The streams and riverbeds of the mountains are full of pebbles of all sizes, glowing white in the sunlight. The water is clear and transparent, flowing gently, flowing deep into the depths, turning a deep blue.

The silence of the valley was suddenly broken by a burst of people and horses, and soldiers with loaded guns were carrying rifles and hurrying forward along the mountains, and mule teams carrying boxes of ammunition on both sides of the troops, slowly climbing the mountain under the guidance of the soldiers. Horses and mules carrying mountain cannons folded into pieces crawled heavily through the ranks.

In the mountainous area of Wuling Mountain, the grass is deep and the forest is dense, and the road is few and the slope is steep. The arm-thick miscellaneous trees on the mountain are crowded among the trees, cutting constantly, and they cannot be pushed down, which is like a natural barrier. Some weeds are more than three feet tall. There are miscellaneous trees in the grass, and in the miscellaneous trees are coiled with the lala martingale. Although it's only May, the temperature here is as high as 35 or 6 degrees. All this brought unimaginable difficulties to the officers and men of the anti-Russian volunteers who were rushing south in the Wuling Mountain Range.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! ”

The urging of the officers made the soldiers rush into the ravines where there was no way to find, and when they encountered the seamless mountain forest, the sharp soldiers with large swords flew sideways from side to side, cutting the passage for the troops...... On a rock like a lying ox, a major officer stood holding a map, first looking around the map, and then calculating the speed of the march with the gauge in his hand.

"Too slow! Too slow! Speed up! Go up fast! ”

"Yes!"

Under the rocks like a cow, as soon as Zheng Changgeng heard the order of the battalion, he stood still and ordered the whole company.

"Throw away your backpack and extra clothes! The spearhead platoon continues to open the way, and the brothers of the battalion headquarters assist the firearms company in carrying ammunition! ”

After hearing the commander's order, the Tumen immediately complied. His decision was undoubtedly the right one. The infantry carried nearly 70 catties each, and the firearms platoon carried nearly 100 catties per person. When all this is done, "Which unit are you transferred from?" ”

"Of the Thirteenth Regiment!"

"What about you?"

"Twenty-one regiment!"

"Sixth Regiment's"

The soldiers in the team of the Rapid Infantry Army chatted with each other, two weeks ago, after the Volunteer Army was reorganized into the Liberation Army, the establishment was disrupted, and as the elite of the Volunteer Army, the 31st Division of the Liberation Army gathered the three elite regiments of the Volunteer Army, and the reconnaissance battalion of the natural division also had scouts from the three regiments, the mountains of Wuling Mountain were steep, rugged and difficult to walk, and the night fell, and the mouth was dry after running for a day, low back pain and brain swelling, and the legs were weak. Although they threw everything away, the weapons, ammunition, and raw and cooked rations enough to eat for seven days, together with more than a dozen kilograms, were overwhelming, and every step required great effort.

"Quick! Hurry up, brothers! Military law is ruthless! ”

An officer's shout just fell. A sergeant who turned back from the top platoon couldn't help but scratch it open.

"Damn! Let them enforce military law! Shoot, shoot us all! Those bastards in the staff, they know how to measure maps with a ruler, but are we walking in a straight line? Let them see, is this mountain climbed by man? Ask them, the road, where is the road taken......"

"Sergeant, don't scratch!"

The green tendons on the second lieutenant's forehead, tired and sweaty, squirmed, and he licked his chapped lips and took a sip from the kettle. Then he shouted orders to the warriors.

"Carry weapons and ammunition well, leave enough dry food for each person for two days, and a water kettle, which must not be lost! Throw the rest! ”

The sun is sinking, the shadows are all around, the officers and soldiers who have been marching in the mountains for a day have long since stopped bending their legs, even the officers who usually pay attention to the image, this will also follow everyone to struggle forward, four days and four nights of difficult marching, so that many people have blisters and blood blisters on their feet, and even some people's feet blisters, blood blisters and shoes and socks stick together, every step is painful.

When the major, who had rarely spoken, checked the surrounding terrain and found the location of the troops on the map, his face, which had been softened, finally eased a little.

"Alright, we've got there!"

When they heard that they had reached their designated position, they fell to the ground as if they were paralyzed. However, after receiving the officer's order, the sergeant began to check the equipment in each squad, and the weapons and ammunition were not lost. It's just that most of the war soil has already put the kettle and dry food on the way.

