Chapter 62: Xiao Dengke

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  Fang Zida was in a good mood, and whoever suddenly got a huge sum of money would definitely be in a great mood. On his way home from Liu Guo Restaurant, he even hummed a little tune excitedly, which rarely happened to Fang Zida.

  Uchida Ryōhei never thought that Hōshi Tadashi was actually planning to swindle him. As for what Uchida Ryōhei said, apart from the 150 million yen proposed by the other party, Hōshi Tadashi basically didn't take it seriously and just pretended to listen.

  A few nonsensical sentences, and he's got 23 million in his hands. How could Fang Zida's mood be bad? Now his mind is all about figuring out how to get the rest of the money into his hands. In Fang Zida's mind, this self-sent big fool is a free gift, if possible, it would be even better to swindle more money. As for what reaction Nakahara Ryōhei will have when he finally finds out he's been cheated, and what measures he'll take against him, Fang Zida doesn't worry about that at all.

  In this era, people who owe money are afraid of being asked to pay back debts, just like Yang Bailao in the opera, who is afraid of Huang Shiren's debt collection and hides in a mountain valley. Of course, Fang Zida also wonders if these two characters really exist or not. In any case, in the eyes of Chinese people today, owing money is a very shameful and humiliating thing, and those who are in debt are considered inferior to others. They dare not show their faces to outsiders and live in fear of creditors coming to collect debts. This is also normal, as current thinking and concepts have always been this way. Take the government's large-scale borrowing for example, it is a very normal national loan, but why do so many people oppose it? It's easy to imagine.

  But Fang Zidao was different from ordinary people, his ideas were completely opposite to those of ordinary people. Just like a common saying a hundred years later: "If you ask the bank for a loan of 100 yuan, you are working for the bank, if you ask the bank for a loan of 100 million, then the bank is working for you." Fang Zidao was a business elite, familiar with capital operations, and naturally understood this truth. Uchida Ryōhei made a good calculation, thinking that Fang Zidao was like an ordinary Chinese official, but he was completely wrong. He didn't expect that Fang Zidao would eat meat without spitting out bones, treating him as a fool.

  As for what will happen in the future and how the Japanese will react, Fang Zidao didn't care at all. To put it bluntly, he had hundreds of ways to deal with those little Japanese, and when the time came, they would have no choice but to deliver the money with their tails between their legs, unable to utter a word.

  Since Fang Zidao gave a clear reply to Yang Du and Yuan Kedding, the matter of President Yuan's daughter's marriage formally entered the procedure. In just a few days, under the pretext of a family banquet, Fang Zidao went to the Presidential Palace. Yuan Shikai had many children, but only seven daughters were of suitable age: Fuzhen, Fujie and Sizhen. Except for Fuzhen who was already engaged to Yin Tiekuang, son of Yin Chang, both Fujie and Sizhen were quite suitable. However, after careful consideration, Yuan Shikai decided to marry Sizhen to Fang Zidao.

  Yuan Sizhen was born to the third wife, Jin Shi. Old Yuan had always doted on this third wife, and since his second son, Ke Wen, third son, Ke Liang, and Sizhen were all born of the same mother, Jin Shi held a high position in the Yuan household. When she heard that Old Yuan was planning to marry off his daughter, Jin Shi suddenly gained enthusiasm, inquired about Fang Zida's situation, and then took advantage of a family banquet to take a look at this son-in-law. As the saying goes, "the more a mother-in-law looks at her son-in-law, the happier she becomes." Afterwards, with a whisper in his ear, Old Yuan gave the opportunity to Yuan Sizhen.

  The marriage of the Republic of China era was completely different from that of a hundred years later, everything was old-fashioned. Fang Zidao had arrived at the Presidential Palace but had not seen Yuan Shikai's face at all, and everything was arranged by Yuan Shikai. What did Fang Zidao come for? What did this family banquet represent? Everyone knew it in their hearts, and Old Yuan didn't mince words either. When he mentioned it briefly during dinner, Fang Zidao, who had been prepared early on, agreed immediately, which made Old Yuan extremely pleased.

  Before leaving, they exchanged each other's birth dates and settled the marriage. Next was for Fang Zidao to return home and formally ask a matchmaker to propose, then send an elder to confirm the wedding date and so on. These things were all taken care of by Yang Du and Song Jiaoren, so Fang Zidao didn't have to worry about them.

  Very soon, within half a month, the wedding was scheduled to take place before the new year. After the marriage certificate was completed, Fang Zidao and Yuan Sizhen had not yet held a formal wedding ceremony, but in theory, he had already become Yuan Shikai's son-in-law. Such great news attracted officials in Beijing to come one after another, some came to congratulate, some came to offer good wishes, of course, there were also those who came to curry favor with the Fang family. All sorts of people came, and for a time, the threshold of the Fang family's mansion was almost trampled down.

  During this time, the money that Uchida Ryōhei had promised also arrived in the account. At this time, Uchida Ryōhei had already returned to Japan, and Fujita Ichirō, as a dispatched personnel, stayed in China and became the liaison between Fang Zidao and the other party. It's said that it was a liaison, but in fact, saying monitoring or urging would be more suitable. Fang Zidao naturally understood this. When handing over the huge check to Fang Zidao, Fujita Ichirō smiled and congratulated Fang Zidao on his marriage with the Yuan family, also reminding him not to forget the promise he had made at the beginning. Fang Zidao was not ambiguous either, speaking nonsense and guaranteeing it in front of him, patting his chest repeatedly, and even took out a fake "plan" and blew it up, discussing it with Fujita Ichirō, who listened with shining eyes and became extremely excited.

