Chapter 132 131. Feng Guozhang's southward travel was blocked

The northern war faction kept putting pressure on Feng Guozhang, and the politicians of the Anhui faction released an air, saying that if Feng persisted in the crusade order, the Anhui faction would deal with Feng with extraordinary measures. Li Yuanhong was re-elected as President.This threat was quite effective, so Feng came up with a perfunctory method, which was to find a way to relieve his own difficulties in Wang Zhanyuan's difficult environment, trying to compress the "comprehensive crusade" in the south into a "partial crusade" A hot current of the crusade was directed to a corner of Jing and Xiang, making the big event smaller.However, he still did not want to adopt the "presidential order". On January 9th, he sent a telegram to the front-line troops from the Shenlu Office in response to the order of the President: "Anyone who disobeys the order will be regarded as a bandit."He adopted this method, and it was easy to explain to the south, because the Jing and Xiang Autonomous Army did not belong to the southwest, but a local disobedient force.This also solved Wang Zhanyuan's difficulties.

Feng was also afraid that the Guangxi faction would misunderstand, so he explained to the Guangxi faction through Chen Guangyuan that the Jing-Xiang issue was an internal issue in Hubei. He also asked Wang Shizhen to explain to Cen Chunxuan: "The partial crusade order will never affect the peace between the north and the south." In order to reply to Lu Rongting's telegram asking Cen Chunxuan to be the general representative of the peace talks in the South, he sent a telegram to Cen Chunxuan, inviting Cen to go to Beijing to altruistically discuss the issue of North-South peace.This is Feng's struggle after the pressure from the main combat faction increased greatly.

On January 13, 7, Ni Sichong, the main combat faction, accepted the invitation of Duan Qirui's think tank Xu Shuzheng to Tianjin.At his instigation, the warlords of 16 provinces and regions jointly sent a telegram to oppose the "partial crusade" and insist on a comprehensive crusade.Ni Sichong, Zhang Huaizhi, and Zhang Jingyao jointly proposed to remove Li Chun.Lu Yongxiang also proposed to exempt Li Chun from the responsibility of "transferring people".Xu Shuzheng knew how to use Ni Sichong to let Ni come to Tianjin to add fuel to the fire. Li Chun became Duan Xi's victim when he attacked Feng Xi. Duan Xi directed all his grievances on Li Chun. Li Chun sent three telegrams asking for his resignation. , the gentleman is ashamed; and when entering and exiting, the ancients are difficult. If you can’t have both, you would rather sacrifice the difficult, and never tolerate accommodation in order to forget the shame. Knowing that the gravity of responsibility is weak, you should travel far away .It’s not to avoid suspicion, but to do what you want.”

The 16 main fighters in Tianjin were energized. On January 14, Tang Jiyao, Cheng Biguang, Wu Tingfang, Tan Haoming, Liu Xianshi, Mo Rongxin, Li Liejun, Cheng Qian, Li Tiancai, Chen Jiongming, Shi Xingchuan, and Xiong Kewu jointly signed the 12-person Powered on, and after the Beijing government issued the armistice announcement, it sent two commanders to conquer the South. The Shenlu Office issued a telegram to attack Jing and Xiang, and used large and small sections to use Liu Cunhou to disrupt Sichuan and Long Jiguang to disrupt Guangdong. All kinds of provocative behaviors have raised serious questions.Lu Rongting was not listed in this telegram.

Feng Guozhang's partial crusade was to reduce major issues to minor ones, avoiding major ones and neglecting minor ones, which not only let the main battle send a sigh of relief, but also kept the southwest from being attacked, confining the war to the corners of Jing and Xiang.Unexpectedly, neither the understanding of the Southwest could be obtained, nor the requirements of the northern main combat faction could be met.The main combat faction insists that an order to attack the Southwest must be officially issued in the name of the president, otherwise they will attack regardless of whether there is an order.And announced the separation of relations with the Beijing government.

