Chapter 97 In 1996, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Guangdong canceled their independence

During Yuan's lifetime, because of Hong Xian's proclaiming himself emperor, he had serious conflicts with the Beiyang warlords he cultivated, especially the conflicts between Yuan and Duan, which almost reached the point of breaking down.But as soon as Yuan died, Duan Jinshuiloutai inherited the leadership of the Beiyang Army, and his resentment towards Yuan immediately disappeared.Not only did he lose his resentment, but he also tried his best to show great respect to Yuan.Because Duan wants to regard himself as the orthodox heir of the Beiyang military system, he must preserve the feudal tradition, and his preferential arrangement for Chen Shufan is also based on this reason.

Duan's method is just like Yuan's approach to the Xun Qing Dynasty.Duan learned everything from Yuan, but the difference is: Yuan adopted the presidential system, consolidating power in one person, and wanted to be emperor in the future;Even though the situation forced him to support Li as president, it was a good tactic, because Li was not from the Beiyang faction. When Li became president, the Beiyang faction would guard against him. The death of Yuan Shikai is just the death of an old ancestor of the Beiyang School, but his proud disciples and incarnations are countless Yuan Shikai living in the world.

After Duan replaced Yuan as the leader of the Beiyang faction, the Beiyang faction was not as complete as it was when Yuan was alive. In the following days, the Beiyang faction gradually split. .This scene of history is very similar to the situation of disputes between his Liangzhou warlords after Dong Zhuo's death at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It left people with an extremely bad impression.If there was no such scene in the early years of the Republic of China, but vigorous construction, how could China be what it is today! The day after Yuan Shikai's death, Chen Shufan, the governor of Shaanxi, announced the cancellation of independence. He sent a telegram and said:

"Since President Yuan has passed away, the independence of Shaanxi should be abolished immediately. Shufan only returned the entire territory of Shaanxi to the central government, and everything was subject to the central government's punishment. The maintenance of order is naturally the responsibility of Shufan. Worry about looking west. Yishu Fan has more appeals. Although there are nine independent provinces, President Yuan passed away before he abdicated. The ancestor of the Republic of China is not good. Therefore, I plan to invite you to be extra generous in the final ceremony, and agree on the conditions for preferential treatment of family members, so as to show the unfinished thoughts of our people. In addition, regarding the overall situation and the aftermath, please give instructions to follow at any time, I am deeply grateful prayer."

Duan was very satisfied with his action and thought it was worthy of encouragement, so he issued an order on June 10, appointing Chen Shufan as Hanwu General to supervise Shaanxi military affairs.From then on, Chen Shufan became a Beiyang affiliated soldier. Chen's telegram abolishing independence was hated by all walks of life in the country other than the Beiyang faction. Yu Youren, one of the leaders of the Kuomintang, sent a telegram to question Chen: "Looking at Gongyang Electricity makes people point out. Shaanxi is independent and named Huguo, and it should take concerted action with the southwestern provinces. Now that the Yuan family is dead, the independence will be canceled at dusk, and the Yin and Yin promote Yuan as the honor of the common people. If it is the ancestor of You, why should Shaanxi be independent? Isn’t independence a traitor to the ancestors? For those who are different, please pay attention to the final ceremony of Yuan’s decoration, and please set preferential treatment conditions for family members. May I ask how little Yuan’s inheritance is, so why wait for Yuezu to plan on behalf of him? Since the rise of the army, millions of people have died in the war zone, and who cares more about these family members?"

The second one to cancel independence was Chen Huan, the governor of Sichuan. He announced it on June 8 and sent a telegram to the State Council in Beijing. The telegram said: "Because of the issue of abdication, Sichuan Province previously announced the severance of ties with Xiangcheng. Now that Junzuo has taken office, the eunuch would like to abide by the Declaration of Independence and should cancel independence immediately. Afterwards, all matters in Sichuan Province must obey the orders of the central government. In addition to notifying all provinces, Fuqi's instructions are only obeyed!"

There is also a reason for him to come here, because he received a secret telegram from Li Yuanhong's strategists Jiang Zuobin, Jin Yongyan, and Ha Hanzhang, trying to persuade him with the friendship of his hometown. Now the president is from Hubei, and Hubei people should praise Hubei people. If Sichuan can advocate for the southwestern provinces, it will contribute to the current situation.These words are very good for Chen, not to mention that Chen and Li have worked together for a while, that is, before leaving Beijing, Chen served as the deputy chief of staff, and Li was the nominal chief of staff. Li and Chen got along very well because of their fellowship. However, since he was both a fellow villager and a former colleague, Chen also felt that Li should be praised, so he called to cancel the independence without contacting Cai E and the National Defense Army.

Chen made a mistake.He flattered Li, but he didn't know that Li was a bare-bones president with no power and no real power. Duan Qirui, the prime minister with real power, was very unforgiving of Chen Huan. Yuan's personal severance" is a sentence.Chen was showing off his cleverness at the time, thinking that Yuan's downfall was inevitable, and cutting off ties with Yuan personally was not cutting off ties with the Beiyang faction, but this sentence was completely unforgivable in Duan's view. The boundary between the word "private" is very clear.Duan believes that anyone who has been favored by Yuan privately can oppose the monarchy from a public standpoint, but not rebel against Yuan privately. To rebel against Yuan is ungrateful and a traitor to the Beiyang faction. I think you could sever all ties with Yuan yesterday, so why can't you sever ties with me tomorrow?Is this kind of person still available?This is the first point that Duan feels that Chen is unavailable.Secondly, Chen Zhi canceled independence, not because of Duan's promotion, but in response to the instigation of Li Yuanhong's left and right strategists (Duan believed that these people were villains) and expressed his loyalty to Li. conflicting.The third is in terms of communication. Chen Huan and Duan had very little acquaintance in the past. Since Chen Huan supervised Sichuan, Chen has always echoed Feng Guozhang.Before Sichuan became independent, Chen Huan and Feng Guozhang followed suit and sent representatives to Nanjing to contact them. Feng Yuxiang, the brigade commander under Chen, also sent representatives to propose to Cai E that after Yuan stepped down, he would support Feng Guozhang as president. Cai did not express any opinion on this. However, this suggestion was forwarded to the Southwest National Defense Army for reference.And Chen also secretly suggested to Cai that the federal system should be implemented after Yuan stepped down, and Feng Guozhang should be promoted as the federal president.Of course Duan knew about Chen's opinions, so Duan was very dissatisfied with Chen.

