Chapter 135 134. The Beiyang Army occupied Yuezhou

When Feng Guozhang spent the most painful and suffering days of his life in Beijing, the main combat faction started a military offensive in Hunan. According to the decision of the Tianjin Conference, the Northern Army attacked Hunan from Hubei and Jiangxi.In the first route, Cao Kun's troops moved from northern Hubei to southern Hubei, and concentrated in Puqi and Jiayu in mid-February. On March 6, Zhang Jingyao, commander of the Seventh Division, moved to Tingsi Bridge. Zhang Huaizhi, commander-in-chief of the Second Route, arrived in Hankou on February 27, and transferred to Nanchang on March 6.

Cao Kun became the trump card of the main combat faction. This time he dispatched troops, he invested almost all of his belongings. In addition to Wu Peifu's third division, there were three mixed brigades of Wang Chengbin, Yan Xiangwen, and Xiao Yaonan.He appointed Wu Peifu as the commander-in-chief of the direct army and the front enemy. Although Zhang Jingyao was the commander-in-chief of the Aid Yue Army, in terms of military strength, Wu Peifu commanded far more than Zhang Jingyao.As for the Second Route Army, although Shi Congbin of the First Division of Shandong, Zhang Zongchang of the Sixth Mixed Brigade of Jiangsu, and Li Chuanye of the Anwu Army belonged to the Second Route Army, they were inferior to the First Route Army in terms of quantity and quality.

Although Zhang Jingyao is known as a brave general in the Beiyang Army, but in this expedition to the south, he is good at boasting but not good at fighting.When he arrived in Hankou on February 15, he sent a telegram saying: "Jingyao survived a hundred battles, and he was happy to kill the enemy to achieve results. What is there to be afraid of?" This victory made the Beiyang main combat faction stronger, and they all applauded General Zhang, who had survived many battles.However, after a few days, Cheng Qian, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army on the southern side, sent a telegram to ridicule the victory. He said: "After our coalition forces (Guide Army) entered Yuezhou and guarded the Hunan side, none of them crossed over to Hubei." I don’t know where to start with the story of the northern army conquering Puqi.” It turned out that the southern army had never occupied Puqi in Hubei, and Zhang Jingyao’s northern army had never fired a single shot at Puqi. This victory report is just a bragging victory report .

As for the Northern Army, it was Wu Peifu who really fought against the former enemy.During the truce between the North and the South, from the south of Puqi to the north of Yuezhou, it became a "soldier-free zone".After the Northern Army withdrew from Yuezhou, it retreated all the way to Puqi to avoid contact with the Southern Army. Therefore, the Northern Army did not dare to fight if it retreated without fighting, and the Southern Army refused to defend if it was in danger. Defenses were deployed on the high ground around Yanglousi. As a result, Wu Peifu's army drove southward until they reached Yanglousi.

Zhang Jingyao, who is bragging and making mistakes, can only smoke opium and kill the people.He yelled at his chief "Xiu Shuai Fuzi" and shouted to beat and kill him.The main combat faction claims to include 16 provinces and regions. They usually only know how to stir up political tide, resist the president, and abuse the Congress. As a result, they have made a lot of jokes before contacting the Confederate Army. In addition, the military discipline is bad, and the people are gnashing their teeth. .Therefore, this war against Hunan made a little-known Wu Peifu show off.Wu Peifu's Jiedian stationed in the Yanglou Division is much more real than Zhang Jingyao's. Although the Yanglou Division was also voluntarily given up by the Southern Army, after all, Wu Peifu has already contacted the forefront of the Southern Army.

Zhang Huaizhi, the commander-in-chief of the Second Route Army of the Northern Army, had two mentalities that depressed his fighting spirit. One was that Cao Kun, the commander-in-chief of the First Route Army, had gained the position of controlling the two lakes, and he hoped that the Beijing government would also give him the same official title; It was Zhang Shuyuan, the commander of the Fifth Division under him, who wanted to succeed him as the governor of Shandong, which made him uneasy. On February 21, the Beijing government appointed him as the inspector of Hunan and Jiangxi.He was not satisfied, so he talked about leaving every day, but he didn't leave every day.In the end, I couldn't shirk it and went to Hankou on February 27.

