On March 7, 1911, before Song Jiaoren had even departed, Yuan Shikai's representative, Tang Shaoyi, arrived in Fengtai County.

Tang Shaoyi was Beiyang’s expert negotiator. In 1901, when Yuan Shikai was promoted to Governor-General of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, he appointed Tang as the Tianjin Customs Tao-tai. During his tenure, Tang managed the takeover of Tianjin’s urban areas occupied by the Eight-Nation Alliance and reclaimed administrative rights for the Qinhuangdao port. His achievements were remarkable, earning him the respect of his colleagues. Yuan Shikai had even petitioned the imperial court, praising Tang’s outstanding performance and ability.

In 1904, the Qing government appointed Tang as the Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate with British representatives in India regarding the Tibet issue. Tang maintained a firm nationalistic stance, employing flexible diplomatic tactics. He insisted on overturning the so-called "Lhasa Treaty" signed between Britain and the local Tibetan government, thwarting Britain's attempt to separate Tibet from Chinese territory. In April 1906, the "Sino-British Treaty Relating to Tibet" was signed. Although Britain gained the privilege of laying telegraph lines from India to the opened commercial ports in Tibet, it was forced to recognize China's territorial sovereignty over the region.

The vibrant young people of the People's Party left a deep impression on Tang Shaoyi, and Chen Ke's position within the party surprised him even more. As the saying goes, "the bystander sees most clearly." Tang, a negotiation expert, determined that Chen Ke was by no means the "People's Party dictator" rumored in Beiyang. The young cadres of the People's Party showed no signs of blind obedience to Chen Ke. In this regard, they were vastly different from the Qing court and the Beiyang clique.

As for Chen Ke himself, Tang was even more perplexed. The typical bureaucratic air Tang was accustomed to seeing was entirely absent in Chen Ke. This young man was simply there to get things done. He seemed completely unaware of having a status different from anyone else; among that group of youths, everyone appeared exactly where they needed to be to perform their roles. It was as simple as that.

In particular, when he saw an orderly pouring water for Chen Ke and the others, Chen Ke and the People's Party cadres said "thank you" with an expression that was as natural as could be. Tang felt an unprecedented shock. He could see that even if some youths seemed a bit unnatural, it was merely out of an unfamiliarity with being served, nothing more. After saying those two words, "thank you," they completely put the matter of pouring water out of their minds.

Facing such a group of opponents, Tang Shaoyi felt a rare sense of unease.

"This time, I have been entrusted by Lord Yuan to discuss the matter of tax funds with your side," Tang Shaoyi said. Beiyang's finances were indeed unable to withstand the heavy pressure of the Boxer Indemnity. The annual payment amounted to over twenty million taels of silver. Aside from customs revenue, the Qing government had collected the funds by apportioning quotas to each province. For instance, Hunan had been assigned a quota of 700,000 taels.

Since Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang clique had seized central power, it meant they had to take on this debt. In the current national situation, every province was refusing to send money to the central government. Beiyang alone was trying to prop up this house of cards, and its finances were on the verge of collapse. One of the conditions the British were using to squeeze Yuan Shikai was requiring him to pay this money before discussing anything else.

Beiyang wasn't entirely in the dark regarding the base area's finances. They knew the base area was negotiating a fixed trade agreement with the British. The British were demanding an annual trade volume of 100 million pounds sterling. In this era, that was equivalent to 750 million taels of silver. This amount made even the installment interest look small; the principal of the Boxer Indemnity was only 450 million taels—barely more than half of this trade volume. Facing such heavy pressure, Yuan Shikai had no choice but to send Tang Shaoyi to negotiate with the People's Party. Beiyang’s pot was truly about to run dry.

