Chapter 25 Chapter 11: Record-setting Tragedy——The Great Battle of Zhifeng

While Sun Yat-sen was grasping the barrel of his gun, Zhang Zuolin in the north was also sharpening his sword. After the disastrous defeat in the first Zhifeng War, Zhang Zuolin conducted deep self-criticism and self-reflection. After tossing for a long time, he finally realized that the problem mainly lies in loyalty. Only loyalty but no organizational discipline can be said to be a problem that exists in the underworld.And there are many bandits and peasants in the leadership team of the Fengtian military power. These people have not received formal military education, and it is okay to fight small-scale wars with the loyalty of buddies. Some can't keep up with the situation.

In contrast, those young and middle-aged generals who graduated from military academies performed outstandingly, even though they were defeated.Like his sons Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling who saved his life, if it weren't for these manpower to save the situation, he would definitely suffer a bigger loss this time.The back wave of the Yangtze River pushes the front wave, and the front wave dies on the beach. It is impossible to refuse to accept the old! Out of this consideration, Zhang Zuolin decided to carry out a major change of generals. He also played a game of releasing military power with a glass of wine, giving the old brothers good food and drink, but not military power.After that, Zhang Zuolin began to use graduates from famous military schools, disarm and rectify discipline, and reform Fengjun under the guidance of modern military theory. In more than two years, he trained about 200,000 elite soldiers in the ordinary sense.

Among the people with serious military school education who were reused by him, there are three people worth mentioning. The first person is Yang Yuting, who graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy. This person not only has a set of economics and military construction, but also has expertise in military technology management.When he was in charge of building the Shenyang Arsenal, he hired foreign experts heavily to produce rifles and light and heavy machine guns by himself, which greatly improved the level of Fengjun's weapons and equipment. The second person is Zhang Xueliang, who graduated from the Army Lecture Hall of the Three Eastern Provinces.

Since being bombed by Wu Peifu's plane last time, Zhang Zuolin, who still remembers it vividly, delegated power to his son Zhang Xueliang, instructing him to keep pace with the times and establish an air force with about 300 aircraft, which is far more powerful than the direct air force. With the Air Force, there is no need to hide in the Northeast.However, the combat effectiveness of the aircraft at that time was far inferior to today's US F-series fighter jets. They could not fly too far, and their firepower was not strong enough. Therefore, Zhang Zuolin also needs to develop the army ace unit.The leader of the ace unit has long thought about choosing him: Zhang Xueliang, his precious son, and Guo Songling, who graduated from the Fengtian Army Crash Academy.

This Guo Songling is a descendant of Guo Ziyi, a general of the Tang Dynasty, and his relationship with Zhang Xueliang is extraordinary.The two got acquainted in the Army Lecture Hall of the Three Eastern Provinces. Guo Songling was a tactical instructor and Zhang Xueliang was a student.The two had opposite tempers, hit it off at first sight, and became brothers with different surnames. In this way, Zhang Zuolin handed over military power to Guo Songling with more confidence. Since then, Zhang Zuolin has focused on supporting the troops of Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling in terms of talents, weapons, and military expenditures.These two men lived up to their high hopes, and the troops under their command could be regarded as Fengjun's trump card.

In addition to these three people, Zhang Zuolin's old subordinates Jiang Dengxuan and Han Linchun also performed well, and they can be called the general's choice. When Zhang Zuolin was preparing his troops in the Northeast, Marshal Wu in the Central Plains was also building up his army. Wu Peifu stationed hundreds of thousands of troops in Luoyang, practicing every day with great ambitions.He is 50 years old, but he still gets up before 6 o'clock every day, and goes to the playground to read exercises at 8 o'clock, rain or shine. What is commendable is that Wu Peifu has excellent skills in both hands. While grasping "military civilization", he has not forgotten to grasp "spiritual civilization".With a scholarly education, he loves to recite poems and compose lyrics, and he will cry when he recites emotionally. He is a military artist with profound skills.

