Li Chun suddenly turned around and glared angrily: "Chief of Staff Xiangtao, what do you mean? Advising me to betray the commander-in-chief?"
Ding Xiaolan quickly defended: "How could Xiaolan not know the governor's loyalty to the commander-in-chief? How could he dare to persuade the governor-general to betray the commander-in-chief? It's just that I understand a little about the principle of 'if the general is away, the emperor's orders will not be accepted'. I privately speculated that it should be The situation in the Gyeongsang Province is now tense, so the commander-in-chief issued the order to withdraw troops and return to the north. However, Jiangxi is thousands of miles away from the capital. If there was something urgent, we would have settled down long ago by rushing back so far; and there are currently four or five troops stationed around the Gyeongsang Province. If we can't even deal with them with a force of division or above, it's probably useless for us to rush over. If it's just scabies, why do we have to go back and forth? If Li Xiehe (Li Liejun) kills him, won't we still have to go back and forth? Are you going to do another southern expedition?"
Li Chun was speechless, seeming to be thinking about whether Ding Xiaolan was right.
Ding Xiaolan struck again while the iron was hot: "I feel that if the governor stays in Jiangxi now, if the situation in North China improves, half of the southern half of the Yangtze River can be left for the president; once the situation changes, the governor will not bother to follow the example of Tan Zuan (Tan Yankai), Sun Tui'an (Sun Daoren), as the Taiping Governor, can also help the commander and Beiyang Paoze. Wouldn't it be far better than the whole Beiyang army to perish together?
"I remember that in "Historical Records of the Zhao Family", Gongsun Chujiu and Cheng Ying had a conversation about protecting the orphans of the Zhao family. Gongsun Chujiu asked Cheng Ying: "Is it difficult to raise an orphan to adulthood, to hoe a traitor to succeed him, or to die generously? ?' Cheng Ying replied: 'Of course it is easier to die generously, but it is more difficult to raise an orphan to adulthood and hoe a traitor to succeed him!' Gongsun Chujiu said: 'The ancestors of the Zhao family treated me very kindly, so I ask you to help me raise the orphan. , I'd better do the easy thing!" After saying this, Gongsun Chujiu died calmly. Later, after the Zhao family's orphans succeeded to the throne as adults, Cheng Ying said: "When the Zhao family suffered a genocide, all of their peers died. I am not I can't die, but I have to bear the humiliation and live a secret life to raise the Zhao family!'
"Nowadays, the public opinion in the whole country is fierce. We, Beiyang, have become the target of thousands of people, and we are all aware of the severe shortage of ammunition, food and pay in various departments of the army. It is impossible to know what the future situation of the country will be. In this case, why not leave this useful person in charge of the governor? Those who do it reluctantly? This is true loyalty to the commander! And what if we withdraw to Jiangbei? The governor is just a nominal governor who is insignificant and dispensable! "
"Those who do it reluctantly? Indeed, it is even more difficult to stay in Jiangxi!" Li Chun shook his head and sighed, "Regardless of whether the commander-in-chief and all the Beiyang lords can understand Li's painstaking efforts, I am afraid that the brothers of the Sixth Division will all Li turned against him!"
How could Ding Xiaolan not understand the meaning revealed in Li Chun's words, and immediately followed the lead: "Brothers in the army are vulgar. How can they understand the governor's good intentions? They also don't think about it. The handsome man has many wives and concubines, and his children and grandchildren are all over the house. , spend money lavishly, if something unexpected happens, how do these people make a living? In the end, they have to rely on close relatives like the governor for help? Of course, there are some stupid people who can't reason with him. For such people It¡¯s best for people to send his gifts out of the country!¡±
Li Chun¡¯s spirit suddenly perked up and he blurted out, ¡°Brother Xiangtao, what are your suggestions?¡±
Ding Xiaolan said: "Aren't division commander Ma Zigao (Ma Jizeng), brigade commander Wu Tichen (Wu Hongchang) and others anxious to cross the river? The governor might as well order them to lead a regiment of troops to cross the river and station in Hubei in the name of the vanguard and path explorer heading north. Huangzhou or Anqing, Anhui; the governor led his trusted troops far behind them. As soon as they led their troops out of the province, they would immediately send people to block the fords of the Yangtze River and cut off their retreat. In this way, they could only Discussions along the river!"
"What if they disobey the order?" Li Chun immediately thought of another question.
