The 20s of the 20th century - January 1, 1923 - February 15, 1923 is the year of the dog, and the new year of the lunar calendar is the year of the pig. 1923 was destined to be an eventful year, and even after only a month, many major events took place.

10 January - A combined French and Belgian army of 100,000 troops occupies the Ruhr industrial area on the grounds that Germany cannot meet its obligations under the Treaty of Versailles on time.

January 16 - Sun recaptures Canton and issues a declaration of peaceful reunification.

January 26 - Sun and Russian representatives issue a joint declaration expressing the support of the Russian government for Sun.

On January 16, 1923, Sun's army returned to Guangzhou, and Chen Jiongming fled. Under Sun's instigation, he contacted Zhu Peide and Yang Ximin, who were stationed in Guangxi, and named Yang as the commander-in-chief of the Yunnan army, and contacted Liu Zhenhuan of the Gui army, and named Liu as the commander-in-chief of the Gui army, and was scheduled to launch an attack on Guangdong on December 10, 1922. The progress of the thief army was very smooth, and they occupied Wuzhou first. At the beginning of January 23, it occupied Fengchuan, Deqing, Yuecheng and other counties, and occupied Guangzhou on the 16th, Chen Jiongming and other remnants fled to Huizhou, and Sun decided to return to Guangzhou to rebuild the Generalissimo's Mansion.

As an important ally of Zhao Yun in the south, Chen Jiongming's rapid defeat caught Sun Chuanfang, who was in the process of reorganization, by surprise, and the reinforcements had just arrived at the border of Guangdong when they heard the news that Chen Jiongming had been defeated.

In fact, during the period when Chen Jiongming was in charge of Guangdong, he was quite accomplished; he had a clean and honest style, and advocated the peaceful reunification of China with "inter-provincial autonomy." This was a fashionable idea at that time; after the "May Fourth" Movement, some literati and scholars believed that since the governments of the north and the south were unable to unify the whole country, instead of fighting wars year after year, it was better for the provinces to take autonomy first, handle their own affairs well, and then implement inter-provincial autonomy. In this way, the unification of the whole country can be achieved without the use of force. Sun cited the October Revolution in Soviet Russia, while these advocates of inter-provincial autonomy cited the history of the establishment of the "Commonwealth" after the 13 North American states seceded from Britain through the Revolutionary War and then established the "Commonwealth" through 11 years of highly local autonomy.

This kind of "peaceful" excesses seems to provide another viable option for the people of the country, who have been war-torn for a long time, who are disgusted with civil war, and who yearn for peaceful reunification. Therefore, as soon as the idea of inter-provincial autonomy was put forward, it gained many supporters, and this trend of thought not only swept the southern provinces, but also quickly spread to the northern provinces under the rule of the Beiyang government.

What Chen Jiongming is fond of is the autonomy of the United Provinces. It was precisely because of its implementation of "inter-provincial autonomy", carefully managing its own affairs, and not being busy with the Beiyang Army, so in a short period of time, Guangdong's GDP jumped to the top three in the country, of course, the top two are Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

With a solid economic foundation, Chen Jiongming's turnaround is just around the corner. Of course, this is also, Chen Jiongming fortunately only lost Guangzhou, and then fled to Huizhou, Sun Chuanfang's army from Fujian to the south can be met in time, if he chooses the road in Guangxi, it will be difficult to go! However, Sun re-entered Guangzhou, which caused Guangdong, which had just been restored, to be in chaos again.

However, Sun, who re-entered Guangzhou, can be regarded as an unladylike encounter, there is a Chen Jiongming in Guangdong, and there is a Shen Hongying in Guangxi at this moment.

Shen Hongying, who was the leader of the Green Forest, accepted the recruitment of the League and participated in the Xinhai Revolution in Liuzhou to serve as the leader and supervisor of the People's Army. In 1916, Guangxi participated in the defense of the country and Yuan, served as the commander of the second detachment, and led troops into Hunan and Changsha. Later, he went to Guangdong with the Gui warlord Lu Rongting and served as the commander of the Third Army of the Protector Army and the envoy of Qinlian Town. In 1920, the Cantonese army returned to Guangdong to crusade against the Gui system, and Shen Hongying fought passively, retreated to Hexian County, Guangxi, and declared autonomy.