Among his many military poems, the most famous one is the following song "Deng Penglai Pavilion Song" - which adopts the tune of "Manjianghong" by his idol Yue Fei. The lyrics are powerful and emotional, and the roar is very tragic. Wu Peifu's lyrics ostensibly scold Japanese pirates, but actually scold Mr. Zhang Zuolin who colluded with Japan.Through this work, he wants the soldiers to always remember the sacred historical mission of "restoring the old mountains and rivers in World War I", so that Zhang Zuolin can't even drink the northeast wind! Wu Peifu's movement in Luoyang was so great that it alarmed the reporter of the American "Time Magazine".After an interview, General Wu set a historical record—the first Chinese to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.

Even Kang Youwei, the "fugitive emperor" who claimed to "indulge in mountains and rivers and don't care about current affairs", wrote a flattering couplet to join in the fun when he fled through Luoyang. Let's look at "Muye Yingyang" first. It was originally the deeds of King Wu of Zhou, and he used it to praise Wu Peifu's martial arts. Old Wu will be unhappy after reading it?Look at the sentence "one hundred years of fame only takes half a century". Old Wu just turned 50 years old, and he managed half of China in just half a century. Could it be that Kang Youwei's subtext is that if Wu Peifu lived to be 100 years old, he would be able to unify the whole of China?

The second couplet "Luoyang Hushi, Eight Fangs will meet Zhongzhou" not only affirms the objective situation of General Wu's heroism, but also expresses Kang Youwei's best wishes for General Wu's annexation of Bafang. High, really high!The best flattery!Shot with momentum, literary talent, and a sense of history! I don't know if Wu Dashuai, who is in the limelight, will fight against the brave Zhang Zuolin, who will win? A Jiangsu-Zhejiang war was originally unremarkable, but it was because of it that it directly detonated the second Zhifeng war. As mentioned earlier, Sun Yat-sen fought Chen Jiongming in the second half of 1922.At that time, Sun Yat-sen's troops fought back to Guangdong through Fujian, which made Zhili extremely dissatisfied with the state of Fujian.

Therefore, the Zhili wanted to take Fujian away from the Anhui and take it into their own hands.After discussing with Wu Peifu, Cao Kun decided to send Sun Chuanfang, an effective subordinate, to seize Fujian. Speaking of Sun Chuanfang, I have to explain more about this stepping stone for Chiang Kai-shek to rise to power in the future. Sun Chuanfang, courtesy name Xinyuan, was born in Shandong in 1885. He is a graduate of Baoding Military Academy, has been to Japan to study, suppressed the Revolution of 1911, hunted down the bandit White Wolf, participated in the Zhiwan War, and defeated the Southern Allied Forces in the Law Protection War.In short, this young officer of the Beiyang faction is a titan with real swords and guns.

Of course, Sun Chuanfang is also a direct subordinate, and his current position is the commander-in-chief of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. At the end of 1922, Sun Chuanfang and his classmate Zhou Yin sent troops to Fujian.He did not disappoint the leaders, and soon defeated the Anhui faction in Fujian, and included Fujian under the direct command. With this achievement, Sun Chuanfang became the commander of the Fujian Provincial Military Region. The defeated Anhui faction had no choice but to defect to Lu Yongxiang, the commander of the Zhejiang Provincial Military Region. After all, everyone is under the Anhui faction. Lu Yongxiang was very happy to accept the remnants and defeated generals in Fujian, and immediately expanded his troops to four divisions and one mixed brigade, with a strength of about 60,000. An army that saves 60,000 people is really a bit too inflated.When you don't have the strength to be a red flower, it's better to be a green leaf, otherwise you will be jealous. Sure enough, the neighbor next door—Jiangsu Provincial Military Region Commander Qi Xieyuan jumped out unhappily: Brother, you engage in an arms race, which poses a serious threat to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, peace and stability of our province, and I resolutely protest!If you don't give up military expansion, and don't deeply reflect on your behavior of going against the trend of history, I will never give up the right to resort to force to solve problems! In fact, this guy is purely jealous, restless and kind, he is a member of the direct lineage, and Lu Yongxiang is one of the few remaining forces in the Anhui lineage.Qi Xieyuan had long wanted to eat