The battle of Hankou, the battle of Qinzhou, and the battle of Jiange, the difference between before and after was no more than three days, the backward command system of Beiyang had no time to coordinate at all, Hankou was lost, and the Beiyang Army in the south should shrink up, instead of recklessly attacking Qinzhou, the Shaanxi and Gansu troops did not have an intuitive understanding of the Sichuan army, and the Beiyang side did not introduce them to them, so that Lu Jianzhang and Zhang Guangjian plunged into the ambush and suffered heavy losses.

The three defeats can be said to highlight the incompetence and inefficiency of the Beiyang system, and then the protection [***] took advantage of the victory to pursue, Cai Yi commanded the Yunnan and Guizhou army, and won a great victory in Mayang, and completely defeated Ma Jizeng, Ma Jizeng committed suicide by taking poison, and was assassinated at the same time as the Sichuan army recovered Guangyuan, and the soldiers pointed directly at Hanzhong, Shaanxi.

Protecting [***] won a big victory across the board, and the situation in the world also changed, Qiao Yu was in Yucheng at this time to command the overall situation, and immediately invited Cai Ye to discuss the next action plan, and soon Cai Ye rushed to Yucheng.

"Qiao Shuai, Hu [***] won a complete victory, and in just two months, more than 60,000 Beiyang troops were wiped out, and the entire south can be determined, I think the next step is to attack Yanjing and completely end the rule of Beiyang!"

Cai Ye now seems to be in high spirits, although the power of Sichuan is the most powerful in the protection of [***], but after all, Cai Ye is the first to announce the reading power, which is also a huge advantage, and the benefits of the Dian army in the national defense movement are absolutely indispensable.

When Qiao Yu saw Cai Yi's main battle, he smiled bitterly: "Brother Jiang, you calculate how much money we spent on this war for Songpo!" ”

Jiang Baili turned out to be the answer: "Songpo, this time the Sichuan army has dispatched a total of five divisions, with more than 50,000 troops, and most of the materials consumed by Xia Douyin's Hubei army and the Yunnan and Guizhou armies have to be borne by Sichuan, and Sichuan has spent a total of 87 million yuan in military spending so far!" ”

After Jiang Baili Jiang's number came out, Cai Ye was also stunned, of course he knew that Sichuan was not a small amount, but when he heard the astronomical figure that was close to 90 million oceans, Cai Ye was also dizzy, and the cannon sounded 10,000 taels of gold, which was really true.

"Qiao Shuai, Brother Jiang, you can't be wrong, this is already the total tax revenue of Beiyang Political Axe for a year, right?"

"Songpo, even if it's wrong, it's us who counts less!" Jiang Baili said: "Sichuan has provided a total of 18 million arms and materials to the two armies of Yunnan and Guizhou, and this is the material that has been handed over to you, and a large number of materials have been lost in the process of transportation, the road to the southwest is too difficult, the actual loss is above 30 million, and the cost of the Beichuan and Dongchuan battlefields is even more amazing, not only to fight, but also to pacify the locality, in order to compensate for the damaged houses in Hankou, it has cost 2 million yuan, in addition to the need to mobilize war materials, Sichuan has pushed off nearly 30% of the European orders, The loss of the economy is even more! ”

Jiang Baili briefly introduced the cost to Cai Yi, Qiao Yu has a more detailed account in his heart, Sichuan's economic loss this time is more than 300 million yuan, although Sichuan will beat Beiyang fart and pee, it looks majestic, but it is also bitter to know, the strong combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army comes from advanced equipment, especially aircraft, the use of large-caliber heavy artillery, but these weapons are also very difficult to transport, but Shu Road is famous for its difficulty, that is, the First World War gave Sichuan a huge accumulation, Otherwise, Sichuan can't fight this kind of battle at all, and powerful weapons look good, but one logistics is enough to bend people down.

After listening to Jiang Baili's introduction, Cai Yi also sighed for a while: "Qiao Shuai, you are telling me this now, is it that the war can't go on?" ”

Qiao Yu nodded: "Songpo, if we continue to fight, we will be farther and farther away from Sichuan, our supply lines will be longer and longer, and the larger the territory we occupy, it is possible that the top and bottom of Beiyang will be united together because of the huge pressure to eliminate misunderstandings, and now, including the Entente, the great powers of all countries have warned me, asking to maintain stability in the Far East and ensure the supply of the European battlefield, especially when it comes to this, it is even threatening to send troops to help Beiyang fight, so it is a little difficult to continue fighting!" ”

"Qiao Shuai, I know very well how much effort Sichuan has made to overthrow Yuan Shikai, but now that it is the most critical time, we can overthrow Yuan Shikai if we work harder, if we give up, then all the efforts will be wasted, do we have to admit that Yuan Shikai is the emperor?"

Jiang Baili shook his head on the side: "Songpo, you misunderstood, Qiao Shuai is saying that we can't continue large-scale operations now, but we can also rely on small-scale battles to continuously attack Beiyang, and now Beiyang is also detached, we can rely on strong pressure to force some powerful figures in Beiyang to stand up and overthrow Yuan Shikai's rule, in addition, we must also integrate the internal protection of [***] and establish a stronger connection, Lu Rongting of Liangguang also joined the ranks of protecting [***], protecting [***] It has reached five provinces, and the rule of Beiyang in the other two lakes region has also collapsed, we must establish a new order as soon as possible, establish a stable rear, if the Beiyang Army continues to support Yuan Shikai, it is not too late for us to carry out the Northern Expedition! ”

The reason given by Jiang Baili is very sufficient, it is time to integrate it, for example, Liu Xianshi and his ilk must be disposed of, and the two lakes and two Guangzhous that are newly attached to the protection [***] must also be dealt with, otherwise the foundation of the protection [***] is unstable, and there is no way to continue to march.

