Chapter 22: Do you want to replace soldiers with workers?

"Zheng Gong, did you say that Zhang Bianshuai mentioned to you... the restoration of the Qing Dynasty?"

Chang Ruiqing stood in a luxurious suite at Xuzhou Garden Hotel, whispering to talk to Xu Shuzheng, who was sitting in a sofa.

He came to Xuzhou for official business this time, so he only stayed in the Chang family compound for one night. He said goodbye to his parents early the next morning and returned to Xuzhou City. Xu Shuzheng and his group stayed at the Garden Hotel.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he saw this Deputy Chief Xu, he heard a shocking news from the other party. Zhang Xun was openly asking Xu Shuzheng about his views on restoring the Qing Dynasty at the reception banquet last night! These Beiyang warlords were really lawless and such a big rebellious matter was publicly discussed.

Xu Shuzheng smiled coldly, and a trace of disgust slipped across his face: "He Zhang Shaoxuan relied on his braided soldiers with more than 60 battalions in his hand. What do you dare not say? What else should he not do? The theme of the Xuzhou meeting of the Supervisor this time will probably go from discussing participating in the war to discussing restoration!"

"Zheng Gong, what should we do? Do you still want to lobby other supervisors to support the war?" Chang Ruiqing looked hesitant. He had seen a lot of Zhang Xun's restoration in his previous life in various books, but the ins and outs of this matter seemed to be hidden in the fog of history, and no one could tell what was going on. There were some statements pointing the finger at the Xu Shuzheng in front of him, saying that the farce of the restoration was planned by him behind the scenes, with the purpose of expelling Li Yuanhong and the Congress who were against Duan Qirui's State Council system... But judging from the situation in front of him, it seemed that it didn't look very similar.

"You sit down and talk first," Xu Shuzheng waved at Chang Ruiqing: "Of course the matter of participating in the war has to continue to advance. Even Zhang Shaoxuan himself did not express any objection to this, but he just refused to send his Dingwu Army to Europe." He sneered: "As long as his braided soldiers are willing to go to Europe, we can't let them go. One by one, dragging a tail behind his head, so why don't people laugh out loud?"

Chang Ruiqing sat down opposite Xu Shuzheng, and he frowned: "What should I do about the restoration?"

"What should I do? Pretend that I didn't hear it!" Xu Shuzheng glared at Chang Ruiqing.

"Just let him continue to mess around like this?"

"So what can it do? Could it be that it is to send troops to fight against rebellion?" Xu Shuzheng snorted coldly: "The braided soldiers of the Sixty-third Battalion are known as brave. Recently, Zhang Shaoxuan recruited soldiers near Xuzhou. It is estimated that there will be hundreds of battalions in the future! How many soldiers are there in the central government? Can they beat him?"

Chang Ruiqing could only smile a few times. At present, there was only one army 13th Division of the Anhui clan around Beijing City, but only a dozen battalions of troops! Moreover, in history, Li Jincai, the commander of the 13th Division, half-superior, participated in the restoration of Zhang Xun. As for the two direct divisions, the 8th Division and the 12th Division, participated in the Machang's rebellion in history, but they were only sent out after Duan Qirui's 600,000 oceans! And the opponent was only the 10th Battalion of Braided Soldiers, with a total of only 4,300 people, not hundreds of battalions in Xuzhou! In history, Zhang Xun's soldiers who remained in Xuzhou, and finally, under the leadership of his subordinate Zhang Wensheng, turned against the Anhui clan after the failure of the restoration. Zhang Wensheng was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou, the commander of the Dingwu Army, and the commission supervised the four provinces. He continued to be king and dominate Xuzhou with braided soldiers with braided soldiers for many years.

Chang Ruiqing took a breath and advised: "Mr. Zheng, it would be fine if Zhang Braida just said it casually, but the students are afraid that something will really cause trouble."

Xu Shuzheng smiled: "It's a mess? Zhang Shaoxuan really dared to take the banner of restoring the Qing Dynasty. He kept it a rat crossing the street... This emperor could not even be Yuan Gongbao. He still wanted to be Puyi's teenage brat? Yaoru, do you really think he is a fool? He just continued to express his loyalty to the front dynasty, collecting some old and young men in the previous dynasty to beat the edge of him, and perhaps he could collect some yellow and white things from several royal houses that were still dreaming about the Spring and Autumn Period."

