Back to the Republic of China as a commander

Although he was very dissatisfied with Duan Qirui's behavior of holding back his legs in this southeast battle, Feng Guozhang still made a very decisive decision out of public interest, and sent this decision to Beijing in the form of a suggestion. The general content is an order Zhang Huaizhi's Fifth Division, Li Chun's Sixth Division, Lu Yongxiang's Tenth Division, Zhang Xun's Dingwu Army, and Ni Sichong's Anwu Army quickly retreated to Xuzhou.While Lu Yongxiang's 15th Division and He Fenglin's 16th Brigade retreated to Shandong by sea, Feng Guozhang's suggestion to Lao Yuan was to form a cluster of these troops and hand them over to the No.[-] and No.[-] Divisions in Beiyang. Xu Shuzheng, who stayed in Xuzhou and refused to go south, commanded.The army of Feng Guozhang's line was basically lost, and if he wanted to keep Beiyang's foundation, he could only rely on Duan Zhiquan's line of troops.Once Nanjing and Shanghai fell into the hands of Wang Zhenyu, Feng Guozhang did not believe that Duan Zhiquan would dare to continue playing negative strategies.

As for Feng Huafu himself, there are currently two paths in front of him, one is to leave the troops and go to Beijing to plead guilty to President Yuan Da, and the other is to find a way out with the troops under his command.As for suicide or something, Feng Guozhang never thought about it.

Yuan Shikai's first reaction after seeing Feng Guozhang's telegram was to faint in Huairen Hall. This was also the last time he went to Huairen Hall to discuss matters.After being sent back to Iron Lion Alley, Yuan Shikai, who slowly came to his senses, gave instructions to the left and right, so please follow Feng Huafu's advice!

The mental blow led to the further deterioration of Lao Yuan's physical health. That night he had a stroke and was paralyzed and was unable to see guests.In less than a week, on April 4, Yuan Shikai died of illness, and the Beiyang dragons had no leader.

But for Yuan Shikai's death, everyone blamed Feng Guozhang.

Because on April 4, after being surrounded for five days, the second division of the Left Army under the command of Bai Chongxi arrived in Ma'anshan.Seeing the situation, Feng Guozhang completely lost the will to continue fighting. He had no supplies, no supplies, no reinforcements, and no hope.

The final result was that on the morning of April 4th, Feng Guozhang signed an order, ordering 9 officers and soldiers under his command to surrender to the Youth Army with a white flag. This was also the first large-scale surrender of the Beiyang Army in history. Feng Guozhang , Wang Zhanyuan and other senior Beiyang generals did not escape to become Yugong. Unlike the Beiyang generals in history, they chose the honor of soldiers.

On April 4, according to Wang Zhenyu's order, the seventh division of Bai Chongxi, who had made great contributions in the southeast battle, was allowed to enter Nanjing first. The next day, that is, April 11, the first division under the command of Tao Zhiyue successfully entered Entering Shanghai ahead of Sun Yat-sen's Chinese Revolutionary Army, on the same day, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Zhu Rui announced his opposition to Yuan (Yuan Shikai was dead at this time, is Zhu Rui planning to flog his corpse?), and led his troops to join the battle sequence of the Youth Army (qi The Chinese Revolutionary Army, which had been attacking the city for four consecutive days, was so angry that it was itching), and was reorganized into the No.4 Division of the Tiger Youth Army.

Yuan Shikai burped two months earlier than in history, which also turned a new page in history, and China entered the "post-Yuan Shikai era".

The Beiyang Army, which originally controlled more than half of China, was defeated in just four months of the War to Protect the Country. To the Qinling Huaihe River line.More importantly, Yuan Shikai died, Feng Guozhang surrendered, and the whole Beiyang fell into a state of leaderless dragons.By this time, the war was almost over.

