Years of the Republic of China 1913

It took Fang Zida a long time to understand who Bai Lang, the leader of Bai Lang's army, was.The folks are very confused about this person. Bai Lang was originally from Bao*feng* County, Henan Province. His family was quite wealthy. He was fond of reading novels since childhood. After Wu Luzhen's death, he and Zhongzhou hero Wang Tianzong fell grass on Songshan Mountain together, calling himself the commander-in-chief of the Central Plains Fuhan Army.It is said that he was about 37 or [-] years old, with a fat body and a length of more than four feet. He wore a black scarf on his head and had two and a half inches of green pigtails. He sat in a yellow satin sedan chair for eight people.Henan and the northern regions of Hubei are poor and poor harvest places. Because the local people lack food and clothing, it is easy to take risks.

In the autumn of the second year of the Republic of China, the Bailang army began to appear in Henan.Zhang Zhenfang, the governor of Henan Province, was the cousin of President Yuan Da. He was born as a scholar and once served as the Tianjin Customs Road.Since Henan is the hometown of President Yuan Da, he transferred his cousin from Zhili.Zhang Zhenfang doesn't know how to run a business, he only knows how to search and search. Not long after he took office, the common people down there made troubles, so Bai Lang took the opportunity to make a slogan for the heavens, and spread songs everywhere: "Good Bai Lang, Bai Lang is good, he robs the rich and helps the poor, he does justice for the sky, everyone says Bai Lang is good!" There is also a song: "Old Bai Lang, old Bai Lang, robs the rich and saves the poor, and acts for the sky, everyone says Bai Lang is good. In the past two years, the rich and the poor have been evenly balanced."

It can be seen from this that Bai Lang is someone like Song Jiang and Li Zicheng. These chants and styles are exactly the same as the hero of Liangshan and King Li Chuang in the late Ming Dynasty.Under the banner of equalizing the rich and the poor, he is actually just a complete bandit leader. Most of his troops came under threat, and smokers accounted for five or six out of ten. Given the opportunity of the party's "second revolution", Bai Lang thought that the time had come to seize the world, so he took up the pole and formally rebelled.

Unexpectedly, this vigorous "second revolution" failed not long after the chaos in the south. Bai Lang, who felt that he would not be able to make a living in Henan, made a living. At that time, he hurriedly led his men to the northwest.

The Northwest is a place of bitter cold, and the troops stationed in the central government have always been insufficient. Moreover, the Northwest is vast and sparsely populated, and the people are poor.Bai Lang fled to the northwest like a fish in water. In a short period of time, he pulled up a team of tens of thousands of people to fight big households, divide their fields, and distribute gold and silver.

"How does the Ministry of the Army plan to suppress the rebellion?" Fang Zida frowned when he heard Bai Lang's deeds, and couldn't help asking.

"Hehe, of course it is to transfer troops to counter the rebellion. Guess who Zhang Ming plans to transfer?" Duan Qirui asked with a smile.

Fang Zida shook his head and said with a smile: "How can you guess this? The central government has many generals, and I can transfer to any department I want."

"Haha, Zhang Ming, ah, Zhang Ming, I haven't seen you for a few months and I have learned the officialdom. In fact, you know the person you want to transfer, and they are your old friends."

"Old friend?" Fang Zida thought for a while. He didn't have many friends in the army. Even if he had friends, they were from the Nanjing Eighth Division. Could it be that the Ministry of the Army wanted to transfer the Eighth Division to the Northwest?This is unlikely?Even if Yuan Shikai had this idea, Song Jiaoren would never agree.

Shaking his head, indicating that he couldn't guess it, Duan Qirui smiled and revealed the secret: "Zhang Xun!"

"Zhang Xun?" The answer was surprising, but Fang Zida understood it after thinking about it carefully, and he couldn't help but admire Yuan Shikai in his heart.

Zhang Xun's troops fought a battle with the Eighth Division in Nanjing, and the encounter was bloody. Moreover, Zhang Xun entered the border of Jiangsu without authorization and attacked the Eighth Division's garrison. In the article, he was held accountable for attacking friendly forces without authorization.It's just that Zhang Xun is a complete warlord. Whether it's Yuan Shikai, Song Jiaoren, or the Ministry of War, their orders don't work for Zhang Xun. don't care.

However, the current situation is a little different. The braided army, which has lost its soldiers and generals, has been seriously injured, and has no more bargaining chips to challenge the central government.What's more, the order of dismissal and investigation is still there. At this time, Zhang Xun's department is transferred to suppress the rebellion. Zhang Xun absolutely cannot refuse.Once Zhang Xun disobeys the order, the central government will settle the old and new accounts together, and Zhang Xun may be unable to eat and walk away by then.

In addition, transferring Zhang Xun is also a good way to kill two birds with one stone. From this, it can be seen that the central government has the idea of ​​using Bai Lang's hand to consume the power of a warlord like Zhang Xun. If Fang Zida's guess is correct, this idea must have come from Yuan Shikai. Duan Qirui, chief of the army, was just following the trend.