Xu Daci took a deep breath and looked at Chang Ruiqing: "Yaoru, if you have the time to think about Zhang Shaoxuan, you should think more about joining the war. In the past two days, I have thought of a new method - using labor instead of soldiers. We can propose to Britain and France to send hundreds of thousands of workers to Europe to help dig trenches and repair fortifications, and exchange some benefits first. At the same time, we can tell the supervisors that we do not send troops, we only send some workers... In this way, they are embarrassed to object again, right?"

Historically, the situation in which China participated in World War I was "using workers instead of soldiers". Before China officially participated in World War I, it began to recruit workers one after another. In the end, 150,000 Chinese workers participated in this world war! However, except for the wages of Chinese workers, China did not get any reward.

Chang Ruiqing sighed: "They will not object on the surface, but they will not sincerely support it. Alas, they will do their best to leave their will..."

The huge inertia of history is obviously not easily reversed by a small Beiyang battalion commander. The storm of "participating in the war to save the country" now seems to have returned to the old path of "using workers instead of soldiers". Moreover, Zhang Xun's farce in restoration seems to be also being carried out step by step.

...

In the Xuzhou Daotai Yamen, which is the supervisory office of Zhang Xun Dingwu Army, a card game had already begun. In the flower hall, there was a mahogany Eight Immortals table and a battle between the square city, which was at a time when it was difficult to resolve.

In addition to the owner of the Xuzhou Daotai Yamen, the Anhui Governor and General Zhang Xun, the Anhui Governor, Ni Sichong, the Anhui Governor, and the Fengtian Governor and Governor who came from outside the pass, and General Shengwu Zhang Zuolin; General Jilin Governor, and General Zhen'an You, Meng Enyuan.

Now the four old foxes who have become elfs are all seemingly rich guys who spend a lot of money. They play mahjong cards one by one and take them in, but they don’t even look at them. The four pairs of eyes that are emitting shiny are all dripping, and they don’t know what they are thinking about?

Unlike in the past card games, there were a lot of maids and servants, and Xiaotingmen serving them. Today, in the flower hall, there was only one nephew of Zhang Xun's family. Zhang Biting, who was a battalion commander in the Dingwu Army, served tea and water on the side.

"Xuanshuai, I, Lao Zhang, is a real person, I'm just talking about it." After a few rounds of mahjong, Zhang Zuolin, who won tens of thousands of yuan, suddenly put down the mahjong plaque in his hand and looked at Zhang Xun with a sincere face: "I have no objection to restoring the Qing Dynasty. There will be no unsightly little bastard in Fengtian Province to oppose it! But, this Beiyang group has always been the only one who only Premier Duan and Vice President Feng. If they did not nod, it would be better to make a long-term plan for the restoration."

Zhang Xun also put down the mahjong plaque in his hand, looked at Zhang Zuolin's loyal look, and nodded solemnly, pointed at Ni Sichong beside him, and smiled: "Just ask Duan Zhiquan (Duan Qirui) for his opinion. He is a celebrity in front of Duan Zhiquan. He met Xiao Xu with me last night. We have also told Xiao Xu about the restoration."

Zhang Zuolin and Meng Enyuan looked at each other, and they naturally knew that this little Xu was Xu Shuzheng, and Duan Qirui was the one who said that if he agreed to the restoration, Duan Qirui would agree 100%. If he opposed it, then this drama of restoration would probably not be able to continue.

Zhang Zuolin smiled and said, "What did Xu Youzheng say?"

"Of course he agrees!" Ni Sichong touched his beard, glanced at Zhang Xun, and said with a smile: "Xiao Xu almost broke his leg to participate in the war. What are they trying to do? Isn't they trying to get back some rights from the great powers? If this matter was put in the Qing Dynasty, the Military Affairs Office would discuss it and give it to the Empress Dowager or the Regent, and it would be accurate the next day. How could it be like now? The Presidential Palace and the Congress have been quarreling? I think this republic is not in line with China's national conditions at all, and it must be an emperor!"

Zhang Zuolin frowned slightly, hesitated for a while, and asked again: "But when Yuan Gongbao was going to be the emperor before, Duan Zhi was opposed."

Zhang Xun smiled and waved his hand: "Why should Yuan Gongbao be this emperor? He and we are both ministers in the same palace. If he could be the emperor, why can't I, Mr. Zhang?" As he said that, he attacked somewhere in the air: "But the current emperor is different, that's the true dragon emperor!"
Chapter completed!