Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly and said, "Director Liu, I can't give you what you want. Now I am the Governor of Liangjiang, and I only care about the affairs of the two rivers and three provinces. What can the court give you? It's not my responsibility. As far as I know, the court has intended to negotiate with you. The person in charge is Zhang Xiangtao, so you just go to Zhang Xiangtao to explain."

Liu Ruijie said: "Since that's the case, then Lord Yuan came here this time to hope that we can take into account the overall situation and what guarantee can we give us? If the Qing court makes any more trouble, who will we look for?"

Yuan Shikai said: "The guarantee I can give East China ** is that as long as I am in the Liangjiang area for one day, I will never intercept your fleet again, nor will I interfere with your disaster relief operations, and I will try my best to support it. However, I am powerless to stop the collusion between the royal family and the powerful, but if there is any news, I will definitely send you all to prepare."

Liu Ruijie said: "Mr. Yuan's guarantees are not enough to take the overall situation into consideration."

Yuan Shikai said: "Yuan also knows that it is not enough, but Yuan's authority is limited, so he can only have these guarantees. There are so many things. Yuan asked himself not to do so. Even if he agreed, what can he do? Besides, although Yuan's guarantees are not too many, it can prevent East China from being distracted by the affairs of the south in the future. This is also a reward."

Liu Ruijie felt a little moved and understood Yuan Shikai’s implication, so he nodded and said, “Okay, I will tell you the proposal back truthfully, and it will be decided by Qingdao.”

Yuan Shikai also nodded and said, "Okay, Yuan will wait for the good news. However, Yuan has two more suggestions, so please ask Director Liu to tell Qingdao."

Liu Ruijie said: "What other suggestions?"

Yuan Shikai said: "I have to go to the south to take office this time and need to cross the Henan area. I also hope that East China ** can make it easier to let the road go. Yuan must pay as much as possible for the fees along the way."

Liu Ruijie said: "Okay, but I wonder how many people will accompany you when Lord Yuan takes office in the south this time?"

Yuan Shikai pondered for a while before saying, "A total of 2,3,000 people."

Liu Ruijie said: "So what is another proposal? Lord Yuan will propose it together."

Yuan Shikai said: "Okay. Yuan went south to serve as the governor of Liangjiang this time, and his jurisdiction was Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. However, the entire territory of Anhui has been occupied by the East China **, so of course he will not be returned. Yuan did not dare to beg East China ** for surrender. However, Anhui is located between Jiangxi and Jiangsu, and separates the two provinces. After Yuan took office, there were many inconveniences in administrative management. Therefore, Yuan had an idea, hoping to use the Yangtze River as the boundary and use the Xuzhou Prefecture, Haizhou, Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Tongzhou, Taicang Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, and Songjiang Prefecture in Anhui Province to exchange for the Chizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, and Taiping Prefecture in Anhui Province. I don't know what the East China ** intends to do."

As he said that, Yuan Shikai took out the map from his arms, spread it on the table, and pointed the exchange place one by one to Liu Ruijie. It turned out that Anhui and Jiangsu provinces are provinces that crossed the banks of the Yangtze River. Yuan Shikai's plan was actually to exchange the Jiangbei land of Jiangsu Province for the Jiangnan land of Anhui Province. Because as Yuan Shikai said, Anhui Province happened to be between Jiangxi and Jiangsu. Now that East China occupied Anhui Province, it was indeed very difficult to do after Yuan Shikai took office. Management and governance were quite inconvenient. But Yuan Shikai also knew that it was impossible to spit out Anhui Province, unless the force he had was stronger than that of East China. Therefore, Yuan Shikai thought about it and finally came up with this plan to change land.

Since Anhui Province has been occupied by the East China National University, and Shanghai is now occupied by the East China National University, the area north of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province has actually been surrounded by the three sides of the East China National University. With the penetration capacity of the East China National University, it is estimated that the East China National University will slowly emptiate it sooner or later. It would be better to take advantage of the fact that it is still under the control of the Qing court and its value is still there, and it is used to exchange the Jiangnan area of ​​Anhui Province with the East China National University.

Overall, the area, population and location of these two exchanges are roughly equally important, and once the exchange is successful, it is actually beneficial to both parties. After Yuan Shikai obtained the Chizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture and Taiping Prefecture of Anhui Province, he can connect with the Jiangnan Land of Jiangsu Province and connect his own jurisdiction into one. In this way, governance and governance will be much more convenient. Yuan Shikai has planned to create a new foundation in Jiangnan.

After getting Xuzhou Prefecture, Haizhou, Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Tongzhou, Taicang Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture and other places in Jiangsu Province, the territory can be directly connected to Shanghai, Taicang Prefecture, and Songjiang Prefecture were originally in the south of the Yangtze River, but Shanghai is located in Songjiang Prefecture, and Taicang Prefecture is north of Shanghai, including Chongming Island. Yuan Shikai included these two places in the scope of this transaction, which also increased his bargaining chips, making East China Prefecture more likely to accept this transaction.

