Xiao Zhenlei also knew that after the 22nd Division's successful raid on Tianjin Wei, it would definitely not be able to hide it, although it was possible to control the telephone bureau and telegraph office in time, but all countries had concessions in Tianjinwei, and the consulates of various countries had their own telegraph rooms and transmitters, so the 22nd Division could not delay at all after controlling Tianjin Wei, and must rush to the capital before Yuan Shikai got the news, which is why Xiao Zhenlei emphasized that the action should be fast.

Since the defeat of the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the Beiyang Army at Taierzhuang, Feng Guozhang's defense line in Shandong has been very porous, and the evil consequences brought about by the demolition of the east wall and the repair of the west wall have finally appeared, that is, the collapse of the entire defense line.

The 21st Division launched an attack on the Beiyang Army to the east, and cooperated with the 25th and 30th Divisions on the front to attack the defense line of the Beiyang Army from the front and flanks.

Feng Guozhang applauded in Zaozhuang, and had to lead his troops to retreat to Qufu, and the remnants of the three divisions of the Beiyang Army in the east retreated to Linyi, but the 25th and 30th divisions of the Northern Expeditionary Army pursued closely, and it was another big battle to chase to the city of Linyi, and the Beiyang Army was defeated again, and the three divisions were left with only more than 10,000 people from more than 30,000 people in just three days.

In just a few days, the strength of Feng Guozhang's six divisions was able to retreat to Qufu, and only Lei Zhentian's 19th Division was still complete, and the establishment of other troops was completely chaotic, and the total strength added up was less than 23,000 people.

Cai Guodong immediately commanded the troops to follow Feng Guozhang closely, leaving only a small number of troops to maintain local law and order, and the large army was divided into two routes to attack Feng Guozhang's troops in Qufu. The four divisions of the Beiyang Army on the battlefield of the middle line have also been beaten by Zhang Xiaozhun and suffered heavy defeats one after another.

On September 8, he retreated to Feng Guozhang, who was already frightened. He didn't expect that the Northern Expeditionary Army's pursuit would be so fast, and he led his troops to Qufu just now. The Northern Expeditionary Army pursued him in two large armies, and before he could deploy a defense, he was chased to the city by the Northern Expeditionary Army.

As a last resort, Feng Guozhang had to lead his troops to evacuate to the north again, this time his army lost all its heavy weapons, and there was almost no artillery, and on the way to retreat, a large number of soldiers deserted and deserted, and there were 23,000 people when he retreated from Qufu, but when he led his troops to retreat to Jinan, there were less than 15,000 people left.

Mid-line battlefield. After two successive wars, more than 20,000 remnants of the six divisions of the Beiyang Army retreated to the front line of Xingtai, and after several days of fighting, the officers and men of Zhang Xiaozhun's department were extremely tired, and in order to continue to maintain combat effectiveness in the future, they had to let the troops stop their northward advance in Handan and stop to recuperate.

On the Western Front, the four divisions of Cai Yi and the four divisions of Cao Kun fought several battles on the Linfen front, each with its own victories and defeats. For a while, it was difficult to distinguish between the superior and the inferior, and the occupation temporarily formed a stalemate.

However, at this moment, Yan Xishan, the governor of Shanxi, suddenly announced that he had changed his banner and joined the camp of the Southern Northern Expeditionary Army. and personally led a division south to attack the back of Cao Kun's department. Cao Kun was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly led his army to retreat eastward, retreating all the way to Hebei to join the remnants of the Beiyang Army on the central battlefield in Xingtai.

When Xiao Zhenlei learned the news, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "This Yan Laoxi." Really good at doing business! ”

With Yan Laoxi's announcement of the change of banner, the forces of the Beiyang Army in Shanxi were swept away. Xiao Zhenlei immediately ordered Cai Ye to immediately lead his troops from Shanxi to the north to take a shortcut and approach the Beijing Division.

When the battle came to this point, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Beiyang Army was already sunset. This army, which had cost the Manchus countless money, was about to be annihilated in the torrent of history.

And this situation also made the powers start to panic even more, and Rizhiyi came to find Xiao Zhenlei more and more frequently, and at the same time he began to move around Nanjing.

On this day, Hu Weishan came to the Governor's Mansion to personally report to Xiao Zhenlei: "President, in the past three days, the Japanese Minister to China, Nichiyi, has visited Mr. Sun Wen for three consecutive days. ”

Xiao Zhenlei frowned when he heard this: "Think of a way, think of a way, I want to know what they are talking about!" ”

Hu Weishan hurriedly said: "Understand, I will start arranging it immediately!" In addition, the results of the investigation of the assassination case have come out, and the situation is beyond my expectations, no one thought that the final person behind the scenes would be him! ”

"Who is behind the scenes?"

