force Cai Ye and others to rebel. It's just that it seems that everyone here, except for Xu Huafeng, thinks this is a pediatric move. I don't want Yang Rui to release smoke bombs again, "Although my country has not declared war on France, France should also pay the price for conniving at arms from Annantong." From tomorrow, all French citizens in our territory will be monitored to prevent them from passing messages and arms for revolutionaries. ”

"I strongly protest," said the Frenchman......, who gave the Germans an angry look, and then acted out his anger as is customary in diplomacy - and flicked away in feigned anger.

The French were a little happier, and the German and Austrian consuls were a little happier, but they still felt that the punishment was too light, and just as they were about to say something more, the American consul Tidman said: "Dear Mr. Chancellor, may I ask if all the Russians expelled in China include the Russians in the Far East?" ”

The American who came to his senses finally got to the point, and Yang Rui said quietly: "No matter where the Russians are, no matter how many of them there are, as long as our country can expel them, then they must be expelled, I don't want another rebellion!" ”

What Yang Rui said was reasonable. The implication could not be more obvious, that is, if China does not use force against Russia. That would allow China to expel the Russians from its territory, and the key to this was the Russian Far East. There are more than half a million Russian immigrants there, to whom China has been immigrating before, and if these Russians, who have not easily emigrated from Europe, are expelled, the Russian Far East will always belong to China.

At the suggestion of the Americans, British Consul General Lu Fuli instantly thought about the logic of the matter in his heart, but for the British Empire, it can no longer take care of the Russian Far East, and the most important thing now is that China cannot throw itself into the Allies. The rest of the Chinese can do whatever they want, as long as Britain's interests are not damaged.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, Britain fully agrees with your country's idea of peace, there have been too many wars in this world, and keeping peace in the Far East is the happiest thing for the whole world." Lu Fuli smiled and bowed, and then left with the Americans, Italians, and Japanese. As soon as they left, the German and Austrian consuls followed, apparently to report to Beijing immediately.

A good banquet was stirred up by foreigners and suddenly couldn't eat it, in Zhao Bingjun's study. Yang Rui and Xu Huafeng were also discussing the details of the expulsion of Russia at the same time, Xu Huafeng said: "Britain and France may not have any objections to this, but I see that the reaction of the American consul just now ......, the United States may not be able to say." ”

"What if the United States opposes it?" Yang Rui held the teacup. "Can Wilson send a navy to Vladivostok?" Cut off Russia's hand deep into the Pacific, and then the top of our heads will be safe. There will no longer be any Russian Pacific Fleet, and our navy will henceforth be on guard only to the east and south. ”

"The question is what will the Russians do?" Xu Hua sealed. "Is it possible for them to occupy the entire Tianshan Mountains?"

"We haven't fully delivered the arms they ordered; Moreover, the reason why Russia did not dare to support Sun Wen to start an incident in the Western Regions. I don't dare to say that Madahan is Russian, for fear of provoking us and incurring our retaliation. As far as Russia is concerned, the Far East is already in our hands, and whether there are Russians there or not, they will eventually be able to recover it by force. From this point of view, Russia condemns at best, rather than uses force. Yang Rui said.

Xu Huafeng didn't know that the rebellion in Yunnan was deliberately caused by Yang Rui, he only thought that this was Yang Rui's countermeasure, he nodded, and agreed with Yang Rui's analysis. Thousands of miles away, in the Eight Provincial Halls, Kunming, the rebels reacted inexplicably to Beijing, and just as they were speculating and discussing the start of the army, Liang Qichao, who was almost coerced, sat beside Sun Wen without saying a word, ignoring everyone's doubts and excitement, and he seemed to be like air in the Yunnan General Headquarters of the Chinese Revolutionary Army.

Liang Qichao was like this, and Cai Ye did not speak on the discussion of everyone, he only listened to Hu Hanmin and others argue with Tang Jiyao and others: Hu Hanmin adhered to Sun Wen's intention and wanted to launch the Northern Expedition as soon as possible, otherwise it would be too late when the revival army was ready; But Tang Jiyao and others mean that the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and it is absolutely impossible to enter Sichuan and Guangxi now, and the team may be chaotic while walking, and the top priority is to recruit troops first and fill the vacancies of these armies.

The two argued, Sun Wen was upset when he listened, he was ecstatic because of Yunnan's uprising, and he personally added 'the land is not divided into north and south, and the province is not a or b', which is a famous sentence that will be passed on to future generations, calling on all the people to ask Yang to save the country. Hope is beautiful, but reality is hard to accept. Yunnan Li Gengen and Luo Peijin are okay, but Tang Jiyao and these people only want to get money, and they don't want to do anything else;

The Liu Yunfeng Division of the First Echelon Regiment of the First Army in Southern Yunnan was supposed to move from Zhaotong to the Sichuan as the advance team of the French Protector Army as planned, but for some reason the division was delayed; Li Liejun's headquarters of the Second Army should also enter and occupy Baise in Guangxi from Wenshan, and then occupy the whole of Guangxi, so as to open up the passage to Guangdong, but the headquarters of the Second Army was not very willing to go to Guangxi to camp during the Chinese New Year, because after the oath-taking meeting on the first day, Yunnan did nothing except issue a telegram and a slogan for the Northern Expedition against Yang, and ordered every family to hang the blue sky and white sun flag.

