The year 1916 came, and as expected, Yuan Shikai had a very unhappy year. His proclamation as emperor has brought immeasurable sequelae. Not only Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao and others resolutely opposed the imperial system, but also the Beiyang generals Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, who started by themselves, were also deeply dissatisfied, and Duan Qirui even directly called Yuan Shikai: "Restore the parliament and abdicate yourself", and the imperialist powers also constantly warned him, making the "Hongxian" emperor who had not ascended the throne suffer greatly.

The biggest threat is the Protector Army led by Cai Yi. On December 25 of the previous year, Cai Yi, Tang Jiyao and others announced an uprising in Yunnan, launched a war to protect the country, and sent a telegram to crusade against Yuan Shikai, which spread rapidly. The earliest responders were not neighboring Guizhou or the Kuomintang's Guangdong, but Jiangsu, which was close at hand, and there was a huge internal earthquake within the Beiyang faction.

Speaking of which, there is a bit of a historical coincidence in this matter. Although Cai Ye was confident in the military, but after all, Yunnan was in a remote corner, and the number of soldiers raised was less than 20,000, once the uprising, he would be the enemy of the 100,000 Beiyang army, so he specially signed a secret agreement with Feng Guozhang, explaining that as long as Nanjing took the lead in sending troops against the imperial system, Yunnan would be the first to respond, so as to reap the effect of mutual containment.

Feng Guozhang was more cautious and tactful in this matter, and did not want to express his position easily. His initial calculation was to stay put, wait until Cai Ye and others got into trouble with Yuan Shikai, and then sit back and watch the success or failure, and take advantage of it. However, the two staff members under Feng Guozhang were different from what the master thought. These two staff members, one is Feng Guozhang's secretary general Hu Siyu, and the other is the confidential secretary Pan Ruohai, they are Kang Youwei's students and confidants, and they are both authentic Qing restorationists. Feng Guozhang agrees with Kang, Hu and Pan. Since Kang Youwei introduced Hu and Pan into the background, he has great trust in them, and during his tenure as the superintendent of Jiangsu, all documents and telegrams were dismantled and carried out by these two secretaries, and Hu and Pan were also in charge of the public and private seals.

Kang Youwei, the predecessor of the Qing restoration, was the reformist faction during the Wuxu Reform, because of Yuan Shikai's informant, the reformist faction suffered a lot, and revenge was brewed from time to time in the future. Seeing that Feng Guozhang was at both ends of the head and refused to send first, Pan Ruohai carried him behind his back and wrote a telegram to Cai Yi in the name of Feng Guozhang, which read: "Ning has sent troops, and I hope that the public will send it quickly." ”

This telegram was stamped with the official seal of the Jiangsu Military Supervision Bureau, and was personally sent by Pan Ruohai to the Shanghai Concession Post Office (then known as the Telegraph Office) for photographing and distribution. As soon as the telegraph office saw that it was stamped with a seal, and did not ask whether it was true or not, it sent this secret telegram to Kunming, Yunnan. When the secret telegram arrived, Cai Ye was ready to stand on his own, and after reading the fake telegram, he hurriedly swore an oath in accordance with the secret agreement. On December 25, Cai Ye declared the independence of Yunnan, and at the same time established the National Protector Army in Kunming, under his personal command, to launch an attack on Sichuan.

After the Protector Army entered Sichuan, it broke Cao Kun, Zhang Jingyao and other Beiyang Army, which can be described as overwhelming and victorious. At this time, Cai Ye didn't see Jiangsu sending troops, so he called to ask Feng Guozhang why he was dishonest, but Feng Guozhang was confused by the second monk.

This matter was spread in Shanghai, Nanjing, Sichuan, and Yunnan, and it became a joke for a while.

At first, Lao Yuan didn't quite believe in our General Cai's rebellion. "Cai Ye went to Japan to study in his early years, and he only borrowed two cents from Changsha, Hunan, borrowed six yuan from his relatives in Hankou, and borrowed 1,000 yuan generously from Houxiangcheng (Lao Yuanzi) in Beijing." He is Cai's benevolent father, as evidenced by Liang Qichao's statement at Cai Yi's memorial service. In any case, according to the view of the Chinese people who do not need to be poor in emergencies, Lao Yuan was kind to General Cai Da for further study, and it is unknown whether General Cai Da reciprocated for this in the Second Revolution, but it is true that he clearly supported himself against Sun Yat-sen. This time, it turned against each other, and I really couldn't understand it.

But General Cai is not a person who takes people softly and eats people's mouths, the public is public, and the private is private, which is clearly distinguished. "After arriving in the East, Cai Yi took 300 yuan as the tuition fee, and the rest was for making friends and public welfare, and he walked out by himself, and he never took a car. From this point of view, Cai Ye is quite conscious of not using public funds for personal interests.

Lao Yuan still thought that it was natural for Cai Ye to be close to him, until the 29th four days later, he still didn't believe that Cai Ye wanted to go against him, Yunnan's electricity was a trick by the supervisor Tang Jiyao and the patrol envoy Ren Kecheng, it was a fraudulent telegram, and it was a tiger skin to make a coat from Cai Yi. In his telegram condemning the Yunnan Protector Army, he also separated Tang, Ren and Cai Yi: "... When Cai Yi and others were discussing the national system, they entangled with high-ranking military officers in Beijing and first signed their names, advocating a constitutional monarchy, and why they went abroad for medical treatment after asking for leave. ”

For the identified Tang and Ren, the punishment will be severe: "But Tang Jiyao and Ren Kecheng have local responsibilities, no matter whether this power is called, whether they are coerced by others, or fabricated by traitors, they cannot always be maintained, and they deserve it. ”

Of course, if such a big thing happens, Lao Cai can't be resigned: "Cai Ye is secretive, I don't know how to suspect it, I should take away my official position and take away the medal, and the local magistrate of the province will order me to come to Beijing and wait for the investigation!" This order. At this time, Lao Yuan still wanted to "see him again".

