Chapter 63 Sixty-two, Bai Lang's army is haunted

When Yuan "unified" China by force and was full of ambition, Yuan's left and right sides tried their best to publicize that Yuan was the only person who could "stabilize" China, so Yuan also had the spirit of being the only one in the world today.At this time, at the junction of Henan and Hubei, an anti-Yuan armed force suddenly appeared. It had no origin, and its appearance was like a legend, a romance, or a myth. This is the early years of the Republic of China, a flash in the pan, stirring up the Bailang army at home and abroad! The leader of Bai Lang's army is Bai Lang.Who is Bai Lang?There is no consensus on what to do.According to the legend, Bai Lang was a native of Baofeng County, Henan Province. His family was quite rich, he liked to read novels, and he admired Song Jiangzhi. Luocao in Songshan Mountain, claiming to be the governor of the Central Plains Fuhan Army.It is said that he was about thirty-seven or eight years old, with a fat body and a length of more than four feet. He wore a black scarf on his head and a two-and-a-half-inch green braid. He sat in a yellow satin sedan chair for eight people.

Henan and Hubei border areas are poor and poor harvest areas. Because the people lack both food and clothing, it is easy to take risks. The formation and development of the Bailang Army went smoothly and quickly under these conditions.In the autumn of the second year of the Republic of China, the Bailang army began to appear. Zhang Zhenfang, the governor of Henan Province, was Yuan's cousin. He was born as a scholar and served as the Tianjin Customs Road.Since Henan was Yuan's hometown, Yuan Cai transferred his cousin from Zhili.Zhang is a gathering minister, he only knows how to search, so this will increase the momentum of Bai Lang's army.

Bai Langjun has a song: "Good Bai Lang, Bai Lang is good, robbing the rich and helping the poor, doing justice for the sky, everyone says Bai Lang is good!" Another song is: "Old Bai Lang, old Bai Lang, robbing the rich and helping the poor Everyone said that Bai Lang is good. In the past two years, the rich and the poor have been evened out." When Bai Lang's army came into contact with the official army, they sang a slogan: "Bai Lang's army specializes in attacking officials. Hit brother." Since Bai Lang compares himself to Song Jiang, he treats his military advisor Lu Wenti as Wu Yong.Bai Lang's army's strategy is to attack the west while avoiding the truth.

His rise coincided with Yuan's use of troops against the south, and the main force of the Beiyang army was transferred to the south to fight against the Kuomintang. As a result, the rear defense was empty, so Bai Lang gathered the veterans and the defeated troops in Fanzao, and spread across Wuyang and other counties. On January 11, the third year of the Republic of China, Bai Lang's army crossed the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway from west to east, and captured Guangshan and Gushi one after another.Henan is the defense area of ​​Zhao Ti, the wing chief of the Yi Army. Yuan sent Zhao as the "Supervisor of Bandit Suppression in Southern Henan" and ordered him to recover the lost ground and wipe out Bai Lang's army with all his strength.However, Bai Lang's army moved very quickly. Hearing the news, he immediately marched into Anhui, and captured Lu'an and Huoshan counties on the 26th. Yin Baosen, the county magistrate of Lu'an, abandoned the city and left. Yuan Da was furious and ordered to be shot immediately.At the same time, he replaced his cousin Zhang Zhenfang, who knew how to search, and sent Duan Qirui, the No. 1 general of the Beiyang Army, as the governor of Henan, and ordered him to go to Xinyang to supervise the division.The Bailang Army did not take this prestigious Duan Duan seriously, and openly set up the base camp of the Bailang Army on Mount Chuao in Queshan County, not far from Xinyang.

Yuan's reward for catching "wolves" was gradually increased from 5,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan, calculated in Beijing and Henan. At that time, the foreign side was afraid that the "bandit" rebellion would spread, so they expressed to Yuan that they were willing to send troops to put down the rebellion on Yuan's behalf. Yuan thought this was a great insult, so he ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to declare to the ministers of various countries: "The government has the ability to put an end to the banditry." , and can be responsible for the protection of foreign nationals.”

How many people does Bai Lang's army have?Some said that there were only 10,000 people, and less than 1,000 people with weapons; some said that there were about 2,500 people capable of fighting, but they threatened 20,000 people.Bai Lang's notice declared that all veterans who join the gang will not accept any ammunition.Seventy-eight out of ten people who are threatened are smokers.Yuan Bing's monthly salary was only four liang, but Bai Lang's army lured him with twelve monthly salary.Bai Lang's army could walk one hundred and twenty miles a day, but the officers and soldiers could only walk fifty or sixty miles a day, so although the officers and soldiers said they were chasing "wolves", they actually sent them off in formation.

The Yuan government was greatly confused by this erratic and erratic "bandit" army, and even exaggerated the momentum of the Bailang army out of nothing.In order to conceal his incompetence, according to the battle reports released by the Yuan government, about one million "bandits" were killed, and Bai Lang himself did not know how many times he was shot to death by Yuan Jun.The Yuan government's good news, on the contrary, set off Bai Lang's ever-changing Monkey King. It is said that Bai Lang once sent the fifth column to sneak into the major cities of Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai, Hankou, and Guangzhou. Shopkeepers, itinerant beggars, carried out various activities; there was also information that Bai Lang had established transportation networks and transportation stations in major cities, and on the one hand transported the materials they robbed by water to places where the price was high. On the one hand, in exchange for all kinds of materials you need.

