Guangzhou. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

This prosperous economic and trade city in southern China was in a state of panic and unrest because of the arrival of the war.

When the news of the southward direction of the Sichuan army came, Guangzhou suddenly jumped with chickens and dogs, and countless people fled from Guangzhou with their families in tow, for fear of being affected by the war.

If such chaos continues to spread and spread, I am afraid that without the Sichuan army attacking, Guangzhou City itself will have to collapse first.

The Guangzhou Governor's Office was not slow to react, and immediately announced the state of war readiness in Guangzhou City, implemented military management, and strongly controlled the order of Guangzhou City.

Groups of Cantonese soldiers marched into the city, set up a cordon on various traffic arteries in the city, and imposed martial law.

With the strong control of the army, the city of Guangzhou was restored to order almost instantly, and the streets that had been crowded with people a moment ago were empty in a short time.

Compared with the apparent calm in the city, the Guangdong Governor's Mansion was extremely busy at this time, with Cantonese officers and government workers hurrying in and out from time to time.

In the Overseer's Mansion, Long Jiguang was listening to his son Long Tiqian's summary of the mobilization of troops and materials for war, and his brows were furrowed, and there was no time to stretch.

"Father, just now Regiment Commander Lin called, the security regiment has successively taken over the martial law cordon, and all units of the Second Division have withdrawn from the city one after another and assembled on standby. In addition, Mayor Ma replied that he had stepped up the collection of food, medicine, cloth and other materials, and that he was also making every effort to organize the necessary people's labor, and he promised that he would not delay the start of the troops......

Long Tiqian's voice was orderly, as if he had not been affected by the arrival of war in the slightest, showing the quality of an excellent soldier.

Long Jiguang suddenly interrupted Long Tiqian's report and asked, "What is the current situation of those people in the business group?" ”

Long Tiqian, who was reporting, couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, but at this time, he knew most of the situation in Guangzhou, and replied without thinking too much: "Chen Pu'an (Chen Lianbo) They don't have any big moves on the surface, but I heard that many people in the Chamber of Commerce are quietly transferring industries outside the city. ”

Speaking of this, Long Tiqian's face was somewhat unnatural, those people in the Chamber of Commerce were able to transfer their industries outside the city after the martial law began, because many people in the Guangdong army violated the martial law order in private, and even he himself received a lot of money from the Chamber of Commerce.

Long Jiguang is also very insightful about this point, but the Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce is deeply rooted, and its tentacles cover all strata in Guangdong, and he has no way to stop it.

"Immediately send someone to find Chen Pu'an, requisition all the armed personnel of the merchant group in the name of the Overseer's Mansion, and organize them as an independent regiment to go north for reinforcements!" Long Ji said with a frosty look in his eyes, compared with the Sichuan army, he hated the merchant group who was instigated by foreigners to provoke this dispute.

Originally, in Long Jiguang's calculations, as long as the autonomous governments of Beiyang and Southern United Provinces fought in a big way, or even lost both, the Guangdong army would become an important weight in determining the balance of victory or defeat in the war, and he could naturally rely on this to seek greater benefits.

However, all these wonderful prospects came to naught because of the 12.15 robbery committed by the merchant group, and the Cantonese army was reduced from a spectator waiting for a price to bear the wrath of the Wang family and his son, attracting and dispersing the Sichuan army.

In this regard, how can Long Jiguang not be angry, how can he not hate!

If it weren't for the foreigner forces behind the Chamber of Commerce, Long Jiguang would have wanted to immediately peel Chen Lianbo's skin and cramp, and eradicate the disgusting business group that responded to him.

Hearing Long Jiguang's order, Long Tiqian's face was embarrassed, and he couldn't help but remind: "Father, I'm afraid Chen Pu'an will not accept the requisition. If they are in a hurry, they are afraid that they will move out the foreigners behind them, and then they will be in trouble. ”

This is not too much to worry about, if there is no foreigner behind the back, with the soft bones of the Chamber of Commerce, where did this bear-hearted leopard dare to take the initiative to provoke and provoke the autonomous government of the Southern United Provinces.

"The foreigners instigated the merchant group to make trouble, not to attract the elite of the Sichuan army to divide troops and increase the bargaining chips of Beiyang to win the war. If we can't stop the Second Division of the Sichuan Army, let the Sichuan Army quickly sweep Guangdong and then return to the division to reinforce Nanjing, the wishful thinking of the foreigners and Yuan Shikai is bound to fail. Speaking of this, Long Jiguang smiled coldly, "For the sake of Beiyang, foreigners can instigate the merchant group to make trouble, and naturally they can also be used as cannon fodder to block the muzzle of the Sichuan army." Don't worry, now at this stall, foreigners won't fight us for a few dogs. ”

For this point, Long Jiguang is extremely sure. As long as their interests can be guaranteed, foreigners do not care about the life or death of the Chinese, even the Guangdong business groups that are extremely deferential to them. If it weren't for Wang Mo's extreme nationalist tendencies, foreigners from all over the world would definitely not hesitate to abandon Beiyang and choose to support the autonomous government of the southern provinces, which has a better chance of winning.

"Father, even if the foreigners don't come forward, Chen Pu'an will probably have to resist stubbornly, and there will inevitably be some turmoil in the city that has just stabilized, which may affect our preparations. The top priority at the moment is to resist the Sichuan army, and the overall situation is important. As for Chen Pu'an and them, after the Sichuan army is repulsed, it is not too late to slowly clean them up, what do you say? Long Tiqian said.

Long Tiqian persuaded Long Jiguang not to move the merchant group for the time being, not because he was knowledgeable and advocated that the war was imminent, but because he had received heavy gifts from the Chamber of Commerce, and he didn't want to lose the filial piety of these people in the future. Anyway, what he said is also right, the big war is imminent, of course, stability is the first, and maintaining stability in the rear is very necessary to resist the Sichuan army.

