Chapter 178 177. Hunan Army Aids Hubei

In the 10th year of the Republic of China, after Tan Yankai went to Shanghai and Zhao Hengti governed Hunan, he called for self-government to protect the environment and the people. His strategy was: on the one hand, he established a joint provincial autonomous front with the four provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangdong; Form a joint defense treaty. On the Beiyang side, Wang Zhanyuan, the governor of Hubei, took the southwest to show that he was more important than Beijing. He seemed to regard himself as the important town of the two lakes.It turns out that there is a close relationship between Hunan and Hubei provinces. Because Hubei has the Hanyang arsenal, the Hunan army must purchase arms from Hubei, and the rice grains that are abundant in Hunan must also be exported through Hubei, so there is a key to their dependence.As for Jiangxi, Chen Guangyuan, the governor of Jiangxi, was afraid that Sun Yat-sen would send troops to Jiangxi; he was also afraid that the Yunnan army led by Li Liejun would attack Jiangxi from Hunan, and he also needed to make friends with Hunan to relieve his worries in the west.General Wu Peifu of the Zhili lineage advocated unification by force and opposed Hunan's autonomy, but at that time his main enemy was the Feng faction, so he had no spare energy to take care of fighting against the south, so his strategy was to use Hunan's self-government bureau to "block the south and reject the north" Preventing Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition, coupled with Wu's friendly relationship with Hunan people and Zhao Hengti because of his garrison in Hengyang, he still maintains the old friendly relationship with Hunan and Zhao.

The internal problems in Hunan caused Zhao Hengti a headache. After the Hunan Army expanded into two divisions and ten brigades, there were too many soldiers and too little pay.Although Zhao Hengti proposed disarmament and unification of finances, military officials at all levels turned a deaf ear to them.The relationship between Zhao and Tan Yankai is very delicate. After Tan went to Shanghai, Zhao donated 20,000 yuan for living expenses every year, and there were dozens of personal letters to Tan. The courtesy was very respectful, but some people kept talking bad things about Zhao in front of Tan. Tan was dubious at the beginning, gradually became suspicious, and finally believed it was true.This time, Tan's plan to return to Xiang became more and more active, which made Zhao feel uncomfortable in Changsha.There is also the relationship between Zhao and Sun Yat-sen is not harmonious.Regarding the Northern Expedition, Zhao believed that Sun Yat-sen was too impatient and that there were no soldiers available in the Southwest. Xiuming, people in the north naturally turned to him. Although he did not threaten the Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition would definitely happen within a year or two. Sun Yat-sen believed that Zhao's proposition was not urgent.However, Cheng Qian, who was anti-Zhao in Hunan, mostly defected to Sun Yat-sen, making Sun Yat-sen's remarks unfavorable to Zhao, which Zhao was worried about.On the other hand, Sun Zeng sent Lu Chao (a Chinese character from Sichuan) to Changsha to handle party affairs, and donated the Three People's Principles and the National Founding Outline to Zhao. To join the party, teacher Song Hegeng suggested using Zhu mud prints as an excuse to express his sincere support, which was unanimously approved, but Lu Chao's arrogance and rudeness disappointed all civil and military officials in Hunan from Zhao to the whole province. Set it aside without perusing it.After a long time, someone told Zhao that these two books were good strategies for governing the country. Zhao Shi read them and was amazed, but many days have passed.

