The weather is getting hotter day by day, but the relationship between China and Germany and Austria is getting colder. At the same time, the calls for going to Europe to participate in the war are getting louder and louder. Even the Shuntian Times in Beijing call on China to participate in the war with the Japanese army. Only the news newspaper of Fukaisen Holdings in Shanghai seems to be based on a neutral standpoint, and the European war is very tragic and military expenditure is huge. In addition, it is to advise the Chinese people to base themselves on reality and not spend money on military expenditure, but to build this country first.

Only talking about oil, salt, firewood and rice, the Chinese are realistic, but once they talk about international status and national dignity, at least half of the 400 million people are idealists. As the people's lives get better and better, all the misfortunes in the past are attributed to two points: one is that China is not strong and has been bullied by foreigners. In this regard, the history of blood and tears compiled by unknown people is the most convincing; the other is that in order to firmly hold on, the Manchus are eager to enslave the Han people, hoping that the Han people will die. These are some pamphlets issued by revolutionary organizations such as the Revival Society and the Tongmenghui before the founding of the People's Republic of China. They have been widely circulated and are now the absolute truth.

How the Manchus had nothing to do with going to Europe to participate in the war, but their country was strong and their international status touched the hearts of countless overseas Chinese; except for overseas Chinese, the Northeast involved in the Russo-Japanese War, Shandong and Zhili, which were victims of the Boxer Kingdom, all the people in these places supported going to Europe to participate in the war. According to the secret speculation of the Imperial Daily, at least 30% of the representatives of the 612 representatives supported the declaration of war against Germany, and more than 40% did not express their opinions. Less than 30% of the representatives opposed the war against Germany. Their main reason was that the war in the Northwest was not over yet, and the country was in short supply of financial resources, which was not conducive to the country. However, the Prime Minister's Office did not make any statement on going to Europe to participate in the war. Officials of various government departments and generals of the army also kept silent about this, making the situation increasingly strange.

The summer is hot. Although it is only noon, in the Huguang Guild Hall on the Huguang Bridge on the outside of the city, the cicadas on the sycamore tree kept clamoring. It caused people to be upset. The Chairman of the Kuomintang Song Jiaoren was still calm and he wrote quickly, as if any interference could not affect it. Only when the electric fan turned over, the manuscript paper on the copy was blown up, just like the rustling leaves in the breeze, would he smooth the manuscript paper with his hands and then continue writing.

With the clarification of the position of "revitalizing industry", the experience of the Kuomintang can only be fully reported with twists and turns. When this position was first put forward, many gentry withdrew from the Kuomintang and joined Liang Qichao's Constitutional Protection Party, but with the Tao Chengzhang case, the Yunnan rebellion occurred. Those who withdrew begged to join the Kuomintang again. At this time, the general election is imminent, so look back. It is not too late to pass the general election before settlement. But who could have expected that these people who had joined the Constitutional Protection Party were criticized by the locals as remnants of the Liang Party during the election and were Russian spies. The election was not only in chaos, but even whether they could protect the thirty-one seats in the judiciary of the judiciary was a problem.

At this time of survival, the entire Kuomintang dispatched. They abandoned inland provinces and went to the coastal areas day and night to give lectures in various counties along the river, meeting with local industrial and commercial representatives. They told the Kuomintang's proposal of "revitalizing industry, strengthening the country and enriching the people". To be on the safe side, Song Jiaoren also conducted a special persuasion work to thirty imperially appointed parliamentarians in order to join the Kuomintang and increase their seats.

During the war, not only state-owned companies made money, but private companies and workshops also made money. The young bosses who had just tasted the sweetness of industry frequently voted for the Kuomintang. In the end, although the Kuomintang only won 24 seats in the 428 state and prefecture constituencies across the country (there were twelve seats added after the withdrawal of the foreign Northeast and Taiwan), it won 8 seats in the 154 seats distributed by the tax amount and the 30 seats designated by the imperial examination. In this way, there were 32 seats in total, just one more seat than the statutory seats in the hospital, and eventually became the second largest party in the judiciary.

