Feng Guozhang did not know about the plot of the sailor before he was arrested, and even when he was arrested, he did not immediately form the idea that the sailor had defected to the People's Party.

Among the Beiyang generals, the "dog of the Beiyang" who was appreciated by Yuan Shikai for his "loyalty and reliability" has fallen into the sad situation of a lost dog since the collapse of the Beijing government in Beiyang last year. In terms of the territory he nominally controlled in 1916, Feng Guozhang was already the second largest force in China after the People's Party. Zhejiang and Guangdong, the three southeastern provinces, are wealthy, and even Fujian is no poorer than Jiangxi under the People's Party. Holding these three places, he was finally forced to such a field, Feng Guozhang himself felt very puzzled.

The People's Party does not have a direct presence in these three provinces, and all the official branches of the People's Party in the three provinces have been evacuated before 412. Beiyang and the Restoration Society simply stood by and watched. After 412, the local gentry were slaughtered, and the traditional gentry once again seized local power. If those new-school characters are still willing to cooperate with Beiyang to a certain extent, the old-school characters are very polite to Beiyang, and it is just polite. In terms of land taxation and trade, these old-school figures are old fritters who are good at fighting against the government. After purging the "radicals", the conservatives who defended the land were almost imprisoned.

In order to expand its troops, the Beiyang Army recruited a large number of locals from the three provinces. These people formed factions in the army, which directly weakened the Beiyang Army's ability to command. When it comes to taxation, there is no tax at all in the places that are controlled by the old school. Feng Guozhang also took some coercive measures, and after the local government was pressurized, he even collected some white slips as "taxes". Enraged, Feng Guozhang ordered the troops to go down to collect the arrears.

Naturally, the local troops did not contribute to the work, and when they asked for military salaries, they had a lot of money, but when they could collect taxes, they had no effect at all. The Beiyang Army, which was replaced by Feng Guozhang, was dispatched, and those landlords got the news and ran away in advance with money. Local officials and the army obstructed the Beiyang Army in every possible way. It was also impossible for the Beiyang Army to be stationed in the local area, and if it could not find the big landlords who owed money, they could only return to the country. After several struggles, Feng Guozhang ended in complete defeat.

After the collapse of the Beijing government in Beiyang, Feng Guozhang's once abundant military spending was immediately cut off. The military salary could not be paid on time, Feng Guozhang could only maintain the military expenses of the old Beiyang Army, and the newly joined Beiyang Army could only owe. After doing so, Feng Guozhang could not rely on the new Southern Beiyang Army to do anything.

At the beginning, Feng Guozhang also hoped to learn from Yuan Shikai and solve the immediate financial problems through a series of external loans. However, the British were very cold to Feng Guozhang, and the Japanese once warmly contacted Feng Guozhang, but the precondition was to ask Feng Guozhang to recognize Sun Yat-sen's provisional government. Feng Guozhang couldn't help but scolded behind his back, "What kind of thing is Sun Wen!" "During the period of the Beiyang government, Sun Wen was a clown in the hands of Beiyang at all, and Feng Guozhang would rather die on the battlefield than bow to such a thing.

Feng Guozhang did not try to contact other forces in Beiyang. Even without Yuan Shikai, the leader of Beiyang, Beiyang has not been completely destroyed. In terms of the geographical area under its control, the People's Party does not occupy half of China's territory. Feng Guozhang still has certain illusions about the revitalization of Beiyang. After unremitting efforts, the news from Beiyang was finally heard. Wang Shizhen, the dragon of Beiyang, was released because of his meritorious service in "protecting cultural relics", and now he is "spending his old age in peace" in Beijing. Duan Qirui, the Tiger of the Beiyang, withdrew into Shanxi with more than 300,000 Beiyang troops. Now it is occupying Shanxi and Shaanxi. In Duan Qirui's letter to Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui asked Feng Guozhang to negotiate with foreigners in his capacity as a representative of Beiyang, hoping to get the support of foreigners.

When Feng Guozhang tried to make contact with foreigners, things quickly changed, and after the People's Party defeated the Japanese in the northeast, they actually signed a peace agreement with the Japanese, not only the attitude of the British became more cold, but the Japanese simply disappeared from Feng Guozhang.

Feng Guozhang's personality is not suitable to be the supreme leader, and he does not have Yuan Shikai's ability to lead the overall situation. Without Duan Qirui's daring determination, without Yuan Shikai's support, when Feng Guozhang had to rely on himself to create the situation, he lived one day at a time. Internally, it cannot unify the three southeastern provinces, and externally, it cannot even sign a traitorous treaty.

