Lao Yuan's beard shook a few times, and his chest continued to rise and fall. He also realized that his sentence was not appropriate, and he had lost his composure as a politician. It's just that he can't be calm, Yuan Shikai is really unwilling, but just like Sa Daoyi said, he feels powerless.

After a while, Lao Yuan slowly stood up and took out a check from his pocket: "Mr. Sa Daoyi, this is my personal heart, you have helped me a lot in the past few years, it can be regarded as a little reward." Speaking from the heart, I'm sorry that you were blamed for the Chinese affair. ”

Sa Daoyi took a look at it, forty thousand pounds. He was not polite, smiled and put it in his arms: "Thank you my old friend, I think that this money can be used to support me in my old age, and I will not have a chance to come out again when I return to London." ”

Yuan Shikai's head also raised at this time: "When are you leaving?" ”

"I don't know, London must also want to see the situation change, if the Russians come to the city of Beijing, I guess I will stay for a while, if you win, I think my order will come down soon."

Lao Yuan snorted: "If you want to leave, please notify me, and I will personally give you a ride." ”

Sa Daoyi said he knew: "Okay, we're still friends anyway, right?" I wish you victory. ”

"Thank you."

As soon as Lao Yuan's footsteps walked out of the British Embassy, he saw Lei Zhenchun standing next to the car with a very anxious face, Yuan Shikai knew that something big must have happened. In front of the embassy, he didn't ask much, and only asked when he got into the car: "Zhenchun, what's wrong?" ”

Lei Zhenchun glanced at Yuan Shikai, and then said: "President, we have just received news that 150,000 troops from the Russian Caucasus have arrived in Kulen, and they are heading northeast, Jiang Baili said. The Russians wanted to cut off the path for the volunteers to enter the customs and fight, completely separate the volunteers from the Beiyang Army, and then fight one by one. ”

Yuan Shikai was not much surprised by this news, the Russians made this deployment completely in the expectation of the Beiyang Army, and Lao Maozi would not let the Beiyang Army and the Volunteer Army smoothly merge together. Now go to Kulun, go to Jinzhou in seven or eight days, and then build fortifications, it is estimated that Yang Dagui will come.

The Russians did not move quickly, and only these hundreds of thousands of troops came, and it was obvious that Lao Maozi was not yet capable of pounced on China with all his strength.

"Got it. It's not a big deal. Panic what! ”

Lei Zhenchun's eyes were even more vino, and his voice was lowered: "There is also news, Huang Keqiang is surrounded by Russian troops in Gu'an, and he is in danger!" ”

Lao Yuan was stunned for a moment, and then his face changed: "Why?" Why did he go to Gu'an! Didn't we send a telegram for him to come around from the west? ”

Lei Zhenchun didn't speak, why Huang Xing left Gu'an Now no one knows, only to ask Huang Xing to go! Lao Yuan really sent a telegram more than once, asking Huang Xing to be careful, it doesn't matter if he doesn't come. Don't make a mistake! But I never thought that something went wrong!

Huang Xing's army is a trivial matter, 20,000 people, not to mention their combat effectiveness, this point of people can't help much. But they are a symbolism. Letting them enter Beijing is tantamount to telling the people of Beijing that reinforcements are coming, and there will be more and more in the future. This is to let the common people know that the reinforcements have been killed by the Russians. That dealt a big blow to the anti-Russian sentiment in Beijing now.

Lao Yuan's fist smashed angrily on the front seat of the car, and the powerful vibration almost pushed Lei Zhenchun to the windshield!

"What do they say about Baili and Zhiquan?"

Lei Zhenchun shook his head: "On this matter, they can't agree on it. Jiang Baili means not to save. But General Duan said that people should be rescued at all costs. ”

Lao Yuan's hand touched his hair, it seemed that it was the first time that Jiang Baili and Duan Qirui could not agree on a major event since the war, and he knew that he had to rush over to coordinate. Although he is inferior to the two of them in the war, whether he saves it or not, he must make up his mind immediately and cannot delay it.

Huang Daxia is really not suitable to be a general!

In the past, although some people in the revolutionary army said this from time to time, he always said that he was familiar with Sun Tzu's Art of War, and according to the conditions for selecting generals in ancient times, he was considered to be the champion of the three armies, and he was not convinced.

This time it was the same, before the expedition, Yang Dagui asked Sun Wen to change a general, Huang Xing was simply angry enough, and Li Yuanhong was too, although he did not say that he wanted to change people, but proposed to let Wu Zhaolin be his deputy, Huang Xing did not bother with them at all.

After the expedition, Yuan Shikai sent continuous telegrams to make himself careful, and also stipulated that he should be detoured from Shanxi, saying that Yan Xishan there could meet him. Lao Yuan was well-intentioned, but Huang Xing thought that Yuan Shikai must have a grudge against himself in his heart and was insulting himself.

So Huang Daxia didn't take a detour, and he came up from Gu'an as soon as he took Gu'an.

As soon as the troops crossed the Yongding River, Gulegrevich appeared in front of Huang Xing with more than 30,000 Russian soldiers!

Huang Daxia was stunned at that time, he didn't choose a suitable terrain to cross the river, just saw that there was a bridge here and crossed from here, and after the Russians appeared, he found that the surroundings were flat, and there was no way to hide and resist.

