On May 6, the domestic situation intensified. Jiangxi Governor Li Liejun, Anhui Governor Bai Wenwei, and Shanghai Governor Chen Qimei were particularly fierce. They turned on the electricity almost one by one every day, and the content of the electricity became more serious every day. [Thanks for supporting the novel] But Beiyang On the contrary, the government did not make any response or excuse for this, and there was no movement at all.
On this day, Gao Shun sent a telegram back to Luanzhou from Baoding, informing him of his activities in Baoding these days.
Gao Shun did not inquire about the relevant news at first. As the outside world knew, the Beiyang government and the provincial governors who supported the Beiyang government seemed to have guilty consciences, and there was no obvious movement among them. Except for the Henan governor Zhang Zhenfang and Except for Feng Guozhang, the governor of Zhili Province, who sent one or two private messages to refute the southern suspicion of the central government, other places seemed indifferent.
It is precisely because of this that Gao Shun spent most of his time during this period on expanding his contacts and recruiting some technical personnel for Luanzhou Chemical Plant. In the telegram sent back that day, Gao Shun introduced that he had studied in Japan through One of my classmates met two friends who were working in chemistry in Tianjin. Although these two friends had just returned from studying abroad and did not have much practical experience, they had received Western higher education after all.
Both of them were very satisfied with the salary package offered by Luanzhou and could not wait to leave for Luanzhou as soon as possible.
However, under Gao Shun's warm invitation, these two chemical engineering talents agreed to assist Gao Shun in recruiting other chemical plant workers in Baoding and Tianjin for the time being.
After dealing with the recruitment issues of Luanzhou Chemical Plant, Gao Shun was busy following up on the recruitment work in the next few days, while also intensively inquiring about specific information from the Beiyang government.
It was not until the evening of May 5 that he learned about some of the new trends of the Beiyang government through some friends in the Zhili Provincial Government.[ ]
I sorted out the telegram that night and sent it to Luanzhou overnight. Due to line delays, it didn't arrive until the next morning.
The communication room in the brigade headquarters received the telegram, and after a round of communication, it was sent by Du Yu to Yuan Su's office.
Yuan Su was checking with Chen Wenian the strategic materials prepared in recent days and the mobilization status of the regiments under his command. Although it did not take long to issue orders successively, fortunately, under Yuan Su's governance, various places in Luanzhou have made progress over the years. The preparation of savings and strategic supplies is going very smoothly.
Coupled with the cooperation from the British side, Reynoldson not only provided diplomatic and military assistance, but also provided various preferential transactions from foreign banks. The preparations for the 1st Mixed Brigade were in order, and Yuan Su also specially sent He Qigong Arrive in Tianjin and sign loan contracts with Credit Agricole and HSBC.
The content of this "appointment loan contract" is that Credit Agricole and HSBC prepared a total of 20 million francs for Yuan Su in advance, using the Yanghe Reservoir shares held by Suye Holding Company as collateral for the loan. The term is tentatively set at five years and fifteen installments, with an interest rate of four and a half percent. However, this is only a preliminary loan, which means that the funds must be prepared first, and the loan term will be calculated when Yuan Su needs to use the funds.
Du Yu knocked on the door, then opened the door and walked in. He said in a somewhat urgent tone: "Commander, Mr. Chen, Mr. Gao has sent back the telegram. The situation is not good."
Chen Wenian stepped forward first, took the telegram from Du Yu, quickly read it over, his face suddenly became serious, and said: "Captain, Gao Jianyang heard the news that the second town will be launched along the coast on May 7th.
The Jinpu Line will open to Jinan, and Wang Huaiqing and Jin Yunpeng from Shandong will also go all the way south."
He did not mention the relevant report on the recruitment work, but instead talked about the most important things first.[ ]
Yuan Su frowned, stood up suddenly, took out the telegram from Chen Wenian, and read it carefully. After being silent for a while, he sighed longly and said in a heavy tone: "It's really either this or not.
If you want to come, be brutal. Things in Beijing haven't been figured out yet. Neither the north nor the south are willing to give in. It's really a big deal now."
Chen Wennian took a slow breath and said in a muffled voice: "Gao Jianyang said that this was just information he obtained from an attendant military attache in the Governor's Mansion, and it may not be true."
Yuan Su shook his head and said: "No, I believe this is true. With the current domestic situation, it is understandable that a war between the North and the South is imminent. We can't run away this time."
Chen Wennian pondered for a while, and then said: "If this is the case, if we set off from the second town, we don't know if our First Mixed Brigade will follow suit and move south."
Yuan Su said: "It's hard to say now, after all, there is no formal order from above. But even if we mobilize our first mixed brigade, we are already ready, so it won't be a trouble. To say trouble, that is
Going to war with the south is somewhat depressing. Looking at the history of our country for nearly a hundred years, we have experienced foreign aggression and internal strife. We finally survived until the Republic of China, but we have not had the opportunity to cultivate and recuperate."