It wasn't until the People's Party entered the three southeastern provinces that Feng Guozhang immediately received documents calling for help from all over the country. The local forces that seemed to have disappeared at the time of tax collection now finally remembered the existence of Feng Guozhang, the overseer who theoretically stood at the highest position in the southeast. And they also tried to plead with Feng Guozhang to save them.

Feng Guozhang did not fail to make efforts, and he joined forces with other provincial forces to lay defensive lines in various strategic points in an attempt to play a defensive role in the event of an offensive by the People's Party. In order to maintain these defensive lines, Feng Guozhang's Overseer's Mansion was almost gone. But these lines of defense did not work at all, and under the onslaught of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the lines were breached, and the defending troops were completely annihilated. These are all elite troops in the three southeastern provinces. Its speed was so fast that Feng Guozhang was completely caught off guard.

The BJP's offensive has not stopped since August. The troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army conquered cities in Zhejiang and Guangdong, but ignored Fujian. It can be clearly seen from the map that the People's Party seems to have spread its north and south wings, and after swallowing Zhejiang and Guangdong, it will launch a joint attack on Fujian. At that time, Feng Guozhang, who was alone in Fujian, would face an inevitable end.

At this time, Feng Guozhang also understood that all his efforts would fail. On the eve of the downfall, Feng Guozhang was full of confusion in the Overseer's Mansion, what had he been doing in the southeast in the past few years? Feng Guozhang once thought that it would be good if he could launch an attack on the People's Party at all costs. However, this idea was quickly overturned by himself, and if Feng Guozhang did, the result would be that the People's Party would instead attack Feng Guozhang from the forces it had used to attack the Beijing government. At that time, could Feng Guozhang resist the attack of the People's Party? Feng Guozhang has no such confidence at all.

But this remorse is very hollow, because all the news that has come so far is so untrue. Just like all the news that Feng Guozhang had heard about the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, one after another unbelievable-sounding results flew in one after another. It was as if there were not enemies and all kinds of impenetrable terrain in front of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. In front of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army there was a wide and flat golden avenue, and those legendary soldiers who were extremely brave walked all the way to the final victory.

Hearing that the Beiyang Army was fleeing to Fuzhou, Feng Guozhang's last line of defense psychologically collapsed. He is very aware of the current situation in Fuzhou, after Feng Guozhang's looting in the past few years, Fuzhou, which should have been very prosperous, is now sparsely commercialized and its population has plummeted. There was simply no way for the entire city to sustain such an army. After painful thinking, Feng Guozhang decided to leave all his troops, flee from Fuzhou, and flee to Shanghai.

Therefore, on September 10, Feng Guozhang contacted Sa Zhenbing, the Minister of the Beiyang Navy, and asked to arrange the headquarters on the navy's warships. Sa Zhenbing replied to Feng Guozhang that now the warship lacks maintenance and supplies, and only small ships can be operated. Feng Guozhang has long been tired of Sa Zhenbing's requests for supply and maintenance of the Beiyang and Nanyang naval divisions for more than a year, and now that Sa Zhenbing has been so generalized, Feng Guozhang can only admit it.

The report from Feng Guozhang's cronies did not tell a lie, because the big ships of the navy have been rusty for more than a year. Feng Guozhang was able to get Yuan Shikai's favor because he wrote some military theoretical works. Feng Guozhang is still relatively clear about the basic knowledge of the navy, and without supply and maintenance for so long, the warships of the navy are indeed miserable.

As a last resort, Feng Guozhang could only agree to choose a small warship as his command ship. After spending a day carrying the money piled up in the Overseer's Mansion onto the warship, Feng Guozhang pretended to inspect the situation of the navy first.

Sa Zhenbing invited Feng Guozhang to the flagship of the navy to discuss the issue of naval supply, and Feng Guozhang naturally had to give face. brought a few guards to the flagship of the navy, and the peeling hull and mottled gangway made Feng Guozhang firm in his determination. As long as he finished fooling Sa Zhenbing, he would order his ship to set off for sea in the name of patrolling. After fleeing to Shanghai, he never returned.

With this thought in mind, Feng Guozhang entered the flagship command room accompanied by Sa Zhenbing. As soon as I entered the door, I saw my old acquaintance Yan Fu standing in the command room, and then there were a few muffled sounds behind him. Before Feng Guozhang could figure out what was going on, Sa Zhenbing's subordinates, who came to accompany him, had already set up Feng Guozhang and dragged him into the command room. As soon as the door of the command room was closed, Feng Guozhang found himself alone in the command room with Yan Fu, Sa Zhenbing, and six wolf-like naval officers.

"Huafu, long time no see." Yan Fu said heartily.

Feng Guozhang does not have such a temperament as Yan Fu, and more importantly, Yan Fu is already in control of the victory at this time, Feng Guozhang, as a guy who has fallen into the trap, his heart and courage are far from the level of ridiculing his opponent.

