Minister of War Zhang Xiluan might just be the most comfortable Minister of War to date. Previous Ministers of War were mostly concurrently held by the Premier, including powerful figures like Duan Qirui. In short, those men held high positions and heavy authority.

Minister Zhang Xiluan had no intention of grasping for power himself, and others were unwilling to let the 79-year-old Minister Zhang suffer any fatigue. Aside from important meetings that required his attendance, any specific affairs were handled by his Chief of Staff and others on his behalf.

At this moment, Minister Zhang was attending a cabinet meeting. Today was the 11th. Early in the morning, the entrance to the printing plant of the *Northeast Daily* was crowded with people, everyone hoping to get the newspaper at the first opportunity. Consequently, the paperboys were temporarily out of a job; the newspapers transported out of the printing plant were immediately surrounded by the crowd.

As sung in "The Song of the Newspaper Boy" composed by Nie Er: *'La la la! La la la! I am a little expert at selling newspapers. I don't wait for dawn to distribute the papers. I walk and shout, today's news is truly good, seven copper coins buy two papers.'*

Now, these masses no longer cared about the price. Some even held a silver dollar in their hand, squeezing through the crowd while shouting loudly, "I'll buy two copies! One silver dollar, I'm buying two copies!"

Fortunately, the big figures of the Beiyang Government had subscribed to the newspaper long ago. While the newspapers were still inside the plant, not yet finished printing, the copies for the various dignitaries were collected by people sent from each household.

President Xu Shichang, Premier Duan Qirui, Minister of War Zhang Xiluan, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gu Weijun—these four held a meeting. With the war between the Northeast and Japan being so significant, anyone without value in this matter was not invited to participate.

Just then, the meeting room door opened, and Minister of the Navy Jiang Zheng walked in quickly, holding a newspaper. Jiang Zheng, a native of Fujian, born in 1865, was the same age as Duan Qirui. In his early years, he entered the second navigation class of the Tianjin Naval Academy. He graduated in the 13th year of the Guangxu reign (1887), entered the navy, and was promoted successively to the principal of the Yantai Naval Academy. This 57-year-old man's face was flushed, and his eyes were also red. Upon entering, he first apologized to the waiting group: "Gentlemen, I was so absorbed in reading in the car that I made you wait."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Gu Weijun smiled slightly; he could completely understand Minister of the Navy Jiang Zheng's mood. The Northeast Army had cleanly and efficiently annihilated the Kwantung Army and then annihilated the main force of the Japanese Korea Army, wiping out a total of over 83,200 enemies. Such a military victory had not only changed the situation in East Asia but even faintly shook the world situation.

After the Washington Conference, Gu Weijun had actually entertained thoughts of retiring, but at this moment, he completely disregarded such thoughts. At a time like this, it was precisely the moment to negotiate with various countries diplomatically for the country and maintain China's strength. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, how could he not do his utmost?

However, as the first Chinese diplomatic official in 80 years to have a victory as a background, even Gu Weijun, who was accustomed to grand international scenes, could not immediately find his current footing.

Duan Qirui had mixed feelings in his heart. Seeing that everyone had finished reading the newspaper, he said, "Minister Gu, if foreigners ask why the government hasn't sent a telegram to the Northeast, tell them that all the telegraph machines have been transmitting day and night for the past few days and have developed some faults, requiring maintenance."

Gu Weijun smiled slightly, finding this answer rather humorous, and agreed. This was diplomacy; a weak country has no diplomacy, while any reason given by a strong country seems 'logical and natural'. Just like the reason He Rui gave for declaring war on the Kwantung Army.

After finishing the light topics, what remained were naturally the heavy ones. Inviting Foreign Minister Gu Weijun to attend this meeting was not intended to discuss domestic issues anyway.

Xu Shichang thought for a moment and raised a question he personally felt couldn't be completely determined. "Elder Zhang, Japan certainly knows that the Central Government actually supports General He. Will they use this as an excuse to refuse to leave Shandong? Or perhaps become obsessed and want to occupy Shandong to face the outside of the pass across the sea?"