Beside Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen had no idea, just begged to leave, neither wanted to fight nor dared to make peace; Duan Zhigui, the new army chief, urged an immediate crusade order at the state affairs meeting.There are rumors inside and outside Beijing that Xu Shuzheng is planning to call Fengjun into the customs and launch a coup in Beijing.Feng is faced with a serious choice, either obey the opinions of the main combat faction and issue a crusade order; or give up the president. On January 14, Feng himself did not show up, but still ordered the Shenlu Office to answer the main combat faction: "All armies go first, and the battle order will be issued later." Fight on the border of Guangdong, but do not enter the Hunan side, lest the Guangxi clique automatically cancel its independence.The main combat faction was aggressive and insisted on "comprehensive crusade", demanding that the Gui army withdraw from Hunan first, and at the same time insisting that the crusade order must be issued in time. Feng replied: "It will not be too late to issue the crusade order after you have won the battle in Hunan." Said: "If you don't issue a crusade order first, isn't it true that the teacher has no name?"

Therefore, the Anhui faction (the main combat faction) advocated "order first and then send troops."The Zhili (main peace faction) advocated "send troops first and then order".Everyone is going around in circles on this issue, getting entangled. The Beiyang Army attacked Jing and Xiang on January 14, 7.At that time, the distribution of offensive forces was as follows: Wu Peifu's department of the third division of Xiangfan was in the east, and Nanyang's guard envoy Wu Qingtong was in the north. Wang Maoshang of the 18th Division was in Qianjiang, and Lu Jinshan, the third mixed brigade, was attacking from the east in Jianli.

The Jingzhou Autonomous Army was unable to resist. Tan Haoming sat idly by in Hunan and prevented the Xiangxi People's Army from going to the rescue. Therefore, on January 22, Wu Guang's new army easily entered Jingzhou.There were also few battles in Xiangfan. On the 25th, Zhang Xueyan, commander of the fifth brigade of the third division, attacked Xiangfan. Feng Guozhang received the battle report to conquer Jingzhou, and immediately drafted several presidential orders: (1) Resume Lu Rongting's patrol envoy to Guangdong and Guangxi, and Long Jiguang will be appointed separately; (2) The Northern Army retreats from Yuezhou, but the Southern Army is not allowed to enter; (3) The Guangxi Army retreats from Hunan; (4) Order Tan Yankai to return quickly In Hunan, implement the rule of Hunan by the people of Hunan; (5) Instruct the authorities of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces to negotiate and resolve the number and location of the Yunnan army stationed in Sichuan. On the 24th, Wang Shizhen proposed that this order was pending discussion at the state affairs meeting. He was shocked when he suddenly received an urgent telegram from the Southern Army to attack Yuezhou.

The Southern Army suddenly attacked Yuezhou, breaking Feng Guozhang's plan to limit the war to a small area.With the situation developing like this, the main combat faction even made more plausible arguments to force Feng to issue a crusade order. If the crusade order was issued, it would mean the start of an all-out war between the North and the South. This would break the alliance between the Zhi and Guangxi factions, and Feng's political influence would also be greatly reduced. So Feng hurried to Dongsi Pailou Wutiao Hutong in a panic to visit Xu Shichang, asking the old fox in the political circle for an idea.Xu advocated inviting Duan Qirui to discuss together in order to seek consensus.So I asked Duan to come by phone, and Duan came after a while, with a cold attitude and no opinion.Feng suddenly stood up and spoke, scolding the Southern Army for bullying too much, for bullying the Beiyang faction too much, it is tolerable, but Dun can't bear it!Finally, he said: In order to unite and consolidate the Beiyang faction, I decided to go out in person, and I will never give up until the arrogance of the south is frustrated.

