Yuan Shikai stood at the top of the newly completed War Ministry building, looking up at the shadow of the ship in the sky on the balcony specially prepared for him.
The two smaller airships and the escorting Shenji all highlight the hugeness of the White Trojan, and the Tesla power mechanisms that flash lightning from time to time on the three ships make their figures full of pressure.
.
"This Lin Youde, the situation is getting bigger and bigger." Yuan Shikai shook his head, and everyone could hear the helplessness in his words.
"A few years ago, some people swore that force-guiding technology was Lin Ji's shortcoming. Unexpectedly, it was only a few years ago that Lin Youde refuted it with his actions." Yuan Weiting, who was behind Yuan Shikai, looked happy, "Let's develop with this momentum.
If he goes down, no one will be able to stop him from ascending the throne and becoming king soon?"
Tang Shaoyi took over the conversation: "If he runs for president, no one can stop him."
So Yuan Weiting rolled her eyes at the think tank of the Ministry of War and said: "President? Do you think Lin Youde will be satisfied now? Look at his behavior of having a group of wives and concubines. It is clear that he wants to gather three thousand beauties. He
He will never be satisfied with being a president, he wants to be an emperor."
Yuan Weiting's words made the senior officials of the Army Ministry present look at each other. No one could refute. In fact, they almost all agreed with Yuan Weiting's judgment, but they didn't dare to say it so bluntly.
Silence fell on the small terrace, which made the roar of the battleships in the sky all the more obvious.
Finally, Yuan Shikai turned to look at his sister and asked slowly: "So, do you plan to become one of his three thousand beauties?"
"Why not?" Yuan Weiting answered her brother without hesitation, "Looking aside, Lin Youde is one of the leading men in China today in terms of character, temperament, finances and power. As a woman, do I have any problems choosing to marry him?"
"Even as his concubine?"
Yuan Weiting completely disagreed with her brother's dismissal: "Throughout the ages, have there been few examples of emperors' favored concubines taking the lead? When entering the palace, the only thing that matters is the charm of women. I don't think I will lose in this aspect.
To anyone."
At this moment, I don’t know how many people are filled with the desire to complain: How dare you, the overlord, talk about the charm of women? Who would a normal man dare to marry you?
But no one was going to jump out and point this out, including Yuan Shikai.
The Minister of War once again looked at the ship shadow in the sky, and the expression on his face was quite a bit like a hero in his twilight years.
**
Not too far away from the new building of the Ministry of War, Huang Xing's sister Huang Xin was also standing in the courtyard of her mansion, watching the Lin fleet flying swaggering across the sky of Beijing.
"People say that after three days of separation, scholars should look upon each other with admiration. But Lin Youde has been separated for three years, and he is nothing like he used to be."
"Auntie," Huang Xing's son Huang Yiou pulled Huang Xin's hand, "you used the wrong idiom. Mr. Lin used to be very wealthy, but now he is just more wealthy, and now it is different from what it used to be."
He was not wealthy in the past and is wealthy now, or he was wealthy in the past and is not wealthy now.”
Huang Xin lowered her head, smiled and touched her fifteen-year-old nephew's head: "Well, Yiou is right. It is indeed my aunt who used it wrong. She is indeed our little scholar."
"That's right, Chinese is my strong point."
While the little nephew looked delighted, Huang Xin's eyes returned to the sky. At this time, Huang Yiou asked abruptly: "Auntie, do you like Mr. Lin Youde of the Navy Department?"
Huang Xin's whole body was shocked. She lowered her head and looked at her nephew and asked, "Who did you listen to?"
"My classmates, they heard it from their parents. They said that aunt, you always wear light and fluttery dresses. You are always the first to launch any new products from Lin Ji's tailor shop (people nowadays don't have the concept of a fashion company).
You bought it, and you also dyed your hair blond, all to follow Master Lin Youde’s hobby. Auntie, are they right?”….
"Well..." Huang Xin hesitated, "This is all guesswork by others. Aren't there a lot of girls dressed like my aunt on the streets of Beijing now? My aunt just wants to dress up like them.
Be more fashionable, after all, your aunt and I have reached the age where we should talk about marriage."
"That's it..." Huang Yiou frowned, "But there is also a beautiful girl in my class who wears dresses all day long and looks very fashionable. She does this just to get closer to the First Higher Women's Normal College of Helangyabo in the future.
, and then find a way to marry Mr. Lin..."
"This is because everyone has different ideas."
Huang Xin smiled and spread her hands to her nephew.
At this time, Huang Xing came out of the mansion in formal attire.
"Xin, get ready. Although the Navy Ministry has no intention of letting us go to meet Feng, a visit is still necessary. If you go late, you will have to queue up."
At this time, Huang Xing noticed his sister's dress, and then shook his head helplessly: "What, it turned out to be ready. Let me tell you, I will never agree to your marriage with that kind of playboy.
It would be more reliable for you to find a good man in the capital and marry her as soon as possible."
"Brother!" Huang Xin said seriously, "I am also an important member of the federal central government. Can you please stop making such jokes on me?"
"I'm not kidding." Huang Xing reached out and touched his son's head. "Yiou, go change clothes quickly. You are fifteen years old. It's time to meet this powerful man in China."
**
At this moment, in the study room of the Federal Presidential Palace, Sun Wen was also watching the Lin fleet slowly crossing the sky through the glass window.
The difference was that Sun Wen had no one with her, and the huge office seemed extremely deserted.
Sun Wen remained silent, so in the huge space, only the huge clock in the corner kept making clear and heavy pendulum sounds.
Sun Wen's mood was quite complicated. She recalled that she was completely disappointed with the Westernizationists and Reformers in the Qing Dynasty and raised the banner of revolution. She believed that this was the right way to save China. She always felt that she was shouldering the responsibility of the nation.
The heavy responsibility of revitalization makes her so high-spirited that no matter when she takes the stage to give a speech, she can devote herself to it and speak passionately and impassionedly.
But now, every time she delivers a speech in parliament, Sun Wen reads the manuscript prepared by her secretaries. Even if she occasionally improvises, she is strictly nailed within the framework established by the manuscript, and her daily work is even more complicated.
Sun Wen felt disheartened.
Documents are always full of bargaining. As long as there is a meeting, there will be endless quarrels. Everyone has their own hidden agendas, and they clearly know that others also have small calculations in their stomachs. Therefore, they are always on guard and tit-for-tat. Any proposal involves the interests of a certain party in the country.
, you will definitely fall into endless verbal disputes.
Chen Qimei said that this was a manifestation of the process of coordinating the interests of all parties, and Chen Shaobai even believed that this was "the value of democracy." However, whenever Sun Wen thought of the huge changes taking place on the string of islands of different sizes across the sea,
Thinking that the pyramid-like organization with no democracy at all was constantly creating miracles, she inevitably began to doubt: Is democracy really necessary?
Sun Wen couldn't answer this question.
At this time, she looked up at Lin Youde's newly built flying ship.
She felt that the ship was Lin Youde's way of showing off his authority to the residents of Beijing, the ancient imperial capital.
She couldn't help but imagine Lin Youde sitting on that ship overlooking all living beings, his face full of arrogance that could only belong to an emperor.
Sun Wen felt that she had many issues that she wanted to discuss with the Nanyang King.
**
In this way, the whole of Beijing, from top to bottom, from the dignitaries to the common people, were looking at the shadow of the ship in the sky, waiting for the changes that this powerful figure might bring to the capital - and China's political situation.