The order of the Jiangbei Army Department was quickly carried out, and the Jiangbei Army began to deploy troops along the Jinpu Railway, focusing on Xuzhou and Fengyangfu on the Jinpu Line, with four army divisions in each place, and Yangzhou left one army division and 10 supplementary regiments, leaving 10 supplementary regiments as defensive forces in the direction to the south to avoid being stabbed by the Southern Revolutionary Army. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The advantage of deploying troops on the Jinpu Railway is that it can immediately switch between attack and defense, and all eight army divisions can be put into a counterattack, and they can fight along the Jinpu Railway all the way to the city of Beijing.

Just when the Jiangbei Army was discussing, Yuan Shikai, who was far away in Beijing, also fell into a fierce debate, and the reason for this was brought to them by Wang Yongan - Jiangbei was actually reversed! Jiangbei turned out to be the opposite!

Originally, the Beiyang Army, which was sharpening its knives, was ready to stab people in the back, but suddenly found that they not only discovered their despicable behavior, but even responded fiercely - turned around and operated the knife against this Beiyang, and never stopped!

Jiangbei is recovered!

The liberation of Jiangbei was not only a military mistake for Beiyang, but also a serious political miscalculation, and everyone thought that Jiangbei was the meat on the board and was slaughtered by others, but Wang Yongan just announced the recovery of Jiangbei, and what courage did it take to do -- after all, before the liberation, the Jiangbei Army could get several million taels of military pay every year, and now the Jiangbei Army needs to bear its own military expenses independently.

Wang Shizhen said with a wry smile: "Jiangbei doesn't need these two million, and now that Jiangbei is recovered, all the taxes in Jiangbei go to themselves, especially the salt tax, if they announce that they will not repay the Gengzi indemnity for the imperial court, they will earn 40 million taels of shadows every year." Jiangbei is recovered, and Jiangbei people make money. ”

Duan Qirui said: "So this Jiangbei recovery is actually intentional by Wang Yongan, he has long planned to recover just lack an excuse, isn't it?" ”

Wang Shizhen said that Jiangbei was restored so suddenly, either the secrecy work was very good, or you suggested that Yuan Shikai crusade against Jiangbei and force Jiangbei to recover. But Wang Shizhen is a good old man in the Beiyang system, and he doesn't want to sit and say things that offend people, so he smiled slightly and didn't answer.

The plan of the Fourth Route Army to besiege Jiangbei had to be suspended because of the recovery of Jiangbei, and everyone understood that Yuan Shikai did not want to go south, but that the current form was not conducive to the Beiyang system. If Jiangbei is not recovered, the Beiyang Army can quickly expand if it defeats the Jiangbei Army in a month and gathers the rest of the Jiangbei Army. After all, Yuan Shikai has the support of the Six Nations Bank behind him, and he can quickly restore Jiangbei's vitality. After the annexation of Jiangbei, the Beiyang Army marched south and went to Nanjing in a war, completely solving the southern revolutionary party, thus reunifying China. At that time, Yuan Shikai forced the little emperor to abdicate again, and at that time, Yuan Shikai was free to advance and retreat whether he was the emperor or the president of the republic.

The hateful Wang Yongan made all Yuan Shikai's calculations come to naught. After being annoyed and angry, Yuan Shikai fell into a dilemma, and the negotiations on the Nanjing side were not satisfactory, especially after the recovery of Jiangbei, the Nanjing side immediately betrayed the North-South Alliance and lived its own small life behind closed doors. (In fact, there were many contradictions within the Southern Revolutionary Government, and factional strife was far beyond Yuan Shikai's knowledge, and if it were not for Yuan Shikai's step-by-step approach, there would inevitably be a civil war within the Southern Revolutionary Government.) ）

And Jiangbei was even more excessive, announcing the restoration two days before the Chinese New Year's Eve, directly hitting Yuan Shikai in the face, making Yuan Shikai angry and regretful, he could not say that Jiangbei's restoration was his own reason, but he had to admit that Jiangbei Guangfu had a lot to do with his abandonment of Jiangbei.

