Zhang Jingyao was defeated in the first battle of the leading shop, shaking the whole country!

When the emergency telegram arrived in Beijing, Yuan Shikai was also frightened. Receiving the Huguang alarm again, Li Liejun invaded Hunan, and Lu Rongting invaded Guangdong, and he was suddenly shocked and worried; One after another, the minister said that he was in favor of Zhiyi, and he also submitted a diplomatic opinion and sent it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was to the effect that: "According to the instructions of the national political axe, due to the spread of civil strife in China, the Yanjing political axe has no ability to quell the chaos, and the Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guizhou sides are also maintaining a republic, and cannot be regarded as a chaotic party, and the political axe of the country is now recognized as a belligerent group."

Not long after, ministers from Britain, France, Russia, and the United States successively sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking Yuan Shikai to abolish the imperial system as soon as possible to avoid protracted chaos. Yuan Shikai was about to answer, when a long telegram suddenly came, and he hurriedly asked the secretary to translate. The first two words are for the speedy abolition of the imperial system in order to reassure people's hearts. When Yuan Shikai saw it, he hurriedly ordered the translation of the end number, and once it was translated, he suddenly ordered a "Yuan Emperor" to collapse and lie down on the couch.

Who sent this message? It turned out to be the Jiangsu general Feng Guozhang, the Shandong general Jin Yunpeng, the Jiangxi general Li Chun, the Zhejiang general Zhu Rui, and the Xuzhou general Zhang Xun.

These five generals were originally important figures in the north and south of the river, and they were usually Yuan Shikai's henchmen, but this time for the sake of the imperial system, it was inevitable that they would disintegrate, Yuan Shikai was very attentive, and suddenly this telegram came, so as not to discourage him. When the secretary saw Yuan Shikai lying down, he suspected that he had fainted, and peeked at him, only to see him with his eyes open, his eyebrows raised, and his fists clenched very tightly, which became more and more frightening; He didn't dare to call out, but he secretly ordered him to invite the "prince" left and right.

After a while, Yuan Keding came in and approached Yuan Shikai's chair, Yuan Shikai suddenly sat up and said, "Hello! You wholeheartedly persuaded me to be the emperor, and you will inherit it in the future, but I listened to you, and tried my best to cause this kind of trouble. Now that people's hearts have changed, how can I step down? ”

Yuan Keding said: "At present, there are only three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guizhou, and it doesn't matter if you raise an army to rebel." ”

Yuan Shikai was angry and angry: "Don't you read the telegram of the five generals? ”

Yuan Keding transferred to the front of the case, and saw the secretary's translation, about half of the original text. After reading it, I was too scared to make a sound. That's all he has.

Yuan Shikai said angrily again: "You go and invite Duan Zhiquan to come." ”

Yuan Keding snorted: "I'm afraid he may not be willing to come"

"Cao Kun and Zhang Jingyao came by secret telegram, and they all said that they wanted to use Lao Duan, and now the matter is urgent, so I have to ask him to come out." Yuan Shikai let out a long sigh.

Yuan Keding didn't dare to talk much, so he had no choice but to ask Duan Qirui, but he didn't accept it, and he called it to block the car, so he returned in a huff and still came to see Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai sighed: "After many years of friendship, once it is lost, it will be naughty by the children!" ”

Yuan Shikai read the warning of the five generals again, and looked at his meaning, it seemed that the imperial system would not be withdrawn, but also imitate the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guizhou, and declare the reading power. This urgency was not trivial, and I had to call for a group of officials to hold a large pre-imperial meeting. Except for the Six Gentlemen and the Thirteen Taibao, all secretaries of state and below, such as the heads of various ministries, attended the meeting.

