Years of the Republic of China 1913

The long night passed quickly, and Song Jiaoren dragged his tired body back to the Prime Minister's Office when it was almost dawn.The proposal for a war between China and Japan has been discussed and voted in Congress for more than 20 hours, and only an interim resolution was finally reached.

"How is it?" Liao Zhongkai, who had been waiting all night at the Prime Minister's Office, got up quickly when he saw Song Jiaoren's return, first helped him take off his coat, and then asked.

"The result is that there is no declaration of war."

Liao Zhongkai, who looked nervous, was relieved when he heard this, and a smile appeared on his face.

"That's good, that's good. I've been worrying about those hot-headed guys in Congress all day long. Fortunately, this is the result, otherwise..." Speaking of this, Liao Zhongkai shook his head.

Sitting down on the sofa, he took a sip of the hot tea brought by the staff of the Prime Minister's Office. Song Jiaoren said with some disdain: "It's one thing to talk about it, but another thing to really do it. Don't look at some People shout loudly, but they are not very courageous. If they really declare war on Japan, I am afraid that his own courage will be frightened."

"Hehe, that's what I said, but isn't this the result that you and I would like to see now?" Liao Zhongkai laughed from the side.

Song Jiaoren laughed out loud when he heard it. That’s right, the congressional resolution made him feel relieved. When the congress was in session, he was always worried that the congress would pass a resolution to immediately declare war. If this resolution came out, as the prime minister, Song Jiaoren had to implement it even if he didn't want to. After all, the country is now a constitutional country. If he, the prime minister, forcibly vetoed the resolution passed by the Congress, it would be tantamount to letting him, a pioneer of constitutionalism, slap himself in the face.

Fortunately, none of this happened.In this situation, it is still too early to formally declare war. Regardless of the international situation or the current situation, it is the best choice not to declare war on Japan for the time being, and to use diplomatic and military means to solve the problem first.

"Where's Fang Zhangming? Why isn't he here?" After saying a few words, Song Jiaoren discovered that Fang Zida was not in the Prime Minister's Office. He remembered that he had told Fang Zida to wait in the Prime Minister's Office to discuss matters before going to the Congress.Why did he leave without waiting for him to come back?

Hearing Song Jiaoren's question, Liao Zhongkai remembered this, and quickly told him about Fang Zida's temporary departure from Beijing for Shandong.And said the situation of the military meeting.

"What else?" Song Jiaoren was stunned. He didn't expect Defense Minister Duan Qirui to play such a trick when he was away. No wonder Fang Zida was so anxious that he went to Shandong without waiting for him.

Yuan Shikai's days are numbered.Not only Duan Qirui is clear, but Song Jiaoren, as the prime minister of the state, is even more aware that once Yuan Shikai goes west, the delicate balance in the central government will inevitably be broken. Competition may even lead to major changes in the superstructure.At such a time, Song Jiaoren, the chairman of KMT and the prime minister of the state, needs to have a force in his hands that can suppress the Beiyang factions, and the most reliable force is Fang Zida.

Fang Zida possessed military power no less than that of the leaders of the various factions in Beiyang, and he also held the central government's financial power and military industry in his hands. At the same time, his special identity determined his influence in the Beiyang faction.This is very rare for kmt, which lacks military strength. It is precisely because of this that Song Jiaoren supported Fang Zida in this way, and this is his intention.

Duan Qirui took advantage of the Sino-Japanese war to play this move, which made Song Jiaoren very annoyed, once Fang Zida's troops were wasted on the battlefield.This original balance will be broken even with the KMT side's advantage, and this kind of result is absolutely unwilling to see by Song Jiaoren.

"This Duan Qirui...is really a jerk!"

"Dunchu, are you giving an order to the General Staff in the name of the Prime Minister?" Liao Zhongkai suggested hesitantly.

"Order? Order another army to go there? Not let Zhang Ming's troops dispatch? How is this possible?" Song Jiaoren didn't even want to refuse, shaking his head and said: "The next order is simple, but what will happen to everyone in the world after this order is given? How do you look at our KMT? How do you look at our constitutional government? The national army is the army of the country, not a private army. If this problem is to be opened, it will inevitably cause national turmoil, especially at this time."

"But... what if the three new armies of Zhang Ming..." Liao Zhongkai was worried.

"This is the case, we can only depend on Zhang Ming, not to mention Wu Ziyu is here in Shandong, Ziyu is a steady person, there shouldn't be any major incidents..."

"Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what happens!"

"Even if it happens..." Song Jiaoren sighed and said, "That can only depend on God's will..."

On the second day, when the news of Japan's surprise attack on the Chinese bases in Fengtian and Qing*dao spread across the country from north to south, all the newspapers took this matter as a headline and made it a shock in the whole country.In the capital, students from various schools were extremely indignant. The parade organized by the teachers and students of the school united several universities and high schools in Beijing, holding the banners of "Fight Japanese Bandits", "Down with Japan", "Blood Debt and Blood Repayment". ", "Ri himself get out of China"... and other banners and slogans, petitioning the government in a mighty way.

At the same time, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. in the south also launched demonstrations for student petitions. By noon, people from all walks of life also took to the streets to express their support and appeal Zheng Fu and the army defended the country and beat out Ri himself.