Yuan Shikai, who now represents the imperial court, is extremely conflicted in his heart, and originally planned to force the little emperor to abdicate after negotiating with the southern revolutionary government, saving face for the imperial court and fulfilling his good name. But now, if he forces the emperor to abdicate, it makes everyone mistakenly think that he has fallen into the well and is frightened by Jiangbei, so he has to force the little emperor, and the credit for the establishment of the republic in the future will become Wang Yongan's.

Therefore, at this time, we must not give up on this, and we must make a decision on whether to fight or not.

Yuan Shikai looked at the strategists and generals under him, and couldn't help asking: "Everyone, Jiangbei rebellion, requisition or not?" ”

Wang Shizhen said: "If we don't levy it, we will have to find it from other places if we repay the Gengzi compensation for tens of millions of taels of salt tax every year, where can we find the salt tax?" ”

"The salt tax is one thing." Duan Qirui sneered, "Jiangbei is so close to my Beijing Division, if you take the Jinpu Railway in an orderly manner, you can reach Tianjin Gate from Hefei within seven days, and then take the Tianjin-Beijing Railway to reach Tiananmen in Beijing in two days." The 240,000 troops in Jiangbei can spit out a river with a mouthful of foam, not to mention that they are all armies with guns, and one person can capture the Beijing division with one bullet. If the Jiangbei Army occupies the capital division and then declares the establishment of the republic, we will become a historical sinner, and he will become a hero. ”

Duan Qirui shouted: "This battle has to be fought!" ”

Duan Zhigui has always had a good relationship with Duan Qirui, and immediately supported: "If you don't fight the Jiangbei Army, they won't know that Ma Wangye has three eyes, and if you don't fight the Jiangbei Army, they still think how powerful they are." Prime Minister, the people of Jiangbei don't know the height of the sky, even if they sit down to negotiate, they will ask for a price, if we don't hurt them, how can they know the strength of the Beiyang Army? If they don't hurt them, how can they negotiate honestly? ”

"Xiangyan has a point." Duan Qirui said with a smile, "If you want to negotiate with Jiangbei and Nannan, you need to let them know the power of our Beiyang, so that they will be able to take the initiative in negotiation by us, otherwise even if we negotiate, we will be extremely passive." To be sure," he concluded, "to fight for peace, and for peace." He looked at Yuan Shikai again and asked, "Prime Minister, just admit defeat like this, and let Wang Xiaozi lead the nose like this, can you be willing?" The 300,000 troops in Beiyang are unwilling, and the generals in the north are unwilling. ”

Unwilling!

Yes, just unwillingly.

Yuan Shikai gritted his teeth and said: "Implement the plan, the four-way army, and launch an attack in the early hours of this morning." ”

"Yes!"

After the meeting, Sir Nelson, the representative of British Minister Zhu Erdian, secretly met with Yuan Shikai and said that the banks of various countries had urged foreign arms companies to stop trading with the Jiangbei Army, but expressed the hope that the annual arms transaction with the Jiangbei Army of 10 million taels of silver would be borne by the Beiyang Army.

Yuan Shikai was overjoyed, although this arms business is a bit big, but it is just like manna falling from the sky, so that the Beiyang Army has no worries, he immediately said that the arms business of 10 million taels of silver can be purchased by himself, but he also put forward a request, foreign troops must not interfere in the Chinese civil war, this is a war between our own brothers, I do not want the foreign army to intervene in the Chinese civil war.

Nelson laughed and said that the Great Powers had no intention of intervening in the civil war, but only hoped that the Qing government would abide by the Gengzi indemnity and continue to return the salt tax to the banks of the four countries after the war was over.

Yuan Shikai agreed.

At this point, the north had no worries, and the Beiyang Army was ordered to launch an attack on Jiangbei at 0:00 a.m. on the first day of the Lunar New Year.