Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Governor's Office, and the back hall.

Yuan Shikai was in the middle of the seat, with several people sitting on both sides, all of whom were Yuan Shikai's aides. Since it was not a formal cathedral, Yuan Shikai and his aides were dressed in casual clothes, with tea and snacks on the table, which seemed to be sitting and chatting.

Yuan Shikai, who was the governor of Shandong at the time, was 42 years old. He was in his prime, but at this moment he was still getting fat. He was slightly closing his eyes, as if he was thinking. In his third seat in the right, a middle-aged scholar leaned slightly forward, holding a letter in his left hand and said: "Master Futai, this is a joint letter from 41 middle and lower-level officers, asking Master Futai to take back the resolution to execute Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others, and also request Master Futai to send troops immediately to attack overseas Chinese to the heart of an gentry in Shandong."

The speaker was named Zhao Bingjun, who was the same age as Yuan Shikai. When he was young, he followed Zuo Zongtang to Xinjiang to quell the Agubai Rebellion. He fought bravely and built a chief with horsemanship. However, he was seriously injured in the battle and was disabled. He then abandoned martial arts and culture and joined Yuan Shikai's disciple. When Yuan Shikai was training at a small station, Zhao Bingjun followed the military and political team, specializing in detectives and police, and specializing in criminal investigation techniques. Because he was a meritorious in arresting the Boxer Regiment, he was quite appreciated by Yuan Shikai. Now he is responsible for supervising and managing the military discipline of the Beiyang New Army. Because of his strict law enforcement, he is ruthless in punishing soldiers. Therefore, he is known as a "butcher" in the Beiyang Army.

With Yuan Shikai's acquiescence, Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others led troops to support Wan Yufu's landlord alliance and attacked Menbu Village. As a result, they were defeated by the People's Army and lost more than a hundred people. After Sun Zhongkui and Wan Kun led the remaining troops back to Jinan, they were immediately arrested and imprisoned. Zhao Bingjun imposed the death penalty on the 14 middle and lower-level officers under the leadership of the Beiyang New Army.

As a result, this sentence aroused dissatisfaction among a considerable number of Shandong officers, because the actions of Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others were supported by most Shandong officers. This was because the land reform implemented by overseas Chinese made Shandong officers feel quite dissatisfied. These Shandong officers basically came from gentry families, and almost every family had some land, which was as good as the standards of landlords. The land reform of overseas Chinese naturally moved their cheese. Therefore, in their opinion, Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others led troops to fight overseas Chinese to fight for the interests of Shandong gentry. Now they were executed according to military law, so the officers also started to move and jointly wrote a petition to Yuan Shikai, demanding that the death penalty of Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others be pardoned. At the same time, they also requested Yuan Shikai to send troops to attack overseas Chinese and continue to protect the interests of Shandong gentry.

Now in the Beiyang New Army, there are many soldiers from Shandong, accounting for nearly 40% of them, and the officers have reached more than 20%. Although they are basically middle and lower-level officers, they still form a huge force that cannot be underestimated. Therefore, Yuan Shikai recruited his close staff and negotiated how to solve the problem.

After hearing Zhao Bingjun's speech, Yuan Shikai opened his slightly closed eyes suddenly, and a cold light flashed by, and then closed slightly again, saying, "What do you think?"

On the second seat of the left head, a young man about 35 years old suddenly stood up and said, "I'm so brave. He dared to write a letter to ask Lord Futai to take back Cheng Ming. Is there any other person in my eyes?" Turning to Yuan Shikai, he said, "Lord Futai, this matter must not be tolerated. Sun Zhongkui and Wan Kun must be executed and cannot be forgiven lightly."

The person who spoke was Duan Qirui, now a tiger general under Yuan Shikai.

After hearing Duan Qirui's speech, Yuan Shikai did not comment and looked at the first person in the right and said, "What do you think Brother Ju Ren?"

The person Yuan Shikai asked was Xu Shichang, whose courtesy name was Bu Wu, and Ju Ren was his name. He and Yuan Shikai met in the fifth year of Guangxu (1879). They fell in love with each other at first sight. At that time, Xu Shichang and Xu Shiguang brothers had no money to go to Yingtian Prefecture for Ying's provincial examination. Yuan Shikai immediately gave the Xu family a hundred taels of silver as Sichuan capital, so that the Xu family's Kunzhong was able to complete their military success and wait for the election at the same time. Later, when Yuan Shikai was training troops at the small station, he asked the Qing court to ask Xu Shichang to be the editor of the Hanlin Shujishi, to be in charge of the General Office of the Military Affairs Office of the New Army Inspection Army General Office, but this was high and low. However, Xu Shichang resolutely left the Hanlin Academy and went all out to take charge of the copywriting and participate in the secrets of the entire army. Yuan Shikai could take his position as an editor, becoming Yuan Shikai's most capable think tank.

After listening to Yuan Shikai's inquiry, Xu Shichang said: "This is a bit strange?"

Yuan Shikai said: "What a strange thing? Please tell me that Brother Ju Ren clearly?"

Xu Shichang laughed and said, "Although there are many Shandong officers in our army, they have never seen them take joint operations before. Sun Zhongkui and Wankun are no name and hopeless. This time, they are only for Sun Zhongkui, Wankun and others. Not only did they jointly write a letter to Fuhe, but they also asked us to send troops to attack overseas Chinese. The intention was self-evident. In my opinion, behind this, there must be support from the powerful forces in Shandong. It is nothing more than trying to use our power to fight overseas Chinese, probably because they are afraid that the land reform of overseas Chinese will spread to Jinan. Therefore, this wind must not be promoted, and it must be stopped by thunder."