When Ju, who stayed behind in Annan, submitted a note to Britain, France, the United States, and Japan as a representative of the revolutionary party army, the British and Japanese consuls refused to accept the note, which made Sun Wen feel embarrassed.

Under such internal and external troubles, Sun Wen's temper is getting worse and worse, and now listening to Tang Jiyao's shirk, he can't help but say: "Since you advocate the revolution, then you must throw your heads and spill your blood, only seek the success of the revolution, not for your own gains and losses." At present, the document of the Northern Expedition has been issued, and the guns and food have been paid, when will the Northern Expedition not be completed? ”

"Leader Sun, the revolutionary army is also a human being, and there are wives and children, this time the Northern Expedition is nine deaths, why not wait for the soldiers to finish the New Year before leaving? In this way, it is good to calm the morale of the army. Tang Jiyao has long had two ambitions, although he has heavy troops, but he only wants to be at the bottom in the end, and he doesn't want to send troops at all, so he needs to have a commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army.

"The military situation on the front line is like fire, and if you don't send troops as soon as possible, you will be dead and dead!" Hu Hanmin saw that he didn't even obey Sun Wen, and immediately accused him with a fierce voice, if he hadn't seen him as a local snake, he would have been dragged out and killed.

"The Fourth Army is still not satisfied, and it is now the New Year, and it is difficult for the officials to obey their orders." Tang Jiyao continued to be stiff-mouthed, but when he spoke, he glanced at Cai Yi.

"You're disobedient!" After talking for a long time, Tang Jiyao was indifferent, and Hu Hanmin was finally furious.

"I'm just reporting the truth, if I want to disobey the order, I won't fight against Yang with everyone who beheads chickens and burns yellow paper." Tang Jiyao saw that Cai Ye didn't speak, and his courage suddenly strengthened a little, and he still quibbled.

He said here that he didn't want a loud bang outside the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army, which immediately scared everyone. Jiang Zhiqing, who was standing behind Sun Wen, hurriedly dragged him and Hu Hanmin into the corner and guarded him closely; And Liang Qichao, Cai Yi, Luo Peijin, Li Gengen, Li Liejun, Fang Shengtao and others drilled under the table together.

More than ten minutes later, the sound of explosions outside gradually stopped, and He Pengxiang, who came in a hurry, turned pale, and he looked for Cai Ye and said: "Commander, the big thing is not good, our arms have all been bombed by the Air Force of the Fuxing Army!" ”

"Ahh Cai Ye had already guessed that it was the Air Force of the Renaissance Army, and he vaguely guessed that it was the arsenal exploding, but he didn't want it to be true. He sat on the ground and muttered, "Isn't that munition in the room, how did the Renaissance Army know?" ”

"Commander, I think there is a spies from the Fuxing Society who gave the plane directions, and that's why ......" He Pengxiang's face was full of sweat, Yunnan does not produce munitions, and the Northern Expedition was counting on those munitions, but they were bombed if they didn't want to.

"Did it all blow up?" Cai Ye finally regained some sanity, and asked again. However, he didn't wait for He Pengxiang to return, so he got up and went to the arsenal, if there were still some weapons that were not destroyed, he would jump into the fire and save some of them.

Cai Yi's adjutant said a few words to Cai Yi and then ran out in a hurry, Sun Wen, who was still dodging the plane, didn't understand what was going on, and after he left, he asked, "What's going on?" Was the arsenal bombed? ”

"It's like an arsenal." Fang Shengtao, who was close to Cai Ye just now, said.

"This ......" Thinking of those hard-won arms, Sun Wen was suddenly furious, "It's simply lawless!" Who guards the arsenal? After he said that, he looked at everyone again, and then said, "What are you still doing in a daze, why don't you go and see it quickly!" ”

The plane of the Fuxing Army had already run away at this time, and everyone left the Eight Provincial Halls, and walked quickly to the arsenal in the south of the city, but before they got there, they saw the sky-rushing fire and smoke over there, and when they got closer, they saw Cai Yi, Ma Dahan, and Chen Qimei looking at the burning house in a daze.

Hu Hanmin ran to the front and asked loudly, "Why don't you put out the fire?" As soon as he finished speaking, another violent explosion occurred inside the fire, and the roofs of several burning houses were suddenly blown into the sky. Obviously, no one can save this fire.

"What a beautiful job!" Major General Madahan spoke to himself in Russian. He was the first to hear about the plane's engine and immediately guess that the enemy's target was the arsenal, but even then, he couldn't save anything.

The Russians don't care what Chen Qimei next to them says, this time the Renaissance Army plane can accurately find the arsenal, which is very revealing. He looked at the burning and constantly detonating fire, then turned his head to look at the empty street behind him that was full of blue sky and white sun flags, and sneered at Wu Zhongxin beside him: "I can't see it, this little Kunming city is really lively." (To be continued......)