Tang Shaoyi was actually quite reluctant to come to the People's Party. He believed that for the People's Party to have such close commercial ties with the British, they must have sold out significant national interests. Tang had always wanted to reclaim all of China's sovereignty and held "traitors" like the People's Party in low regard. Furthermore, Beiyang and the People's Party were currently in a state of war. Even if there was a secret agreement, if Beiyang came begging to the People's Party, the People's Party would surely demand an extortionate price.

After introducing the difficulties Beiyang was facing, Tang Shaoyi presented Yuan Shikai’s request: "Could the People's Party advance the indemnity payments for the three years from 1909 to 1912?"

"And how do you plan to pay us back?" Chen Ke asked.

Whatever Tang Shaoyi might have expected to hear, nothing could have surprised him more than this sentence. He looked at Chen Ke in astonishment, trying to discern his intent. On the surface, this meant Chen Ke was willing to consider advancing the three years of payments. But this attitude itself was far too abnormal.

Glancing at the young People's Party members in the meeting, none showed any sign of surprise. They were staring at Tang Shaoyi, clearly waiting for his next answer. This was even more unexpected. Had they already guessed the purpose of his visit?

"Chairman Chen, the central treasury is exhausted. The matter of repayment must be proposed by the People's Party. Our side truly has no money to repay," Tang Shaoyi stated his requirement according to Yuan Shikai’s instructions.

"Then I want the Susongtaidao circuit and Shanghai," Chen Ke replied. Although Shanghai contained the concessions, administratively it belonged to the Susongtaidao circuit. This circuit had been formed by merging the Suzhou-Songjiang Grain Storage Circuit and the Songjiang-Taicang Circuit, with the Tao-tai’s yamen still located in Shanghai County. If they could obtain it for just 70 million taels of silver, the People's Party would wake up laughing from their dreams. Wuhan, China's second-ranked industrial and commercial city, was already in their hands; if they could also bring the first-ranked Shanghai region under their control, the People's Party could generate even more revenue. Moreover, the People's Party wouldn't actually give the foreign devils 70 million taels in one go; 9 million pounds wasn't an especially outrageous figure for the current People's Party.

Tang Shaoyi never expected the People's Party to agree so easily, nor did he expect their counter-demand to be so absurd. Beiyang’s Duan Qirui had fought tooth and nail to control Shanghai, and Beiyang would absolutely never give up that cornucopia.

It seemed someone really had leaked the purpose of his trip, Tang thought. Otherwise, how could the People's Party have made this demand without even a moment's consideration? Being a negotiation expert after all, Tang followed up: "Chairman Chen, before this trip, Lord Yuan said that regarding your previous proposal for a wool mill in Zhangjiakou, we can negotiate."

Chen Ke smiled. "Mr. Tang, you've been an official for many years. I imagine you're much more familiar with the situation in the Qing bureaucracy than we are. Putting aside whether we could make money, Zhangjiakou would surely see us as a piece of fat meat; someone would certainly come up to take a few bites out of us. We in the People's Party don't know how to deal with such people, and we hate having to solve those kinds of problems. You are an intelligent man; can you point us toward a bright path? How can we do business properly?"

Tang Shaoyi had never seen such a frank negotiation opponent. Strictly speaking, if the People's Party were to cooperate in Zhangjiakou, there were too many places where Beiyang could squeeze them. Tang himself could not guarantee that the intention to cooperate could be implemented. From the People's Party's perspective, buying land was the only reliable choice. To "cede land for money" within one's own country—Tang found such an outcome completely unacceptable. But Beiyang truly had no money. Tang detested the predatory taxation of the bureaucracy; when the Boxer Indemnity was apportioned to Hebei Province, Zhao Sanduo and Jing Tingbin had launched an uprising with the slogan "Oppose Foreign Levies." Tang, of course, didn't know that the remnants of those uprisings, like Wu Xingchen and Pang Zi, had joined the People's Party. However, he understood the harm of such levies very well; if the central government dared to increase taxes by one tael, by the time it reached the local level after being marked up at every layer, the commoners would have to bear a tenfold burden. In comparison, the People's Party's suggestion was actually the most feasible in theory.