The cooking class pooled the only dry food and water and distributed it. After eating a half-starved big pot meal, the whole camp basically ran out of food and water. At this time, the people were sleepy and tired, and they did not have time to choose a place, and when they heard the big rest, the officers and men lay down on the spot and soon fell asleep.

Huang Lihua, who looked a little wooden, rolled up his sleeves and looked at the time, on the battlefield, time is always calculated in minutes and seconds. When I arrived at the big rest point, I was already 102 minutes later than the arrival time specified by my superiors!

Although he had a clear conscience, he knew what it meant to miss 102 minutes in four days.

At night, it was as dark as a deep pool with no edge in sight and no bottom in sight. In the bushes under the cliff, Huang Lihua gathered all squads and platoon leaders to gather together to study the next move. He spread out the map in the dark night, and with the light of the flashlight box hanging on his shoulder, he pointed out with his hand a high ground composed of two mountain bags, the nameless high ground and the main peak.

"We are now separated from the main army, wedged into the belly of the enemy alone, and this place is still 120 kilometers from the capital. From crossing Pingding Mountain, passing through Du Mountain to Wuzhi Mountain, our whereabouts have been exposed, not to mention that there are three divisions behind us! Tomorrow we still have a map of 30 kilometers of straight mountain road to catch, now we do not know whether the mountain stream in front of us to block the enemy, but if Suo Lu mobilizes troops in the mountains to block the enemy, the enemy will definitely be condescending, to wait for work, from the terrain point of view, we along the route, quite a man is a pass, ten thousand people do not open. We have limited firepower, which determines our style of play, we must not attack, we must be skillful. ”

As the battalion commander, Huang Lihua knew very well the equipment in the battalion, and the only heavy weapons were a tripod, a pounder gun and four 82mm mortars, which really blocked the enemy, and it was impossible to rely on this kind of firepower alone to defeat the dangerous place where the enemy was stationed. It's easy to say, but what a clever way to do it?

"Now that our battalion has run out of food and water, in this ravine, silver is not as good as straw paper, and if it does not hit the Hebei Plain, it will be impossible to replenish it for a while, and the action must be rapid. While the enemy is not yet aware of us, I suggest that we march rapidly tonight, and if we encounter the enemy, we should give full play to our advantage in night combat and engage the enemy in close combat. Strive to pounce on this foggy mountain tomorrow! At this rate, tomorrow night, the large army will enter the Hebei Plain! ”

"Hebei Plain!"

Under the kerosene lamp, Lin Yanren stared at the map and spit out four words lightly. At this time, he had already changed into a black lieutenant general of the Liberation Army, with two white copper square stars on the top three leaves of pine and cypress leaves on a red background, flashing with a little brilliance under the light.

"After the troops crossed Yanshan and arrived at the Hebei Plain, they could directly penetrate the capital, 90 kilometers, 180 miles, two nights and one day...... Well, we will arrive in the capital on the 23rd! ”

Lin Yanren's eyebrows flashed with a little pride, he is not only a young lieutenant general in the early years of the Liberation Army, but also the first contribution to the recovery - to capture the Beijing Division!

"Gyeonggi Essentials!"

The corners of his lips grinned, Lin Yanren's face squeezed out a sneer, and his head raised slightly.

"Take the new, where is Yuan Shikai's troops now?"

"Commander, Yuan Shikai's first town in Beiyang has arrived in Zhuozhou, and the second town is stationed west of the North Canal, looking at Tianjin across the canal, and the intelligence transferred from the intelligence department shows that Yuan Shikai is colluding with various countries in Tianjin."

Yue Zhiqin glanced at the commander and replied seriously.

"Let that Yuan Datou go to hook up! His collusion is just to make a wedding dress for us! ”

Lin Yanren smiled proudly.

"When he gets through it, we will be able to take the capital, and then Lao Tzu will pull Cixi's old witch out to parade the streets......"

"Commander, the marshal has clearly ordered that the personality of Guangxu and Cixi must not be insulted!"

Yue Zhiqin frowned slightly, reminding the commander in front of him.

"I know, doesn't the handsome just want to send Cixi's old lady and Guangxu's fake emperor to court!"

Nodding lightly, Lin Yanren looked disapproving.

"This Manchu Qing Dynasty owes us a blood debt for two hundred and sixty years, and this blood debt is always to be tasted!"

