Chapter 167 166. Hunan sees the light of day again

On June 12, 9, the Beijing government sent a telegram to reprimand Zhang Jingyao, saying: "The governor commanded 70,000 to 80,000 people to be the enemy of Wuhe, so why is there any need for assistance! If the crusade order has not been issued, the governor will seal it up." Even if there is no order, how can you listen to people invading Vietnam!" Unfortunately, Zhang Jingyao didn't receive this telegram because the telegram was one step too late, because the Hunan Army had advanced to Xiangtan and Ningxiang the day before, on the afternoon of the 11th, and the consuls of various countries in Changsha , to meet Zhang Jingyao, please draw Changsha out of the war zone 30 miles away, so as not to cause the people to suffer.But Zhang Jingyao still made the appearance of "fighting Changsha". At 10 o'clock that night, Li Kuiyuan, the commander of the 11th Division, went to the Superintendent's Office to inquire about the military situation. At that time, the Beiyang general who had vowed to live and die with Changsha issued an urgent order to burn down the newly built "Zhenxiang Building" and the arsenal.It's ridiculous to mention Zhenxiang Tower. It turned out that he listened to the advice of the sorcerer "Hua Sanqian" to suppress evil spirits and built it.As a result, the city of Changsha was lit up with flames, and the sound of rumbling explosions made the people of Changsha feel as if they had witnessed the burning of the city by Rome.The fire burned for several days and nights, and the Beiyang general Zhang Dujun fled amidst the flames and the sound of explosions.

The people of Hunan suffered two years and three months under the rule of Zhang Jingyao.In the past, the petition had been driving Zhang for a year, but Zhang Jingyao's position was still standing. How did you know that Wu Peifu withdrew his defense and the Hunan Army launched an offensive? In less than half a month, Zhang Jingyao's 70,000 or 80,000 people were vulnerable and invincible. And crash. Zhang Jingyao's defeat was unexpected, it was not accidental, the reason is: First, the officers and soldiers of the Zhang Ministry have all made a fortune, and no one wants to fight, and the soldiers are generally war-weary.

Second, Zhang Jingyao himself did not go to the front to deploy military forces, but was busy in the rear searching and removing his family and property, which greatly affected the morale in the front. Thirdly, Duan Qirui's attention was focused on the main battle between Zhiwan and Anhui, and he had no intention of taking care of Zhang Jingyao, and he had no troops to reinforce Hunan. Fourth, Fan Guozhang, Li Kuiyuan, Feng Yuxiang and other troops who belonged to the direct line on the Hunan battlefield did not want to work hard for Zhang Jingyao. Fifthly, the people of Hunan were united in the same hatred, and organized their own armies to take part in the war to expel Zhang. They used shoulder poles and hoes as weapons to cut off traffic everywhere, seized the weapons and supplies of the Northern Army, and made the Northern Army suffer from the enemy.

After Zhang Jingyao fled, Li Kuiyuan led the 11th Division and retreated to Tongcheng through Pingjiang, and Zhang Zongchang led the Provisional First Division to retreat from Youxian and Liling to Pingxiang.Except for retreating to Yuezhou, the Seventh Division directly under Zhang Jingyao and the 1st and 2nd Divisions temporarily organized in Hunan were wiped out by the Hunan Army and the guerrillas ambushing along the way.On the road from Changsha to Yuezhou, the northern army burned and killed along the way, leaving ten rooms and nine empty spaces. This is the same situation as when Zhang Jingyao led the Seventh Division from Tongcheng to Pingjiang two years ago.Only then did Zhang Jingyao realize that the enemy he encountered was not a hungry team of 3,000 broken guns, but 30 million Hunanese.

At 4:00 p.m. on June 12, Hunan Garrison Commander Li Yunheng, the vanguard of the Hunan Army, led his troops from Xiangtan to Changsha. Zhao Hengti, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army, arrived in the province on the 14th, and Tan Yankai, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army and Hunan Governor, arrived in the province on the 17th.At this time, Changsha was still full of beacon fires. The streets of Changsha were originally very narrow. After the Hunan army in ragged clothes came in, there was no one without firecrackers to welcome them. Some of the common people and the army held hands, some embraced, while the women shed tears of joy, and there was a sound of joy floating in the sea of ​​tears.Many old women who usually stay at home also crowded into the streets with their grandchildren or walking sticks, and some brought out the best food at home to work in the army.The Hunan Army is really called Huajun, with scantily clad clothes and a dusty face. There are 16 words on the armband: "Save the country and save the village, fight here; go forward bravely, and kill the thieves desperately."

The military governor's office in Changsha was also burned down. When Tan Yankai entered Changsha, the embers of the inspector's office were not extinguished, so he changed the Jiangwu Hall in Youyi Village as the temporary headquarters. The joyful city of Changsha, in order to celebrate the reappearance of the sun, held a "Welcome to Drive Generals and Soldiers Meeting" in the square of the martial arts hall in Youyi Village. The two triumphant heroes, Tan and Zhao, were warmly received by the participants. Tan made an impromptu speech. He said: "You Come to welcome me today, how dare I, I am here today to plead guilty to 30 million fathers and brothers. We were unable to defend our homeland in the past, let the Beiyang beast army ravage you, and you have fallen into dire straits, we are really sorry for you." He While speaking, he was so excited that he shed tears. Hot tears flowed down his dark face, causing countless people to shed tears. This is the resonance of true feelings and the liberation of human nature.Tan finally said: "The reason why we were able to defeat the enemy with such a small army should be attributed to Commander-in-Chief Zhao. He has worked hard." Although General Zhan Xiao was alive and well on the battlefield, he blushed and sweated in this kind of scene, and refused to stand up to speak.

