I'm afraid many people still remember that there was always practice writing telegrams in the practical literature training in elementary school. The teacher first gives one thing, and then asks everyone to draw up a message, and whoever can explain things most clearly with the least number of words will get a little red flower, so that the girl at the next table can look at herself more. At that time, I was curious and asked the teacher why the more words in the essay the better, but the fewer words in the telegram, the better. The teacher replied that because the telegraph was more expensive, he needed to save money. I didn't really want to understand, so I didn't continue to ask why the telegraph was so expensive.

The most important feature of the telegraph is that it cherishes ink like gold. Messages are very different from other genres, and they are concise and to the point, and they never use two words if they can be said clearly. No way, it's expensive. Until the end of the telegraph line, its cost was still relatively high in the postal means.

I remember Li Ao once told a story: in 1948, the Chinese Navy caught a large sea turtle in the South China Sea, and all major newspapers reported it as a strange story. But other newspapers said it was a tortoiseshell, but the Shanghai reporter of the World Journal said it was a tortoise. The editor-in-chief at that time, Cheng She, was furious and sent a telegram to reprimand, the full text was only ten words: "Everyone is a tortoiseshell, I am a tortoiseshell, why not?" His attention to the number of words can be seen.

Even during the New Culture Movement, when the merits of the Chinese and vernacular were arguing, the telegraph repeatedly appeared as a referee. Huang Kan used the telegram as an example, saying that it was written in the vernacular: "Dad is dead, come back quickly." It's really verbose, if it is written in Chinese, it only takes four words: "Father dies and returns quickly." It can be seen that Wenyan can be suitable for the life of the new era.

Another legend is about Hu Shi. Once, when he gave a lecture at Peking University, he inevitably praised a few words in the vernacular, and some students stood up and questioned it. So Hu Shi said that two days ago, someone invited him to be the secretary of the Executive Yuan, but he resigned. He asked the students to use this incident as an example and asked them to draft a telegram of resignation in classical Chinese. One of the telegrams with the fewest words was "Lack of talent, I am afraid that it is difficult to be competent, and I am unbearable", Hu Shi waved his pen and wrote only five words in the vernacular: "I can't do it, thank you." ”

Both of these stories are biased, deliberately writing the opposing genre very long, the supporting genre very short, and the right to treat it as an interesting story. However, this also proves that the cost of telegraphy is so expensive that people have to compete for the number of words.

As mentioned earlier, the telegraph is about cherishing ink like gold, and everyone hollows out their minds to express the most information in the least words.

But there are always exceptions to everything, and there is a kind of telegram, which, instead of considering saving words, requires the best possible arrangement, and the nonsense is a thousand words or even ten thousand words. This kind of telegraph is called "electrification".

Those who are familiar with the Republic of China know that "electrification" appeared extremely frequently in the history of the Republic of China, and it penetrated deeply into the structure of that period of history, and those who govern history could not avoid it no matter what -- even some people said, "If you don't read electricity, the Republic of China has no history." "The people of the Republic of China love electricity incomparably, they need to be electrified when they come to power, they want to be electrified when they go down, they want to be electrified when they are rewarded, they are electrified for condemnation, they are electrified for crusading, they are electrified for peace talks, and even university teachers are owed salaries by the government......

Electricity is characterized by its speed and wide range, and is actually a type of "open letter", which is a means of communication used by a political party, group or individual in order to publicly express its own views. In the era of the Republic of China, there was no television, radio stations were just starting, and the spread of news newspapers was limited and slow, and only electricity was the fastest way to spread one's ideas throughout the country, to seize the position of public opinion and the commanding heights of morality, and to be very popular with politicians, and simply "their natural assistants." Another major feature of the telegram is diametrically opposed to the ordinary telegraph, the longer the word, the better, the more ornate the rhetoric, the better, the more elegant the use, the better, and the momentum of the hanging river for thousands of miles. …,

On the evening of 1 July, less than half an hour after the restoration of the Beijing Division was issued, another repeated telegram led by Tang Zhidao, commander of the Third Mixed Brigade of the Zhili Provincial Army, was sent from Yanqing County, which was only 100 miles away from the capital.

The first half of the letter drafted by Yu Lifu, director of the Political Propaganda Department, is sprinkled with thousands of words, and the first half of the letter counts Zhang Xun's various crimes since the Republic of China: the sky has fallen and the country has changed dramatically. The traitor Zhang Xun, with his cunning capital, took advantage of the time to steal the handle, and there was an incident on the first day of this month, subverting the national life, disturbing the Beijing Division, the sky was obscure, and the gods and men were angry. should be raised in the reverse stove, and if he is stubborn, he will be honored and gradually become prominent. Since entering the Republic of China, he has blocked the army, shown the uniform of resisting the national order, burned the extralegal salary, the army was fierce, the march was bound, the punishment was unfed, the private was full, the vanzi was evil, the world heard of it, it was difficult to be worth a long time, and it was a long time to kill. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the people resisted the republic, the people were in trouble, the second people slaughtered Jinling, and the third people looted Xu Hai......,

The second half mercilessly points out the heinous crimes committed by the Manchu court against the Han people against China for hundreds of years, and points out that the root of this restoration is the Manchu small court ...... entrenched in the imperial palace, and this crusade against Zhang Xun not only has to hit Zhang Xun and his pigtail army, but also sweeps away the anthill and expels the small Manchu court from the capital.

Sun Yat-sen saw this telegram in Guangzhou and only said four words: "Great joy", and more people were talking about what kind of people and troops were of the Tang Dao and the Third Mixed Brigade of Zhili Province.

