Chapter 162: The merger of direct and Anhui

Xiangfang Bridge, Xuanwumen, Beijing, Beiyang Government Affairs Council. (《》)

Acting President Feng Guozhang returned to his office with tired steps, waved his hand to all his followers to retreat. The followers gently placed the records of the just-concluded talks with the ministers of Japan, Britain, France and the United States on the wide rosewood table and quietly withdrew.

At this moment, Feng Guozhang felt exhausted.

The chaotic situation in the country not only fails to ask for help and support from the great powers, but is used by the great powers to constantly put pressure on themselves. Although politics is a kind of exchange and compromise of interests, Feng Guozhang found that he seemed to have nothing to feed the insatiable hungry wolves such as Britain, the United States, and Japan.

Today, the Northeast has been occupied by Zhang Zuolin, who was supported by Japan. In addition to an illusory political status, the Northeast, which has been firmly occupied by Zhang Zuolin, is completely under the leadership of the central government. Not only does it not share the worries of the central government, but also under the temptation and indulgence of Japan, it is eyeing the wealthy Zhili area within the pass.

The four northwest provinces in Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, which have been experiencing nine disasters in ten years, cannot be expected at all. Not to mention letting the four provinces pay taxes, they can recite Amitabha without the central government's support. Although the five provinces in Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are firmly in the hands of the Beiyang Army, with the split within the Beiyang, the fierce confrontation between the Zhili and Anhui factions parted ways, causing the troops stationed in each province to act independently. They have no national and collective interests in their hearts. They take advantage of the rare chaos in the current situation and throw their arms around and levy their levies. While they are rapidly strengthening their own strength, they still do not forget to look around and look at them. They may abandon their last bit of friendship at any time and play with the big fish and eat small fish.

There is no need to think about the rich Shanghai. Foreigners always warn to protect their national interests at all times. Unless the Anhui clan that occupied Shanghai lost the trust of foreigners, Feng Guozhang would not be able to get involved in Shanghai, a huge tax source.

Compared with the two provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian where the Beiyang army and the Southern Law Guardian Alliance fought endlessly, the two lakes have now become a major concern of the Beiyang government. The reason is that the alliance between the Sichuan Army and the Hunan Army is the root of all the disasters. Just the unification movement initiated by Tan Yankai and Cheng Qian in Hunan, etc., involved one-third of the Beiyang Army's troops. (")

At this critical moment, the Sichuan Army, which had been in a stable corner, showed its sharp fangs and captured the Jingxiang area with unbelievable determination and speed. The elite Sichuan Army of the four divisions pointed directly at Wuhan, forming a trend of echoing north and south with Hunan's Hunan's Hunan's Hunan's Hunan's Hunan ambitions to cut off the five Beiyang Army divisions in half and encircle and annihilate them one by one.

Just when Feng Guozhang was urgently summoning Beiyang bosses to discuss countermeasures, the ministers of Japan, Britain, France and the United States came uninvited and collectively protested that China's civil war had seriously damaged their huge interests. The Japanese ministers even threatened to send troops to Shanghai and Wuhan to protect Japan's interests and the lives and property of the expatriates.

Feng Guozhang, who had been in the robber face and domineering behavior of the great powers for more than 20 years and had rich political experience, was extremely familiar with Feng Guozhang, who had been in office for more than 20 years. It can be said that he has been constantly under this pressure since Li Hongzhang, the founder of Beiyang, so Feng Guozhang responded slowly and appropriately.

It was not until the four countries took the initiative to "help" Feng Guozhang win the civil war and stabilize the dominance of the Beiyang government in the form of huge loans that Feng Guozhang felt extremely shocked and alert. Before that, he begged his grandfather to be a grandmother but did not receive support from the great powers. Could it be that the sun came out from the west today?

