Shi Jingyun nodded and said with deep understanding: "What the Lord said is absolutely true. The fastest updated novel [Thanks for supporting the novel] There will be certain risks in taking the lead, but once we capture some important towns, we will not only be able to obtain abundant supplies
, and even be able to recruit surrendered troops. The losses in the attack will be negligible at that time. In turn, it will make it rise to the top, and the consequences will be disastrous. Furthermore, Yuan Zijing is the nephew of the president.
Identity, it will not be easy even if you want to take credit by then."
Another staff officer couldn't help but asked: "Then what should we do?"
Feng Guozhang thought for a moment and then said: "Let the First Mixed Brigade serve as logistics first. Once a war breaks out, just send it to a small remote place to deal with some fragmented enemies."
Gao Changyun said quickly: "It's your opinion."
Feng Guozhang laughed contentedly for a while, and his face gradually returned to calm, and he said: "Never mind anything else, Yuan Zijing's troops asked him to follow our team, and notified Bao Tingjiu, who was still in Jinan, to take charge of responding to Yuan Zijing's First Mixed Brigade.
.Our troops will continue to move south tomorrow, transfer in Xuzhou and advance towards Gangcheng and Suzhou."
Gao Changyun further asked Feng Guozhang for instructions: "Sir, are you going to notify us next so that all ministries should be prepared for war and be ready to attack the rebel army at any time?"
Feng Guozhang nodded calmly and said slowly: "What is supposed to come will always come. Either we will do it, or those people in the south will do it. We still have to grasp this opportunity. In this way, as per
As you wish, pass on the order and the whole army will be ready to fight on May 20th."
Gao Changyun replied seriously: "Yes."
Afterwards, everyone discussed in detail the detailed strategic and tactical arrangements for the use of troops in the south. Feng Guozhang's views were very clear. He still had some grudges against Zhang Xun's troops in Xuzhou. Although the latter was serving as the first line of offensive troops, he could not be completely reassured.
[ ] Therefore, in terms of offensive layout, he asked the Second Town troops to divide into two groups, one group to meet up with the Xuzhou Jiang Defense Battalion and press southward along the Yangtze River, and the other group to advance from the port city along the seaside to Yancheng via Huai'an.
In terms of war predictions, it is obvious that the Jiang Fang Battalion will bear most of the resistance. The troops sent by Feng Guozhang to cooperate with the Jiang Fang Battalion will serve as flank cover. The most important thing is to control the progress of the entire battlefield. Neither can the Jiang Fang Battalion progress.
It's too fast, and Jiang Fang camp can't sit back and enjoy the success.
The key point is to reach consensus and coordination with the other troops advancing from Yancheng.
Once the two sides reach a certain tacit understanding, they can launch a cross-river operation towards Nanjing at the same time. Of course, in terms of cross-river operations, the Navy also dispatched three coastal defense gunboats to provide cover on the Nanjing river.
artillery cover, striving to overwhelm Nanjing in one fell swoop.
Regarding the resistance of the Southern Revolutionary Army, we had also prepared for the worst in advance, including the Eighth Town, the main force of the Jiangsu Revolutionary Army, as well as some local troops from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, such as the two battalions of the Revolutionary Army in Zhenjiang.
Another example is the local revolutionary forces in Yancheng, Huai'an and other places. However, in general, these local revolutionary armies are a ragtag group. Not only are their weapons and equipment backward, their military strength is very lacking, but they also extremely lack the necessary organization. Almost all of them are
Each of them has not fought.
The Beiyang Army's military operations have never surfaced, and the deployment of various troops has been subtle.
Except for the fact that Zhang Xun was temporarily hot-headed or eager to start a war as soon as possible, he publicly issued a telegram, which aroused the sensitivity of people from all walks of life in the South. But even so, it was tacitly understood by both the North and the South. Now the South
The provinces either denounced or protested, or prepared for war, as if they were ready to fight to the end.[]
As far as Feng Guozhang was concerned, he received the order to lead his army south this time. Although the official document still said to mobilize defenses, he knew very well that once the army entered Jiangsu, a rebuttal would break out. No matter whether both sides were ready or not, they would definitely
We must seize the opportunity to strike first.
Two days later, Yuan Su's first regiment of the first mixed brigade completed its assembly in Tianjin and transferred to the railway line to Shandong to move to Jinan. The order of the Army Ministry was to be in place within five days, but Yuan Su started from the beginning.
I didn't intend to strictly follow this order. On the one hand, I had to show "extreme reluctance", and on the other hand, I had to show that I was lacking supplies.
The liaison officer dispatched by the First Mixed Brigade is Chen Li, director of the Communications Office. While the First Regiment is moving to Jinan, he has already arrived in Zaozhuang. However, the Second Town of Zaozhuang just left yesterday afternoon. Feng Guozhang and other senior officials
The generals have already set off south, leaving only some logistics troops still packing up bit by bit.
Chen Li sent a telegram from Zaozhuang to Tianjin to report the situation here to Yuan Su, but there was no news for a moment, and then he hurried to Xuzhou to catch up with the second town.