Yuan Shikai first took out the telegram of the five generals, showed it to the public, and then sighed: "According to the call from the five generals, it is to ask me to cancel the imperial system, I have no imperial thoughts, but because of the pressure of the masses, I reluctantly came out of this." I want to deceive people. Now that some people are not convinced, it seems that I should not be restrained. ”

Before he could say anything, he saw that Zhu Qichuan and Liang Shiyi had already spoken: "If Your Majesty cancels the imperial system, his prestige will be ruined, and he will show that he is weak." The ministers did not dare to obey their orders. ”

Speaking of the word "life", some people protested: "Since the occurrence of the imperial system, foolishness has been secretly pessimistic, but the people in Beijing hope and express their approval, how dare they disagree?" In view of the current general trend in the southwest, the president repents of the disaster, considers the great disaster, and only orders the guilty himself, severely punishes the first, or enough to clean up the hearts of the people and save the emergency. If the imperial system is abolished, the party members will not stop the army, and it will be the party members, not the president. Even like the ministers of various countries, there is no way to help them to help the adversity and the smoothness, and the chaos can be settled. Before the president, he said that he would rather sacrifice his children and grandchildren to save the country and save the people, but why should he fall in love with this throne? ”

When Yuan Shikai heard this, he saw that it was Zhang Yilu, the director of education, and replied lightly: "Zhongren, you dissuaded the imperial system last year, and I regret not obeying your words." ”

Yuan Shikai already had remorse, and Zhang Yilu only said the words "Your Majesty is cautious", which was finally the last good policy. Yuan Shikai groaned again!

At this time, Yuan Shikai had already thought of abdicating

However, it is too late for Yuan Shikai to regret it now.

As soon as the Ding[***] forward arrived in Naxi, he immediately engaged in a fierce battle with the Beiyang Army.

At this time, the Beiyang Army, after being hit repeatedly, was not as strong as when it entered Sichuan.

Xu Mu's Ding [***] Third Division and Wang Zhanxu's Ding [***] Sixth Division attacked Beiyang from two sides, relying on artillery fire to launch the most ferocious attack on Beiyang.

Subsequently, the 1st Guards Division also rushed to the battlefield and joined the attack on the Beiyang Army. The Beiyang Army suffered heavy casualties and was no longer able to continue fighting.

With the changes in the war situation in Sichuan, anti-Yuan forces have risen in various places.

On the Xiangxi side, Wang Wenhua led the Guizhou Army to the Guizhou-Hunan border in late January 1916, and immediately attacked the Yuan army in Xiangxi. The 1st Regiment launched an attack on the evening of February 2 when Yuan's army in Huangzhou City, Hunan Province was celebrating the Chinese New Year's Eve. The Guizhou army entered and occupied Huangzhou. 4 said, conquer Centipede Pass, annihilate the 5th mixed brigade of the Yuan Army and the garrison of Zhenyuan Road. The 3rd Regiment was called Qianyang on February 5. During this period, the 2nd Regiment captured some strongholds on the outskirts of Mayang City, and failed to attack the city twice. On the 13th, the 1st and 3rd regiments jointly launched an attack on Yuanzhou, and Yuan's army abandoned the city and fled. On the 14th, the Guizhou army occupied Yuanzhou. Wang immediately supported the 2nd Regiment with a part of the 1st Regiment to attack Mayang City again, and conquered the place on the 16th. By the end of February, the Protector Guizhou Army had defeated about 3 mixed regiments of Yuan's army, including Hongjiang, Jingxian, Tongdao, Suining and other places. In mid-March, Yuan's army launched a counteroffensive against Mayang, Qianyang and other places. The Guizhou Army of the Protectorate resisted tenaciously and restrained the Yuan Army in Xiangxi from transferring troops to the main direction of Sichuan.

On February 20, 1916, Li Liejun's troops marched from Kunming to Guangxi. At the beginning of March, fierce battles were fought in the Guangnan and Funing areas on the border between Yunnan and Guangxi. The 2nd Army's Zhang Kai Ru Ti Regiment repelled several attacks by Li Wenfu, the commander of the 1st Route of the Dragon Army, in the area of the Conversion Dynasty east of Funing, and the two sides were in a stalemate. The 2nd Army's Shengtao Ladder Regiment and the 2nd Route Commander of the Dragon Army, Huang Enxi's Division, fought fiercely in the Quang Nam area for several days and repelled the Huang Division. On the 15th, Lu Rongting, the general of Ningwu, telegraphed to announce Guangxi Reading Power.

