"Pingqing, why do you have to send troops in May?" Yuan Shikai asked gently, in the past year or so, because of hard work, Wang Shizhen's originally gray hair has turned completely white, and his face is full of wrinkles like knives, which makes him look even older. Every time he sees Wang Shizhen's gray hair, Yuan Shikai will also think of his hair that has quickly turned gray. With so many state affairs and the imminent war with the People's Party, Yuan Shikai was so anxious that he couldn't sleep all night recently.

Wang Shizhen looked at Yuan Shikai's hesitant expression, for fear that he would say something like wait and see. After a lot of debate and even pressure at the War Department, coupled with Duan Qirui's help, the plan to send troops in May was finally reached. There is no need for Yuan Shikai to oppose such a situation, as long as Yuan Shikai hesitates a little, "studies and studies again, and then prepares for preparations", it would be good to be able to send troops in September. If it were September, there would have been hopes that troops would have been sent in 1916. Therefore, Wang Shizhen said with a firm attitude: "President, the later our army sends troops, the more fully prepared the People's Party will be. Chen Ke is extremely insidious, and he must not be allowed to make the first move. ”

Yuan Shikai didn't answer, he was silent for a while before asking, "What do you think is the chance of our army winning?" ”

Hearing this question, Wang Shizhen didn't know whether his mood should be relaxed or heavy, what Yuan Shikai said was actually the voice of the entire Beiyang, everyone wanted to win the battle, not want to lose the war. They all want to be invincible first, and then calmly destroy the enemy. This idea is understandable, but where in the world is there such a good thing?

Wang Shizhen didn't want to say that the People's Party was too treacherous, he had heard this kind of thing countless times. Because of the defeat, Wang Shizhen was once captured and also met Chen Ke. As far as Chen Ke's young man speaks, he is not big or small, and he is 108,000 miles away from being cunning. If Chen Ke hadn't led the man himself, but had defected to Beiyang, the grass on his grave would have grown taller by now.

In the face of such a young man, Beiyang has been defeated repeatedly. Wang Shizhen found that it was not how strong Chen Ke was, but that the People's Party led by Chen Ke, like other self-made forces, was barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes. Shoot when it's time to do it, and you're never afraid of being scolded. Now the whole world is scolding the People's Party, and the saying that "what a thousand people refer to will end without a problem" does not work for the People's Party.

The problem of Beiyang is that it cares too much about the evaluation of others, is afraid of losing its reputation, and is afraid of bad timing. Every time he fought against the BJP, he was forced to choose a time when he could "advance or retreat", and then he was beaten by the BJP and then retracted. It is this mentality of suffering from gains and losses that allows the People's Party to seize every opportunity to develop calmly.

"President, the odds are out. If we don't fight, we will never win. If we want to have a chance of winning before we fight, then let's just stop fighting. Wang Shizhen's words were quite unkind.

"It turns out that the secretary will also be angry with me." Yuan Shikai suddenly laughed.

Wang Shizhen was not moved by Yuan Shikai's words, "This is not anger, the arrow has to be sent on the string." President, you must ask me about my odds. I think our odds are only five or five. If it drags on until August, the odds are less than 30%. If it is delayed until the BJP takes the first action, there is no chance of victory. ”

"Then do as the secretary says." Yuan Shikai replied calmly.

Wang Shizhen was ready to argue with Yuan Shikai, but he didn't expect Yuan Shikai to agree so easily, which surprised Wang Shizhen.

Yuan Shikai didn't mean to play dumb riddles, he said calmly: "Hireqing, Xu Shichang has already looked for me." The matter of military rations is far more troublesome than we think. Last year, we purchased a large amount of grain, but now we can't get any grain at all. Food prices have soared, profiteers are hoarding, and now everyone is waiting for the summer harvest. Zhang Jian of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce actually threatened me with his resignation, saying that even if the summer grain was harvested this year, it would be impossible to have any grain to buy. The others were right, if they did not send troops at this time, they would run out of food after August. At most, they can fight for two months. Where can the BJP be defeated in two months? ”

Wang Shizhen had heard some rumors about grain, but last year Beiyang issued a large number of silver dollars, changed the money tax to a grain tax, and took advantage of the low grain prices to buy a large batch of grain, so there was no problem with military rations. But I never expected things to get worse to this point. Wang Shizhen showed a rare look of fear on his face.

"If we don't send troops in May, we won't have a chance. I regret it now, and I wish I had sent troops in March, as you said. Yuan Shikai replied.

"Then I'll go back and prepare." Wang Shizhen will not do anything like a child, he replied in a firm tone.

Yuan Shikai stopped Wang Shizhen, "Who do you think Cao Kun or Wu Peifu can be a pioneer?" ”

Wang Shizhen replied without thinking about it: "Wu Peifu." Wu Peifu is resolute and resolute, and his military discipline is very strict. ”

"No, let's let Cao Kun be the vanguard. Wu Peifu can be a killer weapon, and it's a pity to use him too early. Yuan Shikai replied.

"Since the president says so, I'll listen to the president." Wang Shizhen replied. As long as it can be determined that the troops will be sent in May, it does not matter who will be in the vanguard. In fact, this vanguard is also a saying, Jiang Yanxing, Zhang Shaozeng, and Lu Jin, the Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Armies under the command of these three people, were stationed on the long border line from Henan to Shandong. If war breaks out, they will definitely take the brunt of the offensive. The so-called vanguard is only the direction of the main attack.

