Due to the public opinion momentum created by the "Zhaohe Hao" uprising at this time, it added a lot of bargaining chips to the Chinese Revolutionary Party. Liao Zhongkai and others in Kunming also took advantage of the topic and repeatedly demanded that Sun Yat-sen be elected as the prime minister of the military government to protect the country. Tang Jiyao's personal experience
After thinking deeply, he finally decided to give in. He knew very well that even if Sun Yat-sen became the prime minister, he would be a prime minister with real power. None of the warlords in the southwest would obey his orders. They would only be used as decorations to protect themselves with the help of his revolutionary reputation.
The military government of the country gained more support.
So in mid-November, Sun Yat-sen secretly rushed from Hong Kong to Kunming, attended the establishment ceremony of the Protective Military Government, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Protected Military Government.
In the same few days, under the leadership of Cai E, the draft establishment of the armies of the four southwest provinces was quickly completed. According to the plan, a total of four echelons were organized: the commander-in-chief of the first echelon was composed of
Cai E personally took command, commanding the First Division of the Yunnan Army and the Second Division of Gu Pinzhen; the commander-in-chief of the second echelon was Wang Wenhua, commanding five mixed brigades of the Guizhou Army; the commander-in-chief of the third echelon, Xiong Kewu, except for the three divisions of the Sichuan Army
, including Zhao Youxin and Huang Yucheng, as well as the three troops from Guizhou stationed in Sichuan, are all under the command of the third echelon.
As for the fourth echelon, it is the weakest, with the fewest troops, and the most complicated organization. After careful consideration, Cai E decided to appoint Liu Zhenhuan as the commander-in-chief of the fourth echelon, and organized Yang Ximin, Liu Guxiang and other miscellaneous troops, combined with the Chinese
The revolutionary party's troops in northern Guangdong and Changsha and Hengyang in Hunan barely managed to recruit more than 10,000 troops.
However, due to the complex terrain, the fourth echelon had to deal with many Beiyang armies and local warlords supporting the Beiyang government. Therefore, when Cai E issued the order to Liu Zhenhuan, he specifically instructed not to confront the enemy head-on, but to fight behind enemy lines as much as possible.
, or lurk in the mountains and fields to harass, as long as they can delay Lu Rongting and Tang Xiangming's troops and create enough momentum and noise.[
On the 15th, all orders were in place, and the troops of the four echelons followed Cai E's instructions and rushed to the designated areas to assemble and be ready to go out at any time.
That night, Cai E, Tang Jiyao, Sun Yat-sen, Ren Kecheng, Liu Xianshi and others jointly issued a telegram requesting Yuan Shikai to immediately abolish the imperial system in the name of the national protection military government. However, until the next morning, Beijing did not make any response to this telegram.
Response. Cai E, Tang Jiyao and others knew very well that with Yuan Shikai's current momentum, he would never abolish the imperial system at this time, and their joint power transfer would probably be just an irritant.
So on the next day, everyone jointly sent out a call for power again, but this time they did not have any hope, they just wanted to gain more advantages in momentum. Among the contents of this call, they decisively added another
Among the requirements, in addition to Yuan Shikai's immediate abolition of the imperial system, he must also take the blame and resign as president, otherwise the national-protecting military government will take military action to safeguard the republic.
Although these two joint telegrams did not put much pressure on Yuan Shikai, combined with the anti-imperialist movements that frequently broke out in the southern provinces and regions during this period, and the Chinese Revolutionary Party's almost life-threatening attacks and creation of all kinds of
The uprising naturally aroused a huge response from the people.
Regardless of whether they support the monarchy or oppose it, or people with so-called attitudes, they all realize that this time the South has made things so big, there will inevitably be another military disaster in the country. Also because of this incident, more and more people
Many people are tired of the disasters of war and think of the specific benefits brought by the monarchy. It can be seen that whether or not they are emperors, those officials benefit. What do ordinary people like them really gain?
Not only do they still have everything, but they even have a peaceful life guaranteed. When the war breaks out, the ordinary people will definitely be in trouble. It is better not to proclaim the emperor, and there can still be peace between the north and the south. That's it.
