On March 19, the Beiyang government received a joint telegram from the overseers, which was headed by Cao Kun, including the three governors of the Yangtze River, a total of 15 provinces and three special regions of the Beiyang warlords, they asked Duan Qirui to form a cabinet again, Neiyun: "Kun and others agreed with each other that if our father is reinstated, he will swear to be the same as others to help the situation in danger, otherwise he will only follow the public high, do not ask about the world, the safety of the whole country, and the separation of the same people, all of which are my father." ”

When Feng Guozhang received this telegram, it was like receiving a letter of mourning, so he had no choice but to ask Duan Qirui to "reluctantly respond to the orders of the people and put the Beiyang group first" and accept the great order of forming a cabinet.

If you let him go like this, Duan Qirui is not worthy of being called a tumbler in the political arena of the Republic of China, and he still says "I have no intention of this".

The situation has deteriorated, and Feng Guozhang swore to heaven and earth that he was willing to live and die with Duan and share weal and woe. And automatically recognized five conditions: the office of the Mainland Chinese Army was still moved back to the State Council, with Jin Yunpeng as the director and Jingyun as the substitute---- Jin is one of the four King Kongs of Duan; The State Council resolved that the president promised not to change a single word without authorization; Cabinet members are chosen by the Prime Minister without the consent of the President; The Secretary-General of the Government is recommended by the Prime Minister; Telegrams from the Central Committee (referring to the President) to the provinces must be issued by the Yuan.

As soon as these five conditions were set, Lao Feng basically put himself in the high position of a puppet. The reason why he is like this is, on the one hand, to avoid the edge temporarily; On the other hand, he took advantage of the fact that Duan Qirui was busy forming a cabinet and dealing with the aftermath to quickly integrate the forces directly related to the provinces in preparation for a counterattack.

This time, Duan Qirui took full control of the central government in Beijing. On March 23, the President decreed the resignation of Premier Wang Shizhen, and appointed Duan Qirui as Prime Minister.

On the 24th, Zhang Zhitan was appointed secretary general of the State Council.

On the 25th, the office of the Mainland Chinese was moved back to the State Council.

On the 27th, Zhang Jingyao was appointed as the governor of Hunan.

On the 28th, the commander-in-chief of the navy was changed to a special appointment, with Lan Jianshu as the commander-in-chief.

On the 29th, Lu Zhengxiang was ordered to be reinstated as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qian Nengxun was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, Duan Zhigui was appointed Chief of the Army, Liu Guanxiong was appointed Chief of the Navy, Fu Zengxiang was appointed Chief of Education, Zhu Shen was appointed Chief of Justice, Tian Wenlie was appointed Chief Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Cao Rulin was appointed Chief of Communications and Chief Financial Officer, and Wu Dingchang was appointed Vice Minister of Finance. These are all important figures in the Anhui system. From this moment on, the Anhui system completely controlled the central government of Beiyang.

As an incentive to support the supporters, the Beiyang Government awarded Cao Kunxun a first-class Baoguang Jiahe Medal on April 4; Zhang Jingyao was awarded the first-class Wenhu Medal and the second-class Baoguang Jiahe Medal; Wu Peifu was awarded three honors and the second-class Baoguang Jiahe Medal.

Duan Qirui was reinstated as prime minister for the third time, Feng Guozhang completely bowed his head, and even the three governors of the Yangtze River, who were directly related to the powerful elements of the Lord and He, did not dare to disagree. At this time, the big celebrity in the political situation was Xu Shuzheng, Li Chun also tried his best to win over Xu, and Chen Guangyuan, the overseer of Jiangxi, publicly expressed his acceptance of the third phase of the battle plan. By this period, the direct line had completely succumbed to the Anhui lineage.