Lu Yongxiang, who did not have a strong backer, in order to legally inherit the generous commercial taxes of Zhejiang and Shanghai under his rule. When he was worried that he had no good excuse, Lu Yongxiang delivered it to the door himself. Qi Xieyuan reported his thoughts to the leaders Cao Kun and Wu Peifu. The stronger and more powerful you are, the more you pursue power and wealth. This is a road that never ends. Therefore, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, who respectively took wealth and power as their source of happiness, quickly made a decision: Let's fight!I will also arrange a good helper for you - Sun Chuanfang. Jiangsu, Fujian, one south and one north happened to attack Zhejiang, a match made in heaven, Zhejiang can't look after the head, and the enemy is on the back! Seeing that the momentum was wrong, Lu Yongxiang hurried to find a helper.So there was the famous "Three Princes Conference". Lu Xiaojia, the son of Lu Yongxiang, took the lead, Sun Ke, the son of Sun Yat-sen, and Zhang Xueliang, the son of Zhang Zuolin, cooperated. The three represented the three parties and reached a consensus on the issue of opposing the direct lineage. A "triangular agreement" against each other. Zhang Zuolin sent troops from the northeast to contain Wu Peifu's main force. Lu Yongxiang used the province of Zhejiang to fight against the soldiers of Jiangsu and Fujian provinces under his direct lineage. Sun Yat-sen set out from Guangdong and sent troops to Jiangxi, another base of his direct lineage. After taking Jiangxi, he entered Jiangsu through Anhui, approached Nanjing, and outflanked Qi Xieyuan's rear. If there are no problems with the implementation of this plan, it is indeed very hopeful that the powerful enemy of Zhili will be defeated. However, Qi Xieyuan and Sun Chuanfang did not give the "Triangle Alliance" enough preparation time. On September 3, 1924, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang War broke out. For Lu Yongxiang, Sun Chuanfang and Qi Xieyuan were too powerful opponents.After Lu Yongxiang desperately resisted for a month, not only was he beaten all over the floor, but he didn't wait for Sun Yat-sen's reinforcements.Lu Yongxiang, who was isolated and helpless, could only announce his resignation, and then fled to Japan. The effect of the "triangular agreement" does not seem to be very good. It seems that the issue of integrity has always been a big problem.In fact, Sun Yat-sen did not intentionally break his promise. The situation in Guangdong was very delicate at that time, so he could not send troops to help as promised, which will be explained in detail below. This time, Sun Chuanfang became the big winner and immediately became the commander of the military regions of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, which laid a solid foundation for him to establish the five-provincial coalition of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. Unfortunately, as soon as Sun Chuanfang entered Hangzhou, the famous Leifeng Pagoda collapsed. This incident later became an important material for Lu Xun's essay "On the Fall of Leifeng Pagoda". As for Mr. Qi Xieyuan, who started the war, he only got the post of Songhu Guard (probably understandable as Shanghai City Defense Commander).Although it failed to win Zhejiang and Shanghai at the same time to achieve a double harvest, it is still passable. The Guangdong side broke his promise, but Zhang Zuolin from the Northeast still kept his word. Who told him to take revenge? On September 15th, Zhang Zuolin left only a small number of troops to guard his lair, and led nearly 200,000 troops into the pass with Chief of Staff Yang Yuting, his son Zhang Xueliang, and the "Five Tiger Generals"—Guo Songling, Jiang Dengxuan, Han Linchun, Li Jinglin, and Zhang Zongchang. Almost in full force! "Sperm President" Cao Sanye and Wu Peifu were shocked. Although they expected to fight Zhang Zuolin again sooner or later, they did not expect the "Old Beard" outside the pass to come so quickly. There is no way, let's fight! On the 18th, Cao Kun issued a crusade order. On the same day, Wu Peifu held the second mobilization meeting for the Zhifeng War in Sizhaotang, Zhongnanhai. The leader Wu Peifu spoke first, expounding the great significance of defeating Zhang Zuolin, and then a group of subordinates expressed their loyalty to Wu Peifu—expressing their disdain for Zhang Zuolin, and vowing to faithfully implement what the leader decided. According to historical records, when it was Comrade Feng Yuxiang's turn to express his determination to Wu Peifu, the power suddenly cut off.Although old Comrade Wu muttered in his heart: