On 7 November, the shocking news of the Russian Bolsheviks storming the Kremlin and announcing the establishment of the Soviet government finally spread throughout the world, and the red "October Revolution" shook not only the capitalist camp in Europe and the United States, but also the suffering China that was in constant war and turmoil.

In the afternoon, Xiao Yimin, the anxious commander-in-chief of the Sichuan army, finally met Fu Liangzuo and Zeng Yujun, the envoys secretly sent by Duan Qirui to Yichang.

As soon as they met, Fu Liangzuo and Zeng Yujun respectfully called Xiao Yimin "Yishuai", which made Xiao Yimin stunned, and even said frankly that he was ashamed, but the two were unwilling to change their words, which made Xiao Yimin's face red.

Fu Liangzuo, who has a straight nose and a broad mouth and a dignified appearance, is originally from Jiangxi, born in Shishou, Hubei, and is a student of Liang Qichao like Cai Yi, and is a senior brother of the third phase of the non-commissioned officer school with Cai Yi and Jiang Baili.

As soon as Wang Lingji, deputy commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, who graduated from the sixth phase of the Army Noncommissioned Officer School, saw Fu Liangzuo, he immediately respectfully stepped forward to salute him with the courtesy of a junior and a younger brother.

Duan Qirui's chief of staff, Zeng Yujun, is also a leader in the Beiyang family, and he is also Duan Qirui's confidant, both of them met Xiao Yimin for the first time, but they did not have the slightest sense of restraint and distance, and behaved calmly, gentlely, and freely, which made Xiao Yimin admire in his heart.

Entering the Yichang Headquarters Building on the south bank of the Yangtze River, hidden in towering trees and camouflage nets, Fu Liangzuo and Zeng Yujun suddenly felt that their eyes lit up, the indoor floor paved with large bluestone was spotless, the stairs and walls decorated with solid wood were comfortable and unpretentious, and the wide space, complete facilities and quiet working atmosphere left a deep impact on the two.

Entering Xiao Yimin's office on the second floor and sitting down, Fu Liangzuo and the two kept looking at the simple and practical layout of the room, and saw that there were four telephones on the huge desk, Fu Liangzuo and Zeng Yujun were very surprised, how did they know that three of the four telephones had been connected to Chengdu, Shanghai and western Hubei respectively.

didn't wait to drink half a cup of tea, Bao Jiqing, chief of the general staff of the Sichuan Army, hurriedly arrived, Fu Liangzuo and Zeng Yujun hurriedly stood up, and Bao Jiqing, the senior with both old qualifications, saluted and greeted, which was not inferior to Wang Lingji when he saw the two of them.

Xiao Yimin looked at Wang Lingji, who was depressed beside him, and couldn't help laughing, but fortunately, Bao Jiqing returned the salute casually with joy, motioned for the two to sit down and talk, and then asked the cold and warm cordially, and did not find the abnormality of Xiao Yimin and Wang Lingji.

The guests exchanged a few words of greetings and quickly talked about the many major events that had happened recently.

During this time, Duan Qirui's words were very sad. I don't know where the revolutionary political axe in Guangzhou heard the news that he secretly sold a batch of weapons and ammunition to Duan Qirui, and it set off wave after wave of "reverse waves", which not only aroused the worries and questions of all walks of life across the country, but even Britain and France, who were too busy to take care of themselves, also participated, and repeatedly exposed the news that Duan Qirui had secretly borrowed a huge amount of money from Yu Ben for the expansion of the army, and finally made Li Chun, the governor of Jiangsu, who only received the approval for the expansion but did not allocate a penny, also made a fuss.

Li Chun's trouble, a group of generals under the command of Feng Guozhang, another big man in Beiyang, responded en masse, and finally developed into a joint call to Duan Qirui, asking him to explain this.

Duan Qirui was forced by his own people to be anxious, but he didn't expect that in the past few days, the envoys of Britain, the United States and France came to the door angrily again and asked Duan Qirui to give a detailed explanation of borrowing money to expand the army and purchase weapons.

Duan Qirui, who was shackled by many agreements between the Beiyang political axe and the foreign powers, of course denied it, who knew that his denial had just come out, and the revolutionary party began to launch an overwhelming political and public opinion offensive again, this time it was not to support Li Yuanhong, who had a close friendship with the revolutionary party, to be the president, but to solemnly launch the moderate and respected Beiyang veteran Xu Shichang, who made it clear that he would pull down Duan Qirui, who was fighting for the position of president at all costs.

It was precisely because of the heavy pressure of internal and external troubles that Duan Qirui, who was still hesitant and still repeatedly calculating the gains and losses, made up his mind and quickly dispatched his henchman Fu Liangzuo and thinker Zeng Yujun to Yichang to discuss with Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, and others the specific form and content of the alliance between the two sides.

Late at night three days later, Fu Liangzuo and Zeng Yujun, who were exhausted but unable to suppress their excitement, were sent off by Xiao Yimin and others, and boarded the freighter of the "American Blue Flag Foreign Tour" specially prepared for the two at the military dock with a thick and dense contract bound into a book.

Xiao Yimin, Bao Jiqing, Wang Lingji and others also rushed upriver in gunboats to the Chengdu General Headquarters that morning.

Because the situation in Hunan has long been stabilized, the fierce provincial political axe and the provincial council election meeting are in full swing, and the four divisions of the Sichuan Army that are forcing Wuhan have taken the initiative to retreat 100 miles, the great battle in Hubei, which is most feared by all circles in the country, has now disappeared, and the situation in the whole country has returned to a rare calm.