Due to the above factors, Chen Huan did not treat Chen Huan the same as he did Chen Shufan after Chen Huan announced the abolition of Sichuan's independence. , Naturally, he can no longer be called the governor of Sichuan, and the Beijing government refused to supervise military affairs for him, so he failed at both ends. As early as when Chen Huan declared his independence, Yuan Shikai set fire to Sichuan. He promoted Zhou Jun, the first division commander of the Sichuan Army and the guardian of Chongqing, to be a heavy military general to supervise Sichuan's military affairs, and ordered him to lead the army to Chengdu to expel Chen Huan.

After Yuan's death, Duan continued this plan. He instructed Cao Kun, the commander of the Beiyang Army stationed in Sichuan, to secretly support Zhou Jun, and told him to continue to march into Chengdu and seize western Sichuan.Zhou Jun had the backing support and was full of courage. He sent troops to occupy Yongchuan, Longchang and Neijiang.He also sent the brigade commander Wang Lingji to lead the fifth battalion into Zizhong to cut off the connection between the Xufu in Chengdu.At the same time, Zhou Jun shouted the slogan "Sichuan people don't fight Sichuan people" to win the sympathy of Sichuan generals Liu Cunhou and Xiong Kewu in the National Defense Army.

When Chen Huan declared independence, he obtained Cai E's assurance that the National Defense Army admitted to maintaining Chen's status as the governor, and sent troops to support Chen if necessary to deal with the complicated situation in Sichuan.So when Zhou Jun marched into Chengdu, Chen Huan asked Cai for help one after another.Since Chen Huan has canceled his independence, neither the National Defense Army nor Cai E has the obligation to assist Chen. However, Zhou Jun accepted Yuan's appointment as General Chongwu during the Sichuan armistice, which was equivalent to carrying out Yuan's mission, and the National Defense Army opposed it. .At the same time, Zhou Jun kept saying that the Sichuan Army would jointly deal with the Yunnan Army and provoke the feelings of the Sichuan and Yunnan Army. Cai E had to stop it in terms of responsibility. But what is Cai E's actual situation?His laryngeal tuberculosis is so severe that he can hardly speak, and he is a person who handles everything by himself.In the past six months, he was not only busy commanding the military, but also handling documents by himself. The national defense army in his hands was just a lonely army that was tired and sleepy, lacking both pay and equipment.He had a strong sense of responsibility. Although Yuan passed away at this time, the Sichuan problem was still serious. He felt that he could not ignore it, but if he wanted to take care of it, he needed to increase his military strength, so he called Tang Jiyao to replenish his troops and weapons.At this time, Chen Huan's telegrams asking for help arrived one after another. He had no choice but to dispatch Liu Yunfeng's echelon regiment to Ziliujing via Xuzhou to wait for the troops to gather before attacking Neijiang and Zizhong. The Beiyang Army led by Chen Huan himself had three mixed brigades, one of which was Li Bingzhi, who had been detained by Cao Kun in Chongqing at this time.One is Wu Xiangzhen and the other is Feng Yuxiang. Both Wu and Feng are in Chengdu, but they are unwilling to work for Chen Huan.Chen begged again and again, and Feng Yuxiang reluctantly sent a new brigade of Yang Zhicheng to the outskirts of Jianyang to set up a defense line. When they encountered Wang Lingji's troops, they collapsed without a fight. Wang Lingji went straight to Chengdu via Longquanyi.Chen Huan was forced to beg for peace with Zhou Jun, and agreed to hand over Chengdu within a week. Zhou Jun gave Chen three days to disarm and surrender, otherwise he would bombard the city with cannons. At this time, the reinforcements sent by Tang Jiyao had already arrived in Sichuan. On June 25, Cai E sent Luo Peijin to lead the newly arrived Gu Pinzhen Ladder Regiment to reinforce Chengdu, and at the same time, he telegraphed the Beijing government to stop Zhou Jun from attacking the city.But it was too late. The deadline for Chen Huan to let Chengdu has expired. He left Chengdu sadly on the 25th and became a fugitive general. The third to cancel independence is Guangdong.The governor of Guangdong, Long Jiguang, sent a telegram to the central government on the 13th, saying that the independence of eastern Guangdong had been abolished on June 9. His text said: "Duan Xiangguojun of the State Council in Beijing: My father-in-law will uphold the country, rebuild the republic, turn the dry and turn the Kun, and re-glory the sun and the moon. Jiguang led his subordinates to hold a meeting in Qingri to celebrate. The upper and lower parties are happy, the army and the people are united, and independence will be abolished today. Obedience The central government ordered, but the parties in Guangdong Province are divided, and there are many difficulties. Once the deployment is complete, the report will be dispatched. Long Jiguang knocks." Duan Fudian awarded Long Jiguang for excellence, saying that he has a world vision, is eager to seek unification, and is sincerely patriotic, which is deeply comforting.The aftermath of the province will be carefully planned and handled by the admiral.