On the third day after the end of the battle of the Japanese troops landing at Longkou, the Japanese troops who landed at Yangkou in Qingdao quickly retreated. The Japanese fleet besieging Qingdao also withdrew. The frontal battle of the Qingdao Defensive Battle ended with more than 17,000 Japanese Kyushu divisions killed or captured, more than 1,000 Sendai divisions suffered casualties, four destroyers were sunk, four large ships were shot, and more than 20 other ships were sunk.

However, the Japanese fleet did not turn to return home, and the Japanese Sendai Division boarded the ship and turned south, forcibly landing in Rizhao on October 2. The People's Party immediately sent a telegram to the whole country on October 3, informing the provinces of the results of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and then questioned Beiyang's attitude. In addition to the telegram, the People's Party immediately demanded that the major newspapers publish the People's Party's circular, "In view of the inability of the Beiyang government to maintain the situation in Shandong, the People's Party will take over the power of Shandong with immediate effect in order to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity." ”

There is nothing unreasonable about the news that the People's Party wants to seize Shandong, and the provincial governments have long known the characteristics of the People's Party to take advantage of the fire to loot. However, on October 4, the People's Party (KP) stated that "the Hunan government refused to send a telegram when the People's Party was telegraphed, clearly trying to conceal the news of the Japanese invasion of China." Such actions raise questions about the possibility that the local government of Hunan may be controlled by traitors. "Ask the Hunan government to give a public explanation for this.

The news spread throughout all provinces of China in an instant, and the People's Party now controlled Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, northern Jiangsu, and Shandong. Every province knows that it doesn't matter how Hunan explains it, and the People's Party wants to take action against Hunan. Swallowing Hunan, the land of fish and rice, the People's Party soldiers went straight to Yungui, Guangxi. When the People's Party gains a foothold in Hunan, it is only a matter of time before the three provinces are annexed.

The Hunan government never expected that the People's Party would turn its attention directly back to Hunan from Shandong, which was thousands of miles away, and Hunan Governor Cen Chunbei knew that he was a little at a loss, and he did order that the news of the People's Party's victory in Qingdao should not be transmitted back to Hunan for the time being. The governors of the provinces were not very conservative, and even conservatives knew the importance of education in this era. Hunan Governor Cen Chunbei thinks that these young students are not thin, but these young students have never understood the thoughts of the Governors.

"Lord Governor, how do you answer?" The speaker of the Hunan Assembly asked cautiously. In fact, there is no need for the speaker to be so respectful to Cen Chunbei. According to the style of the People's Party, as long as the People's Party seized Hunan, it would be impossible to allow these current parliamentarians to continue to be in power. So Cen Chunbei and the speaker are people in the same boat. The speaker hopes in his heart that Cen Chunbei can "bravely take responsibility".

Cen Chunbei obviously has no sense of responsibility, and the People's Party is also deceiving people too much in a sense. But Cen Chunbei Dudu obviously did not have the determination to fight the People's Party to the end, but scolded the culprit in his heart angrily: "If it weren't for the fact that these students don't know the general situation, how could there be today's incident?" ”

If you look at it from the perspective of pure self-interest, it can't be said that Cen Chunbei's idea is wrong. The young students were obviously studying in Hunan, but they believed in the heresy of the People's Party and shouted about the people's revolution all day long. In order to be able to suppress these students, Cen Chunbei issued an order the year before last that no graduation certificate would be issued to anyone who propagated the heresy of the People's Party during his studies. Things were a little better, and the students' nonsense went from open to underground. But not long after, dozens of expelled students actually went to Hubei to seek study opportunities. Then he ran back with the BJP intelligence.

What can you apply for a bursary, and the school provides meals. It's nothing, the point is that these students bring more important information. As long as you go to junior high school with the People's Party, the People's Party will arrange jobs for you regardless of your background or region. The attraction is too great. Changsha is also not too far from Wuhan, which is now a huge emerging city with a population of several million. Railways, machinery, textiles, shipping, everyone who came back from Wuhan was extremely impressed by those emerging industries. Changsha is also a relatively prosperous city, but compared with the new Wuhan, it has become a completely inconspicuous small place.

At the instigation of these students, many schools in Hunan ran more than 500 students. After these white-eyed wolf students ran to Hubei, some of them ran back to tell their classmates that these rumors were true. They not only publicized in Changsha, but also went to their respective hometowns to publicize. It is said that since last year, tens of thousands of young people from all over Hunan have traveled to Hubei because they want to go to school but cannot afford to go to school.