If the transaction of this land can be completed, the two parties will actually use the Yangtze River as the boundary of the Yangtze River. East China controls the north of the Yangtze River, and the Qing court retreats to the south of the Yangtze River. This way, the Wei-Wei is clearly divided and each has a boundary. Of course, this transaction cannot be known to the Qing court, but a private transaction between Yuan Shikai and East China. However, this time Yuan Shikai went to the south to seek the purpose of separating one side, and the Qing court only had a lifespan of 1 or 2 years, so Yuan Shikai was not afraid of being known to the Qing court.

Of course, this transaction was also the result of negotiation between Yuan Shikai and Zhu Erdian. Because the main sphere of influence of Britain, France and other countries in China are now in the Jiangnan region, the Jiangbei area can also be completely abandoned. After the Qing Dynasty was destroyed, the Yangtze River was used as the boundary to let East China control Jiangbei, and the new emerging forces represented by Yuan Shikai were supported in Jiangnan to compete with East China.

After reading the map, Liu Ruijie generally understood Yuan Shikai's intention. In his opinion, this suggestion was indeed good. East China ** did not suffer any loss. Moreover, the land of Jiangbei and Shanghai were all connected together. Although the land of Jiangnan was given to the Qing court, East China ** controlled the Yangtze River waterway and the Shanghai area. Therefore, it is not difficult to launch a battle to attack Jiangnan in the future. As for allowing Yuan Shikai to pass through Henan, it is even more unfair. There are only 23,000 people, and I am afraid that Yuan Shikai will cause trouble in Henan Province.

But this is just Liu Ruijie's personal idea. Of course, he has no right to make a decision, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I understand Lord Yuan's intentions. I will report it to the Qingdao Executive Yuan as soon as possible and let the Executive Yuan decide."

Yuan Shikai also nodded and said, "But Yuan's appointment is probably not too long. Therefore, Director Liu asked for more advice and let Qingdao make a decision as soon as possible. Yuan is also very at ease."

Liu Ruijie said: "I understand that I will write all these situations in the report. Lord Yuan, please don't worry."

Seeing that everything he wanted to say had already been said, Yuan Shikai also knew that it was unrealistic to ask Liu Ruijie to make a decision now, so he could only wait for the decision from Qingdao, so he also stood up to say goodbye.

Three days later, Yuan Shikai received a reply from East China **, agreeing to Yuan Shikai's proposal to go south through Henan and exchange land.

In fact, the plan of various countries to support Yuan Shikai's separatist rule in the south was long been discovered by East China. Because French Consul in Hankou Fernan recruited merchants from various countries to raise funds and planned to support a powerful Qing official in the south. In the chaos in the north, ensuring order in the south, and the frequent meeting and negotiations between British Minister Juerdian in Beijing were not a secret matter. After collecting this information and then dividing it, it is not difficult to find that various countries are planning to support Yuan Shikai as their agent in the south.

However, after discussion, East China* believes that this plan is actually beneficial to East China**. First of all, Yuan Shikai went to the south and would definitely lead his Beiyang New Army to the south. The Beiyang New Army is currently the only army with certain combat effectiveness and established in the Qing court. Therefore, this army heading south with Yuan Shikai can greatly weaken the Qing court's strength in the north. Moreover, if Yuan Shikai is stabilized, East China** can fight in the north with all his heart, destroy the Qing court, and unify the north, and there is no need to worry that the south will involve its own energy.

Of course, this does not mean that the East China ** is afraid of the Beiyang New Army. It is just that it will launch a war to destroy the Qing Dynasty. The simpler the battle to unify the northern land is, the easier the better, because this can reduce the consumption of East China ** and invest all the saved resources in local management, construction and governance after the end of the war. After all, it is not difficult to destroy the Qing court. What is difficult is that after the Qing court, the national governance not only requires a large amount of governance of talents, but also requires a large amount of funds and materials. Therefore, of course, we must try our best to reduce the consumption in the war.

It is not worth worrying that Yuan Shikai went to the south. Although Yuan Shikai was indeed the most capable minister of the Qing court at present, and he had a set of political and military governance, Yuan Shikai is now just the governor of Liangjiang, and there are also governors of Lianghu, governors of Zhejiang and Fu, governors of Guangdong and Guangxi, governors of Yunnan, governors of Sichuan and Shaanxi, etc. So once the Qing court is destroyed, the southern region will inevitably fall into warlord separatism, each occupying one side and not giving in to each other. Even if Yuan Shikai has supported him from various countries, it is impossible for Yuan Shikai to integrate all the forces in the south in a short time. Of course, the East China ** will not leave Yuan Shikai too much time; secondly, the East China ** has absolute control over the sea. Once a war against the south is launched, it can launch an attack from the sea, causing the south to lose one's attention and retreat, and thus take the initiative.
Chapter completed!