Zhang Xiluan had naturally considered these matters. Hearing Xu Shichang ask, he chuckled softly. "Hehe, if Japan dares to do so, General He will inevitably continue south and take the entire Korean Peninsula."

Although Xu Shichang himself had some moral integrity, the events of the First Sino-Japanese War (Jiawu) and the Boxer Rebellion (Gengzi) left him with a lingering fear of the Great Powers. Even knowing this was extremely unlikely, as long as there was a possibility, he still worried.

Hearing Zhang Xiluan speak so decisively, Xu Shichang felt completely relieved.

Duan Qirui had graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy after all; he certainly knew that let alone dividing their forces, even if the Japanese army gathered in Korea, it was very possible for He Rui to sweep south and seize all of Korea. If Japan lost Korea, with only the Tsushima Strait between them and He Rui, the Japanese army would be completely immobilized. Given the Japanese army's standard, they would never actively attack the Beiyang Government before thoroughly defeating He Rui.

But Duan Qirui had his own worries. He actually hoped He Rui would win, but once He Rui won, it meant the Fengtian Clique would inevitably enter the Central Government. Although the Anhui Clique had no animosity with the Fengtian Clique, they still didn't want to become a subsidiary. Moreover, it wasn't just the Fengtian Clique competing with the Anhui Clique, so Duan Qirui asked, "Minister Gu, what is the attitude of the Great Powers towards this war?"

Gu Weijun had not only considered this for a long time himself but had also invited a group of seniors and young talents in the diplomatic circle in Beijing to discuss the matter. At this moment, he answered decisively, " regarding China's diplomacy, since the Paris Peace Conference, I have handled a great deal. The common failing is that everyone asks for prices wildly; unwilling to suffer an obvious loss, they end up suffering a hidden loss; unwilling to suffer a small loss, they end up suffering a big loss. At this juncture, as long as the Central Government and the Northeast can maintain unity, no Great Power can extract any benefits."

To the ears of an old fox, these words were as clear as they could be. Duan Qirui laughed. "Elder Zhang is the Minister of War; General He certainly won't misunderstand. At this time, we naturally must unite against the outside. President Xu, why not send a telegram to ask for Elder Cao's thoughts?"

Xu Shichang nodded. Currently, there were four main factions in China, from north to south: the Fengtian Clique, the Anhui Clique, the Zhili Clique, and the Revolutionary Party.

The Anhui Clique's greatest enemy was actually the Zhili Clique. The 'Zhi' in 'Zhili Clique' referred to Zhili (Hebei). The initial leader of the Zhili Clique was Feng Guozhang. Feng Guozhang himself was from Tianjin, Zhili, and his subordinates were primarily officers of Zhili origin.

Currently, the Zhili Clique was backed by Britain and France and had been vying with the Anhui Clique for control of the Central Government. Before He Rui declared war on Japan, the Zhili and Anhui Cliques had already been cursing each other for months. If He Rui hadn't maintained silence, the two sides might have already gone to war.

In the current situation, Duan Qirui and Xu Shichang had discussed privately that they needed to force the Zhili Clique to state their position. As long as the Zhili Clique expressed that they would unite against the outside, things would be easy to handle. If He Rui won, the Anhui Clique, controlling the Central Government, could immediately coordinate power distribution with He Rui. Even if the Anhui Clique lost most of its positions, the Zhili Clique would certainly gain nothing. At that time, He Rui would march his grand army south to suppress the Zhili Clique in the name of the Central Government, which would at least vent some anger for the Anhui Clique.

The more this was the case, the more the Anhui Clique had to occupy the moral high ground, forcing the Zhili Clique to respond within the arena defined by the Anhui Clique.

Xu Shichang then said, "Fighting a war is about money and grain. The Central Government cannot publicly raise funds for General He, so it would be better to have the private sector handle these matters. What do you all think?"

No one would oppose this matter, or at least no one dared to oppose it. Thus, the decision was passed. Duan Qirui knew that many people would inevitably want to get a foot in the door on this matter, so he decisively refused to take charge. With no other choice, the matter was handed over to the relatively aloof and noble Gu Weijun to coordinate.

Gu Weijun hadn't expected that as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he would be assigned such a task. But this matter was actually not small, so Gu Weijun had to accept it.