Ding Xiaolan sneered several times: "We hope they will disobey orders! As long as they stay within the borders of Jiangxi Province, the governor will still be their immediate superior. If they dare to disobey orders, we can justifiably dismiss them from their posts and question them. We will salute them." The strength of a regiment sent out has been saved, and I think the commander-in-chief and the Ministry of War have nothing to say.¡±
Li Chun nodded with satisfaction: "This is a very good plan. It doesn't require a big fight, and it doesn't hurt the loyalty of our colleagues. Brother Xiangtao is really talented!"
A few days later, under the supervision of Li Chun, Ma Jizeng and Wu Hongchang hurried northward with a regiment of troops. Although they were quite confused, they never expected that Li Chun, a close confidant of the Marshal, would have second thoughts at this time. After they arrived in Huangzhou, Hubei, Li Chun, who was following far behind, suddenly ordered the blockade of all Yangtze River ferries in Jiangxi. Ma Jizeng, who was suddenly demoted from division commander to regiment commander and had to co-lead with the original regiment commander and brigade commander, woke up from a dream and quickly called the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of War to ask what to do.
When Yuan Shikai heard the news, he immediately understood Li Chun¡¯s Xiao Jiujiu. He was so angry that the three corpses jumped up and smoke came from their orifices, and Li Chun was in his heart.His ancestors have scolded him for eight generations. Although he wanted to kill Li Chun with a thousand knives, in order not to force Li Chun to rebel, he tried his best to win over the most ferocious Sixth Division among the Beiyang armies. Yuan Shikai had to pretend that nothing had happened and repeatedly urged Li Chun to go north as soon as possible. The language styles he used included simple and popular to impress people, powerful and tragic to impress people, majestic and heroic to overwhelm people with force, fresh and elegant to be calm and unhurried, There are many features such as the secluded, cold, violent, stormy and so on, which can be collected into a collection.
??At first, Li Chun took into account Yuan Shikai's kindness and support to him, and tried his best to explain the importance of Jiangxi, his own difficulties, the benefits of the Sixth Division staying in Jiangnan, etc. Wait until the end. Li Chun's call back only contained the following sentence: "I will be out of town, and I will not accept your orders." It is estimated that if Lao Yuan dares to push harder, Li Chun will dare to declare Jiangxi independence immediately!
After this blow, Yuan Shikai's condition became more and more serious. He lingered on the bed every day, not thinking about eating and drinking, and could only survive on ginseng soup, chicken soup, and beef juice. Li Chun's name was newly added to the list.
The final blow to Yuan Shikai was Tang Tianxi's betrayal.
It is said that Tang Tianxi took the last ammunition and weapons collected from the capital, and reluctantly said goodbye to his good friends and embarked on the journey south. When they parted, the master and servant were speechless and choked again. However, not long after Tang Tianxi arrived in Zhengding, before he took the time to see the majestic and dangerous Niangzi Pass, an old friend came to visit him. Tang Tianxi was surprised and happy when he saw Chen Hen appearing in front of him: "Why are you here, Er'an? I heard that you were favored by Sun Baixi after arriving in Sichuan, and you have been promoted to the Chief of Civil Affairs of Shaanxi. How come you have time to see your fallen old friend?" "
Chen Huan went straight to the point: "To be honest, Chen was entrusted by someone to persuade Brother Yunting to surrender."
Tang Tianxi was stunned at first, and then said with a smile: "Brother Er'an, what do you mean? The commander-in-chief treats me with great kindness. How can you betray me! If you don't talk about country and only talk about farewell, we can still have a good time over wine; if you If you want to bring up the matter of persuading surrender again, don¡¯t blame Tang for turning his back on you!"
Chen Chen remained calm: "The current national situation does not allow Chen to say much. The first mixed brigade of the Shanxi Army is now at Niangziguan. With just one order, hundreds of fighter jets will turn Zhengding into a sea of ??flames in an instant. Now put it aside There are two ways in front of Brother Yunting: the first way, brigade commander, one hundred thousand silver dollars; the second way. When Chen has never appeared."
Tang Tianxi sneered: "Brigadier, you want to bribe Brother Yu with 100,000 silver dollars? Brother Er'an looks down on Tang too much, right?"
"How dare I look down on Brother Yunting? Chen is just helping others!" After saying that, Chen He stood up and said: "Brother Yunting is busy with business, and I also have some secular affairs, so I won't talk much. But Brother Yunting If you have time, you can go to visit Wu Shouqing (Wu Luzhen) outside the city. As the governor of the Sixth Town, Wu Shouqing was famous for a while, but his head was cut off for 20,000 taels of silver. Come to think of it, It¡¯s really disappointing! Fortunately, although things and people have changed in the past two years, the prices of various commodities do not seem to have fluctuated much.¡±
Tang Tianxi couldn't help but shudder: It was also a time of war and turmoil, and it was also in Zhengding. The party involved was also Sun Yuanqi, but two years later, the target was changed from the commander of the Sixth Town to the commander of the Fifth Brigade of the Third Division. His Sixth Is Yang Kuishou worth twenty thousand taels of silver? What about the one hundred thousand silver dollars? I saw that Chen Huan had already put on his hat and was about to go out. Tang Tianxi quickly grabbed Chen Huan and said, "Brother Er'an, why are you leaving in a hurry? We have something to discuss! Everything can be discussed!"