When the four countries came up with a draft loan mortgage agreement, Feng Guozhang completely saw the four countries' injustice and huge ambitions. The only thing that used the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway as loan mortgage made Feng Guozhang feel that the shocking curse of "traitors" sounded in his ears. Other terms about expanding the concession areas of 16 cities including Shanghai, Wuhan, Tianjin and Qingdao, as well as the division of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, Hunan-Jiangxi Railway, Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway and other rights of road construction were enough to compete with the 21 articles Yuan Dashui's original, even better than that.

Feng Guozhang, who was very well-educated, did not refuse on the spot. He tactfully stated that he would convene a congress as soon as possible to reorganize the government and improve administrative agencies at all levels before submitting the draft for discussion. Then he changed his voice and asked to purchase the weapons and equipment of the three army divisions by delaying payment. He took advantage of the hesitation and internal discrimination of the ministers of the four countries to easily resolve the sudden and huge pressure, but even so, it took him a whole afternoon.

As night fell, the wide and thick gate of the president's office was gently pushed open from outside. Before Feng Guozhang's secretary-general came forward to report, Duan Qirui, who was exhausted, had already stood in front of Feng Guozhang with a gust of wind. (")

Feng Guozhang quickly stood up and sat down with each other, looking up at Duan Qirui, who was covered in dirt: "Didn't Brother Zhiquan meet the Swiss minister in Tianjin? He came by a car?"

Duan Qirui nodded, took the wet towel handed over by the servant, quickly wiped his face, threw it over, picked up the teacup and drank a few sips to moisten his throat, then slowly put down the cup and asked seriously: "I heard that the ministers of the Four Kingdoms talked to you for an afternoon?"

"It's not what they always emphasized. They want to obtain our railway rights and expand the area of ​​the concession... This time they are surprisingly willing to borrow money and sell weapons to us. Unfortunately, the price they paid is too high. I'm afraid that people will be scolded by their ancestors and dare not accept it!"

Feng Guozhang shook his head and smiled with a little self-deprecating look.

Facing Duan Qirui who had been with each other for twenty years, he never felt it necessary to hide anything. Even though Duan Qirui has now formed a self-contained line, not only has he controlled nearly half of the Beiyang army and occupied three wealthy provinces in the south, but also maintained secret contact with the powerful Sichuan army.

The deputy chief came hurriedly and whispered that Wang Shizhen, Chen Huan, Liang Shiyi and others had arrived and were waiting for the president to receive him outside.

Feng Guozhang waved his hand and told them to wait first, and then continue to talk to Duan Qirui: "Prince Chun (Wang Zhanyuan) sent a secret message saying that he didn't want to do it anymore and wanted to hand over the army to Wu Ziyu."

Duan Qirui was shocked and never expected that since his old subordinate, who wanted to hand over the tax-heavy Wuhan and the remaining three brigade troops to Wu Peifu, who belonged to Feng Guozhang's group, for a while, he didn't know how to express it.

Feng Guozhang smiled and said, "Zhiquan, in fact, it's the same for everyone in Wuhan. It's all the territory of our Beiyang Army. You don't want to hand over the three towns of Wuhan and the Hanyang Arsenal to the commander of the Sichuan Army Xiao Yiming, right? I remember that at the beginning of the year we spent a total of 500,000 oceans to buy back the full set of drawings and manufacturing processes of German heavy machine guns from Xiao Yiming. Since May, the production of German mg15 heavy machine guns successfully copied by the Hanyang Factory has firmly ranked first in the country, and the production of rifles has also increased from about 700 per month at the beginning of the year to 1,500 last month, which has become the largest source of weapons for our Beiyang Army. If you give up, do you want to?"

Duan Qirui had already calmed down, and he didn't know what Feng Guozhang wanted to express? He asked quietly: "So, Cao Zhongshan's two divisions have already gone south to Wuhan?"