Seeing Feng Guozhang's impassioned attitude, Xu Shichang and Duan Qirui came really suddenly. They have worked with Feng for twenty years, and they have never seen Feng lose such a temper. I don't know what words to answer. Feng returned to the Presidential Palace from Xu Yu, and immediately ordered Liu Xun, the commander of the arch guard army, to select a brigade of elite soldiers from the 15th division to replenish the ammunition.maintain security.At the same time, a power-up is issued, and the electric cloud: "Following the President's decree: In recent years, the military has repeatedly risen, disasters have been reported, soldiers have been exposed, business people have been displaced and unemployed, and the President is heartbroken and dare not settle down. On the 26th of this month, I personally To inspect the army everywhere to boost morale. Wherever the car dealers go, they will see the suffering of the people. Within a few days, they can return to Beijing. All the daily documents and telegrams of the official offices outside Beijing are still submitted to the State Council for processing as usual. The confidential military information, the telegram It will be submitted for verification and handling, and it will be reported to the department in charge for contact. All divisions have their own duties, and they should be cautious in handling the matter, and do not neglect or neglect the cause! I hereby convey it."

President Feng wanted to conscript himself, which made the people in the military department of the branch office panic. On the morning of the 25th, they met with Feng to dissuade the "southern inspection tour".The Beijing Chamber of Commerce also sent representatives to call for stopping the "presidential tour".Feng said to them: "It takes one week to leave Beijing. During this period, the State Affairs Committee is presided over by the cabinet, so you don't need to be alarmed."In the afternoon Feng summoned Army Chief Duan Zhigui, Infantry Commander Li Changtai, Capital Police Chief Wu Bingxiang and others, and asked them to assist Prime Minister Wang Shizhen to maintain everything. At 8:30 pm on the 26th, Feng left Beijing by special car and arrived in Tianjin at 12:30.Cao Kun, the governor of Zhili, greeted him at the station.After Feng got off the car, he went to Cao's Garden to rest.The two talked in secret until dawn. Cao was originally a direct descendant, but he joined the main combat faction because he was lured by Xu Shuzheng. Outsiders could not know what Feng and him were discussing in secret. At 5 o'clock in the morning on the 27th, Feng set off immediately. He still took the original train from Tianjin and rested on the train. In the afternoon, the train passed Jinan. I went to Nanjing, but when I arrived in Bengbu, although Ni Sichong arrived at the station to meet him, the car couldn't get out. Feng declared in Xu Shichang's house in Beijing that he was going to fight in person.The expedition should take the Beijing-Hanzhou line to Hubei, not the Jinpu line to Nanjing.When Feng was leaving, the telegram said: "Southbound inspection", but he was in a hurry along the way, neither getting out of the car to inspect, nor reviewing the army.Feng told the people in Beijing that the period of Beijing would be seven days, but he selected a brigade of elite soldiers to guard him, carrying more than 200 boxes of ammunition, and dozens of carts. It is all false. Feng’s goal must be Nanjing, which is Feng’s base. When he arrives in Nanjing, Feng will say that he has escaped from the trap of the main combat faction in Beijing. Crusade, this crusade order will not be directed against the south but against the Anhui faction! Since Duan had such doubts, he secretly ordered Ni Sichong to stop him. After Feng arrived in Bengbu, Ni boarded the car and asked Feng for instructions. Although his attitude was submissive, Ni's troops were all inside and outside the station. Feng told Ni that he planned to hold a military meeting in Nanjing to discuss the issue of fighting in the South.Ni said that since the military meeting was held, why go to Nanjing, and asked the president to hold it in Bengbu, and he was willing to do everything to satisfy the president.At the same time, he made his own claim and ordered the secretary to use Feng's name to send a telegram to Li Chun, the governor of Jiangsu, in Feng's presence, asking him to come to Bengbu to attend the military meeting.Ni Sichong was once Yuan Shikai's loyal lackey, and also Duan Qirui's effective