Even the young students who stayed in Hunan clamored all day long for Hunan to study the policies of the People's Party, and many of them were landlords and gentry in their families. This kind of son makes Cen Chunbei feel unworthy for their parents.

If the news of the People's Party's victory in Qingdao reaches Hunan, God knows how these young students will make trouble. Cen Chunbei had no choice but to temporarily block the People's Party's telegram. Unexpectedly, the People's Party reacted so quickly and immediately began to ask for the guilt. If it wants to resist the attack of the People's Party, Hunan should reorganize its arms and fight now. But no one in the whole of Hunan believed that they could resist the People's Party army by relying on the strength of Hunan.

While he was talking, Cen Chunbei saw his relatives running in with a happy face, and as soon as he entered the door, he shouted excitedly: "Master, great joy!" Great joy! The great president has sent electricity! ”

Cen Chunbei was Yuan Shikai's political enemy, and later the two parties did not deal with each other across the People's Party, Cen Chunbei really couldn't think of anything to be happy about Yuan Shikai's telegram. Taking a look, Cen Chunbei was stunned. This telegram was a telegram from Yuan Shikai, "In accordance with the provisions of the Outline for the Founding of the People's Republic of China, the whole country implements the presidential system under the autonomy of the provinces, and its basic work is to exercise local autonomy. However, since the founding of the Republic, the people of the four provinces under the jurisdiction of the People's Party have almost no right to autonomous provinces, but the People's Party has taken the name of local autonomy as the center of the system. As a result, the government of the Republic of China was unable to fulfill the mission of national inter-provincial autonomy. …… Since the establishment of the Republic, the people have only devoted themselves to the provisions of the Covenant in the form of the form of government, which has led to the rebellion of Chen Kezhu to steal the country. and will be subject to the opportunity of the imperialists to justify their aggression. The Hongyang Rebellion is a lesson from the past, and no one has remembered it so far, and it is not remembered by the people who are in pain, which is truly sad. ”

This is the first time that Yuan Shikai has officially made a speech against the People's Party, and he called the People's Party a rebellion, which really made Cen Chunbei's heart bloom. Under such circumstances, the People's Party will definitely have to turn its head against Yuan Shikai. No matter what Yuan Shikai turns out, at least Hunan is safe for the time being.

Cen Chunbei continued to watch, and after seeing Yuan Shikai denouncing the People's Party's actions, he turned to the battle between Japan and the People's Party, "Chen Ke, committed to his so-called agrarian revolution and peasant revolution, marched to the ground for thousands of miles, in order to destroy the peaceful countryside of our country. They have no love for the national industry, but they have instilled hatred and struggle in society and among the youth in order to hinder the progress of production, and they have unilaterally terminated treaties with foreign countries, and have regarded themselves as liberators of China. Due to the alliance between Japan and Britain, British interests were damaged, and Japan was at war with the People's Party in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese alliance treaty. Due to the defeat of the People's Party, Japan temporarily entered Yantai to reorganize the army and fight again. Our Republic is not a Manchu Qing Dynasty, and we will not allow foreign troops to rudely entrench ourselves on Chinese soil. Shikai has officially informed Japan that it will withdraw its troops from Yantai within three days. If the troops are not withdrawn, the central government will send troops to expel the Japanese from Yantai. The People's Party framed the Central Committee for betraying the country, and the merits were clear three days later. The People's Party used the Yantai incident as an excuse to annex Shandong. The Central Committee officially informed the provinces that if the People's Party marched into Shandong, the central government would definitely crusade against the People's Party. Any collusion with the BJP in the provinces is considered complicity of the BJP. ”

After reading Yuan Shikai's speech, Cen Chunbei's heart fell all the way from the peak. Although contrary to the brutal style of the People's Party, Yuan Shikai is still pressuring the provinces to take a stand. Cen Chunxuan has already found an interface with the People's Party, and if he supports Beiyang again, it is not yet known when the People's Party and the Beiyang Army will go to war, and it will not take long for the People's Party to go straight to Hunan.

"Wait and see." Cen Chunxuan said to the speaker of the Hunan Assembly.

The speaker of the Hunan Parliament also had the same thought, and the situation was so unclear at this time that it was not the time to choose a position at all.

