readx;

The war between the Beiyang Army, Zhiwan and Feng, did not stop because of the strong opposition of the people of the whole country and bad weather, nor was it affected by Xiao Yimin's public appeal against the civil war and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

On the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year in 1920, a special supplement to the French newspaper Far Eastern suddenly published a series of detailed data in the midst of a nationwide wave of public opinion against the civil war and against Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin:

From the beginning of the war to 10 February, more than 42,000 officers and men on both sides of the war were killed and more than 70,000 officers and men were wounded, more than 100,000 civilian houses in eight counties were destroyed by the fighting, as many as 1.5 million innocent civilians were forced to flee their homes, hundreds of thousands of people died of military disasters, hunger, cold, and disease, the two cities of Yanjing and Tianjin were crowded with people fleeing for the disaster, and there was a huge wave of migration in the entire northern part of China.

The supplement of the "Far East Times" was immediately reprinted by all newspapers in the north and south of the country, arousing strong indignation among the people throughout the country and also arousing deep concern among the European and American powers.

The British political axe, whose interests in China had suffered the heaviest losses, finally saw clearly the true face of the Nanjing political axe sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, and could no longer bear the continued erosion of the situation in North China.

Immediately afterwards, the British agency in China, together with the investigation teams of European and American countries and the League of Nations, issued an appeal in the "Zilinxi Bao", "Beijing-Tianjin Times" and other media, demanding that Xiao Yimin, minister of military affairs of the Chinese Central Committee and vice premier of the Central Political Axe, come forward and take "more effective and active measures to bring about peace." Finally, it was decided that the mediation team of 12 European and American countries led by British Minister Zhu Erdian rushed to Nanjing to hold "formal talks involving 40,000,000 Chinese people and world peace" with Xiao Yimin.

Ten days later, the emergency meeting held by the Nanjing camp with the "delegations of 12 European and American countries" and the investigation team of the League of Nations came to an end for the time being, and Xiao Yimin, in the name of the Central Minister of Military Affairs, publicly issued an order:

"Mobilize 300 medical personnel from the Nanjing Army General Hospital and the Sixth Field Hospital, as well as 30,000 officers and men of the engineering corps stationed in Nanjing, and immediately set off for the front line of Liaocheng and Dezhou in Shandong Province to receive relief for millions of refugees from North China, and urgently repair the damaged sections of the Yellow River dams."

As soon as the order was issued, the whole country was shocked, and the people soon learned from the mainstream newspapers that for its own political purposes, the Duan Qirui clique had repeatedly forbidden Nanjing to interfere in the situation in North China, and not only strictly forbade the Nanjing camp troops stationed in Shandong to go north to help in the war, but also repeatedly refused the requests of the Nanjing camp and various charitable organizations in the south to enter North China for disaster relief and rescue.

The voices of "Down with Duan Qirui" and "Reorganizing the Central Political Axe" resounded throughout the country, and the governors and governors of the southern provinces made remarks one after another, questioning the governing ability of the Yanjing Central Political Axe, and placing great hopes on Xiao Yimin, and all walks of life across the country have called on Xiao Yimin to come forward, turn the tide, end the war as soon as possible and save the people.

On 25 February, just 12 days after the Spring Festival, the first Central Political Axe Meeting of the New Year was held at the National Assembly Building in Yanjing.

Immediately afterwards, two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly announced their resignations, and more than 80 civil and military officials, who served as ministers and vice ministers of the Central Political Axe Departments and various military and political organs of the Central Committee, also announced their resignations from their current posts, and the Yanjing Central Political Axe was paralyzed in response.

February 28, 9 p.m., Nanjing Camp Commander-in-Chief's Office.

"The first phase of the mission has been successfully completed!"

Xiao Yimin folded the "Beijing-Tianjin Times" in his hand, put it on a large pile of newspapers and periodicals, turned to Bao Jiqing, Yang Du, Wang Lingji, Gu Weijun, Sun Baoqi, Lin Baishui, Wu Peifu, Chen Jiongming, Zhu Qinglan and others present, and smiled happily:

"Tomorrow afternoon, more than 300 members of the Central Parliament and the chairmen and vice ministers of various ministries who have resigned from their posts as political axes of the Central Committee will arrive in Nanjing. It is hoped that this will lead to a truce between the two factions. ”

"It's hard to say."

Bao Jiqing knows the surnames of Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin very well under the difficulty of riding a tiger: "The North China battlefield will not change much in the short term, although there has been a fight between Zhiwan and Feng for more than two months, but both sides have not yet reached the point of exhaustion and can not continue, Zhang Zuolin paid such a big price, he must not be willing to withdraw to the border with empty hands, and after Duan Qirui suffered this huge blow, only by winning can he maintain his current position, otherwise he will lose all the hearts of the army and the people, and there will be no chance of a comeback." ”

Gu Weijun, who has been in charge of foreign negotiations for several days, said with a smile:

"The European and American powers are basically disappointed in Duan Qirui, who is swaying left and right, and as our army controls the vast majority of the three major arteries of the Jinghan Railway, the Longhai Railway, and the Jinpu Railway, and steadily occupies the entire Yangtze River basin and all the provinces along the southeast coast, in order to protect the interests of various countries in China, the great powers have to adjust their China policies and adopt a more pragmatic attitude to cooperate with us, and there is no doubt about this."

"Shaochuan, after the past few days of negotiations, you should know in your heart, can the biggest differences between the powers and us be reconciled?" Xiao Yimin asked.

