20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 726 The hidden message
That night, everyone in the Jiang family gathered together and had dinner.

Except for Zhao Zhengbei and Wen Tingge, everyone who should have come came.

On the night of the winter solstice, the family made donkey meat dumplings. The dumplings had thin skin and large fillings, and were oily and delicious. They were paired with a few side dishes and a pot of old wine. It should have been a very elaborate dinner, but everyone ate it a little absent-mindedly.

The ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven organized by the remnants of the Qing court had ended long ago, and Jiang Lianheng and others did not see any familiar figures at the scene.

Although it was only a small-scale sacrificial activity, various signs showed that the Zongli Socialist Party had gradually shown signs of revival.

Jiang Lianheng did not dare to be careless. The reason why he personally led Zhao Guoyan, Xue Yingqing and Chuanghu to observe was because they were the only four of them who had close contact with the Zongshe Party members in Lüda.

Eight years have passed since the assassination of Master Rong Wu.

Jiang Lianheng still hasn't forgotten, and he will never forget.

After all, the only gunshot wound on his body so far was caused by Mr. Rong Wuye's men.

Today, the remnants of the Qing court are beginning to stir in the provincial capital again, so the Jiang family naturally has to be careful and wait and see what happens.

"Actually, I don't think we need to worry too much."

Halfway through dinner, Xue Yingqing suddenly said, "Don't forget, when we went to meet the prince in Luda, you were not Jiang Lianheng, you were Cai Yunsheng!"

Jiang Lianheng nodded and sighed, "That's true, but who can be sure that no one remembers me? It's easy to dodge an open spear, but it's hard to guard against an arrow from the dark!"

Xue Yingqing continued to comfort him, "Not really. It's been so many years. If they wanted to come, they would have come a long time ago. Why would they wait until today? Even if they don't dare to do it openly, it shouldn't be difficult to send three or two people to Fengtian to launch a sneak attack, right? There has been no movement in all these years!"

"Who knows?" Jiang Lianheng took a sip of wine. "By the way, is there any news from Gu Chuan?"

"I sent a telegram yesterday. The prince died two years ago. How could anyone still remember you? Not many people from the clan society in Dalian came. They still have to support the protest over there. They are too busy to handle it!"

"Alas, what happened? Feng Jishan wanted to have fun in the capital, so he drove the emperor out of the palace. He was only concerned about the consequences, and ended up affecting our Fengtian City!"

Jiang Lianheng shook his head secretly and couldn't help cursing a few times under his breath.

There's no way, it's been too long and many memories are a bit fuzzy.

We still need to sort out our thoughts again about who were the people involved in the incident back then.

Needless to say, Master Rong Wu was assassinated. It was Jiang Lianheng who pulled the trigger himself.

Miyata Ryuji had already been shot dead by Han Xinyuan at the port of Darini. Gu Chuan and Waizui Yang were both witnesses. This case caused quite a stir back then and it could not be false.

The leader of the Zongli Socialist Party, Prince Su, also died of illness two years ago.

As for the rest of the people, they are about the situation in Fengtian.

Jiang Lianheng turned his head to look at Xifeng and asked softly, "Did Mr. Jiang get the files from that year?"

"They were transferred out a long time ago," Li Zhengxi nodded and said, "Nan Min and his gang were all sentenced to death by the government for treason. Not a single one was left alive."

"Then there is no one else?"

"There is another translator, his last name is Tan——"

At this point, Li Zhengxi suddenly paused, turned his head and glanced at his nephew and niece. Seeing the two children present, he said carefully: "Translator Tan went back to his hometown. I was the one who sent him away that day!"

Jiang Lianheng put down his bowl and chopsticks, lit a cigarette, pondered and said no more.

In fact, these things had already been carefully checked back then. The old case is now brought up again just to confirm again that there were no omissions.

Of course, it was impossible to kill all the people in Luda, but when Jiang Lianheng was in contact with the Zongshe Party, he used the identity of Cai Yunsheng. He had only met Su Tai, Rong Wuye and others briefly. He also used a pseudonym when he was at the Yamato Hotel, so there should not be any problem.

Having said that, I still feel a little hesitant.

Seeing this, Zhao Guoyan said, "Boss, the old and young people in the provincial capital are now operating under the eyes of the government. I guess Marshal Zhang is always on guard and has no intention of helping them sincerely. I also think nothing will go wrong."

Everyone agrees with this.

After all, if the abdicated emperor returned to the east and really led a group of Qing nobles to settle in Fengtian, it would only do harm to Lao Zhang and would not benefit him at all. No matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense.

What's more, although Marshal Zhang tacitly allowed the old guard to operate in Fengtian, not everyone could come. If they dared to seize power, they would surely die miserably.

In other words, the old and young people in the provincial capital cannot pose a substantial threat to Feng Zhang at the moment.

Wang Zhengnan immediately agreed, "Brother, what Lao Zhao said is correct. These old and young people today are different from the Zongshe Party back then. They don't have any real power, and they don't have the financial resources to raise a decent army. The Republic of China has been around for more than a decade, and their tactics have long been unpopular. I don't think they can achieve anything."

