On March 26, 1915, Feng Guozhang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, received more than a dozen distinguished guests at his residence in Fuzhou. One of the positions of the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang is the commander-in-chief of the Fujian and Zhejiang Military Region. At present, Zhejiang has the Third Army and the 30th Army, while Fujian has the Sixth Army and the 28th Army. Judging from the establishment, the four armies and 16 divisions should theoretically have nearly 500,000 troops. Because the People's Party has completely cut off the north and south of China, the Fujian and Zhejiang regions are the independent military regions of Beiyang in the south. Feng Guozhang is the commander of the southern forces in Beiyang. This fact also made Feng Guozhang's title change from the governor to the marshal.

"Sir, what are the instructions of the president this time?" As Feng Guozhang's subordinate, Zhu Rui, the governor of Zhejiang, asked respectfully.

"The President ordered us to completely eliminate the rebel party in the south and stabilize the situation. As soon as the reorganization of the North is complete, we will immediately enter the war. Feng Guozhang replied.

"Marshal, can we get the support of ordnance in Guangdong?" Although Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangguang, once had a much higher status than Feng Guozhang, Zhang Renjun had to give in to reality.

"Zhang Gong, you don't have a lot of militia groups in Guangdong, and if you organize the militia groups, there are more than 100,000 people." Feng Guozhang said with a smile.

"Dashuai, this is too much to look up to us in Guangdong." Zhang Renjun smiled faintly. With a smile on his face, Zhang Renjun was extremely dissatisfied with Feng Guozhang's ridicule in his heart. After Yuan Shikai introduced the autonomy of the provinces, Liangguang was the happiest. At the same time that the People's Party (PBP) was rapidly building a base area, the two Guangxi and Guangxi provinces also quickly established their own regional cooperation system. Theoretically, the post of governor of Liangguang should not exist, but after discussion, the governments of Liangguang and Guangxi established a comprehensive cooperation system between the two provinces. Zhang Renjun, as the former governor of Liangguang, also smoothly took charge of the power of Liangguang.

But this system was dealt a heavy blow last year, when the People's Party entered Guangxi in the name of pursuing the reactionary army in Hunan, and the joint system of the two provinces was destroyed. Guangdong originally did not share a border with the People's Party, and was not hostile or identified with the People's Party, so it hoped that it would be completely out of any war. However, when the People's Party seized Guangxi, it annihilated 20,000 taels of Canton coalition troops and began a large-scale land reform in Guangxi. Guangdong's attitude towards the People's Party changed from insensitiveness to outright hostility. This time, Feng Guozhang convened a meeting of the southeastern provinces, and the Guangdong deputies had a previous attitude of ignoring Beiyang's answers, and Zhang Renjun, governor of Guangzhou, led a team, Lu Rongting, governor of Guangdong, and Chen Jiongming, speaker of the Guangdong parliament, and other dignitaries all came to attend the meeting. The purpose of their coming to the meeting was naturally to get the support of Beiyang in order to exterminate the People's Party. But as soon as he started talking, he was teased by Feng Guozhang.

Fortunately, Feng Guozhang didn't really want to do anything, although he took advantage of it a little verbally, but he immediately said with a straight face: "Zhang Gong, you have been in Liangguang for a long time. But I don't know if Zhang Gong thinks he should be in the same boat now? ”

The meaning of this was to ask Zhang Renjun to recognize the leadership of Beiyang, Zhang Renjun may not know where to go, but he did not immediately answer, the result of the preliminary discussion within the Guangdong delegation was not to fully throw themselves to Beiyang, but to stand on the side of Beiyang in the war, and after the war, they also hoped to continue to maintain the state of autonomy of the provinces. Chen Jiongming, speaker of the Guangdong Parliament, took over the conversation, "Feng Dashuai, but I don't know what the president's plans are for after the war?" ”

Feng Guozhang turned his head and said with a smile: "I know that all the provinces are worried about whether the president will seize the power of the provinces after defeating the People's Party. The president has no intention of changing the autonomy of the provinces, but it is too early to say whether he will be able to defeat the BJP. The thing about fighting a war is not writing articles, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. If you can't work together, you won't be able to win or lose. The President has decreed to me that the military orders for this war must be unified. If Guangdong wants to get the support of ordnance, it must obey the dispatch when fighting. Our Beiyang military is extremely strict, and this is no joke. ”

The Guangdong deputies looked at each other, and what they hoped most was to be able to "fight independently," that is, they should receive no less ordnance and military salaries, but the military command was independent outside the Beiyang command system. However, when they fought against the People's Party, the troops in Guangdong suffered all casualties, and although the People's Party had not yet completed its military preparations for attacking Guangdong, Guangdong was not capable of organizing an army to counterattack Guangxi. Feng Guozhang's demand for unified military command made it very difficult for the Guangdong deputies.

Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangdong, hurriedly diverted the topic, "Handsome, but I don't know if the Jiangsu representative will come?" ”

After the People's Party seized Guangxi, there were four remaining provinces in the southeast, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Now that the representatives of the three provinces have come, only the Jiangsu representative has not appeared, Lu Rongting came to see if the Jiangsu representative will come, if the Jiangsu representative does not come, then it can also hint to Feng Guozhang that Guangdong is still an important force that Feng Guozhang can rely on.

