Xu Shuzheng and Feng Yuxiang glanced at each other, and the older Xu Shuzheng replied: "Didn't the general stay too?" Instead of fleeing in disgrace, it is better to fight to the death with the Chinese army, and it is not in vain to be a soldier. Feng Yuxiang nodded, his eyes also determined.

"Hehe, there are not many pure soldiers like you in the Beiyang Army, so you will raise the white flag and order the whole army to surrender to the Chinese army."

"General, we are not a bad breed, even if we die in battle, we will not surrender!"

"No, you misunderstood, this is not a war between countries, and it is not your own country that you protect as a soldier, but the interests of politicians, and it is not honorable to die in battle. Lu Liang is heroic and strategic (blushing), leading the country to defeat the great powers many times, these are my aspirations back then, but I didn't expect to realize them in Huaguo. I'm content to see this, join the Chinese army, where you can show your talents. ”

Xu Shuzheng and Feng Yuxiang wanted to say something, but they were kicked out by Xu Shichang, and he took out the pistol given by Yuan Shikai alone, and smiled bitterly, those young people can join the Chinese army, but they can't. Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety cannot be both, and choosing national righteousness or brotherhood has always been a difficult proposition, and I am no exception!

On July 27, the Beiyang Army north of Zhengzhou surrendered, its commander, General Xu Shichang, committed suicide, and more than 4,000 Beiyang Army soldiers came out of the trenches to hand over their weapons to the Chinese army. The Third Army took over the position, and the Second Army continued its march northward, pursuing the fleeing remnants of the Beiyang Army.

In the east, the Second Army of the Chinese Army, which had set out from Handan, marched westward, attacked Changzhi, Shanxi, and on the 28th eliminated the Beiyang Army defending Changzhi, forcing Duan Qirui's troops who had fled north to turn west, cross the Fen River, and then move north from Linfen in an attempt to join Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai of the "Western Hunt" arrived in Taiyuan on August 1, and Duan Qirui's troops and Feng Guozhang's troops converged, with a total of about 170,000 troops in the two armies. But ammunition is scarce. Supplies were insufficient, so Yuan Shikai ordered his troops to raise grain and grass on the spot and build fortifications near Taiyuan.

"The Guanzhong Plain is occupied by the Chinese army, northern Shaanxi is barren, and Mongolia in the north is mostly the Gobi Desert, and the army has no way to retreat." The headquarters of the Beiyang Army in Taiyuan City. Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Wu Changchun and other senior generals surrounded the map, and Yuan Shikai was wearing a handsome generalissimo military uniform, but there was no trace of blood on his face, his eyes were dull, and he let his subordinates argue, not saying a word, silent like a ghost.

"Lao Tzu never wanted to run away again, so he fought to the death with the Chinese army in Taiyuan, the 170,000 army was enough for the Chinese army to drink a pot, and these soldiers were our dependence. Wait for the war to enter a state of confrontation, and then put forward a request for negotiation to the Chinese army. "Wu Changchun's statement is basically the plan of all senior generals, but the problem is how to make the war enter a state of confrontation, his own troops are sufficient, but the ammunition is insufficient, this is the biggest problem, you can't let the soldiers all change to spears and big knives!

Like Yuan Shikai, Feng Guozhang was speechless, he was really fed up with these people. Where did they get the confidence to confront the Chinese army? The original 600,000 Allied army is now less than 200,000 left, look at how much the Chinese army has lost? People have tanks and armored vehicles. There are countless cannons and squandering shells, united officers, and highly qualified soldiers, with a small Taiyuan, how many days can they hold out? It is estimated that in less than a week, the army will collapse due to the problem of food and grass.

However, Feng Guozhang will not propose to surrender on such an occasion, but secretly, there are many things that can be done. His own Second Army could not be splashed with water. Others can't interfere, if you secretly surrender to the Chinese army and cooperate with the Chinese army to solve this group of remnants, then your own benefits after the war will definitely be indispensable!

Feng Guozhang is not the only smart person, and there are few people in this war room who really want to resist to the end. Everyone knows what this 170,000-strong army is. Oh no, only one person is stupid, Admiral Duan Qirui is peddling his defensive battle plan to everyone, and it seems that he really wants to bury Yuan Shikai.

"According to intelligence, the main forces of the Chinese army are located south of Taiyuan. With Taiyuan as the center, the first line of defense is set up between Luliang and Zuoquan, the second line of defense is set up between Jiaocheng and Jinyang, and the third line of defense is set up with Gujiao, Jinyang and Shouyang as the center. Special attention should be paid to the construction of strong anti-artillery holes in each defensive position to avoid the superior artillery fire of the Chinese army. ”

"The ammunition and materials carried by the First Army are relatively sufficient, and they are responsible for the two outer defense lines, General Feng, the third line of defense and the defense of the inner city will be handed over to you, you must hold on here, and Your Majesty can have the capital to negotiate with the Chinese army." It was going to make the Chinese army suffer unbearable losses, and lose troops in the face of these three lines of defense! ”

"Commander, please rest assured, you will do your best!" Feng Guozhang rarely politely served in front of Duan Qirui, but no one questioned it, and they all said that they would fight to the death with the Chinese army.