"Who said they don't have real power?" Hu Xiaoyan suddenly retorted, "Haven't you read the newspaper recently?"

"Newspaper?" Everyone frowned slightly. "What's the latest news?"

Hu Xiaoyan shook her head and said, "It's not news. It's that Yuan Jieshan published an article in the Shengjing Times two days ago, declaring her support for the Qing royal family and demanding that the capital restore the preferential treatment regulations as soon as possible!" Everyone was a little surprised when they heard this.

Who is Fennie Yuen?

This person can be regarded as one of Marshal Zhang's core aides, and his status is perhaps second only to Yang Zhuge and Wang Tiekan. He is a civil servant with real power.

It was indeed somewhat unexpected that he personally wrote an article openly supporting the Qing royal family.

You know, Marshal Zhang's attitude towards the palace coup in the capital is still ambiguous, but the senior officials under his command actually publicly expressed their views and stated their positions. What does this mean?
Hu Xiaoyan said worriedly: "Don't forget, there are many bannermen generals and officials in the government offices in our provincial capital. They have no shortage of real power."

"But... haven't they all surrendered to Marshal Zhang?" Li Zhengxi muttered, "They won't rebel just because of this, right?"

Everyone joked, "Those who didn't join Marshal Zhang would have been killed long ago. Even if they wanted to change their minds, they don't have the strength to do so now!"

"That's because they have Marshal Zhang to keep them in check. Otherwise, they wouldn't know which side they would stand on." Hu Xiaoyan said, "In short, don't think that just because the court has fallen, those old and young people will have no real power. They are just waiting for an opportunity. To put it another way, if you had the chance to become a royal relative, be given an official title and a hereditary title, would you not be tempted?"

If you say you are not excited, it’s because you haven’t reached that position yet.

If you really reach that position, how many people in the world can dare to say that they can resist the temptation?

Wang Zhengnan smiled and explained, "Sister-in-law, what I mean is that they may not be that loyal to the emperor. In fact, they are just thinking about the merits of "following the emperor". To put it bluntly, they are all pursuing their own interests. How many of them really care about the Qing Dynasty?"

"Brother, that's not necessarily true!" Li Zhengxi disagreed. "Just because you don't love the court doesn't mean they don't love it. There are thousands of loyalists across the country, if not tens of thousands. Do you dare to say there are no loyal people here? Don't just slap everyone to death with one blow!"

"Oh, you're praising them."

"I'm not praising them, I just have different standpoints. If they are really men, I will still admire them."

“Well, it’s all business!”

"There are exceptions to everything, so don't be too sure."

Unexpectedly, when the two brothers were arguing, a statement suddenly came from the table -

"What business is this? They are trying to restore the old order!"

Hearing this, everyone was stunned and immediately stopped talking, turning to look towards Jiang Ya.

Jiang Ya was eating dumplings. Like all girls who entered middle school, she had two braids on her shoulders and wore a sky-blue winter school uniform. Although she still looked a little childish, she had gradually become a grown-up girl in her every move.

She seemed to just mention it casually, and when she noticed that the restaurant suddenly became quiet, she raised her head and asked in a daze, "Why are you guys not talking?"

"What did you just say?" everyone asked.

"Those old men and youngsters!" Jiang Ya said nonchalantly, "They are trying to restore the old order. What's wrong with that? Is that wrong?"

Everyone laughed and said that this girl was quite serious about things.

Jiang Lianheng could not laugh, and frowned as he asked, "Who taught you this?"

Jiang Ya shook her head: "No one taught me. I heard it at school. They all said so."

"Who are they? Teachers?"

"No, it's the senior students. They always talk about these things in the playground after class and ask us all to go over and listen!"

Hu Xiaoyan felt a little uneasy, and then asked: "What did they say? Learn it for me."

"That's a lot to say, what do you want to hear?"

"Just say whatever you remember."

Jiang Ya tilted her head, recalled carefully for a moment, then cleared her throat, suddenly stood up from her chair, put her hands on her hips, as if preparing to give everyone a long speech.

"The Qing dynasty misled the country for three hundred years. If China wants to become prosperous and strong, it must not repeat the same mistakes! We don't want an emperor, we want Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science! Any feudal remnants who attempt to restore the old order will be swept into the dustbin of history!

“We shoulder the mission of the times!
"Down with the traitors and traitors, down with the comprador capitalists, down with the invaders, down with the warlords and the military meddling in politics, overthrow the monarchy, and defend the Republic of China!"

The restaurant was silent and everyone seemed indifferent, like cold stones, not affected by any emotion.

"Hey, why don't you guys react at all?" Jiang Ya curled her lips, slowly sat down and said, "How boring, everyone in school shouts like this!"

Jiang Lianheng and Hu Xiaoyan looked at each other, then looked at Jiang Ya, and said in unison: "Girl, next time something like this happens in school, stay away from those people."

----

There will be a chapter later.

(End of this chapter)