Insufficient balance

  Throughout modern history, Japan and China have been in a state of hostility for most of the time. However, during the period from Xinhai to before World War I, Sino-Japanese relations were in an extremely complex peaceful period.

  The most fundamental reason for this peaceful period is that Japan's economy, diplomacy and politics are still mired in the shadow of the Russo-Japanese War, while China is in a state of actual disintegration, which has a lot to do with Japan. Because among the Western powers, although they all have connections with various warlords, only Japan can actually provide financial and military aid to them.

  Japan is doing this simply to keep China in a state of confusion.

  "Your Excellency, Mr. Sato made contact with Chen Jingyun of Fujian yesterday, and according to the telegram he sent back, Chen has accepted Mr. Sato's proposal!" The man speaking handed over a thick report with respect.

  After receiving the report from Kōbō-ji, he began to roughly flip through it, saying "Good! Good, Uehara-kun, you've put in some effort!"

  The report was very thick, but Saionji Kinmochi didn't read it all the way through. He just flipped through it briefly and asked, "What is this person's impression of the empire?"

  Uehara Kondō said with respect: "According to Mr. Satō's report, this person has not made any anti-Japanese remarks in recent years. After the uprising, there were no extreme actions against our country's overseas Chinese either. Moreover, this person graduated from the Imperial Army Academy, and many of the commanders of the Fujian National People's Army are also students who studied in Japan!"

  "Oh, so you're saying that this person is worth supporting?" Saigusa Kōbō looked up and gazed at Uehara Kintarō.

  But before Nishikido could respond, Saigō simply waved his hand and said: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will handle this matter well. Yes, be careful to keep it confidential and don't let countries like the UK and US find out!"

  "He continued: 'And Yuan Shikai, Sun Wen's side also needs to strengthen ties!'"

  "I understand!"

  With the statement of Saionji Kinmochi, Japan took swift action and began formal negotiations with Fujian on the following day. The specific details were settled in just one day, and a secret loan treaty was signed by both parties on the third day.

  The specific treaty can be roughly divided into three points. The first point is that the Fujian Military Government will issue 150 million yuan of five-year bonds through the Bank of Fuzhou, which will be uniformly purchased by several Japanese banking groups, and the salt administration of Fujian Province will be used as collateral for repayment. At the same time, one-third of the loan amount must be guaranteed to purchase Japanese military equipment. The second point is that Chen Jingyun will hire Japanese economic, political, and military advisers in his personal name, and the Fuzhou Military Academy will employ a corresponding number of retired Japanese military officers as instructors. The third point is the arms procurement case.

  In the military procurement case, the Japanese side proposed to provide equipment for three divisions. However, Chen Jingyun considered that he had already ordered a large number of weapons from Germany and also planned to manufacture rifles and other light weapons himself, so he rejected the plan for the three divisions and instead procured artillery and corresponding ammunition.

  The Japanese side also accepted this, so the arms purchase case became Fujian purchasing 110 75mm field guns, 55 75mm mountain guns, and 18 105mm howitzers from Japan, with hundreds of rounds of ammunition per gun. After haggling over prices and using various connections to knock off tens of thousands of yuan in small change, the total price was set at 5.5 million yuan.

  In such an arms purchase case, Chen Jingyun's plan was to organize three artillery regiments and a 105mm howitzer battalion.

  Chen Jingyun had already experienced the high price of military equipment, and this time he bought three regiments' worth of Japanese-style artillery at an even higher price, which made Chen Jingyun want to manufacture all military supplies himself.

  After signing the contract, both parties held a small wine reception, with only over ten people attending, and these dozen or so people were also participants in the details of the negotiations between the two sides.

  "General, wishing your country an early republic!" Sato Ryosuke still wore a professional smile, but Chen Jingyun could see that his mood should be pretty good.

  Satō Ryōsuke's current mood is indeed not bad. Since the Empire confirmed its policy towards China, the Empire has sent out so many diplomatic personnel and made contact with all parties, but so far, only he himself has truly achieved results. When others were still haggling with other Chinese forces, he had already let Japan's military instructors and advisors enter Fujian. If things go smoothly, they will be able to thoroughly pull Fujian onto Japan's war chariot.

  Chen Jingyun also raised his wine glass: "May the friendship between China and Japan last forever!"

  Chen Jingyun felt a bit nauseous when he said this, no other reason, just because he thought what he said was too fake, so fake that nobody would believe it.

  Although this conversation was fake, everyone who heard it had a smile on their face!

  An Hualin on one side even raised his wine glass: "Cheers to eternal friendship between China and Japan!"

  Everyone also raised their wine glasses and shouted in unison: "Cheers to the eternal friendship between China and Japan!"

  At this time, Chen Jingyun couldn't bear it anymore. The nausea in his heart grew stronger and stronger. He then forced himself to say a few more words to Sato and others before excusing himself and leaving.

  He had just gone out for a short distance when the churning sensation in his stomach grew stronger and stronger, and then he suddenly threw up. The several guards standing beside him hurried over to support him.

  Chen Jingyun struggled to get up, took a deep breath and said: "Return to the mansion!"

  That night, after returning to the mansion, Chen Jingyun vomited twice in a row. After inviting a doctor to examine him, he said that it was probably due to eating something wrong and drinking wine earlier, which caused stomach discomfort. Luo Lian was so scared that her eyes turned red and she burst into tears.

  "It's nothing, I'm fine!" Chen Jingyun thought this girl was a bit too emotional.

  That night, Chen Jingyun fell asleep quickly under Luo Li's careful service. The next day when he woke up, there was nothing wrong with him. However, Luo Li still held a bowl of clear porridge and said: "The doctor said that now can't eat hot food, it's best to eat light!"