minion. Since he used force to defend the station, although Feng had a brigade of elite soldiers, they were outnumbered after all.Overwhelmed.Therefore, I was told that I could not do it.Fortunately, Li Chun was alert and received a call from Bengbu, saying that he was sick and sent Wang Tingzhen, the commander of the Tenth Division, to come to Anhui as a representative. Feng Quyu was perfunctory in Bengbu, and said to Ni: Now the governors of all provinces are unwilling to obey the central government. It is really difficult for me to be president.Ni replied: The president can punish everyone, and anyone who opposes the central government will be removed from his post. If the president removes me, I will obey.Feng only made a wry smile when he heard this. On the afternoon of the 29th, Feng returned to Beijing by the original special car. His tour lasted only four days, three days less than the seven-day period. Feng Guozhang went on a tour under the pretext of the southern army attacking Yuezhou.Why did the Southern Army attack Yuezhou? It turned out that in the south, since the Guangxi faction secretly communicated with the direct lineage in the north, they were naturally unwilling to expand the war.The Guangxi faction was unwilling to expand the war, so why did they allow the Southern Army to take military action against Yuezhou?As far as the Guangxi clique was concerned, it was of course forced. The objective situation at the time made it necessary for the Guangxi clique to agree: the first was the sentiments of the soldiers and civilians in Hunan. Because the Hunan army had a strong fighting spirit, if it was suppressed too much, the leadership of the Guangxi clique in Hunan would be destroyed Affected; the second is that the Kuomintang is increasingly dissatisfied with the fact that the Guangxi faction is standing still in Hunan. If the Guangxi faction becomes an enemy of the Hunan army again, forcing the Kuomintang and the Hunan army to unite against the Guangxi faction, the leadership of the Guangxi faction in Guangdong will also be shaken. The third is that the Northern Army has attacked the Jing and Xiang autonomous armies, Jingzhou has fallen, and Xiangyang cannot be kept. The Zhili Zhuhe faction cannot control the situation.Therefore, the Gui family finally agreed to the Southern Army's attack on Yuezhou. The military actions of the Confederate Army did not meet strong resistance.The northern army guarding Yuezhou is Wang Jinjing's second division, Li Kuiyuan's eleventh division, Wang Ruxian's eighth division, and Fan Guozhang's 20th division. Army combat. On January 23, 7, the Southern Army began to attack. On the 26th, the Northern Army set fire to Yuezhou, and then withdrew. Yuezhou has been under the control of the Northern Army since the Second Revolution in the Republic of China. It lasted for more than four years, and it was only then that it returned to the embrace of the Southern Army. After Yuezhou changed hands, the hearts of the southwestern provinces were greatly encouraged, and most advocated to drive straight to Wuhan. Since the main force of the northern army was concentrated in Jing and Xiang, Wuhan's military strength was extremely empty. Therefore, if the southern army advances by victory, Wuhan can be captured.If Wuhan is captured and Tang Jiyao sends troops to the Northern Expedition as a hero to protect the country, the militia in the north will definitely respond, and the situation will change drastically. It is difficult to predict the changes in the situation in the north. However, the Guangxi faction was unwilling to give up their desire to seek peace with the north. They believed that the northern army captured Jing and Xiang, and the southern army regained Yuezhou.And it is necessary to switch from war to peace and hold a North-South peace conference as soon as possible. On the day when the southern army occupied Yuezhou, Tan Haoming immediately ordered that the frontline Hunan army be strictly prohibited from entering Hubei.And on January 30, he sent a telegram to Li Chun, stating: "The front has been ordered to stop attacking and will not enter the territory of Hubei."Guarantee that "the north will not attack Yue, and the south will not attack Hubei." I hope that Li Chun and the main peace faction can: "Perseverance mediates and promotes peace."Cheng Qian, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army, also called Li Chun and said: "The use of troops this time is actually for the sake of promoting peace. I have