The precipice in the northwest of Longtan Village was in a mess, and the officers and soldiers of Feng Yuxiang's guards, who were the first to break through, stepped on more than 10 mines, and after a series of deafening explosions, more than 30 elites of Feng Yuxiang's department all disappeared in the thick smoke of gunpowder, and the scattered gravel and broken wood fell from the sky, mixed with splashing hot shrapnel covering a radius of 100 meters, and the dead grass and trees ignited by the flames ignited with the wind, and the whirring flames dyed half of the mountains red.

Feng Yuxiang, who was crawling on the ground, suddenly pushed away his personal guards, pointed to the path under the cliff where the smoke had cleared, and shouted: "The pioneer battalion rushed over for me, the mine has been detonated, life and death are here to fight, brothers, rush over for me-"

The frightened officers and men stumbled to their feet, four guards and a group of staff officers ran forward with Feng Yuxiang in their arms, and rushed to the cliff behind more than 100 officers and men of the forward battalion.

At this time, a network of fire formed by more than 10 light machine guns descended one after another, instantly cutting off the escape routes of the officers and men, and the vast majority of the backward officers and men had no choice but to turn around and flee to the village.

At the foot of the cliff, wounded soldiers who had broken their hands and feet or broken limbs were wailing, and the gravel and broken branches that had been knocked down by the dense bullets rained down, and the narrow mountain road that could only pass through one person was crowded with deserters who had thrown away their weapons, and the deserters who were scrambling to be the first to fall off the steep cliff kept stumbling and falling off the steep cliff.

The exclamations and curses rang out, and Feng Yuxiang's chief of staff, Liu Ji, rushed forward in anger, pulled out his pistol and killed four rout soldiers who had lost their minds and rushed to the road one after another.

A group of guards untied their belts and tied them together, and couldn't help but tie them to the fat waist of the angry Feng Yuxiang, and dragged Feng Yuxiang through the dangerous road more than 100 meters long.

The sound of gunfire was still ringing intensively, and Feng Yuxiang and more than 100 remnants of soldiers who had fled to the flat ground below the mountain looked up at the cliff with smoke billowing out, and couldn't help but have red eyes and tears.

Seeing that the gunfire was getting closer and closer, the mortar shells began to fall over the cliff and fell to the mountainside, blowing up the stones on the mountainside, Liu Ji, the chief of staff who graduated from the Army University, was anxious, and pulled the chief of the guard Zhang Xuanwu to whisper a few words, Zhang Xuanwu immediately took two brothers and hugged him, and set up Feng Yuxiang, who was crumbling under grief, to rush north, and more than 100 defeated soldiers wiped away their tears and followed.

The gunfire that lasted for half an hour stopped, and the more than 1,800 officers and men who were huddled in Longtan Village learned that brigade commander Feng Yuxiang, chief of staff Liu Ji, and others had fled, and they were all frightened, confused, and all thoughts were lost, and Zhao Kezheng, the deputy regiment commander who was seriously wounded, summoned all the battalion and company commanders to the ancestral hall in the village, and ordered everyone to light torches, lay down their weapons, and surrender to the Sichuan army that was pressing on all sides.

Zhao Kezheng got everyone's consent, and with the last strength, he suddenly pulled out a pistol, pressed his head, and shouted "Brigade seat, Zhao gave your life back", the gunshot rang out, a group of battalion company commanders threw themselves on Zhao Kezheng's still convulsive body and cried loudly, and the team that had not had time to go out to assemble immediately fell into a huge chaos, and the Sichuan army had already shouted to kill and rushed into the village, and the gunshots and screams of "crackling" were endless, and the desperate more than 1,000 officers and soldiers finally threw away their weapons and raised their hands to surrender.

The good news of the Battle of Longtan reached Xiao Yimin, it was already 1 June, and Chen Eun's troops and two brigades of Hunan troops in Yucheng surrendered unconditionally three days ago, except for Chen Eun himself, who was still detained in Yucheng, the officers and men of the two brigades of the Hunan army who had laid down their arms and more than 600 officers including Cao Kun were politely sent out of Sichuan by Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji.