These words effectively dealt a blow to Feng Guozhang's arrogance, and his face changed slightly before he replied: "Jiangsu Wang Youhong can't see the situation clearly, and he still has a big dream of Qingqiu when he stays out of the matter. He also didn't want to think about it, the People's Party had already taken away northern Jiangsu, would it be possible to let southern Jiangsu stay? ”

Hearing this, I thought of Guangxi, which had been taken away by the People's Party, and the faces of the Guangdong deputies became ugly.

Zhu Rui, the governor of Zhejiang, saw that everyone's position was quite difficult to reconcile, and he hurriedly came in to start a round, "Zhang Gong, I didn't say bad things before the war, we used to have our own positions, but the current matter has become very clear, if we can't unite sincerely, even if there is a little idea of staying out of the matter, in case the north is unfavorable to fight against the People's Party, can we resist when the People's Party frees up its hands to deal with us?" Everyone thinks about what will happen after the war, and if we can't win this war, how can we talk about the aftermath? You are all understandable people, and you should be able to think about this matter completely. ”

Lu Rongting sighed: "But it's not that I, Guangdong, am unwilling to send troops, but in the first battle of Guangxi, our army suffered heavy casualties." The loss of ordnance and materiel was enormous, and even if there were soldiers, there were no weapons. The People's Party is far better equipped than our side, how can we fight this battle? ”

"Ordnance can be discussed, but this time I invite you to come and talk about another matter. That is to exterminate the internal disorderly parties in the provinces. Feng Guozhang said loudly, "The People's Party's invasion of the provinces is not a hard fight, they have their own internal response in each province." With these internal ghosts leading the way, and the so-called land reform of the People's Party to confuse the ignorant people, it is extremely easy for the People's Party to annex a province every time. Xu Xilin Qiujin was also the leader of Zhejiang, and he also voted for the People's Party. If it weren't for Zhejiang's ruthless efforts to exterminate it, what would Zhejiang be like now? ”

Guangdong also probably knew a piece of news about Zhejiang's extermination of the Zhejiang branch of the Restoration Society, and after listening to Feng Guozhang's words, the faces of the Guangdong deputies were cloudy.

Zhu Rui, the governor of Zhejiang, immediately said: "If you think that the People's Party will avenge these people, it is a big mistake. This time, we exterminated the rebellious party, and the People's Party did not send troops at all. If the People's Party sends troops, or if the People's Party is ready to send troops, will you dare to come to Fuzhou from Hangzhou to have a meeting with you? The People's Party is bullying the weak and fearing the hard, and if it is faced with a battle that can be won with internal response, they will brag about it. If we do it first, they'll be honest. ”

After saying this, Zhu Rui boasted about the "great achievements" of the Beiyang Army in slaughtering the Zhejiang West Branch of the Liberation Society. During this period, they violently ridiculed the People's Party for not being able to save themselves in the face of death, and how they did not even dare to approach the border.

After Zhu Rui finished speaking, Feng Guozhang said again: "Everyone, the British have already contacted you. The French are afraid that they have also contacted you. Even if everyone doesn't believe us, we have to trust Britain and France, right? ”

These last words finally moved the Guangdong deputies, and Britain and France had indeed taken a picture of the Guangdong government, and said that if the Guangdong government could join the camp of encircling and suppressing the People's Party, it would give the Guangdong government how and how it would support. This is also the reason why the Guangdong side is willing to participate in this meeting.

"Are Britain and France willing to help?" Zhang Renjun wanted to make sure again.

"We might as well ask the British representative to speak in person." Feng Guozhang smiled, "Sir Humphrey." ”

As soon as the curtain was lifted, in the stunned sight of the Cantonese delegates, Sir Humphrey of the British Legation walked out of the inner hall.

The Fujian Conference lasted for three days, during which Britain, Beiyang, and Guangdong reached a thorough agreement. Britain could be responsible for supporting a consignment of arms and ammunition in Guangdong, which were traded directly through British firms in Canton. But Guangdong had to obey Beiyang's command in the war. The British guaranteed that after the war, Guangdong could continue to maintain the existing system of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and Guangzhou, and could even get certain benefits in Hunan, which was controlled by the People's Party.

Being able to negotiate future national affairs side by side with the British almost on an equal footing was something that the Cantonese government, which had been bullied by the British, had never imagined before. In addition, Britain promised to establish equal and friendly relations with China after the elimination of the People's Party, which greatly dispelled the worries of Guangdong.

Of course, all these promises are not unconditional, and Guangdong, together with Fujian and Zhejiang, must completely eliminate the "radicals" and eliminate the "internal responses of the People's Party in Guangdong." Only after this work was completed would the British supply military equipment to Guangdong. Naturally, the Guangdong side agrees with this very much, and the loss of Guangxi and the loss of most of the army has already frightened Guangdong. Naturally, they chose to join in with a smile.

After the agreement was reached, the British representative, Sir Humphrey, withdrew, and all problems were left to the Chinese themselves. This is also one of the tricks of the British, they are willing to put a lot of effort into making something happen, but in the actual implementation of this matter, the British will let the participants do it themselves. Anyway, with the conditions that these people cannot accept, Britain can stay out of the matter to the greatest extent possible, and on the other hand, it can leave enough way out for itself.

After further discussions, the three southeastern provinces have roughly listed the targets to be attacked. It was also determined that on April 12, 1915, a purge of the rebellious parties was launched simultaneously in the three provinces.