Even Tanaka Yu, who has always had a very good relationship with Brigade Commander Tang, was stunned after receiving the telegram, at this time he was discussing countermeasures with a group of subordinates of the Dutong Mansion, and after reading Brigade Commander Tang's telegram, he sighed helplessly: "Tang Ruoshui is too anxious, too anxious, why not wait for such a big thing to make a statement!" ”

Zhu Jiabao, who was located in the provincial capital of Zhili, was ecstatic after receiving a telegram from Brigade Commander Tang and said to Yang Jiaji: "Heaven is especially evil, but people can't live if they do evil!" For more than two months, he has been looking for an opportunity to rectify Brigade Commander Tang, but he couldn't find a suitable excuse for a while, so he had to try to deduct the association's salary many times.

Duan Qirui, the former prime minister of the cabinet who was discussing countermeasures with his confidants in the Tianjin mansion, was also quite interested in this Tang Dao, and asked the people around him with great interest.

"This Tang Ruoshui is really a talent, but in one year, he went from an acting regiment commander to a mixed brigade commander." Xiao Xu was quite proud that a small seedling he had inadvertently carried down had grown into a big tree.

"A mixed brigade is still a thin point, but pressing down from the northwest can also distract the pigtail army." Duan Qirui nodded and said.

"It's a pity that it's a little far away from the Beijing Division, plus a brigade of troops scattered and stationed in more than ten counties in the north of the mouth, it will take at least three or four days from assembly to departure." Fu Liangzuo said regretfully.

"Youzheng and Qingjie, the two of you will go to contact Li Changtai, Zhu Jiabao and Yang Yide who are stationed in the horse factory, and set up the shelf of the rebel army as soon as possible, otherwise the name is not justified and you will not be able to call on people from all walks of life." Duan Qirui thought for a while and said.

And in the Forbidden City, Zhang Xun, who was waiting for the warlords of all parties to support the telegram, waited for a whole day, and even waited for this telegram signed by someone who did not know who it was, and stomped his feet angrily.

"What is this Zhili Third Mixed Brigade?" Zhang Xun shouted angrily to the strategists around him: "And that one is called Tang, Tang or something? ”

"The Way of Tang!" Pan Bo hurriedly added.

"What kind of thing is that Tang Zhidao, dare to come out against me Zhang Dashuai!" Zhang Xun said with red eyes.

"Why should the big guy be serious with these villains, aren't those big guys not opposing us!" Pan Bo hurriedly comforted: "Wait for the general trend, and we must slowly clean up these crumbs!" ”

"This Tang Zhidao is not a simple character, it is rumored to be Xiao Xu's henchman!" Wan Xianyu said solemnly: "His mixed brigade is stationed in Xuanhua City, Koubei, and it can be driven to Beiyuan in three or five days." As Zhang Xun's chief of staff, Wan Shentong is also in charge of the intelligence department of the Dingwu Army, so he can still say a thing or two. …,

"Xiao Xu? Even Lao Duan has not objected until now, and besides, Lao Duan is an expired product, what is a defenseless Xiao Xu! Zhang Xun said hatefully, he had long been unaccustomed to Xiao Xu's face.

"Humph! This kid is not small, and he has to sweep the anthill. Liu Dongheng, the commander of the left side of the Dingwu Army, said indignantly: "Dashuai, give me 2,000 men and horses and I will help you destroy him!" ”

"Commander Liu is right, our Dingwu army is not easy to mess with!" Wu Youguang, the commander of the back road of the Dingwu Army, echoed.

"What the two commanders Li and Wu said has some truth, isn't it too small that we only brought 6,000 men this time!" At this time, Kang Youwei, the leader of the royalist party, said worriedly: "Zhang Dashuai, you have 30,000 horses, you should have brought 10,000 into Beijing, 10,000 to guard the important land on Jinpu Road, and 10,000 to guard Xu Hai's base area, so the grasp is a little bigger!" ”

"It's not too late to remedy it, send a telegram to arrange it immediately!" Zhang Xun saw that for a day, the overseers who had taken care of everything at the Xuzhou meeting had lost their news one by one, and he was also a little panicked.

"Pan Bo, you immediately send a telegram to Zhang Wensheng, Bai Baoshan, and Lu Da with them, and ask them to immediately dispatch 15,000 people north to control the main station on Jinpu Road!" Zhang Xun commanded aggressively.

"Yes, I'll do it right away!" Pan Bo answered and walked out.

"Everyone's talking about these local overseers or something, why are they so slow to take a stand?" Zhang Xun asked rhetorically: "It's not a good sign to go on like this!" ”

"These princes are shrewd! They are all lords who don't see rabbits and don't scatter eagles, and they will definitely not take a stand before our reward goes down! Liu Tingchen sighed and said, "I think we should arrange local affairs as soon as possible." ”

"What Ting Chen said is very reasonable, the edict that has been prepared should be sent out as soon as possible." Kang Youwei suggested: "The resurgence of Daqing is the trend of the times, and I believe that there are still many people who support it. ”

"The people have been saying for a long time that 'the Republic of China is far inferior to the Qing Dynasty', and you see how many things have happened to the so-called Republic of China in recent years." Liu Tingchen said: "The people look forward to the Qing Dynasty like a long drought and hope for nectar!" ”

"Then send out all those appointments immediately, as long as Beifeng and Nanlu support us, the general trend has been decided!" Zhang Xun said approvingly, Feng Guozhang is the new governor of Liangjiang and minister of Nanyang, Lu Rongting is the governor of Liangguang, and the two were also named first-class dukes, Zhang Xun thinks that these two people will not refuse such a preferential reward, as for Duan Qirui, he didn't seal one.