On April 4th, Cai E's representatives Liang Qichao, Jiang Baili, Wang Zhenyu's representatives Zhao Hengti, Yang Yongtai, Sun Yat-sen's representatives Hu Hanmin, Chen Jiongming, Li Yuanhong's personal representatives Tang Hualong, and Beiyang government representatives Xu Shichang and Cao Rulin, a total of nine people were in the UK and France. Under the strong appeal of the United States, Japan, Russia and other powers, they finally sat down at the negotiating table in Nanjing and started the famous nine-person talks in history, also known as the five-party meeting. . .

However, three days before the talks, the military operations of both sides had actually stopped. Bian didn't have to fight if he wanted to. If he wanted to fight again, he could only compete with Wang Zhenyu.

The war to protect the country has reached this point, and even a fool can see that Wang Zhenyu is the biggest winner.Although Sun Yat-sen's Chinese Revolutionary Army (also known as the Allied Army of Three Provinces) occupied most of Zhejiang, including Ningbo, Wang Zhenyu's youth army successfully occupied Nanjing and Shanghai, known as the Paris of the East.In addition, they captured Hubei and Guangdong in a series of previous military operations, as long as they manage it properly, Wang Zhenyu is likely to become China's number one figure in the future.This point of view is at least a consensus within the Japanese Super High School, and the current attitudes of Britain, France and other countries towards Wang Zhenyu are also very good. With Wang Zhenyu's army entering Shanghai, Ye Guoxuan, general manager of the China Development Corporation, finally met with the French Concession in Shanghai. The French side signed a contract for a package purchase plan, which includes a series of materials including steel, pig temples, tung oil, and various ores.

It is very surprising that, including steel, Wang Zhenyu's final price is [-]% lower than the current price in the international market.This is not that Wang Zhenyu wants to please the big powers, but an exchange, according to the content of the secret political agreement attached.

First, the big powers will recognize a South China regional government organized by Wang Zhenyu, and at the same time recognize that this government has independent tariff rights (only recognized by Britain and France);

Second, the customs and tariffs of Guangdong, Shanghai and other South China regions controlled by Britain and France will be handed over to this regional government after the establishment of this regional government;

Third, all obligations related to compensation have nothing to do with the regional government;

Fourth, negotiations on the withdrawal of concessions in Wuhan and Guangzhou can begin and be completed within five years;

Fifth, Britain and France hope that after the establishment of the local regional government in South China, they can export labor and even soldiers to Europe in the form of cooperation. All salaries, weapons, and expenses will be borne by Britain and France;

Sixth, if General Wang Zhenyu's army finally appears in Europe and helps Britain and France win the war, then after the war, China will be allowed to have priority in obtaining military supplies from the defeated country at a more favorable price.

It should be said that for the final victory of the European War, Britain and France gave up some important interests in the negotiations with Wang Zhenyu, especially handing over the customs in the South China region to the South China government led by Wang Zhenyu. Not possible.As for the issue of the concession, Britain and France also took a procrastinating attitude. Regarding the issue of the Shanghai concession raised by Wang Zhenyu, the representatives of Britain and France refused to even discuss it. .Now that Wang Zhenyu has almost negotiated with the two powers, Britain and France, the future of China will depend on the results of the meeting with the domestic princes.

Chapter 268 Post-Yuan Era ([-])

Yuan Shikai died. Because of a certain big butterfly, Yuan Shikai left this troubled country two months earlier than in history.What is even more different from history is that Chinese society is entering a period of drastic changes at this moment, and this drastic change is not what the Western powers want to see.

After Yuan Shikai died of illness and Feng Guozhang surrendered, Beiyang finally realized the great danger he faced in front of the powerful defenders. The southern provinces captured from Sun Wen during the second revolution were lost in this war of protecting the country. clean.If it's just the loss of territory, it's okay. The most terrible thing is that three of the seven Beiyang field divisions, the second, fourth, and sixth divisions, were lost. In addition, the third and seventh divisions let Cai E fight in Sichuan. Zhang Huaizhi's fifth division retained its organizational system, but it suffered a lot. Quoting Duan Qirui's speech with Beiyang generals at the Liuguo Hotel, there is no worse time than now.