At this time, Chen Jiongming defended northern Guangdong with heavy troops. Shen Rongguang's department only had more than 8,000 people, and Shen knew that his troops were limited and it was difficult to enter Guangdong. Shen sent people to detect that after the retreat of the Cantonese army in Guangxi in the summer of 1922, the autonomous army swarmed, and there was no strong army in the northeast of Guangxi, so he decided to rush back to Guangxi, and in October 1922, he passed through Rucheng, Yizhang, Linwu, Lanshan, and Jianghua, and arrived at Babu in Guangxi in November. Eight steps is the place where Shen Hongying was stationed twice, and it is familiar to people and places. Shen Nai took Babu as the base, claiming to be the commander of the First Army of the Guangxi Army, and his son Shen Rongguang was stationed in the area of Babu and Huaiji, and Deng Ruizheng was stationed in the area of Pingle, Yangshuo and Guilin, and He Caijie was stationed in the area of Lipu, Xiuren and Luzhai. In order to expand the armed forces in Guidong, Shen sent Yan Dezhang, a Pingle man, as the director of finance, printed and distributed a large number of paper money, opened cigarettes and gambled, increased taxes, and looted on a large scale to maintain military spending; On the one hand, a number of appeasement committees were appointed in the more than a dozen counties in the northeastern part of Guizhou to recruit all the autonomous armies and green forests in northeastern Guizhou and organize them into an army. Shen visited the famous gentry Zhang Yiqi in Guidong many times to express his respect for the old and virtuous. Shen paid tribute to wealthy merchants, magnates, landlords, and gentry in Pingle, Guilin, Babu and other places, and won their donation and support. Shen took these measures, and within a few months, the army grew from more than 8,000 to more than 10,000. In the winter of 1922, Shen contacted Cen Chunxuan many times, expressing his willingness to work for Cen, and Cen also wanted to master some strength, so Cen remitted a part of the balance of customs taxes due to him as the chairman and president of the Protector Military Government to Shen as military salaries, and regarded Shen as his own troops. Shen had the support of Cen Chunxuan, and there were more than 10,000 troops inside, which was the most powerful force in Guangxi at that time.

In December 1922, Sun called on Liu Zhenhuan, a Gui army stationed in Wuzhou, and Yang Ximin and Fan Shisheng, a Yunnan army stationed in Guiping, Pingnan, and Tengxian in Shanghai, to expel Chen Jiongming in Guangdong. At this time, Cen Chunxuan had dealings with Sun Chang in Shanghai, and Cen recommended to Sun that Shen Hongying lead his troops to enter Guangdong with the Gui army and the Yunnan army to expel Chen Jiongming, and Sun agreed. Sun appointed Shen Hongying as commander-in-chief of the Yasukuo Army in Guangxi. In December, after the White Horse Conference in Tengxian County, Shen quickly led Shen Rongguang and Deng Ruizheng to the four divisions, and sent brigade commanders Zhang Xiwei and Huang Zhenbang to lead their troops to cooperate with the Dian army and the Gui army to move east along the Xijiang River and occupy Zhaoqing.

In January 1923, the Shen army, the Dian army, and the Gui army attacked Guangzhou, and Chen Jiongming fled to Huizhou. The Yunnan army occupied the west embankment, Xiguan and the city center of Guangzhou; Guijun Liu Zhenhuan occupied Dongdi, Dongguan, Bao'an and other counties, and Shen occupied Baiyun Mountain, Guanyin Mountain, Sihui, Foshan, Zhaoqing and other counties. In the areas they occupied, the ministries engaged in cigarettes and gambling, seized taxes, appointed and dismissed officials, and formed feudal separatism. Shen Zaiyue recruited rebels again, and suddenly expanded to five armies, with Li Yibiao as the commander of the first army. Sun went to Guangzhou and established the Generalissimo Mansion of the Army and Navy, and assumed the post of Generalissimo. It was ordered to designate Zhaoqing to Wuzhou as the defense area of the Shen army. Shen ordered Sun, Yang Feng Yin disobeyed.

