Not to mention that Nanjing, which Zhang Xun strictly defended, was conquered by the Southern Revolutionary Army within a few days, although this result was expected by many people, but what everyone did not expect was that the Southern Revolutionary Army would suffer such heavy casualties. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info history Jiangxi soldiers are not good at fighting, and there are very few examples of defeating opponents, but when defending Nanjing, Zhang Xun and his Jiangxi Fengxin soldiers were extremely fierce and dragged the revolutionary army under the city of Nanjing.

If it weren't for the local soldiers in Jiangsu who rebelled one after another in Zhang Xun's army and gave Zhang Xun a few knives from behind, I am afraid that the time for the revolutionary army to conquer Nanjing would have been delayed.

Because of the heavy casualties on the frontal battlefield, Huang Xing, commander-in-chief of the Southern Revolutionary Coalition Army, ordered the three armies of the revolutionary army to concentrate on the frontal battlefield. This has a lot to do with the military education Huang Xing received, after all, Huang Xing only commanded battles, and the only time he commanded a battle was the Battle of Hankou, only to be swept away by Feng Guozhang's army and forced to come to Nanjing. And this time, Huang Xing thought that it was the best opportunity to correct his name, and tens of thousands of people drowned the group of Qing soldiers on the opposite side with a mouthful of foam.

Zhang Xun's army continued to suffer casualties, so much so that his staff member Zhao Mucun knelt at his feet and hugged his thighs and cried: "If we continue to fight, there will be no one for our Fengxin soldiers, there will be no one, everyone will come out from Fengxin and Dashuai, and they can't all die." Although Zhang Xun was reckless, he was not stupid, and after seeing that his henchmen's army was getting smaller and smaller, he finally decided to follow the advice of Zhao Mucun and other subordinates, withdraw from Nanjing, and flee to his son-in-law's territory in Jiangbei.

Because of the strong determination of Zhang Xun and his army to become king in the city, the revolutionary army and navy all misjudged, and they did not expect that Zhang Xun would go to Jiangbei by boat at night. After the revolutionary army conquered the last fortress and completely occupied Nanjing, it was learned from the captives that Zhang Xun had requisitioned all the fishing boats overnight and hired foreign companies and coal carriers of the China Shipping Group docked at the wharf, and transported Zhang Xun's wealth and men to the Pukou wharf on the other side of the Yangtze River.

As soon as Zhang Xun's 8,000 pigtailed troops arrived in Pukou, they were captured by Li Shirui's Eighth Brigade of the Jiangbei New Army, all of them were disarmed and sent to the recruit camp, the wounded soldiers were treated, and the soldiers who had been fighting for a week were finally able to sleep peacefully - the Jiangnan Army knew that it would be safe when it crossed the river, and it was the territory of the Jiangbei Army when it crossed the river, and the boss of the Jiangbei Army was Zhang Xun's son-in-law Wang Yongan. No matter how deep the contradiction between this son-in-law and his father-in-law is, he will not force his father-in-law to death, and it is unreasonable to say it.

Zhang Xun also secretly sighed that he was fortunate to listen to Chen Zhaotang's suggestion and marry his daughter to Wang Yongan to apologize, otherwise he would have died and had no place to be buried.

Due to the question of Jiangbei forces and attitude towards the Jiangbei Army, the revolutionary party did not immediately pursue Zhang Xun after occupying Nanjing, but held a meeting on the spot to discuss whether to establish the Republic of China immediately. Sun Yat-sen and others naturally demanded the immediate establishment of the Republic of China, even if the Republic of China is only south of the Yangtze River, but the establishment of the Republic of China will be the biggest blow to the Manchu government. However, the Hubei side did not agree to the immediate establishment of the Republic of China, and they wanted to continue negotiations with Yuan Shikai.