  Of course, when breaking up, Fang Zidao did not forget to "chase" the remaining payment. Although it was not explicitly stated in his words, it could be inferred that the more money Japan provided, the faster the progress of his work would be. Seeing Fujita Ichiro nodding repeatedly in agreement and leaving with excitement, Fang Zidao secretly laughed to himself, almost bursting into laughter.

  In the winter of 1913, on December 23rd, two days before Christmas, Fang Zidao and Yuan Sizhen held their wedding ceremony. The President's daughter getting married was a big deal, although Yuan Shikai had always required his children to be frugal, and the wedding wasn't particularly extravagant, but there were still countless relatives and friends in attendance, who were all worn out by the tedious and old-fashioned wedding formalities that lasted throughout the day. Fang Zidao, exhausted, finally waited until the time came to enter the bridal chamber, when he lifted the red veil off his new wife's head, and under the candlelight, he finally saw the face of his newlywed wife.

  Yuan Sichen was only twenty-eight years old, and although he couldn't be called handsome, he looked dignified. Under the candlelight, his slightly shy expression made Fang Zidao very satisfied.

  Following the etiquette, the two of them first drank the wedding wine, exchanged a few soft words, and soon the candles in the bridal chamber were blown out. Holding his lovely wife in his arms, Fang Zida slowly pressed down on her...

  The next day, after dawn broke, Fang Zida took his new wife to the Presidential Palace. As soon as they entered the gate, Yuan Keding, the eldest son of President Yuan, came out with a smile and bowed to congratulate them: "Zhengming, Shimei, Father and Aunt are waiting for you inside, I'm here to welcome you home."

  "Thank you, big brother!" Fang Zida and Yuan Siyuan hastily thanked him and followed Yuan Keding into the house.

  As usual, he paid his respects to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and after the ceremony, Jin Xi took the shy Yuan Sizhen to the back to whisper something, while Fang Zidao accompanied Yuan Shikai and his son Yuan Keding in the front hall.

  "Ah, Meng, we're all family now, don't be so formal." Looking at Fang Zidao sitting carefully in the chair, Yuan Shikai smiled and took out a document, saying: "The matter of the Central Bank has already been approved by me. This is the appointment letter. The documents from the Premier's office will be issued by Tongchu tomorrow. You can take up your post directly."

  Fang Zidao took a look and was overjoyed in his heart, and he hastily thanked Yuan Shikai.

  "One of our own, no need to be like this." Yuan Shikai waved his hand and looked at Fang Zidao again, reminding him: "The Central Bank's affairs will be handed over to Xiang Ming from now on. Don't let me down!"

  "Don't worry, sir, I'll definitely handle this matter properly."

  "Dad, Zhengming is still very meticulous in doing things, so you can rest assured!" On the side, Yuan Keding smiled and interjected, speaking well of Fang Zida.

  Smiling and stroking his beard, Yuan Shikai nodded and then said: "Today's return to the mansion is a family matter, but as the President, family matters and national affairs are inseparable. Taking this opportunity, Xiang Ming, I'd like to ask you about your thoughts on the current situation."

  "Father-in-law, please go ahead and speak." Fang Zida sat at the lower seat with great respect.

  "Zhang Ming's three strategies, I have also carefully read them. As for the way of economy, I don't understand it. Zhang Ming will be in charge of the central bank in the future, and we still need Zhang Ming to help me make more efforts!"

  "This is natural!"

  Nodding, Yuan Shikai continued: "The constitutional law of the Republic is mainly dependent on the two houses of parliament and the Supreme Court. Ordinary administrative matters are also within the jurisdiction of the Premier's Office. As the President, I will not interfere with these matters at all. If there are any decisions made, I will fully support them. However, regarding the nationalization of the military that Deng Huo mentioned in his letter, I have given it careful consideration and deeply agree with it. I wonder if Deng Huo has any further insights on this matter?"

  Fang Zidao smiled slightly, and from the moment Yuan Shikai's first words came out, he had guessed what Old Yuan was most concerned about. Sure enough, as expected, Yuan Shikai attached the most importance to this very point among his suggestions - the nationalization of the army.

  Yuan Shikai trained troops in a small station back then, took over the Beiyang Army, and relied on his strength to step by step reach this position. It can be said that the military is Yuan's ***, only the guns of the military are what Yuan cares about most.

  In other words, the Beiyang Army was a national army in name only, but also Yuan Shikai's private army. The old man understood this very well and was very clear about it. As for the nationalization of the military, Yuan Shikai was particularly concerned, as he saw it as beneficial to him and an opportunity to unify the country completely with the Beiyang faction's power. For this reason, he had thought a lot in recent days and considered many options, but limited by his own vision, Yuan Shikai did not know how to make a move for the time being.

  Fang Zidao had long been mentally prepared and was not surprised when Yuan Shikai's eyes turned to him. He sat up straight and began to speak.