Since the 10th year of the Republic of China, the Hunan army returned to Hunan, the Guangdong army returned to Guangdong, and the Sichuan army ruled Sichuan. This is an encouragement to Hubei. Hubei has always been under the rule of Beiyang soldiers from other provinces. Of course, I hope that the people of Hubei will rule Hubei. Unfortunately, the people of Hubei have no army. , so the only way to turn to Hunan. In the spring of 2010, a group of guests from Hubei came to Changsha, led by Jiang Zuobin, Kong Geng, Li Shucheng, He Chengjun, etc. They came to Hunan as lobbyists and asked to borrow troops to "aid Hubei".They said: Aiding Hubei is not only urgent, but also beneficial to Hunan itself.The advantages are: First, Hunan is an "advanced" province in the national self-government movement. However, self-government needs to be promoted.Hunan sent troops to "aid Hubei" and occupied Wuhan, a place of great success. Once they ascended the heights, all provinces would be able to follow suit, and a joint provincial self-government would be possible.Second, after the expulsion of Wang Zhanyuan, the two divisions of the Hunan Army can be stationed in southern Hubei to assist in defense, and the military salary will be provided by Hubei, which can reduce Hunan's current financial pressure.Third, now that the Hunan Army is buying arms from Hubei, it is up to Wang Zhanyuan to decide whether or not to. If the queen is expelled, the Hunan forces control Hubei, and they control the Hanyang Arsenal, and the Hunan Army continues to develop, and there will be no restrictions.Finally, these lobbyists also emphasized that Wang Zhanyuan was vulnerable.Based on the analysis of the favorable situation held by the Hunan Army based on the situation at that time, they also affirmed that as long as the Hunan Army launched an aid to Hubei and cooperated with the Hubei People's Army to fight both inside and outside, Wuhan could be occupied within a week; at the same time, there was no need to worry about the immediate Support, because Wang Zhanyuan has lost his love with the Zhili, and the Zhili will not send troops to help, not to mention the fact that the Zhili is fighting openly and secretly with the Fengli, so naturally there is no spare energy to intervene in the Hubei issue.

People from Hunan were originally interested in Hubei, and the so-called Great Hunan Doctrine includes the two lakes.There is a saying in Hunan: "Sparrows cannot fly over Dongting Lake." If there is a chance to realize the Great Hunan Principle, Hunan people will naturally be willing to give it a try.In addition, there are too many internal problems in Hunan. After the expansion of the army, the soldiers also need to develop outwards to make Hunan itself safe and sound. Therefore, the soldiers in Hunan Province were greatly moved and advocated "aiding Hubei". The first volunteer was the commander of the second division. Lu Diping.

Zhao Hengti held a more cautious view on "aiding Hubei", and he had three concerns: (1) he was afraid of causing Wu Peifu's armed intervention; (2) sending troops to aid Hubei ran counter to the spirit of self-government; (3) Hunan had already agreed to Chen Jiongming's invitation at this time, Sending troops to Guilin to fight against the Guangxi faction, and there is a trend of the Dian army's false routes in western Hunan. A lot of troops have been spent on these two aspects, and they are unable to "play three-pronged approach". On June 24, another visitor from Sichuan came to Changsha, who claimed to be investigating Hunan's constitutional system. This guest was Xiong Kewu, the former governor of Sichuan.When Xiong passed through Hubei, he was given a grand reception by Wang Zhanyuan, so the Hubei lobbyists in Changsha thought that Xiong came to be a lobbyist for Wang Zhanyuan. I came to secretly discuss the matter of Sichuan and Hunan provinces jointly sending troops to aid Hubei, because Sichuan, like Hunan, has internal conflicts and needs to develop outwards. Sichuan and Hunan jointly send troops, and the calculation of success is naturally much greater. Aid Hubei" efforts have taken another big step forward.

While Zhao Hengti was hesitating, someone proposed three strategies to Zhao. The first was to reorganize Xia Douyin's Hubei Army Corps (the remnant of Shi Xingchuan's Western Hubei Civil Army, which was taken in by Hunan, with only six or seven hundred people), into the "Hubei Autonomous Army". In secret, a large number of Hunan troops were refitted and joined to enrich this force, and then announced that "the Hubei army will return to Hubei." Hunan pretended to be neutral to avoid giving people the pretext of invading Hubei. Third, the Kuomintang members in Hunan guaranteed that if the Hunan Army sent troops to Wuhan, the Northern Expeditionary Army would definitely divert to Jiangxi instead of passing through Hunan.

This is a policy that is extremely difficult to decide - aiding Hubei and suppressing aid to Guangxi?Zhao Ben believed that aiding Guangxi was more important than aiding Hubei. He presided over a military meeting in Changsha on July 1, 2010. At this meeting, the decision to "send troops to assist Guangxi" was passed, and Xie Guoguang, the guard envoy of Hengyang, was appointed as the "commander of aiding Guangxi" . Wu Peifu was dissatisfied when the Hunan Army aided Guangxi. Wu believed that when Hunan expelled Zhang Jingyao, the Guangxi faction supported the Hunan Army. Not only that, but before that, the Guangxi faction also supported the Hunan Army to expel Tang Xiangming and Fu Liangzuo, and there was a joint defense treaty between Hunan and Guangxi. Now the Guangxi clique is at the end of the road, and Hunan is oppressing Guangxi instead. It is not enough friends.Although Wu was dissatisfied with this, he was transferring troops into Shaanxi, so he had no spare energy to intervene in the disputes in the southwest.

