7.23 became a permanent pain in the history of the Mengshan Army. It has also become an unavoidable topic for later historians who study contemporary history. This day is truly worth remembering. Because on this day, the Qing court finally obtained ironclad evidence of Long Qian's rebellion.

On the day when Feng Lun launched the rebellion, the messenger sent back by Zheng Du finally returned to Beijing after a lot of hardships, bringing back the "spirit" of the two meetings of the Longqian Ministry in Shaoguan and Guangzhou written by Zheng Du himself, and the top-secret information (not Zhou Yi) that Feng Lun revealed to Zheng Du naturally shocked the center. This is the ironclad evidence that Long Qian has been planning against the Qing Dynasty for a long time, and the most shocking thing for the Qing court is not Guangdong and Shandong, but Jilin and Heilongjiang, and the eighteenth town that guards the ever-expanding strength of Northern Manchurian is actually Long Qian's troops!

Compared with this news, the "crime" of Long Qian taking the opportunity of King Qin to rob the two palaces of Zhuang and Qing nine years ago is irrelevant.

With the breadth and profundity of Chinese culture and the ever-changing nature of Chinese characters, there is no suitable word to describe the shock of the Qing court center after seeing this information.

Zaifeng read the report with trembling hands and asked Tie Liang, "Could this be fake?" ”

"Back to the regent's words, the minister thought it was true. Even if there is an element of exaggeration, it should be treated as it is. ”

"What should I do?" Zaifeng, who was not yet thirty years old, had never seen such a big battle before, and his voice had changed.

"The ministers should convene a meeting. Leave it to be reported later. Tie Liang was still thinking at the moment that Zheng Du could persuade Zhou Yi to return to the central government, and with the fetters of the Tenth Town, Long Qian would not be able to scruple in Guangdong.

The next day, Tie Liang, who had not slept all night and Yin Chang and Liangbi (who had never returned to Shandong, and the center intended to protect it), had secretly discussed a draft with Zaitao and others to enter the palace again. He reported the contingency plan of the War Department to Zaifeng.

The information sent back by Zheng Du only talked about the general plan of the anti-Qing deployment of the two meetings of Longqian, Shaoguan and Guangzhou, and did not have a specific date or plan. On the good side, Long Qian definitely didn't expect the imperial court to sacrifice a move to split the fifth town after his two rebellion meetings. Judging from Long Qian's "very cooperative" decision to cut out the situation after the establishment of the Tenth Town of the Tenth Association and the arrival of Fengshan in Guangzhou, Tie Liang believed that Long Qian was still waiting for the opportunity and was not ready to launch it immediately. Otherwise, Long Qian would not have "cede" the Tenth Concord and move out of Guangzhou City.

The Manchu nobles attending the meeting agreed with Tie Liang's judgment. This assumption is true, and it is clear to everyone's minds, and now the most important thing is the tenth town. If the Tenth Town returns to the central government, Long Qian will be effectively contained, which is enough to allow the center to complete the deployment of troops against Shandong! If the Tenth Town is determined to follow Long Qian to rebel. Then the center must face up to the great threat from the south. To the south of the Yangtze River, only the Ninth Town and the Eighth Town, which was barely counted as a Jiangnan army, could resist Long Qian. There are quite a few patrol battalions in various provinces, and Yunnan, Sichuan, and other provinces are also planning to form a new army, but all of them are not used or cannot quench their thirst from far away.

The first item of the meeting was to study the situation in the south. The conclusion was to intensify the work on the tenth town. As long as Zhou Yi returns to him. It's not impossible to be crowned a king. The second is to inform Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong, who have already returned to Hubei, to immediately strengthen their combat readiness. Prepare for a rebellion in the south.

As for the Ninth Town under the command of Xu Shaojiao, the opinion of the War Department was to quickly assemble in the name of Wuchang Huicao as a backup for the Eighth Town. Always ready to go up the river to reinforce Wuchang. To this end, the support of the Navy needs to be mobilized. This matter was handed over to Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang, who was full of people and thousands of miles.

Yin Chang, who studied the army in Germany, said that militarily speaking, it is unlikely that Long Qian's troops will be directed to the east, and although Jiangnan is a place of ointment, it is a military place of death! When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in turmoil, the Taiping army entered Wuchang in Hunan from Guangxi, and did not take Wuchang as a base but went down the river to the east, and set the capital in Nanjing.

