108381908 Far East Madman Chapter 37 on the reed platform

Tanggu Railway Station is a transportation hub connecting Tianjin and Beijing, and the Jingfeng Railway, which connects inside and outside the Guan, has made a 90-degree bend here. The railway in the northeast direction goes to Shanhaiguan, the railway in the northwest direction goes directly to the capital, and there is a branch line to the east, which is the railway line connecting Dagu Port, an important commercial port in the north.

Due to this special status, Tanggu Railway Station is the busiest railway station on the entire Gyeongbong Line. It is also the most important shunting yard, in order to ensure traffic order, a large number of policemen equipped with heavy weapons are stationed in the Tanggu area, the reason why it is not an army is only because of the line signed between the Qing court and the foreign powers, the Xinchou Treaty, the squadron is forbidden to be stationed here, and there are only foreign teams and Chinese police.

Since the war between the north and the south, the number of police stationed at the Tanggu railway station has increased, and the military power here has been further strengthened by the foreign powers. Passengers entering the train station are also subject to the strictest checks and body searches.

However, compared with today's warning measures a few days ago, it is even more insignificant, because the current railway station is under martial law at all, and no one is allowed to enter the railway station, and a large number of passengers are forced to stay outside the railway station and inquire with each other. The Road Bureau temporarily decided to impose martial law at the railway station, and all passenger cars and freight cars were also delayed from starting and entering the station, and the entire train schedule was completely disrupted.

Knowing the truth, the passengers who were originally clamoring for the demolition of the station quieted down and relaxed, and some enthusiastic passengers even began to explain the current political situation to those who were not very well-informed.

Before his death, the Beiyang government officially issued a communiqué. Two things were announced to the press and the people of the whole country: First, Yuan Shikai, the provisional president of the Republic of China, was unable to handle state affairs due to illness, and Xu Shichang has now been nominated as acting president. full authority to deal with the affairs of the state; Second, the center called on the United Front to achieve a truce between the North and the South as soon as possible to help each other in times of difficulty.

It is a bit ironic to say, it has been almost half a year since the establishment of the government of the Republic of China, but until now, this central government has only one interim president, not even a vice president, and as a result, President Yuan has fallen ill and has not even had a successor. Only President Yuan Da, who was on his sickbed, could "appoint" an acting president.

Therefore, now Xu Shichang is no longer the governor of the three eastern provinces, he is now the acting president of the Republic of China, and he is governing the country for Yuan Shikai. If this is placed in ancient times, this Xu Shichang is the Son of Heaven.

Now, the special train acting president is passing through Tanggu, no wonder the road bureau is so nervous, and even specially invited two teams of foreign soldiers to guard the railway station.

The passengers hoped that Xu Shichang would go to the capital soon to take over the power, after all, the country could not be left without an owner for a day. Now that Yuan Shikai has suffered a stroke and is paralyzed, and the position of president is vacant, Xu Shichang arrives in the capital one day early, and the overall situation of the world may be able to settle down one day earlier. In any case, the war between the North and the South was over.

Before Xu Shichang left Fengtian yesterday and traveled south, he sent a telegram ordering all units of the Beiyang Army to "exercise restraint." "Without an order, you must not provoke the troops of the United Front without authorization, which is actually a gesture, which shows that the Beiyang side of this war no longer wants to fight, as for whether this is Xu Shichang's own position or Yuan Shikai's instructions, this seems to be no longer important, it is important. If this battle continues, it will not benefit the country or the people.

After Xu Shichang's special train left Mukden, it went south along the Jingfeng line at the fastest speed, stopped at Shanhaiguan for a while, and then went south.

However, the Tanggu Road Bureau waited left and right. I just didn't see President Xu Shichang's special train arrive at the station. Everyone was anxious to inquire everywhere, at this time, if Xu Shichang had any more accidents, the political situation in the north might not be able to be cleaned up, and the Beiyang Group would definitely fall apart, and no one knew how the situation would develop in the end.

In the end, the British Consulate sent someone to the Tanggu Road Bureau to inform them that martial law could be lifted temporarily, because Acting President Xu Shichang revised the schedule, he will pass by the Tanggu Railway Station in the afternoon, and he will not stop here, and the Road Bureau only needs to do a good job of traffic scheduling.