  Looking at Luo Li's somewhat haggard expression, Chen Jingyun took over the bowl of porridge, put it down and stretched out his hand to stroke her face: "I'm fine, you eat some too, then go have a good sleep!"

  After speaking, Luo Li saw that she wanted to refute, Chen Jingyun continued: "Sleeping is good for the skin, so girls should sleep more!"

  When Chen Jingyun said this, Luo Li also stopped talking.

  After finishing his breakfast, Chen Jingyun didn't idle around and immediately called Tang Hui-kang from the Arsenal over.

  "I've managed to get some funds recently, and now we can officially put into motion the plan to expand the munitions factory that I mentioned earlier!"

  Tang Hui Kang was stunned as soon as he heard it. Not many people knew about the secret agreement between Chen Jingyun and Sato, on the surface, Fuzhou Bank had issued a large batch of bonds, but who bought these bonds was not something ordinary people could know. However, Tang Hui Kang didn't understand or care much about these secret agreements, he only knew that Chen Jingyun now had money in his hands, and quite a lot of it.

  He immediately exclaimed: "Governor, that single we talked about last time may have missed some, do you want me to go back and modify it?"

  Tang Hui Kang's thoughts were clear to Chen Jing Yun, who just wanted money. However, even with the emergency funds from this batch of Japanese people, a mere tens of millions was not very useful. Moreover, Chen Jing Yun still hoped to use these funds to pay military salaries and support personnel. There wasn't much money that could be spared for expanding the munitions factory.

  So Chen Jingyun hastily waved his hand and said: "Alright, you don't need to say more. Just organize the purchase of machinery and equipment according to the last order. The amount is limited to within 2 million."

  Tang Hui Kang knew that his previous words were just a joke, and when he heard Chen Jing Yun's current words, he also smiled all over his face: "With these two million, many things can be done!"

  Chen Jingyun said: "However, I'll say something ugly beforehand. If I give you this money and the yield can't be increased later, we can't make guns, I will kill people!"

  Tang Hui Kang heard the word "kill" at the end of Chen Jing Yun's words, and his heart also trembled. He knew that Chen Jing Yun was not a kind person, but a warlord with military power in his hands, and when it came to killing people, he was ruthless and merciless.

  Although Fuzhou seems calm and nothing big happened after the incident, those with discerning ears can hear that many Manchu nobles in Fuzhou were ruined and their families exterminated. Later, when implementing tax reform, many people were killed, including high-ranking officials in the military government and local officials.

  With a nervous mood, Tang Hui Kang immediately rushed back to the arsenal after leaving the governor's mansion. In less than half a day, he dismissed seven or eight incompetent personnel and then invited several key management personnel from the arsenal to discuss a reform plan. Then, he began preparing for the purchase of machinery and equipment. To avoid corruption by subordinates, he did not delegate authority and instead took charge personally.

  Tang Hui Kang was busy back and forth with Chen Jing Yun's money and the life-taking token, while the situation between the north and south was changing day by day.

  On November 16, Yuan Shikai formally established the cabinet. On the 17th, Yuan Shikai appointed Duan Qirui as the acting governor of Hubei and Hunan provinces. The Beiyang Army continued to put pressure on Hubei in the direction of Hanyang, and the Hubei militia retreated step by step. The loss of Hanyang was imminent.

  On the 20th, representatives from southern provinces arriving in Shanghai passed a resolution after several meetings: to take Wuchang as the central military government, Li Yuanhong as the Grand Governor of the Military Government, and later decided that representatives from various provinces would go to Wuchang for further meetings.

  This result is naturally the result of the struggle between the pro-Northern and anti-Northern factions. Li Yuanhong and others from Hubei insisted on holding a meeting in Hubei, while the Southern Allied Army was temporarily unable to capture Nanjing, and Shanghai was a leased territory, making it inappropriate to hold the Founding Conference there. They had no choice but to agree to Hubei's request. As a result, not only Chen Qimei was dissatisfied, but even Sun Wen, who was far away in a foreign country, specially sent a telegram expressing his concern for the Hubei front line.

  Chen Jingyun didn't have much of an opinion on this matter, in his view, whether it was Wuchang or Nanjing or Shanghai, it made no great difference to him, nor did he have any hope or interest in taking office in the provisional government that was being prepared. His mind was now focused solely on expanding the military and finance, as for the mess in Shanghai, he had left it to Lin Changming and Zheng Zuyin to handle.

  On the other hand, he also wanted to avoid further conflicts with Zheng Zuoying and others.

  Since the Japanese loan, dissatisfaction with Chen Jingyun has grown within the military government, and contradictions within the military government have also increased. First, Zheng Zuyin gradually broke away from the Tongmenghui and began to get close to the gentry within the military government. This group of people can be roughly described as the constitutional faction, in short, a mixture of rich merchants and gentry. Lin Wenying and others found that their power was gradually disappearing, from military power to within the military government.

  In today's Fujian, the Tongmenghui is still called by that name, but it has already split into three factions. One is the military force led by Chen Jingyun, or simply put, the pseudo-revolutionary party. Another is the wealthy merchant and gentry faction led by Zheng Zuyin, who were also wholeheartedly devoted to the revolution at first, but after success, their minds changed a bit and they started walking on the path of contending for power and profit. The remaining ones are the die-hard Tongmenghui members like Lin Wenying.

  The current situation of the Fujian Alliance is also the current situation of the alliances in other provinces. The alliance, as a loose political coalition, is not far from complete collapse.