Beiyang 1917

April 1917 is destined to be one of the most critical months of this era. The February Revolution broke out in Russia on March 4 (February in the Russian calendar). in the end. Wang Geng returned to China in early April and quickly won the trust and use of Premier Duan Qirui, and then became a rising star in China's political and military circles with a series of outstanding performances.

Under Wang Geng’s efforts and planning, on April 1917, 4, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally exchanged letters with the envoys of the United States, Britain, France, Japan and Russia, confirming the extremely favorable conditions for China’s participation in the war. Then Wang Geng and Xu Shuzheng jointly promoted the For the first time in China's modern history, large-scale demonstrations were held by professors and students, protesting against the president and Congress going their own way, ignoring the favorable conditions that the cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs won for the country on the diplomatic front, and refusing to participate in the war regardless of people's livelihood and reality.

The first student movement in modern history and the subsequent bloodshed in front of the presidential palace, coupled with the defection of the warlords and Feng Guozhang in the south, as well as the tough notes and diplomatic pressure from the British and American powers, the rebellious president Li Yuanhong finally caused the students On April 1917, 4, Congress overwhelmingly passed the cabinet's motion to join the war.

While Duan Cabinet and Vice President Feng Guozhang reached a series of compromises on going north to act as the president, Wang Geng was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Zongbu Hutong, working with Xia Yiting, the new foreign minister approved by the Congress, to negotiate loans with the big powers. .

Since participating in the war has become a fact, the Gengzi indemnity has been postponed for ten years since that year. The Nanyuan participating army garrison receives nearly 1000 recruits from Fengtai Railway Station every day. It is imminent to negotiate loans and arms assistance agreements with foreign powers. At this time, Geng had been promoted to the War Department Supervision Office and Model Army Lieutenant General Commander and Commander of the First Division. Of course, the First Division now has a teaching brigade and two newly formed brigades under its command. The brigade is full of 8000 people.

At the same time, Wang Geng's position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also been directly expanded from supervising negotiations with the United States to supervising negotiations with the five countries. Given that Deputy Foreign Minister Xia Yiting has officially resigned as acting foreign minister, if Wang Geng really intends to develop in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the diplomatic sub- Sooner or later, the long position can also be planned!At this moment, in name, he, the five-nation negotiating supervisor, assisted Xia Yiting in negotiating with the foreign affairs office. In fact, all foreign negotiations related to participating in the war were mainly based on Wang Geng.

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Xia Yiting has nothing to dissatisfy. Without Wang Geng's full support, he would never become a national hero on the diplomatic front in the hearts of the Chinese people, and he would not become a well-known diplomatic chief who saved part of the country's sovereignty for the country. , Of course, Wang Geng will not use Wang Geng's bridge to become a new hot general under Premier Duan's command.

Since negotiating loans and aid, the Chinese members of the negotiating delegation, in addition to Minister of Foreign Affairs Xia Yiting and the war supervisor and five-nation negotiation supervisor Wang Geng, also have Lu Ding, who is acting undersecretary of finance and acting as ministerial affairs, Bank of China President Feng Gengguang, Bank of Communications President Cao Rulin.

As for the original Communications Chief Xu Shiying and Finance Chief Chen Jin-tao, a pair of brothers and sisters who have a good personal relationship, they are both dismissed due to the corruption case and are pending investigation.

Xu Shuzheng's current focus of work has turned to organizing the Anfu Club, preparing to win the majority party position in the new parliamentary election in August for Duan Qirui and the Anhui faction. He is happy to hand over the matter of participating in the war to Wang Genghe His newly prepared team went to work hard, Li Yuanhong's resignation and China's official entry into the war pushed Duan Qirui and the cabinet to the peak of their prestige, which was a good opportunity to strike while the iron was hot.

According to Xu Shuzheng's intention, he wanted Duan Qirui to be elected president in a legitimate manner. As for himself, he was of course the best candidate for the prime minister and chief of the army. So what if you give it to him?