Saying that, the temperature in the headquarters of the Second Army of the Liberation Army suddenly became cold, Yue Zhiqin looked at the commander in surprise, and seemed to not understand why the commander said this.

His reaction fell in Lin Yanren's eyes, only to be exchanged for a long laugh.

"Do you think I'm going to bloody the capital?"

Yue Zhiqin didn't speak, just looked at the commander, "Bloodbathing the capital, I won't do it!" ”

Shaking his head, Lin Yanren added.

"But if I take the capital, I won't do anything, but I can't give up that heart!"

With a cold face, Lin Yanren sighed in his heart, there are some things he must do, if he doesn't do it...... Although the Beiyang army of Yuan Shikai, who was recovered by Yi Zhiguang, was close to Tianjin, but it was still more than ten miles away from the North Canal, that is, the non-garrison area demarcated during the Xinchou period, and stopped stationing, and the "Xinchou Treaty" in addition to compensating the foreign powers for one or two pieces of silver according to the Yellow Book of the Household Department, also stipulated that "the Chinese [***] team is not allowed to station troops within 20 kilometers of Tianjin", which is actually depriving the Qing political axe of the right to garrison troops in the entire Tianjin city. Tianjin is the gateway to Yanjing, if the Chinese [***] team cannot be stationed in Tianjin, the Western powers can come to Yanjing at any time to blackmail the Qing political axe, which is a reality that the Qing political axe does not want to see. And none of the civil and military officials of the Qing Dynasty dared to take over the Tianjin City, where the Eight-Nation Coalition was rampaging through the streets, without a single soldier and a single soldier. In the end, the Qing government axe handed over this thorny problem to Yuan Shikai, who had contributed to the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong.

Yuan Shikai had trained the Qing government axe new army and had a certain understanding of the military and police system in the West. Therefore, before taking over Tianjin, Yuan selected 3,000 soldiers from his own army for short-term police training to familiarize them with the functions of the police, and then took off their military uniforms and changed into police uniforms, which they called "Tianjin Police". When receiving it, Yuan Shikai ordered local officials to lead the 3,000 police chiefs to drive directly into Tianjin, on the one hand, to maintain social order, and on the other hand, to be on military alert.

Thanks to the presence of special police officers to maintain social order, Tianjin's public order swept away the chaotic situation of the past and became the highest among all provinces in the country. Although it was later easy to become the new army of the Tianjin police, most of them changed into military uniforms with the expansion of the army in Beiyang, but after all, the Tianjin police were Yuan Shikai's long-term management system, and it was his confidant Zhao Bingjun who ran the Tianjin police, and the Tianjin prefect was Ling Fupeng, who took over Tianjin with him.

"Tianjin's name has not been restored, but it has been restored!"

It is this relationship that makes the capital because of Yuan Shikai's rebellion, when the market is in turmoil, Tianjin is surprisingly calm, of course, in addition to this relationship, the most important thing is the garrison of the countries in Tianjin, the garrison of this country is to let the gentry and people of Tianjin settle down, waiting for the change of the king's banner at the head of the city.

Tianjin Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Minister Xingyuan, has been destroyed in the Gengzi Rebellion, the new site was originally intended as the emperor's military parade palace, Wuxu coup, the military parade ceremony is not raised, Yuan Shikai estimated that the emperor will never return to Tianjin, so please change to Beiyang Minister Xingyuan, although it is the Beiyang Minister Xingyuan, but from Yuan Shikai began to train the army, basically Tianjin's Xingyuan and Baoding's Governor's Mansion ran at both ends, and after this year's "Chen Rebellion Rebellion", Yuan Shikai was out of Beijing, and went directly to Baoding by train, and even one was not exposed in Tianjin.

After nightfall, the Beiyang minister's line seems to be different from the past, there are Tianjin policemen with loaded guns standing outside the line, and there are several Western-style carriages parked on the street in front of the door, which are also dotted with two "mustang" cars, the brightly lit Xingyuan big signing room will become a Western scene, the mahogany circle chair is replaced by a Western-style sofa soft chair, a long table in the signing room is covered with crimson cloth, and there are several Western-style table lamps in the center of the long table.

There are a row of ten Europeans on one side of the table, and there are more than a dozen Europeans sitting on the four rows of sofas in the back row, and there is a row of one person on the opposite side, and in the center is an Oriental man with a slightly fat figure and a somewhat large head.