Zheng Wenjie, the director of the intelligence office of the War Department, soon got the news that the Beiyang Army was going to be dispatched, and if he had done it in the past, he would still think that he had extremely confidential information. But the BJP's clerks in the War Department's intelligence office have completely dispelled Cheng Wenjie's self-righteous ideas. This is just the People's Party spies that Zheng Wenjie knows, I don't know how many spies there are, Zheng Wenjie feels that everyone around him looks like spies.

"Copy this document." Zheng Wenjie handed over the document to the spy clerk in a very casual manner, and the clerk responded very obediently and began to copy the document. Even when he saw that one of them was Beiyang's military dynamic arrangement, he didn't have any surprised expression, but just put the document on the last page with a very natural movement.

The People's Party soon got the news of Beiyang, and the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was very appreciative of Beiyang's ability to make such a simple decision. It is still a bit regrettable that the troops were dispatched in May, and if Beiyang could have mobilized troops later, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would have helped the common people to finish harvesting their crops. This kind of work can be used to connect the feelings of the military and the people, and on the other hand, it can also obtain more concrete information about the harvest situation in the main grain-producing areas, which is a good thing that kills multiple birds with one stone. But since Beiyang used their last strategic initiative to decide the war, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army ordered the Henan Military Region to enter a state of war.

The enemy faced by the Henan Military Region was the Eighth Army of Beiyang stationed in Handan. The commander of the army is Zhang Shaozeng.

Zhang Shaozeng is a native of Dacheng (now Dacheng County, Hebei Province) and lives in Tianjin. A student of Tianjin Wubei Academy, selected by the Qing court, escorted to the first artillery department of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, ranked first after graduation, and was "deeply accommodated" with his classmates Wu Luzhen and Lan Tianwei at that time, and was known as the "Three Masters of Non-commissioned Officers". Later, he served as the artillery commander of the third town of Beiyang.

In the 31st year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1905), Zhang Shaozeng was added to the coaching office of the Zhili Supervision and Training Office as the chief superintendent. In the second year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty (1910), Zhang Shaozeng went abroad with Baylor Zaitao to inspect the European and American armies, and later served as the superintendent of the Army Noble School. The juvenile magnates Zaitao and Zaixun are all his students. In the third year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty (1911), he was transferred to the 20th Town Division, stationed in Shenyang and Xinmin. The Wuchang Revolutionary Army rose up, was ordered to enter the customs, and the division was in Luanzhou, and Zhang wrote 12 articles to the Qing court, advocating the constitution and returning the government to the people. In September of that year, the Qing court rewarded him with the title of squire, removed him from his position as commander, and appointed him as the minister of Xuanfu. Zhang Zuo asked to go to the vacancy, returned to Tianjin for medical treatment, and immediately approved his request.

In 1912, Yuan Shikai appointed Zhang Shaozeng as the minister of the Yangtze River Xuanfu and campaigned for peace between the north and the south. He was the head of the Progressive Party of Zhili. In 1913, he was transferred to Suiyuan General and Reclamation Supervisor. At that time, when the rebellion in Outer Mongolia was an internal attack, Zhang Shaozeng commanded the three-way army to meet the enemy, repelled the rebellious Mongolian army, and made great contributions to defending the borders of the motherland and safeguarding the unity of the motherland. President Yuan Shikai commended him for his merits and awarded him the rank of Army General, the Rank of Knight, and the First Class Wenhu Medal. In April 1914, Zhang Shaozeng was transferred back to Beijing and awarded the title of "General Shuwei". Former residence of Zhang Shaozeng in TianjinFormer residence of Zhang Shaozeng in Tianjin

In the summer of 1915, in response to Yuan Shikai's restoration of the emperor's activities, Zhang Shaozeng and Cai Ye privately discussed Yuan Shikai's conspiracy and organized forces to prepare for the uprising. When Cai Ye raised the banner of the National Protector Army in Yunnan, Zhang Shaozeng responded vigorously.

But in the time and space of Chen Ke, Zhang Shaozeng was captured in Anhui along with Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui, and was later released. When forming a new unit, with the support of Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui, he became the commander of the Eighth Army.

When he was stationed in Handan, Zhang Shaozeng reorganized the army and trained his troops, and the results were outstanding. However, after hearing that Cao Kun might be allowed to fight the vanguard and attack Henan with Zhang Shaozeng, Zhang Shaozeng did not show sincere cooperation. He simply suggested to Wang Shizhen directly and asked Wu Peifu to be a pioneer.

Wang Shizhen knew that Zhang Shaozeng didn't like Cao Kun, but in fact, people in Duan Qirui's faction didn't like Cao Kun. This is not entirely because of Cao Kun's so-called magnifying cannon character. Instead, Cao Kun was the one among the Beiyang generals who most directly advocated supporting Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor.

Yuan Shikai's idea of wanting to be the emperor this time is known to everyone, and Wang Shizhen himself doesn't care about fame and fortune, and has no interest in this matter. But Cao Kun became a drummer, declaring everywhere that as long as the People's Party was killed this time, he must support Yuan Shikai to become emperor. What's more, every time Cao Kun saw Yuan Shikai, he would call himself a "minister". This made those who actually opposed Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor very dissatisfied.