After the Olympic Games were determined, the Executive Meeting ended, and the others left one after another, only Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Wang Yunpeng, Xu Jichao and Xiao Jianjun stayed. Obviously, there were important matters to be negotiated. Although the results of the negotiations of the Big Five cannot become the resolution of the Executive Meeting, the five people still had to negotiate in advance for major matters to reach consensus to ensure the unification of the resolution.

After everyone else left, Wang Yunpeng said: "There is information from Yuan Shikai and ordered a batch of military supplies from us. At the same time, he said that the finances of Liangjiang are now in difficulty. He hopes that we can delay the payment of the previous batch of supplies and deliver this batch of needed supplies first."

Xiao Jianjun said: "What does Lao Yuan mean? Do you want to pay responsibilities?"

Xu Jichao smiled and said, "That's not the case. Their previous payments were normal. Perhaps Yuan Shikai can't support it now."

Qin Zheng said: "That's not the case. At the beginning of the year, we had a discussion. Although it would be detrimental to Yuan Shikai for a long time, he should be able to persist for at least one year, or even two years, and he would never be able to support him in less than half a year."

Xia Bohai said: "So I think Yuan Shikai is testing, that is, testing how far our support for him can reach. If we can allow him to delay payment this time, it means we will support him in confrontation with Pu Wei for a long time, otherwise it means that our support for him is limited."

It turned out that the Second Southern War entered a stalemate stage. Yuan's army and Deyou's army stood on the western edge of Hunan and held each other on a front line of more than 400 kilometers. Deyou's army invested about 250,000 troops, and in the past six months, they built a large number of defensive fortifications.

Such a confrontation made it difficult to exert the advantages of the Yuan army's strong combat power, and its disadvantage compared to the fewer troops was undoubtedly exposed, because the Yuan army had only about 120,000 yuan, and it was necessary to defend a long front of more than 400 kilometers. Such a force was obviously not enough, not to mention the Fengde court in the south. Although there were only four prefectures and prefectures left in the Fengde court at this time, it had long since lost its advantage as the former Fujian, but Bijing had not yet perished. Moreover, there was Japan behind the Fengde court, so it was also impossible to guard against it. Therefore, Yuan Shikai had to expand the number of troops to 200,000 and arranged 160,000 troops on the western front to avoid force. In this way, more than 10,000 troops were arranged on the southern front to prevent accidents. In addition, about 30,000 reserve troops were retained.

However, Yuan Shikai was also very clear that it would be absolutely unfavorable for him to persist in this way for a long time, because his territory and population were far less than that of the Deyou court, so he would definitely not be able to consume the Deyou court.

Yuan Shikai had thought about breaking the current stalemate. He had launched two tentative attacks on the Deyou Army's defense line. However, although the combat effectiveness of the Deyou Army was not as good as that of the Yuan Army, his ability to hold positions was still not underestimated. Bijing's defense was easier than attack. Moreover, the Deyou Army had established a stable defense line, and the Yuan army lacked heavy artillery, mainly because the East China government did not buy artillery above 75mm, so it was unable to break through the Deyou Army's defense line and lost a lot of troops. At this time, the battlefield was in western Hunan, the Yangtze River had transferred to Sichuan Province, and the Yuan army's fleet was useless.

Such a confrontation is a huge consumption every day. The direct consequence of the expansion of Yuan's army is that the labor force is a large reduction. Although the army with the Deyou army at the border is only 160,000,000,000 workers are needed to transport materials and maintain the cost of the army. In this way, at least 700,000 male laborers in the middle of young and middle-aged men cannot engage in social production. Although Yuan Shikai has occupied most of Hunan Province, he has just occupied it and has not stabilized yet, so he cannot use the manpower and material resources of Hunan Province for a while. In addition to Hunan, the population under his rule is only about 30 million, and the number of male labor in young and middle-aged men is only 78 million, which is less than about 1/10 of the labor force, which will naturally have a huge impact on social production.

In fact, the situation of Deyou Army is more afflicted than that of Yuan Army. The number of laborers used is close to 1 million, but the Deyou court now has a population of nearly 100 million, and its human resources are much more abundant than Yuan Shikai, so it is much better than Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai also understands that if he does not find a way to break the situation as soon as possible, he will only have one consequence, which is to be exhausted by the Deyou court.

But at this time, there were not many ways to think of. Xu Shichang suggested that he could ask the East China Government for rescue and temporarily suspend the payment of the purchase of weapons and arms supplies, so as to test the East China Government's support for Yuan Shikai, and then make other plans. Yuan Shikai also felt that this was a solution. If the East China Government was willing to support him, could give him credit and also buy him some heavy artillery, then he would not only support him, but also have hope of defeating Deyou Army.