Before the Hunan army "aided Guangxi", it declared that it was going to expel the Yunnan army out of the country by force, and asked Wang Zhanyuan for assistance in paying for the army.Wang Zhanyuan believed that the Yunnan army was in western Hunan and was also threatening western Hubei. He was willing to assist him for the sake of profit. Decide whether to support.Zhao immediately sent back a telegram denying that the Hunan Army was preparing to "assist Hubei". The handler of the treaty) carried 100 boxes of bullets, 2,000 rifles, 2,000 shi of military rice, and 200,000 foreign currency as a gift to the Hunan Army.

Soon after Hunan received support from Hubei for military pay, ordnance, and ammunition, it sent troops to "aid Guangxi".Hunan's actions quite surprised Hubei Wang Zhanyuan, but Wang believed that since the Hunan Army had dispatched to "aid Guangxi", he would naturally not return to the army to "aid Hubei". 600,000 bullets were given to the Hunan Army. The senior generals of the Hunan Army, Song Hegeng and Lu Diping, believed that the Hunan Army's "aid to Guangxi" could not solve the difficulties of the Hunan Army's salary and ammunition, and was not a way out, so they continued to advocate "aid to Hubei".Zhao Hengti found Ge Hao, who had been Wu Peifu's adjutant and was later introduced by Wu to serve as the commander of the railway garrison in Hunan, to study what attitude Wu would take towards the Hunan Army's "aid to Hubei".Ge believed that the relationship between Wang Zhanyuan and Wu was becoming increasingly estranged, and Wu would not draw his sword to help, so Zhao sent Ge to Luoyang to meet Wu and find out Wu's attitude.After Ge went, there was no response, and Zhao sent Zhao Mian, Xiao Guangli and others to discuss with them with specific plans.When Zhao Mian arrived in Luoyang, he saw that Wu was so busy that he couldn't find a chance to talk alone. After waiting for a few days without further discussion, Xiao Guangli returned to Changsha first. They found Xiao in one step and asked him to report false information to the "boss" (the respectful name everyone gave to Zhao at the time), and only said that Wu did not object to the Hunan Army's "aid to Hubei", but because he and Wang Zhanyuan belonged to the same direct line, it was inconvenient to publicly agree, so he had to acquiesce .

How about Hubei?Wang Zhanyuan went to Tianjin as early as April 25th to participate in the meeting of the Big Four of Cao Yin, Zhang Zuolin, Jin Yunpeng and Wang Zhanyuan. Gu Pan Zixiong.When he returned to Wuhan from the north, he passed by Zhengzhou. There was a team of students from the third division at Zhengzhou Station lining up to greet him. He changed his face and was very moved, so when he returned to Hankou and got off the bus, he said to the senior officials who lined up to welcome him: "Hey! What kind of army is he, what kind of army are we!" Stimulated by this, he returned to the After Hubei, he was determined to weed out the old and the weak and reorganize the army.

