Bingzhou is under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture of Henan Province, and has been an important town in northern Henan since ancient times. … After the completion of the railway, Zhengzhou has become the most important transportation hub on the Jinghan line, not only communicating the north-south traffic, but also the planned construction of the Longhai railway through Zhengzhou, once the Longhai line is completed and opened to traffic. Zhengzhou will become the most important transportation hub in the Central Plains and even in the whole of China.

However, due to the outbreak of the "Wushen Revolution", the construction of the Longhai Railway has also been postponed, and now only a small section from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou has been completed and opened to traffic, and the same as the Jinghan line, this section of the railway is also controlled by the Belgian consortium, but considering the chaos after the revolution, now the Belgian consortium has agreed to transfer part of the management to Yuan Shikai zhèngfǔ, as for the right to protect the road, it is completely handed over to the Beiyang Army.

As a strategic point to control the Jinghan line, Zheng Coffee has now become a military city, and the local troops of the Beiyang Army and the Henan Army stationed here have exceeded 10,000. At present, troops are still being sent from the north to Zhengzhou, and if the north and the south meet each other, Zhengzhou may be the key city for the two sides to compete for.

In the current Henan, the highest military governor is Zhao Qi, who is now not only the governor of the Henan army appointed by Yuan Shikai, but also the envoy of Henan Town. Theoretically, all the armed forces of Henan are under his command.

But the theory is far from the reality. Now Zhao Tong can only command the Yu army, which was expanded by Lao Yi's army, and the Beiyang Army is nominally commanded by him, but the actual control is in the hands of Zhang Zhenfang.

Zhang Zhenfang is only the speaker of the Henan Provincial Assembly in name, and it is said that he cannot command the Beiyang Army, but the problem is that his background is not ordinary, this person is a native of Xiangcheng, Henan, and is the cousin of Yuan Shikai, the provisional president of the Republic of China, and has a close relationship with Yuan Shikai, plus he was born as a scholar, so this career is also flat, and has served as a Taoist of the Qing court, a salt transport envoy, and a law envoy. When Yuan Shikai was unlucky, this Zhang Zhenfang also saw the mold, when Yuan Shikai lost power because of "killing the emperor of Daxing", Zhang Zhenfang was also dismissed. Later, he was targeted by Xiao Gongwang's "Zongshe Party". Threatening to sacrifice his head to Emperor Daxing, Zhang Zhenfang had to flee to the Tianjin Concession to live in seclusion. originally planned to flee to Hong Kong again, but before he could get on the ship, Yuan Shikai had launched a "military admonition" to regain the power of the center, so that Zhang Zhenfang not only did not have to escape, but could also continue his career.

However, Yuan Shikai did not immediately give him an official, but sent him back to Henan and asked him to "find a way" to become the speaker of the Henan Provincial Assembly and set an example for the constitution, Zhang Zhenfang is a smart person. comprehended Yuan Shikai's true intentions, so he quickly went to Kaifeng, Henan, and after some planning, he successfully became the speaker of parliament and became the representative of public opinion in Henan.

Although Zhang Zhenfang is only a civilian official and has nothing to do with the military, the generals of the Beiyang Army are not fools. Of course, they know the real intention of Yuan Shikai and Yuan Laoshuai to send Zhang Zhenfang to Henan, although Zhao Kui is a "hero from the dragon", but after all, he is an outsider, not as reliable as Zhang Zhenfang's cousin, so although Zhao Tong is the nominal governor of Henan, in the minds of Beiyang officers and soldiers, Zhang Zhenfang is the real "king of Henan" They only listen to Zhang Zhenfang's words.

The Beiyang Army stationed in Zhengzhou was the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division. The brigade commander was Bao Guiqing. The Second Beiyang Division was adapted from the second town of the original Beiyang New Army, and after Yuan Shikai's "New Year's Electrification" was issued, the second town responded to Yuan Laoshuai's constitutional initiative in Zhengzhou. and sent troops to Kaifeng, forcing Wu Chongxi, the governor of Henan, to respond to Yuan Shikai, and later the "Founding War" broke out. After the end of the "Founding War", the troops of the second division were transferred back to Zhengzhou, and continued to control the transportation hub of the Jinghan line, and kept an eye on the republican army and Endeavor in the south for Yuan Shikai.

Pao Guiqing's word Tingjiu, Fengtian Haicheng people's clan. In his early years, he served as a sentry officer in the Huai Army, participated in the Sino-Japanese War, and later entered the Kaiping Military Academy, and was sent to serve in the new army after graduation.

In fact, according to the qualifications, it is not impossible for Pao Guiqing to be the division commander, but there are many monks and few porridges, and Yuan Shikai has too many cronies, so it is impossible to come over one by one, and he can only grieve Bao Guiqing to be the brigade commander first.