Negotiations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are divided into bilateral and multilateral negotiations. A large conference room is the main venue, and four small meetings around it are sub-venues. Wang Geng is like playing a one-to-many chess game, and he keeps running from this venue. to that venue.

Zhang Jiaao is also doing roadshows and raising shares in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. As the dust of China’s participation in the war has settled, far-sighted bankers and factory owners have seen that the Bank of China, as the central bank, has huge monopoly benefits in terms of borrowing and issuing public bonds. Private capital believes that The shares were very enthusiastic. In just ten days, the consortium and private capital that had signed the letter of intent for the subscription of shares amounted to no less than 500 million yuan, which greatly exceeded the original estimates of Song Hanzhang and Zhang Jiaao.

If there is enough time, Zhang Jiaao even thinks that he can raise 700 million yuan in funds, but the deadline given to him by Wang Geng is until the end of April.After the end of April, to be a shareholder of Bank of China, go directly to the secondary market of the exchange to buy stocks!

At this moment, in an elegant and quiet small meeting room on the second floor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Geng is negotiating with the US ambassador to China, Reinsch, behind closed doors. The person taking notes next to him is his temporary translator and private secretary seconded from the Sacred Heart Academy. Of course, although Rui Enshi, who has been the Minister to China for five years, does not speak Chinese fluently, it is still understandable, although the two of them talk more directly in English.

Wang Geng's fluent Manhattan English with a New York accent is much better than Rui Enshi's Pidgin Chinese. The 48-year-old American envoy is a senior diplomat for the American Far East affairs. He also considers himself a good friend of the Chinese people and promotes Yuan Shikai to become emperor. He was the one who pushed China to join the war, and he also resigned because China was betrayed by foreign powers at the Paris Peace Conference in his previous life.

"My dear Gun, let me tell you the latest bad news. The spring offensive launched by the French army on the Western Front suffered a disastrous defeat, with more than [-] casualties in a week. The frontline is now relying on the British army to maintain it. Join the army and join the war!" The American envoy found out Wang Geng's English name in West Point from nowhere, and from then on he never called Wang Supervisor again, and directly called Wang Geng gun to show his affection.

"It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. As you can see, my Nanyuan Barracks accepts more than 1000 recruits every day, but I don't even have a fire stick in my hand. I can only send them shovels and pickaxes to the banks of the Yongding River. Go digging to maintain fitness and condition, you won't let my people go to Europe to fill trenches with bare hands?"

Wang Geng smelled the cigar in his nose, but he didn't light it up, and felt a little sorry for smoking the beautiful and beautiful private secretary beside him.

"Gun, the French army's spring offensive on the western front was thwarted, with more than 5000 casualties per day. Your Nanyuan only recruited 1000 recruits every day. This is not enough for the Germans to bite their teeth! The US domestic conscription has already It's officially launched, and there are at least 1 recruits entering the barracks from all over the United States every day!" Rui Enshi was a little anxious!

"My dear Paul! How does China compare with the United States? Let alone military and economic strength, China is not a unified country in politics. However, financial appropriations are being asked for all day long, and under such circumstances, it is already a great achievement for me to get a thousand strong men to join the army every day!" Wang Geng said unhurriedly.

The so-called negotiating skill is to act when the other party is in a hurry, and no matter how anxious you are, you have to put on a look of complete indifference.

"Gun, let's stop playing around in circles. China's asking price for war loans and arms and equipment assistance is really too high! It's our US military. The military pay for participating in the war is only one dollar a day, plus 25 cents a day for overseas allowances. You are a lion! Asking for five dollars a day, how is this possible! Congress will never agree to it!" the American envoy spread his hands and complained.

"Paul, I said why the Americans don't want to join the army. I heard that your first detachment can't be formed. You have to draw lots to decide who will go to France or not? The military salary you give to others is enough to buy one a day. Pounds of citric acid, that Ford auto worker still earns $5 a day without risking his life, even your ordinary white-collar workers earn $2.5 a day, how can you join the army and go to the battlefield and only pay $1.25 a day? What is the U.S. government thinking? of?"