Unexpectedly, on June 4, the second day after he returned to Hubei, a large-scale mutiny occurred in Yichang. In addition to burning, killing and looting the local people, the mutiny also invaded foreign shops and caused diplomatic negotiations. . On June 8, the envoys of the United Kingdom, the United States, and France raised the most severe questioning to the Beijing government, and then submitted a letter of compensation for the losses of the overseas Chinese and advising China to reduce its troops.The Italian minister actually proposed to organize coalition forces from various countries to travel to various treaty ports to protect foreigners.Foreign nationals from various countries in Yichang openly proposed the condition that they open up a concession in Yichang and that no troops should be stationed within 30 miles of Yichang.What is particularly shocking is that Hu Jizhou, the brigade commander of the Sichuan Army, suggested sending troops to Yichang and designating Yichang as a city under the jurisdiction of Sichuan to avoid international co-management. On June 7, there was another mutiny in Wuchang, which was burned, looted, plundered, and killed just like Yichang. After being robbed, the Wuchang Official Money Bureau and Mint were set on fire again.Wuchang was the place where the governor was stationed, and the rebellion was Wang Zhanyuan's direct-controlled army, which made Wang Zhanyuan feel ashamed.The next day he issued an order that all 1,832 officers and soldiers of the Seventh Regiment of the Second Division of the Mutiny Army were allowed to retire. Send him back to his hometown free of charge. On the evening of the 8th, the mutinies happily boarded the train. When the car arrived at Xiaogan Station, gunshots erupted. Soldiers from the Fourth Mixed Brigade of Hubei who had ambushed around the station in advance rushed out and fired. They escaped in the dark. Dozens, the rest were annihilated. Wang Zhanyuan used such vicious means to deal with the mutiny incident, and recovered the arrears and dismissal fees paid to the mutiny. Although the stolen goods were recovered, this method was not bright after all. resentful.Even the chambers of commerce in Wuchang and Yichang, which have always catered to Wang's wishes, were angry and reprimanded Wang by telegram.When Wang Chengma inspected the disaster-stricken area in Wuchang, he saw that his name had been dug out of the notice issued by the supervisory office, and he knew that his situation in Hubei was in danger. Beijing has no intention of removing the king. The fellow from Hubei Province in Beijing petitioned the State Council twice on June 21 and 28. Jin Yunpeng said to the petitioners: "Wang Zhanyuan should be removed in terms of law, but I can't do it in terms of facts." .” On July 20, the Hunan Army held another military meeting, at which it was approved to send troops to "aid Hubei".Elected Zhao Hengti as the commander-in-chief of the Hubei Autonomous Army, Song Hegeng as the commander-in-chief and commander of the first army, Lu Diping as the commander of the second army, and brigade commander He Yaozu as the commanders of the first to fifth columns (column commanders are equivalent to division commanders). . The plan for the Hunan army to dispatch troops is: the central route is from Yuezhou to Puqi and Xianning, the left route is from Chang and Li to Gongan and Shishou, and the right route is from Pingjiang to Chongyang and Tongcheng.On the same day, people from Hubei in Hunan promoted Jiang Zuobin as the interim director of the Hubei Autonomous Government, Kong Geng as the dean of political affairs, and Xia Douyin as the former commander of the Hubei Autonomous Army. The Hubei Autonomous Government also issued a declaration, declaring that after Wang Zhanyuan was expelled, they would learn from Hunan to formulate a provincial constitution, and Hunan and Hubei provinces would work together to promote the realization of inter-provincial autonomy. The Hunan Army also issued a declaration saying: The military goal of aiding Hubei is to expel Wang Zhanyuan and expel the queen, "the Hubei affairs will be returned to the Hubei people." On July 21, the Hunan Army detained the train on the Hunan-Hubei Railway in Hunan. When the Hubei side got the news, it surprised Wang Zhanyuan. At this time, the Hunan Railway Bureau sent another telegram to the Hubei Railway Bureau saying: " The Hunan army is changing defenses, please send more trains to Hubei for military transportation.” The Hubei Railway Bureau asked Wang Zhanyuan for instructions, and Wang ordered the railway bureau to stop the train immediately, so the Hunan-Hubei train was blocked that day.Another telegram came from the Hunan Railway Bureau, stating that the Hunan Army would not change its defenses and please drive the bus, but Hubei was no longer fooled. Wang Zhanyuan confirmed that the