"Someone come, take him out for me!" Yuan Shikai shouted.

Immediately personal soldiers rushed in. Feng Xu didn't need anyone to drag him; he just followed the personal soldiers calmly. The Beiyang generals watched Feng Xu leave, wanting to advise but daring not to advise Yuan Shikai. The atmosphere in the room quickly fell into an awkward situation. Fortunately, Yuan Shikai shouted again: "You all get out too."

The generals immediately filed out. Yuan Shikai glanced out the window and saw Wang Shizhen heading in the direction where the personal soldiers took Feng Xu, then he breathed a sigh of relief. When there was no one left inside or outside the room, Yuan Shikai picked up the letter Chen Ke gave him. The envelope was very large; weighing it in hand, there were quite a few things inside. Opening it to look, sure enough, a thick stack of paper.

On the top sheet was Chen Ke's letter. The content was very polite, nothing more than what Feng Xu had just said. The end of the letter said the back part was an article written by Chen Ke, asking Yuan Shikai to correct it.

Could this be "This Life of Yuan Shikai"? Although he knew in his heart this was obviously impossible, Yuan Shikai still worried for a moment. The content indeed had nothing to do with Yuan Shikai himself, but was about the political design of the Federation of Autonomous Provinces.

The forum where Chen Ke was did not evaluate Yuan Shikai badly. Everyone thought Yuan Shikai didn't understand democratic politics. Because of Yuan Shikai's experience, he maintained extremely deep vigilance against democratic politics. And a major "tragedy" of the Beiyang government was that because they didn't understand the democratic parliamentary system, Beiyang actually created a parliamentary system most unsuitable for Beiyang in the end. Those foolish MPs in the parliament were all semi-celebrities and professional "political troublemakers". Because every bill of the Beiyang government's parliament had to be reviewed by that group of foolish MPs. So this bunch of MPs holding the attitude of "power not used is void after expiration" made things difficult desperately. The Beiyang military leaders headed by Yuan Shikai were extremely annoyed in order to deal with this group of foolish MPs.

With this cognition, Chen Ke proposed the suggestion of "Federation of Autonomous Provinces". "Federation of Autonomous Provinces" was bluntly the American set. The United States was formed by rebel states back then, so since its establishment, it opposed a strong center. Besides the federal constitution, each state had its own set of laws. This situation was extremely similar to China now.

Talking to Yuan Shikai about great sentiments or eternal fame was useless. Chen Ke was a rebel bandit in Yuan Shikai's eyes; Yuan Shikai didn't think Chen Ke had any moral advantage. The reason why the two sides seemed equal was entirely built on the basis of military power. Then Chen Ke would only talk about military affairs. This actually suited Yuan Shikai's appetite.

Chen Ke clearly pointed out that the Federation of Autonomous Provinces seemed to have a bright future, but actual operation was full of hardships. In China today, only Yuan Shikai had the strength to lead this situation. He requested Yuan Shikai, for himself and for China, to dare to be the first in the world and bravely take up this responsibility.

After reading the whole article, Yuan Shikai even nodded slightly. This was what a man of action would say, not avoiding the hardships in the operation process at all. And he grasped many key nodes. Even if Yuan Shikai firmly believed Chen Ke harbored evil intentions, the things on the surface were still said clearly.

While Yuan Shikai studied Chen Ke's letter, Wang Shizhen had already arranged accommodation for Feng Xu. The accommodation conditions naturally wouldn't be bad. Whether it was house arrest or protection, Beiyang still adhered to the traditional attitude—never be rude. Letting personal soldiers guard the gate strictly, Wang Shizhen and Feng Xu began to talk.

Actually, Wang Shizhen felt Feng Xu's approach today was a bit silly (Er). The negotiation rule had always been that the subordinates would talk openly. Yuan Shikai could say "speak frankly without worry" to your face, but Feng Xu couldn't just pour beans out of a bamboo tube like this. Feng Xu wasn't a reckless young lad; as Yuan Shikai's "Dragon Eye", Wang Shizhen definitely had to bear the responsibility of negotiation. Since they had to talk sooner or later, Wang Shizhen felt he might as well clarify things with Feng Xu now.

"Brother Feng, you spoke too bluntly today." Wang Shizhen got straight to the point as soon as he started.

"Commander-in-Chief Wang, the matter of the Federation of Autonomous Provinces is easy to say, but doing it involves thousands of threads. If I didn't speak bluntly, Lord Yuan wouldn't listen to me." Feng Xu answered calmly and composedly.

