Chapter Seventy-Five: Duan Qirui's Ambition

January 28, 1917, Beijing.

Outside the Zhengyang Gate, it has been hurriedly cleaned up, the original place that was ravaged by the war, has been cleaned up as much as possible, the charred wood and rubble have been removed, and some colorful arches have been erected, and the bright five-color national flag has appeared on the archway, the Republic of China, and now it is back!

The common people of Beijing also appeared on the streets and alleys, holding small five-color national flags in their hands, waving and shouting the slogan "Rebuild the republic, make great contributions." Of course, the great man who rebuilt the republic was not our Chang Ruiqing, but General Duan Qirui, the commander-in-chief of the rebel army who had just rushed over from Tianjin.

The officers and men of the Chang Rui Youth Model Regiment stood solemnly on both sides of the street outside Zhengyangmen, wearing brand-new military uniforms and holding shiny rifles in their hands. Everyone was in high spirits and excited to the extreme. Eight thousand pigtailed soldiers, as well as the capital of the country, Beijing City, not to mention that they were pacified in one fell swoop, at least seventy or eighty percent of the credit belongs to the model regiment! After the first battle, the name of the model regiment was erected in the north and south of the river!

In the battle of Beijing's rebellion, the three battalions of the model regiment suffered more than 400 casualties, especially Bai Chongxi's first battalion, which lost nearly forty percent, but their credit was also the greatest, and the battle of Xihongmen, the battle of Fengtai grove, and the battle of Fengtai were all the first achievements. The second credit is Wang Junhao's second battalion, out of the city guerrillas, although the battles are all skillful, the casualties are also very slight, but the thrilling place, now that I think about it, there is a feeling of cold sweat, more than 400 people are sandwiched between the Dingwu Army and the 20,000 troops of the 13th Division of the Army bluff, the slightest carelessness is the end of the whole army!

Therefore, after the war, Bai Chongxi appointed a regiment commander of the 31st Mixed Brigade, Wang Junhao will serve as another regiment commander after the expansion of the troops, Zhao Zhen and Zhang Zhizhong won two deputy regiment commanders respectively, Wu Shi was naturally promoted to deputy brigade commander, and Chang Ruiqing was of course the best choice for the commander of the 31st Mixed Brigade.

These people, Xu Shuzheng, Cao Kun, Li Changtai and others, are now neatly dressed and tall, waiting for Duan Qirui's special train to arrive on the platform of Qianmen Railway Station (Zhengyangmen Railway Station). Along with them, there are also Wang Shizhen, Li Jincai, Chen Guangyuan, Jiang Chaozong and other "coercions" who have been involved in the restoration and rebellion. In line with the principle of "not grasping the first evil, and never asking questions", these "coercions" have naturally been reinstated -- what officials used to be in the Republic of China are now the same!

And Zhang Xun and Kang Youwei have gone to the Dutch Consulate for refuge, and Kang Youwei is proficient in the art of oiling the soles of his feet, and he has evaporated in the morning in the morning, and no one knows where he went? Of course, there are also more unlucky ones, such as Lei Zhenchun, who got a "book of the Ministry of the Army" in the restoration incident, this person did not have good makeup skills when he escaped, and as a result, the sentry of Cao Kun's third division was caught and imprisoned in the army prison, which seemed to be a scapegoat......

The whistle sounded, and a train dragged a thick smoke from far and near, rumbling into the Qianmen railway station, and the sound of military music also whimpered. The train slowly approached the platform, and there was a long hissing as steam tumbled on the platform. At this moment, I suddenly heard someone shouting loudly: "Prime Minister of the Republic of China, Commander-in-Chief of the Rebel Army, General Duan Qirui has arrived!" ”

Then I saw Duan Qirui wearing the dress of a general of the Beiyang Army, and walked down with a group of attachés in high spirits. Xu Shuzheng, with a vote to rebel against the army's generals, suddenly stood upright. The boots struck each other, and the sound of "whooshing" echoed on the spacious platform. Wang Shizhen and the others were mostly dressed in robes and horse coats, and if they didn't have military uniforms, they wouldn't be able to salute the military, but they just looked at Duan Qirui, who entered Beijing City as a victor, with a smile. There was just one thought in everyone's mind.

