Before the two divisions of the Sichuan Army reached the border area between Hunan and Hubei, they became known to the whole country under the vigorous exposure and criticism of the Beiyang political axe.

People from all walks of life across the country, who could not bear the ravages of the war for many years, called on Xiao Yimin, the overseer of Sichuan, to be sympathetic to the people and stop the civil war.

Zhang Jingyao, who was in Yueyang, Hunan, and commanded the Beiyang tribes to fight fiercely with the Hunan army, then telegraphed the whole country, accusing Xiao Yimin, the overseer of Sichuan, of "ignoring the overall situation, stirring up disputes, creating divisions, and having ill intentions" in a very tough tone, and sternly warned the Sichuan army not to undermine the peace policy of the central government.

Feng Guozhang, acting president of the Republic of China, Duan Qirui, premier, Xu Shuzheng, vice minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs, Xu Shichang, the leader of Beiyang who has re-emerged, and more than a dozen powerful generals and celebrities at home and abroad have called Xiao Yimin, most of whom are serious, courteous and courteous public telegrams, which made Xiao Yimin, who has been hidden behind the scenes, racking his brains on how to make a big profit, and the generals under his command were at a loss for a while and dumbfounded.

Without waiting for Xiao Yimin to discuss countermeasures, Zhang Jingyao sent another telegram to the whole country, announcing an armistice, withdrawing the troops 30 miles along the entire line, supporting the decision of the special meeting of the Central Senate and the House of Representatives, and going all out to openly and honestly carry out peace talks with all the armies and political factions in Hunan.

Immediately afterwards, Liang Qichao, who has been active in China's political arena since Xinhai and has become a barometer of China's politics, led dozens of political celebrities, including Lin Changmin, Zhang Guogan, and Cao Rulin, to send a joint telegram to vigorously praise Zhang Jingyao's peaceful proposition and severely criticize the behavior of the Sichuan Army and its leaders Xiao Yimin, Zhang Lan, and others for deliberately stirring up disputes between the central and local governments in an attempt to expand the flames of war and profit from them, which had an important impact on the boiling public opinion at home and abroad.

Faced with a steady stream of petition telegrams and consolation messages piled up on the table, Xiao Yimin and his generals felt their powerlessness for the first time.

Including Zhang Lan, Zeng Shouwu, Zou Wenhan and others, who hurried to Yichang, in addition to shaking their heads and sighing helplessly, everyone finally realized the embarrassment and pain referred to by Qianfu, and thus realized how important the long-term political strategy of "occupying the political public opinion and moral high ground" that Commander-in-Chief Xiao Yimin reminded from time to time but was not well implemented. But no one can reverse the current extremely passive political situation, and all walks of life and most people across the country believe in the propaganda of the Beiyang political axe, which is really speechless.

Just when Xiao Yimin and more than 30 other top military and political dignitaries in Sichuan were discussing countermeasures, the two brigades of the Beiyang Army stationed in Nanchang quietly drove to southern Jiangxi.

Sun Yat-sen, who was in the predicament of internal and external troubles, had to order the temporary withdrawal of troops and the halt of the Northern Expedition under the pleas of many important personnel in the base camp who stayed in Guangzhou for five consecutive urgent telegrams, and Liu Bingxian's guard brigade and the 6,000 brothers of the new regiment, who had not yet reached an understanding with the Protector Guizhou Army and eliminated mutual hostility, were even more depressed, and they were ordered to return all the captured weapons, ammunition and all materials, and under the strict control of the chief of staff Chiang Kai-shek, they withdrew to Guangzhou with resentment to rectify the Li Liejun troops, who suffered heavy losses. But a few days ago, he retreated to Nanxiong, an important town in northern Guangdong, and licked his wounds.

Sun Yat-sen's vigorous war to protect the Dharma has come to an end.

People from all walks of life across the country, including the European and American powers and their evil neighbors, who were jumping up and down because the situation was completely out of control, finally had time to wipe their sweat from their heads, and all their eyes quickly turned to the Hunan-Hubei border and Yichang, where the soldiers were pressing.

