In July, Yanjing, a city with a long history, became hot, and after a sudden shower, the afternoon in the capital was like a steamer, and it was difficult to breathe on the street.

The spacious and elegant palace of King Zheng has moved out the large ice cubes stored in the winter to cool down, and the cool and pleasant prime minister's study uses an American-made electric fan, but Yuan Shikai still feels that his heart is burning and the heat is unbearable.

Gently put down the latest newspaper in his hand, Yuan Shikai stood up and walked to the window, fell into contemplation, Liang Shiyi, Yang Du, Wang Shizhen and others who were sitting and waiting in the spacious study held the iced white fungus soup and tasted it quietly, no one dared to disturb President Yuan's thinking.

"It's too fast, it's so surprising!"

This thought lingered in Yuan Shikai's mind for a long time.

The series of tactics of the Sichuan army before and after the whole campaign, as well as the strong blood and obedience ability displayed by the various units, not only stunned the warlords everywhere, but even the Beiyang generals were incredulous, and the newspapers of the great powers in China commented on this, all of which were impressed by the Sichuan army, which had been neglected and was located in the inland areas of China's far west.

The major newspapers across the country continued to publish the battle of Sichuan and Yunnan for half a month, describing every process of the battle in detail with great enthusiasm and extremely inflammatory penmanship, but for Yuan Shikai and his henchmen, who were willing to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, the final result was still incomprehensible and unacceptable to them.

The process and consequences of this battle greatly shocked Yuan Shikai and his henchmen, I am afraid that the whole world would not have thought that the Sichuan army would finally win the war, let alone the war in which the two sides mobilized more than 30,000 officers and soldiers, and the dust fell to the ground after only three days of fighting, and finally the powerful Dian army took the initiative to sue for peace.

Today, Xiao Yimin's name has spread all over the world, and major newspapers in Europe and the United States are full of praise for this young commander of the Sichuan army, what "the most dazzling new star in the Chinese [***] world", "the most modern war thinking of the Chinese commander-in-chief", such praise quickly became popular in major domestic newspapers, and even the atrocities of killing prisoners under the anger of the Sichuan officers and soldiers in the war were praised as "courageous, firm, and indomitable."

The most intolerable thing for Yuan Shikai and his henchmen is that Xiao Yiming, who has grown rapidly and gained fame, faintly revealed the image of "Ming Lord", Xiao Yimin is very cunning and far-sighted, he first caught the Dian army by surprise, and his head was bleeding, and then he completed the peace talks cleanly, and with a high attitude of compassion for the world, he issued such demagogic slogans to the people of the two provinces and hundreds of Chinese and foreign reporters as "stop the painful disputes between brothers, sympathize with the sufferings of the people of the two provinces, and live in harmony and develop hand in hand". It ended the battle of Sichuan-Yunnan very beautifully.

As soon as this move came out, it was vigorously welcomed and touted by all walks of life in the country and the European and American powers, and such a typical filthy behavior of getting cheap and selling well made this young man who was born in a teapot run even more famous, and won him great favor from all walks of life at home and abroad, and the major domestic newspapers even praised him to the sky.

After a long sigh, Yuan Shikai walked to the sofa where several henchmen were sitting, sat on the main seat reserved for him, took the cold wet towel offered by the attendant, wiped his shiny forehead, threw down the towel and asked helplessly: "Has Cai Yi's appointment order been issued?" ”

Wang Shizhen hurriedly replied:

"It has been issued, and it has been notified to the Chinese and foreign newspapers in the capital. Presumably after this battle, Cai Songpo was also disheartened, the defeat led to the intensification of internal contradictions in Yunnan Province's political axe, rich businessmen everywhere feared the spread of the war, and asked to boycott the army, and stop supporting the Yunnan army, Yunnan's public opinion position changed suddenly, the morale of the Yunnan army was low, the generals at all levels had their own concerns, and the alliance would ignore the reorganization, the Yunnan provincial government, and the responsibility of the military regime should be cleared. ”

"As expected! Sun Dacang's rabble, they will insert needles when they see seams, they are afraid that the world will not be chaotic! A defeat, the so-called monolithic Yunnan forced out of its true face, the old saying Yun soldiers were defeated like a mountain, the wall fell down and everyone pushed it, sure enough! Yuan Shikai was extremely emotional.