In the post-Yuan Shikai era, due to the downfall of Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui became the core of Beiyang.His first division, fifth division, seventh division, tenth division, No. 15 division, and No. 16 division did not receive any major blows in the War to Protect the Country.It can be said that almost all the Anhui cliques in history have been preserved. In this way, after Lao Yuan, Beiyang became united instead.Therefore, although in this war of protecting the country, the Beiyang forces lost people, land and money, but considering that it still controls the northern territory and heavy industry and the status of the central government, in the eyes of the great powers, Beiyang is still China's first No. [-] power group cannot be ignored.

In the south, three bosses appeared at once.The first place in this row is not Wang Zhenyu, who has made the most profit in this war, but Cai E, who was the first to launch the war to protect the country.

Compared with Wang Zhenyu, Cai E's victory is the real deal.The War to Protect the Nation first broke out in Yunnan and fought in Sichuan, which can be said to be the first uprising.But the result of this is that Lao Yuan gave priority to using all the troops he could mobilize and the materials he could collect on the Sichuan battlefield.Lao Yuan's abacus was very formulaic, that is, to shoot the first bird, relying on the advantage of four or five times the strength of Cai E, to try to extinguish Cai E's uprising in the shortest period of time, and then kill the chicken for the monkeys to see.It's a pity that Cai E is not Sun Yat-sen, he is a talented student who graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy, and a professional military talent who was awarded a saber by the Emperor of Japan.This bad debt of defeating the crowd with few people just made Cai E flourish. If it weren't for the fierce general Wu Peifu in the Beiyang Army, Cao Kun himself would have almost fallen into Cai E's hands.So even though Yuan Shikai spent his money, it is a pity that he lost money.

Although Cai E's victory was only in Sichuan Province, his excellent military command ability has attracted the attention of Western powers. At least he is much better than Wang Zhenyu, who stayed motionless in Anjiang during the entire War to Protect the Nation.

With Cai E, a world-class hero full of positive energy, Wang Zhenyu, who had no outstanding performance on the battlefield, had no choice but to take the second place, but Wang Zhenyu didn't care about this, because this time the war of protecting the country was viewed from any angle He is the one who benefits the most.

First of all, in terms of territory, Wang Zhenyu, who originally owned only one province in Guangxi plus one place in western Hunan, successfully took advantage of Yuan Shikai's opportunity to focus on Sichuan, and took over Hunan, Guangdong, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other provinces in one go. Sites in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Zhejiang.In the words of the Japanese super high school, this is simply a classic case of snake swallowing an elephant.

This kind of victory is actually based on Wang Zhenyu's dedication to industrial and commercial development in the past four years, and on the basis of his 20 well-equipped and rigorously trained youth army.But if you think about it carefully, this is not enough to be a reason for him to defeat the Beiyang Army organized by the Qing Empire with all the power of the whole country.Strictly speaking, Wang Zhenyu's victory was suspected of intentional calculation and unintentional manipulation. The most practical example is his military victory in Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Jiangxi provinces. E to guard against empty opportunities.Although the southeast battle declared to the outside world that the less won the more, in fact Feng Guozhang failed to achieve the concentration of troops from the beginning to the end because of the lack of military expenditures and materials and the internal political struggles in Beiyang. The Fifth Division Zhang Huaizhi did not work hard. , the Tenth Division Lu Yongxiang moved slowly, and the No.15 and No.16 divisions commanded by Xu Shuzheng simply stayed in Xuzhou and did not move.The most serious consequence of this situation is that Feng Guozhang made a perfect battle plan, but because of his execution, it became the biggest joke of the War to Protect the Country.The troops that acted according to the plan were eventually defeated one by one, plus accidents such as Zhao Yong's night attack, British and French intervention, and fleet rebellion, Feng Guozhang's final failure became helpless due to various reasons.