Xia Bohai said: "What do you think? Should we help Yuan Shikai again this time?"

Qin Zheng thought for a while and said, "If we didn't help Yuan Shikai, what would his result be!"

Xiao Jianjun said: "What else will happen? You must have been exhausted by the Deyou court, or surrendered to the Deyou court before you are exhausted."

Wang Yunpeng smiled and said, "It's not necessary to surrender to Deyou's court! In fact, there is another way, which is to surrender to us."

Qin Zheng said: "Yuan Shikai will definitely not be willing to be exhausted, so he will definitely choose a surrender object between us and Deyou court."

Xia Bohai smiled and said, "Then what would Yuan Shikai choose!"

Wang Yunpeng said: "Is this still necessary to think about it? It must be us. Even if he surrenders to the Deyou court, when we send troops south, the Deyou court is not our opponent. At that time, we will still surrender to us. Lao Yuan has no feelings for the Qing court, so why do we need to surrender again? Besides, Yuan Shikai has a deep grudge with the original Qing court clan members. In recent years, he has fought with them. Surrender to the Deyou court will definitely not have a good result. For example, we surrender, at least we can save our lives, and maybe we can use his current territory to make a single official position. Lao Yuan is a smart person and will not know how to choose."

Xu Jichao frowned and said, "Then if Yuan Shikai surrenders to us, will we accept him!"

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Of course we have to accept it. We have obtained 2.3 million square kilometers of territory and tens of millions of people for nothing. It is better than getting a war. Why don't we accept it?"

Xu Jichao said: "But this means that we will officially enter the south. Are we ready to recover the south now!"

Xiao Jianjun first said: "I don't know other situations, but the army is fully prepared. At most one month, the three military regions in the southwest, central and southeast can be fully dispatched, and at least 6 troops can be dispatched, and about 300,000 troops can be dispatched to attack the south in an all-round way."

Xia Bohai said: "It's almost time. Now Xinjiang, Qinghai, Mongolia and other regions have basically stabilized, and the land reform along the Yangtze River and Zhejiang has been completed. At the same time, our material preparations are also sufficient. At the same time, we should be able to attack the south and unify the whole country. In addition, if we support Yuan Shikai, then his credit account will basically not be collected, because we support Yuan Shikai, just to let him support it for a period of time, but sooner or later we will still have to advance to the south and unify the whole country. At that time, who will we ask for the account?"

Wang Yunpeng nodded and said, "Yuan Shikai can support him for at least another half a year. In addition, we will negotiate and accept his territory in the second half of next year, that is, after the Olympics end."

Xia Bohai said: "Yes, it's almost this time."

At this time, Qin Zheng said: "Not only do we collect the South, but now we should also consider the establishment of the country. We must officially establish the country next year."

After Qin Zheng finished speaking, others also thought about the official founding of the country next year. On the one hand, the time is indeed ripe. Although it is unlikely that the South will be fully charged next year, it is only a matter of time. After all, there is no force in the South that can compete with the East China Government, and Britain, France and other countries are unable to interfere, so this does not affect the founding of the country. On the other hand, next year will be the expiration of the second term of the leadership member of this term. Although the East China Government does not clearly stipulate the number of re-elections, according to convention, they will only be re-election once.

If the country is officially established next year, then all the previous term can be cleared, and everything will start over again, at least in terms of legal theory. Now the East China Government is only a temporary institution. Even if it is a re-voting election, the members of this term are confident of being elected. After all, the achievements are there. In more than ten years, the East China Government has initially completed local industrialization construction on the basis of a basic and agricultural society, and most of the industrial products can be self-sufficient; from small to large, there was only Shandong Province at the beginning, and now it basically occupied most of China; it won the Far East War, regained some of the lost land in the Northeast, and also included Borneo in its territory, becoming a regional power in one fell swoop. All these achievements are not easy even if they are time travelers, and the leaders of this term naturally make an indelible contribution.

Of course, Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng and others do not want to retire, but want to make another move. They are not greedy for power. Instead, considering that the international situation will be complex and changeable in the next 10 years. As the process of the old time and space, the First World War will occur three years later, and the world will present a chaotic situation. Moreover, the process of the old time and space can only be used as a reference and cannot be used as a basis. Therefore, in the future, China will not only have to survive this chaotic period safely, but also make full use of this chaotic period and try its best to strengthen itself. A group of people with ruling and diplomatic experience will need to master the country. Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng and others do not have much confidence in whether the people who will come to take over the country in a chaotic period.
Chapter completed!