Seeing Tang Shaoyi’s dilemma, Chen Ke smiled. "Mr. Tang, if you're not sure, you might as well send a telegram to Beijing and ask. This is a major matter; there's no rush."

The first meeting ended there.

After the meeting, Zhang Yu couldn't help but laugh. "If Song Jiaoren knew we might actually agree to those 70 million, would he die of anger?"

In the negotiations with Song Jiaoren, the People's Party had determined an aid package worth about 7,000 taels in the base area. Yet in the negotiation with Yuan Shikai, it was suddenly 10,000 times that amount... Several comrades were amused by this wicked joke.

Qi Huishen laughed for a bit before reigning it in. "Will Beiyang agree?"

"It doesn't matter whether they agree or not. The key is ourselves. If we don't have the strength, can we hold onto Shanghai?" Chen Ke smiled.

"Is that land really worth 70 million?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Let's put it this way: putting aside the many factories in Shanghai, just being in Shanghai provides a way to make quite a bit of money. Foreign warships need to dock, especially for repairs—that alone is no small sum. Not to mention that with Shanghai, we'd have the Jiangnan Shipyard. Even if Beiyang strips the machinery, it would still be faster than us rebuilding a shipyard from scratch," Chen Ke laughed.

"But if we start land reform in Shanghai..." Qi Huishen’s family was from Shanghai, and he knew the difficulty well.

"Whether the gentry want to reform or not is their business; whether we can carry out the land reform is ours. There's nothing to fear," Chen Ke said with high spirits. "As long as our own attitude is correct, there are no problems that cannot be solved."

The People's Party worked efficiently; they specifically installed a wired telegraph at Tang Shaoyi’s delegation residence. Tang immediately sent a coded telegram to Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai was shocked upon receiving it. It wasn't surprising that the People's Party would open their mouths wide. The problem was that this demand was almost nonsensical. Shanghai was a region Duan Qirui had forcefully intervened in; theoretically, it still belonged to Jiangsu Province, but the garrison was already a mixture of Beiyang troops and local Shanghai forces. For the People's Party to demand Shanghai was equivalent to cutting another piece out of southern Jiangsu. Weakening Wang Youhong’s power didn't mean much, but in the current situation, weakening Wang Youhong meant Yuan Shikai’s declaration of war on Jiangnan. With the National Assembly about to convene, doing this at such a critical juncture was completely unfeasible.

"It seems that bastard Chen Ke really doesn't lack money!" Yuan Shikai said to Yang Du with a face full of fury.

Yang Du, however, was not angry. He had been seeking ways to make China strong—and he wasn't alone; most members of Beiyang, including Yuan Shikai, shared this thought. To them, sixty percent was pure self-interest, while the other forty percent was a mix of private and public interest. If China became strong, they would gain both fame and fortune; that would be a great thing. The rise of the People's Party made Yang Du feel he saw a glimmer of dawn. If a political force established for only five or six years could achieve such a level, Beiyang should have an even more limitless future.

In Yang Du’s view, the problem lay in the People's Party's attitude toward the gentry. Although the People's Party slaughtered gentry and eliminated landlords, the results were remarkable. Beiyang certainly couldn't do the same, but they should be able to restrain the landlords and gentry somewhat. With Beiyang’s vast territory, if they could achieve even half the results of the People's Party, they could become extremely powerful.

Hearing Yuan Shikai’s words, Yang Du said with a conciliatory smile, "Lord Yuan, it's possible the People's Party just wants to become officials in Shanghai."

Yuan Shikai sneered. "Huzhan, why are you speaking such nonsense? Chen Ke has never cared for empty titles. If he did, do you think the Yuewanghui would have been allowed to occupy Anqing during that first battle?"