Wang Shizhen was also a pragmatist; hearing this, he immediately felt a sense of agreement. He had always opposed revolution, not because Wang Shizhen was hostile to revolution, but because those revolutionaries described the future with flying spittle; as a pragmatist, Wang Shizhen felt what the revolutionaries said was completely inconsistent with practical operation.

The reason Wang Shizhen was hostile to the People's Party was not that the People's Party was a revolutionary party, but that the People's Party solidly opposed the court and Beiyang. Wang Shizhen had always been interested in the People's Party's program.

"Then what exactly does the People's Party think?" Wang Shizhen asked.

"Commander-in-Chief Wang, what exactly does your Beiyang think?" Feng Xu asked back.

Such a direct question made it a bit difficult for Wang Shizhen to cope. More than a month ago, it was under Wang Shizhen's vigorous lobbying that Beiyang dispatched Duan Qirui to attack Zhejiang. The effect was quite good; after occupying Zhejiang, Beiyang obtained two territories, Henan and Zhejiang. Plus the forces in Zhili and other places, the Beiyang situation was considered somewhat opened up. Yuan Shikai's original intention was to continue watching. But the drastically changing situation in the court and local areas made the whole situation extremely chaotic, so let alone Yuan Shikai, even Wang Shizhen couldn't grasp where the situation would develop.

After thinking it over, Wang Shizhen told the truth, "We indeed don't know how this situation will change. People say stones from other hills may serve to polish jade; on this matter, I still hope Brother Feng gives advice."

"Chairman Chen loves to say, who are our enemies, who are our friends; this is the primary question of the revolution. At the current stage, our enemies are the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction. There is absolutely no possibility of reconciliation between the People's Party and the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction. Either the People's Party perishes, or the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction perishes. Between us and the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction, we must unite friends to the maximum extent to isolate the enemy. This is the situation of the world now." Feng Xu listened to this Party Central Committee meeting the whole time and understood this general trend very thoroughly.

"The world (Tianxia)?" There was a hint of mockery in Wang Shizhen's words.

"Correct, it is the world." Feng Xu answered categorically, "What is the characteristic of other provinces and the Manchu Qing court forces? It is that they have no army projection capability at all. Without army projection capability, they have no strength and no qualification to participate in the matters dominating the world situation. In current China, there are nothing more than two families possessing such projection capability: one is Beiyang, one is the People's Party. No matter how other forces shout, they can only hole up in their own nests and be beaten passively."

Wang Shizhen had heard of Feng Xu's background as a genuine First Class Third Place Jinshi in the 12th year of Guangxu. In various rumors, Feng Xu was a virtuous and capable financial official, and also a famous scholar. But he didn't expect Feng Xu to actually show the insight of "understanding military affairs". Just the term "projection capability", Wang Shizhen couldn't find a more vivid military description vocabulary.

Viewing the current situation from this angle, Wang Shizhen, who was proficient in military affairs, suddenly saw the light.

"Brother Feng, according to what you say, the People's Party is already prepared to seize the world by military force?" Wang Shizhen also went straight to the topic.

"The People's Party is not fully prepared for this now. Maybe we still have the ability to compete for dominance, but the preparation for unifying the world is far from sufficient." Feng Xu followed Chen Ke's instructions and told the truth completely.

"Then how does Chen Wenqing see our Beiyang?" Wang Shizhen wanted to determine this core issue.

"It's not how the People's Party sees Beiyang, but what Beiyang prepares to do itself. The world today has reached this situation; what we think is not important at all. It's where Beiyang prepares to stand. Is Beiyang prepared to view itself as a part of the Manchu Qing? Or prepared to rise up and maintain its own interests? I came under orders this time just to know how Beiyang prepares to choose? Does Beiyang decide to seek its own interests, break with the Manchu Qing from now on, and deal with them perfunctorily? Or decide to continue tied to the Manchu Qing's war chariot and go down like this. Commander-in-Chief Wang, this is having Beiyang's stance first, then the People's Party's view. Not the People's Party self-righteously imagining a situation and then arranging future work according to this imagined situation."

Hearing Feng Xu finish, Wang Shizhen shivered in his heart. Wang Shizhen himself always handled things this way, but this was the first time someone pointed out this principle with such straightforward words. While Wang Shizhen felt a great sense of finding a soulmate, he suddenly gave birth to a sigh unrelated to current events. Whether Yan Fu or Feng Xu, or even Pu Guanshui, the famous "traitor general" of Beiyang now, why did so many capable people defect to the People's Party?