Lao Maozi didn't talk nonsense with him, the cannon that had been set up a long time ago bombarded indiscriminately, and then all kinds of firepower strafed fiercely, Huang Daxia didn't find a chance to fight back, and the whole team was in chaos! They braved the Russian artillery fire and desperately ran to the city of Gu'an, and by the time they reached the county seat, more than half of the 20,000 people died!

The remaining thousands were deliberately let away by the Russians, and Huang Xing entered the county seat to know that this was a pit dug by the Russians for him!

Gulegrevich was not in a hurry to hit him, surrounded him, and then let some of the fleeing Gu'an people leave, and let these people tell the Beiyang Army behind that the revolutionary army from the south was surrounded by themselves. At the same time, he also made way for the Beiyang Army, and waited for the Beiyang Army to come out of the defensive position in Beijing to save people.

Akberil's tactical intentions are very obvious, if they want to save people, the Beiyang Army must give up their current position to fight a tough battle with the Russians outside, this time the Russians are waiting for them in formation! Even if it is fought, the Beiyang Army will inevitably pay a great price. Regardless of personnel or materials, once the loss is too large, it will inevitably disrupt the entire set of defense plans before Jiang Baili and Duan Qirui, which is extremely unfavorable to the defense of Beijing.

Don't save? When the Russians wiped out Huang Xing's revolutionary army and sent the body outside Beijing, Huang Xing's life or death may not matter. But the extinction of the reinforcements was the most serious blow to morale.

Walking to Jiang Baili's command room, Lao Yuan scolded from afar: "Rice bucket!" Rubbish! Huang Keqiang can also lead troops? Lao Tzu pulled out of the Beiyang Army casually, and all of them were stronger than him! Stupid to home, this is! ”

Jiang Baili and Duan Qirui, who were arguing, immediately stopped arguing and stood up: "President." ”

Yuan Shikai nodded at them, and then strode to the front of the battle map: "What's the situation now?" ”

Jiang Baili immediately explained the current battle situation: "President, after crossing the river, Huang Xing was heavily shelled by the Russians, and the troops suffered quite heavy losses, and now less than a third of the troops are surrounded by the Russians in Gu'an. The walls of Gu'an are not suitable for defense, and I can conclude that Lao Maozi kept them just to let us save people! General Feng Guozhang sent news that a large number of Russian troops in front of us had been transferred, and it was estimated that they were waiting for us on the way to Gu'an. So my opinion is that you should never save people! If we abandon the line of defense and go out. It is very likely that the scene in Jinzhou will be repeated. ”

Cao Kun's 100,000-strong army abandoned the Jinzhou defense line, and was all killed by the Russians in a few days outside. If Jinzhou is lost, you can still fight in Beijing, but if Beijing is also lost, Lao Yuan knows that he will be finished.

Duan Qirui followed after Jiang Baili finished speaking: "President, Sun Wen from the south has sent a telegram, asking us to lend a helping hand no matter what, if we stand still at this time." Not only for morale, but also for the political situation in the future! ”

What the two of them said made sense, and Yuan Shikai stared at the battle map for a long time and didn't make up his mind. After a long while, he suddenly remembered that Yang in the northeast was fighting ghosts and fighting. That guy is really better than himself!

"Send a telegram to Commander Yang in the northeast and ask him what his opinion is. Urge to call back quickly. ”

Jiang Baili immediately went to do it, but Lao Yuan knew that he had to react now: "Zhiquan, do you have any rescue plan?" ”

Duan Qirui immediately said: "My opinion is to use a force to attack Gu'an from Beijing. The encirclement of the Russians will definitely be set up on this road, and at the same time the left and right will follow up, in the event of a battle. Immediately enter the battlefield from the flanks and crush the Russian troops. ”

Duan Qirui's plan is, to put it bluntly, a crowd tactic, using an absolute superiority of troops to break away from the Russians' interception and fish out Huang Xing. It's not that Duan Qirui doesn't know that the Beiyang Army can't afford to consume, it's just that there is no other way now, and if you want to rescue Huang Xing, Beiyang must pay sacrifices.

Lao Yuan was really depressed after hearing this, looking at the small black dot on the map that represented Huang Xing, he also felt how terrible the allies were sometimes.

Save? Or not save?

When Yuan Shikai was hesitating, Jiang Baili, who had just left, reflexively came back: "President! Commander Yang's telegram is here! ”

Lao Yuan's eyes lit up: "So fast? ”

Jiang Baili smiled, his face was very excited: "I haven't sent a telegram to the Northeast before his telegram came!" And there is even better news, the troops of the Volunteers have passed the Shanhai Pass and are coming towards us! ”

"What?!"

Lao Yuan's expression was a little incredulous, he remembered that he had sent a telegram to Yang Xiaolin the day before yesterday, and at that time Yang Dagui told him that he was recuperating in the northeast and that there would be a military operation soon. Why did you pass the Shanhaiguan Pass today? Even if they don't know, why don't the Russians know?

He snatched the telegram over, only to see that it was quite clear that the nine divisions of the Volunteer Army with a total of 110,000 troops had passed the Shanhai Pass, and arrived in Miyun at noon the day after tomorrow at the latest, and Yang Xiaolin also knew about Huang Xing, and he did not say whether to save or not, because the thing that annoyed Yuan Shikai the most was that it had become unimportant due to the sudden appearance of the Volunteer Army. (To be continued......)