With a series of-for-tat actions in Nanjing, the situation in the whole of China changed abruptly, and the huge shadow of war once again hung over the Chinese sky.

In contrast to the worried businessmen and political officials at all levels, the majority of the military and the people of the country burst out with touching patriotic enthusiasm under the overwhelming public opinion propaganda of the Nanjing camp, and the large and medium-sized cities of the country began an all-round patriotic movement to "oppose aggression and resist goods," and the new edition of the textbooks compiled by the Nanjing camp education committee and the propaganda department was rolled out in all primary and secondary schools in South China in the summer of August.

Countless young students in Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Nanchang, and other cities responded to Xiao Yimin's call and took advantage of the opportunity of the summer vacation to hold lecture tours to go deep into the cities and villages to awaken the suffering and numb people, to denounce the heinous crimes committed by imperialism against the Chinese nation since the First Sino-Japanese War, and to bring the spirit of patriotism and the concepts of national self-determination and self-help to every place.

Public opinion all over the world was deeply shocked by China's overwhelming wave of anti-rhetoric, and political leaders and well-known newspapers from various countries published commentaries one after another, exclaiming that the sleeping giant had woken up and were extremely worried about the cohesion that the Chinese nation was gradually forming and the powerful force that had erupted.

After issuing a series of statements, the 24 members of the investigation team exercising the highest arbitration power on behalf of the League of Nations immediately took action and rushed to East Asia with the Chinese delegation, which had successfully completed its diplomatic mission.

At the same time, under the instructions of the political axes of various countries, the envoys of the European and American countries in China launched diplomatic mediation one after another, and the envoys of the seven European and American countries, headed by British Minister Zhu Erdian, headed the provisional coordination group, were divided into two and stationed in Nanjing and Jinan, two focal areas of the conflict, to convene the two sides to hold talks.

On the surface, under the constant pressure exerted by the European and American countries, the political axe had no choice but to stop the clamor for war, but in fact the military and political circles were trapped by themselves and did not have any preparations for war, and now the 200,000 troops from the north and south of China have occupied the advantageous territory and grasped the initiative in the war with unprecedented resoluteness and speed. And it simply cannot afford the huge amount of materials and money that would be spent to support a large-scale war.

On 10 August, after a week of heated debate, the Cabinet and the armed forces finally realized that even if 100,000 troops were sent to China to fight without at least three years of comprehensive preparations, and before launching a larger-scale political infiltration and economic aggression against various forces in China, it would be difficult to achieve a decisive victory.

On the morning of 11 August, the military and political circles issued a statement to the whole world through the foreign minister, and after a series of stern condemnations and warnings, they strongly demanded that the central government and all localities in China immediately stop their anti-Japanese activities, promptly cancel the reactionary propaganda against the Chinese language and history textbook for primary and secondary schools compiled by the Nanjing Xingying Education Committee, stop any military trial without the examination and approval of the Chinese government and the military, and ensure the extrajudicial jurisdiction of the Chinese people and the safety of their personal and property.

At the end of the statement, he reluctantly announced that under the mediation of the League of Nations, all units of the Chinese military stationed in China would cease all military operations.

However, in the supplementary explanation, the military warned that once the final result is contrary to the dignity of the nation and the interests of the country, the military will unilaterally cancel all negotiations, quickly make preparations for military retaliation, and do not hesitate to withdraw from the League of Nations at a critical moment in order to safeguard the interests of the empire.

The clouds of war that shrouded the eastern sky finally stopped gathering, and Xiao Yimin, who was in command of the overall situation in Nanjing, also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time further saw the weakness behind his powerful mask.

On 29 August, more than 100,000 Shanghai citizens and students spontaneously flocked to the outer ferry wharf to greet Wang Zhengting, Gu Weijun, and all the meritorious heroes who had returned triumphantly with a forest of colorful flags, patches of flowers, and enthusiastic cheers.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the French 10,000-ton cruise ship "Montpellier", which had just been built for three months, sounded its whistle and slowly docked at the port.

Wang Zhengting, Gu Weijun and others never imagined that they would usher in such a grand and grand welcome from the army and compatriots; they stood on the high side of the ship's approach bridge, overlooking the endless welcoming people, looking at the national flags, colorful flags, and flowers in the distance, as well as the more than 2,000 officers and men of the Shanghai garrison standing neatly and solemnly, and the 100-member military band that played the "Song of the Yangtze River." They were so moved that they couldn't control themselves, and in the end, even Xiao Yimin, who was standing at the front of the wharf, and a large group of colleagues in the Nanjing camp made tears confused.

On behalf of all the officers and men of the Nanjing camp and the people of the southern provinces, up to 40,000 compatriots, Xiao Yimin highly praised the tremendous interests won by the Chinese diplomatic delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and the great achievements of the Chinese diplomatic delegation to the country and the nation under extreme difficulties and pressures.

In the end, Xiao Yimin, who was in the limelight, turned to Wang Zhengting, Gu Weijun and other delegation members standing behind him, took off his military hat, and thanked and bowed to every meritorious hero.

This move not only caught Wang Zhengting and others off guard and moved them greatly, but also deeply moved more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the audience, and also made the members of the League of Nations Investigation Group who were watching the ceremony sigh a lot, and the slogan of "Long live General Xiao" resounded in the sky of Shanghai for the first time.