Late at night on the fourth day after Li Chun refused to cross to the north, Tang Tianxi suddenly led his troops anyway, cooperated with the Shanxi Army's First Mixed Brigade inside and outside, and attacked the Zhengding armies. The garrison was caught off guard and quickly collapsed, and Cao Kun was captured in one fell swoop. Tang Tianxi's move opened the door to the capital, and the situation in North China suddenly took a turn for the worse. As a result, the Beiyang Army was cut into two parts, East China and North China, which could not care about each other. At this time, Sun Yuanqi's victory in this battle was no longer a suspense. It's just a matter of time.
Yuan Shikai received an urgent message that Tang Tianxi had rebelled, and immediately fainted on the bed. The situation is urgent. The Prime Minister and the Vice President are not dealing with Yuan Shikai, and there is no secretary-general or deputy secretary-general to temporarily take charge of the overall situation. Young Master Yuan is still confined to the Xishan Villa. Duan Qirui does not dare to make any independent decisions, so he has to stand aside. Send people to invite Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang, Yuan Keding and other dignitaries. A French doctor was hired to give Yuan Shikai a shot of cardiotonic.
After one injection, Yuan Shikai slowly woke up from his coma, but he was very exhausted. He couldn't help muttering to himself: "Tang Yunting has rebelled! Tang Yunting has rebelled!"
Duan Qirui said in Yuan Shikai's ear: "We already know the news about Tang Yunting's rebellion and Cao Zhongshan's capture. But how to deal with the situation next, please give instructions from the president!"
Yuan Shikai finally came to his senses and looked at Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang, Yuan Keding and others around him, as if he already knew that he didn't have much time left, so he weaklySaid: "Song Qing, Ju Ren, are you all here? It's so nice of you to come, I guess it's useless!"
Although Li Yuanhong and Yuan Shikai had a lot of grievances, he couldn't help but feel sad when he saw this scene. His eyes were red and his nose was sore. He reluctantly stepped forward to comfort him: "President, don't be impatient. You are just suffering from heat and poison. You will be fine after a few days of rest!" "
Yuan Shikai shook his head: "Song Qing, there is no need to comfort me. I know my own affairs! I have been in the army for thirty years. From a soldier to the president, I have always claimed to know soldiers and people. Unexpectedly, I was defeated in the war and everyone betrayed me." , it¡¯s really destiny. But now that the country is so corrupt, but a Western scholar like Sun Baixi is allowed to take sole control of the country, I will never die in peace!"
Yuan Keding wiped away his tears and came forward: "Father, please rest in peace. Keding will definitely kill that thief Sun Yuanqi and avenge me from all over Beiyang!"
Yuan Shikai glanced at Yuan Keding: "I am not Sun Baixi's opponent, let alone a dandy like you? Don't talk nonsense and make a joke!" After a pause, he weakly said to Li Yuanhong: "Now that the Kuomintang has been dissolved, the Kuomintang Declined, only the New China Party dominates. Whether the Congress can be convened in the future depends entirely on Sun Baixi's thoughts. According to the "Convention", Song Qing will succeed the president after my death. I hope you can restrain and advise Sun Baixi, and don't let him You wantonly destroy the country!"
Li Yuanhong smiled bitterly: You and I were tortured to death by Sun Yuanqi, how can I fight with him alone? Being able to save one's life is already a blessing! But even though he thought so, he still said: "With the president here, the country cannot be in chaos!"
Duan Qirui took advantage of Yuan Shikai to wake up and quickly interjected and asked: "Commander, how should the Beiyang armies respond to the current situation?"
Yuan Shikai said: "Now that the defeat has been decided, let's not engage in meaningless fights. Let all ministries put down their weapons and save some vitality for the country!"
"Father, we may not have the strength to give it a try, so why should we take the initiative to admit defeat!" Yuan Keding was still unwilling to accept it.
Yuan Shikai seemed as if he had never heard of it.
At about 10 o'clock in the morning on February 27, 1914, Yuan Shikai, a great hero, died of illness in Jurentang, the Presidential Palace, at the age of 55.
The history of the Republic of China also opened a new page.