Damn it!Will this kid become a twenty-five boy?But he is not an ordinary person. Although he has thoughts in his heart, he will never express them. Instead, he politely tells Feng Yuxiang to return to his seat. Afterwards, Wu Peifu highly affirmed the loyalty and enthusiasm of his subordinates, and concluded his statement, thinking that this mobilization meeting was a great meeting and a victory meeting! Finally, Wu Peifu announced the military arrangement. Wu Peifu appointed himself the commander-in-chief of the anti-rebel army, and divided his army of nearly 200,000 into three routes to block Zhang Zuolin. Peng Shouxin was the commander-in-chief of the First Army and set off along the Beijing-Feng Railway Line. Wang Huaiqing was the commander-in-chief of the Second Army, and he came out of Xifengkou. Feng Yuxiang was the commander-in-chief of the third army and left Gubeikou. The three-way army attacked Shanhaiguan with a pincer-shaped encirclement, and Zhang Zuolin was pinched to death! It seems that Old Wu is really worried about Feng Yuxiang. Although Feng Yuxiang's third army is also one of the main forces of the three routes, Feng Yuxiang is actually just a reserve army in Old Wu's plan. Judging from the attack routes of both sides, the main battlefield of this battle must be Shanhaiguan. Shanhaiguan is adjacent to Yanshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south. The width between the mountains and the sea is only fifteen miles. As expected, both sides gathered their best troops for a decisive battle here. The Feng army is the main attack, and the Zhi army is the main defense. There was no prelude or temptation, and the battle was extremely intense from the first minute. Zhang Xueliang, Guo Songling, Jiang Dengxuan and other Fengjun generals took turns to charge the battle with elite troops, regardless of the cost, invested in death squads, cavalry, heavy artillery regiments and air forces, and used human sandbags, light weapons, heavy artillery and aircraft bombing... In short, Fengjun went all out. Don't give up until you take down Shanhaiguan. The soldiers of the Zhijun Army have been fighting for a long time. Under the command of the titan Peng Shouxin, they relied on favorable terrain to defend, built bunkers, fired black artillery, planted mines, and even seized the opportunity to fight back.After the fight, the Zhijun was too busy, so Wu Peifu had to go to the front line to command, and led the Zhijun's ace third division to fully display the spirit of fighting for life. Wherever the Fengjun was the most conspicuous and prominent, he would fight there. The sound of artillery, rain of bullets, explosions, flames, smoke, and the corpses of the Feng army continued to increase, but the waves of impact continued. As long as the soldiers in front did not swallow their last breath, they continued to shoot to cover the charge of the troops behind. Zhijun was also having a hard time, bullets whizzed past, soldiers kept falling in the trenches, but the soldiers around them didn't even have time to look back.From time to time, the roar of planes could be heard in the sky, followed by the falling of strings of bombs and the low-flying strafing of planes. Fengjun's air force has an absolute advantage. Fortunately, the Zhijun has imported heavy weapons-anti-aircraft guns can fight back, so that the opponent will not be too presumptuous. Seeing that the air was not dominant, Wu Peifu used his brains on the navy, planning to let the Bohai Fleet carry the army to the rear of the Feng army, cutting off the Feng army's back.The idea is very good, but it is difficult to implement.Because of the continuous bombing by Fengjun planes, the Zhijun warships were unable to anchor. So far, the Second Zhifeng War has been fought for more than a month. The two sides have tried their best in the main battlefield of Shanhaiguan, resulting in heavy casualties, but they are still evenly matched, forming a confrontational situation. ... The ongoing Shanhaiguan battle is the first large-scale multi-arms three-dimensional battle in Chinese history. The army, air force, and navy cooperate to attack each other.It can be regarded as a complete farewell to the "playing house" mode of the previous warlord civil war.The only pity is that the advanced weapons are all imported, and they will be gone if they are worn out. Just when the two families of Zhifeng were fighting fiercely, a telegram ordered Wu Peifu's life. Zhang Fangyan, Chief of Staff of the Zhijun Army who stayed at the Beijing General Headquarters to guard Wu Peifu's lair, suddenly received an emergency call from the front line, requesting immediate