Hunan Army had marched to Hubei, so he convened a joint military and political meeting of Hubei Province, and decided to appoint Sun Chuanfang as the commander-in-chief of the front enemy in the middle road, set up a headquarters in Puqi, and establish three lines of defense in Yanglousi, Puqi, and Xianning; As the commander of the left wing, he defended Chongyang and Tongcheng, while Wang Duqing was the commander of the right wing, defending the police and Shishou.At the same time, Wu Peifu was called to send troops to help. Sun Chuanfang, whose name is Xinyuan, was born in Licheng County, Shandong Province. His two older sisters were both Jianghu entertainers, and they were adopted as concubine by Wang Yingkai, an old Beiyang general.Wang Yingkai and Wang Zhanyuan had a very close relationship, so Sun Chuanfang was promoted by Wang Zhanyuan, step by step, from the commander of the 21st mixed brigade to the commander of the 18th division. The Hunan Army originally planned to raid Wuhan by train, but this plan was debunked, and the general attack order was not issued until July 28.Zhao Hengti advised Wang to follow the trend of self-government, step down from the field, and return the power in Hubei to the people of Hubei.Wang also falsely stated that he resigned from the Beijing government, and that he would be dismissed and returned to the field as soon as he was replaced, and thanked Zhao for his concern. On July 28, Pan Shouzheng, head of the 72nd Regiment of the 18th Division of the Northern Army on the Hunan-Hubei front, sent someone to Sanxi to explain to Lu Diping of the Hunan Army that the train can pass, please do not misunderstand.Lu Xiang said to the people: "Don't be idiotic, there are only two ways in front of you now, one is to turn against the king and drive away the king, and the other is to withdraw as soon as possible, otherwise we will not be polite." During the confrontation between the two armies of Hunan and Hubei, the northern army was condescending in terms of terrain, and it was dangerous to defend. There were 15 high mountains in Yangloudong.At the same time, Sun Chuanfang is a hero under the king who is willing to fight tough.From July 29th to August 5th, the two sides fought fiercely for eight days and nights. The positions of Yanglousi and Zhao Liqiao changed hands several times. Diping vertically and horizontally on the battlefield, very hard. The two armies of Hunan and Hubei fought a fierce battle, causing great casualties on both sides. On August 6, the Northern Army failed to support and retreated from Zhao Liqiao to Puqi. On the right, Ye Kaixin's Department of the Hunan Army attacked Jiuling from Nanjiang Bridge, occupied Tongcheng on August 2, and entered Yuanjiapu, 15 miles away from Xianning. On August 7, Sun Chuanfang also gave up Puqi, and his troops were transferred to Wuxue for recuperation. Wu Peifu never expressed his approval or disapproval of the Hunan Army's aid to Hubei. Because Hunan claimed that Wu had no love for the king, the Beiyang faction suspected that the Hunan Army's attack on Hubei was instigated by Wu, which made it difficult for Wu to argue.Wu believed that it was against morality for the Hunan army to abandon the Hunan-Hubei Joint Defense Treaty and attack Hubei, so he ordered Ge Hao to stay in Luoyang and not return to Hunan.When he received Wang Zhanyuan's request for help, he immediately dispatched Xiao Yaonan, the commander of the 25th Division of the Zhijun Army, as the commander-in-chief of the aid to Hubei, and set off for Wuhan on the same day. Xiao Yaonan's reinforcements arrived at Xiaogan on July 27 and Hankou on July 31.At this time, the battle ahead was very tense. Wang Zhanyuan urged Xiao Jun to take the defense quickly and join the battle. Rescuing soldiers was like putting out a fire.Wang Yilian reminded him several times, but Xiao's tone did not change. On August 6, Wang received the news of the defeat ahead, and felt that Xiao Jun was sitting idly by, so he announced his resignation at the military-political joint meeting.Send out a telegram and say: "Pay attention to the current situation, non-self-government cannot follow the trend, warlords seize power, and have been criticized by the world for a long time. Accounting for elemental indifference, how can you bear to beg for retreat with a weak body, as an act of supporting soldiers and self-defense." Another telegram said: "Our army has been fighting fiercely with the enemy for eight days and nights, and we are extremely distressed. Commander-in-Chief Xiao has been in Han for more than five days. He has repeatedly asked for help. Advance, and the Jin Brigade, which arrived at the front, could not fight freely because it did not obey the order of the commander-in-chief." This telegram revealed that Xiao Jun did not come to help, but waited for Wang Zhanyuan to fall and take over