When the final result of the election came out, everyone in the Kuomintang breathed a sigh of relief. At the election summary meeting, Song Jiaoren claimed that this election was the real victory of the Kuomintang, and believed that the Kuomintang must adhere to the general program of "revitalizing industry, strengthening the country and enriching the people" in the future. He served the industrial and commercial community for life.

Slogans are easy to shout, but it is difficult to revitalize industry with the current strength of the Kuomintang. The country's economic system is completely controlled by the Revival Association, and industry associations and trade unions are also controlled by the Revival Association. Fortunately, business people in the business community are dissatisfied with the government's strong support for agriculture and allow industry and commerce, which is why there is a certain possibility of activity.

But even so, the work is difficult to carry out. There are workshop owners and factory owners, and factory owners, and compradors, compradors and industrialists. This is only private. If you include those giant state-owned companies, it will be even more difficult to revitalize the industry. Fortunately, state-owned companies do not compete with the people for profit, and the industries they are engaged in are all things that private capital cannot afford, so we are in peace.

As the representative of the Academy of Scholars, after more than two months of investigation and investigation in Shanghai and Xinwuchang (Wuhan), Song Jiaoren, who returned to Beijing, was preparing to start from the financial market to promote the establishment of domestic private banks. The reason why he chose to start from finance was that it was determined that the development of industry was closely related to the development of banks. Although money banks became a thing of the past, they were more advanced than money banks and that the functions of money banks would be very popular.

In addition to the reasons why finance promotes industry, as the Kuomintang, which has few supporters, needs to develop, it must have a huge source of electoral contributions. The Revival will donate the farmers' association, and the more money it will not be spent. Therefore, the Kuomintang can only obtain sufficient development funds to strengthen its momentum by pleaseing those rich capitalists. Therefore, the richest banker is the first to win over.

Putting down his heavy pen, Song Jiaoren took a look at the financial industry development plan report he annotated and breathed a sigh of relief. He believed that with the dazzling data on the report and analogy to the current financial industry status of Europe, America and Japan, the next time the Academy of Reasons opened, this financial case will definitely be reviewed and passed by the Congress. If this proposal is passed, the funds for the Kuomintang's next election will be guaranteed.

"Dunchu..." Hu Ying's voice came from outside. He walked closer and saw the annotated report and asked, "Is it okay? If it's OK, I'll take it and hand it over to the secretary to print it."

"Don't go and fight." Song Jiaoren said, "If you can save some, just find someone to copy. After that, please ask those experts to help us take a look. Be careful to find people separately, and don't believe whatever they say."

"I understand." Hu Ying said while packing the report, "Dunchu, Qingyun is here. He said he has something urgent to see you. Is it..."

"Cao Qingyun?" Song Jiaoren said Cao Yabo's words and said with a smile, "There is no rumor. He said he followed Sun Wen..."

"He said he just went abroad and did not go to Yunnan to cause trouble with Sun Wen." Hu Ying said. "This time he returned to China, he was swaggering. Whether it was the East Factory or the patrolman, he did not cause trouble for him."

"Oh..." Song Jiaoren said softly. Cao Yabo was from Daye, Hubei. He was very interested in revolution, Huaxing Association, Science Tutorial Institute, and even the Tongmeng Association. When it was established, he was the initiator and backbone. Because he was originally a native of Huguang, he was naturally familiar with people from Huguang. However, when Song Jiaoren sincerely invited him to join the Kuomintang, he politely refused. Later, there was a rumor that he joined the Revolutionary Party of China. He said that he participated in the Yunnan rebellion, but these were just rumors.

"Has he arrived at the guild hall?" Song Jiaoren thought of many past events and asked after a while.

"Yes, it's in the living room." Hu Yin said. "Did you invite him in?"

"No, Qingyun is an old comrade, I want to go and greet him in person." Song Jiaoren patted his thighs and walked out of the study.

"Dunchu..." Looking at Song Jiaoren in a suit from afar, Cao Yabo was a little surprised. He thought that the whole country was wearing Chinese costumes.