But no matter how lucky it is, it is a fact that Wang Zhenyu won the territory of six or seven provinces. It is also a fact that he successfully owned the Hanyang Arsenal, Hanyang Iron and Steel Factory, Jinling Armory, and Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. It is a huge fact that the dividend of 30 billion Chinese yuan and the annual fiscal revenue jumped from less than 4000 million silver dollars (40 million Chinese yuan) to more than 120 billion silver dollars (more than 240 billion Chinese yuan).With the expansion of his territory, he will be able to earn almost [-] billion Chinese dollars just for currency exchange (issue [-] billion Chinese dollars to exchange for currency on the market), which can fully compensate for his preparation and launch of this There is still a slight surplus of money spent on the war.The influence of the National Socialist Party has also expanded a lot with the great victory of this war, and it has become one of the three major political parties in China alongside the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the Progressive Party.

No one is more satisfied than Wang Zhenyu, but even so, Wang Zhenyu still has some regrets.Because Zhu Rui's performance was really substandard, Sun Wen's revolutionary army seized almost three-quarters of the entire Zhejiang territory.Fortunately, Zhu Rui bought some strength in the end and successfully blocked Sun Wen's army in Hangzhou, thus keeping the territory in Shanghai. Otherwise, Wang Zhenyu would not mind treating Zhu Rui as a war criminal.The original plan to limit Sun Wen's influence to Fujian Province failed. As a result, the affluent Zhejiang made the Chinese Revolutionary Party led by Sun Wen the third largest force in the south.

As the smallest of the three major powers in the south, Sun Yat-sen's wealth surpassed that of Cai E.After all, the economic income of the province of Zhejiang can offset that of several provinces in the north and west, so now Sun Yat-sen has enough banknotes to support his 20 army.And this gave the Ningbo gang in Shanghai another choice. They felt that they were now qualified to challenge Wang Zhenyu who had just entered Shanghai.As for the core of the challenge is the right to issue Huayuan. If Wang Zhenyu still does not agree to give them the right to issue currency, they don’t mind blocking Huayuan from the Shanghai market, just like they did with Yuan Shikai’s traffic ticket issued by the central government. .In short, they don't like Wang Zhenyu, a nouveau riche in his [-]s, because they feel that this young man is rebellious and will not safeguard their interests.Therefore, after Chen Qimei was killed, these Shanghai tycoons moved closer to Sun Yat-sen's side. At least in their opinion, compared with Wang Zhenyu, a pure warlord, Sun Yat-sen wanted more gentlemen and was easier to fool.

But it doesn't matter, for Shanghai, Wang Zhenyu is not helpless, the real headache for him is actually Sun Yat-sen, or his [-] troops.If this problem cannot be solved, then from Jiangsu to Jiangxi and then to Guangdong are all within its attack range. In this case, let alone taking advantage of Cai E’s death to pacify the Southwest, his emerging power is likely to be attacked by Sun Yat-sen, Duan Qirui, and Tang Jiyao. The ashes were wiped out.This is absolutely not impossible, Sun Yat-sen's character Wang Zhenyu is too clear, in order to gain Japan's support to overthrow Yuan Shikai, the father of the nation openly declared his support for the common prosperity of Greater East Asia, affirming that China only has [-] provinces.In order to gain the support of the Soviet Union to overthrow Beiyang, he even released the grassroots organization to the Communist Party. This person looks weak, but in essence he is a person who will do anything to achieve his goals.

So long before the Five-Party Talks, Wang Zhenyu decided to win over Sun Yat-sen no matter what, and take advantage of his own lack of strength to achieve convergence.And Zhang Xueji played the role of liaison, but because of the assassination of Chen Qimei on the revolutionary party side, Sun Yat-sen and Hu Hanmin took over the negotiation decision.