It was Feng Guozhang's turn to be stunned for a moment, and he quickly shook his head helplessly:

"From before dawn to noon, Ziyu sent three emergency calls in Wuhan, saying that Zichun threw the troops to him, he took the train north overnight. It was estimated that he would almost arrive in Zhengzhou at this time... Ziyu had no choice but to summon a group of generals and schools left by Zichun and found that there were only less than 6,000 guns left in Wuhan, and all the others ran away... Such a few people are definitely not enough to deal with the threat of the Sichuan army. He immediately called me to send Cao Zhongshan to the south for assistance. At this time, we cannot hesitate. Soldiers are so fast!"

"Why are there only six thousand people left?"

Duan Qirui was speechless. He never expected that Wang Zhanyuan would be so cowardly and miserably defeated. No matter how strong the Sichuan Army was, it only circled around Qianjiang and then retreated tactfully. Apart from sporadic local battles, there was no news that any major war had happened.

Feng Guozhang smiled bitterly and said, "The Hubei army is basically disabled. The most complete unit may be the two brigades in Shi Xingchuan's hands and the thousands of troops hurriedly gathered. But even if there are 20,000 people, they are all defeated soldiers with no morale. There is no hope for a short period of time. It's a pity that it's hateful!

"In addition, according to the secret reports from our personnel stationed in Chongqing, the Second Sichuan Army Division has already arrived at the Chongqing Wharf and boarded the ship overnight. It is estimated that the Sixth Sichuan Army Division, which drove to Wanxian last month, has also left Sichuan, so I have to order Cao Zhongshan to rush to Wuhan as soon as possible. This will at least make the revolutionary army in Hunan have some concerns and boost the morale of the various divisions of our Beiyang troops in Hunan. Otherwise, if Hunan loses, you and I will never take it back."

Duan Qirui sighed: "That's why you held such an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures, right? Tell me, how do you want me to cooperate?"

Feng Guozhang was overjoyed. Duan Qirui's statement in just one sentence undoubtedly showed him that he no longer hoped for Xiao Yimin's active compromise. He realized that the overall situation of Beiyang integration and loss of one loss had already been split into direct, and the Beiyang army of the Anhui two systems finally united again in the face of crisis.

Feng Guozhang stood up and walked to Duan Qirui. He was very moved and asked sincerely: "Will this affect the two million guns and ammunition you ordered from Sichuan?"

Duan Qirui thought about it, stood up slowly, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I think Yiming is not that kind of mind. Since he met him in the 1911 years, he has never seen him break his promise. Even if he no longer wants to sell me weapons and ammunition, he will return the money."

Feng Guozhang couldn't help but think of the scenes when he was with Xiao Yimin, and said with great regret:

"I don't know what evil I was in this time. I actually got involved with the revolutionary party in Hunan. With his strength and status, I can do whatever I want when I come to Beijing. Will our brothers still treat him badly? I don't know how he explained to the second master (Zhao Erxun), alas!"

"The second uncle was ill when he returned to his hometown in Shandong and no longer cared about any mundane things... I heard that Yiming respected him very much. He would have a letter every month and sent two doctors to stay by the second uncle's side. This matter has been said to be a good story in Shandong."

Speaking of this, Duan Qirui hesitated slightly and asked in a low voice: "Do I send Yiming another telegram to let him return to a neutral position?"

Feng Guozhang happily held Duan Qirui's hand: "Brother Zhiquan, this is the best... However, this emergency meeting tonight must be held as scheduled. Not only the two lakes issue, but Jiangxi and Fujian must also make a clear constitution and must return to the Central Committee as soon as possible. Otherwise, it may really be true that Ziyu said - the country will not be a country!"

Duan Qirui nodded in understanding and followed Feng Guozhang out of the office with great concern and came to the reception room outside. Several generals and ministers stood up to greet each other. Duan Qirui just nodded slightly and flew to Yichang with all his thoughts.

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Now the emperor is still recuperating. Due to the effect of medicine, he sleeps more than ten hours a day and has extremely limited time to write, so keeping it constantly is the emperor's greatest effort!

The emperor is so frightened that he burns incense and thanks everyone for their support!
Chapter completed!