However, if the center loses the land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is equivalent to cutting off the economic lifeline, and it will not be able to stand it.

Liangbi insisted on combining the ninth and eighth towns together. I'd rather give up Jiangsu and Zhejiang than let Long Qian occupy the place of Wuchang. But Liangbi's opinion was isolated and not adopted.

The second item of the meeting was the danger outside the border. The 20th Town of Fengtian and the 6th Town of Shanhaiguan should be immediately notified to strengthen their vigilance, and it is best to order the 6th Town to immediately move eastward and join the 20th Town to eliminate Long Qian, the most insidious "shadow".

Since the formation of the army, the eighteenth town has always been an outcast of the imperial court, except for one or two military salaries, not even a gun, a cannon or a bullet have been allocated. In the eyes of the center, this pro-Russian army was raised by the stepmother, and the imperial court did not have extra money, food, and weapons to give them, so it was okay to stay in Beiman honestly.

But now the outcast has become a killing.

How many soldiers are there in the Eighteen Towns? How much is equipped? How is the combat power? Everything is not clear. Only Liangbi still knows a little about it. Liangbi insisted that the eighteen towns should not be underestimated, and the sixth town must be out of the customs, otherwise Fengtian will not be protected.

Tie Liang agreed.

On July 24, on the day that Long Qian imprisoned Zhou Yi and rectified the Second Division, Tie Liang and Zaitao entered the palace and reported to the Military Aircraft Department the War Department's strategy for dealing with the crisis. Yuan Shikai has been driven back to his hometown by Zaifeng, Zhang Zhidong is seriously ill and takes leave, and the old money fan knows that it was Long Qian, who he supported himself, who robbed him nine years ago, and fell ill in a fit of anger. The military aircraft department has no leader, and the likes of Shixu and Natong can talk big, and the ability to really deal with the crisis is really not as good as Tie Liang's gang.

What else can I do? The Military Aircraft Service accepted the advice of the War Department in its entirety. Only Tie Liang controls the Tenth Town, and this chess piece is not known to all the ministers of military aircraft. Speaking of which, Yuan Shikai took precautions and laid a secret plot through Zhangdeqiu's exercise. The ministers of military aircraft hoped to receive good news from Guangxi as soon as possible, and if Zhou Yi publicly announced his departure from Long Qian, the imperial court would not hesitate to reward the marquis.

The king is still reluctant. What is said that the king with a different surname will not die well, and when it comes to the subversion of the country, he is still fighting Xiao Jiujiu, and the Manchu decision-making level in 1909 is much less courageous than its ancestors. In order to win Zhu Ming's country, how many princes with different surnames were sealed in one go?

At this time, the center did not know that because Long Qian went to Guangxi, he forced Feng Lun to launch, and squeezed out a big pustule of the Mengshan army in advance. It also made Long Qian realize that his plan may have been leaked, he would lose his suddenness, and time was not on his side. Therefore, before Long Qian returned to the headquarters in Guangdong after settling down, he used a radio station to instruct the headquarters to launch immediately, and there was no need to wait for him.

The most decisive decision of the center is to transfer the sixth town to Fengtian in the north, and unite the twentieth town to break through the eighteenth town of Jilin to remove the threat from the back. The plan for the use of troops in Shandong remained unchanged and was intensified, and after breaking through Shandong, the main force of Beiyang was concentrated and the Longqian army fought a decisive battle in Jiangnan. The south took a defensive position, and after ascertaining the situation, decided on the direction of use of the ninth town. If Long Qian goes out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The 29th Mixed Association was left to defend Wuchang. The main force of the eighth town went down the river to support the southeast. If Long Qian went out of Hunan to plot Wuchang, he transferred the ninth town west to Wuchang.

The War Department searched the whole country, and there were still two mixed associations available. The first is that four years ago, Liu Yongqing served as the 13th Mixed Association of Jiangbei Admiral, and is currently stationed in Xuzhou. There is a certain combat effectiveness. Liu Yongqing is dead. Now it is Zhang Xun who is in charge of the department, who has always been loyal and righteous, and he will not defect to the battle. This unit was originally intended to be used on the Shandong battlefield. Undertake the task of attacking and containing the Shandong Army on the southern front. Now that the situation in the south is even more critical, the Association should be prepared to go south. The second is the 43rd Mixed Association in Shanxi, which has just been formed into an army, and its personnel and equipment are uneven, and it is difficult to use them. But the war was about to break out, and Tie Liang still decided to transfer this unit to Henan for emergency.