Wang Zhenyu's conditions were very simple, to establish a regional coalition government in the south, called the National Government of China, implement the method of military and political unification, and set up a military committee to take charge of the government's military.The National Socialist Party and the Chinese Revolutionary Party can obtain the ruling power of the Nationalist Government by seeking a party merger, but the original National Socialist Party must take the lead. Of course, in terms of the central government in Beijing, the former Chinese Revolutionary Party will also obtain the Nationalist Government. Unconditional support.The conditions are not very generous, but since they are proposed, at least they can proceed to the next step of contact.Although Wang Zhenyu is becoming more and more like a dictator, he is not the kind of political idiot who does not know what is good or bad, and who holds all the power in his hands. He knows that real politics is not about dictatorship, but cooperation and compromise. , This is the same as doing business, emphasizing win-win and mutual benefit.

As for Li Yuanhong in the Five-Party Talks, he doesn't actually have much strength, but he has one thing. The existence of this thing can prevent the division between the North and the South, and that is the righteous name of the head of state.

Wang Zhenyu is still very clear about the history of the Republic of China. This is an era of intensified humiliation, so he does not want to be scolded in the name of the central government, but prefers to develop silently under the separatist regime.After all, China is so wrong. . .

Chapter 269 Post-Yuan Era ([-])

The venue of the five-party talks was finally set at No. 292, Changjiang Road, Nanjing, which is also the famous place of kings and hegemons in history-Nanjing Presidential Palace.In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, it was the Mansion of Guidehou and the Mansion of the King of Han.In the Qing Dynasty, it was the Jiangning Weaving Department, the Jiangnan Governor's Department, and the Liangjiang Governor's Department.Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty used it as a "palace" when they went to the south of the Yangtze River. In March 1853, the Taiping Army occupied Nanjing and established its capital in Tianjing, where Hong Xiuquan built a large-scale Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Celestial Palace (Tianwangfu).After the Qing army captured Nanjing, they burned down the palace buildings, and rebuilt the Liangjiang Governor's Office in the ninth year of Tongzhi (3).Lin Zexu, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, Shen Baozhen, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, Duanfang, etc. all served as governors of Liangjiang.

After the Revolution of 1911 broke out in October 10, Sun Yat-sen was sworn in as the provisional president of the Republic of China on January 1912, 1 here, and established the first republican state power in Chinese history—the provisional government of the Republic of China. In April 1, the provisional government ended, and the Nanjing Left-behind Mansion with Huang Xing as the left-behind was established here; during the "Second Revolution" in 1912, it became the general headquarters of the Yuan Army, with Huang Xing and He Haiming successively serving as commanders.

From 1913 to 1916, it successively became the Office of the Governor of Jiangsu, the Office of the Governor of Jiangsu, the Mansion of the General of Jiangsu, the Office of the Supervisor of Jiangsu, and the last name was the Office of the Inspection Envoy of the Five Provinces.Speaking of which, this place is really a treasure land of geomantic omen, everyone wants to come and live here, but no one can live there for long.

According to the No. 21 order of the Supreme Command, military management committees were established in [-] designated central cities, including Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Changsha, Jiujiang, Nanchang, Anqing, Hefei, Yuezhou, Hengyang, Guangzhou, and Shaoguan, of which Nanjing , Shanghai, and Wuhan are first-tier cities.

The director of the Nanjing Military Control Committee is concurrently held by Ma Xicheng, the minister of the Ministry of Armaments. The office of the Military Control Committee is located in the Office of the Patrol Envoy of the Five Provinces, so the current public name here is the Nanjing Military Control Committee of the National Socialist Party.The nine representatives who participated in the talks directly stayed here. Although Ma Xicheng has been busy taking over the Jinling Arsenal and other units recently, he was not sloppy with the reception work at all.

In Wuhan, the first stop Wang Zhenyu visited was not the Hanyang Iron and Steel Works or the Hanyang Arsenal, but the National Wuhan Higher Normal School.It was formerly the Self-improvement School founded by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang in the late Qing Dynasty in 1893. In 1902, it was renamed Dialect School.After the Revolution of 1913, the Beiyang government established the National Wuchang Higher Normal School in [-] based on the dialect school.