Yunnan Hu [***] took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack against the Dragon Army. At the same time, the 3rd Army of Zhao Zhongqi Titi Regiment from Yunnan to Guangxi to intercept the Dragon Army entered Xilong and attacked Huang Enxi's troops with Fang Shengtaoti Regiment. The Huang tribe was defeated, and the remnants fled to southern Yunnan. Huang Yucheng's division, which was reorganized from the 1st Division of the 3rd Army, also entered Baise in Guangxi from Yunnan via Xingyi in Guizhou at this time, and cooperated with the Gui Army to surround the headquarters of Long Jiguang and disarm all of them. Li Wenfu saw that the general trend had gone, and led the crowd to surrender. The remnants of the 3rd Road Longti Dry Bandit Armed Forces of the Dragon Army and Huang Enxi, who fled to southern Yunnan, were blocked by Liu Zuwu and other troops of the 3rd Army, and some of them were annihilated, and some of them fled from Yunnan.

Yuan Shikai's military campaign failed, and Yuan's army was also attacked in Guangdong, Shandong and other places, and suffered another diplomatic setback, and was forced to announce the abolition of the imperial system on March 22, 1916, but still held the presidency.

However, despite the successive victories in Sichuan, at this time, the protection [***] commanded by Cai Ye really had no way to continue to go further.

In addition to the huge casualties, one of the most important factors is also reflected:

Money!

At this time, there are really not a few coppers in the money bag. In the past, Yunnan was a poor place that ate grain relief from the central government, and from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, it had to rely on the central government to subsidize 800,000 yuan a year every year.

Now that Cai Ye is back, President Yuan Da's face is turned and weaned, and he has 400,000 yuan left in his hand from selling houses and land, and now that the 400,000 yuan has been used up, the brothers of the Dian army can really only drink the northwest wind?

In fact, when going out, the military salary of the Yunnan army was less than two months, that is, the military salary of less than two months, which was also filled with a large amount of "Yunnan soil", that is, opium, the value of this thing is equivalent to the value of the ocean yellow croaker, which is much easier to use than any Yunnan yuan, and can be consumed wherever you go.

It's not that Cai Ye doesn't want to continue fighting, but he really has no money!

Similarly, this is also the reason why Wang Hengyue will rest assured to let [***] enter Sichuan.

He is not afraid that your Dian army will come in, just one military salary can kill you!

There is also the issue of ammunition replenishment. The weapons and equipment of the Yunnan army have always been good, in the last years of Guangxu, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Xiliang, ordered 54 mountain cannons from Germany, each with 1,000 rounds of ammunition; forty-nine Maxim machine guns; There are more than 10,000 new five-sub rifles, each with 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

In addition, the Yunnan governor at the end of the Qing Dynasty had always paid attention to stockpiling weapons, and the guns and ammunition on the books of the Yunnan army at this time were enough to support a medium-sized war.

The question is, given the road conditions in Yunnan and Sichuan, how many civilians need to be requisitioned to transport enough ordnance and ammunition for tens of thousands of people to fight a medium-sized war?

As soon as a few battles were fought, the ammunition in the hands of the Dian army was almost empty, and if it weren't for Wang Hengyue's support, I was afraid that it wouldn't be able to hold out until now.

"It's time to pick the fruit." Wang Hengyue suddenly said such a sentence in his headquarters.

"Fruit picking?" Jiang Baili was stunned for a moment.

Wang Hengyue smiled: "Beiyang is tired and injured." What about the Dian army? There is no money, there are no bullets, I heard that the First Army of the Protector [***] almost mutiny because of military salaries, and now that their mission is over, it is time for us to pick the fruit. ”

Jiang Baili nodded.

"Beiyang is no better." Wang Hengyue said confidently: "The Yunnan army so close to Luzhou has run out of bullets, and the same is true of Beiyang, where they came from Sichuan, let them go back." ”

Wang Hengyue is ready to completely solve the Sichuan problem!

(To be continued)