"Brother Qingyun is so good!" Perhaps he was following the local customs, but Cao Yabo was wearing a Chinese outfit. The style was newly bought in Beijing. Song Jiaoren was in Beijing for a long time. He looked at Cao Yabo's clothes and smiled and said, "Your outfit is customized by Rui Fengxiang, right?"

"Haha. Yes, yes. All the rich people across the country have changed their clothes in Chinese. In order to gain some luxury, I, an outsider, have to spend a lot of money to buy a piece of clothing." Cao Yabo only laughed, "Dunchu, I haven't seen you for many years. Why have you become a parliamentary fan?"

"This matter was not done by Mr. Taiyan, the Ministry of Rites." Song Jiaoren shook his head and asked Cao Yabel to sit down. "When the founding of the country, the official uniform was copied from the previous Ming Dynasty. The calendar was also the same. Even the grammar advocated ancient Chinese and derogated vernacular Chinese. It was simply to turn the 20th century into the fifteenth century. A few days ago, the newspaper said that if an ancient man was resurrected, he would think he was in the Ming Dynasty."

"Haha..." Cao Yaboben admired Zhang Taiyan very much. People at that time called Zhang Cao two madmen, and did not object to the old calendar, Hanfu, ancient Chinese, etc. He smiled and said, "I am abroad. As long as I see Chinese people wearing Han costumes, they will be very friendly. You are disgusted at home."

He didn't want to talk about things about pretending to be a little bit with Cao Yabo. After the fragrant tea was delivered, Song Jiaoren said straight to the point: "Brother Qingyun has been abroad for many years. This time he returned to China and Beijing to tell me that there is something urgent. What's going on?"

"What's the matter?" Cao Yabel didn't want to hide it, and said frankly: "When I was in the UK, I knew a German doctor named Kleil. At that time, I wanted to learn Chinese, two or three times a week, and for several years, so my friendship was very deep. After the founding of the country, I went to England again. At this time, Europe had begun a war. At first, I wanted to find this person to help him, but I didn't expect that he heard that this person was actually a spy of the German Emperor William II. After discovering many British military secrets, he was discovered by the British authorities and fled with makeup.

This time I returned to China and didn't want to meet this person in Hongkou, Shanghai. He said that now our government is preparing to declare war on Germany, hoping that I can help Germany to maintain the friendship between China and Germany. During the conversation, he asked me to come to you. He said that he could donate some money to your Kuomintang election account, and then you made some remarks against going to Europe to participate in the war... So, I'm here."

Cao Yabo finished speaking about his purpose and said, "On the way I came, I was wondering if I was illegal. If I thought about it, I felt that just passing messages was not illegal. Besides, I was still escaping you if the matter was successful. I was just a messenger. You can do this."

Unexpectedly, Cao Yabo was a guest lobbyist. Song Jiaoren smiled and plotted. After a while, he said: "In fact, if the overseas Chinese in Germany were reviewed by the Consulate in Germany and donated money to our party's election account, it would not be illegal, but he, a German, donated money to us, that would be... Especially now, the whole country has praised the reclaiming rights, abolishing unequal treaties and going to Europe to participate in the war. If the Kuomintang really does this, it is seeking death."

Historically, after Yuan Shikai's death, Japan no longer supported Sun Wen. The expenses for Cheng Biguang to lead the Beiyang Fleet south and the Senate and House members to Guangdong came from this German fund, and Cao Yabo was the one who joined the negotiations at that time. The total amount of this money was 2 million US dollars, which were paid by the Germans in gold. [Note:]

Hearing that Song Jiaoren did not dare to take the money, Cao Yabo said, "Since that's the case, then we won't talk about this." After he said that, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He felt that he had completed a task, and then changed the topic and said, "Dunchu, do you think we really want to declare war on Germany?"

"It's almost the same." Song Jiaoren said. "The government affairs are all decided by the Revival Association. Although I know it, they have to let me know according to the regulations. When I know it, it's not two days before the news."