Gu Weijun replied: "On the whole, differences can still be resolved through repeated consultations, and the biggest question now for the great powers is whether we have the ability to control the Northeast? In addition, Shanxi, which has not expressed its position and is outside the two major regimes in the north and south, coupled with the fact that the troops in Henan were evacuated by Duan Qirui, the coalition forces of the two generals Liu Zhenhua and Zhang Fu, whom we secretly supported, suddenly attacked, occupied a large area of southern Henan and western Henan, where the troops were empty, and drove Zhao Wei from Luoyang, so the ministers of the European and American countries who did not know the relationship were very worried about triggering a war with the surname of the whole country.

"As long as it takes a while, when the situation clears up, I don't think anything will be a problem. At present, the focus of the deadlock in the negotiations is still the issue of the distribution of interests between Tianjin and Qingdao. ”

Wu Peifu hurriedly said: "Qingdao's interests can't be let out, and it's hard to take it back, how can it be easily let out?" ”

Xiao Yimin nodded: "Qingdao must not let it, and Tianjin must not let it, this is our bottom line, but Xiamen and Fuzhou can consider relaxing customs and trade policies and investment restrictions, and opposite Fujian is Taiwan, which is occupied by Yueben, and we must not let Yueben's forces dominate." ”

Gu Weijun's eyes lit up: "It's feasible!" ”

"Yes, it's a good move! Since we are not able to solve the problem in the short term, why not stir up the whole situation and make it more complicated? As long as we control the Guangdong-Jiangxi-Zhejiang borders on three sides of Fujian, and then make concerted efforts in a planned way to forge ahead step by step, we will be able to steadily control the whole of Fujian after all. For the sake of long-term goals, it is nothing to temporarily give up immediate benefits. Yang Du expressed his opinion, which was supported by most people.

Chen Jiongming said: "The Chaoshan area is the focus of our construction in the next three years, a division of our garrison force has already been stationed there, Yi Shuai suggested that all the work to be carried out in advance for the state customs station has been started, the Guangdong coast guard force has been prepared, and the expansion of the Nanao military port has also entered the preparatory stage, and we are confident that we can control the entire Guangdong-Fujian border area and the sea area to which it belongs." ”

Everyone nodded frequently, and a major decision was passed.

Zhu Qinglan saw Xiao Yimin looking at him, smiled slightly, and said: "Yan Baichuan hasn't called me back yet, but I don't think it's a big problem, although Liao Zhen, who was transferred to the commander of the Mongolian Group Army, took three divisions from Yulin and Jiuyuan to the north, but the two divisions of Deng Xihou's division that stayed in the Yulin base, as well as the two garrison divisions on the line from Jiuyuan to Yulin, still formed a huge deterrent to western and northern Shanxi, plus the four divisions of the two generals Liu Zhenhua and Zhang Fang controlled most of the areas such as western Henan and Luoyang, Shanxi was actually under the pressure of our army on three sides. With Yan Baichuan's shrewdness and calculation, he will not be able to see the situation clearly, and the reason why he has not expressed his position for a long time is estimated to be a matter of face. ”

Bao Jiqing interjected: "Taking Henan is just around the corner, and the local forces in Anhui that are interested in us will definitely blast away the overseer Wu Guangxin, without Henan and Anhui, Duan Qirui should be dead, plus the more than 100,000 local troops in Beiyang who have kept their own strength have secretly lost their sincerity to us, and Duan Qirui and Cao Kun, who are exhausted and have suffered heavy losses, can only bow down." ”

Everyone laughed, but Xiao Yimin's face was full of solemnity: "Although the form is extremely beneficial to us, we must not take it lightly, we must consider every plan and every action plan clearly!" Once the two main divisions of Wang Jian's group army go north to western Liaoning, it will inevitably involve the follow-up measures of the three divisions of Zeng Chaoran's group army, and although there are Beiyang armed forces that have surrendered to us along the way to help, we must not give up the fight for Duan Qirui and Cao Kun. Moreover, the Beiyang Department is also full of talents, but the decadent and rigid system and the incompetence of the commanders in the past 20 years have suppressed the performance of most of the people, and these people are worth fighting for as long as they do not betray the country. ”

Everyone looked at Xiao Yimin, who was becoming more and more stable, and secretly admired Xiao Yimin's open-mindedness and tolerance, and at the same time rejoiced in his choice.

After the meeting, positive changes began to emerge in the action plan of the entire camp in Nanjing:

The foreign negotiations in charge of Gu Weijun quickly broke the deadlock and entered a new stage; The foreign united front in charge of Yang Du and Sun Baoqi launched a warm welcoming ceremony, which greatly moved the hundreds of political elites who left the central political axe and hurried to Nanjing and pinned all their hopes on the Nanjing political axe. The command of the military operations in charge of Bao Jiqing and Wang Lingji completed the policy adjustment, and the 200,000 elite troops assembled on the front line in Shandong under various names were ready for battle.

Lin Baishui's political propaganda set off another wave of calls for political reform, paving the way for the long-awaited Xiao Yimin's ascension.

On 1 March, Xiao Yimin, who had made preparations in all respects, solemnly met with representatives of the "12 delegations of Europe and the United States" and the investigation team of the League of Nations, which had successfully completed a series of negotiations, at the Nanjing camp.

On 2 March, Zhang Zuolin, who learned that the 200,000-strong army in the south had been rapidly moving north with the acquiescence of Duan Qirui and Cao Kun, was shocked and decisively ordered the whole army to withdraw outside the pass.

(To be continued)