Sun Yat-sen thought that the Hubei side had illusions, and he had already seen through Yuan Shikai, who on the one hand sent people to negotiate with the Hubei Revolutionary Party, and on the other hand, sent people to Nanjing to negotiate with Sun Yat-sen and others the Revolutionary Party, wanting to divide the Southern Revolutionary Party, and even provoke the Southern Revolutionary Party to fight, obviously Yuan Shikai thought that the world was under his control. Therefore, Sun Yat-sen demanded the immediate establishment of the Republic of China, on the one hand, Yuan Shikai was caught off guard and seriously negotiated, and on the other hand, at the beginning of the new year, he also took advantage of the beginning of the new year to let the anti-Qing Han people all over the world see the dawn of victory, especially the overseas Chinese who have been tirelessly supporting the revolutionary cause, and to see for those overseas Chinese who have dedicated their youth and children that the dawn of the revolution has come.

The capture of Nanjing was expected by Yuan Shikai, but the impact of the capture of Nanjing was beyond the expectations of Yuan Shikai and his staff, what he did not expect was that major foreign newspapers and media reported on this change in the Qing Empire, and many countries began to support the revolutionaries in the south, and believed that Yuan Shikai was no longer able to control the Qing Empire - this made Yuan Shikai panic, and he originally planned to mobilize troops to deal with Wang Yongan, so he had to immediately meet with Zhu Erdian and other foreign ambassadors and ministers.

Minister Zhu Erdian secretly told Yuan Shikai that the Southern Revolutionary Party had approached the British Consul and expressed the hope of obtaining the support of the British Government, and said that the future Southern Revolutionary Government would recognize British interests and forces in China. Zhu Erdian's attitude towards the south made Yuan Shikai anxious, and he immediately said that although the southern provinces declared independence, they were still the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and the British government should not have any agreement with the southern governments.

Zhu Erdian smiled and said, "Could it be that the Qing court can really represent the country now?" Know that the interests of our British Empire are south of the Yangtze River, unless you can quickly pacify the south. ”

This requirement was impossible to achieve, because Li Liejun actually commanded the Sisheng coalition army to turn defeat into victory under the city of Wuchang, and Feng Guozhang's army fled in the desert, and even Hankou was occupied by the revolutionary army.

In an urgent telegram to Yuan Shikai, Feng Guozhang reported: "The revolutionary party is fighting more and more, and the stronger it is fighting, and the support units of our army have not arrived for a long time, and I hope that the prime minister will support it." ”

Yuan Shikai called back: "Talk openly and secretly, fight slowly, don't be in a hurry." ”

Feng Guozhang took the telegram with a puzzled expression, and said to Wang Zhanyuan: "Seeing that Wuchang is about to be conquered, why did you issue this order to us at this time?" ”

Wang Zhanyuan thought for a while and said, "The prime minister has something else to hide. ”

Sure enough, the next day, Yuan Shikai telegraphed Feng Guozhang to return to Beijing immediately, and Feng Guozhang knew that the reason why Yuan Shikai did not dare to send more troops to support Wuchang and suspend the rebellion in Shanxi and Shaanxi was to prepare for the Jiangbei Army, and even Duan Qirui had already formulated a plan to attack the Jiangbei Army.

This plan was to divide the army into four routes, Jin Yunpeng led all the way to attack Xuzhou, Li Chun led all the way to attack Huaibei, Cao Kun all the way to Tongcheng, and Wang Zhanyuan all the way to Haizhou.

"This time the southward march will be led by the Gong Army, and the four-way army must be coordinated." Yuan Shikai advised.

Feng Guozhang was so excited that he immediately said that he would definitely be able to complete the task. Yuan Shikai regretted it greatly, he knew that his soft-heartedness towards Wang Yongan and the Jiangbei Army had led to the embarrassing situation of the Beiyang Army now being difficult to ride a tiger, and now the Jiangbei Army is getting stronger and stronger, and it is beyond Yuan Shikai's control. If it is really as foreign newspapers say, Wang Yongan and his Jiangbei Army are the future of China, then the Beiyang Army is the flower of tomorrow.

"If the north and south are attacked, ......," Duan Qirui pointed out.

Yuan Shikai nodded and said: "I have already sent a secret message to Tang Shaoyi, this matter (referring to the attack on Jiangbei) Sun Yat-sen in the south is probably more urgent than us, because the money in Jiangnan is in the hands of Wang Yongan in Jiangbei, and if Wang Yongan is eradicated, Nanjing will have money." ”