At the critical moment, Zhang Hanqing had the idea of dividing Zhi and Anhui, and he said to Zhang Zuolin: "The reason why my father can't compete with Duan Qirui at this stage is because the direct forces can't effectively contain the Anhui line. Now that Duan Qirui is back in power, the situation is not in our favor. If you want to get out of the future predicament, you might as well start with the 'Amphibious Overseer'. As long as Cao Kun rebels against Anhui and goes straight, Duan Qirui will have a big enemy before and after, and he will not dare to turn his face with his father, and we will have a long buffer period, and see how it changes in the future, which is called the enemy's enemy is a friend. ”

The enemy of the enemy is the friend! A word wakes up the dreamer. Since Duan Qirui formed a cabinet for the third time, Xu Shuzheng has become the darling of politics during that period. He is also full of ambition and considers himself the backstage of Duan Ge. Some people say that at that time, all the military plans of the Beijing government were in the hands of Duan, and Duan depended on Xu, who was simply the cabinet in the cabinet and the prime minister below the prime minister. Lao Duan's trust in him has reached this point, which is also a big difference in the Republic of China.

In response to Xu Shuzheng's ambition to be the overseer of Zhili, Zhang Zuolin assigned Yang Yuting, who had a good personal relationship with him, to offer him a plan: as long as the current Zhili overseer Cao Kun is promoted to another level, Cao is promoted to the patrol envoy of the two lakes and the overseer of Hubei, and the overseer of Hubei is transferred to the overseer of Jiangsu, which not only solves Li Chun, but also hits the direct line, and opens a way for himself, which is really the wishful thinking of "killing two birds with one stone".

This idea that is unreasonable and impossible to move his toes, Xu Shuzheng actually agreed and carried it out with great fanfare, which is also a great strange event in the Republic of China. Later generations of researchers have dug in many ways, but they don't understand why Xu Shuzheng, who was leaned on by Duan Qirui as the Great Wall, has become so mediocre, and can only understand that he has always acted too domineering, and he is inevitably too self-centered in national affairs.

Xu Shuzheng also thought that Cao Kun should be satisfied if he was promoted from the overseer of one province to the patrol envoy of two provinces, and he was still in charge of the overseer of one province. Unexpectedly, after this news came out, Cao Kun was furious: he started from the treasure land of Baoding, and when the warlords were strife, leaving his own territory was a signal of depreciation. He thinks that this is Duan Qirui's government, the Ming Ming and the secret fall, deliberately diverting the tiger from the mountain, and it is a symbol that the Anhui system is going to deal with him. Therefore, on April 4, he sent a telegram to the Beijing government, asking for his resignation as the envoy of the two lakes and asking for a month's leave before receiving approval, so that he could go to Jigong Mountain in Xinyang to "raise his hemorrhs."

At that time, Beiyang soldiers often used to resign or recuperate to threaten the government; In line with Cao's action, Wu Peifu, the commander-in-chief of the front, also sent a telegram to Beijing, saying that due to the fatigue of the combat of his headquarters, he asked the whole army to be transferred back to Zhili to rest. This means that Wu can withdraw his troops and return north at any time! The meaning of the sword is not to be overthought.

Cao Kun is the No. 1 general of the main battle faction, although his ability is mediocre and he has not made much achievements in military affairs, but his skills in employing people are quite successful. Wu Peifu was the one who was simple in his hand, until he was the head of a division, commanding the main force of the Cao army, serving as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy on the Hunan front, fighting against the Protector Army in Yueyang, Changsha and other places, and was known as the "victorious general" at the time.

Cao Kun is also not suspicious of people, let him lead the troops, never care, but let Wu Peifu die for him, and never dare to disobey him in the slightest, and firmly advance and retreat with him politically, and even when Cao Kun's biggest political defeat in the history of "bribing the president" occurred and had the opportunity to let Wu Peifu replace him, Wu Peifu still kept the bottom line of loyalty to Cao Kun and obeyed Cao Kun's words, and it cannot be said that it was not his ability and thaumaturgy.

