~.-~   Chapter 55 Public and fearless (please give me a monthly ticket!)

"Ba,ba,ba..."

Although it was already night at the shooting range of Nanyuan Military Camp, gunfire still kept whistling.

If someone comes here, he will see an officer wearing the uniform of the Expeditionary Force shooting here, and his collar is wearing the rank of general. There is only one army general in the Expeditionary Force, that is, the Expeditionary Force commander Cai E. At this time, he was holding a pistol similar to the German oar in his hand, and was shooting one by one. The target company hit several bullets, and the gun hit the center. Cai E had not stopped yet, but continued to shoot until the wooden board in the center of the target was broken and knocked away, becoming a hollow target.

After emptied 8 rounds of bullets, he took off the magazine again. The two-year-old pistol was a pistol made by Lianyungang. The pistol was very well-made and was a standard pistol of the Expeditionary Force. However, the magazine was slightly more complicated and locked. It was a typical European-style bottom-mounted bamboo shoot. When changing the bullet, it needed to use the left hand to assist, but it was very popular among officers because of its powerful power.

As early as last year, after a friend of the battlefield staff team in Jiaoao brought back this pistol, Cai E immediately eliminated the Bronning pistol. Now, this pistol given by the Jiangsu Army is a tool for him to vent his dissatisfaction.

In the past month, Xu Shuzheng seemed to cooperate with his work on the surface, but in fact he was secretly entrusted. His director of the Preparatory Office set up obstacles for him, so he could not even command the troops. Not only did the military order not leave the headquarters, but the headquarters had not been organized until now. If there was anything, it still needed to go through the preparatory office. Xu Shuzheng also disobeyed him. As long as he thought about the date of the expedition, he became more and more upset. This expedition was related to the future of the country. How could Xu Youzheng forget his public because of his personal gain?

After another magazine was empty, seeing that the general was still trying to shoot, Lei Biao came over and persuaded Cai E:

"If you don't do it, don't do it. Who doesn't know that the Beiyang Army is the army of the Yuan family. Even if the general goes to Europe, he will work hard for him and fight for Yuan Shikai's face. If you don't do it, don't do it."

Listening to his subordinates, Cai E didn't say anything, fired all the bullets, continued to change magazines, and continued to shoot at the target.

Yuan Keding and Yang Du heard gunshots inside outside the shooting range.

Yang Du said to Yuan Keding:

"I guess right, that's him."

Yuan Keding and Yang Du walked into the shooting range. Yang Du and Cai E were old friends. It was Yang Du who recommended Cai E to come to Beijing at that time. Now they naturally knew how Cai E was in the expeditionary army...

Cai E greeted Yuan Keding and Yang Du. Everyone walked to a table and sat down, and a waiter brought tea.

Yuan Keding asked Cai E:

"Brother Songpo, are you angry?"

"No, nothing to be angry about."

"That's good, that's good."

Yang Du also said:

"Songpo, you once said that you want to build a national army that focuses on national defense. Now the expeditionary force is about to set off. You will not give up on this little thing, right?"

"I don't want to give up, but this is so cowardly. Some old habits in the army are too heavy, so I really can't do anything about it."

It was not just powerless, it was simply helpless. In the preparations, except for Han Wu's full efforts to cooperate with him, most of the others were secretly resisting him and unable to start his work, which made him distressed.

After hearing what he said, following the old man's request, since Cai E entered Beijing, he comforted Yuan Keding, who had been attracting him in all kinds of ways:

"Songpo, you can take things slowly."

Cai E shook his head:

"Young Master, the matter is not as simple as you said! The Expeditionary Force is about to go to the forefront. If the Expeditionary Force fails to fight due to the mismatch of the head official, and damages the reputation of the country, it is better to resign instead of doing so."

When he saw Cai E was about to resign, Yuan Keding hurriedly said:

"No, no, you can think about it."

Yuan Keding, who failed to convince Cai E, returned to Jurentang and couldn't help but complain in front of Yuan Shikai:

"This Cai E is really overwhelmed. After suffering a little grievance, he gave up and refused to do it. If he had known this, he would not have appointed him as the commander of the Expeditionary Force! Whoever is this commander will be happy for him! He is so happy that if the Xu surnamed does not cooperate, he will resign!"

My son's words made Yuan Shikai frown and ponder:

"Jiang Baili and Cai Songpo, two of the best students in Japanese non-commissioned officers' schools, one runs a Baoding officers' school and the other joins the expeditionary army but wants to resign... Keding, there is a lot of articles here."

"What does the uncle mean?"

"I appointed the principal of Jiang Baili, and I appointed Cai Songpo's chief teacher, and I also ended up in shame..."

