"Front Gate Building 9 Zhang 9, 4 doors, 3 bridges, 5 archways"; "Front Gate Building 9 Zhang 9, 9 Hutongs, 9 willows"; "Front Gate Building 9 Zhang 9, Wangkou firecrackers ringing above the head". These old Beijing folk songs have multiple meanings: one is to symbolize the height of Zhengyangmen; two is to show the grandeur of Zhengyangmen; three is to reflect the deep cultural connotation of Zhengyangmen.

  Beijing Zhengyangmen is commonly known as the Big Front Gate. At this moment, the sky was hazy and bright, and the open city gate had people pushing carts in and out from time to time. However, for the old gatekeeper, although this capital city is still the capital city, the prosperous scene of Zhengyangmen at this time cannot be compared with that of the Qing Dynasty.

  Not far from Zhengyang Gate, the street vendors have already started selling steaming hot buns. However, the largest teahouse on this street, Yutai Teahouse, has not yet opened its doors. The couplet on the door reads: "The golden rooster has not crowed, the water is boiling, the sun has just risen, and the tea is fragrant." It hangs there quietly, motionless.

  The boss of the Yu Tai teahouse, Wang Lifa, was up early and was busily leading two guests from the south to the backyard. Wang Lifa is a capable person who took over this teahouse from his father after the Reform Movement and has managed it through the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance during the Qing Dynasty. The teahouse still stands tall today. You should know that the biggest customers of Beijing's teahouses are not others, but those born-to-be military officers, the Eight Banners' big brothers who receive grain allowances twice a year and do not farm or work. Now that the imperial court is gone, these Eight Banners' masters live worse than stray dogs on the street.

  The times are changing, and Wang Lifa's backyard is also changing. He spent money to hire someone to clean it up and converted it into eight upstairs rooms, preparing to rent them out to university students from outside Beijing who came to study in the capital. Unexpectedly, as soon as the "For Rent" sign was hung out, a man with a mouthful of Beijing dialect came and rented the entire backyard without even bargaining over the price. Moreover, he paid three years' worth of rent upfront, plus one year's deposit. Usually, they wouldn't even need to send someone to clean up, but recently, more than a dozen people moved in all at once and rearranged the entire courtyard. Wang Lifa thought he had made a big profit, so he didn't bother with trivial matters anymore. The tenants set up a gate at the entrance of the backyard and instructed the accountants that from now on, no one would be allowed to enter the backyard.

  The two people who came from the south both had stern faces and completely ignored Wang Lifa's enthusiasm, no matter what he said, they didn't respond. This made Wang Lifa feel very uninteresting. After sending them to their destination, just as he was about to leave, the person walking behind suddenly threw a big silver dollar at Wang Zhuanggui and walked away without looking back.

  Wang Lifa made a perfect shot with a confident smile, and then muttered to himself, "What a weirdo!" He quickly returned to his own business. Time was not early, so he called out to his partners, "Let's get down to work!"

  The two people brought in by Wang Lifa were none other than Wang Yaxiao, the newly appointed station chief of the Beijing station of the National Socialist Party's party affairs investigation department, and his deputy Xuxi Yong. Among them, Xuxi Yong was pulled in by Wang Yaxiao on his way to the north. The two were close friends who had made revolution together during the Xinhai Revolution and had a deep friendship that went through thick and thin.

  The head of the Investigation Department's Beijing office was sent to the Northeast, the most dangerous place, by Director Zhou to deal with the Japanese due to poor work performance. As a result, all members of the station were anxiously waiting for the arrival of their new boss. Wang Ya-qiao took a look at everyone present and without saying anything else, announced the end of the meeting.

  Wang Ya-qiao left behind three core members: Zheng Jun, Wang Wei and Fang Rong-hai. These three were in charge of intelligence operations and communications at the Beijing station and were also cadres who came over from Anjiang with the former station chief, relatively loyal and reliable.

  "This is Xu Xi Yong, my deputy. After that, he will be the director of the General Affairs Department of Beijing Station. Your positions don't need to be adjusted. All those who attended the meeting earlier will be sent to Anjiang for a one-and-a-half-year study within three days. The personnel at Beijing Station will be re-recruited, and some capable people from Anjiang will also be dispatched here. I only have one requirement: everyone is in single-line contact. Don't think that being under Lu Jian Zhang's Beijing Municipal Law Enforcement Bureau means you can slack off. That's all, meeting dismissed."

  Three mid-level cadres at Beijing Station looked at each other and finally got up and left according to orders.

  Xu Xi Yong waited until the three people had walked out before asking in a low voice, "Jiuguang brother, shouldn't you be more courteous and yielding since this is your first time here?"

  Wang Ya-qiao shook his head and said, "I was already very polite earlier. This Beijing station is fundamentally not suitable for espionage work. Their level is only at the stage of intelligence gathering. I have already asked people to go to Anhui to find my old friends to help. This mission is extremely critical and cannot afford any mistakes. Xi Yong brother, our life ideals may start from here. We must use our own hands to protect our leader and change China's fate."

  Watching Wang Yaqiao's extremely excited expression, Xu Xiyong, who had no idea about the task content, suddenly thought that maybe only such people can really do something.