reinforcements. Zhang Fangyan thought of Feng Yuxiang who was stationed in Gubeikou to watch the fire from the other side and stood still, so he sent a telegram to Feng Yuxiang saying: Our situation is not good. If there is no accident, I am afraid it will be over. It is difficult to recover the decline), I hope you will send troops quickly to turn the tide! Feng Yuxiang had been paying attention to the development of the Shanhaiguan War. Just when he was hesitating, Zhang Fangyan's telegram came. Based on the tone of the telegram, Feng Yuxiang concluded that Wu Peifu must die.As a result, Feng Yuxiang's class teacher returned to Beijing to stage a coup, imprisoned President Cao Kun, and gave Wu Peifu a bottom line. This day is October 23, and this event is known as the "Beijing coup" in history. After the news of the Beijing coup spread to Shanhaiguan, the morale of Wu Peifu's troops was shaken. Zhang Zuolin took the opportunity to command Fengjun's elite to break through the defense line of the direct army and defeated Wu Peifu's main force in one fell swoop. More than 30,000 soldiers surrendered alone. After this big defeat, Wu Peifu did not panic, he led the remnant troops to fight and retreat in a calm manner, and the efficiency of escape was very good.It's a pity that Feng Yuxiang kept chasing after him, and even Yan Xishan, who had always been timid and fearful, began to make trouble and sent troops to stop Wu Peifu's reinforcements. The continuous gang fights forced Wu Peifu to retreat to Tianjin with thousands of remnants of defeated generals, and fled to the sea, only to save his old life. In this regard, the second Zhifeng war ended with Zhang Zuolin's successful revenge. Mr. Zhang Fangyan's stupidity is like that butterfly in North America, which ruined Wu Peifu's great career with just a flap of its wings.Afterwards, those remnants of the defeated generals hated Zhang Fang's strict telegrams, which led to failure, and all of them demanded that Mr. Zhang be thrown into the sea to feed the bastard. Although Wu Peifu felt that Zhang Fangyan's EQ was very problematic, he still took the responsibility of a leading cadre and put the responsibility on his shoulders. He waved his hand and said: "It's not his fault, it's all my bad luck, let's forget it!" Wu Peifu has been floating on the water for more than half a year. When he was the loneliest, most downcast, and most in need of support, the three old relatives—Sun Chuanfang, Qi Xieyuan, and Zhao Hengti, governors of the three provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Hunan—perhaps felt that the old superiors Perhaps he hoped that Wu Peifu's excellent shield against Fengjun would last for two more years, so Qiqi turned into a warm man and jointly sent a warm and affectionate telegram to Wu Peifu: Marshal, come to us Come here, we will follow behind you as always... This heart-warming telegram gave the self-confident Wu Peifu a little more confidence in the future: Although I am no longer heroic, I have the ambition and genius military talent that never grow old. What is the point of a defeat? Fear, everything starts from here again! With the support of three old subordinates, Wu Peifu, who survived the catastrophe, came to Wuhan, Hubei, stabilized the decline, and started the road to comeback. Now let's go back and talk about the Beijing coup. Facing Wu Peifu, who has always been on the battlefield, it may be difficult to win head-to-head, but his opponent can win in other ways, such as roundabout tactics. This time, the key figure in implementing this tactic is undoubtedly Comrade Feng Yuxiang.Why did Feng Yuxiang, who is a direct reserve army, get cold feet?Historical materials provide the following four mainstream theories. First, Comrade Feng Yuxiang is very patriotic and has long seen that the corrupt rule of the Zhili lineage is not pleasing to the eye, so he stepped forward to turn the tide. Second, Sun Yat-sen sent people to lobby Feng Yuxiang, asking him to serve the country and the people and take into account the overall situation.So Feng Yuxiang fought back. Third, Feng Yuxiang was bought by Zhang Zuolin and betrayed his old master for profit. Fourth, everything was done by Duan Qirui to avenge the Zhiwan War that year. After careful scrutiny of historical materials, it is found that these four statements are not all correct, but if they are combined, it will be close to the truth of the matter! The process of Feng Yuxiang's defection was probably like this. Feng Yuxiang's strength soared after the Zhiwan War, which aroused Wu Peifu's vigilance. Since then, Wu Peifu has tried his best to suppress Feng Yuxiang in many aspects of army