The British Legation was struggling to gauge the situation at this time. Beiyang's tough attitude towards Japan, at least in terms of rhetoric, did not hesitate to use force to drive Japan out of Rizhao, which surprised the minister. I have to say that while the minister felt that his expectations were a little funny, he couldn't help but have a trace of expectation for Beiyang.

In the recently concluded Battle of the Marne, the Allies invested more than 1 million troops and lost 250,000 troops. Germany also lost about the same number of troops. Even with such heavy losses, the war was far from over, the Entente had the ability to fight again, and the Allies had the strength to continue the war. Britain was frightened by the terrible fighting and the terrible attrition. If we continue to fight like this, there will be no hope of victory in the short term.

Now that the situation has reached such a stage, Britain knows that it cannot pay attention to the situation in the Far East for the time being. How to use the chips in their hands to control the situation in the Far East so that Britain will have to make great efforts to clean up the problem in the future, all the personnel of the British Legation in China want to find a feasible context.

The result of the discussion was that first of all, China and Japan should not be allowed to break out into war, and Japan had already joined the Entente, so Japan's declaration of war on China meant that the Entente would also declare war on China. Japan has proven itself not to be a match for the People's Party, which controls areas inland. It is impossible for the Japanese navy to break through the Yangtze River and go straight to the heart of the People's Party. The combat effectiveness of the Japanese Army, which was detached from the cover of naval guns, was not at all favored by the British. The annihilated division was still Japan's First Division. Britain has no intention of formally declaring war on the BJP at the moment. This is not just a matter of trouble, the People's Party is now just a local force in China, and Britain is only belittling itself and raising the value of the People's Party.

Therefore, Beiyang's tough attitude towards Japan gave the British a chance, and what Japan wanted was to suppress Beiyang. The British had already seen very clearly that in Tsingtao, which was supported by naval artillery, the Japanese could not yet win. In places that the naval guns could not take care of, Japan was not even an opponent of the People's Party. So apart from reaping benefits from Beiyang, Japan has no other way. If the whole of China were opposed to Japan's invasion of China, Beiyang would still militarily make it difficult for Japan to retreat. Japan would have to re-submit to the British's command.

This brings up another issue, how to deal with the BJP.

The best way to do this is for Beiyang to join forces with Japan to fight the People's Party, which has now proved unrealistic. So whether Britain supports Japan or Beiyang. For the British, although they tend to support the winner, they prefer Beiyang to prove that they are the winner.

"Can the People's Party gain control of China?" The Minister questioned Sir Humphrey.

"I really hope they can't." Sir Humphrey replied quite cleverly.

"If the BJP wins, will they join the Entente and assume the obligations of an Entente member?" The Minister asked questions of greatest concern. The British have always maintained a clever skill, and they will never lose all their moves. Britain is an island country, and the situation on the mainland is changing rapidly. If Britain could not have kept its interests alone and maintained clever means, it would never have survived for hundreds of years.

"The People's Party's near-term strategic goal is to unify China. These Chinese have never lacked the spirit of compromise. It is as if the reunification of China is a kind of destiny, a fate, and an obligation for them. Sir Humphrey's voice was full of regret, and this attitude of the Chinese made the British, who were accustomed to the chaos in Europe, feel very unaccustomed.

"Humph!" The minister also expressed his displeasure.

Despite the insults he had received, Humphrey replied: "I am not worried that the People's Party will defect to Germany. This was not just a matter of the People's Party seizing Qingdao from Germany. Chen Ke, chairman of the People's Party, is a very sensible politician. ”

The British Minister agreed. Chen Ke's diplomatic skills have a strong flavor of the British mercenary. For the sake of profit, Chen Ke never cared about face. But in terms of core interests, Chen Ke has never backed down in the slightest. Such a person will never let personal emotions dominate the consideration of interests.

"Then let's take a look at Beiyang's performance for the time being." The British minister said.

If Gu Weijun knew this, he would definitely be able to help but announce loudly to Beiyang, "My judgment is correct!" "It's a pity he can't do that.

As Gu Weijun's father-in-law Tang Shaoyi expected, Gu Weijun did succeed in persuading Wang Shizhen and Yuan Shikai. Then this 26-year-old young man became a public enemy in the eyes of many Beiyang officials. can get the favor of Yuan Shikai and Wang Shizhen, and at the same time can decide the direction of Beiyang in such policy matters. This means that Gu Weijun has become an upstart. Provided, of course, that Beiyang can defeat Japan. Out of the instinct of the officials, their first feeling was envy and jealousy of the 26-year-old Gu Weijun.