The Hunan Provincial Council issued a telegram on June 13, pointing out that the Hunan army expelled Zhang because of Zhang Jingyao’s many evil deeds, and it was against Zhang personally. The telegram said: "...The people of Hunan cried out in mourning, but the death was useless. They could not die, they could not survive, so they rose up and decided on their own. This move was out of self-defense, it was purely a matter of dealing with people, and there was no north-south view..." This telegram has quite a political effect. It separates the Hunan issue from the North-South issue, and describes the Hunan army's expulsion of Zhang as an action of Hunan people's self-help and self-defense. The Hunan problem is a local problem, and it is a human problem."

Tan Yankai also called Fan Guozhang from Yuezhou and Feng Yuxiang from Changde respectively, asking them to voluntarily withdraw from Hunan.At the same time, electrify the north and the south, and solemnly declare: "The purpose of the Hunan people is to expel Zhang, and has nothing to do with the war between the north and the south. The Hunan army only aims to recover the Hunan territory, and has no intention of invading neighboring provinces." This means that the Hunan provincial authorities hope to realize their desire to save the province. And harmless to the overall situation.At that time, although the North and the South were confronting each other, in fact, both the North and the South were divided internally, and they were too busy to take care of themselves, so the Hunanese's goal of expulsion could be achieved.

On June 13, the Beijing government ordered Zhang Jingyao to resign and stay in office.At the same time, Wang Zhanyuan was appointed as the inspection envoy of the two lakes, and Wu Guangxin was appointed as the inspection envoy of Hunan.Both Wang Zhanyuan and Wu Guangxin replied to reject this order.Wang's reply had the words "one country and three princes"; Wu's reply said: "If you talk about peace, you don't need to review, if you talk about war, you will have a supervisor, and there is no benefit to peace and war. Please take it back." At the end of the telegram, he actually recommended Wu Peifu. Successor Hunan governor.

The purpose of the Beijing government's promotion of Wang Zhanyuan as the tour envoy between the two lakes was to encourage him to assist the northern army in Hunan to hold on to Yuezhou and prepare to march to recover Changsha.Wang Zhanyuan is one of the three direct governors, of course he will not accept this task.Wu Guangxin had always been an alternate warlord, and he refused to accept the inspection envoy in the name of a disguised warlord, because as long as the Northern Army recaptured Changsha, he would be the warlord, so why bother to go to war with this empty name.Even so, Wu Guangxin detoured from Beijing to Yuezhou on Jinpu Road the day before he was announced as the inspector of Hunan.

After Zhang Jingyao fled from Changsha to Yuezhou, he still did not change his old ways. The defeated generals under his command occupied houses, raped and robbed, murdered and set fire to others.But Zhang Jingyao knew that it was impossible for him to attack Changsha again, and Yuezhou was not a place where he lived for a long time. He hid on the Jiangxi ship on Dongting Lake, and he also learned Wu Peifu's self-request to withdraw his defense and asked him to withdraw and return to the north.His plan is to return to Xuzhou and still serve as the border defense supervisor of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui and Henan.His request telegram was a bit pleading: "...if you don't get the invitation, the soldiers will not obey the restraint, so they have to hide alone." The Beijing government is not as kind and amiable as before to this defeated general who abandoned his post and fled. On the 19th, the Beijing government appointed Zhang Wensheng as the supervisor of bandit suppression in the four provinces to prevent Zhang Jingyao from attempting to return to his post. The Beijing government ordered Zhang Jingyao to find out the responsibility for the defeat. Zhang Jingyao immediately reported that his fourth brother Zhang Jingtang retreated in front of the battle, and his adopted son Zhang Jizhong abandoned Hengshan lightly. On June 24, the Beijing government issued an order: Zhang Jingtang and Zhang Jizhong retreated in front of the battle, and both were dismissed immediately, and the supervisor was ordered to send officers to Beijing for punishment.He also said: "The supervisor has been dismissed from his post. If the report is not based on personal interests, it should be waived." On June 23, the Hunan Army began to march towards Yuezhou, and occupied the new wall on June 25. Zhang Jingyao fled from Yuezhou without waiting for the arrival of the Hunan Army. Before leaving, he sent a telegram explaining why he gave up Yuezhou. Being widowed is not a crime of war." At the same time, he blamed Fan Guozhang and Zhang Zongchang for the defeat, blaming them for sitting idly by and fleeing without fighting.His telegram said: "In the battle of the Middle East in the former Qing Dynasty, Westerners said that it was not China who fought against Japan, but the province of Zhili and Japan. In other words, Wen Zhong (Li Hongzhang) fought against Japan alone. The present is the same as the past. Why is it so different!" Seeing the telegram, Xu Shichang yelled, "Zhang Xunchen is so incompetent, what a damn thing!" Zhang Jingyao fled to Hankou on June 30. The Beiyang government had issued an order not to keep him in office. He heard that his successor, Wu Guangxin, had arrived in Hankou, so he brought the two big seals of the governor of Hunan and the governor of Hunan to meet Wu and threatened him. Wu Suo 2 million yuan is the price for printing.Wu Guangxin rebuffed him in one breath and said: "You just don't want a penny, and I don't want these two things. You should keep them for sale." On July 1, Zhang Jingyao paid a visit to Wang Zhanyuan in Wuchang, claiming that there was still a division in his department. There were about 20,000 people in the brigade, and they asked for military salaries. As they spoke, they burst into tears, and at the same time handed over the two seals of the governor of the army with both hands.The Beijing government announced that Wu Xintian acted as the commander of the Seventh Division and took in 7,000 to 8,000 people from the Zhang Division. On July 6, Feng Yuxiang's brigade retreated from Changde to western Hubei, so there was no Northern Army in Hunan.