"Zhang Xun's braided army is very powerful, and it should be no problem to eliminate the rebels." Although he was an opponent, Fang Zida did not underestimate Zhang Xun. Only after fighting Zhang Xun did he understand how strong his braided army is.For this point, the Ministry of the Army did not pick the wrong person, but what will happen to Zhang Xun if he goes here, this is not the scope of Fang Zida's consideration.

Duan Qirui was busy with work, Fang Zida left after chatting with him for an hour.As for his formalities at the Ministry of War, Luo Fengge helped them to complete the procedures while they were chatting. In addition, Duan Qirui didn't mention anything about the investigation of the Chen Qimei incident. It seemed that their casual chat meant that the investigation was over.

After leaving the Ministry of War, Fang Zida officially resigned from his post in the Eighth Division. Seeing that it was still early, Fang Zida did not go home, but went directly to the Prime Minister's Office.

In the Prime Minister's Office, Song Jiaoren has lost a lot of weight these days, and he looked thinner even more.The desk is full of documents. Since he took over as Prime Minister, he has been busy with work every day and has no leisure time at all.

"Dunchu, please approve this funding." Liao Zhongkai hurried into the office with a document in his hand.

After taking a look at the document, Song Jiaoren hesitated and didn't sign it, but raised his head and asked, "Can this funding be slowed down? I remember that Prime Minister Zhao had already approved it when he was in office. Could it be that your Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has spent all of it?" ?”

"My great prime minister! Zhao Bingjun only approved [-] yuan when he was in office. What is the use of this money? It's not like you don't know about the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Is there any place in the country that doesn't need money? The autumn harvest is coming soon. Yes, there are too many places where money is used, and you still approved it."

Liao Zhongkai is the new Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, and Chen Zhenxian is still the chief. However, due to the relationship between him and Song Jiaoren, Liao Zhongkai is actually responsible for most of the affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. At first, Song Jiaoren was still very supportive of him. Basically, any proposals and any funds needed were approved without a second thought. But today, Song Jiaoren looked at the document in his hand, hesitated for a long time and still did not sign it.

"Zhong Kai, the funding is still slow, and we will talk about it in two days."

"This... Dunchu! This money can't be delayed! The follow-up work of our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is waiting for this money to start. What if you delay me here? I gave President Chen a guarantee before I came." Liao Zhong Kai became anxious when he heard it, and insisted on pulling Song Jiaoren to sign.

Song Jiaoren didn't know whether to laugh or cry, how could anyone do such a thing?This is only Liao Zhongkai.

"Brother Zhongkai, Brother Zhongkai, do you think that the government's money comes from the strong wind? This department needs 20 yuan, and that department needs [-] yuan. Do you know how much the government will spend tomorrow? You wait for the rice to be cooked, and here I am. Still waiting for the money to be used urgently! Look at these, aren’t those here to ask for money? If you really want money, will I grant it to you?”

"Didn't President Yuan borrow money? The government will have no money? Don't think you can lie to me because I don't understand!" Liao Zhongkai said displeased.

"Cheating you? Hehe..." Song Jiaoren shook his head and smiled wryly: "That's right, President Yuan borrowed money, and it was a lot of money, but the money can be used casually? Let's talk about the suppression of the rebellion a while ago, you Do you know how much the central government has spent on military expenditure? Speaking out will scare you to death! Which of the follow-up, compensation and local reconstruction does not require a lot of money? And you should have heard about Bai Lang in the past two days? It's like rushing water, God knows how much more it will take!"

After a pause, Song Jiaoren said again: "Besides, the loan is not for nothing, it has to be repaid! Why don't you borrow it after you've used it up? What if someone doesn't lend it to you? Even if you are willing to borrow it, Are we going to sell national interests for money again? It’s no wonder that you and I don’t blame everyone in the world. Zhong Kai, if you’re not in charge, you don’t know how expensive things are, and I’m a prime minister to put it bluntly. It’s hard... hard!"

"How about...give me half first?" Song Jiaoren's heartfelt words made Liao Zhongkai speechless, but he had no choice but to retreat and ask for this.

"Half? Not even a third!" Song Jiaoren refused without hesitation.

"What! You... In this way, tell yourself, how much can you give me? Let's talk about it first! If you don't take away any money, I will live and eat in your Prime Minister's Mansion from today on." Liao Zhongkai was about to scold his mother while jumping. It can be seen that Song Jiaoren swallowed the words again with a tired look, put his hands on the edge of the table, leaned over and stared at him and asked.

"Zhong Kai, I've convinced you. You, a debt collector, will drive me to death if you don't see the money!" Looking at his rascal, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly. Go to the original amount, write a new number, and throw it back after signing: "Here, take it."

He took it with a smile, and looked down, Liao Zhongkai's eyeballs were almost popping out: "What! That's all. I said Dunchu, why are you sending a beggar?"

"What? Don't? Don't give it back to me!" Song Jiaoren was not polite, and he reached out to take the document back.

"Don't! Yes! If I want it, can't I do it?" Liao Zhongkai saw that he was going to play for real, so he quickly protected the document behind his back, and cursed softly: "Scrooge..."