Also at four o'clock in the afternoon on the same day, the Presidential Palace in Beijing issued an appointment and removal order, announcing the removal of the governor of Anhui, Bai Wenwei, the governor of Jiangxi, Li Liejun, the governor of Guangdong, Hu Hanmin, and the governor of Jiangsu, Cheng Dequan, and also ordered the removal of the post of governor of Shanghai.
, and the Shanghai garrison was established.
Once this order was issued, it caused an uproar within a few hours.
Everyone knows that this order is targeted, and everyone knows that this order is actually a signal: the Beiyang Army is about to launch a violent suppression operation!
Overnight, the whole country was shocked. For many people, a political crisis had escalated to the level of a military showdown, and the civil war between the North and the South was rapidly beginning.
Early the next morning, May 18, Sun Yat-sen solemnly announced in Shanghai that he was "crusading the national traitor Yuan Shikai" and delivered an impassioned "Second Revolution" speech that lasted ten minutes. At noon that day, Jiangxi Governor Li Liejun
He declared the independence of Jiangxi and ordered two revolutionary armies under his command to launch an attack on northern Jiangxi.
Immediately afterwards, Hu Hanmin, the governor of Guangdong, Xiong Kewu, the governor of Sichuan, Chen Qimei, the governor of Shanghai, and Tan Tingkai, the governor of Hunan, etc., all declared independence. However, except for Hu Hanmin and Chen Qimei, who organized military operations, Sichuan and Hunan just sat back and watched.
On the one hand, they dare not send troops easily, and on the other hand, even if they want to send troops, their troops may not necessarily obey orders, so they can only follow the trend on the surface, but in fact, they are afraid that it will be self-defeating.
In the early morning of the 17th, Bai Wenwei, the governor of Anhui Province, was prompted by the governor of Anhui Province, Li Anzhi, to disguise himself and take a civilian train to Shanghai via Jiangsu. Bai Wenwei was nominally the governor of a province, but in fact, he had not a shred of money in his hands.
He has no military power, and his administrative power is not as good as that of the provincial governor. Ni Sichong, the director of the Anhui Military Affairs Commission, had frequently mobilized the army a few days ago to take over the security forces in the surrounding areas of Hefei, and even sent people to monitor the Hefei patrol camp.
On the afternoon of the 17th, Ni Sichong received the first order from the Ministry of War to relieve Bai Wenwei from all his posts and put him under supervision. Ni Sichong then set off from Wuhu and headed for Hefei. However, when he just arrived in the suburbs of Hefei, he received the second order from the Ministry of War.
The order was issued and the request was to arrest Bai Wenwei.
However, although the entire Hefei was surrounded by Ni Sichong's two mixed brigades, when Ni Sichong rushed into the city, Bai Wenwei had already left by train. Ni Sichong did not have any regrets about this. His most important wish was to move to Anhui as soon as possible.
Governor's Mansion, succeeded Bai Wenwei as the Governor of Anhui.
So after occupying Hefei, he began to strengthen his personal rule in all aspects, including replacing important personnel in various ministries and replacing them all with his cronies. He even sent people to put pressure on the provincial governor Li Anzhi and made clear demands.
He restricted the scope of the provincial government's powers and made rumors about trying to dissolve the provincial assembly.
The first round of fighting between the North and the South took place in Shanghai. Chen Qimei refused to accept the order of the central government and ordered his militia composed of Youth Gang members and two battalions of the previous revolutionary Shanghai Army, totaling more than a thousand people, to attack Jiangnan at night.
The Bureau launched a strong attack, trying to capture the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau as soon as possible and control Shanghai Security Commander Zheng Rucheng.
Zheng Rucheng had been prepared earlier. Although his troops were still on the outskirts of the city, he had already dispatched several reinforced machine gun companies to the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. Although judging from the scene, he did not have as many troops as the revolutionary army, but the revolutionary army was after all
Compared with the regular army, the combat effectiveness of the ragtag army is obviously far behind. Coupled with the fact that three Maxim heavy machine guns are lined up at the gate of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, it will be difficult for the revolutionary army to bravely charge forward.
While a fierce battle was taking place in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Zheng Rucheng sent a telegram at the same time, mobilizing troops outside the city to rush to the city. Although the troops outside the city were unable to enter the city for a while, of course, some officers who were inclined to revolution were included in this.
, but Zheng Rucheng believed that as long as the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau could be successfully held and the revolutionary army ran out of ammunition and food, the overall situation could still be decided at a snap.
As the most important battlefield in the confrontation between the North and the South, the situation in Jiangsu was not very clear from the beginning.
The Second and Fifth Towns of Beiyang, plus tens of thousands of troops from the Jiangfang Camp in Xuzhou, launched a grand invasion southward. Almost all the main forces used by the Beiyang government to suppress the southern opposition gathered here. It was precisely because of such a large army pressing down on the border that Jiangsu Governor Cheng Dequan
I have been in a trance these past few days and have been restless, so all the affairs of the Governor's Mansion have been left to Huang Xingzai to take care of.
In fact, from the beginning of the "Congress Crisis", Cheng Dequan has always emphasized that the problem should be dealt with by reason, rather than blindly expanding the contradiction between the north and the south. Although he knew that Jiangsu had the armed forces of the Eighth Town at his disposal, he could
Facing the Beiyang Army in Shandong and Anhui, as well as the Beiyang Army in the Songhu area, the political situation is obviously not conducive to itself.