But no one expected that only two days later, Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, had not yet broken his promise and expressed his position, and a series of earth-shattering news came out of Guangzhou:

1. On 10 September, Sun Yat-sen, witnessed by Chinese and foreign journalists, hundreds of Kuomintang military and political dignitaries, and celebrities from all walks of life, formally took up the post of generalissimo of the Republic of China in Guangzhou, issued a manifesto to put an end to civil strife, restored the law, and welcomed Li Yuanhong to Guangzhou to serve as the president of the Republic of China.

2. The Guangzhou National Assembly adopted the organization of the national political axe, and President Sun Yat-sen formally appointed the chief and deputy directors of the military and political ministries: Wu Tingfang as the chief of foreign affairs, Sun Hongyi and Juzheng as the chief of internal affairs, Tang Shaoyi and Liao Zhongkai as the chief of finance, Zhang Kairu, chief of the army, Cheng Biguang, chief of the navy, Hu Hanmin, chief of communications, and Xu Qian, chief of justice.

3. Appointed by Sun Yat-sen, Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Li Liejun is the chief of staff of the Generalissimo's Office, Zhang Binglin is the secretary general of the Generalissimo's Office, Xu Chongzhi is the chief of staff, Lin Baoyi is the commander-in-chief of the Navy, Fang Shengtao is the commander-in-chief of the garrison, and Li Fulin is the commander-in-chief of the generalissimo's office.

The series of resolutions issued by the "National Assembly" through the Guangzhou political axe are tantamount to legally overthrowing the legal surname of the Beiyang political axe.

Since then, the two camps of the North and the South have officially embarked on the road of life-and-death rupture.

When the news reached Yichang, Xiao Yimin and his civil and military commanders finally showed a relieved smile, and the embarrassing situation of the Sichuan army was solved with the official establishment of the Guangzhou political axe.

Zhang Lan and others attended the first enlarged meeting of the Hubei Provincial Party Department of the Chinese Ming Cooking Party, and then returned to Chengdu with ease, without worrying about any subsequent decisions made by Xiao Yimin.

Xiao Yimin, who was in high spirits, and his generals immediately held a decision-making meeting, and in the face of the generals who had boiled their eyes red and finally let go of all their burdens, Xiao Yimin walked to the map of the situation of the northern and southern forces drawn by the General Staff overnight, and joked lightly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's turn our attention to Yanjing now, I bet that the celebrities from all walks of life and the old friends of the Beiyang Army who have just completed the convergence of Zhihui and Anhui are probably aiming at the south, dancing and scolding, and in a short period of time, no one will have the energy to send me a telegram again."

There was laughter in the room.

Bao Jiqing, who has always been strict, couldn't help laughing out loud at this time, Sun Yat-sen and a group of revolutionary fathers suddenly made a series of decisions, extremely miraculously relieved the heavy political pressure of the Sichuan army and the Sichuan military political axe, the negative impact of the Sichuan army out of Sichuan, so it was minimized, the major political forces at home and abroad and hundreds of millions of people across the country will now only worry about the division of the country, the two hostile political axes of the north and the south have since become the focus of attention at home and abroad, compared with the division of the country, the move of the Sichuan army is no longer a big deal.

When everyone quieted down, Xiao Yimin said with a smile:

"Let me first tell you about this 'Zhi-Anhui confluence', as reported and praised by national newspapers, it is completely the result of the all-out mediation of the Beiyang Patriarch Xu Shichang, among which the expansion of our Sichuan army is also an important factor contributing to the 'Zhi-Anhui confluence'.

"Now, Acting President Feng Guozhang has firmly sat in the first deal, and is praised as the prime minister of Duan Qirui, who takes into account the overall situation and has the world in mind, no one is worried about it for the time being, I don't know if you have heard of it, Duan Qirui's brother-in-law became Feng Guozhang's chief of guard, by the way, you all know this person, it is General Wu Guangxin, who once served as the commander of our Sichuan border army, he drank well and sang Peking Opera well, and then because Xikang was too bitter, he couldn't stay and ran back."

Everyone laughed, and after laughing, they carefully reminisced and found that this "Zhiwan Confluence" was very interesting.

Xiao Yimin continued: "This morning, the Yanjing War Department issued a telegram officially appointing General Fu Luzhang as the overseer of Hunan, and immediately rushed to Yueyang to seek a 'peaceful solution to the Hunan issue' and other matters together with Zhang Jingyao. ”

The generals let out a burst of exclamation, but they didn't expect Yanjing's political axe to move so quickly, and the Hunan problem became more complicated and unpredictable.