How could the little abacus in Long Tiqian's heart hide from an old man like Long Jiguang, but he didn't blame Long Tiqian, and even many times he acquiesced to his family accepting the filial piety of the Chamber of Commerce, because this is also a means of exploiting the place, and it is a soft knife that does not see blood.

Of course, collecting money is collecting money, and there must be principles in whether things are done or not. This time, Long Jiguang planned to collect the money, and the people would clean it up!

"Clean up the rabble under Chen Pu'an, there can be a fart turmoil!" Long Jiguang sneered very disdainfully, and with a wave of his big hand, he ordered, "Order the mixed brigade to immediately surround the garrison of the merchant group, and requisition all the personnel of the merchant group to go north to resist the Sichuan army, and those who violate the order will be killed!" ”

In fact, Long Jiguang dared to clean up the Guangzhou merchant group so unscrupulously because he was not as worried about the current situation as he appeared. On the contrary, he was full of confidence in defeating the Second Division of the Sichuan Army.

At present, the regular troops of the Guangdong army have two divisions and one brigade of nearly 30,000 people, and they are very well-armed and equipped, and in the event of a critical situation, they can urgently mobilize 20,000 or 30,000 local security regiments and militia troops.

As for the Second Division of the Sichuan Army, more than 10,000 people died, and no matter how strong it is, it is limited. The Guangdong army is fighting on its own soil, and it has an absolute advantage regardless of the geographical location and people, so Long Jiguang does not believe that it will not be able to hold it. Taking 10,000 steps back, even if it really can't be held, as long as it delays time and drags on to the scorching battlefield in the Central Plains, can the main elite of the Sichuan Army such as the Second Division stay in irrelevant Guangdong?

As soon as he saw Long Jiguang's attitude, Long Tiqian understood that Long Jiguang had made up his mind, so he did not continue to persuade him, but took the order to leave.

Subsequently, the mixed brigade, which had been ordered by Long Jiguang, quickly surrounded the garrison of the merchant group, publicly announced the requisition order of the Guangdong Overseer's Office, and forcefully shot and suppressed some of the merchant group personnel who tried to resist.

After learning of this news, the merchants of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce soon jointly expressed a strong protest to the Overseer's Office, and frequently tried to organize a strike to force the Overseer's Office to make concessions.

Chen Lianbo asked the foreigners behind him for help for the first time, but the response was only perfunctory and prevarication, and some foreigners even vaguely expressed their support for the Guangdong Overseer's Mansion to push the merchant group to the front line as cannon fodder to block the guns of the Sichuan army.

Once abandoned by foreigners, the people of the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, who had taken the initiative to provoke the autonomous government of the southern provinces, were suddenly like lost dogs, and they were terrified.

......

Just as Long Jiguang was quickly consolidating the interior and dispatching troops to resist the Sichuan army, the two huge war machines of the Beiyang and Southern United Provincial Autonomous Governments were also running at full speed.

Nanjing, Autonomous Government Office Building, 2nd Floor, Military Intelligence Conference Room.

The conference room was filled with senior officers and generals of various units, including officers of the Sichuan Army and former officers of the People's Party. However, anyone who can attend this meeting at this time is undoubtedly worthy of trust after much scrutiny.

To everyone's surprise, after the military intelligence meeting began, it was not Wang Mo, the supreme military commander, who made detailed military arrangements, but Zhang Xiaohuai, chief of the general staff, who first came forward to give a detailed introduction and deduction of the current military situation.

A huge Chinese military map hung on the wall in front of the conference room, Zhang Xiaohuai stood in front of him in military uniform, holding a baton more than one meter long, and said in a solemn voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to our intelligence, Beiyang has gathered the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Beiyang Divisions and other veteran descendant troops in this battle, as well as the newly formed 7th, 8th, and 19th Divisions, as well as some miscellaneous armies including Zhang Xunwei's army, with a strength of more than 100,000 people. ”

As soon as Zhang Xiaohuai's words fell, the officers below were in an uproar. Now is not the era of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when there were millions of troops in the whole country, in the early days of the Republic of China, thousands of soldiers and horses were the commanders of the powerful side, even if the warlords such as Long Jiguang, Lu Rongting, and Cai Yi were only 20,000 or 30,000 main forces.

The year before last, the "Second Revolution" of the Beiyang Suppression of the Kuomintang only dispatched less than 50,000 troops, and the number of troops was as high as more than 100,000 can be imagined.

There is no doubt that Yuan Shikai is pressing his old book and is ready to make a desperate bet.

The Beiyang Army's overwhelming momentum was like Mount Tai, and all the officers and generals in the conference room felt the pressure, the officers of the Sichuan Army's descendants were better, and some former Kuomintang officers could not help but be a little flustered.

"Knock-knock-knock-"

Wang Mo knocked on the table, his eyes swept over the officers like knives, snorted coldly, and said, "Why, just 100,000 Beiyang troops scared you all?" ”

Xiong Kewu lowered his head slightly, he didn't dare to touch Wang Mo's fierce gaze at all, he didn't think that Wang Mo was just tough in his heart like other former Kuomintang officers, he was born in Sichuan and knew very well that Wang Mo really didn't put the 100,000 Beiyang Army in his eyes, you know, this is a ruthless master who even overturned the British and Japanese coalition forces.

It is not surprising that these former KMT officers are afraid of the 100,000-strong Beiyang army, after all, they have personally experienced the strength of the Beiyang army. At the time of the "Second Revolution", if Wang Mo hadn't led the Sichuan army to stick a stick, I'm afraid they would have been wiped out by the Beiyang army of less than 50,000 people. (To be continued.) )