At this time, Duan Qirui explained the importance of uniting the Beiyang faction and the decision to implement the policy of fighting against the south at the military conference in Hankou, and then put forward the fourth phase of the battle plan, which was sent to the relevant provinces to implement the plan. On the issue of the president, Duan Qirui advocated the rapid convening of a new parliament so that the presidential election could be held as scheduled, which was later known as the Anfu Congress, which was planned by Xu Shuzheng, a close confidant of the Anhui family.

Before Duan Qirui formed a cabinet for the third time, all favorable situations were inclined to him, but after he came to power, the situation was different: the warlords of the Anhui faction and the main war faction supported him with their own plans, hoping to get Japan's loans and arms because of the war, and at the same time, because of the war, they could each withhold national taxes and buy horses and recruit troops.

Soon after Duan came to power, the second batch of 30,000 guns shipped from Japan was seized by the Feng army in Tanggu! The collusion between Duan Qirui's government and Japan did not gain any benefits, because the supply of arms only cheapened the Feng army, and the Japanese arms were robbed by the Feng army on both occasions. Although there is a lot of borrowing, it is far away that the water cannot save the near fire.

After the two arms interceptions, Zhang Zuolin used these arms to equip a total of 7 brigades, and his strength increased greatly. Originally, after the Song Jiuling Regiment of the Yi Army returned to Shun, Zhang Hanqing integrated many idle troops and gave him the position of commander of a mixed brigade. Now that the arms are in hand, the shelves of this mixed brigade can be regarded as truly erected.

A group of veterans who started with Zhang Zuolin, Sun Liechen has succeeded him as the commander of the 27th Division of the main force, Yang Yuting is the general staff of the Overseer Military Administration and the chief supervisor of the arsenal, Tang Yulin has been marginalized, and only Zhang Zuoxiang has been promoted from the chief of staff of the 27th Division to the chief of staff of the Overseer Military Administration, nominally a small improvement of one level. Compared with Han Linchun and Guo Songling of the young marshal department, they are all new to the power, that is, Wang Yizhe, who is not good in military affairs, is also a figure with a head and a face in the first division, and Jiang Dengxuan is even more ascending to the sky. In contrast, Zhang Zuolin felt sorry for Zhang Zuoxiang.

However, Zhang Zuoxiang was very open-minded: when the first division was formed, he had the opportunity to become the division commander, because considering the influence on Zhang Zuolin, he gave up and gave it to Han Linchun; When the 28th Division surrendered, it was an opportunity, but it was given up in consideration of the stability of the army's morale and ceded to Ji Jinchun.

Although he has repeatedly made virtuous and willing to live in the future, the old and young marshals will not forget. Zhang Zuolin asked him to serve as the commander-in-chief of the rear route army this time, which is related to his life and death, to express his trust in Zhang Zuoxiang. Zhang Hanqing, on the other hand, strengthened his influence by proposing to elevate the status of chief of staff, and as the chief of staff of the Fengtian Supervisory Military Administration, Zhang Zuoxiang's rank was already on par with the division commanders, and he could command operations on behalf of Zhang Zuolin.

In addition, in accordance with the principle of appointing posts according to people, Zhang Hanqing made Zhang Zuoxiang the vice chairman of the People's Party's Military Committee, at least nominally, to elevate his position in the party.

Zhang Zuoxiang felt this and expressed full gratitude for it, but still politely declined. This kind of high wind and bright festival makes the Feng department more noble. Zhang Hanqing did not give up, he sent adjutant and propaganda minister Zhu Guangmu to personally pass the message: "Uncle Eighth is unwilling to be this vice chairman, is it because the People's Party is not big enough and thinks it can't become a climate?" Only in this way can we borrow the connections and aura of Uncle Eight to make the People's Party grow stronger as soon as possible! ”

This sentence is half agitated and half heartfelt. The People's Party was created by a group of young Zhuang factions headed by him, and the elders of the Feng faction did not get involved, so that they could not open up the situation in Mukden for a long time, and they did not even pay attention to the black province. If Zhang Zuoxiang "joins", no matter what, it can increase the weight of the People's Party, and it is also a piece of incense, isn't it?