When the Guangdong army entered Guangxi, Shen Hongying once went to Hunan to seek refuge with Wu Peifu. Although he was appointed by Sun as the commander-in-chief of the Gui Army at this moment, what he wanted was to lead his troops back to Gui to continue to be a warlord, rather than going north to consume strength with Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang and other veteran Beiyang Army. Of course, Shen Hongying, who has seen Wu Peifu's army, also knows that it is irrational to provoke Wu Peifu with his own ten thousand people. Therefore, in the face of Sun's orders, Shen began to secretly contact Wu Peifu.

Where there are bad things, there are good things. Because on July 2, 1921, Liu Xiang was officially inaugurated as the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army and the governor of Sichuan Province in Chongqing, with more than 80,000 people, and became the head of the Sichuan warlord system. In January 1922, Liu Xiang and Sun Chuanfang, commander-in-chief of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, became brothers and made a secret agreement of mutual assistance, and the Sichuan army retreated to Sichuan. In February 1922, when Sun ordered the Liangguang Northern Expedition, Liu Xiang telegraphed not to attach to the southwest, and Xiong Kewu, another warlord in Sichuan, had been suppressed by Liu Xiang and had been trying to make a comeback, so he took advantage of the situation to incite all units of the Sichuan army to unite with Liu Xiang as enemies. In May, Liu Xiang was forced to resign and retreat into the background, and the army under his command was handed over to his confidant general Yang Sen, and he also sent a telegram ordering the representative to go to Yichang, Jiangxi Province to talk secretly with Sun Chuanfang, asking Sun Chuanfang to immediately send troops into Sichuan to support. It's a pity that the matter failed, so he could only "fish in Qiaoshan and rest in the countryside", staying out of the matter and waiting for the comeback, and Wu Peifu wandered outside Sichuan for several months, how could he not do anything at all. Due to Wu Peifu's recommendation, the Nanjing government appointed Liu Xiang as the supervisor of Sichuan Qingxiang, and then was promoted by the Sichuan army generals to supervise the aftermath of Sichuan.

In January 1923, Sichuan, which had been quiet for several months, the war broke out again, Liu Xiang's henchman Yang Senshun called back to Sichuan, Liu Xiang's old troops responded one after another, asking for money and money, and grain and grain, with the support of Zhao Yun, the big financier, Wu Peifu sent troops and contributed again, and Liu Xiang soon took the gateway to Sichuan, Chongqing.

Of course, Yang Sen is not the only warlord in the huge Sichuan who listens to Wu Peifu's dispatch. When Xiong Kewu was in charge of Sichuan, Sun once generally appointed the generals of the Sichuan army. In order to show his allegiance to the Beiyang government, Chen Yaoling, the envoy of Chuanbian Town and the name of Kangding City, returned the letter of appointment in its original form. Wu Peifu thought that he had a lot of backbone and had been using Guò Gansu to supplement his subordinates. In January of the twelfth year of the Republic of China (1923), while Wu Peifu supported Yang Sen to return to Sichuan from Hubei, he had already ordered Chen Yaoling to cooperate with Liu Chengxun of the Third Army of the Sichuan Army, known as the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, from the west. Chen Yaoling received equipment from Wu Peifu, and the army was very prosperous, and the brand-new cannons and machine guns were polished, which made the rest of the Sichuan army jealous. He also arrogantly regarded himself as a victorious general, and every time he held a meeting, he always sat high on the tiger skin chair and did not say a word. This time to send troops, Chen Yaoling still served as the middle of the road as in history, but the result was not like a fiasco in history, but with Xiong Kewu's Dan Maoxin and Zhang Chong's two divisions in Xindu Shibantan, they fought a defeat and a heavy victory, Chen Yaoling's department, known as a hundred battle powerhouses, was lost two and a half regiments in three regiments, and almost wiped out the whole army! Although the result was a victory, it no longer had the strength to advance eastward, so it could only retreat to Ya'an and defend the southwest of Sichuan.

Although Chen Yaoling returned in vain, it was the warlords from all walks of life who gathered in Sichuan to fight against Xiong Kewu, so that Liu Xiang's troops occupied Chengdu on January 31, of course, occupying Chengdu does not mean that Sichuan has been fully recovered, Liu Xiang has not yet sat firmly in Chengdu, so he immediately conscripted troops and prepared to go to the East Road to supervise the division to prevent Xiong Kewu and the Dian army from attacking Chongqing.