establishment and military expenditure, and put Feng Yuxiang in various styles of small shoes, so that Feng Yuxiang's days are more difficult. Feng Yuxiang was very dissatisfied with Wu Peifu because of this, which was the root of the conflict between the two. Therefore, after the battle of Zhifeng started, Feng Yuxiang, as the commander-in-chief of the third army, had a very negative work attitude, and had no intention of fighting with Zhang Zuolin at all.He watched the Zhifeng battle quietly from the sidelines, to see who could gain a decisive advantage, and then he caught up and stepped on it. While he was watching, some thoughtful forces came up with his idea one after another. The first person to come to the door was a man named Huang Yu. Huang Yu's identity is more complicated. He is not only a member of the Tongmenghui, but also Chiang Kai-shek's brother, and the current head of education. Of course, the most important thing is that he has a close relationship with Feng Yuxiang. Huang Yu said straight to the point: I was sent by Duan Qirui to invite you to rebel on his behalf. You don't have to worry about Yan Xishan, Zhang Zuolin and others stealing your way.Duan Qirui has already done their ideological work, and everyone agreed to go straight. Feng Yuxiang was tempted. At this moment, Zhang Zuolin's representative also came. As the attacking side, the Feng army must have more casualties than the defending straight army. How could Zhang Zuolin not be in a hurry?When he found out that Feng Yuxiang's troops were still not moving, he knew it was an opportunity, so he sent a representative to negotiate peace, and at the same time he brought a million silver dollars (Zhang Xueliang recalled that it was half a million) as a favor fee. This contact with the Feng family has strengthened Feng Yuxiang's determination to "turn straight". He can earn favors, get money, and avenge the Zhi line bullying himself, so let's do it. Before doing it, he needs to find a way to reduce the risk of entering Beijing. Therefore, Feng Yuxiang recruited two assistants to jointly manage this "stab in the back" project. One is Hu Jingyi, and the other is Sun Yue. Hu Jingyi is a member of the Tongmenghui, Feng Yuxiang's old comrade-in-arms, and Feng Yuxiang's deputy commander. He led his troops to station near Beijing. Sun Yue is also a member of the Tongmenghui, and also an old comrade-in-arms of Feng Yuxiang.Back in the day when "Luanzhou soldiers remonstrated", the two were still junior officers.Time is like a song, and time is like an arrow. Feng Yuxiang said nothing, and Sun Yue also took the position of deputy commander of Beijing's security. He is in charge of Beijing's city defense and is the key figure in whether Feng Yuxiang can successfully break through Beijing. After Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue learned of Feng Yuxiang's specific thoughts, they did not hesitate and made a bold decision: Good buddies must show loyalty and stand firm! Next, the three determined the plan and key details of how to take Beijing. On the 23rd, the Beijing coup took place. Looking back, the coup was a bit confusing. Both Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin participated in this matter, but it is hard to say whether Sun Yat-sen participated or not.Although Huang Yu, Hu Jingyi, and Sun Yue were all former members of the Tongmenghui, they were not members of the Kuomintang at the time. It is difficult to say that Sun Yat-sen could order them, but this possibility cannot be completely denied. Of course, Feng Yuxiang is indeed different from ordinary warlords. He has a decent and simple life style, relatively progressive thinking, and a slightly rough revolutionary ideal—he is not only an active member of the "Luanzhou Military Admonition", but also appreciates Sun Yat-sen's idea of ​​the national revolution can be seen from the new name he gave his troops after the "Beijing Coup", "National Army of the Republic of China". In any case, the "Beijing Coup" was able to succeed, and Feng Yuxiang contributed a lot. Feng Yuxiang, who had successfully pushed his lineage to the cliff, was not satisfied. He decided to do something that his predecessors did not dare to do or even dare to think about. The thing to do is to drive Puyi out of the Forbidden City! Do whatever you want, and when the situation in Beijing stabilizes, Feng Yuxiang instructs his subordinate Lu Zhonglin to come to the Forbidden City with a full-armed guard in a murderous spirit, demanding that Puyi must disappear from the Forbidden City within two hours! Judging from historical experience, the effect of force coercion is mostly good, and many verbal