Chen Wennian said with deep emotion: "It is true. However, the cause of such suffering is obviously inseparable from the current environment. Speaking of which, I have some doubts. Governor, haven't you noticed that the situation in the north and south is getting worse and worse, and those foreigners are actually
We are getting more and more happy. Not only that, when we went to the British to discuss funding, Reynoldson had almost no complaints and quickly provided us with a series of help."
Hearing Chen Wenian say this, Yuan Su gradually became aware of this aspect. Although he knew very well that throughout China's modern history, foreign forces were involved everywhere, whether it was the Beiyang warlords or the new Kuomintang warlords, there were almost always people behind the scenes.
An agent of interest. He couldn't help but secretly speculate that in this congressional crisis and the hostilities between the North and the South, there might be foreigners secretly causing trouble!
Although there is no substantial evidence for this speculation, it is still very possible to think about it unilaterally.
"No matter what happens, it is helpless for a country to be weak and controlled by others. What's more, there are issues with the respective interests of the north and the south. The fundamental reason is that we Chinese ourselves are not living up to expectations." Yuan Su said deeply.
He said, and after finishing speaking, he shook his head helplessly.
"Then what should we do now?" Chen Wennian didn't say more about this matter. After all, they can't even control it domestically, let alone influence the influence of foreign forces on China.
"Everything is business as usual. Prepare what you need to prepare and hurry up when you need to. Preparations before the war must be implemented to the end." Yuan Su said.
Two days later, there was no news of any military mobilization in either Baoding or Jinan. However, people in the Kinki area and people on the Jinpu Line railway witnessed the troops passing by. For this reason, several trains on the Jinpu Line were blocked.
It was forced to cancel and all civilian trains were forcibly requisitioned.
Newspapers gradually began to report this matter, and even published a photo of soldiers gathering outside Baoding Railway Station in the early morning. Regarding the secretive mobilization of the northern army, the first thing that came to light was several democratic representatives of the Zhili Provincial Consultative Bureau.
The congressman went to the Governor's Mansion to ask, and then calls came in from Tianjin and Beijing to ask questions.
This incident had just come to light, but a huge storm immediately set off in the South. The Kuomintang was the first to suggest that the Beiyang government was preparing for civil war. At the same time, it published a large number of editorials and articles in southern newspapers, insisting that the Beiyang government was about to
He acted perversely, conspired to overthrow the regime of the Republic, and called on people from all walks of life across the country to oppose Yuan Shikai and the Beiyang Army.
Under the leadership of the Kuomintang and bourgeois political activists in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the voice of opposition in South China grew stronger.
Before, there were only small-scale demonstrations and protests, and most of them were just some opposition activities in the political circles; but from that day on, the whole of South China was shaken. Not only did the scale and frequency of the demonstrations become larger and larger, but also became more and more popular.
Many, and at the same time there were strikes and market strikes.
In response to the secret military operation in the north, the southern provinces responded on the third day.
Bai Wenwei, the governor of Anhui, sent a telegram to accuse the Beiyang government of having evil intentions and intending to take the lead in provoking a civil war; the governor of Shanghai, Chen Qimei, even imposed martial law in Shanghai, expelled two Beiyang garrison generals Zheng Rucheng and Yang Shande by force, and implemented Shanghai's independence; the governor of Hunan, Tan Tingkai, said that the Hunan Army was preparing for war
state, intending to dispatch two divisions of the Hunan Army to arrive in Hubei.
Especially Li Liejun, the governor of Jiangxi, he and Tan Tingkai were the first to respond with a military stance. However, unlike Tan Tingkai, they did not just pay lip service. Instead, they blatantly gathered all the troops under their command and used their connections in Shanghai to purchase arms.
, as if they wanted to fight to the bitter end with the Beiyang government.
Sun Yat-sen returned to Shanghai from his visit to Japan on May 5th. After learning about the congressional crisis and the various North-South frictions that followed, he immediately contacted Yuan Shikai by phone and asked Yuan Shikai to come forward and give an explanation in person. However, after waiting for four days, the Presidential Palace
There was no reply at all, and then Sun Yat-sen, in the name of the acting prime minister of the Kuomintang, personally called on the southern provinces to actively respond to the mission of upholding the republican laws and to be alert at all times to the unreasonable actions taken by the Beiyang government.
On the surface, the southern provinces were extremely enthusiastic and excited under the call of the Kuomintang. However, it can be seen from the call issued by Sun Yat-sen that the south is still in a passive state.
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[The weather has been very cold recently. The climate here in Hubei is not as good as in the coastal areas. It is said that there will be a small number of tweets on the 22nd, so I will try my best to break out. Thank you to friends who gave red envelopes and rewards during the Chinese New Year. Thank you very much for your support.
My support. I will definitely continue to work hard.】