As the prime minister, Song Jiaoren received several groups of petitioning students and celebrities in one day, and repeatedly stated to them that the Chinese government would never be as weak and incompetent as the Manchu Qing. The bloody battle is to maintain the territorial integrity of the country as its own responsibility.

When the government made its statement at the first time, the national propaganda machine also started to use a large amount of space to prove that the Chinese government will inevitably resist foreign aggression and its determination to fight against the Japanese army.Moreover, under the arrangement made by Fang Zida before he left, some literati pen holders played with clever pens to produce flowers in the paper and ink, and used "splendid articles" to vigorously advocate for Zheng Fu, using the shamelessness and cruelty of Japan itself To divert the public's attention, not only did the government not be passive, but the whole country felt the same hatred because of this incident, and the morale of the people was high for a while.

By the afternoon, the business community also responded.Measures such as calling on everyone to boycott Japanese goods and refusing to trade with Ri himself have made the situation a step further.In Shanghai*Shanghai, people from all walks of life also launched a campaign to block the Japanese Concession, claiming that not a grain of rice or a single salt should be allowed to flow into the Japanese Concession, let alone a piece of rubbish be transported out of the Japanese Concession.Under the influence of the state's propaganda machine to publicize the "heroic achievements" of a certain soldier on the front line of Fengtian and Qingdao, a large number of activities for donating to the front line were launched in the society, and even beggars and prostitutes also donated generously.For a time, the momentum was huge, which shocked the whole world.

Like the society, the students of the Zhongyang Military Academy also petitioned after learning about the incident.Some people even wrote blood letters demanding to graduate early and go to the front to fight the Japanese army. The most radical of them: Gu Zhutong, Deng Yanda, Zhang Zhizhong, Ye Ting... were elected as student representatives and went to the Ministry of National Defense to ask to join the war.

"Nonsense! These dolls who haven't even grown hair don't go to school well. Why join in the fun and participate in the war?" After receiving the report from the adjutant, Duan Qirui slapped the table and scolded after receiving the petition letter: " You! Go back and tell them that the military academy has its own regulations. Students who have not graduated will stay in the military academy to study hard. It is not their turn to fight for the time being. It's time for them to go."

The adjutant brought Duan Qirui's words to the students, and Deng Yanda jumped up when he heard it: "Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country. Minister Duan is making unreasonable words. Why don't you let us go to the front line? This is obviously looking down on our students. Soldiers."

"Why? Minister Duan made it very clear. You are still students, you want to go to war! Let's talk about it after graduation, let alone how few of you can do it? Hundreds of thousands of National Defense Forces are just waiting to be seen? Go back, and let me go back to school! "The adjutant immediately became angry when he heard Deng Yanda's disrespect for Duan Qirui, and threw them out at the top of his voice.

"You...you are..." Deng Yanda jumped outside the door and was about to scold.Zhang Zhizhong quickly grabbed him and covered his mouth.

"Don't be like this when choosing a life, we won't be able to eat it if things get serious."

"Hmph, I usually see you talking about your country and nationality, but in the end you look like these people, Wenbai. I really misjudged you." Deng Yanda squinted at Zhang Zhizhong and sneered.

"Zhesheng, what are you talking about? Is Wenbai this kind of person? You... apologize to Wenbai immediately!" Zhang Zhizhong smiled wryly and did not refute.

"Why? Am I wrong?" Deng Yanda stared unconvinced.

"You are so stupid that you don't understand what you say? I will teach you a lesson today!" Ye Ting rushed up with his sleeves rolled up, Zhang Zhizhong and Gu Zhutong each hurriedly grabbed one of them, and finally pulled them away.

After persuading the hot-tempered Deng Yanda and Ye Ting, they walked to the side of the road and squatted against the wall, their faces not very good-looking.The few of them came out on behalf of the military school students. Who would have thought that they would touch their noses in the Ministry of National Defense, and no one would be less aggrieved than the other.

"How about we go to the General Staff?" Zhang Zhizhong suggested.

"What if Chief of Staff Wang and Minister Duan are the same?" Although Deng Yanda did not formally apologize to Zhang Zhizhong, he calmed down and felt that he had gone too far just now, so he took the initiative to take Zhang Zhizhong's words and asked back.

"This...." Scratching his head, Zhang Zhizhong lost his mind for a moment.

"Let me tell you, let's go directly to Shandong." Gu Zhutong, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said this.

"Shandong?" Everyone didn't understand for a while.

"I heard the news that Fang Zhangming took the train to Jinan yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff decided to send the three new troops from Jinan to Qingdao to fight against Japan first."

"Really?"

"Exactly!"

"But, what if we are driven back after we go?" Zhang Zhizhong hesitated.

"No, I have a solution!" Gu Zhutong smiled inscrutablely: "Don't forget that Liu Jingfu is in Jinan, and Tianyi is also there. They are our seniors. If you go to them, you will definitely take them in." our."

"That's right!" Ye Ting slapped his thigh, his eyes lit up, and he loudly agreed with Gu Zhutong, thinking that this suggestion was good.

"Let's go, let's go! Go back and get ready, let's go together!" The crowd kept saying hello, got up and ran towards the school with a smile.