Bao Jiqing, chief of the general staff of the Sichuan Frontier Army, who was close friends with Cao Kun and Xiong Bingqi, was also sitting on the ship heading east, and he was going to Yanjing to explain to Yuan Shikai and his old friend Duan Qirui and others about the sudden two major battles, and to do his best to eliminate the anger and revenge of Yuan Shikai and the Beiyang army.

Although Xiao Yimin won the victory and mastered the situation in Sichuan by launching this vigorous war, it was still necessary to rectify the Sichuan army and stabilize the political situation.

If Xiao Yimin does not quickly stabilize Sichuan and seize power, Xiao Yimin's 60,000 border troops and the 50,000 Sichuan troops who rely on him to survive will have a problem to eat, let alone expect to fight another big war.

On 2 June, Xiao Yimin came to Leshan from Neijiang, and Peng Guanglie, the commander of the Second Division, who was apprehensive, led more than 10 generals and colonels who had already left Germany out of the city to greet them.

Peng Guanglie, who had been vacillating between Xiao Yimin and Chen Eun for a long time, did not participate in this battle, he did not expect Xiao Yimin to win so quickly, and he did not know that Wang Lingji, who had always been calm and strict and neutral, did not betray Xiao Yimin at all, and played a huge role in the Battle of Wanxian and the surrender of Yucheng, and won great honor and benefits.

Although the brigade commanders and regiment commanders of the Second Division repeatedly urged Peng Guanglie to conform to the will of the people, obey Xiao Yimin's command, and lead the brothers into the war to drive out the guest army and defend Sichuan, Peng Guanglie, who was still in secret contact with Chen Eun, and his chief of staff, Chen Jing, remained unmoved, which caused strong dissatisfaction among many subordinates.

Xiao Yimin had clearly seen the position of Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing before the war, and secretly contacted the middle and lower-level officers of the Second Division through the Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce and the responsible persons of the Mingzhuo Party in advance, and did a lot of persuasion work, and won the support and support of most of the officers of the Second Division, thus emptying the division commander Peng Guanglie and the chief of staff Chen Jing, which is also the reason why Xiao Yimin dared to come to Leshan in a grand manner under the escort of a battalion guard.

Entering the well-equipped Leshan camp, Xiao Yimin briefly informed Peng Guanglie of the news of the Battle of Wanxian, the surrender of Yucheng and the Battle of Longtan in northern Sichuan, and after accepting the congratulations of Peng Guanglie and others, Xiao Yimin immediately threw out the purpose of the trip:

"Commander Peng, Chief of Staff Chen, Xiao is not talented, but he does not dare to have the ardent expectations of the generals and villagers in Sichuan, this time back in Chengdu, Xiao will obey the resolution of the Sichuan Provincial Political Axe and the Provincial Council, and officially assume the post of Sichuan Governor, I don't know if the two support Xiao?"

Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing were taken aback, and they couldn't say a word in a hurry.

Xiao Yimin smiled slightly: "Long before General Chen Huan surrendered, President Yuan Da had dismissed General Hu Jingyi, the overseer of the Sichuan Army, and made a notification, General Hu Jingyi had rushed to Yanjing to serve as the deputy chief of the army, and now General Chen Huan also telegraphed that he had no intention of taking up the post of Sichuan civil affairs chief, and submitted a resignation report to President Yuan Da and the Yanjing Military Department, requesting to resign from the post of the Sichuan Military Affairs Council and return to the Yanjing Military Department to listen to punishment.

"Therefore, under the unanimous recommendation of the four division commanders of the Sichuan Army, tens of thousands of soldiers, the provincial political axe, and the provincial council, Xiao can only conform to the will of the people and take up the post of Sichuan overseer."

More than a dozen generals in the hall immediately burst into warm applause, and a pair of eager eyes fell on Xiao Yimin, who was calm and extremely confident, and ignored the panicked division commander Peng Guanglie and chief of staff Chen Jing.