Zhang Huaizhi, courtesy name Zizhi, is a native of Dong’e County, Shandong Province. Thirty years ago, he was a shabby household in the county. He roamed the streets during the day and boarded in temples at night.One night, he even dreamed that the temple god congratulated him, saying that he would be Futai in the future. Encouraged by this, he joined the army and climbed up step by step. On May 30, 5th year of the Republic of China, he succeeded Jin Yunpeng as General Jiwu and supervised Shandong. As for military affairs, it is true that he has returned to his hometown in good clothes, and he is a Futai status.He was very grateful for the dream of the temple god, so he rebuilt the temple and made gold for the temple god to answer the gods. Shandong people say it is a "beautiful talk".

Although Zhang Huaizhi came from a humble background, after he became a senior official, he was very arrogant towards his subordinates. He often called his subordinates by their first and last names. At that time, the governor could expel the governor at will and become the governor himself. After Zhang Huaizhi expelled Sun Faxu, the governor of Shandong, he went to the governor's office in person. In the village, when there was business to be done, he would take one out of his pocket and send that person to do the work if he picked the name of the person. As a result, none of the officials in the provincial government dared to leave their posts, and they all waited cautiously for the governor to join him. The governor draws strips in his pocket.Yao Peng, Director of Internal Affairs of the Provincial Department, is an old celebrity. All the previous governors respected him. One day he did not come back from a banquet. Zhang Huaizhi happened to draw him and couldn’t find anyone. When he came back, Zhang Huaizhi shouted: "Beating the army stick two hundred".Everyone interceded for Yao one after another, and only then punished him for writing a note saying "I owe a beating".

One day, Zhang Huaizhi summoned Chen Gan, the director of government affairs, and Tang Kesan, Jinan Daoyin, in the supervisory office. He happened to talk about the fact that the governors of various counties were often accused. Someone will sue me." Zhang Huaizhi nodded, but the Governor's Office issued a personnel order the next day, appointing the Director of Political Affairs Chen Gan as the governor of Tai'an County.The director of the government affairs department is equal to the director of the civil affairs department today, and is much older than the county. If the director is downgraded to the county head, unless the director has made a huge mistake, but Chen Qian just said a word casually, and he will be replaced by the director. When he was demoted to county magistrate, Chen Gan was so angry that he abandoned his official position and fled to Beijing, not daring to return to Shandong to serve.

On December 13, 5, Governor Zhang suddenly "bound and sent his son to the Military Judicial Office for interrogation" in a fit of rage.Everyone pleaded with him again, and he waved his big fist and said, "Don't you know the truth that the prince breaks the law and the common people are the same crime?" One day he heard that more than 180 candidate county governors from Shandong came to the office to give lectures. Everyone has their own designated provinces, and the same land, why not grab other provinces and grab it from this province! When I was a young soldier, I firmly believed in my mission. If I didn’t get promoted, I would become a robber. I will never be a robber in this province. I can't bear it, and the second is that I made a fortune as a robber. I know the source of the money in my hometown, so I can't boast to everyone. You governors are really ignorant!"