"But wouldn't Revival be helped by Germany?" Cao Yabel asked curiously.

"What Germany helped it up?" Song Jiaoren felt funny, "This revival meeting was a big deal. At the beginning, he found a German to set up a military academy and went to the Russians in the Northeast. The Japanese got a lot of benefits. In the end, the Americans pulled them and beat Japan, so they were considered firm in this position.

The methods are a little bit cunning. But there is nothing to say about things. There is nothing shameful about it. It is just like finding Germans to be a semi-military academy. What's more, the Germans who are looking for in the Revival are betrayed by the German emperor and those who are unwilling to return to their country are not linked to the German government at all, so they are not helped by the Germans at all."

"It's actually like this." What Song Jiaoren said was very different from the rumors Cao Yabo heard, and even was different from the German spies who asked him to lobby the Kuomintang. "Even if the Revival Society had nothing to do with the Germans, then we are still going to war with the Russians in the northwest. We went thousands of miles to fight with the Germans, aren't those people worried that the national strength could not bear it? Since the founding of the country, the people seem to have not had a few years to live a peaceful life. After fighting the Qing Dynasty, Japan, Russia, and after fighting Germany, this is simply..."

"I have this attitude, too." Song Jiaoren nodded, "If the Manchus don't say it, Japan and Russia don't say it, but Germany is far away in Europe and has not provoked us, why bother to mobilize troops to help Britain and France work hard to bleed? No matter how cheap Chinese people's lives are, they are not grass-roots. If they can save the money for going to Europe to participate in the war, it will at least benefit the country and the people. Unfortunately, public opinion has been instigated by Britain and France and other countries, and the people want to use this war to abolish those treaties. It seems that after participating in the war, any previous problems have been solved. They have never thought that whether foreigners respect you depends on strength, your country or the industry, or the industry, is worse than Japan. Even if they win this battle, they will look down on you or look down on you."

Song Jiaoren complained, thinking that the revival would spend too much money on military spending. In his opinion, the battle between Shenwu and Japan in the third year of Shenwu should not have been fought so early. If it could be delayed until now, the price would have been much less.

He complained, Tan Renfeng, Li Pingshu, Hu Ying and others suddenly came in a hurry. A Beijing-Tianjin Times was handed over by Tan Renfeng anxiously. The old man said excitedly: "This is really going to start a war!"

"War?!" Song Jiaoren was shocked and thought of Germany. He picked up the newspaper and saw a big title on the front page: Russia's two invasions of the east. The article was very long, but Song Jiaoren could tell the contents. I remember that when China sent a volunteer flight team to Britain the year before, the news that Russia invaded China was actually reported by the German emperor. However, at that time, the German envoy came out to defy the rumors and said that there was no such thing, and the matter faded. I don't think this time not only said that Germany instigated Russia invaded the east in the third year of Shenwu, but also said that the Russo-Japanese War twelve years ago was also said to be caused by Germany's instigation. The most fatal thing is that the article was written very carefully. The few photos published were actually private telegrams from German Emperor William II to Tsar Nicholas. The content of the German Emperor instigating the Tsar to start a war against China.

"Is this true?" Song Jiaoren looked at the Russian telegram photos and felt that all this was unbelievable.

"It should be true!" Li Ping said. He looked at Cao Yabo vigilantly, but what he wanted to say was not a major event, so he continued: "After the Tsar was imprisoned by the Russian Provisional Government, everything in the past was not guaranteed. Although the Japanese government did not recognize it, the British were still very annoyed."

It was okay for Li Pingshu to not mention the secret agreement between Japan and Russia, but when Song Jiaoren mentioned it, his mind buzzed. He didn't know why the Russian Provisional Government did not guard the secret agreements well, which made it embarrassing. But no matter what, the news dug out from Russia recently was basically true. This article was published by the Beijing-Tianjin Times, which was very telling.

"It seems that the excuse of declaring war has also been found!" Song Jiaoren sat on the chair with the newspaper, weak.