Hunan's Jiexun just restored the prestige of the Beiyang faction, and Wu Peifu's department was the main force on the battlefield in Hunan.

In the eyes of the people at that time, the hope of national reunification was pinned on Wu Peifu. Because Sun Yat-sen, who still dreamed of revolution in the south, did not have the strength, and the powerful warlords of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guangdong had their own calculations, history hardly needed to assume: as long as Wu Peifu gave an order, his army would be able to settle down on Sanxiang and then pacify the two provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the dream of "reunification by force" of the Beijing government would be just around the corner! In order to encircle Wu Peifu, Duan Qirui personally went to the front line to work in the army, and in June 1918, Wu Peifu was awarded the title of "General Fuwei".

In order to explain the misunderstanding, Duan asked Xu Shuzheng to personally go to Hankou to apologize to Cao Kun, dissuade Cao Kun from resigning or asking for leave, and persuade Cao to order Wu Peifu not to retreat from the battlefield. Therefore, Xu Shuzheng hit a big nail this time.

Xu Shuzheng, who had lost face, was so angry that he also deployed a new battle plan in Hankou, intending to transfer the Feng army (a brigade of Xu Lanzhou's division, which was ordered to enter the front line and was in Shaanxi at the time) to the Hunan battlefield to monitor the direct army in case the direct army failed to fight or retreated.

After President Feng learned of the feud between Cao Kun and Xu Shuzheng, he was overjoyed---- this was a good time to divide Cao Kun and Duan Qirui's government, let him break away from the embrace of the Anhui line, and return to his direct line. Therefore, Lu Jianzhang, a senior adviser to the presidential palace and an army general, was arranged to come to Tianjin, the purpose of which was to use Lu Jianzhang to persuade Cao Kun to return to his direct line and cooperate with Li Chun to turn the meeting of the Overseer Army into a situation that was favorable to Feng and not to Duan.

Lu Jianzhang is a behind-the-scenes activist of the main peace faction, and has some direct and indirect relations with the Beiyang warlords in various provinces, Feng Yuxiang's main peace is related to him, and the Anhui faction has long regarded him as a dangerous person, and he will want to get rid of him as soon as possible.

To be honest, there were few killings of political figures in the early Republic of China, which may have been a great gain for old China to learn from European, American and Japanese politics. Although Xu Shuzheng has the heart to completely solve this trouble, he still lacks guts. According to the results of the secret discussion between Zhang's father and son, let Yang Yuting instigate Xu Shuzheng to kill Lu, so as to lay a secret stake between the Zhiwan faction, which has gradually become a "three-legged" trend in the central political arena of China, is really a good thing with all benefits and no harm. Zhang Zuolin personally arranged for Yang Yuting, who had a close relationship with Xu Shuzheng, and asked him to "facilitate this matter" at any cost. One has a heart, the other has an intention, and the two sides hit it off.

Where to start made the two of them think about it for a while. Since President Feng Da has the heart to compete with the Anhui system, how can he not pay special attention to Lu Jianzhang, who is an important chess piece, to his safety? Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has always been a direct traditional territory, although the strength of the Anhui system is large, but the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, and there are not many opportunities to directly win this direct dignitary. Not only does he have no doubts in his heart, but he also wants to hit with one blow, and after thinking about it, the Fengjun Garrison Headquarters suggested by Yang Yuting is an excellent place to go.

For Lu Jianzhang, the superficially "neutral" Feng system is of course much safer than the Anhui system with a strong taste, and its vigilance is bound to be lax, and the probability of success is very high; For Xu Shuzheng, the heavily guarded headquarters on the territory of the Feng army killed the direct dignitaries, and the Feng family could not get out of it no matter how they defended. This is a brilliant way to kill two birds with one stone.