Listening to the deafening cheers of "Long live" from the overwhelming earthquake, and staring at Wang Zhengting and others on the stage who hugged Xiao Yimin tightly and wept silently, Li Wei, head of the investigation team of the League of Nations, couldn't help but sigh: "China will surely move towards rejuvenation under the leadership of this young general in front of us, and we may not have a good time in the future!" ”

Two days later, Wang Zhengting and others arrived in Yanjing, where they were once again warmly welcomed by President Duan Qirui and other central political officials and 100,000 Yanjing people.

At the end of the celebration banquet that night, Duan Qirui sent a telegram to Nanjing.

In the morning of the following day, the Nanjing Xingying held a news conference, announcing that it would obey the orders of the Central Political Axe and President Duan Qirui, lift the first-class combat readiness of the whole army, lift the armed martial law in the Shanghai area, gradually abolish the checkpoints in the Yangtze River valley and on land roads, suspend the military trial procedures for the captured officers and men of the "Penghu" of the Navy, and fully cooperate with the investigation and evidence collection work of the League of Nations Investigation Group.

Since then, the crisis of war between China and China has been resolved, and the two sides have fallen into a stage of intense and lengthy negotiations under the auspices of the investigation team of the League of Nations.

On the afternoon of 9 October, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Central Committee of Yanjing issued a proclamation, claiming that "the negotiations between China and the Chinese have achieved results under the active mediation of the special group of the League of Nations, and the negotiating groups of the two countries have reached an agreement on the Shandong issue: the Chinese and Chinese troops will completely withdraw from the entire territory of Shandong by 30 December 1919; The Chinese government will pay $6.5 million in instalments over three years and $3 million in an initial payment of $3 million to recover all the rights and interests of the Jiaoji Railway built by the defeated country Germany."

The next morning, Wang Zhengting, the angry foreign minister, sent a telegram to the whole country, resigning from all posts in the central political axe, and asking the people of the whole country for their guilt!

Xiao Yimin was taken aback when he received the urgent report, held back his anger, urgently called Duan Qirui and Gu Weijun, and ordered the responsible persons of the Nanjing Xingying Liaison Office in Beijing and the Yenjing Station of the Military Intelligence Bureau to quickly send Wang Zhengting to Nanjing safely.

In the afternoon of the same day, President Duan Qirui announced that he had agreed to the resignation of Wang Zhengting, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Premier of the State Council, and appointed Vice Foreign Minister Gu Weijun to act as Minister of Foreign Affairs to continue to preside over the diplomatic negotiations with Yu Ben.

On the morning of 11 October, Gu Weijun, who had endured humiliation and heavy burdens, announced through the "China Times" that he had taken up the post of acting foreign minister, and then said that he was ill and closed his door, and it was not until five days later that he came out to work under the explanation of Xiao Yimin and his colleagues in the Nanjing camp who rushed to Yanjing.

Under the grim situation, Xiao Yimin and all the military and political officials under his command in the Nanjing camp were extremely busy, far busier than the Duan Qirui group, which had to guard against the Feng army to start a civil war and maintain the situation of negotiations with Yuben.

Due to the growing differences between the two major military and political blocs in the north and the south on the stance of the two major military and political cliques on the other side, the Duan Qirui clique, which could not bear to continue to be gradually elevated by the Xiao Yimin clique, finally revealed its true colors; first in disregard of the repeated admonitions and requests of the negotiating group, it even cowardly and shamelessly succumbed to the pressure of the negotiating group and forcibly ordered Wang Zhengting, the head of the negotiating group, to sign the "Sino-Shandong Agreement." Wang Zhengting brushed his sleeves away in a fit of rage, and Duan Qirui went so far as to order his confidant Wang Yitang, deputy head of the negotiating group, to sign the agreement.

Immediately afterwards, in order to obtain the military and huge loan support of the minister, and driven by the lie that Lin Quanzhu, the minister of the capital, "fully assisted Duan Qirui in persuading Zhang Zuolin, the commander of the Feng system, to withdraw the troops", Duan Qirui and his clique took the lead in withdrawing the two divisions that were confronting Zhang Zuolin's army without the consent of Xiao Yimin, the minister of military affairs of the Central Committee, and transferred the two main divisions, which were assisted by the Nanjing camp with all weapons and equipment, to Henan to "suppress bandits and put down the rebellion."

In the face of Duan Qirui's group's abnormal actions one after another, Xiao Yimin and his military and political officials did not have time to be shocked and delved in, and immediately began to carry out a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the situation in the north.

Duan Qirui first complained about the tight financial situation, and then threw Xiao Yimin two choices, either to withdraw Deng Xihou's troops on the line from Yulin to Jiuyuan, or to send Deng Xihou's two divisions north to Kulen to take over the Mongolian defense, and Xu Shuzheng's troops will withdraw to Zhili during the Spring Festival next year to make up for the empty defense in the Pingjin area.

The two major groups of the north and south of China finally inevitably went to split, but Xiao Yimin did not expect this split to come so quickly and so suddenly, although Xiao Yimin and his group had planned and prepared before this, they still could not catch up with this sudden great change.

"At present, the first thing to bear the brunt of is the Shandong issue, and at this critical period, any counterattack or change by us may become an excuse for our army to continue to rely on Shandong, so the more critical the moment, the more we can't mess up!"

Yang Du's opinion was recognized by most people, and Xiao Yimin, who was full of anger and unwillingness in his heart, was in pain, and finally squeezed out a sentence with difficulty: "This year's winter will be very long......"

(To be continued)