"Someone's coming!" Feng Guozhang shouted.

Naturally, no one would come to save Feng Dujun, and several people in the command room looked at Feng Guozhang with interesting expressions and stubbornly resisted. No one responded to even shouting a few times, Feng Guozhang suddenly tried to knock the naval officer behind him with his shoulder, and rushed out through the hatch behind him. The naval officers had no chance at all, and they grabbed Feng Guozhang tightly, and pulled out the rope to tie the Overseer in a knot.

A few minutes later, Feng Guozhang was trapped in a chair, Yan Fu sat on the main seat opposite Feng Guozhang, and Sa Zhenbing sat in the position of Yan Fu's right hand. Just from this seat arrangement, Feng Guozhang understood everything.

"Sa Zhen Bing! You traitor! Feng Guozhang scolded angrily.

Sa Zhenbing's face turned red, and Yan Fu took over, "Huafu, why are you bothering?" Move the headquarters to the warship, why are you doing this, and you still use our own people to make it clear? ”

These words pierced Feng Guozhang's shame like a knife, and he also blushed and stopped talking.

Yan Fu did not persuade Feng Guozhang to surrender, such a hypocritical approach is meaningless. First of all, Yan Fu had no intention of saving Feng Guozhang, and secondly, Yan Fu also believed that Feng Guozhang's actions must be severely punished. So Yan Fu just looked at Feng Guozhang gently, stood up and said, "Huafu, you can do it yourself in the future." ”

Walking out of the command room with Sa Zhenbing, Yan Fu said: "The current plan is to immediately send troops to seize Fuzhou City. ”

The capture of Feng Guozhang was a surprise, but Feng's subordinates did not know that Feng Guozhang was ready to leave them and flee for their lives. So in the end, it is still possible for Feng Guozhang's troops to try to rob Feng Guozhang back. Most of the ships of the Navy Division were unable to move at this time, and the only way was to suddenly attack and seize Fuzhou City with the assistance of the naval guns of the Navy Division.

"Two regiments of troops will be able to capture the city of Fuzhou?" Sa Zhenbing asked suspiciously. After the reorganization of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the total number of troops in the two regiments was less than 3,000. The Beiyang army in Fuzhou City must have 20,000 or 30,000 troops. With one blow to ten, such an action is completely beyond the scope of normal thinking.

Yan Fu can only give the order to attack at this time, although there is no need to be a hero, but at the critical moment, someone must stand up as a hero. The Beiyang and Nanyang sailors agreed to surrender, and they must be unconvinced in their hearts. Soldiers, whether they can fight or not, can only let them see the war with their own eyes.

It was a battle that the Beiyang and Nanyang naval divisions will never forget, although the surprise attack of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army occupied a surprise advantage, which was not enough to offset the numerical disadvantage of ten in one blow. For the first time, the officers and men of the Naval Division knew what modern warfare was all about in the world. Not only is it an indispensable attitude of treating death as if it were home in modern warfare, but the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army has demonstrated superb warfare skills, first approaching the enemy, and then effectively combining various weapons to break through the enemy's defense line as quickly as possible and deal a devastating blow to the enemy.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was able to conceal itself as much as possible on the battlefield, and the Navy's large-powered telescopes could not effectively track the movements of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. However, the battle lasted more than three hours, and the Beiyang Army was forced by the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to the southwest corner of Fuzhou City. Two regiments surrounded the Beiyang seven or eight times their own.

Feng Guozhang was dragged to the city, and Sa Zhenbing also joined the siege with the morale-boosted naval officers and men with weapons. It was an unforgettable scene of Sa Zhenbing's eternal victory, when Feng Guozhang told the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army in a trembling voice into the microphone that he was arrested when he tried to escape. The Beiyang Army did not scold angrily, and did not cry in defeat. But a soldier stepped forward and threw his rifle in the open space under the city wall. Subsequently, tens of thousands of Beiyang officers and soldiers stepped forward one after another to throw their weapons there. The weapons were piled up like hills, but no officers and soldiers fired a single shot at the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army with these weapons.

Sa Zhenbing had also read some poetry books, so he vaguely remembered that there seemed to be a sentence in a certain poem he had read before, "140,000 people are all disarmed, and none of them are men!" ”

When I first read this poem, Sa Zhenbing felt that the appearance of this place seemed to be full of tragedy. When he witnessed a similar situation with his own eyes, Sa Zhenbing was stunned to find that the only look on all the Beiyang officers and soldiers who surrendered was the ease of being able to escape from the war. This discovery can't help but make Sa Zhenbing feel that his view of the world is really wrong.