If these few people stood under the banner of Beiyang now, using their wisdom to give advice, how would Yuan Shikai and Wang Shizhen be lonely worrying about future situation changes?

"Brother Feng, since you came under orders, presumably there are some things you know but cannot say. Brother Feng, you might as well frankly tell what you know and can say; I, your brother, thank you here first." Wang Shizhen said sincerely. This question pointed directly to the real bottom card of the People's Party; Wang Shizhen wanted to figure it out very much.

Feng Xu actually hadn't been a lobbyist. Although he liked the scene of Zhuge Liang debating the scholars in Eastern Wu in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Feng Xu himself always felt lobbyists were people who told lies. Until personally participating in the People's Party's central meeting this time, Feng Xu discovered for the first time that truth was actually far more powerful than lies. So after arriving at Beiyang, he maintained a frank attitude from beginning to end. To Wang Shizhen's probing words, Feng Xu replied frankly: "Commander-in-Chief Wang, what I want to say is actually said very clearly. Lord Yuan and Commander-in-Chief Wang are both sensible people; telling lies to you two is meaningless. The People's Party has made up its mind to thoroughly overthrow the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction. To overthrow the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction, it is absolutely impossible to bypass Beiyang. And Beiyang and the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction are not fellow travelers now; there is still a chance for cooperation between the two sides. Even if there is only a one percent chance, we must show one hundred percent sincerity to strive for it. This is the purpose of my coming."

"That is to say, the People's Party wants our Beiyang to betray the court?" Wang Shizhen pointed out this key point.

Seeing Wang Shizhen finally understood this, Feng Xu felt quite relaxed in his heart. He nodded and smiled: "Exactly. If Beiyang led by Lord Yuan is willing to stand on its own, then we can continue to talk. If Lord Yuan disagrees, then I will leave now."

"If Lord Yuan disagrees, will the People's Party have a showdown with my Beiyang?" Wang Shizhen couldn't help asking next.

"This is a question I don't know so I can't say." Feng Xu borrowed Wang Shizhen's words just now.

"Brother Feng is so frank; I thank you." Wang Shizhen ended this conversation with these words.

Coming out of Feng Xu's room, Wang Shizhen saw Yuan Shikai's personal soldier waiting outside the gate. Seeing Wang Shizhen, the personal soldier immediately stepped forward to salute, "Commander-in-Chief Wang, Lord Yuan invites you."

It seemed Yuan Shikai was also waiting for the result of Wang Shizhen's discussion with Feng Xu, so the personal soldier waited so honestly without going in to report. Arriving at Yuan Shikai's place, Wang Shizhen told Yuan Shikai all the results of this meeting.

"Feng Xu is a talent." Yuan Shikai didn't evaluate Feng Xu's suggestion but gave birth to the same sigh as Wang Shizhen. Mentioning celebrities in the late Qing Dynasty, it was naturally "North Yuan (Shikai) South Cen (Chunxuan)". Feng Xu, a mere scholar, didn't rank at all. But hearing Feng Xu's words, his judgment of the general trend of the world was sharp and profound, not entangled in details, pointing directly to the core problem. Speaking only of understanding the court, Yuan Shikai was naturally far above Feng Xu. But regarding the analysis of the current situation, Yuan Shikai didn't have Feng Xu's cognitive angle. This couldn't help but make Yuan Shikai admire him a bit.

"Lord Yuan, do you want to detain Feng Xu?" Wang Shizhen asked.

"Pinqing, when you were captured by Chen Ke back then, were you afraid of death?" Yuan Shikai asked.

Hearing this, Wang Shizhen already understood Yuan Shikai's meaning. Feng Xu dared to come; naturally, he had thought about life and death. If Feng Xu as a lobbyist could realize the situation of the world, it was even less likely that the People's Party didn't know. Threatening the People's Party with Feng Xu's life would be useless.

Thinking through this point, Wang Shizhen sat on the chair without saying a word. Yuan Shikai also sat on the chair without saying a word. The two backbones of Beiyang were people of extreme self-cultivation; maintaining silence was too easy for them. The two thought about their worries, letting time pass gradually.

Breaking the silence was a personal soldier, "Lord Yuan, telegram from Beijing."

Yuan Shikai unfolded the telegram to look; the content was Regent Zaifeng urgently ordering Yuan Shikai to wave his army south to exterminate the Anhui rebels. The tone of the telegram was very tough. Yuan Shikai naturally wasn't afraid of Zaifeng. From the telegram, Yuan Shikai could already guess that outside Beijing city must be messed up horribly by the mounted bandits.

