Chapter 635: 100,000 Troops Enter the River (1)

Wang Yongan knew that if the rhythm of history was followed, Sun Yat-sen would hold high the banner of the second revolution with the support of Chen Qimei after returning to China, and raise troops to attack Yuan. But the second revolution soon failed, from the reason for raising the army is untenable, Sun Yat-sen raised troops to avenge Song Jiaoren, which is the same as Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms period in history to attack Wu to avenge Guan Yu, put personal grievances above the country's righteousness and justice, how can there be a defensible name.

But if Sun Yat-sen's reasons are sufficient, many people don't believe that Yuan Shikai sent people to assassinate Song Jiaoren, and even many revolutionaries suspect that Sun Yat-sen sent people to assassinate Song Jiaoren, so Sun Yat-sen openly accused Yuan Shikai of insufficient reasons and raised troops to fight, so there are very few revolutionaries who support Sun Yat-sen.

The reason was not sufficient, the number of troops raised was small, and the "second revolution" that the Shimin Party later called it soon failed, but this reckless action against Yuan caused extremely serious consequences. After Sun Yat-sen fled to Japan to live in seclusion, Chen Qimei also took his life, and the faction that supported Sun Yat-sen in the revolutionary party was completely eradicated.

It was precisely because he expected that the revolutionary party would collapse in the future that Wang Yongan had the opportunity to develop his own power in the southwest region, based on the southwest and looking to the northeast, and only hoped that Yuan Shikai would become emperor one day earlier, and he would take advantage of the chaos to take down the five southwestern provinces one day earlier. After carving up the cabinet with the Beiyang system, the Jiangbei department had nothing important for the time being, and Wang Yongan also shifted his attention to the westward expedition of the army.

In addition to the 70,000 troops of the 8th, 9th, and 10th Divisions of the National Defense Army, the army of the Western Expedition was accompanied by about 30,000 civilians and many family members, with a total number of about 100,000 people, and it is claimed that 100,000 soldiers and civilians entered the Sichuan. 100,000 soldiers and civilians first took the train to Pukou Railway Station, the terminus of the southern section of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and then took the ship of the China Shipping Company up the river, passing through Wuhu, Tongling, Anqing, Jiujiang, Huangshi, Ezhou, Wuhan, Yueyang, Jingzhou, Yichang, but after arriving in Yichang, due to the flow of water and terrain, it was changed to walking.

Yichang is the most famous Three Gorges area in later generations, with turbulent currents and many dangerous shoals, although there are small ships passing here, but large ships carrying 100,000 soldiers and civilians are not suitable for passage here. 100,000 soldiers and civilians walked from Yichang to Badong County, Sichuan Province, after passing Wushan and Fengjie to Wanzhou, because the water began to be flat, they arrived at Ba County, Chongqing, Luzhou and Yibin by boat here, and finally got off the boat in Yibin and walked into the Sichuan side again and went to Kangding City, the capital of the Sichuan side.

The cost of 100,000 soldiers and civilians is borne by the government, and it takes up to three months according to the plan, which is a difficult trip, and the cost of marching and preparation time will take a long time, especially materials, ammunition, settling-in expenses, etc., Yuan Shikai's government must provide sufficient in the early stage, it is true that Wang Yongan can pay in advance, but who knows if Yuan Shikai will repay it truthfully.

In order to send Wang Yongan away, Yuan Shikai had to raise funds everywhere, and even took out a loan from the Bank of Japan, and finally scraped together five million taels of silver for Wang Yongan.

Li Yao then contacted the ships of the China Shipping Group and other shipping companies of all sizes to raise ships to transport the army and equipment and materials of the Western Expedition along the Yangtze River, which required 500,000 taels of silver for freight alone, not to mention the purchase of 1.5 million taels of food, clothing and other materials. The army went ahead before moving the grain and grass, and the grain and grass money of two million taels of silver was spent like flowing water, and then the army's settling-in fee and opening fee were as high as one million taels of silver. Wang Yongan had to urgently withdraw 10 million US dollars from the Industrial Bank of China as a reserve fund for the 100,000 soldiers and civilians to enter the Sichuan, which was equivalent to 14 million taels of silver, plus Yuan Shikai's 5 million taels of silver, the total capital was as high as 19 million taels of silver, which was enough for him to gain a firm foothold in the Sichuan.

Before leaving Beijing, Wang Yongan finally signed a contract with Li Jingchu for the exchange of shares between the Industrial Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, and from then on he owned 30 percent of the shares of the Bank of Communications, and the Bank of Communications finally mastered 45 percent of the shares of the Industrial Bank of China through various means, and could finally negotiate with the Bank of the Four Nations on the issue of the issuance of dragon coins.

Wang Yongan made a request to Li Jingchu that this secret should be kept for half a year, and then released after half a year, and that he should use this half year to remove the money stored in the Zhonghua Industrial Bank, otherwise the Four Nations Bank will definitely retaliate against him at any cost, and if the news leaks and he is retaliated against, then he will do whatever it takes to retaliate against the Bank of Communications.

Li Jingchu understood the importance of the stakes, accepted this secrecy request, and said to Wang Yongan: "For the sake of the country, give up personal interests, Jingyun Gongzi is really a peerless national warrior, a great man. ”

Wang Yongan said: "I am for this country, but not for this government, and I admit that I can choose to cooperate with the banks of the four countries to exploit China, but no one in Beiyang does this, and no one in Jiangbei will do this." ”

Li Jingchu said: "Half a year later, the truth will be announced, and the Bank of the Four Nations will inevitably treat you as a thorn in the flesh, and Jingyun Gongzi must be careful." I studied Western culture and saw that it was an assassination campaign, and Lincoln and others were assassinated. I'm a little worried that they'll use this dastardly move against you. ”

Wang Yongan laughed and said: "It's okay, I've been assassinated many times, and I don't care about a few more times." ”

Seeing Wang Yongan away, Li Jingchu couldn't help but feel emotional, and said to his subordinates: "In the past, I always thought that Wang Jingyun was just a warlord as cunning as a fox, but after this incident, I knew that this Wang Yongan had a national bottom line in his heart, and if he violated the bottom line, he would rather abandon everything." ”

After bidding farewell to Li Jingchu and signing the replacement contract, Wang Yongan said goodbye to Yuan Shikai and others, Yuan Shikai also shed crocodile tears, crying and said: "This is a long way, the virtuous son-in-law must be careful, looking forward to the moment when the virtuous son-in-law returns triumphantly and quells the rebellion as soon as possible." ”

Wang Yongan knew that he might not be able to return to the central government in five or six years after leaving Beijing this time, and he also knew that Yuan Shikai would be complacent because of the loss of competitors, and would eventually become emperor and cause chaos in the world, and these changes would only bring him benefits and no harm, but he couldn't be happy. He sighed and persuaded Yuan Shikai: "Father-in-law, before I leave Beijing, I want to tell you, don't believe Yang Du and He Xue, they will only become inflammatory. ”

Yuan Shikai was unhappy in his heart but smiled in response, Wang Yongan knew that Yuan Shikai would never listen to him, so he had to wave goodbye. And the people around Yuan Shikai told Yang Du and He Xie what Wang Yongan said, and the two gritted their teeth and said: "Wang Jingyun's villain's move, this hatred is not shared." ”