Beiyang had repeatedly examined the secret of the People's Party's rise. These people were fairly pragmatic; they believed that by the time Beiyang led the three-pronged attack on the People's Party, the situation was already in the People's Party's favor. The only real chance was after the first Anqing campaign; if Beiyang had attacked from three sides then, they could have wiped out those rebels. But at the time, everyone’s attention was on the loud-mouthed Yuewanghui and Guangfuhui; no one imagined the People's Party was the truly major power. Yuan Shikai actually admired Chen Ke's ability to endure. Honestly, even if Yuan Shikai had known that occupying Anqing was a liability, he couldn't have resisted the temptation. Moreover, even if he could have, his subordinates would never have agreed to retreat immediately after putting in all that effort to take the city.

"Then how does Lord Yuan plan to respond to Chen Ke?" Yang Du changed the question.

Yuan Shikai didn't answer. His thoughts jumped in a direction completely unrelated to this practical problem. Provincial autonomy had brought Yuan Shikai immense benefits. It removed the possibility of him being labeled a "rebel" and allowed him to become the substantive leader of the new China. For the foreseeable future, aside from being unable to become Emperor, Yuan Shikai was already the first man of China. Even Chen Ke could not change this trend. However, after the central government lost its power over personnel appointments, it essentially lost control over the provinces—unless those provinces fell into chaos themselves. For instance, in Fujian and Shaanxi, Beiyang had naturally marched in. That was a central government privilege.

But when the central government needed something from the locales, this became impossible to handle. Before the People's Party officially ended its hostility with Yuan Shikai, Yuan could not accept any defeat that would affect the prestige of the Beiyang central government. Once the People's Party officially joined the National Assembly and the four provinces returned to Beiyang’s central leadership, Yuan Shikai would have no reason to send troops into those four provinces. Provincial autonomy had become a constraint on Yuan Shikai, a situation he could not accept.

Had his choice at the time been correct? Yuan Shikai couldn't help but begin to doubt himself.

Seeing Yuan Shikai remain silent for a long time, Yang Du couldn't help but call out softly, "Lord Yuan..."

"Hmm... Tell Tang Shaoyi to inform Chen Ke that Shanghai is Jiangsu’s territory; we cannot break the agreement on provincial autonomy. Chen Ke mentioned doing wool business in Zhangjiakou before; we in Beiyang will absolutely not make things difficult for them. My word is my bond. Ask him if he doesn't trust me. I can sign a decree at that time to not collect a single cent in taxes from the factories the People's Party opens. I, Yuan, still have that much sense of responsibility. Tell him exactly that."

"Oh? Yuan Shikai’s responsibility?" Chen Ke frowned. Strictly speaking, an old-school figure like Yuan Shikai did indeed have a sense of responsibility. Even regarding that business of declaring himself Emperor—Yuan Shikai did it for himself, but he didn't let everything go to ruin; he still abdicated. In the end, he recommended Li Yuanhong to be the next president. One could call Yuan Shikai foolish, muddled, or blinded by interest, but one could not say he wasn't a formidable man.

Chen Ke didn't want to doubt Yuan Shikai’s responsibility; he was questioning Yuan Shikai’s overall execution capability. The base area followed a modern management system; every link had its own regulations. For instance, the base area might give way on iron, steel, synthetic ammonia, and soda ash production to let the third-ranked silk industry take the lead. From mulberry planting to leaf picking, silkworm breeding, rearing, and reeling, every step in that entire process had a set of related systems and regulations.

The problem wasn't really about biting off such a large piece of fat meat, nor was it about whether Yuan Shikai and that group of Beiyang people had a sense of responsibility. Rather, if the entire chain of the wool industry could not be properly supported, Chen Ke wouldn't be able to improve it either. The entire wool industry would fail to develop. And for those things, the sincere cooperation of Beiyang was essential.