Hu Weishan did not answer, but took out a stack of materials from his briefcase and handed it over and said, "President, you can see these investigation files clearly!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei immediately took the case file and checked it, and it was a quarter of an hour before he raised his head and sighed: "I didn't expect it to be him!" ”

Hu Weishan asked: "President, how to deal with this matter?" Will it be announced to the outside world or will it be ?????? ”

Xiao Zhenlei lit a cigarette and smoked, this matter made him hesitate, to say that this matter was enough to hit the reputation of the other party, so that the other party could no longer turn over, but unfortunately he couldn't do it now, after thinking about it for a long time, he spoke: "If this matter is announced now, then our southern provinces alliance will inevitably be dissolved immediately, and the Northern Expedition will be forced to be suspended, and now is the critical period to solve Yuan Shikai, we may only have this one chance, You must not let the Northern Expedition die in the middle of this incident, you can't let Yuan Shikai take a breath, or you don't fight, or if you want to fight, you will beat him so that he can't turn over, seal all the files and evidence of this case, no one is allowed to look at it without my order, and the witnesses related to this case will be held separately and strictly guarded, no one is allowed to visit without your handwritten order, and if anything goes wrong, you have to be fully responsible. ”

Hu Weishan's expression was dazed, and he said rightly: "Yes, president, I promise that there will be no problems!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei was quite surprised by the true identity of the person behind the assassination of Song, he didn't expect that it would be that person who instigated it, why that person did this, he really couldn't guess at all, although because of Song Jiaoren's death, that person could get the greatest benefit, but it was an irreparable loss to the entire People's Party.

The day after Hu Weishan came to the Governor's Mansion to report, Xiao Zhenlei was handling official business in the office. Cheng Biyao walked in and said, "Mr. Sun is here!" ”

"Oh?" Xiao Zhenlei stood up, thought for a while and said, "Let's go to the living room!" ”

"Good!" Cheng Baguio finished speaking and left.

Xiao Zhenlei walked back and forth in the office. Generally smoking a cigarette while thinking about Sun Wen's intention, he came for the railway? Or because of something else. I thought about it for a few minutes and didn't have a clue. After smoking a cigarette, he snuffed out the cigarette and walked out of the office.

After coming to the living room, Cheng Bayao was talking to Sun Wen, Xiao Zhenlei walked over quickly, stretched out his hand and smiled: "Mr. Sun is really a rare guest, welcome, welcome!" ”

Sun Wen got up and shook hands with Xiao Zhenlei and said with a smile: "You are busy with work, you shouldn't have come to disturb you, but I can't come if I don't come!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei stretched out his hand and asked Sun Wen to sit down and said, "Oh? Did something go wrong with the construction of the railway? ”

Sun Wendao shook his head and said: "That's not it, the construction of the railway is progressing smoothly, I came to you this time to have other things!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei hurriedly said: "Please instruct Mr. Sun!" ”

Sun Wen said with a smile: "I don't dare to give instructions, it's like this." During this period, many representatives from all walks of life came to me and said that because of the great disasters caused by the Northern Expedition, especially in the war zone, hundreds of people were displaced and homeless, and because of the war, many people in various places suffered unjustly disasters, and many people died unjustly in the war, and there is a more important point. It is the war that has had a tremendous socio-economic impact, and now economic activity in the warring areas has almost completely stopped, and prices among the people have risen to an unimaginable level.

Of course, it's not just representatives from all walks of life. In addition, representatives of our Kuomintang Party, constitutionalists and other political forces came to me to express their hope that we would do our best to negotiate an armistice, so that the war would stop and some vitality would be preserved for the country. If we continue to fight like this, it will be the whole country that will suffer. If there is an invasion by a foreign enemy at this time, what will our country use to resist it?

In addition to these. Ministers from various countries in China have also come to me in person or sent representatives to exert pressure on me, hoping that our Kuomintang will do everything possible to bring about the cessation of negotiations between the North and the South! ”

After listening to this, Xiao Zhenlei thought about it and said: "I also know what Mr. Sun said about these situations, and the war has indeed caused a certain amount of trauma to the society and the people, which is unavoidable. At the beginning, we also reached a consensus, our original intention was not to create a precedent of local confrontation with the center, after all, this is the beginning, and it is likely that some people will follow suit in the future, but the consequence of not doing this is that the day of democracy becomes far away, and the whole country will be under Yuan Shikai's dictatorship and feudal rule, and the trauma caused by the war is only temporary, and we must bear this pain, if we compromise with Yuan Shikai, then do you know what will happen next? There will be no peace in the country! ”

Sun Wen listened to Xiao Zhenlei's words and sighed: "I have also thought about the situation you said, but now that our Kuomintang has different opinions, and there are foreign forces involved, once foreign forces are involved, the consequences will become unimaginable!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei frowned when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Okay, Mr. Sun, I promise you to consider this issue carefully, but you also know that although I am the president of the Predator Party, our party is very democratic, and not everything is decided by me alone, I still need to discuss with the high-level leaders in the party, especially the ideological work of the army generals must be done, otherwise it will be too late to regret any trouble, and the war cannot be stopped immediately, you also know that now the Beiyang Army has declined, so let's do it, You give me another two months, if I can't solve Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Group within two months, then I will agree to armistice negotiations! ”

Two months? Want to solve Yuan Shikai within two months? It's a bit unlikely, right? Although the Beiyang Army is now being pressed and beaten, but Yuan Shikai's subordinates still have a lot of strength, and the Northeast Army has not yet moved, if the Northeast Army enters the customs, it is not certain who will win and who will lose, Sun Wen weighed it for a while and agreed: "Okay, according to what you said, if the Beiyang Group cannot be resolved within two months, then stop the negotiations!" (To be continued......) R1292