declared to Wang Du (note Hubei Governor Wang Zhanyuan) that we will not brag about Jing and Xiang from now on. Our army will never Take a peek into Wuhan. If the acting president does not lose his purpose of advocating justice, our army will still have the same enthusiasm as before." On January 31, all the generals of the Hunan Army sent a telegram, saying that the Southern Army's attack on Yuezhou was "using force as a means and peace as the goal." The Three Governors of the Yangtze River, the center of the Zhihe faction, were not surprised that the Southern Army took Yuezhou for granted.After receiving the telegram from Tan Haoming and Cheng Qian, Li Chun, the chief governor of the three governors of the Yangtze River, immediately forwarded the telegram on his behalf. On January 31, Wang Zhanyuan suggested to Li Chun that the return of Jing and Xiang to Hubei and the return of Yuezhou to Hunan were the prerequisites for the peace talks between the North and the South.Li Chun then sent out the world electricity (31st).Shidian immediately received a warm welcome from the Guangxi family.Then Cen Chunxuan and Tan Yankai responded with a good telegram (February 9), and Lu Rongting responded with a real telegram (February 11). After the southern army captured Yuezhou, the main combat faction and the main peace faction became one.Feng Guozhang had already returned from his tour to the north and became a political prisoner of the main combat faction. Therefore, on January 30, Feng was forced to issue an order reprimanding "Tan Haoming and Cheng Qian are advancing steadily, Li Tiancai and Shi Xingchuan advocate independence and provoke each other. We are public enemies." At the same time, Cao Kun and Zhang Huaizhi were ordered to march in the army, and Cao Kun was appointed concurrently as the Xuanfu envoy of the two lakes, and Zhang Jingyao was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy to aid Yue.Li Tiancai and Shi Xingchuan were deprived of their official positions and medals.This order is the "crusade order", and it is exactly what Feng Guozhang has tried to evade in various ways for many months, and now he is forced to do so.When Wang Shizhen counter-signed this order, his expression was very depressed. He explained: It was to save an old friend from the siege, and he did it as a last resort. In a tricky way, he used the name of "Xuan Fu Lianghu" to indicate that the war in the two lakes was not a crusade, and his so-called "aid to Yue" was not "aid to Hunan", implying that the military operation was only aimed at taking back Yuezhou. The Anhui faction was still dissatisfied with Feng's crusade order. Zhang Jingyao first sent a telegram to question: (1) Yuezhou has been lost, so why "grant Yue"? (2) Since the attack on Yuezhou, why send people to "Xuanfu" the two lakes? (3) The president’s attitude should be clear. If the main war is the main one, he should ask the main government and the provinces (referring to the three provinces directly under the Yangtze River) to change their attitudes so that they can be carried out in unison. 4) Zhang Jingyao felt dissatisfied that Cao Kun was the commander-in-chief of the First Route Army and concurrently served as the Xuanfu envoy of the two lakes.In Zhang Jingyao's telegram, the paragraph on the supervision of participating in the war was written first, and the Prime Minister of the Cabinet Wang was written last. Duan's attitude towards Feng became stronger and stronger, and he was also extremely dissatisfied with Feng's crusade order. He went to the presidential palace to meet Feng in person and asked to punish Chen Guangyuan, the Jiangxi governor who refused the Northern Army's false ways.This was clearly a slap in the face to Feng.Feng naturally couldn't stand this kind of face, so he also proposed to punish Fu Liangzuo for abandoning his post and leaving Hunan as a resistance.The two quarreled violently for this, and spoke ill of each other. Duan also raised another question, asking Feng to issue a very strict order, telling Feng Yuxiang to leave Pukou and drive to Fujian, otherwise Feng Yuxiang would be punished for disobedience.Feng Guozhang understood that if Feng Yuxiang was not transferred, there would be a possibility of war between the Zhi and Anhui factions, and if there was a war between the Zhi and Anhui factions, Jiangsu would besiege the Anhui faction on all sides, and the Zhi faction would suffer somewhat.What's more, the Beiyang faction really broke out in a civil war, and it was the Southwest