Hubei. On August 9, the Beijing government appointed Wu Peifu as the tour envoy of the two lakes, and Xiao Yaonan as the governor of Hubei.Wang Zhanyuan was relieved of his position as the governor of Hubei. On August 11, he left Wuhan by ship. He sobbed and said to those who saw him off: "I am an old man in his 60s. I don't think I will be fooled by others today!" Who's to blame, the so-called "other people" may refer to Zhao Hengti, or Wu Peifu, or both. Zhang Zuolin was very dissatisfied when Wu Peifu served as a tour envoy to the two lakes.He regarded Wu Peifu very lowly and could not keep pace with him. Now that Commander Wu had jumped to become a tour envoy, he resigned in anger from the history of Mengjiang economic strategy, and kept saying that he was irresponsible for the issue of "aid treasury".At the same time, the issue of the territory in Hubei also caused disputes between the Zhifeng and Feng clans. The Zhili believed that Hubei was originally within the scope of the Zhili, and there was no gain for the people of this line to succeed the people of the same line.The Feng faction believed that Wang Zhanyuan did not belong to the Cao-Wu family, so it was only fair for the direct line to acquire Hubei, and the Feng line should also acquire one more province.Zhang Zuolin said: The Hunan army violated the peace, and the problem was very serious. He was willing to transfer the Mongolian army to aid Hubei, or send troops to attack Hunan through Jiangxi.The Zhili knew that this was Zhang Zuolin’s way of taking Jiangxi, and if the Fengli got Jiangxi and merged with Lu Yongxiang of Zhejiang and Zhang Wensheng of Anhui, all the forces of the Zhili in the Yangtze River would be overthrown. The warlord Chen Guangyuan sent troops to the east of Hunan to avoid excuses from Fengjun.The Beijing government saw their respective concerns, so they had to transfer Jiang Guiti as the army review envoy, and Ji Jinchun, the commander of the 28th Division of Fengjun, succeeded Rehe Dutong, which made Zhang Zuolin calm down. On August 12, the second day after Wang Zhanyuan left Wuhan, Wu Peifu arrived in Hankou by light car Jiancong. As soon as he got out of the car, he said in repeated voices: "Get Bichen quickly." As the brigade commander, Wu Peifu had contact with him when he was stationed in Hengyang. Because he was too close to Wu Peifu, he was dismissed, and Wu was angry because of it.Now that Wu came to Hubei as a tour envoy, the first thing he did was to resume Kou Yingjie's original post.The second thing was that Wu admired Sun Chuanfang's bravery and skill in fighting, so he recommended Sun as the commander in chief of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and then asked Sun to concurrently serve as the commander of the Second Division of the Northern Army. From then on, Sun Chuanfang became Wu's general. After Wu Peifu took command of Wuhan, Xiao Yaonan, the new governor of Hubei, became a little daughter-in-law who always wanted to see Wu's color.For example, Xiao Yaonan had sent Yu Pengju, the Chief of Staff of the 25th Division, concurrently as the Chief of Staff of the Hubei Governor's Office, and Cheng Xian as the Secretary-General.But after Wu Peifu arrived in Hankou, he reassigned Zhang Lianfen as chief of staff and Sun Erkang as secretary general. At this time in Wuhan, everyone knew a Marshal Wu, but no one took Dujun Xiao seriously. Before Wu entered Hankou, Jin Yun'e of the 8th Mixed Brigade arrived at Tingsi Bridge, Zhao Jie, Commander of Henan Hongwei Army, arrived at Zhifang, and Chen Jiamo's Division of the 49th Brigade of the 25th Division arrived at Hesheng Bridge.After Wu arrived in Hankou, Zhang Fulai's division of the 24th Division and Zhang Keyao's division of the Lu Army marched to Hankou, ordering all the troops in front to stick to their positions and not to attack forward. Jin Yun'e is Jin Yunpeng's brother. He accompanied Xiao Yaonan to assist Hubei in the early stage. Before Wu arrived in Hankou, Jin Brigade launched a sneak attack on the Hunan Army, but was repelled by the Hunan Army. Instead, he lost troops and gave up Tingsi Bridge.The Hunan Army's fighting spirit is strong. Although Wu Peifu is stationed in Wuhan, although it has a deterrent effect, if the Hunan Army really advances desperately, because Wu Peifu's foothold is not stable, it is still a question of whether Wu can hold Wuhan.But at this time, Wu Peifu was in a period of good luck, and everything was handy.Wu instructed Xiao Yaonan to propose a truce to the Hunan Army, and said that he would send representatives to discuss peace immediately. Hunan has a good impression of Wu Peifu, but also has three points of fear, so when Xiao Yaonan proposed, Zhao Hengti immediately ordered a truce.For Wu Peifu, the truce of the Hunan Army is giving Wu Peifu a good opportunity to deploy calmly. Zhao Hengti has no ambitions