  Ruren Hall is located on the west bank of Zhongnanhai, a two-story Western-style building that is the largest among the old buildings in Zhongnanhai. The entire building and its external auxiliary decorations have distinct stylistic differences with the surrounding buildings. Perhaps it is because of its unique exterior appearance that its internal furnishings are Europeanized and elegant. In Zhongnanhai, it is one of the most luxurious and beautiful buildings. However, originally standing on this site was a group of traditional Chinese-style palace buildings, which were the Yilun Hall where Empress Dowager Cixi resided after "restoring the government". This building complex centered around the two-volume Yilun Hall, with three rows facing north and south, and in front of the main hall stood a glazed tile screen wall.

  The main hall of the palace is the largest, with a total of 5 rooms. The middle room is where the emperor meets his ministers. In 1894, after the Hundred Days' Reform, Empress Dowager Cixi launched a coup and summoned Emperor Guangxu to this place for a scolding before putting him under house arrest in Yingtai. The eastern adjacent room was Cixi's bedroom. According to historical records, the five main halls have a facade of nearly 7 zhang (about 23 meters) wide and more than 6 zhang (about 20 meters) deep, which is even larger than the Baohe Hall in the Forbidden City.

  However, when the Boxer Movement rose, Cixi utilized its blind anti-foreign sentiment to lead the movement onto a track of supporting her adopting an heir to replace Emperor Guangxu and pressuring the opposing powers. The powers formed the Eight-Nation Alliance in the name of protecting embassies and missionaries, invading China. Cixi took Guangxu and fled to Xi'an, causing the Chinese nation to suffer and be humiliated once again.

  After the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, Zhongnanhai was used as a barracks for the troops. The commander-in-chief of the alliance, Waldersee, set up his headquarters in Yilüan Hall, which was occupied by Japanese troops. Waldersee lived in Yilüan Hall from October 17, 1900 to April 17, 1901. On the night of April 17, 1901, a fire broke out in the German kitchen inside Yilüan Hall, and both the main hall and the side halls were destroyed by the flames. Waldersee escaped and later moved to Fengze Garden's Yining Hall. However, the German Major General and Chief of Staff died in the fire. The palace, which cost millions of taels of silver to build, was destroyed in an instant.

  After Cixi returned to Beijing, she accepted the suggestion of foreign envoys and built a Western-style building on the site of Yiluan Hall to entertain and host foreign female guests to show friendship with powerful countries. On the ruins, 5 million taels of silver were spent to build a building equivalent in scale to the original Yiluan Hall.

  The building is divided into two parts, the south and north buildings, connected by a corridor on the second floor. The top of the building, window frames, and exterior walls are decorated with European-style carvings. The windows have colored glass or Western-style flower decorations. The original wall of the Yi Guan Hall has become the courtyard wall of the new building, except for the south, east, and north gates which were changed to Western-style flower gates. It was completed in October 1904, during the 30th year of Guangxu's reign, and Empress Dowager Cixi named it "Haiyantang".

  However, Haiyantang did not bring a peaceful atmosphere to the declining Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty ended with the shots of Xinhai and the first president of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, took power and renamed Haiyantang as Rendan Hall as his own office and reception venue.

  At this moment, President Yuan Shikai, who was worried about national affairs, was meeting with his staff in the Renshentang Hall.

  The so-called core content of politics is actually just two words: power. The components of power only have two parts, one is personnel and the other is finance.

  Comrade Yuan is now worried about these two things. Although in the history textbooks and films of later generations, Comrade Yuan was vilified as a ruthless killer, many people from all walks of life have been eager to take revenge on him.

  Yuan Shikai was a very helpless person in real history, especially when faced with the intimidation and extortion of powerful countries, particularly Japan. Old Yuan could only compromise and yield; when faced with the increasingly arrogant evil deeds of his former Beiyang subordinates, Old Yuan could only pretend to be ignorant and feign ignorance.

  But today, Yuan Shikai can no longer pretend to be stupid and ignorant because a very realistic problem is in front of him. China's military orders and political orders must be unified, otherwise he will not be able to live like Li Zhongtang and die with a clear conscience, which would be unfair to future generations.

  "They're all a bunch of white-eyed wolves and bastards" Thinking of this, Yuan Shikai was so angry that he couldn't help but think that these good-for-nothings in his own household were not as obedient as Cai E and Wang Zhenyu. These two had indeed followed orders to Beijing, while Feng Guozhang was stuck in Nanjing, refusing to budge. It seemed that the method of the big boss and Yang Duan was the right way after all.

  "Cai E and Wang Zhenyu are now in which place?" Yuan Shikai asked softly towards Xu Shichang and Xiong Xiling.

  Lu Jianzhang, the head of the law enforcement team, hastily stepped forward and said: "Reporting to the President, according to reliable information, these two met in Wuhan and then went together to Baoding to visit the Army Officer School. Yesterday, they arrived in Beijing at the same time. Subordinates have already instructed Lei Zhenchun to take full responsibility for receiving them, ensuring that everything is foolproof."

  Old Yuan nodded and picked up a copy of the report, glanced at it and burst into anger: "What is Zhang Zhenfang doing? The people's revolution in Henan has reached a boiling point. Who allowed Duan Qirui to go to Henan? If he can't handle it, then Zhang Zhenfang, this military governor of Henan, will be finished."

  The raging fire of the legendary White Lotus Rebellion is burning fiercely across the vast lands of Zhongyuan.