Of course, this is Qiao Yu's reason for Cai Yi, he still has his own calculations, the Protectorate War has reached this point, Qiao Yu has an understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army, the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army is absolutely second to none in the country, but the Sichuan army also has a fatal weakness, that is, logistics, which is also the inevitable path chosen by Qiao Yu, Sichuan wants to rely on a strong industry to arm a strong army, which is similar to the thinking of the United States in later generations.

This way of building the army requires huge logistical support, otherwise this army is not as good as the guerrillas, and now the Hubei battlefield is because of the Yangtze River waterway and the Sichuan-Han railway to maintain logistics, the battlefield of Beichuan Sichuan is an internal line of operations, the next step to continue to fight, the loss will inevitably increase exponentially, and at that time it will inevitably affect the industrial process of Sichuan, and now Qiao Yu has no intention of fighting, he is going to start reaping the fruits, but Qiao Yu's attention is not the great rivers and mountains of the Central Plains, he is staring at Yungui.

"Songpo, this is a telegram sent to me by Duan Qirui, you might as well take a look!"

Qiao Yu handed a telegram to Cai Yi between speaking, Cai Yi took a look, this telegram was sent by Duan Qirui to Qiao Yu, in the telegram Duan Qirui just asked Qiao Yu to protect the surnames of Lu Jianzhang and Long Jiguang, the two governors, and there was no other content, but the more there was no other content, the more people imagined, at this juncture Duan Qirui sent such a telegram, which is equivalent to showing goodwill to the protector [***] and striving for reconciliation between the two sides, Qiao Yu knows very well that Duan Qirui is also ready to replace Yuan Shikai after sending this telegram, Preparation to become the new head of Beiyang.

How shrewd Cai Yi was, he naturally guessed Duan Qirui's thoughts, and Cai Yi also nodded, "Qiao Shuai, since Duan Qirui has the heart to negotiate peace with us, we might as well contact and see what conditions Duan Qirui can give, but canceling the imperial system is our unshakable bottom line!" ”

"This is natural, but in addition to contacting Duan Qirui, we also have to hold a [***] conference to invite Lu Rongting, Tang Xiangming, and Tan Yanmin to Yucheng to discuss the country!"

Qiao Yu convened the meeting in the name of protecting the [***] ruler at this moment, and Cai Ye had no choice but to obey, and after discussing it properly, he went separately and prepared to go.

Qiao Yu knew very well that it was necessary to get what he wanted in the next step and cooperate with Duan Qirui, the successor head of Beiyang, so he personally drafted a telegram and sent it to Duan Qirui.

Duan Qirui is very old in Beiyang, and his power is second only to Yuan Shikai, so after Lao Yuan ascended the throne of the president, he frequently suppressed Duan Qirui, because Duan Qirui opposed the imperial system, Yuan Shikai dismissed Duan Qirui's army chief, and the old Duan Suo surname lived in seclusion in Yanjing Xishan, and anyone with a discerning eye knew that the rift between Duan Qirui and Yuan Shikai had reached the point of irreconcilability.

Although Lao Duan lived in seclusion in Xishan, he was not idle, and Yuan Shikai lived in seclusion in Huanshang Village, Lao Duan was also closely watching the situation in the country, especially after the outbreak of the Protectorate War, the Sichuan army went to war, just after the Sichuan army won three big victories in a row, Duan Qirui couldn't sit still anymore, so he sent a telegram to Qiao Yu, wanting to test Qiao Yu's attitude.

"Zhiweng, Qiao Yu has sent a callback!" Duan Qirui's henchman Xu Shuzheng sent a telegram to Lao Duan, Duan Qirui took it and looked at it carefully, Qiao Yu said a total of two meanings in the telegram, the first Qiao Yu promised Duan Qirui to treat Lu Jianzhang and Long Jiguang well, and the second is that Qiao Yu hoped that Duan Qirui could stand up and avoid the continuation of the war.

"Youzheng, what do you think of Qiao Yu's meaning?"

"Zhi Weng, I think Qiao Yu hopes that you can come forward to overthrow Yuan Xiangcheng!" Xu Shuzheng paused: "This farce of being the emperor should also end, otherwise Beiyang will continue to be torn apart, centrifugal and detached, and it will only cheapen outsiders!" ”

This is also a problem that Xu Shuzheng has been discussing these days, the Beiyang Army is known as the strongest army in the world, but it has been defeated repeatedly in the War to Protect the Country, to a large extent, it is also the detachment of soldiers from morality, they are unwilling to sell their lives, and the really capable commanders have not been reused, and there are a group of people on the front line who tend to be inflammatory, how can they be undefeated.

"It's time to clean up the mess, we can't let Beiyang fall like this!" Duan Qirui finally made up his mind, and the relationship between Xi Yue and Yuan Shikai also came to naught at this moment, and Duan Qirui began to contact the Beiyang generals in a big way, preparing to attack Yuan Shikai.

At this moment, Qiao Yu publicly held a press conference in Yucheng, announcing to Chinese and foreign reporters the purpose of protecting [***], protecting [***] in order to maintain the republican form of government and oppose the imperial system, Yuan Shikai said that the emperor was perverse, and it was Yuan Shikai who was defending [***] to crusade, not to replace Beiyang, in order to show sincerity, Qiao Yu opened the prisoner of war camp to reporters, and showed all the prisoners in Beiyang in front of the world, these prisoners all received good treatment, sufficient food, and doctors to diagnose and treat diseases.

After the press conference, the views of only opposing Yuan Shikai and not anti-Beiyang quickly spread throughout the country!