Liang Shiyi nodded frequently, and reported in detail on the situation and analysis results:

From the analysis of the secret report sent back from Yunnan recently, the generals under Cai Songpo's command have been divided, and many instructors from other provinces in the Yunnan Lecture Hall have left Kunming under various pretexts.

"In the face of such an embarrassing situation, if Cai Songpo continues to stay in Yunnan, it will not be beneficial to him, and it is undoubtedly the best choice to temporarily leave the land of right and wrong under the pretext of being transferred to Beijing at this time."

Yuan Shikai nodded: "Very good!" Cai Songpo is an excellent military talent, as long as he arrives in Yanjing, he doesn't want to break free from my grasp, wait for the group of rabble in the alliance to hit their heads and break the bloodstream, and slowly come to their senses, I am afraid that they will think of Cai Songpo's rebel banner again, and they will definitely come to dig the corner, and I will never allow him to leave again. ”

"Exactly."

Yang Du chiced in and asked Yuan Shikai with a smile: "What is the consideration of the marshal about the situation in Sichuan?" ”

Yuan Shikai was quite annoyed: "What else to consider? Xiao Yimin disobeyed the orders of the central government, started a war without permission, and harmed all the people, how could he have to remove his military and political minister to do it, but fortunately, I was still cautious, and did not give him the position of deputy governor of Sichuan, otherwise I don't know how arrogant this son would be? Now that I think about it, it was still the deputy governor Zhang Peijue who was forced away by Yin Changheng who was so thin that there was only one duck's beak left, which made me more worry-free. ”

Everyone listened interestingly, laughed loudly, and the personable Yang Du couldn't help but laugh.

After laughing, Yang Du reminded in a low voice: "Dashuai, Xiao Yimin's reputation is currently strong, and it is not appropriate to suppress it too much, otherwise it is likely to be criticized by all parties at home and abroad." In the following suggestion, the marshal could express his opposition to the battle of Sichuan-Yunnan, and it was best to take a heartbroken attitude, so as to proclaim military discipline to all walks of life throughout the country, and generously remove Xiao Yimin from his post as Minister of Military Affairs of Sichuan, retain his appointment as commander-in-chief of the border army, and then send a special person to Chengdu to appease him.

"The newly minted precious medal of the marshal, you might as well bring a few to hang on Xiao Yimin's chest, in recognition of his exploits in sending a brigade of elite soldiers to quell the Chuankang rebellion, and at the same time praise Hu Jingyi and the generals of the Sichuan army's divisions, all of whom were promoted to the first level, so it is more appropriate to deal with all aspects of the matter, at least it will not give the southern forces a chance to take advantage of it, and still let the whole Sichuan listen to the propaganda and firmly control it in the hands of the marshal."

"Good strategy!" Liang Shiyi high-fived and praised.

Wang Shizhen suddenly realized and nodded frequently, Yang Du's move is indeed wonderful, not only can weaken Xiao Yimin's rapidly expanding influence, take away the military power of Sichuan Province that he is about to get, but also encircle the generals of the Sichuan army, and will not completely beat Xiao Yimin to anger, Xiao Yimin will not run to the side of the alliance in anger, as long as he waits for the time, after the wind and waves are calm, he can completely see the changes in the situation in Sichuan and continue to use various means.

How shrewd is Yuan Shikai? Hearing this, he laughed, and praised Yang Du, who was full of wealth, and the knot in his chest was swept away.

On 15 July, a week after the announcement of the Sichuan-Yunnan negotiation agreement, Xiao Yimin led his elite and various divisions and colonels back to Chengdu, where they were warmly welcomed by the people of Chengdu with unprecedented pomp and circumstance.

