At 8 o'clock in the morning of the following day, the Sichuan Provincial Political Axe solemnly announced the end of the period of amnesty for bandits in various parts of Sichuan, and that from now on, all units of the Sichuan Army, political axe garrison units at all levels, and police units will closely coordinate to launch a tremendous campaign to suppress bandits throughout Sichuan, set up temporary checkpoints in southern and eastern Sichuan, where bandits are most seriously affected, demarcate areas where bandits are most severely affected, and requisition civilian boats to crack down on water crimes in the Yangtze River waterway, so as to protect the safety of the lives and property of tens of millions of people and dredge all trade routes. Promote the prosperity of all industries in Sichuan.

The Sichuan Provincial Political Axe's "Suppression of Bandits Order" was soon drowned in the boiling tide of public opinion against the imperial system throughout the country, and the ordinary people did not care about the situation of the suppression of bandits in Sichuan, and they were all waiting with fear for the provincial army and the political axe to release news and make their stand clear, and everyone was worried that the flames of war would burn on their heads.

However, this announcement aroused the attention of the political axe of Yanjing, the military and political forces of all provinces throughout the country, and the institutions of various countries in China, and it saw from this that the political axe and the armed forces at all levels in Sichuan united to take a unanimous stance with the outside world, and Sichuan suddenly announced the launch of a campaign to suppress bandits before all provinces in the country except Yunnan did not express their stance, which was undoubtedly a disguised announcement to prevent foreign troops from entering Sichuan through reasonable military movements, and faintly revealed its determination to fight at the expense of defending Sichuan's interests.

Duan Qirui took the private telegram jointly sent by Bao Jiqing and Xiao Yimin into the presidential palace, nodded to the Wenwu who came one after another to prepare for an emergency meeting, walked straight to Yuan Shikai and saluted, and then presented the telegram with both hands: "Dashuai, this is a telegram sent by Bao Jiqing and Xiao Yiming to his subordinates late last night, please take a look." ”

After reading the message, Yuan Shikai secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, but his face was displeased: "They are wise to protect themselves, they want to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and they are opportunistic!" ”

"Boss, overall good news! Since they did not openly oppose the marshal and did not announce [***], they resolutely mobilized heavy troops in southern Sichuan to block the road of the Yunnan army to the north, indicating that they still took the overall situation into account. ”

Duan Qirui opposed Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor from the bottom of his heart, and he was powerless to change it, so he could only follow the waves, so he understood Xiao Yimin and Bao Jiqing's positions and practices very well.

Yuan Shikai snorted, picked up the message again and read it carefully.

Yuan Keding, who was dressed in a satin robe, came over quietly, asked Duan Qirui in a low voice, and when he learned the situation, he suggested to Yuan Shikai: "Father, maybe there is no Xiao Yimin and Bao Jiqing in the list of knights we announced in the first two batches, so they have not been able to call to support their father's accession to the throne. ”

"You know!"

When Yuan Shikai heard this, he was immediately angry, but he still patiently taught his son: "The situation in Sichuan is extremely special, it can be said that there is no other semicolon in the country, the victory of two foreign wars in the past four years has made the Sichuan army beat out of their hearts, and Sichuan is the country of abundance, rich in products, and the rapid development of industry and commerce

"In the past two years, they have done a good job in internal affairs, and the whole territory of Sichuan can now be said to be politically harmonious and unprecedentedly united. Since they have expressed their attitude of watching from the sidelines in a timely manner, and mobilized heavy troops to block the road to the north of Cai Yi and the anti-thieves of the Dian army, they are undoubtedly sending us such a message: Sichuan will not announce the reading power, and he Xiao Yimin will not follow the rebellious party to rebel, understand? ”

Yuan Keding lowered his head in shame: "My son has been taught!" ”

Yuan Shikai turned to Duan Qirui: "Zhiquan, you call Ji Qing and Yiming back, say I know, and clearly tell them that the departments under the central government will not enter Sichuan." In addition, the list of the third batch of meritorious servants who have been knighted will be released in these two days, and both of them are on the list. ”

"Got it! The subordinate said goodbye. Duan Qirui wanted to leave after completing the commission.