Song Jiaoren was still late to see the newspaper. The day before it was published, the Beijing-Tianjin Times Museum sent the sample to the Prime Minister's Office for Yang Rui to take a look. Yang Rui, who thought that the declaration of war would be delayed for several months, shook his head and smiled when he saw the newspaper. The Western Front offensive lasted only for more than eight months, and more than 700,000 casualties were killed or killed in the British and French coalition. In addition to the First Army Division and the Lafayette Air Force that had declared war, the rest of the troops were still in the US recruit camp.

Even when we arrived in France, the First Division of the US Army did not immediately bring it to the battlefield. General Pershing, the commander-in-chief of the US Army, believed that the US Army could not apply to the cruel European battlefield at all. Muscles and artillery were not yet available, so the troops needed a long training to participate in the battle. Only the Lafayette Air Force officially fought. However, this was just about filling out some results for the German pilots, and it was of no help to the entire war.

The United States, which issued a large check but did not know when it could be cashed out; Russia, which barely launched an attack, but eventually broke down and fled under the counterattack of the German and Austrian coalition; Italy, which was successful and defeated again and again; Japan, who knew the situation and did not want to sacrifice himself..., various countries were surviving the battle situation. After the United States declared war, the commentators who decided that the allies would definitely be defeated, made a completely opposite judgment from before, that is: if the US Army could not quickly complete the training and enter the war, then the German army on the eastern front that defeated Russia's western transfer would only wait for the British and French coalition forces.

"It's really done. Are we really ready?" Yu Huizu, who held the same Tianjin and Beijing Times in Yin'an Palace, looked at Yang Rui and asked. Although he is not a member of the Standing Committee now, he is the first to know the result of each discussion between the Standing Committee.

"Basically." Yang Rui crossed his hands, his legs also crossed under the table, his hands and feet swaying regularly, looking happy and contented. "Even if we declare war now, we must follow the established plan to send troops. Since the Americans can drag, we can drag too."

"What about the Fuxing Army?" Yu Huizu asked again, "Aren't the army still stationed in various counties to prevent anyone from causing trouble after land reform?"

"The reserve division was replaced by a secretly summoned several months ago. The troops that needed to go abroad to fight are now undergoing targeted training." Yang Rui said: "The Russian prisoners also started to touch guns a few days ago, and it was North Korea. Because they made a few money to build wooden ships, they even said they wanted to send troops with us. It's really..."

The Masayoshi Matsukata Cabinet was very clear about the situation of its own country, so after learning that China was going to send more than 500,000 troops to Europe to participate in the war, he simply refused to send any troops. For Japan, since China could not stop the troops and the changes in the international structure could not be changed, it would be better to save some military expenditure. Anyway, he was already a warring country. Therefore, after Xie Zhangtai sent an invitation to send troops, Japan's reply was that its national strength was limited. Therefore, it could not afford the cost of the army's battle in Europe, and only expressed his willingness to escort the Chinese expeditionary force to Europe.

The Japanese did not go. The Koreans were immediately excited. They either wanted to share their worries for China or hoped that participating in the war would enhance North Korea's international status. They actually wanted to send two divisions to the European battlefield to see and experience. I really don't know what they are good about.

"North Korea..." When talking about North Korea Yu Huizu, he also smiled. The country with a tax of 40 million yuan is in vain. Although he made some money by China's points, he was still angry and shouted that he wanted to send troops. He really didn't know what to say about them. He said: "We declare war now, how will Germany react?"

"What else can you do? I hate it to the core." Yang Rui said, "But with Britain, France and the United States, we are not going to kill or cut. Besides, why should Germany hold a grudge against us after this war?"

"That's right, but Leo's side..." Yu Huizu suddenly remembered that the disabled German came, and he was very regretful in his words.

"Brother Hanzhang, national interests are above all else, so personal friendship can only be put aside." Yang Rui heard that he mentioned Leo, and the swaying in his hand stopped. Although he had found a comfort for "national interests", Ben's somewhat eager heart also became cold. He suddenly thought, what would Leo think when he heard the news of China's declaration of war? (To be continued)
Chapter completed!