"This ......"

Yuan Shikai's voice paused slightly, with a smile like Maitreya on his face.

"This vice chairman, on the orders of the ruling party, has recovered the northern rivers and mountains, and now the officers and soldiers of a town have arrived at the North Canal, and in order to avoid misunderstanding, the troops have stopped to the west of the North Canal! Now, the recovery of the whole country is just around the corner, and I also ask all countries to abide by the "Neutrality Rules" and not leave it difficult for me to recover the righteous army! ”

On the other side, the counselors of the legations, who had come to the negotiating table on behalf of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia, discussed with each other before Zhu Erdian, who had been sent by the British legation, opened his mouth to reply.

"Assuming that we agree to your army's actions, your army can launch an attack on the capital, but if there is any harm to the embassy area of Dongjiaomin Lane."

"This is natural, the army of this vice chairman, attacking the capital, just to expel the Manchurians, will never leave all friends in trouble!"

Yuan Shikai, who was smiling, replied, and there was no doubt at all about the capital.

"Now the first town has attacked the standing army of the Beijing Banner in Zhuozhou, and in two days, the standing army of the Beijing Banner will collapse, and the gate of the Beijing Division will be opened, and there will be no large-scale war in the capital at that time, and the embassy area will be safe!"

"Say so!"

And Zhu Erdian asked tightly.

"If the Standing Army of the Beijing Banner is defeated, then what if the defeated army and refugees storm the embassy area?"

"This ......"

Zhu Erdian's rhetorical question only made Yuan Shikai dumbfounded, and there must be people who want to hide in the embassy area at that time, especially those princes and ministers, there are already some princes and ministers who have hid in the Tianjin concession, and the instructions from Nanjing are very clear, not a single Manchu official, prince or prince must not be released to avoid outsiders or flee abroad.

"All countries have garrisons in the embassy area, if the countries strictly order to enter the embassy area or concession without pretense, I think with the power of each [***] team, I can make the defeated army and refugees unable to storm the embassy area, and after the arrival of my republican army, the refugees and the defeated army can be eliminated!"

Zhu Erdian thought this sentence was difficult to answer, and only after whispering with Enek of the American Legation who was seated next before replying.

"We have some of our friends in the capital, and we hope to be able to get a guarantee of the safety of your army, and a guarantee of the safety of those friends."

Yuan Shikai thought for a while before he spoke.

"Not so! If the countries blindly shelter the friends of Counselor Zhu Erdian, it will always be in the interest of our country, but if it is properly negotiated, I think it will always be fine. ”

After pondering for a while, Zhu Erdian and others talked softly for a few words, then nodded, he and Yuan Shikai are no strangers, as early as more than 20 years ago, Yuan Shikai had a very close relationship when he was in North Korea, and in the past nearly a month, the two have discussed some secrets in Baoding many times.

In the past few days, he had claimed to the ministers of various countries in the capital that without Yuan Shikai, the order of China and the interests of foreign countries would not be guaranteed, but this was not supported by the ministers, after all, compared to the power of Yuan Shikai in Nanjing, Zhu Erdian was a smart man, and at this critical moment, he met with Yuan Shikai almost every day to persuade him to temporarily obey Nanjing's orders.

Of course, Yuan Shikai expressed his understanding of this, and he also had his own ideas, with the help of the power of ministers from various countries to enable himself to stay in the north, and Zhu Erdian only expressed his understanding, although Britain needed a friendly friend, but compared to Yuan Shikai, London was more full of favor towards Chen Moran, as long as he thought that the future queen of China was a British nobleman, the politicians in London were full of expectations for the future of China, which was also one of the reasons why many politicians in Britain advocated that the Nanjing regime must be recognized immediately.

"Your Excellency, Vice Chairman, there is one thing I need to remind Your Excellency!"

Yuan Shikai raised his eyebrows and looked at Zhu Erdian.

"Our promise is for the Nanjing political axe, not just the ......"

Although Zhu Erdian was tempted to say that this promise was made to Yuan Shikai, the resolution made by the legation was to Nanjing. Listening to this sentence, even if he was as shrewd as Yuan Shikai, he was ignorant, and he only felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of what was going on.

"The Beiyang Army is also part of the Liberation Army!"

"And what about the anti-Russian volunteers?"

(To be continued)