Yuan Shikai stopped Duan Qirui: "Don't go, stay and have a meeting together, I still have to rely on you for the deployment of troops." ”

Four hours later, Yunnan once again telegraphed the whole country, formed a guard [***], waved the Northern Expedition, Cai Yi served as the commander-in-chief of the first army of [***], and personally led the first army to Sichuan, including:

Liu Yunfeng's ladder regiment on the left flank went out of Zhaotong to capture Xuzhou; Zhao Youxin and Gu Pinzhen ladder regiment in the middle of the road, out of Yongning to attack Luzhou; The right-wing Dai Hu Ladder Regiment set out from Songkan in Guizhou and advanced to the Qijiang River to take Yucheng.

Li Liejun was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army, commanding the three echelons of Zhang Kairu, Fang Shengtao, and He Guojun to attack Guangxi that supported Yuan Shikai, and then directly take Guangzhou and join forces with Guangdong [***]; Tang Jiyao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Third Army and governor of Yunnan, commanding the remaining departments and guarding Yunnan.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Yanjing Central Political Axe issued a crusade order:

Zhang Jingyao, the commander of the Seventh Division of the Central Army stationed on the front line of Jingyi, was appointed as the commander of the Second Route Army, and led his troops south to Hunan, straight to Guizhou, to defeat the rebellion; Ma Jizeng, commander of the 6th Division, was appointed as the commander of the 1st Road, and led Tang Tianxi's 7th Mixed Brigade and Fan Guozhang's 1st Division to pass through Guizhou through Xiangxi to attack the rebels head-on; Cao Kun, commander of the 3rd Division stationed in Wuchang, was appointed commander-in-chief of the former enemy, with full authority to command all units to attack Yunnan.

As soon as the two telegrams came out from the north and south, the wheels of the land of Shenzhou were rolling, and the sound of horses' hooves sounded, just when everyone thought that Zhang Jingyao, the commander of the Second Route Army, was about to lead his troops south, Zhang Jingyao learned through the informant that the messenger secretly sent by Sun Yat-sen appeared again in the Zhang Fang Department of the Yu Army stationed in Xiangfan, and the Zhang Fan mixed brigade, which had many members of the alliance, had already shown signs of rebellion, with the purpose of waiting for Zhang Jingyao to lead the army south, and immediately raise the anti-flag and occupy the entire territory of Jingxiang.

Zhang Jingyao was taken aback, and while asking Yuan Shikai for instructions, he dispatched troops and dispatched troops, and successfully surrounded Zhang Fang's troops at 6 o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, and then launched a fierce attack.

Since the garrison in Xiangfan, the officers and men have lax military discipline, lack training, and the generals have been seriously corrupted in their greed for enjoyment, and they have suffered heavy casualties under the siege of Zhang Jingyao's two brigades, and they have surrendered without any resistance at all.

Zhang Fan himself and his adjutant, under the protection of a group of guards, broke out of the encirclement and fled to southern Henan, and stopped to take a look after a hundred miles, followed by less than 1,000 officers and soldiers of Henan.

In the first battle of Xiangfan, the remaining 3,000 officers and men of Zhang Fang's department were either killed or captured, and more than 1,000 officers and soldiers threw down their weapons and changed into civilian clothes and fled in all directions.

As Yuan Shikai's special envoy, Chen Eun was leading a new brigade to Changsha in a military train at this time, and on the way he "unexpectedly encountered" a messenger sent by Cai Yi.

The Third Division under the command of Cao Kun went south to Yueyang by land and water, and the Hunan army, which had been infiltrated by the Kuomintang, was panicked and uneasy, and no one dared to act rashly under the pressure of the army, and a large number of people who were mentally shaken fled from the revolutionary ranks.

The eyes and ears sent by the Sichuan army were still fixed on Zhang Jingyao, and information was sent to Yucheng, Sichuan through various means.