It is close to East Lake and Luojia Mountain. It is a typical place with mountains and water, and the scenery is still very good.Here, Wang Zhenyu made a speech that had a profound impact on the Chinese education community to the school's faculty and staff: "Everyone, it is a great honor to stand here and meet you who determine the future of China. I know that in the eyes of many intellectuals, I, Wang Zhenyu It is probably a warlord or something like that, nothing more than relying on the army to grab a few more provinces. I also know that in the eyes of others, I, as one of the current five forces in China, may have decided the situation in China The ability to move towards the future. So some people praise me, and some people scold me, but I don’t care about these now, what I care about is you, the students sitting in front of me, in my opinion, you are the ones who decide the future of China people."

As soon as this remark came out, the teachers and students of Wuhan Higher Normal School, who originally looked down upon Wang Zhenyu, a warlord who entered Wuhan with a big stick, burst into warm applause like a spring breeze.

"A nation wants to rejuvenate and rise among the nations of the world. Such a great goal cannot be achieved by having a huge army or a powerful political party, let alone a hero. Powerful It is not an improvement of one level, but an improvement of the whole level. For example, a strong military cannot be achieved by going to foreigners to buy a batch of arms. He needs a strong industrial base. And what does an industrial base need? ?It is talents, technical talents. If we leave talents and focus on equipment, we are following the old path of the Westernization Movement, but this path has been proved to be unworkable. So where do our talents come from? Not from nepotism, but from school."

In line with the last sentence, Wang Zhenyu made a gesture of waving his hands vigorously, and the audience applauded once again.

"Since the Opium War, China has suffered all kinds of humiliation from the outside world, and in the Sino-Japanese War and the Gengzi Rebellion, this humiliation has become a shame. Why is this happening, what is the problem, and how to solve it, that person Can a classmate tell me?"

After only a few seconds of communication, the students' interactive emotions were immediately ignited. A tall boy stood up bravely and said, "It's because the foreign powers are too bad and too strong. We can't win. So we have to unite, Only by defeating the great powers can we wash away our shame."

Wang Zhenyu shook his head with a smile and said: "If a lion shows off its muscles, it means that it is strong. If a pig shows off its meat, it means that it should be killed. We are bullied by foreign powers. We should not blame other barbarians. On the contrary, we We should also be grateful and thank others. It is they who opened the windows of the world for us. They let us know what it means to look at the sky from a well, what it means to be complacent, and what it means to be beaten when you are backward? So I am most grateful to the British. These bandits from Europe let us open our eyes to see the world, otherwise we would still be hungry, dragging our braids in naked clothes, believing in the prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong described by those shameless literati of Ji Xiaolan, indulging in the self-good feeling of the heaven and the kingdom .”

After Wang Zhenyu finished speaking, he paused and looked at the audience. The teachers and students were silent, and they couldn't turn their heads around. Why should their motherland thank the Western powers after enduring so much humiliation?

At the same time, nine representatives representing the five forces stepped into the venue specially set up by the Nanjing Military Management Committee and started a difficult but not long negotiation.

Although the Beiyang government still controls half of the country, but because they lost the war, they have now become a relatively weak party among the five parties, and in name, they are now negotiating with the other four parties.

As negotiators of the Beiyang government, Xu Shichang and Cao Rulin felt a lot of pressure on their shoulders, so they didn't talk nonsense when they came up, and directly proposed the negotiation plan selected by Duan Qirui.

Naturally, Cao Rulin's qualifications cannot be compared with Xu Shichang's, so this proposal was read by him:

"First, the central government in Beijing recognizes the War to Protect the Nation as a legitimate war, and will not hold the participants accountable.

Second, Wang Zhenyu was appointed as the patrol envoy of Huguang and Liangjiang, Cai E was appointed as the patrol envoy of Southwest China, and Sun Yat-sen was appointed as the patrol envoy of Fujian and Zhejiang.