Whether those Beiyang people could understand a modern enterprise was the core issue. If they could, Chen Ke was willing to let them share a portion of the profits. It was obviously unreasonable for Beiyang to provide effort without compensation. To be blunt, Chen Ke had no choice but to discuss the base area’s true thoughts with Tang Shaoyi.

In 1874, at the age of twelve, Tang Shaoyi had been selected by the Qing government to study in the United States. He returned in 1881 at the age of nineteen; the era that formed his primary worldview was spent in America. Therefore, he could understand these modern enterprise management and system issues. Upon hearing Chen Ke’s overall plan for the wool industry, Tang was immediately captivated. Modern enterprises and industrial chains were inherently scientific things, involving meticulous management and rational judgment. To Chen Ke, they were merely commonplace things shouted about in countless articles. To Tang Shaoyi, however, it was like opening a door that had never been opened before. How a state could rationally employ administrative and economic means to arrange production and create wealth was something Tang had sought for years without success.

When Chen Ke concluded with, "It’s easy to say but harder than climbing to heaven to do. As long as the government and local forces have the intention to marked-up exploitation at every layer, even the best design is for naught," Tang Shaoyi looked at the man eighteen years his junior with a gaze of reverence. "Chairman Chen, do not say such things. Beiyang is by no means untrustworthy."

Chen Ke smiled. "That's right, Beiyang keeps its word, but its word is built on money and power. I don't quite believe they will fulfill their obligations. To guarantee the basic supply of raw materials, we have to establish collection points in Inner and Outer Mongolia, and we must cooperate effectively with the masses there. Yet currently, Outer Mongolia wants to declare independence. As far as we know, Mr. Cao Kun is leading troops to fight the separatist forces there, with varying degrees of success. Outer Mongolian cavalry often charge into Rehe to fight the Beiyang Army. Mr. Tang, you are a reasonable man; cross your heart and ask yourself: do you dare guarantee that the Beiyang Army will protect us without asking for a single cent?"

Tang Shaoyi smiled bitterly. Chen Ke’s straightforward negotiation style was indeed very commendable, but many times it was truly impossible to parry. The chronic ailments of Beiyang were not something that could be changed with a single sentence.

"If we want to protect ourselves, then we have to form our own army. How far is Zhangjiakou from Beijing? Could Mr. Yuan be at ease with us doing that? The wool business isn't a one-off deal; to make money on a large scale, the risk cannot be too great. If we can't guarantee the safety of the collection points or the stability of raw material quality, tell me, how are we to make money? And these problems don't actually involve Beiyang’s responsibility or word, but rather the fact that Beiyang might not be able to solve them in its current state."

Hearing this, Tang Shaoyi almost forgot his identity and nodded slightly. After just a few nods, however, he realized his loss of composure. Tang regained his serious negotiation expression and said with as much composure as possible, "Please allow me to report this matter to Lord Yuan."

This time, it wasn't just a telegram; Tang Shaoyi sent a long letter back to Yuan Shikai by express courier, detailing the matter of the wool cooperation. After reading the letter, Yuan Shikai flew into a rage instead. "Isn't this nonsense from Chen Wenqing! If I could achieve what he says, would I still need him?"

Ignoring Yuan Shikai’s fury, Yang Du took the letter from him and read it through. Having been with Beiyang for so long, Yang Du already understood why Yuan Shikai was so angry. Chen Ke truly hadn't wronged Beiyang; he had pointed out the core problem: "A total lack of execution capability!"

Beiyang did not lack capable people, but it lacked people willing to work honestly. If there were people willing to honestly build collection points in Mongolia and help the local Mongolian people with production, Yuan Shikai would absolutely entrust them with heavy responsibilities. Such talents were hard to come by. Who would throw a group of such talents into a god-forsaken place like Mongolia?

However, Yang Du didn't care much about this. He smiled and said, "Lord Yuan, if we don't have these people, does Chen Ke?"

"Hmm? What do you mean by that, Huzhan?" Yuan Shikai felt somewhat surprised by this comment.