In addition to Liu Tong and Suo Tudong, the cronies who chose to go west with Wang Yongan also included Shan Qipeng, Luo Sen, Wang Ancheng, An Yinlin and Qi Gu, and among the military attachés, in addition to Jiang Dengxuan and Peng Yunzhe, the rest of Xu Yang, Luo Yinxian, Yang Shouzhu, and Wei Daofeng all resigned from their jobs in the War Department to follow Wang Yongan's westward expedition. Everyone knows that Wang Yongan no longer stays in the War Department, and they have also lost their greatest support, so it is better to go to the Tiangao Emperor in Sichuan to be at ease, so as not to be angry with Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng. In addition, Hu Jingyi, the governor of Sichuan, and Tang Shaoyi, the former prime minister of the cabinet, also went south with Wang Yongan and his party.

Wang Yongan tried his best to persuade him to go to the southwest with him, but Tang Shaoyi saw it clearly, saying that you just want to be a warlord in the southwest, whether you succeed or fail, I am just working for a warlord, it is better to go back to my hometown to do some practical things for the people in my hometown.

Tang Shaoyi's words are very straightforward, saying that Wang Yongan has some embarrassment, he really wants to be a warlord, and Tang Shaoyi would rather make a little contribution to the people than do what the warlord is doing. It is not so much that he is disheartened, but that he sees through the nature of the warlord and is unwilling to serve any warlord.

Each of these ministers at the beginning of the Republic of China was talented, but his temper was not small, Tang Shaoyi was also stubborn, Wang Yongan couldn't dissuade him, so he had to send him south.

Compared with Tang Shaoyi's coldness, Hu Jingyi is much more enthusiastic, although Hu Jingyi is the governor of Sichuan Province, but Sichuan Province is now divided into many small warlords and small factions, and his predecessor Yin Hengchang was put in prison by Yuan Shikai and the small warlords. Hu Jingyi is now also in a dilemma, on the one hand, he is controlled by Yuan Shikai, on the other hand, his power is under Wang Yongan's nose, and on the other hand, the small warlords want to overthrow him, so he has to make a choice. And Hu Jingyi's choice was to immediately abandon Yuan Shikai and defect to Wang Yongan, and use Wang Yongan to eliminate the small warlords.

Hu Jingyi's unavoidable choice made Wang Yongan's favorability of him increase a lot, and then Hu Jingyi asked about the situation of the army's westward expedition, and Wang Yongan introduced it, the westward expedition army.

Wang Yongan and his entourage arrived at Jinmen by train from Beijing, rested for a night, and then took the Jinpu Railway south, passing through Dezhou and Jinan, and arrived in Xuzhou, where they joined Feng Heng and others of the Eighth Division stationed in Xuzhou. The Eighth Division had already left Xuzhou under the leadership of Deputy Division Commander Niu Guangfu, and only some people from the Eighth Division Headquarters remained in Xuzhou, waiting here to greet Wang Yongan and others. After the two sides met, they celebrated, and listened to Wang Yongan tell the experience of fighting wits and courage with Yuan Shikai in Beijing, especially the stories before and after the assassination.

After a night's rest, everyone set off again, along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway after two days to arrive at Pukou, at this time Pukou gathered 100,000 westward soldiers and civilians and tens of thousands of people to see them off, and dozens of large transport ships at the Pukou wharf methodically transported the soldiers and civilians, and the person in charge in the early stage was Li Yao.

The mountain of grain next to the wharf was loading the ship, and a group of beggars in the distance looked at the mountain of grain and sighed when they could eat so much delicious food. The workers on the dock came and went frequently, and when one worker accidentally fell to the ground from exhaustion, someone immediately rushed up to send him to rest, while more workers were busy transporting.

The ships in front of the dock were lining up in an orderly manner, and the local officials had long been frightened, how could they have the experience of deploying such a large fleet, and the officials responsible for deploying ships close to the dock had already been replaced by military personnel, but military personnel were also the first time that a big girl had been on a sedan chair. From time to time, there have been some unexpected accidents on the wharf construction site, for example, in the past ten days of transportation and dispatching work, six workers have been killed due to fatigue or accidents. In the woods not far from the docks, more than two dozen people were hanged from trees, all thieves who had been caught stealing or stealing.

The preparation of the western expedition of 100,000 soldiers and civilians is not only a tedious and tiring work, but also a dangerous job, and the person in charge, Li Yao, is so busy that he has no time to drink water, so when Wang Yongan sees Li Yao again, he only feels that he is more than ten years old, and his temples actually have gray hair.

"Good work, Brother Guangcheng." Wang Yongan shook Li Yao's hand and said.

Li Yao smiled tiredly: "Jingyun, it's good that you're back, the big guy has a backbone." ”

Wang Yongan said: "I am going to Shanghai next, and I need you to preside over the westward expansion here." ”

Li Yao said: "The Ninth Division of the Forward Force Li Shirui has been set off for ten days and has just arrived in Wuhan, and the Tenth Division of the Li Zuzhi Division of the Chinese Army has just set off, and the Eighth Division of the Rear Army and the families of the people still need some time to prepare, and it is expected that all the troops will be able to leave the Pukou Wharf after ten days, so you can rush back after ten days." ”

Wang Yongan thought for a while and said with a smile: "Ten days is enough." ”

After Wang Yongan arrived in Pukou, he held the first military and political meeting of the counterinsurgency army, and decided to establish a counterinsurgency army command, Wang Yongan served as the commander-in-chief of the counterinsurgency army, Feng Heng served as the chief of staff of the counterinsurgency army, Li Yao served as the chief of internal affairs of the counterinsurgency army, and everyone else had their own appointments.

Feng Heng said to Wang Yongan that the name of the Western Expedition army has not been decided, and please rule quickly, otherwise the division will be nameless, Wang Yongan asked if you have a proposed name, Feng Heng said that he had discussed with Li Shirui, Li Zuzhi and others, and the 100,000 soldiers and civilians of the Western Expedition were named the Zhenbian Army, which meant to deter the rebellion in the frontier. Wang Yongan laughed and said that this implication was good, so he sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai and named the Western Expeditionary Army Zhenbian Army.

When Yuan Shikai hesitated, the British minister actually found him and reprimanded Yuan Shikai's 100,000 soldiers and civilians for going west against the British government and starting a war against Britain, and demanded that he immediately stop this "reckless provocation". No matter how fierce the internal struggle between Yuan Shikai and Wang Yongan was, it was only an internal struggle in the country, and the arrogant demands of the British made Yuan Shikai furious, and he immediately sent a telegram to Wang Yongan, allowing 100,000 soldiers and civilians to name the Zhenbian Army, and nominated Wang Yongan to the National Assembly as the general of the town and promoted to the rank of general.

Wang Yongan didn't expect that he was not only approved by the National Assembly to serve as a general in the town, but also promoted to the rank of general, he was so excited that he even delayed going to Shanghai, if it weren't for Zhang Jian's repeated urging, he would have even forgotten to help Zhang Jian. Fortunately, Chen Qimei also invited Wang Yongan to Shanghai at this time, so he prepared to rush to Shanghai with the guard group to meet Chen Qimei.