On the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, the Lantern Festival, Hanzhong, an important town in southern Shaanxi, hangs lanterns high and all the people celebrate, and there is a festival scene everywhere.

Located outside the south gate of the ancient city of Hanzhong, the Nanguan camp is the largest and most traditional military camp in Hanzhong, and 6,000 officers and soldiers of the 16th Mixed Brigade of Feng Yuxiang's department have been stationed here for ten months.

The lights inside and outside the barracks were brilliant, piles of blazing bonfires were lit on the snow that had not yet thawed, and 6,000 officers and men were happily enjoying a sumptuous dinner; Major General and Brigade Commander Feng Yuxiang, who has always been arduous, simple, and strict in self-discipline, generously ordered the slaughter of 30 pigs today, and each officer and soldier was given half a catty of soju, and ordered the officers and men to let go of their bellies to eat, and said that the whole army would go south to Sichuan early tomorrow morning.

Two ordinary mules led a well-covered carriage to the camp gate, the carriage had not yet stopped, the heavy curtain of the carriage had been raised, a rich gentleman about forty years old, wearing a fur jacket, jumped out of the carriage, took the two cigarettes handed by the man, and walked to the sentry on duty with a smile.

Seeing the smiling face of the rich gentleman and the cigarette dangling in his hand, the two officers on duty in place of the sentry immediately put on their rifles and walked up to the merchant in a friendly manner, and one of them asked the merchant very politely: "Thank you for the many New Year's gifts sent to us by the Chamber of Commerce, but it is so late, what is the matter with Mr. Chen here?" ”

Mr. Chen stuffed the cigarette into the officer's hand, took out a letter from his leather jacket and handed it to both hands:

"Just when it was dark, a big boss on the green forest road in Guangyuan in the south suddenly came to the contemptible man's house and asked the contemptible man to present this letter to General Feng Yuxiang. So I had to bite the bullet and send the letter, and I asked the military master to bear with me! ”

"Is that man still there?" The officer hurriedly asked.

Mr. Chen shook his head: "I left early, and he didn't embarrass anyone, and he threw down this letter and left the city." ”

The officer on duty hurriedly discussed with his colleagues, turned to Mr. Chen, and said quickly:

"I will present this letter to our general immediately, Mr. Chen, please go back first, the people on the road will not hurt Mr., how can I say that Mr. is also the vice president of the Hanzhong Chamber of Commerce, they are still counting on your caravan to eat, don't worry, sir, go back, thank you!"

"You're welcome, you're welcome, then...... The contemptible man has taken his leave! ”

Mr. Chan waved at the two officers, and hurriedly climbed into the carriage and got into the carriage, and the chariot man turned the horse's head and quickly drove the carriage in the direction of the city gate.

In the carriage, a young man who couldn't see his face clearly thanked Mr. Chen sincerely: "Thank you, Uncle Chen, you can't have a meal during the Chinese New Year, and my little nephew can't go away!" ”

Mr. Chen laughed in a low voice: "Virtuous nephew, don't be polite, uncle can't wait to get rid of this gang of rampant guest troops as soon as possible, since they have been stationed, Hanzhong City and the surrounding hundreds of miles of fathers and villagers have not had a good day, under their coercion, our chamber of commerce has to subsidize them with 20,000 yuan of military salary every month, I really hate them." ”

"Uncle Chen can bear with it, my father said, at most, it will only be a year, and the guest troops stationed in the Sichuan-Shaanxi border area will be withdrawn, even if they don't leave, they will be beaten away, and then the fathers and villagers in Hanzhong will not be oppressed." The young man whispered comfortingly.

In the headquarters of the Nanguan battalion, the sturdy Feng Yuxiang read the letter under the nervous gaze of the generals, and casually handed it to Jia Deyao, the eldest brother who came to the banquet and the commander of the 15th Mixed Brigade: "I didn't expect that as soon as we were about to leave, Xiao Yimin sent the letter, and his words seemed very sincere!" ”

Jia Deyao read it quickly, and after reading it, he slowly folded the letterhead and put it into the envelope unhurriedly: "Brother Xian, I'm afraid this is a salute before a soldier, it seems that this time it is difficult to go south." ”

"yes!"