Putting down the telegram, Yuan Shikai didn't ask Wang Shizhen to make plans as usual. The crappy matters in Beijing were meaningless now. Although Feng Xu spoke politely, the meaning behind it was very tough. The People's Party had issued an ultimatum now. If Yuan Shikai decided to stand with Beijing, or prepared to stand by and watch the People's Party fight the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction, then the People's Party would fight a decisive battle with Yuan Shikai. According to the term "military projection capability" described by Wang Shizhen, as long as the People's Party thoroughly smashed the Beiyang Army, the only combat-capable force under the Manchu Qing banner, the demise of the Manchu Qing court would only be a matter of time.

And in the current strategic situation, the People's Party temporarily controlled Hanyang. Although they didn't annex Hubei temporarily, the forty to fifty thousand guns and millions of rounds of ammunition in the Hanyang arsenal definitely fell into the hands of the People's Party. Intelligence from Hubei said the People's Party entering Wuhan numbered as many as seventy or eighty thousand. Because the methods were reasonable, through relief for disaster victims, order in the disaster area had gradually been restored. Even if the People's Party transferred these tens of thousands of people away from Hubei, it was absolutely impossible for Hubei to use troops against Anhui within a year or so.

The destination of these tens of thousands of people didn't need consideration; they were definitely transferred to the front of the Beiyang Army. The People's Party capable of relieving Hubei disaster victims absolutely didn't lack grain. Seventy or eighty thousand people facing forty thousand Beiyang New Army troops, Yuan Shikai didn't think he could easily defeat the People's Party. Even if it was a pyrrhic victory, what was the significance? Just as Feng Xu said, in front of this once-in-a-lifetime major opportunity, if Yuan Shikai's Beiyang lost the troops that could be projected, then he lost the possibility of dominating the situation.

If the People's Party and the Beiyang Army both suffered heavy losses, the biggest beneficiary would be the "Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction" that the People's Party swore to overthrow. And this bunch of "Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction" was not only the enemy of the People's Party but also the enemy of Yuan Shikai.

Looking purely from interests, not only did Yuan Shikai have no reason to perish together with the People's Party, but there were plenty of reasons to cooperate with the People's Party.

However, this was the step Yuan Shikai couldn't take no matter what. Deep in his heart, no matter how much he wanted to seize the dominance of the Manchu Qing court, no matter how much he wanted to thoroughly suppress the Manchu group, this was all built on the standpoint that Yuan Shikai himself was a subject of the Manchu Qing. Letting Beiyang become independent, Yuan Shikai was completely unprepared for this thought.

Not only did Yuan Shikai know this thought of his own, but he also knew Wang Shizhen's attitude was the same as his. Wang Shizhen might agree with Yuan Shikai entering the capital to "save the Emperor" or even "clear the Emperor's side" (remove bad advisors). But Wang Shizhen wouldn't sincerely approve of Yuan Shikai replacing the Manchu Qing. "Powerful Minister" and "Rebel" were two completely different things.

But the People's Party opposite was eyeing them covetously, and their position was also stated extremely clearly. Either the Manchu Qing perishes, or the Manchu Qing perishes together with Yuan Shikai. There was no third road to take.

"Who are our friends, who are our enemies, this is the primary question of the revolution." Yuan Shikai recited this sentence silently, suddenly unable to help laughing loudly. This young man Chen Ke was really different. Yuan Shikai thought with envy, even if he recognized friends and enemies clearly, he might not necessarily be able to choose the real friends and enemies. After Chen Ke recognized friends and enemies, he dared to choose.

If the People's Party joined hands with Beiyang, the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction would immediately die without a burial place. To promote the demise of the enemy as soon as possible, Chen Ke could negotiate peace with the Beiyang Army facing each other with weapons now. Then after the Manchu Qing Die-hard Faction perished, who would be Chen Ke's next enemy? Would it be Yuan Shikai's turn?

But why, even knowing there was this possibility, did Yuan Shikai not have the slightest hatred for Chen Ke? Yuan Shikai really wanted to know, if there was such a day, what reason would Chen Ke use to prove that in the war between Chen Ke and Yuan Shikai, Chen Ke was the side with moral superiority?

Thinking of this, Yuan Shikai said with a smile to the bewildered Wang Shizhen: "Pinqing, go bring Feng Xu over; I want to talk to him."