Zhang Zuoxiang should have understood Zhang Hanqing's thoughts, and he also had the heart to praise him, so he smiled and said: "You go and tell the young marshal, just say that I understand his kindness, this vice chairman, how about I take office now?" In his heart, the role of this People's Party is just a thing that the young marshal has concocted, and he just expresses his support, anyway, in name. However, when Zhang Hanqing later announced that he was the chairman of the People's Party's Military Committee, and that there was only Zhang Zuoxiang as the vice chairman, he somewhat understood what the young marshal meant: it was to lift himself. You must know that Han Linchun, Guo Songling, Wang Yizhe, Mi Chunlin and others, who have heavy troops, are just committee members.

At this time, Jiang Dengxuan had already become a glorious "probationary party member" of the People's Party under Zhang Hanqing's personal "introduction," and as soon as the time came, he could immediately be promoted to three levels in a row. However, Zhang Zuoxiang is not a party member, but why can he be the vice chairman of the Military Commission of the People's Party?

In fact, it is very simple, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Party, Zhang Zuoxiang and Sun Liechen were both honorary vice chairmen of the People's Party, which is equivalent to joining the party in disguise, and the party constitution does not stipulate this! When the time comes, as long as it is slightly flexible, when the party constitution is revised, it will be written like this: "The honorary chairman or vice chairman of the party is a naturally qualified member of the People's Party." Zhang Hanqing laid the foreshadowing at the beginning. At the beginning of its establishment, there were many natural loopholes, and the key was to see who could make good use of them.

At this time, good news came from the Shenyang Arsenal: the mountain cannon obtained from the remnants of the Zongshe Party some time ago had been successfully "reheated---- but in fact it was just scraped off the handwriting left by the Japanese on the cannon and re-injected with molten iron. Although there are still some traces in this way, after all, it is not very direct and blatantly telling the world that this is the original batch of "stolen goods", even if it is spread out on the surface, it can be said that it is reasonable---- at the moment when the strength is not good, Zhang Hanqing is still very wary of the Japanese.

Thirty guns, eighteen were left in the Guards Division, and a completely new artillery battalion was formed. The remaining twelve, together with a few cannons eliminated by the Guards Division, were allocated to the 1st Division to build an artillery battalion. The First Division was originally formed from the Black Province Cavalry Brigade and Infantry Brigade, and there were basically no heavy weapons in the complete sense. In addition, it is commanded by middle- and lower-level officers brought out by the backbone of the teaching regiment, and once the training is in place, its combat effectiveness will definitely not be inferior to that of the 29th Division, which barely ranks among the Beiyang Army.

It's not that Zhang Hanqing is eccentric, it's really a lack of heavy weapons, which leads to the difference between relatives and alienation. Regarding this little abacus of his son, Zhang Zuolin can only smile open-mindedly, it is better for the meat to rot in the pot than nothing.

Twice 60,000 guns were captured, which is equivalent to the entire Feng army updating its equipment once. This time, Zhang Hanqing didn't eat alone, so there was no need. Even the newly assigned Song Jiuling Mixed Brigade of the Guards Division has changed its outfit from top to bottom, so it is better to be open-minded. Some old-fashioned rifles and earthen guns have been eliminated and really returned to the furnace, and the Fengtian Ordnance Repair Factory finally has some spare parts and materials to use.

But after that, Duan Qirui was extremely afraid of Zhang Zuolin, and it was imperative for Feng and Anhui to turn their faces. At this time, there was Jilin behind Fengtian who was choking like a thorn, and Feng Guozhang was no longer able to fight or fight secretly with Duan Qirui. On the surface, the Feng army entered the customs for the first time, but once Duan Qirui eased up, in a hurry, the Feng system was not comparable to the strength of the Anhui system. If this knot between the Feng and Anhui factions cannot be resolved as soon as possible, it can be said that there will be endless troubles for the Feng army.