"Your Majesty, do you think there is anything else you need to order?" Duan Qirui walked up to Yuan Shikai and bent down and asked, but was pulled into the inner courtyard by Yuan Shikai, and the rest of the people looked at each other.

Back in the inner courtyard, there was no one around, Yuan Shikai instantly collapsed, as if he was dozens of years old, sitting on the ground like an old peasant, and said with a wry smile: "Zhiquan, I didn't expect that in the end, only you were loyal to me, those people said that they would fight to the death, and they had already decided to surrender to the Chinese army in their hearts." ”

Duan Qirui, who was born upright, wanted to tell the difference, but was stopped by Yuan Shikai.

"There's no need, there's no need to continue to resist, there are enough dead people, send a telegram to Lu Liang, just say that I, the emperor, will abdicate, and he will sit, as long as he can bother you generals, I will abdicate." After finishing speaking, without giving Duan Qirui a chance to refute, Shi Shiran went to the bedroom and ordered no one to come in.

At 4:10 p.m. on August 1, 1906, the Beiyang Army in Taiyuan sent a surrender telegram to the Chinese army, and a day later, the vanguard of the Chinese army, the Second Group Army and the Third Army, first entered Taiyuan City and was responsible for receiving it. On the third day, the Second Army all arrived, and in the prisoner of war camp set up outside the city, it screened soldiers who were willing to join the Chinese army, and took 75 senior officers from the Beiyang Army to Wuhan. The Northern Expedition officially ended.

The short-lived Emperor Yuan Shikai's Chinese Empire lasted less than half a month before it withdrew from the stage of history, and the Hongxian Emperor Yuan Shikai finally did not have the courage to commit suicide and arrived in Wuhan on August 13.

Due to collusion with foreign countries to start a civil war, Yuan Shikai and many of his senior generals were tried by military courts, and Yuan Shikai, who was sentenced to the heaviest sentence, spent the rest of his life in prison. Senior generals such as Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang were released from prison after serving 10-15 years in prison and spent the rest of their lives peacefully.

Most of the middle and lower-level officers of the Beiyang Army chose to enter the Army Academy to continue their studies, and this group of officers was later called the Beiyang Department, although the starting point was low, but the performance was not inferior, and it could even be said that it was somewhat eye-catching. In particular, a group of officers in their twenties, such as Xu Shuzheng, Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Zuolin, and Sun Chuanfang, have strong strategic vision and excellent tactical qualities.

In addition, less than one-fifth of the more than 100,000 troops surrendered by the Beiyang Army chose to retire, and the rest all joined the Chinese army sequence and became the main force for the subsequent expansion of the army. The quality of these soldiers is not much worse than that of the Chinese soldiers, and what they need to supplement is cultural study and study of Chinese army tactics.

On August 1, Lü Liang announced the end of the Northern Expedition and declared August 1 as Independence Day every year, which means that China has finally got rid of its semi-feudal and semi-colonial status and become a truly independent country. However, before Northeast China, Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang and other places can be recovered, the Chinese army still needs to continue to work hard.

(It is said that the original intention of writing this book was because when I read historical novels, the country had not yet been unified by three or four million words, and I was so anxious that I didn't expect to finish it until I wrote nine hundred thousand words.) ）

There are many tasks to recover from the war, but the most important thing now is to form a force to recover the rest of the country. On August 15, the Northeast Theater was established at Shanhaiguan, under the responsibility of the First Group Army of the Chinese Army, and the mechanized units of the First Army and the Second Army did not encounter any obstacles in the Second Northern Expedition, and they will continue to gallop on the vast northeast land. Moreover, the enemy in the northeast was already pitifully few, and the Japanese occupied the area of Shenyang and the Liaodong Peninsula with less than two divisions, and due to the near-collapse of the domestic economy, this force did not receive any domestic support. After the defeat of the Allies, there were already voices in Japan that they had withdrawn from Tohoku and reduced their forces to the Korean Peninsula, but the Japanese had a deep attachment to the mainland to repel these voices.

The Russian army still has less than 20,000 troops in the Far East, mainly concentrated in Harbin, Qiqihar, and Vladivostok, and the fragile military force makes St. Petersburg's Nicholas II a little angry, but the more fragile economy and logistics in the country The turbulent political situation makes St. Petersburg unable to send more troops to support, and the continuous war also makes it difficult for Russia to bear, especially after the support from the European banking group is cut off.

On the same day, the Mongolian theater was formed in Zhangjiakou, and the Mongolian war under the responsibility of the Third Army of the Second Army was relatively simpler, as long as the logistics could keep up, the Mongolian princes could not make waves. The Russians were too busy to take care of themselves and were not able to take care of this little Mongolian brother. In addition, the Western Xinjiang Theater formed in Xi'an was under the responsibility of the Third Army and the Seventh Army, whose mission was to bring Xinjiang back under the control of the central government. (To be continued.) )