Beiyang finally has a co-owner this time, and the situation in the future should be more stable, right?

At this moment, what Duan Qirui was thinking about was how to realize his ambition to unify China by force, and to achieve this goal, he first had to unite Beiyang...... He glanced at the generals and colonels of the Beiyang Army who saluted him, raised his right hand and returned a military salute, and then strode up to Wang Shizhen, took the hand of the Beiyang dragon, and said with a smile: "It's finally back to Beijing again...... These days, thanks to Brother Pingqing, who has maintained the situation in Beijing, otherwise I would have come back and see a ruin. He sighed slightly, then pulled Wang Shizhen and walked out side by side under the gaze of everyone.

Wang Shizhen listened to Duan Qirui's words. said with a smile: "Zhiquan, Beijing City has not suffered a lot of military disasters this time, outside Zhengyang Gate, the Dashilar area is about to be burned to the ground, I don't know how long it will take to recover its vitality!" Zhiquan, our country is now in constant war, and its vitality has been greatly damaged, so it's time to recuperate for a few years, don't you say? ”

Duan Qirui sighed slightly, shook his head and said, "Pingqing, why don't I want to recuperate, but the tree wants to be quiet and the wind doesn't stop...... Let's talk about this when Feng Huafu arrives in Beijing. Let's get in the car first. As he spoke, the two of them had already gotten into the waiting car, and the guard jumped on the pedals of the car and sped away.

And Chang Ruiqing was also invited by Xu Shuzheng to get into his car at this time, as soon as the door was closed, Xu Shuzheng said with a stern expression: "Yaoru, you must pay close attention to the expansion of your 31st Mixed Brigade, and don't use your mind on arresting the Red Brigade and rescuing Pu Yi...... Is there a problem that the 31 Mixed Brigade will be formed in five months at most? ”

A trace of surprise suddenly slipped across Chang Ruiqing's face, and he asked rhetorically, "Gong Zheng, what do you mean...... Will you send troops to attack the southwest in five months? ”

Xu Shuzheng nodded: "Elder Zhi has decided not to restore the Provisional Covenant Law and the Congress!" ”

Chang Ruiqing knew that after Duan Qirui "recreated the republic" in history, he easily abolished the "Covenant Law" and the National Assembly, and elected a "Anfu Department" National Assembly controlled by him and Xu Shuzheng. The southwestern warlords and Sun Yat-sen convened an extraordinary congress in Guangzhou, and raised an anti-flag against the central government in Beijing, known as the "War to Protect the Law".

"Is this to force Lu Rongting and Tang Jiyao to oppose them?" Chang Ruiqing frowned and said tentatively.

"Yes." Xu Shuzheng naturally had no need to hide it in front of Chang Ruiqing, in fact, except for some experts in later generations, people in the Chinese political arena at that time could see through Duan Qirui's tricks.

The reason why the warlords and the Kuomintang in the southwest were able to confront the Beiyang government politically and militarily was because they controlled the Congress, and with the Congress, they could unite the nominal Li Yuanhong against Duan Qirui, who held real power, so that Duan Qirui could not use the power of the state to deal with the southwest. And once the Congress is abolished and the general election resumes, the Beiyang family, which controls most of China, will definitely be able to control the Congress! At that time, the southwest will lose the initiative in politics and fall into an extremely passive situation, so in order to avoid this situation, the southwest will definitely be the first to raise the banner of protecting the law, thus provoking a civil war!

Chang Ruiqing smiled bitterly: "Gong Zheng, we Beiyang ourselves are not united, it is simply scattered sand, how can it be possible to calm the southwest?" The outside must be safe first, and the inside is also applicable to Beiyang! Zheng Gong ......"

"Don't say it!" Xu Shuzheng's face was already gloomy, he interrupted Chang Ruiqing's words, and said: "I know what you said, but the general direction has been decided, the alliance between the Zhi Lao Association and Feng He, plus Wang Pinglao, the unity of Beiyang can be guaranteed...... You don't have to worry about these issues, now you have to think about two points. First, we should do our best to bring out the troops, and China's problems still have to be solved by the barrel of a gun. The second is to choose a direction for operations. There are three main battlefields in this campaign to pacify the southwest, Sichuan, Hunan, and Fujian, so you can choose one! ”

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