Gu Weijun soon felt these malice, and Yuan Shikai summoned Gu Weijun many times and asked the young man to help him analyze the problem and plan some things. The Beiyang officials, who had almost ignored Gu Weijun before, are now deliberately ignoring them with obvious malice. This ugliness made Gu Weijun very dissatisfied.

The People's Party has seized the nominal southern part of Shandong, and most of the rural areas in the rest of Shandong are under the control of the People's Party. In many cities except Jinan, as long as there are no garrisons in Beiyang, the People's Party has actually taken over local affairs.

The two towns of Beiyang marched towards Yantai under the command of Wu Peifu, the newly promoted commander of the Beiyang Fourth Army. Once Yuan Shikai made up his mind, his actions were still quite impressive, at least Yuan Shikai knew that if it was the People's Party that would solve Yantai first. If he annihilated another Japanese division, he would be extremely disadvantageous politically. Because no matter what, Japan was defeated in Qingdao, but occupied Yantai. Yuan Shikai could not shirk the responsibility for this lost land. The Sendai Division also suffered losses in Qingdao, and now is the weakest time. Under such circumstances, Beiyang would not be able to defeat the Japanese army. That shows that Beiyang has no possibility of winning in the face of Japan.

Wu Peifu is a person highly recommended by Duan Qirui, and Duan Qirui believes that Wu Peifu is resolute and resolute and can take on important responsibilities. Yuan Shikai also knew Wu Peifu, so he entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. To be able to get such an opportunity, Wu Peifu is very thoughtful. Regarding other people's ridicule of Wu Peifu, thinking that Wu Peifu took a thing that was almost sent to death, Wu Peifu didn't care. Being able to fight the Japanese army on behalf of the Beiyang Army, Wu Peifu also has a sense of pride as a national hero. The Fourth Army was under the jurisdiction of the New Army of the two towns. They were all trained by Wu Peifu himself. On weekdays, Wu Peifu trains his troops very strictly, and he is also very confident in his troops.

When the Beiyang Fourth Army reached the vicinity of Yantai, Tanma reported that there were no signs of the People's Party's movements in the vicinity. Wu Peifu's last worries finally disappeared. On a dirt slope, Wu Peifu's own soldiers had set up large electric horns they had bought from the People's Party. Wu Peifu was at the top with the microphone, first glanced at the dense queue in front of him, and then shouted loudly. The power of the electric horn has been adjusted to the maximum, and Wu Peifu's high-pitched voice reached the ears of all the soldiers.

"Brothers. We Chinese have been defeated repeatedly in the face of foreign powers, and foreign countries simply look down on us China. Even little Japan, which has always been weaker than us, looks down on us. Not long ago, Little Japan was beaten by the People's Party and fled. As a result, I ran to Yantai. This shows that we Chinese may not be able to defeat Little Japan. It depends on whether you dare to fight hard. ”

When Wu Peifu issued a mobilization speech to the whole army, suddenly there was a whistling sound of artillery shells in the air. Compared with the 75 guns of the Beiyang Army, and even the 105 guns imported from the British, this whistling sound was sharper and more violent. The explosion caused by the shell when it landed made all the Beiyang troops feel that the earth was shaking violently. The horses were neighed with a shock, some of them even raised their front hooves high, and several horsemen were thrown off their horses.

Wu Peifu stood motionless on the platform, watching coldly as his subordinates began to gather their horses and maintain order. Seeing that the Supreme Commander was so resolute, the turbulent military formation gradually returned to calm.

"Brothers, is this the Japanese scaring us? This cannon looks quite bluffing, but if it worked, the Japanese would not have run from Qingdao to Rizhao! Brothers, everyone knows that people die in wars, and this time the bereavement pension will be doubled. Everyone fights this battle well, just to let the Japanese understand that our Beiyang Army is not a soft persimmon that anyone can pinch! When Wu Peifu said this, he patted the pistol on his waist, "In this battle, the team is going to play the real thing, those who advance will be rewarded, and those who retreat will be killed." Don't leave anything to chance. The infantry fills in the platoon commander, the platoon commander fills in the company commander, and the company commander fills in the battalion commander. If you're all done, I'll fill it in with the last of the rest! ”