It wasn't until General Cai personally led the First Army into Sichuan and defeated the *** led by Chen Eun that Lao Yuan realized that he had been deceived, but it was too late.

Yunnan defeated Yuan together, and Yuan Shikai planned to transfer troops to the south. However, because of the lack of troops, and the generals at the front who disobeyed the fighting forces, the government army lost troops and retreated. The most infuriating thing is that his own people have rebelled, and Chen Eun, the Sichuan overseer who acted as the first line of defense, was originally Lao Yuan's hardcore cronies, but he gave up Sichuan almost without firing a shot, and gave Lao Yuan three anti-telegrams.

The first two are written more tactfully, and the tone is relatively gentle, just to persuade Yuan Shikai to abdicate, but the third one makes Yuan Shikai angry like thunder: "From today onwards, Sichuan has severed relations with Yuan's personally, and if Yuan's government disposes of Sichuan affairs in the name of his government on any day, Sichuan Province will be regarded as invalid." Yuan Shikai never expected that his henchman Chen Eun would "rebel" against him, and he was so angry that he shouted "people's hearts have changed greatly".

It's not just Sichuan that wants to change, but Lu Rongting in Guangxi also has ideas.

Although Lu Rongting is the governor of Guangxi, he is not Yuan Shikai's confidant. First, his personal ability is much worse than Cai Yi, second, Guangxi has always been barren and can't play any flowers, and third, there is Long Jiguang, a "barbarian on the Yunnan border", who serves Guangdong for Beiyang.

However, at this juncture, any wind and grass movement anywhere may bring about a follow-up effect, and Lao Yuan dare not ignore it. But Lao Yuan was also afraid that the enemy deliberately blew the wind, so that his family would suspect his own people first, and let the enemy reap the benefits, so he didn't believe it at first. But Lu Rongting didn't know what to think, so he actually sent a telegram to him asking his son Lu Yuxun to return to Guangxi, which needed to be pondered.

At this time, Lu Yuxun, who served as Yuan Shikai's guard military attaché, was actually the same as Zhang Hanqing, the identity of a proton.

The ancient kings named the son of the feudal official who held a heavy army to serve as a guard in the inner court, and the ostensible favor and support were actually detained as a hostage, which is the old bridge of the "proton game". Thousands of things should not be, after Cai Yi turned against Yuan, Lu Rongting sent a telegram to Yuan's family to ask for leave on behalf of Lu Yuxun: "I am suddenly in very bad health, please ask the president for permission, let my son go back to Guangxi to visit the patient!" ”

Lao Yuan is so sophisticated, he naturally saw through Lu Rongting's intentions at a glance, and of course he would not leave difficulties. With his surprising generosity, he granted leave at that time and authorized Lu Gongzi to return to his hometown to take care of his father. Hearing the news, Zhang Hanqing was taken aback and hurriedly asked him what was going on.

It is said that although Zhang Hanqing is not familiar with Lu Yuxun, he still has some friendship: first, they are both protons, and they will inevitably sympathize with each other; Second, after everyone is a famous family, it is inevitable that there will be something to take care of in the future. The two have also met a few times in Beijing, because they are both young people and can speak some languages.

At this time, Lu Yuxun had already packed up, and when he saw Zhang Hanqing coming, he said very rashly: "I originally wanted to send someone to inform Hanqing of you, but now that you are here yourself, this will save trouble." It is rare for you and my brother to have a chance to get together, and if he is destined to come to Guangxi one day, I will do my best to entertain you as a landlord. ”

Zhang Hanqing said with some concern: "When you go home at this juncture, will the president have any ideas?" Doesn't he suspect that as soon as you go back, the southwest will change again? ”

As soon as he said that, in fact, he was a little annoyed, he knew that Lao Yuan was released so easily, and he should have fled back to the Northeast first. The situation is getting worse day by day, and when Lao Yuan asks Zhang Zuolin to be the "King of Qin", he has really become a pawn of Lao Yuan if he continues to stay here. However, if Zhang Zuolin is allowed to go back by himself, no matter how stupid Lao Yuan is, he should know what his father and son have in mind.

"Han Qing, you're too worried, I'll give you a thorough understanding. The more this happens, the less likely the president will doubt his father's loyalty. You think, everyone knows that this is a 'three-way crossing', my father is testing Lao Yuan's trust on the surface, but in fact he is also confessing his loyalty to the president! If the president does not trust my father, there is no reason to let me go back; Then again, if my father really wanted to oppose the president, he would not dare to blatantly ask me to go back. All he had to do was pay a lot of money and arrange for some Jianghu brothers to help me escape from Beijing. Lu Yuxun was very happy to leave the whirlpool, and he talked a little more.

Yes? It's obviously a stalk that takes the opportunity to walk, but it is interpreted like this, which is really mind-blowing. Ahem, if you do it, you have to be the first person to eat crabs! Although the risks are great, the rewards are also considerable, and Zhang Hanqing regrets it.

However, no one thought that this farewell would be a farewell, because they heard his bad news a few days later!

It turned out that Lu Yuxun stopped in Hankou when he returned to Guangxi from Beijing, and what was even worse was that he fell ill in Hankou and died within a few days! Who the knife catcher is is unknown in the turbulent situation. For this reason, Zhang Hanqing was a little afraid.