Colorful flags inside and outside the city, gongs and drums are noisy, representatives from all walks of life go out of the city to greet them, and dense crowds stand under the carefully built triumphal arch outside the east gate, looking up in anticipation.

Hu Jingyi, the governor of the capital, led hundreds of civil and military officials to hold fine wine, personally greeted, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were crowded up and down the city, and the fiery red flying leopard battle flag was seen from afar, and the earth-shattering cheers and drum music rang out, and the deafening sound was overwhelming, reaching into the sky.

Xiao Yimin and the other generals did not dare to boast of their high merits, and they were 50 meters away, all of them turned over and dismounted, lined up in a neat line amid the huge cheers, and walked quickly to Hu Jingyi and other civil and military officials and representatives from all walks of life, who were holding fine wine and smiling faces, and this move immediately won even greater cheers from the people.

The slight worry in the eyes of Hu Jingyi and others was swept away, and more than a dozen civil officials and elders praised Xiao Yimin and the generals for being humble and courteous, not arrogant or arrogant, and one by one with a smile on their faces.

Compared with the heroism and pride of generals such as Zhou Jun, Wang Lingji, and Peng Guanglie, Xiao Yimin's performance is very decent, and he is still so elegant, chic, humble, and realistic, and he has no credit for asking and answering questions with all the adults.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yimin saw his beloved wife in a group of familiar guards left in front of him, and hurriedly apologized to Hu Jingyi and many high-ranking officials, and trotted to Yi Zhenying, smirking at her with love.

Where did Yi Zhenying think that Xiao Yimin would dare to come over in front of the public? was so ashamed that he wanted to hide behind the guards, but the guards with ambiguous smiles on their faces refused to give way, but Xiao Yiming grabbed his hands tightly and stared affectionately, causing the surrounding soldiers and civilians to laugh and cheer.

Countless women admired Xiao Yimin's demeanor, cheering and reverie at the same time, wishing that Xiao Yimin was holding his own hands tightly in the palm of his hand.

Hundreds of male and female students on the city wall leaned down and looked down, full of envy, the boys praised Commander Xiao for daring to love and hate, persistent and single-minded heroic nature, the girls were moved to moisten their eyes, and soon followed a few runaway female companions to shout wildly, where is there still a little bit of girl's reserve and shyness?

Yi Zhenying was scared and moved, if there weren't too many people, she really wanted to throw herself into the arms of her beloved man and hug him well, the strong love and warmth in Xiao Yimin's eyes had already made Yi Zhenying's eyes flush with happiness, if it weren't for the white veil on the sunhat covering her face, countless people would have seen her irrepressible weakness and emotion in her rolling tears.

Fortunately, Xiao Yimin was not bold to the point of being unscrupulous, he easily opened his beloved wife's hand, picked up the seven-year-old Xiao Xue next to Yi Zhenying, and kissed Xiao Xue's red little face hard, making Xiao Xue, who was giggling with a beard, avoid him, and then put Xiao Xue down, said "Let's eat together tonight" and returned to a group of high-ranking officials, turned over to the horse amid the sound of drums and firecrackers, and led the soldiers of all departments to follow behind the governor of the capital, and marched into the city in a majestic manner.

Everywhere the team went, the sound of cheers and firecrackers was endless, and the whole city of Chengdu was lit up with lights, just like a festival.

Zhou Jun came up immediately, parallel to Xiao Yimin, looked at the jubilant people on both sides of the street, and loudly expressed his emotion: "Commander-in-chief, you have to do this once in your life, and death is worth it!" ”

Xiao Yimin nodded slightly: "Yes!" The Sichuan army has been weak for a long time, and it is rare to win a battle, so that the old folks have a chance to vent, I believe that such a scene will not be only once, there will be more and more in the future! ”

The smile on Zhou Jun's face slowly disappeared, and even the war horse under his crotch slowed down, and after pondering, he raised his head, only to find that he was lagging behind, Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing had already caught up.

(To be continued)