In order to be the commander of the division as soon as possible, Pao Guiqing didn't want to find a way to tie up with Zhang Zhenfang and Speaker Zhang, Zhang Zhenfang said to the east, and the Beiyang Fourth Brigade under the command of Brigade Commander Bao did not dare to go west, and it was precisely by relying on the nearly 4,000 troops under Pao Guiqing that Zhang Zhenfang could compete with Zhao Su, the governor of Henan, and be majestic in Henan.

However, Zhao Kui is not a fuel-efficient lamp, although the quality and equipment of the Yu army under his command are far inferior to the Beiyang Army, but there are many people, only the descendants of the army have 8,000 people, plus those who come from all over the country to vote for the people's army, the party, Zhao Dudu's troops have exceeded 10,000 people, relying on this army, Zhao Kui can fight with Zhang Zhenfang on an equal footing.

However, there are not only the Beiyang Army and the Henan Army in Henan, but also a group of men and horses in southern Henan, called "Hubei Army zhèngfǔ Northern Expedition Advance Bi" This unit is nominally subordinate to the republican army sequence, but in fact it is a semi-dúlì armed force, and its command is held by the Endeavor Society, whether it is Yuan Shikai or Zhao Bei, they cannot directly command this force, only the leader of the Endeavor Society, Yang Wangpeng, can command it, this army originally only had one or two thousand remnants of the Henan New Army, and later successively replenished soldiers and weapons. After merging Wang Tianzong's Lvlin Armed Forces, the army quickly expanded to tens of thousands, and now there are more than 20,000 troops remaining in Henan. Although the first team was poorly equipped and had uneven personnel, there were the Republican Army in Hubei and the revolutionaries in the entire south standing behind him, so its momentum should not be underestimated, and neither the Beiyang Army nor the Henan Army dared to take the initiative to provoke.

In addition to these three groups, there is also a special armed force in northwest Henan, called the "Henan-Shaanxi Allied Army", which is controlled by Liu Zhenhua, a member of the alliance, and is nominally under the command of the Endeavor Society, but in fact it does its own thing and maintains a relationship with the Endeavor Association. And because most of its members are webbed generals from Henan and swordsmen from Shaanxi, the organization of the troops is even worse, the bandits are stronger, and the equipment is even inferior.

The Four Roads will be in Zhongzhou, and the ground of Henan also staged a modern version of the Chūn Autumn Warring States Period, and the ground of Henan is much calmer than that of Hunan and Guizhou. Old, the horn face looks calm.

In other words, in Henan now, the forces of all parties are in a state of balance.

However, only those in the bureau understand that the current situation in Henan is also very delicate, and the balance of forces in the four directions will be broken at any time, just like Hunan and Guizhou, and it may become a battlefield of artillery fire and smoke at any time.

Recently, since this period, Pao Guiqing has been running more diligently to Zhang Zhenfang's nest, and some of Yuan Shikai's secret messages have been transferred by Zhang Zhenfang to Pao Guiqing, and even Zhao Qi, the governor of Henan, has not heard of it, and it is from those secret telegrams that Pao Guiqing has a hint of the imminent break between the north and the south, and how to obtain enough benefits in this chaos has become the most concerned problem for the artillery brigade commander.

Early this morning, Bao Guiqing went to Zhang Zhenfang's apartment to ask for instructions, and only returned to the brigade commander's office on the outskirts of the city when he was on the third pole, but he had not yet sat down. Zhang Zhenfang sent another henchman attaché to hurry to the brigade commander's office and invited Bao Guiqing to the provincial council for deliberations.

Henan Province is Kaifeng, but considering the importance of the Jinghan line, Bao Guiqing and Zhang Zhenfang insisted that the provincial council should be stationed in Zhengzhou, and their banner was that the "military and civilian division of rule" could be distinguished from Kaifeng, the residence of the governor's office.

City.

When Pao Guiqing arrived at the Provincial Assembly, a group of temporarily convened councillors were in a meeting, Pao Guiqing was not a councilor, nor was he a reporter, so it was naturally difficult to rush to the conference room to observe, so he could only wait at the reception, while waiting to wonder what Zhang Zhenfang had summoned him for.