Peng Guanglie saw that the general trend was gone, so he had to stand up and hug his fists to Xiao Yimin:

"Congratulations to Commander Xiao! Peng felt that his energy was limited and his ability was insufficient, so he had already hoped to return to the field to recuperate, and implored Commander Xiao to complete it. ”

"Commander Xiao, Chen has been in the army for many years and is tired, and I implore the commander to allow Chen to resign as chief of staff." Chen Jing also hurriedly stood up, bent over, his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he didn't dare to look at Xiao Yimin at all.

Xiao Yimin also stood up, politely held the arms of the two, and sincerely sent an invitation to appease the two:

"They are all old friends, don't be so polite, the two are the veterans of my Sichuan army, if you can afford me Xiao, don't leave the army, Xiao implore Brother Peng and Brother Chen to go to Chengdu to serve together, the new political axe is undergoing major adjustments, and the military, government and civil affairs and other aspects need to be reformed and strengthened, and our Sichuan army should also be reorganized, form a unified Sichuan Army General Headquarters, and carry out direct and effective leadership and command of the whole Sichuan armed forces, I implore the two brothers to support the younger brother as they did in the battle of Sichuan and Yunnan, and don't leave lightly!"

Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing were shocked and guilty, and the full hall saw that Xiao Yimin not only did not abandon Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing, but sincerely comforted the two and prepared a very decent retreat for the two, and couldn't help but admire Xiao Yimin's open-mindedness, and also strengthened his determination to follow.

Another important factor is that as soon as Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing leave, most of the generals will be promoted, and with Xiao Yimin's generosity and deep affection for the Sichuan army, they will definitely give strong support and reuse to the readjusted Second Division.

Seeing that Xiao Yimin did not deal with it with hypocrisy, and repeatedly begged him to go to Chengdu to set up the Sichuan Army Headquarters and the Military and Political Department, Peng Guanglie and Chen Jing no longer had the slightest hesitation and worry, and immediately agreed happily, and the audience immediately erupted in warm applause, and the generals and Xiao Yimin's guards who were loose on the outside and tight on the inside were all relieved.

After the banquet, Xiao Yimin had a concentrated conversation with brigade commander Liu Dingxun, Han Zuwu, regiment commander Sun Zepei, and more than 10 people, and immediately promoted Liu Dingxun, commander of the former Second Division and the First Brigade, to the deputy commander of the Second Division, and the commander of the Fourth Brigade of the Sichuan Army. The whole division immediately went to Yucheng to be stationed for a long time, shouldering the important task of guarding Yucheng to assist in the defense of eastern and southern Sichuan.

The generals felt extremely excited and satisfied when they heard that the division had doubled in size and changed its outfit according to the standards of the fourth division of Commander Wang Lingji, and that they could go to the prosperous city of Chongqing for a long time, and most of the battalion and company commanders of the second division had graduated from the first and second phases of the Sichuan Army Crash School, and they had always regarded Xiao Yimin as their old instructor, and they admired and respected Xiao Yimin very much.

The next morning, Xiao Yimin left Leshan under the escort of dozens of generals and teaching regiments of the Second Division, and Liu Dingxun, the newly promoted deputy division commander, led more than 1,000 brothers to send Xiao Yimin to Meishan until he reluctantly said goodbye and returned.

Xiao Yimin declined the kind invitation of the Meishan County Political Axe and the brothers of the garrison regiment, and hurriedly rushed to Chengdu after the belated lunch.

The current political arena in Sichuan is not optimistic, all relying on the highly respected, fair and just Zhang Lan and Kuang Youmin after hard support, win the war and drive out Yuan Shikai's lackey Hu Jingyi, the Sichuan provincial government and the provincial council will carry out major adjustments, and the capital forces in various places have been waiting for dividends.

The situation that Xiao Yimin is facing is still very complicated, the old order has been broken, the new order has not yet been established, the work that Xiao Yimin has to carry out is very arduous, and there is no room for hesitation and compromise until now, no matter how bumpy and difficult the road ahead is, Xiao Yimin can only keep going.

(To be continued)