Feng Yuxiang let out a long sigh: "Shu Road is difficult, it is difficult to go to the blue sky!" If Xiao Yimin colluded with the local militia groups along the way and his friends on the road on the hills, and threw out a few high-powered grenades made in Ya'an, we would have nowhere to hide, even if he didn't shoot, he would encourage the people from all over the road to come to the clear fields, and he would be able to starve thousands of brothers to death. ”

Jia Deyao nodded, and offered advice for his brother Feng Yuxiang:

"Brother Xian, don't go south first, just find a reason to prevaricate the marshal and Chen Eun, at present, it seems that although Chen Eun easily defeated Zhou Jun's first army of the Sichuan army and occupied Yucheng, he still did not dare to go west. According to the intelligence bulletins and news analysis in the newspapers over the past few days, Wang Lingji, the general of the Sichuan Army, did not agree to take up the post of envoy to Yucheng for a day, and Chen Eun and the 8,000 Hunan troops he brought with him did not dare to act rashly, not to mention that more than 7,000 officers and men of Sun Zhaoluan's Third Division of the Sichuan Army, who had already taken refuge in Xiao Yimin, had slowly advanced eastward and blocked the line from Anyue to Suining.

"In such a situation, as long as Chen Eun does not grasp the situation in Sichuan, there is no need for us to rush south, we can't make wedding clothes for others, it's not easy to pull up a team!"

Feng Yuxiang nodded heavily: "The affairs of Sichuan still have to be solved by Chen Eun, we are just helping on the side, even if Chen Eun takes Sichuan, we will not get any benefits." The eldest brother is right, the younger brother will sit in Hanzhong and wait slowly, watch slowly, if he is really urgent, he will take a group to slowly go south, as long as Chen Eun does not occupy Chengdu for a day, the younger brother will wait for him for a day. ”

Jia Deyao raised his glass with confidence: "Brother Xian, what do you think of Xiao Yimin, the commander of the Sichuan Army's border defense?" ”

Feng Yuxiang shook his head: "Except for the rumors in the army and those in the newspapers, the others are not very clear, according to the general analysis in the army, this person is a ruthless character who kills decisively, and even the Kuomintang Premier Sun Yat-sen and the commander of the Dian Army, Cai Yi, have been disgraced by him, which shows that this person is scheming and has extraordinary strength."

"The younger brother estimates that in addition to the Third Division of the Sichuan Army attached to Xiao Yimin and the Fourth Division of the Sichuan Army, which originally belonged to the border army system, there are no less than 50,000 border officers and soldiers under Xiao Yimin, and they are well-equipped and can fight well, otherwise, why wouldn't Chen Eun dare to say a cruel word to him?

"The big brother of the Sichuan newspaper in the past two days has also read it, the Sichuan overseer Hu Jingyi can't speak at all, and the whole of Sichuan is opposed to Chen Eun leading his troops into Sichuan, Xiao Yimin didn't say a word at such a time, it can be seen that this person is extremely insidious, and he has to deal with it carefully!"

Jia Deyao agreed: "That's right! Let's take the 'Zhong Ying case' as an example, because of Xiao Yimin's upper and lower activities, the marshal not only let go of the unruly and bold Zhong Ying, but also appointed Zhong Ying as the deputy commander of the Sichuan Border Army yesterday. ”

Feng Yuxiang nodded, and suddenly asked about an important matter: "By the way, big brother, can you convene a meeting with those people from the Chamber of Commerce in the past two days?" ”

"What does Brother Xian want to know?" Judd-Yao was a little surprised.

Feng Yuxiang explained solemnly: "The younger brother wants to understand the heroes of northern Sichuan, among which the Guangyuan militia with a regular infantry regiment is the most important, and Zhang Yuan, who is also the head of the militia as the county magistrate. Over the past six months or so, we have all seen that all kinds of weapons and ammunition, civilian explosives, sulfuric acid, caustic soda, soap, soap, laundry, and other goods made in Sichuan have been continuously sold to Shaanxi and various parts of the northwest, and traditional Chinese medicine, leather, horses, cattle and sheep from Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo have been continuously transported to Sichuan, mostly through the trade routes controlled by Zhang Yuan.

"Two months ago, after the militia in Mianyang was suddenly reorganized into the Sichuan Frontier Army's Reading Force, a large number of Ganshan and western Henan refugees were involved in the expansion of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Commercial Road, and it was rumored that the Sichuan army recruited thousands of young and strong people from Ganshan and Henan to join the army, if this is the case, Mianyang to the front line of Jiange, I am afraid it has been in the hands of Xiao Yimin's border army."