After waiting for half an hour, he didn't see Zhang Zhenfang coming, and when he was impatient, Wu Chongxi walked into the reception and asked Pao Guiqing; "Artillery Brigade Commander. Are you here too? But Speaker Zhang summoned you here? ”

Wu Chongxi was the former governor of Henan, and after Yuan Shikai's military admonition, he also announced his response to the constitution under the muzzle of the second town of Beiyang, theoretically speaking. He is not only a constitutionalist, but also a contributor to Yuan Shikai's usurpation of the Qing Dynasty, and should be entrusted with important tasks, but in fact, after the abdication of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Chongxi was not reused, and after being the acting speaker of the Henan Provincial Assembly for a short time, he gave up this catty and position to Zhang Zhenfang, and as for himself, he only got the title of "Henan Constitutional Commissioner". Received a stipend from Yuan Shikai.

Wu Chongxi is also a smart person, he knows what role he should play, since he became a constitutional commissioner, he has been keeping a low profile, Zhang Zhenfang did not call him to go, he closed the door to thank guests, entertained himself with poetry and painting with a few curtain guests in the apartment, and occasionally was invited to participate in a zhèngfǔ meeting, but he was also silent, like a puppet, which can be regarded as the sanity of Mingzhe to protect himself.

Pao Guiqing knew Wu Chongxi's current situation, and when he saw him asking, he said lightly: "It was Speaker Zhang who summoned me over."

I'm afraid that Commissioner Wu was also invited to come? ”

Wu Chongxi sat down opposite Bao Guiqing, nodded, and asked a long entourage who followed him for a dry tobacco stick, which he held in his mouth, but did not light it. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

"Today, Speaker Zhang summoned us over, but I am afraid that it is to discuss the changes in Hunan and Guizhou."

Pao Guiqing pretended to be stunned and asked, "Although the Hunan and Guizhou incidents are lively, what does it matter to us?" ”

The so-called "pulling a trigger and moving the whole body" Xiangqian incident is not handled well, but I am afraid that it will be another chaos. ”

Wu Chongxi instructed the chief retinue to light a cigarette in the morning, took two puffs, and said slowly: "Haven't you heard of the artillery brigade commander?" Yesterday, all public and private schools in Kaifeng went on strike, and both teachers and students marched in the streets, giving speeches condemning the coups in Hunan and Guizhou, and also submitting a petition to the governor of Henan, demanding that the Republic of China strictly deal with the rebels who killed military officials. Kaifeng is where the provincial constitution is located, and when there is a commotion, other places have to follow the commotion, so. The House of Representatives convened urgently to discuss a response. In addition, a few days ago, the Constituent Assembly voted to pass a resolution on the formation of a rebel army, and President Yuan was very dissatisfied with this, and went to ask questions, but received two telegrams with diametrically opposite contents. ”

Pao Guiqing shook his head disapprovingly, and said: "Commissar Wu is serious, a group of unarmed people, but they just went out into the street and shouted two slogans. Send some unveiling posts, what are you afraid of? It's a big deal to use soldiers and bullets to suppress it, I don't believe it, what kind of climate can a bunch of stunned young people get. As for the small moves made by the Southerners in the Constituent Assembly. Let's just know it in our hearts, don't take them seriously, public opinion? Can public opinion be eaten? ”

"Of course, public opinion can't be eaten, but it's a chicken feather, and you can use it as an arrow. The artillery brigade commander is familiar with the army, but he does not know much about civil affairs, do not underestimate those revolutionary parties, they have no other skills, but they still have some ability to instigate the people and point the deer as horses, and the Hunan and Guizhou incidents are a bit strange this time, and they should still be treated with caution. ”

Wu Chongxi was silent after a few words. Like a peasant with a village expression, he smoked his morning cigarette intently. After smoking a pot of tobacco leaves, I pressed another pot. But before he could take a few puffs, he heard a commotion outside the house.

"Destroy the rebels!"

"Long live the revolution!"

"Down with the Monarchy!"

"Support the revolution zhèngfǔ!"

Seeing the strange expression on Pao Guiqing's face, Wu Chongxi raised his hand, pointed out the window, and said, "Look, what did I just say?" No, it's making a fuss? ”

"A shrugged grass people, can't turn the sky."

Pao Guiqing's face pulled, he stood up and adjusted his military uniform, turned around and left the reception, and led a few horses out of the provincial council.

When I arrived at the main gate of the house, I saw that the provincial house was surrounded by the people, and there were no less than 10,000 people gathered on the street, officials, teachers, students, small workers, peddlers, pawns, and all kinds of people crowded the street in front of the Henan Provincial House, and many people held signs and shouted slogans.

Pao Guiqing originally planned to come out and roar a few times to scare and scare the people, but the posture in front of him immediately dispelled his original thoughts, he really didn't expect that the revolutionary party's appeal in Zhengzhou City was so great, and it was easy to pull up a demonstration team of tens of thousands of people.

Wu Chongxi is right, although public opinion is just chicken feathers. However, if used properly, this chicken feather can also be used as an arrow.