Xiao Yimin's face was full of lightness:

"You must also realize that the Hunan problem cannot be solved in a while, even if we are desperate for all the influences and go south to help the Hunan army, we will not be able to create a unified Hunan politically, and we don't know what the Hunan side thinks now? If we don't make it, we will become a cold ass with a hot face to stick to others, and the gains outweigh the losses, let alone hope to gain huge benefits by helping the Hunan army in the unification war. I am even worried now that the weapons and equipment and loans of as much as 2.5 million yuan that I have invested in the Hunan army are likely to be wasted. ”

All the generals and colonels nodded one after another, finally knowing what the commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, and chief of general staff were busy with from last night to early this morning.

Xiao Yimin picked up the baton and raised his voice slightly:

"Based on the above reasons, as well as the fact that the war in the border areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Guangdong and Fujian has subsided, we must adjust our strategic plan in a timely manner.

"At the same time, we also need to closely monitor Wu Peifu's department in Wuhan and Cao Kun's department that is rapidly moving south, Cao Kun fought a battle with us, and it is estimated that he still holds a grudge, plus a good at training, resourceful and ambitious Wu Peifu, the situation in the whole Hubei is not much simpler than Hunan, maybe one is not good, our army will have to fight with Cao and Wu.

"Of course, based on the current situation of the confrontation between the north and the south, the greatest possibility is to sit down with each other and talk slowly, but no one can relax their vigilance!"

Xiao Yimin's baton pointed to the public security and Shashi:

"Our second and sixth divisions will not move in place, but they will never be allowed to collect taxes and grain locally, and all supplies will be supplied by the Yichang military station, in addition, the military police regiment of the Yichang Garrison Command that is being formed will soon go to the public security and Shashi to be responsible for picketing, and no one can make mistakes in this sensitive period, including the 1st and 10th divisions stationed in Jingmen and Xiangyang, and finally stabilized western Hubei and Jingxiang, and worked hard to establish such a little honor, and gradually won the recognition of the local people, we must cherish it, Otherwise, don't blame the ruthlessness of military law! ”

Xiao Yimin returned to his position after speaking.

Bao Jiqing walked to the front desk with a dark face: "Everyone, there will be no war in the next period, you must not relax, the recruitment work of the first and tenth divisions must continue, as long as it meets the requirements, whether he is a deserter from the original Hubei army or a bandit who came down the mountain, he will all be accepted and sent to the newly completed training camp on the south bank of Yichang." If you have good soldiers, you can stay if you want, but you must not exceed the latest regulations. ”

Yang Sen, the commander of the First Division, who recruited more than 5,000 deserters and heroes in the green forest, was a little reluctant, and couldn't help but raise his hand, and after getting Bao Jiqing's permission, he immediately stood up:

"Chief of Staff, the new recruits from his subordinates are all good soldiers! Although the work of suppressing bandits in northern and northwestern Hubei has come to an end for the time being, the situation is still very unstable. It's okay to put it in my division's teaching team! ”

Bao Jiqing shook his head mercilessly:

"There is no need to discuss this matter, all the recruited soldiers must be unified and concentrated for three months of intensive training and political education, and after three months, I will say that if you Yang Sen has the ability, you will stabilize the northwest of Hubei as soon as possible, and if you do a good job, I am willing to recommend you to the commander-in-chief and the headquarters as the commander of the Eighth Army that will be established."

The generals exclaimed in surprise, looking at Yang Sen with his mouth wide open, and his eyes were red for a while.

Yang Sen's heart was so excited that he "pounded", sat down with a smile, raised his chin, and posed as if he was giving up on me.

Bao Jiqing continued to announce the defense areas of each division, determined the training tasks for the next stage, and announced the dismissal of the meeting with a big wave of his hand.

Wang Jian, who was about to be promoted to commander of the Seventh Army, and He Qiwu, chief of staff, were left behind, followed closely by Xiao Yimin and Wang Lingji, walked to the large map, staring at the map direction of Bao Jiqing's finger, excited.

In the middle of the night, Wang Jianqin led the 10th Brigade to quietly leave Shashi, turn south, and quietly disappear between the mountains and streams in northwest Hunan Province.

(To be continued)