On the contrary, after the failure of the Northern Expedition, the revolutionary political axe that had been shrinking back in Guangdong made a fuss again, once again pointing the spearhead at Duan Qirui, the hard-liner premier who inherited Yuan Shikai's counterrevolutionary stance, and countless eyes left the Sichuan army, which contained tremendous destructive power and deterrent power, and re-threw itself into the two major political blocs in the north and the south, which had been fighting to the death for several years.

Compared with the turbulent and noisy rest of the country, Sichuan, which has been immersed in development and silent progress, is as calm and comfortable as a paradise, and from 10 November to 5 December, the Sichuan Provincial Political Axe, the Provincial Assembly, and the Sichuan Army General Headquarters have taken advantage of this rare opportunity to hold more than 20 important meetings in succession

On December 10, Duan Qirui, Prime Minister and Minister of the Army, announced:

After a majority vote in the Senate session, Xikang Province was established, and 120 counties and towns, including Kangding, Sichuan, were included in the administrative region of Xikang Province, and Kuang Youmin, former director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs and Xichuan Patrol Envoy, was appointed as the governor of Xikang, and Zhong Ying, former commander of the Sichuan Frontier Army, was appointed as the Xikang Governor and the town guard of Tibet Province.

This news did not cause much repercussions, as early as Yuan Shikai was in power, the proposal of Xikang Reading Power Province has been discussed many times, Li Yuanhong also re-mentioned the matter after taking over as president, but he was ousted before he had time to convene a meeting, most people know that it is a matter of time before Xikang Province is established, and there is nothing strange about it being officially adopted now, the only people who are very dissatisfied with this are the British, but this is China's internal affair, and it does not involve the sensitive southern Tibetan region, Duan Qirui announced this resolution, It cannot be said that it is harmful to the interests of Britain.

But no one expected that five days later, the joint meeting of the Yenching Government Council and the Senate once again released two shocking news:

Shi Xingchuan was appointed as the governor of Hubei Province and the overseer of Hubei, and his military rank was promoted to general; Wu Peifu, former major general and brigade commander of the Sixth Brigade of the Central Army, was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the Third Division of the Central Army, and concurrently served as the guard of Zhengzhou Town, and Lieutenant General Cao Kun, former commander of the Third Division of the Central Army, was promoted to chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of the Army.

As soon as the announcement was announced, it immediately caused an uproar among the European and American powers in China and the Kuomintang in China!

Shi Xingchuan, a veteran general, was originally from Hubei, erudite and open-minded, not only graduated from the Beiyang Army Non-commissioned Officer School, but also served as the commander of the 12th Division of the Beiyang Army for five years, and was also one of the early members of the old alliance.

Wu Peifu, the former Wuhan town guard, was suddenly appointed as the Zhengzhou town guard, which was an astonishing decision that no one had expected before, and once this appointment was carried out, it would be like adding fuel to the fire in Henan, where there was incessant infighting and constant conflicts between various warlord forces, and the situation in Henan, which had finally stabilized a little, was immediately broken, and a large-scale war would break out in the Central Plains, where disasters were constantly raging.

However, this appointment is not without supporters, and all walks of life in Henan, who have suffered much from the war, are very supportive of the central government's decision-making, and very much hope that Wu Peifu, who is known as a wise general and has been honest and honest for more than 10 years, will sit in Henan and drive away the guest troops who are all over the Central Plains as soon as possible, and save 30 million people in the Central Plains from fire and water.

Immediately after that, nearly half of the newspapers in Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, and Shanghai published editorials in support of Duan Qirui's political axe, and expressed support for and welcomed the series of resolutions and personnel appointments issued by Duan Qirui's political axe in the past half month.

What is unthinkable is that not only did the just-republished "Jing Chu Yuebao" vigorously support the decision of the central government's political axe, but also gave high praise and ardent expectations to the two generals, Shi Xingchuan and Wu Peifu, and even the mainstream newspaper "Far East Post," which has always taken an objective and neutral political stance, also gave Duan Qirui a positive appraisal of the political axe, praising this series of appointments as a positive impetus for ending the war in the Lianghu region and the Central Plains. It will also promote the development and tranquility of the provinces in the Yangtze River basin and help restore trade between Europe and the United States in the Yangtze River basin.

Just when the whole country was boiling and starting a big debate, Shi Xingchuan led 11,000 soldiers of the 12th Division, which had not been reorganized for a long time, to leave Qianjiang and enter the three towns of Wuhan that had not been seen for a long time.

Wu Peifu, commander of the Third Division, who had already telegraphed and obeyed the orders of the Central Political Axe and the War Department, personally led his troops to greet him.

Two days later, Wu Peifu, who had taken over a large number of captives from the Sichuan army, led the new Third Division, the Sixth Brigade and the New Supplementary Brigade to evacuate Wuhan in a neat and orderly manner, and took 12 special trains to Xinyang, Henan.

When they learned that Wu Peifu's troops actually had two artillery battalions equipped with Krupp artillery, and suddenly there were two more cavalry regiments, as well as 20,000 infantry with Mauser rifles, Hanyang-style rifles, and German-style heavy machine guns, the weak Zhang Fang's troops withdrew from southern Henan early and fled to southwestern Henan.

Just when all eyes were on Wu Peifu, the three armies of the Sichuan Army, which had completed the major adjustment and standardized the sequence of the whole army, had taken over the defense of Xiaogan, Xianning, and other important areas in Hubei, and the joint action plan of the powerful Sichuan Army and the Qirui series of the Beiyang Duan Qirui series had since kicked off, and the situation in China has undergone earth-shaking changes since then.

(To be continued)