With this idea in mind, many ordinary people who had previously followed the trend and supported the monarchy began to blame the monarchy unknowingly.
However, after all, they are all ordinary people with low levels of education. They have never thought about nor dared to oppose the imperial system. They only express their worries and complaints about the imperial system.
Facing the increasingly turbulent situation in the country, Yuan Shikai had to respond to the joint telegram issued by Tang Jiyao, Cai E and others. However, he was never afraid of these opposition warlord forces from beginning to end. On the contrary, after he ascended the throne and became emperor, his thoughts
He gradually shifted to how to quell the anti-imperialist wave in the country. Therefore, in the reply message sent to Yunnan, he first denounced Cai E for his betrayal, and then accused Tang Jiyao and others of being in league with Sun Yat-sen, the wanted criminal of the empire, and even secretly mobilizing troops to rebel.
, the charge of treason is an indisputable fact.
The only function of this reply is to compete with the Protecting Military Government for public opinion, announce to the outside world that the Protecting Military Government is a treasonous and illegal organization, and also specifically criticize some of the demands made by the Protecting Military Government one by one, using clever words and tricks.
To maintain the orthodox image of the imperial system.
Not long after, Yuan Shikai issued an order to the 12th Division and the 15th Division, and immediately arrested Cai E, Tang Jiyao, Xiong Kewu and others for treason before the Southwest Protectorate Military Government declared independence and took the next step.
Launch an attack on the rebel assembly area today.
After a month of back-and-forth conflict, the war between North and South China was finally averted.
The first news of the war came from Sichuan. Chen Huan took the 15th Division as the main force, and gathered two troops from the Sichuan Army, Liu Cunhou and Wang Lingji, who supported the Beiyang government, and sent tribute from Chongqing and Luzhou to Chengdu, Zigong and Zigong respectively.
Yibin launched its march into three places.
Although Xiong Kewu's Sichuan Army, the Yunnan Army, and the Guizhou Army stationed in Sichuan totaled 30,000 people, and the 15th Division was a fully-staffed Central Division with a total strength of less than 20,000. On the one hand, the Central Army's weapons and equipment were well-equipped and its logistics
With sufficient supplies and an extremely advantageous geographical location, it can be said that they can advance, attack, retreat or defend. Together with Liu Cunhou, Wang Lingji's two-pronged Sichuan army of about 15,000 people, the total strength is only a few cents away from the third echelon of the National Guard Army.
What's more, the third echelon seems to have sufficient troops, but in fact it is internally mixed and full of contradictions.
It is not that Cai E did not take this issue into consideration when organizing the National Defense Army, but all echelons are organized according to geographical location. There are already certain restrictions on the division of war zones and the arrangement of combat tasks, so he can only bite the bullet first.
Let's do it this way. Originally, the third echelon was not the main battle force. Its only role was to open a battlefield in Sichuan to contain the Beiyang Army, and to support the first and second echelons into Sichuan.
After the first and second echelons have completed their march, the main offensive tasks in the Sichuan battlefield will be personally directed by Cai E, while the third echelon will retreat to the second line and be responsible for logistics support and local defense. Even if there is a problem with the fourth echelon in Hunan and Guangdong and Guangxi,
It also needs to be supported by several units of the Guizhou Army and Yunnan Army in the third echelon. On the contrary, by that time, as there are fewer and fewer miscellaneous troops in the third echelon, contradictions and conflicts will be controlled accordingly.
The National Protector Army and the Beiyang Army first exchanged fire in the suburbs of Chengdu. The first to exchange fire with the National Protector Army was a vanguard unit under Liu Cunhou. Liu Cunhou's troops were basically from the old army, even though they had been closely aligned with each other in the past six months.
We have received a lot of financial support from the central government, but the corruption problem in the army is so serious that there has not been much improvement.
The two sides in this round of firefight were separated by more than 100 meters, and it was a completely random exchange of fire. No one dared to launch a charge easily. An hour later, Liu Cunhou's vanguard troops retreated to Jianyang Town in the southeast and ceased.
Wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops and the Central Army before making the next attack plan.