Jia Deyao immediately agreed: "Okay! Tomorrow, Brother Yu will convene the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and we will find out together by asking. ”

At this point, Feng Yuxiang's 16th Mixed Brigade, which was originally scheduled to go south from Hanzhong to oppress Chengdu, changed its original plan, and continued to squat in the Nanguan camp in Hanzhong on the grounds that there was a shortage of food and salaries and urgently needed replenishment.

Yuan Shikai, who was being disturbed by the "21 Articles", had no way to do anything except to give Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Border Army, a few harshly worded instructions, which could not change the confrontation between the Sichuan army and the guest army in Sichuan.

Seeing Chen Eun's complaint telegram flying like snowflakes, and the voices of all walks of life in Sichuan opposing the entry of the guest army into Sichuan became louder and louder, Yuan Shikai was annoyed, and secretly ordered Tang Jiyao, the overseer of Yunnan, to immediately lead his troops to attack southern Sichuan, and ordered Cao Kun, the commander of the river defense in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River stationed in Wuchang, to lead his troops into Sichuan to support Chen Eun, and then announced two shocking military orders to the national press:

From then on, Lieutenant General Xiao Yimin, former commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Frontier Army, was transferred to the post of deputy chief of general staff of the Central Military Department, and concurrently served as the head of the Baoding Army Military Academy!

In addition, Hu Jingyi, the military affairs supervisor of Sichuan Province, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Frontier Army, with full authority over all departments of the Sichuan Frontier Army.

As soon as the military order was issued, the whole country attracted attention, and all circles in Sichuan immediately raised strong voices of opposition; while asking the Central Military and Political Ministry and President Yuan Da to retract the order, all newspapers seized on the Wanxian County Tax Collection and Inspection Bureau, which was set up by the Central Ministry of Finance without the consent of the Sichuan Provincial Council, and the Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Yucheng Chamber of Commerce, the Sichuan Jiangyun Trade Union, and other non-governmental organizations issued statements one after another, sternly opposing the central political axe's gross interference in Sichuan's civil affairs and refusing to pay taxes to any tax collection department set up without the consent of the Sichuan Provincial Council and the provincial political axe. He called on the people of Wanxian County and all parts of eastern Sichuan to unite to protect their legitimate rights and interests and overthrow the central tax administration department that had taken advantage of the situation.

Yuan Shikai's two orders turned into a surging anti-tax movement in eastern Sichuan, and huge demonstrations appeared in Chengdu, Yucheng and Wanxian counties, which made Chen Eun, who was unable to move an inch in Chongqing, unexpected, and even more sad.

What made Chen Eun feel even more powerless was that the officers and soldiers of the two brigades of Hunan brought into Yucheng were lax in military discipline, flying high, forcibly buying and selling and molesting women, which from time to time triggered armed conflicts between the army and the people, and the unbearable Yucheng robe buddies finally became angry and began to carry out assassination activities in an organized and planned manner, making the entire Yucheng chickens and dogs go, and the guns and swords were shining every day, and the angry Hunan army also launched a ruthless retaliatory attack, and Chen Eun finally triggered a fierce condemnation of the whole Sichuan.

On 4 May, Yuan Shikai, who was closely following the progress of the "21 Articles" talks, suddenly received a telegram from Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Frontier Army.

Yuan Shikai was furious after reading the telegram, smashed the exquisite teacup and kicked the chair away, and the civil and military forces around him were so frightened that their faces were colorless, and they all knelt down to ask the handsome man to calm his anger.

Yang Du, who was awarded the title of Shaoqing but could not be reused, stepped forward and quietly picked up the telegram on the ground, and was immediately stunned by the content on it, but it was ridiculous, he never thought that Xiao Yimin would be so bold in the form of admonition, unscrupulously teasing the high-ranking national commander Yuan Shikai.

The message reads:

I implore the marshal to retract his fate, if the marshal really wants his subordinates to go to Beijing to take up his post, he must wait for his subordinates' wives to give birth to their children. In addition, I implore the marshal not to sign the 21 Articles, which are the founder of the Chinese New Army and the Chinese revolution, and his merits are far above Washington, and if he signs the 21 Articles, the great marshal's reputation will be ruined. Finally, I implore the marshal not to reform and become an emperor, the emperor in troubled times is not good, few have a good end, Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan border army, respectfully!

(To be continued)