that took advantage.In order to ease the Anhui faction's attack on Li Chun and the tension in the southern section of the Jinpu line, Feng Nai made concessions and transferred Feng Yuxiang's brigade, but instead of transferring Feng's brigade to Fujian, he transferred him to Hubei.Hubei belongs to the direct lineage. After Feng Brigade transferred to Hubei, Wang Zhanyuan's power could be increased without being swallowed by the Anhui lineage. Zhang Jingyao, a fierce member of the main combat faction, is a disciple and former subordinate of Li Chun, the central figure of the main peace faction. However, since he joined the Anhui Clan, for the sake of his future, he has never pretended to be "Xiu Shuai". On January 30, Zhang Jingyao sent a telegram to expose the various plots of the Zhuhe faction to collude with the South and obstruct the war against the South. Still the main peace, ask the provinces to help.He said that he intercepted Tan Haoming's telegram (January 19), saying: The Southern Army's attack on Yue was because of receiving a telegram of Li Chun's resignation, and he was very angry, so he took this act of revenge.He also said that before Yuezhou "fallen", he had already mobilized a large army to prepare for reinforcements, but because Wang Zhanyuan sent out real telegrams (January 11) and Haodians (January 19) to resolutely maintain the peace, he did not want to go deep alone, causing great harm to the troops. Follow the same mistakes that Fu Liangzuo entered Changsha.In this telegram, Zhang not only attacked his mentor Li Chunda, but also slandered Wang Zhanyuan. At the same time, he clearly accused the three governors of the Yangtze River of having Feng Guozhang's secret telegram to advocate peace. Many of Zhang Jingyao's telegrams were untrue. In fact, the southern army made a decision to attack Yuezhou after learning the news of Jingzhou's fall on January 22. Before that, Tan Haoming had tried his best to prevent the Hunan army from attacking Yuezhou. Prevent the Xiangxi People's Army from going to the west of Hubei to assist the Jing and Xiang Autonomous Army.How could he send out a bright electricity? The main fighters Ni Sichong, Cao Kun, and Zhang Huaizhi also echoed, questioning Li Chun severely and demanding that Li announce all the truth. Feng Guozhang was also intimidated by the clamor of the main combat faction. He issued a winter telegram (February 2) very nervously, denying that he had issued the secret order of the master and peace, and explained for Li Chun: "The Soviet governor used to transfer people to deal with himself, but Mo Cha, I love the meaning of peace. If the call has an owner or fails, you can still call it a battle. At first, it was not entrusted by the Central Committee, so it is self-evident." He also explained Tan Haoming's Haodian as "the enemy's countermeasures, absolutely not In the cunning." In the end, he said that he is a thorough advocate of the war: "I love peace because I have been bullied, and my anger cannot be reconciled. Compared with those who have fought against the sun, I hate it more intensely. If you follow the law and fear , why does it stand between heaven and earth?" Feng returned from his southern tour and has become a prisoner of the main combat faction, and he has no room for opposition to the main combat faction.However, although he was humble, the main combat faction was still dissatisfied, so after his winter telegram was published, Ni Sichong, Cao Kun, and Zhang Huaizhi jointly called to ask: "The government has not issued a master and secret order, so who issued this order? Please reply to Li Purely publish the original report to clear up doubts." On February 4th, Li Chun sent a telegram explaining to Feng that he had never sent a telegram of "According to the secret order for peace".On February 6, he published Yudian to explain to all the Beiyang faction that he had never received the "Secret Order of the Lord and Harmony".I have no prejudice against the issue of peace and war, and I am extremely obedient to the central government's order to discuss South Africa.In the past, advocating peace was purely a personal political opinion, and I was deeply afraid of the rupture of the Beiyang group.He emphasized that he will not fail to understand the truth that "a tree has roots, and water has its source", and he will not "burn Osmanthus to cook beans, force the same root, and instead beg for mercy to ask for life in the southwest." So far, the peace faction has completely bowed to the war faction.