Shandong's political expenses were in short supply, so he suggested that officials should reduce their salaries.All officials, big and small, were paid 80% of their salaries. The secretary submitted the list of salary reductions, and he took the initiative to write off the one thousand yuan salary reduction. The Hunan War began in early March 7, when Wu Peifu's direct army was in charge of attacking Yuezhou. There are Wang Chengbin, commander of the first mixed brigade of the straight army, Yan Xiangwen, commander of the second mixed brigade, and Xiao Yaonan, commander of the third mixed brigade.A total of 50,000 troops.Assisting in the battle were five warships sent by Du Xigui, commander of the Second Fleet of the Beiyang Navy, namely Chu Guan, Jiang Kun, Jiang Li, Jiang Xi, and Jiang Zhen.Yuezhou has no danger to defend, there is no navy on the river defense, and Tan Haoming, the joint commander, has no fighting spirit. Therefore, the battle of Yuezhou has not been contacted and the outcome has been determined. On March 10, Wu Peifu announced the occupation of Yanglou Division. On the 17th, they entered Yuezhou without encountering strong resistance.Wu Peifu sent three telegrams in a row, all saying that the southern army fought bravely and fought for every inch of land, while the northern army was brave and invincible, invincible and invincible.In fact, they are all exaggerations.The most wonderful thing is that Zhang Jingyao, commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, led his troops behind Wu Peifu's army and publicly issued a victory report saying: "Let's go to Yuezhou in a week, and Changsha can be conquered in ten days." Although the Northern Army occupied Yuezhou on March 17, it was only the vanguard. That night, a group of troops on the front line of the Southern Army did not know that Yuezhou had given up and retreated blindly into Yuezhou. The Northern Army who had just entered Yuezhou was suspicious. After setting up an ambush, Nai withdrew hastily, and at the same time notified the navy to bombard. The Beijun warships that cooperated with Dongting Lake bombarded Yuezhou City indiscriminately.The southern army retreated in a hurry. On the 18th, the Northern Army occupied Yuezhou for the second time. The Seventh Division of the Northern Army was in charge of attacking Pingjiang.The Pingjiang South Army retreated on March 17, and the Seventh Division of the Northern Army advanced along the Tongcheng Pingjiang Avenue, carrying out brutal massacres along the way.They insisted that the countrymen were the plainclothes troops of the Southern Army, who killed all the middle-aged men on the road, robbed, raped, and did everything.The women fled to the caves one after another, and it was raining cats and dogs, and they were suffering from hunger and cold. In one cave, more than 300 women were found dying, and countless women committed suicide by throwing themselves into wells. Zhang Jingyao led the army into Pingjiang on the 22nd, announcing that "swords will not be sealed for three days", and the soldiers plundered. Three days later, An Min was notified. After the Northern Army launched its military operations, it achieved victories in successive battles. After the capture of Yuezhou, the Beijing government ordered a reward. The telegram is as follows: "According to Cao Kun, commander-in-chief of the first route, Zhang Jingyao, commander-in-chief of aiding Yue, and Du Xigui, commander of the second fleet of the navy, sent telegrams repeatedly to restore Yuezhou by dividing the route. , Yanglousi, Tongcheng, Linxiang, Gumishan, Jiuling, Baigeling, Tianyueguan and other places, successive fierce battles, successive victories, and advancing steadily. On March 17, Yuezhou was broken. The army resisted tenaciously and held at a stalemate. After our army fought hard, and the fleet covered Yuezhou on the 18th, Yuezhou was conquered. , Sui conquered the famous city. In fact, the commander-in-chief and others dispatched it well. All the officers and men used their orders bravely, and they used their abilities to quickly perform their skin skills, save the people from fire and water, and they were deeply comforted by the telegram. Still following the commander-in-chief and others, they planned according to the telegram , the supervisor led the troops to forge ahead bravely, and first found out that the officers and men who had contributed to the event this time, ranked them separately, and petitioned for excellent awards. The officers and soldiers who were killed and injured in the battle were given a sympathy, so as to encourage and comfort the heroic soul. In the area of ​​Linxiang in Nianyue Prefecture, the people were seriously injured in the war, displaced, living in peace, losing wealth, and endangering their lives. I mourn for the people of Hunan, and they have been tortured one after another. Speaking of this, it is very tragic! Xuanfu envoys should Cao Kun, send appropriate personnel quickly to find out from various sources, pay more attention to pensions, set up work and work, and make a living. Use the deputy to punish the people and punish crimes. This order."