"I understand. It's Duan Qirui's group of people who are jealous of the virtuous and capable, and they eliminate dissidents!"

"Well, this word "excluding dissidents" is used accurately. Duan Qirui and the others just want to make Beiyang a solid piece, let me be Chao Gai as a signboard, and he is Song Jiang in charge of real power."

"Yes, they just want to make the army unable to penetrate the needle and water unable to penetrate it. This is the case with the old army, and the current expeditionary army is the same. Uncle, if this continues, the prospects are worrying."

Yuan Shikai thought for a moment and asked someone to spread the rice paper on the case, walked over and rolled up his sleeves:

"Kedin, grind the ink for me."

Yuan Keding wondered why Yuan Shikai still wrote at this time:

"Uncle, what should I do if Cai E resigns?"

Yuan Shikai didn't respond, picked up his pen and urged him to:

“Grind ink.”

Yuan Keding had no choice but to grind the ink reluctantly.

Yuan Shikai followed the pen and threw it away as the last stroke ended, feeling quite proud:

"Kiding, look, how about this character?"

Yuan Keding reads the characters. Yuan Shikai wrote four big characters "Public but fearless", and there is also a signature below.

"Dad, your words are powerful and powerful, like a dragon flying and phoenix flying, with a faint wind and thunder... Who is this written for?"

"Cai E."

"Cai E?"

"Yes, Cai E knows the meaning of this word."

Then Yuan Shikai said earnestly:

"Kiding, you have to think about it carefully. This is the way to identify people and use people."

"Please give me a message."

Putting down the brush in your hand, Yuan Shikai said slowly:

"Cai E is a smart, strategic and capable military commander. To achieve great things, you must pay attention to attracting talents."

"I also think Cai E is a rare talent. With Xu Shuzheng in his arms, I'm afraid he can't make big waves even if he's just a dragon."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shikai sneered:

"If Xu Youzheng wasn't there, can you feel at ease if you hand over the millions of expeditionary troops to Cai Songpo?"

Yuan Keding was silent for a moment and shook his head slowly. Yuan Shikai continued:

"Loyalty is not about the minister, but about the king. It is not just about the way of kindness and power. It is about the minister. You can get the loyalty of the minister, but only kindness and power alone are far from enough. In the past, Zhiquan and others were loyal to your father. If it weren't them, I wouldn't be the president of your father, but why did they feel unfaithful in their hearts in the end?"

After asking back, Yuan Shikai sneered again in his heart.

"A man's strength is achieved, his heart will become wild. Duan Zhiquan is, how do you know that Cai Songpo is not? There is a check and balance there, and the expeditionary force is still the Chinese expeditionary force, and it cannot become anyone's expeditionary force!"

"I understand my father's teachings."

Yuan Keding bowed at the same time and said:

"The child is taught."

"Uncle, but if it is really as Cai E worried, the war will be damaged due to the failure of the chief official, then it will be difficult to explain to the Allies..."

But his son's reminder only made Yuan Shikai smile, and then he said.

"Who else in this expeditionary force?"

Thinking about it, Yuan Keding seemed to understand:

"Dad, what you mean is to hold Han Wu up and let them control each other."

Yuan Shikai nodded with a smile and said:

“That’s not enough.”

"What does the uncle mean?"

Yuan Shikai, who had already sat down, pondered for a moment:

"Why did Cai Songpo and Xu Youzheng first, but did not make an appointment to Han Wu's position?"

"Dad, you want to..."

"It's not me, but Li Zhiyuan?"

"Li Zhiyuan wants to?"

This will be Yuan Keding's turn to be confused. It seems that Li Zhiyuan did not intervene in the expeditionary army.

"Better to intervene, it is better to watch Han Wu's inconvenience, in fact, Li Zhiyuan's inconvenience. He is not not fighting, but now he is not fighting, so your father follows the flow and takes Han Wu there. This burden is there, and he sits on the mountain to watch the tiger fight. He is still obeying Cai Songpo's orders, and he does not violate Xu Youzheng there. Now..."

With a sneer, he picked up the teacup, but Yuan Shikai sneered again.

"Now, how could he not see that Xu Youzheng didn't realize that Li Zicheng wanted to be this fisherman, but he didn't expect that there was a tax collector behind this fisherman!"

That night, someone in the presidential palace passed the news to Duan Qirui. After hearing this, Duan Qirui remained silent. At this time, he was playing chess with Xu Shuzheng.

"Public and fearless!"

Speaking these four words, Xu Shuzheng ate a son of the boss and then said.

"Boss, these four words have a deep meaning!"
To be continued...