Why did Xu Shichang suddenly change his schedule? What could be more important than rushing to the capital to take over the power? There was a lot of talk, but there was a lot of disagreement.

As a common man, of course, I don't know what the secret of holding power is, but as a politician. Xu Shichang knows very well where the power comes from.

Political power comes from military power, and this is the secret of great power, and anyone who wants to reach the pinnacle of power cannot do without mastering the army. Therefore, the reason why Xu Shichang postponed his visit to Beijing. It's to master an army.

This unit is also one of the Beiyang Army sequences, and its official name is Zhang Zuoshuang, commander of the "16th Division of the Beiyang Army".

The origin of this unit is relatively special, its predecessor was the Manchu Fengtian Qianlu Patrol Battalion, and the predecessor of this predecessor was a so-called "insurance team." "Liaoning West Octagonal Terrace Insurance Team.

Northeast people know that the so-called "insurance team" in the three eastern provinces is actually a high-sounding name of the green forest armed forces, these teams sit on one side, and the so-called "insurance premiums" are levied to suppress and rule the localities. Although the people will also be plundered and oppressed, at least there is no fear of their lives, and there are "rules" for the collection of "insurance premiums".

In troubled times, the emphasis is on a weak person who is attached to the strong, if the opportunity is good, this strong person can sit in the world, then, it is a new king curtain.

Although Zhang Zuoshuang was born in a reckless manner, he is different from those short-sighted Bai Ding, his vision is good, and he knows that the bowl of rice of the "insurance team" will not last long, so he decided to "wash the white", so he planned to take refuge in Sichuan's Shengjing general Zengqi Zhang Zuoshuang turned into a new people's mansion patrol defense pipe belt. His "insurance team" also became a brave battalion begging for food, although it was not a formal national army. But at least throw that "bandit" hat.

Later, Zhang Zuoshuang exterminated some bandit teams for the Qing court, although the officials were still small, but his team expanded rapidly, and by the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, his team had expanded to more than 2,000 people, nominally under the command of the magistrate. But without his Zhang Zuoshuang's order, the magistrate could not even transfer a single soldier, and the surname of this team was "Zhang".

In the ensuing Russo-Japanese War, Zhang Zuoshuang's team was further expanded and strengthened. And because he caught the line of Japan, even the government did not dare to kick him away easily, after Xu Shichang became the governor of the three eastern provinces, he could only take the means of co-opting and appeasing local powerful figures like Zhang Zuoshuang, but for the sake of insurance, Xu Shichang asked the Qing court to transfer the third town of the Beiyang New Army to the northeast, nominally "suppressing bandits." But in fact, it is to monitor local snakes like Zhang Zuoshuang to escort the restructuring of the three eastern provinces, and at the same time, Xu Shichang is also playing a balancing act. Promote Feng Delin, Ma Longtan, and Wu Junsheng, and let them monitor each other and contain each other. Among these people, some are from the army, and some are from the green forest, all of them are martial artists who operate guns and sticks, and if the situation is stable, they will all be played by Xu Shichang.

However, the situation was not stable, the "Wushen Revolution" broke out, the Qing court collapsed, and a republican government was established. However, after the republic, the situation in the country continued to be turbulent, and with the confrontation between the powerful factions in the north and the south, the balance of power changed, first of all, the third town of Beiyang withdrew to Guannei, so that Xu Shichang lost the most reliable backing, and then, Zhang Zuoshuang and Feng Delin's team was also transferred to Shanhaiguan by Yuan Shikai. They were reorganized into the 16th and 17th Divisions of the Beiyang Army. As a result, Wu Junsheng, who stayed in Fengtian, immediately became unrestrained, fortunately, this person had no ambitions, Xu Shichang was not worried, and there was a Ma Longtan staring at him, the three eastern provinces can still be maintained, but it is only maintained. I want to make some revolution, but I can't get it.