On December 29, Yuan Shikai announced two orders to the whole country, one was the third batch of knights, conferring on the Sichuan overseer Lieutenant General Xiao Yimin General Zhenwu and the first-class earl, and promoting Lieutenant Bao Jiqing to the Sichuan Military Affairs Council Office and conferring the first-class viscount, and at the same time ordering the two to lead the Sichuan army and go south to crusade against the Yunnan army.

The other is an order to deprive Kaiwu General Tang Jiyao, Patrol Envoy Ren Kecheng, and Cai Yi of all military and political posts, and to arrest them all over the country, appointing Zhang Zizhen and Liu Zuwu, two division commanders in Yunnan who did not openly oppose Yuan, to act as military affairs and patrol envoys in Yunnan respectively.

Xiao Yimin couldn't cry or laugh at Yuan Shikai's order, Hu [***] had already announced a high-profile attack on Sichuan, and the Sichuan army would face the battle no matter what, but Yuan Shikai at this time, he added officials to Xiao Yimin and Bao Jiqing, undoubtedly wanting to tell the world that the Sichuan army led by Xiao Yimin was completely in accordance with the orders of the emperor to crusade against Yunnan, as long as the two armies of Sichuan and Yunnan started a war, Xiao Yimin could not distinguish even if he had a hundred mouths.

Xiao Yimin finally looked up to the sky and sighed: "The wall-riding faction is not so easy to be!" ”

Xu Xiaogang, Wang Lingji and others, who were joking with Xiao Yimin, understood Xiao Yimin's hardships, and everyone discussed for a while, and Wang Lingji made a suggestion to Xiao Yimin:

The commander wrote a personal letter and sent General Zicheng to secretly go south to contact Liu Yunfeng, the general of Cai Songpo's department who was about to arrive in Zhaotong, and things might take a turn for the better. General Zicheng and Liu Yunfeng are not only members of the same family, but also members of the Kuomintang and old friends of the same camp, and the commander's old friends, Dan Maoxin and Cheng Qian, are both in the Yunnan army. ”

Xiao Yimin weighed it slightly, immediately agreed, and sent Lu Yixuan to invite Liu Bingxian, and quickly drafted a humbly worded letter for Wang Lingji and others to read together.

After repeatedly considering a few words, the generals unanimously agreed, Xiao Yimin immediately worked hard to write, and then used his own seal, and Liu Bingxian also came at this time.

Liu Bingxian was very relieved after reading the letter, he was the most reluctant to fight this battle, both sides were his brothers, and there were his seniors and classmates on both sides, and he was in pain with his roommates, so he had not participated in various meetings in the past few days, and everyone could understand his difficulties.

Now that there is an opportunity to resolve the contradictions and eliminate the scourge of war, how could Liu Bingxian let it go so easily? He knew that his brother Xiao Yimin also opposed Yuan Shikai's proclamation of the emperor, and also advocated social and national reform, and not only did he not have a bad feeling for the purpose of the Kuomintang, but he agreed with many people, and the difference was only that Xiao Yimin opposed the means of the Kuomintang in the revolutionary process.

The reason for preventing the Dian army from entering Sichuan this time was based on the same concerns.

Xiao Yimin has always hated the military discipline of the Yunnan officers and soldiers and the greed of officers at all levels, and in order to prevent the Sichuan people from being plundered and mutilated again after the Yunnan army entered Sichuan, Xiao Yimin would rather bear the infamy on his back and stand up and resist the Yunnan army.

Xiao Yimin has expressed his heart to Liu Bingxian more than once in private:

"It's not that I'm unwilling to make a revolution, but I'm not willing to make such a revolution, and through years of practice and summarization, the development of Sichuan has given me a lot of experience and ideas, and it has also brought me a lot of inspiration. If China wants national rejuvenation and strives for reading power and freedom, it cannot rely on any foreign forces, otherwise the tiger will not be driven away, and I am afraid that it will attract jackals again! ”

Liu Bingxian pondered hard during his trip to this for nearly half a year, and gradually saw many things clearly, and now he deeply agreed with Xiao Yimin's point of view, so he did not hesitate at all, and immediately took over the important task of secretly going south to contact and negotiate, and he also wanted to take this opportunity to meet and talk with General Cai Yi, whom he admired very much.

(To be continued)