disputes can be avoided. As expected, Mr. Puyi was frightened out of his wits, and hurriedly moved out of the Forbidden City. With Lu Zhonglin's "enthusiasm help", he soon moved into the Prince Chun's Mansion where his biological father Zaifeng lived, and lived a "civilian" life. Feng Yuxiang was relieved, but he planted a time bomb when he expelled Puyi from the Forbidden City. After the "September 18th Incident", the Japanese military, which was highly "sympathetic" and paid close attention to Puyi, invited Puyi to the Northeast and made him the ruler of the puppet Manchukuo, and became a tool for the Japanese to split China. Of course, this is a later story . When Feng Yuxiang was busy with these things, Mr. Zhang Zuolin, who had finished cleaning the battlefield, also came to Beijing. How to clean up the mess now?Especially with regard to who will be in power, Zhang Zuolin and Feng Yuxiang are very troubled. This is the trouble of doing business in partnership, which is far less enjoyable than doing it alone. Neither Feng Yuxiang nor Zhang Zuolin is qualified to be the head of state in terms of qualifications.Fortunately, these two people are sensible people, knowing how much they have, they don't have the nerve to recommend themselves. After intense discussions, the two finally decided to ask someone to come out to stabilize the situation. This person is Duan Qirui, the big brother of Beiyang.After all, Duan Qirui contributed a lot in the process of defeating Wu Peifu, and most of the military commanders in the provinces of the country belong to the Beiyang system, so choosing a big brother from Beiyang can convince the public. Duan Qirui, who was eating vegetarian food and praying to the Buddha in his hometown in Tianjin, received the news that he was invited to come out of the mountain, and a gratified smile appeared on his usually cold face.It seems that Comrade Lao Duan's state of mind has not been cultivated in place, and he is far from seeing through the world of mortals, and the four things are all empty. The old man is not old-hearted, thinking of continuing to make use of his residual heat, so he didn't come in vain, and accepted the invitation happily. But before leaving the mountain, Lao Duan still made two requests. One is the truce. Duan Qirui can't let the Feng faction eliminate the direct line, because it's not conducive to his balance.The emergence of too powerful a force is never a good thing for those in power. The second is to rebuild the republic. This is a bit difficult to understand, here is a little explanation.Duan Qirui said that these years of warlords fighting and the world in chaos showed that the "president, cabinet, and congress" structure copied from the West was not suitable for China's national conditions at all, so he felt that the cabinet and congress should be abandoned. These two requests did not cause any real harm to Zhang Zuolin and Feng Yuxiang, so they agreed to him. In November 1924, Duan Qirui, who was already gray at the temples, officially took office as the "interim ruling". The provisional ruling is the head of state and head of government under the plan of "rebuilding the republic". It can be regarded as the combination of the president and the prime minister. An end to the presidential and cabinet system. After Duan Qirui took office, after several days and nights of hard thinking, he decided to burn two fierce fires for everyone to see, so as to prove that Duan Qirui is a person who can do practical things. The first fire is to abolish the supervisor and cut the troops. This time, Zhang Zuolin, who is the most powerful on paper, first stood up to express his support. He asked to revoke the title of "General Zhenwei" and the name of "Northeast Patrol Envoy", which was a big deal for Duan Qirui. face. Now that Zhang Zuolin expressed his position, the commanders of other provincial military regions followed suit and removed their titles of "supervisor" and renamed them "supervisor of military affairs aftermath". But what is the difference between this supervisor and the supervisor?In fact, there is no difference, it is just a facade of "there are policies at the top, and countermeasures at the bottom". The second fire, the "aftermath meeting". Duan Zhizheng invited celebrities from all walks of life, military and political dignitaries to Beijing for a meeting to plan the blueprint for China's future development, and it is best to come up with a constitution. At that time, unlike now, meetings in different places mostly turned into tourism and shopping.Many people who attended the meeting came here sincerely to solve the problem, just like Mr. Sun Yat-sen.