After the meeting of the Military Aircraft Department, Tie Liang immediately took action, and relevant orders were issued one after another. It is worth mentioning that the sun was still shining at noon that day, and when Tie Liang returned to the War Department after leaving the palace, it was as dark as ink, and heavy rain suddenly descended on the Beijing Division. Tie Liang, who was anxious and cherished every second, ran out of Donghua Gate without waiting for the eunuch guards to get the rain gear, and drenched Tie Liang in soup in just a short distance. Tie Liang, who was sitting in the sedan chair, sneezed repeatedly, looking at Jingshi in the rain, and his heart was at a loss.

Guangxi. July 25th.

The big change in Xinning only caused a commotion in Nanning, after all, Xinning is very close to Nanning, and the two places are not more than 100 miles apart. Zhang Renjun, the governor of Guangxi stationed in Guilin, immediately telegraphed to the center when he learned of the news of Lu Rongting, the general of Nanning, about the recurrent change in Xinning, "Today I learned that a rebellion broke out in the headquarters of the 10th Town and 19th Association in Xinning two days ago, with heavy casualties and the sound of gunfire all night...... In addition, the departments of the tenth town have been frequently transferred in recent days, and they are requested to deal with it. ”

Disposition is empty talk. Guangxi is simply powerless to deal with the Tenth Town. If Guangxi's armed forces are available, it will not be forced all the way to Taiping by Huang Xing's rabble, shaking the whole province. If it weren't for the 19th Association copying Huang Xing's back road, maybe even Taiping Prefecture would have been defeated.

The center, which was nervously responding to the crisis, was shocked when he received the telegram, and before he could reply to the call, Zhang Renjun's second telegram arrived, "According to the report of the general soldier Lu Rongting, ten town rebels fled into Nanning and confessed that Long Qian had secretly come to Gui Province, and whether the Xinning mutiny was related to Long Qian's trip still needs to be investigated." ”

Tie Liang, who personally mastered Zhou Yi's line, immediately complained bitterly. The Nexus's worst fears have happened! If the tenth town falls into the hands of Long Qian, the fifth town will lose its most powerful containment, and only those few soldiers in Fengshan's hands will not be able to hold back the fifth town at all! At worst, if the Tenth Town was forcibly reclaimed by Long Qian, the situation in the south would be completely eroded, and the imperial court's plan to attack Shandong would be seriously affected.

Tie Liang immediately telegraphed Zhang Renjun and ordered him to send someone to Taiping Mansion to learn the truth about the mutiny in the Tenth Town.

Zhang Renjun complied. Thankfully, now with the telegraph, the instructions from the hub can finally arrive in an instant.

But the men and horses sent by Zhang Renjun never returned. They were seized by the 2nd Division.

Zhang Renjun, who had a premonition that the situation was critical, immediately received the news of the large-scale recruitment of troops and the assembly of troops in the Tenth Town, and moreover, a large number of people were requisitioned for grain in the southern part of Guinan, and the cavalry of the Tenth Town continued to appear south of Nanning, and the signs of war were already obvious.

On the evening of 27 July, at the very moment when Zhang Renjun telegraphed the situation in Guangxi that the situation in Guangxi was about to break out, the central center received a telegram about the incident in Guangdong. The telegram only said a few words, and then the telegram did not work. Tie Liang, who lived in the War Department and was concerned about the changes in the situation in southern Guangdong, was worried and judged that Long Qian had officially rebelled, and the telegraph office had been controlled by the rebels.

The connection between the central center and Guangdong was severed.

At this time, Long Qian was still on his way back to the Guangdong headquarters.

After receiving a call from Long Qian from Guangxi, the generals of the Zhaoqing Headquarters of the Mengshan Army who stayed behind did not bother to inquire about the mutiny that had occurred in the Second Division, and immediately decided to study the matter. Previously, the General Staff Office of the Mengshan Army, now known as the General Staff of the Mengshan Army (a bit unworthy of the name), had come up with two operational plans, one was a plan to occupy Guangzhou and establish a base camp for the Northern Expedition, and the other was, of course, a military action plan for the main force to march north in two ways and take Wuchang directly.

The premise of the Northern Expedition was to completely control Guangdong, and this heavy task fell on Wang Mingyuan.