for Hubei, let alone fight against the Zhijun Army, and only hopes to achieve the goal of Hubei people governing Hubei.Wu Peifu sent Xiao Yaonan as the governor of Hubei, and Xiao was from Huanggang, Hubei. This was half the goal.Zhao Hengti has no objection to Xiao Du'e, but only hopes that the name of the governor's army will be changed to the commander-in-chief of Hubei, so as to conform to the system of "autonomous" provinces in the southwest.At the same time, everyone agreed to recommend Jiang Zuobin as the governor of Hubei.Wu Peifu took the initiative not to be a patrol envoy between the two lakes.Hunan also hopes that the direct line will repay the Hunan Army's military expenses of five million yuan.Zhao Hengti believes that Wu Peifu will not be an enemy of the Hunan Army, and it is worthwhile to obtain the Hubei territory at the above price. Judging from the general trend, Zhao Hengti's estimate was correct, because the Feng faction had already parted ways with the Zhi faction, and could move at any moment, and it was impossible for the Zhi faction to fight both north and south.So Wu Peifu should make concessions to Hunan.What's more, the concessions are not big. But Wu Peifu didn't think so. He thought he had friendship with Hunan. If he hadn't withdrawn troops from Hengyang, the Hunan people would not have been able to expel Zhang Jingyao, so he had contributed half of his strength to help the Hunan people.If the Hunan Army voluntarily withdraws from Hubei this time, it can only be regarded as reciprocating love, and it is a favor for a favor.If the Hunan Army must compete with the Zhijun Army, the Hunan Army may not necessarily have the upper hand.If the Hunan Army must stay in Hubei, the Guangdong Northern Expeditionary Army will take advantage of the vacancy, and the Hunan Army will be attacked by the enemy. After Wu Peifu's other general, Zhang Fu, came to Hankou, he also directly telegraphed Zhao Hengti to express his friendship, and emphasized that all issues can be discussed.Therefore, since the Zhijun moved to the front, the Hunan Army stopped attacking, and voluntarily abandoned Tingsiqiao Station and many prominent strongholds in front to avoid accidental conflicts between the two sides due to the connection of positions.Unexpectedly, on August 13, Brigade Jin launched a second sneak attack, attempting to occupy Tingsi Bridge Station, but was repelled by the Hunan Army ambushing on the high ground on both sides of the station.So the Hunan Army questioned Xiao Yaonan, and Xiao replied, "This is a complete misunderstanding." However, the Hunan Army found a telegram from Jin Yunpeng to Jin Yun'e from the corpses of the Northern Army on the battlefield. Neizhong said: "The southerners are beasts, and they are unreasonable. The only way to kill them is to kill them all! He came here by deceit. Blame me for cheating. On the one hand, I am perfunctory with them, and on the other hand, I take advantage of the advantages. In the future, it is necessary to cherish soldiers and bullets, not to attack lightly, not to fight profusely, and everyone should be cautious and calm." Hunan Army photocopied this telegram and handed it to Newspapers published to prove the cunning of the Union Army.From this telegram, we can see how Jin Yunpeng gritted his teeth and hated the southerners, and openly instigated his brother to deceive the Hunan Army with "fraud and tricks". In early August, the two armies of Zhixiang and Hunan were in a state of neither war nor peace. Zhao Hengti sent Zhong Caihong, Secretary-General of the Hunan Army Headquarters, Tang Yibin, Chief of Staff, and Xiao Guangli, Chief of Military Law, to Hubei successively for peace talks, and put forward four conditions: ( 1) Hubei self-government, the warlord was renamed the commander-in-chief of Hubei, and Xiao Yaonan was agreed to be the commander-in-chief; (2) Wu Peifu voluntarily refused to be the patrol envoy of the two lakes; (3) Hunan Zhigong elected Jiang Zuobin as the governor of Hubei; million dollar. Zhao Hengti's representatives arrived in Hankou and met with the warlord Xiao Yaonan. Xiao said that he could compensate the Hunan Army with 1 million military expenses, and the other items had to be decided by the inspector Wu.But Wu was very busy at this time, and the delegates went to see Wu, but Wu was always away. On the 12th, Wu inspected the front positions. On the 13th, he summoned Zhang Fulai, Jin Yune, and Zhao Jie to discuss military affairs in Xianning. , and did not meet Zhao's representatives. On the 15th, he returned to Hankou, and in his busy schedule, he ordered the prohibition of the national assembly for fighting the war held by Wuhan students and Wuhan people. On the 16th, the Hubei Federation of All walks of life asked Wu to express his attitude towards Hubei's autonomy and the Hunan-Hubei armistice, but Wu ignored it.