In his opinion, in the current unstable situation, the transfer of too many troops from the three eastern provinces will weaken the local armed forces and give bandits and foreign powers an opportunity, but his opinion was not adopted by Yuan Shikai, and Yuan Shikai drank to quench his thirst. Xu Shichang could only look up to the sky and sigh.

Now that Yuan Shikai is critically ill and Xu Shichang is appointed acting president, things seem to have taken a turn for the better, so Xu Shichang decided to change Yuan Shikai's strategy and transfer Zhang Zuoshuang's 16th Division back to the northeast to press the ground, which is not only a measure to maintain the stability of the three eastern provinces, but also can also be used to send a reconciliation signal to the powerful factions in the south, so that they will stop their northward advance and hold peace talks with Beiyang wholeheartedly.

Zhang Zuoshuang's 16th Division of the Beiyang Army was originally ordered by Yuan Shikai to reload with Japanese weapons at Shanhaiguan, and then take a train with Feng Delin's 17th Division and follow the railway south to Henan to attack Xinyang, but due to differences in the strategic aspect of Beiyang, Duan Qirui, the acting chief of the Makeup Military Department, advocated strengthening the strength of Wang Shizhen's First Army in the southeast, coupled with the lack of railway capacity. So in the end, only Feng Delin's 17th Division went south to the Jinghan Line, while Zhang Zuoshuang's 16th Division was stationed in the Lutai area north of Tanggu. Waiting for the order, also waiting for the wagon, whether it should go to Henan or Jiangsu.

Xu Shichang's special train passed by Lutai, and Zhang Zuoshuang specially took a few cronies to welcome the new president of the Republic of China at the train station. Only then did Xu Shichang learn that the 16th Division did not go to Henan. So he temporarily changed his schedule and decided to stay in Lutai for a few more hours to inspect Zhang Zuoshuang's troops.

However, this review did make Xu Shichang a little disappointed, Zhang Zuoshuang's 16th Division was adapted from the patrol battalion, and the predecessor of this patrol battalion was a green forest armed force, which was very gangster, and because of the expansion of the troops, a large number of Northeast green forest armed forces were absorbed, so that the whole army looked like a rabble with loose discipline, although they were equipped with more advanced Japanese-made weapons, but in the eyes of Xu Shichang, the veteran of the Beiyang New Army, this army could not go to the battlefield, and it could not win the battle on the battlefield, this is cannon fodder.

Of course, Xu Shichang's purpose in inspecting the troops was not to see if they could be transferred to the south to fight the United Front, but to win over Zhang Zuoshuang and others, and transfer the 16th Division back to the northeast to maintain the situation.

According to the news that Xu Shichang got some time ago. Recently, the "Eight Banners outside the Guanwai" have been very popular, and there are rumors that they plan to plan an armed rebellion in the near future, and such rumors are not groundless. Some time ago, Wu Junsheng's patrol battalion intercepted several caravans smuggling Japanese arms to the Mongolian steppe, and also found Japanese ronins among them. Xu Shichang was very worried about this situation, he was not worried about the "Eight Banners outside the Guanwai" who didn't even know how to keep secrets, what he was really worried about was the Japanese.

Although now Japan and Britain are the same as the Beiyang financiers, but as a political figure, as the governor of the three eastern provinces, Xu Shichang knows too well the thoughts of the Japanese, the reason why the Qing court sent him to the three eastern provinces to preside over the reform, the main purpose is to deal with the Japanese, since the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan's ambitions have been unprecedentedly inflated. Their attempt to dominate the Northeast is very obvious. It not only caused the Qing court to worry, but also caused the dissatisfaction of the United States and Britain, and it was precisely for this reason that the Qing court deliberately gave Xu Shichang a small "trick" before leaving the customs, that is, "to raze and raze." "Japan was forced to use European and American columns.

In order to achieve this small catty, "raze to raze." Strategy, after Xu Shichang took office, he immediately set out to formulate an ambitious "industrial development plan for the three eastern provinces", not only to overhaul the railway, but also to set up an industrial bank in the three eastern provinces, for this reason, he took the initiative to seek cooperation with Britain and the United States, and it is for this reason. He became friends with the U.S. Consul General in Mukden, Stade.