It should be pointed out that when Long Qian left Guangdong for Guangxi, he designated Wang Mingyuan, deputy commander-in-chief, to be in charge of the overall situation in Guangdong. In Long Qian's heart, although Wang Mingyuan lacks talent, he is loyal and reliable, and he is steady, and he is a character who does not seek merit but no fault. With him, the base camp can be safeguarded. In addition, almost all the generals with military power in Guangdong were Wang Mingyuan's old subordinates, and there was no problem of poor command.

After receiving Long Qian's telegram from Guangdong, Wang Mingyuan summoned Situ Jun and Feng Guozhu to secretly discuss the steps of action, and after confirming it, Wang Mingyuan said angrily, "There is no time, I really can't wait for the commander." Let's do it. Situ, you are in charge of the Northern Expedition, and you plan to coordinate the dispatch of the whole army, Guozhu, your first division will take action immediately, and Hu Zongyu will hand it over to you to solve all the security regiments in the state where you are stationed. I am fully responsible for the matter of Guangzhou! In the end, he bowed his hand to Hong Yuecheng, who had entered the headquarters as a senior senator, "Mr. Hong, please ask Mr. for the anti-Qing Dynasty." The commander has made it clear, and there is no need to wait for him to see it. Let's send it out immediately. ”

Hong Yuecheng is a literati after all, but there are no three generals of the Mengshan Army who are young but have complicated experiences, and they are doing earth-shattering things in their hands, which seems to be extremely simple to say, as if they are on a spring outing.

"Hong dares to disobey! I'm just worried that it won't fit the commander's mind. In addition, the whole country needs to be electrified, and you need to occupy Guangzhou to do it. ”

"There's nothing to worry about." Wang Mingyuan smiled slightly, obviously in his chest.

Feng Guozhu Ha Lu Ha Da Lu smiled, "I'm not afraid of your jokes." Although I know a few words, where can I compare to Mr. Hong's full stomach and rich economy, and he has his own splendid articles in his chest. This text is just a proclamation, telling the people of the world why we want to oppose the imperial court. Hehe, since I followed the commander more than ten years ago, I have decided that the commander can succeed, and the commander is the emperor, and he must be much stronger than the Manchu Tartars! If you do it with the Mengshan Army, there will be no less glory and wealth, and if you are against the Mengshan Army, weigh your own weight and see if you are enough to be our opponent! ”

Hong Yuecheng was taken aback, Long Qian clearly said that he would never be the emperor, why did this Feng Shi say that Long Qian wanted to be the emperor? This is not ambiguous, although the text is a proclamation, but it is a promise to the people of the world, how dare you go back on your word?

"Commander Feng, the commander has told Hong more than once that he will never be the emperor!"

Situ Jun smiled, "Don't listen to Master Feng's nonsense, it's just a joke." The inscription must not be written into the words of the commander to claim the emperor. ”

That's a big obstacle. Although Hong Yuecheng is wild, he has to be cautious in such a major matter, and he has to be cautious in such a big thing, looking through the history books, who is not sitting on the country for himself? Although the west wind is moving eastward, there are many republican founders in Taixi, and the League has held high the banner of establishing the Republic of China in recent years, but what does a warlord like Long Qian think about a strong army, Hong Yuecheng was confused by the words of the national pillar, "Are you waiting for the return of the marshal?" ”

"The commander said don't wait, the matter is imminent, if the name is not right, it will not be good, Hong Gaoshen will start drafting. The commander will never be called the emperor, I know this. There is no need to worry, it must not be written as the emperor to be the commander for life. For the rest, you can discuss it with the chief of staff, but the language should be as straightforward as possible, and it is better for the people to understand it. Tell everyone that the Mengshan Army overthrew the Qing Dynasty for the sake of the people of the world and China! Wang Mingyuan set the tone in one sentence.

Hong Yuecheng has been taking refuge in Long Qian for more than half a year, and he has long been familiar with the generals under Long Qian, and his impression of Wang Mingyuan is that he is loyal and simple, and he does not have much talent. Only today did I know that Long Qian entrusted the overall situation of Guangdong to this person, and his eyes were like a torch. To do big things, you must be responsible, there are heroes in the recklessness, and if you change to yourself, you will never be as sure as others, and even the future of your own lord will be decided between talking and laughing. Before, he despised Wang, Feng and others because of their humble backgrounds, but Hong Yuecheng was convinced on this night.

"Obey the order, Hong will do it." Hong Yuecheng clumsily saluted Wang Mingyuan. (To be continued......)