Yuan's bulletin conclusively stated that Bai Lang's secret organization had been uncovered in Guangzhou, and at the same time he also vividly stated that in addition to Bai Lang, there were also "yellow lions", "Yellow Lions" and "Green Wolf".So Yuan issued an order in the name of the President: "All arrests and bring to justice." In March of 2013, four children in Wuchang City were swimming in a pond, and they accidentally touched a discarded gun. This was terrible, and the arresters immediately arrested the four children, and a shocking news spread like wildfire. Go: "White Wolf has sent the boy vanguard to Wuchang!" President Yuan sent a secret message to the provinces, ordering the provinces to strictly guard against the "boy vanguard" sent by Bai Lang.

A more serious rumor is that Zhang Xun, the commander of the braided army and patrol envoy to the Yangtze River, actually received Bai Lang's secret envoy at the headquarters in Xuzhou.This rumor really frightened Yuan.Although Zhang Xun belongs to the Beiyang family, he is a branch of the Beiyang family, not Yuan's direct lineage. Not long ago, in order to compete for the Nanjing commander-in-chief, Yuan used some tricks to force Zhang Xun to give up the Jiangsu governor and Nanjing territory. This is a new enmity; The old account is that Zhang Xun has always been loyal to Xunqing, and he and his troops have always kept braids as proof.Since there are new and old grudges, it is possible that Zhang Xun is unreliable.Therefore, it was rumored that the Bailang Army sent representatives to meet Zhang Xun, and Yuan really sweated, for fear that the Braided Army and the Bailang Army would unite. In view of this, Yuan came up with a clever plan of "fighting poison with poison", which was to order Zhang Xun Go to attack Bai Lang's army.Zhang Xun accepted the order openly and happily, but asked Yuan to allow him to expand his force and recruit 10 battalions of recruits.Yuan was dumbfounded by this counter-demand, and hurriedly sent Ruan Zhongshu, a confidant who had friendship with Zhang Xun, to Xuzhou to make arrangements, telling him not to recruit soldiers or suppress bandits!

Bai Lang's disappearance or death is a mystery, and this storm also ended in a mystery.Because Bai Lang's army marched in Henan, Shaanxi, Anhui, and Gansu, he was too exhausted. When he returned from Gansu to Shaanxi and then returned to his old nest in Henan, he was actually at the end of his battle. Therefore, the soldiers of Bai Lang's army saw him When they arrived at their hometown, they ignored the order and returned home one after another. Although they did not return home with rich clothes, they also returned with a rewarding experience. The one chasing Bai Lang's army was Zhao Ti, the wing commander of the Yi army.Yuan Yuan originally sent him to supervise the suppression of bandits in southern Henan, and ordered him to eliminate the Bailang army. How did he know that the Bailang army could not stop him? In front, Yi Jun was behind, chasing, chasing, chasing non-stop.When Bai Lang's army returned to their old nest in Henan, they were still panting and the soldiers fled. Zhao Ti's Yi army also arrived.At this time, Yuan Shikai suddenly received a victory report from Zhao Ti in Beijing: "According to Zhenhua, Commander Liu of the Zhensong Army, Zhang Zhigong telegraphed that Adjutant Jin Jingmin and Captain Wang Jingyuan were sent to infiltrate the bandits. The white bandit was shot to death at Beishanli Shizhuang, Daying, near Lushan Mountain. The bandit corpse has been dissected and identified." Tian Wenlie also published a report: "Lang's body was corrupt, and his head was removed from the car on the 8th, and he put it in a wooden cage. Hanging on the wall of Yingxun Gate."

On August 9, Yuan issued a decree of commendation, specially appointed Zhao Ti as General Hongwei, Liu Zhenhua was promoted to lieutenant general, and five honors were awarded, and Zhang Zhigong was promoted to major general.Unexpectedly, three days later, on August 12th, the Presidential Palace in Beijing revoked the meritorious decree and punished it with impostors. Tian Zuolin, Zhang Jingyao, Niu Guilin, Liu Baoshan and other detachments successively encircled and suppressed Sanshanzhai and other places. Liu Zhenhua hastily forwarded the report without actual investigation, which is totally incompatible; Gu Nian searched and arrested him very hard, so he will not be punished, and the nine-day policy order should be cancelled." In addition to pretending to be meritorious, there is also fighting for merit. Because of the fighting for merit, the Sixth Division and Yi Jun almost opened fire.According to the confession of the captives afterwards, after Bai Lang died, the Bai Lang Army was headed by Song Laoren and guarded the Sow Gorge. Seven cadres in the Bai Lang Army did not die in secret. , one of them informed Yi Jun, so there was a case of beheading and taking credit. On September 20, Yuan appointed Zhao Ti as General Dewu, supervised military affairs in Henan, and promoted Zhang Jingyao as commander of the Seventh Division. Bai Lang's disturbance finally came to an end after Bai Lang's death. Talking about Bai Lang's disturbance, there was another episode: One day, Yuan read a monograph signed by Duan Shiyuan in the newspaper: "Central System Discussion", and felt that The text and meaning are both good, so I asked who he was?The secretary next to him said he was from Henan and was a member of Congress.Yuan was very proud of having such a person in his hometown, so he appointed him as the secretary of the presidential palace.Not long after, Yuan's cousin Zhang Zhenfang was transferred back from the governorship of Henan Province. When he talked to Yuan about local talents, Yuan suddenly thought of Duan Shiyuan and praised his article for being good. Yuan's complexion also changed when he heard that, just like the Queen Mother who heard about the revolutionaries and reformers, she immediately sent detectives to investigate Duan's actions. Secretly communicated with Ling Yue, another member of Congress who was Bai Lang's military adviser. In March 2003, this guest became a prisoner, while Ma Xiaojin, another secretary of the presidential palace, was declared missing.