Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 428: The Moon Shines After the Clouds Clear

It was the evening of February 6, 1911.

Nanjing, the office of the Governor-General of Liangjiang.

"Zhiquan, shouldn't you be leading the army in Hankou at this time? Why did you suddenly come to Nanjing? You look so anxious. I remember there was no relevant transfer order in the Beiyang Army."

Yuan Xiangcheng looked at Duan Zhiquan in front of him with a not very good tone.

You have to know that the Beiyang Army has strict military discipline. Even if Duan Zhiquan is the commander of a town, if he really disobeys Yuan Xiangcheng's military orders and is punished according to military law, his fate will not be much better than that of a private.

"Gong Bao, something happened in Wuchang!"

"Something happened? What could possibly happen in Wuchang? With the strength of Honolulu, Zhongshan Qiao is not yet ready to challenge our Beiyang Army."

Yuan Xiangcheng waved his hand and didn't care much about the Boxers in Wuchang. But when he saw Duan Zhiquan shook his head and took out a yellow imperial edict from his arms, his face changed suddenly.

"It was the Regent. The Regent led the Niangan Division to come out in full force from the capital to Wuchang. They crossed the river the day before yesterday and went straight to Huanglong, killing all the rebels in the Yihe General Hall. The content of this imperial decree is that I should lead the Beiyang Army to cooperate with the Niangan Division to strangle the Boxers and hunt down Zhongshan Qiao."

"What?! He actually brought the sticky pole to worship Tang and left the capital?"

Yuan Xiangcheng's expression was solemn, his mind was racing, and he soon realized the key point: "Where is the Regent now? Has Zhongshan Qiao confessed his crime and accepted his punishment?"

"Gong Bao, no. The Regent attacked Wuchang that night. Although he achieved numerous victories, the leader of the Honolulu people, Zhong Shanqiao, and the leader of the White Lotus Sect, Feng Zhao, were not captured on the spot. It seems that they fled with a group of high-ranking officials and no one knows where. The men searched Wuchang thoroughly and almost wiped it out, but in the end they still couldn't find any trace of them."

"As for the Regent, he disappeared after that night, and no one knows where he is now. I have some friendship with Baturu, the leader of the rebels, and I vaguely heard that the Regent seemed to have gone west on the night of the night attack. Apart from that, there is no news about him."

"With the ability of the Regent, he couldn't kill Zhongshan Woodcutter himself. It seems that Zhongshan Woodcutter is really a lucky man."

When Yuan Xiangcheng heard the news that Zhongshan Qiao might be fine, he sighed in a low voice. He did not continue to dwell on Chuntai's matter of going south, but turned to talk about something else: "Zhiquan, you have been dealing with him on the Jiangbei front these days, tell me what you think of him."

"I heard Hua Fu talk about Gong Bao's conversation with Zhong Shan Qiao the day before yesterday before I came to visit him. I feel that Zhong Shan Qiao only wants a republic, and he doesn't care whether he becomes president or not."

Duan Zhiquan thought for a while and decided to tell the truth.

"It doesn't matter? Do you believe it?"

"There is such an event in Chinese history. Yao abdicated the throne to Shun, and Shun abdicated the throne to Yu, leaving behind a beautiful story that will be passed down through the ages."

"Have you seen it?"

Yuan Xiangcheng raised his head, blew the hot steam from the teacup, and disagreed with Duan Zhiquan's opinion.

“Who can see what happened over thousands of years? But it is written in the book after all.”

"Hahaha, these are all tricks of the Confucianists. If you look through the history books, you will see that once an opportunity to seize the throne came, there was no one who didn't want to kill others and become the emperor himself. In the end, they all fought to the death. Abdication? Abdication!"

Yuan Xiangcheng, who had been in the court for a long time, saw through power too clearly and immediately spoke out to expose the tricks that were whitewashed by words.

"So Gong Bao means that Zhongshan Qiao is using a delaying tactic?"

"I am just giving him time to slow down and prepare. He doesn't have the ability to compete with our Beiyang Army. What's more, the Regent almost caught them all in one fell swoop during his trip south. Zhongshan Qiao can't slow down even if he wants to." Yuan Xiangcheng took a sip of tea, shook his head and continued, "But as long as this man doesn't die and his greatest magic weapon isn't lost, he will always have a chance to make a comeback."

"What magic weapon?"

"It's his prestige. Zhiquan, now fifteen provinces in the country have declared independence, all under the banner of the Republic. Once a war breaks out, the remaining Boxers will be no match for us. But it will be very difficult for our Beiyang Army to recover these fifteen provinces."

Yuan Xiangcheng stood up and paced a few steps, looking at Duan Zhiquan and said, "Believe it or not, if the regent fails to kill the snake this time, Zhongshan Qiao will soon make a comeback. By then, no matter what the court does, it will be difficult for the Qing Dynasty to rule the world."

"Zhongshan Qiao has such a skill? If he had such a skill, how could he be caught by the Regent and nearly die?"

"Only Zhongshan Qiao may not be able to do this, but if we are included, who will eventually get the third of the world? Is there any doubt?"

Yuan Xiangcheng stroked his beard and said leisurely, "Besides, I know Zhongshan Qiao too well."

"What does Gong Bao think Zhong Shan Qiao will do next?"

"How? He will come and deceive me."

Yuan Xiangcheng lowered his eyes, his expression revealing a deep meaning.

"Since he has no strength, how dare he?"

"This guy really wants to overthrow the monarchy, and he really wants to be the president. If the monarchy is not overthrown, he can't be the president. That's why he used all kinds of sweet words on the phone the day before yesterday, trying to persuade me to use my Beiyang army to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic. This is called conquering the enemy without fighting. As for what happens in the future."

Yuan Xiangcheng patted Duan Zhiquan on the shoulder, his tone somewhat cold: "As for future events, he can just find an excuse, this is not right, that is not right, and it is not easy for him to stay on the throne of the president."

"Well, let's just fight him with force."

"Well, this is also a way."

At this moment, Yuan Xiangcheng glanced at Duan Zhiquan and suddenly changed his tone: "No, no, no, he uses us, so we also use him. Since he has prestige, we can use his prestige to do something. If it really doesn't work, we can use force to solve the problem. We are not afraid of him."

"But before that, we have to find him and talk to him again."

Yuan Xiangcheng clapped his hands, his eyes sparkling, "Moreover, if Zhongshan Qiao is really a great man of the time, then after he narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Regent, he should have found a way to come to Nanjing to find us."

"What does Gong Bao mean?"

"Zhiquan, think about it carefully. In the past half month, the Regent first transferred me from Zhili to Nanjing, and then bypassed our Beiyang Army and led the sticky pole to attack Wuchang. The strange thing is that we didn't even receive any news of such a big move. Tell me, if this old immortal butcher knife really chopped off Zhongshan Qiao's head the day before yesterday, who would be the next person to be executed?"

Hearing this, Duan Zhiquan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and suddenly realized that he had been fighting on the edge of the cliff for countless times.

"It is the Beiyang Army that has been pretending to be friendly with Honolulu and has yet to achieve any results."

Yuan Xiangcheng fiddled with the lid of his teacup, his tone becoming extremely cold: "I have lived for most of my life, and I don't want to be worried when I am old. I can't sleep well, for fear that someone will chop off my head in the middle of the night."

"An old man who does not die is a thief. Some people live too long and should die when they are supposed to."

(End of this chapter)