Yuan Shikai sneered for a while and said, "Is there any new news on overseas Chinese?"

Zhao Bingjun said: "Reporting to Master Futai, the news just confirmed that overseas Chinese have occupied the three counties of Gaomi, Jiaozhou and Jimo."

Yuan Shikai was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but say something unexpected: "I remember receiving official documents from these counties yesterday, only saying that local affairs should be normal, but why was it suddenly occupied by overseas Chinese?"

Zhao Bingdiao smiled bitterly and said, "I just learned that although overseas Chinese occupy the county town, they all stayed behind the county government office. All the staff in the yamen were also complete, and the official documents were carried out in normal practice, but the county's money, grain and finance power was owned by overseas Chinese."

Yuan Shikai stayed for a while and immediately understood, sighed and said, "Overseas Chinese are indeed good methods. Although they have the reality of occupying land, they do not bear the name of occupying land, and the court has nothing to say."

Xu Shichang also nodded and said, "Yes, it seems that overseas Chinese are determined to occupy all the land in Shandong, but they are just unwilling to break up with the court."

Duan Qirui couldn't help but say, "Mr. Futai, we have been in Shandong for more than two years and finally got the situation today. Only a few days have passed by overseas Chinese. Why should we give Shandong to overseas Chinese?"

At this time, the person sitting on Duan Qirui's head said: "Zhiquan, now is not the time for a fight of will. Now the overseas Chinese are in the limelight, and the whole country regards it as the pillar of the sky and the world's saving talent. To be honest, we really do not have the ability to compete with overseas Chinese."

The speaker was named Wang Shizhen. He turned out to be a student of Tianjin Wubei Academy. He studied artillery department for three years. After graduation, he returned to Shanhaiguan to serve as an artillery team teacher. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he went to Korea with Ye Zhichao to participate in the war. During the battle, Wang Shizhen's left ring finger was blown off, and the upper left part of his forehead was injured by shrapnel, leaving more than an inch of wound. After returning to China, he was classified as Nie Shicheng's army. Later, Yuan Shikai trained troops at a small station, and Yinchang, who was the general manager of Tianjin Wubei Academy, recommended Wang Shizhen to him. Yuan Shikai discussed military affairs with him, and Wang Shizhen was in every aspect.

After being extremely planned, Yuan Shikai was overjoyed and thought that his talent could be used more. He immediately appointed him as the director of the Supervisor and the Office of the Camp, the 3rd Battalion of the Right-wing Infantry Team, and the Supervisor of the Infantry Team. He was also promoted to the Director of the Engineering Battalion and the Supervisor of the Dewen Academy. Because Wang Shizhen was meticulous, thoughtful, and not ostentatious, he was deeply trusted by Yuan Shikai, second only to Xu Shichang, and ranked first among Yuan Shikai's staff and generals. Therefore, Yuan Shikai discussed with Wang Shizhen, Xu Shichang and others about the performance assessment in the army, the promotion and demotion of personnel.

But after hearing Wang Shizhen's words, Duan Qirui was still a little dissatisfied and said, "What's so great about overseas Chinese? Isn't it just that they defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance? In fact, the Eight-Nation Alliance was originally a group of mobs. If we were to join the Beiyang New Army, we could still defeat them. If the imperial court had used our Beiyang New Army, we would have been able to fight back to our hometown. I really wanted to fight a war with overseas Chinese to see what they were capable of."

Wang Shizhen shook his head and said, "Zhiquan, you underestimate the Eight-Nation Alliance. Beijing's defenses have no less than 100,000, including Wuyi Army and Gansu Army, which are combat-effective, but they still lose to the Eight-Nation Alliance. If we replaced our Beiyang New Army, we did not dare to win lightly. Overseas Chinese can defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, we must not underestimate it. What's more, overseas Chinese defeat the German Far East Fleet at sea, captured Qingdao on land, and defeated the Russian army at Shanhaiguan. It is no coincidence that the Eight-Nation Alliance is a great country in the world, and it is not difficult to send another 100,000 troops to fight China. However, all countries did not send troops to reinforce, but instead made peace with overseas Chinese. It can be seen that all countries are unwilling to fight with overseas Chinese. Our Beiyang New Army is indeed inferior to our Beiyang New Army."

Xu Shichang also said: "Yes, let alone now even the imperial court has to act according to the expressions of overseas Chinese. If we blatantly become enemies of overseas Chinese, the imperial court may blame us first, which will be detrimental to Lord Futai."

Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly and said, "It seems we can only give up Shandong."

Everyone was silent after hearing this. Yuan Shikai had been following Yuan Shikai since he was training in the small station. He finally survived the hard time of training in the small station. He finally had a base like Shandong and had sufficient financial resources to expand the scale of the Beiyang New Army. Everyone could also show their strength. However, the overseas Chinese had to force the Beiyang New Army out of Shandong. Naturally, everyone was unwilling to do so, but no one could stop the overseas Chinese. Although Duan Qirui was yelling to fight with overseas Chinese, in fact, he was just to speak quickly. Duan Qirui himself knew that if he really wanted to fight with overseas Chinese, the Beiyang New Army would probably not win, and the court would not allow the Beiyang New Army to fight with overseas Chinese.

At this time, Xu Shichang said: "Mr. Futai should not be too pessimistic. I think the court will make other arrangements for us."

In fact, Yuan Shikai certainly knew that the court would not ignore his new Beiyang army. He just changed his place to station and started over again. The foundation laid in Shandong in the past two years was in vain.
Chapter completed!