At noon the next day, news of war broke out from Guangdong and Guangxi.
Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangxi, has long had a grudge against Liu Zhenhuan, Yang Ximin, Liu Guxiang and other troops entrenched in the province. Now that his power has been extended to Guangdong, he is unable to eliminate hidden dangers in Guangxi Province. How can this bad breath be smoothed down?
Come down? To a certain extent, the reason why he actively supported Yuan Shikai as emperor was that he hoped to gain the support of the Beiyang government, and then sweep across Guangxi Province in one fell swoop, taking the entire province into his hands.
After the Guangxi issue is resolved, he will then focus on strengthening his rule over Guangdong. As for places other than Guangdong and Guangxi, he has not yet considered it. In other words, his support of Yuan Shikai as emperor this time will only ensure that Guangxi and Guangdong provinces are at best
issues within the country and will never interfere in wars elsewhere.
With the establishment of the National Protectorate Military Government and the declaration of independence by the armies of the southwestern provinces, Liu Zhenhuan, Yang Ximin and other troops who were organized into the fourth echelon of the National Protectorate Army soon began to take action. However, the fourth echelon was the weakest after all, and its organization was
It is the most mixed, and even the areas where the troops are stationed are scattered. Even if there is no Beiyang Army in Guangdong and Guangxi, it will be even more difficult for Lu Rongting to take the initiative to assume an offensive posture with Lu Rongting's overwhelming power.
Therefore, Liu Zhenhuan did not make any more noise, but acted very conservatively. He only launched some harassing attacks in the surrounding areas of Guilin, focusing on destroying government agencies of the Lu Rongting government, such as police stations and government offices. Liu Guxiang wanted to
To slow down the counterattack of Lu Rongting's troops, they even organized demolition teams to wreak havoc on the railway facilities north of Lijiang.[
Lu Rongting's strategy towards the National Defense Army was not as conservative as that of the Central Army. He had already planned for a long time the action to wipe out the small warlords in the province. In the past two years, he had received a large amount of funds and materials from the Beiyang government, and he had moved his troops to
Expansion and enhancement were carried out. If it were not for fear that starting too quickly would lead to interference from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, Guangxi Province would have already launched military operations before Yuan Shikai issued an order.
Nowadays, the National Defense Army is concentrating on Sichuan, obviously choosing the main battlefield along the Yangtze River.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Lu Rongting. Not only has he been fully prepared for the next battle, but the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces that he has always been worried about will no longer cause pressure. So just now the fourth echelon of the National Guard Army
If there is any movement, even if it is an extremely small-scale action, Nanning will immediately launch a massive siege.
Lu Rongting sent his adopted son Lu Yuguang as the general of Guilin, with full responsibility for coordinating the defense north of Lijiang. At the same time, he also dispatched Chen Bingkun and Tan Haoming, two great kings of the old Guangxi clique, to command the first division of the Guangxi Army and the new second division as the main battle force.
, the troops were divided into two groups to attack Liu Zhenhuan and Liu Guxiang who were entrenched in the northern area of Guilin. Chen Bingkun crossed the river directly from Liuzhou and launched a frontal attack from the west; Tan Haoming took the road from Hezhou to northern Guangdong, and after arriving in northern Guangdong, he suppressed Guangdong.
In response to the rebellion of the scattered revolutionary forces in the north, they gathered the main force and detoured back to Liu Zhenhuan and Liu Guxiang's rear, and completed the encirclement with the west route troops.
The situation in Guangdong and Guangxi heated up rapidly. The docks in Liuzhou were lined up with many ferries, one after another transporting Gui Army soldiers to the north of the Yangtze River. After reorganization and strengthening, the Gui Army's division was almost the same as the Beiyang Central Division. The only difference was that there were some obvious differences.
The only difference is the formation of artillery.
Liu Zhenhuan and Liu Guxiang were greatly surprised by Lu Rongting's generous response. At first, they only thought of Guangxi. Guangdong and Guangdong provinces cover a vast area. In addition, there are revolutionary parties in several counties in northern Guangdong and Huizhou.
People were moving, and even if Lu Rongting wanted to take action, he would be forced to disperse his troops. But he never expected that their idea was too bad. As soon as they tried to test it, they unexpectedly hit the tiger's butt, causing the tiger to suddenly look back and directly
Come and kill.
Liu Zhenhuan immediately sent a telegram to Kunming for help, and at the same time ordered Yang Ximin to take the initiative from the northwest region of Guangxi to attract and share the pressure on Guilin. However, after Yang Ximin learned that Lu Rongting had mobilized so much effort to deal with the fourth echelon, Yang Ximin obviously hesitated and hesitated in his attitude.
He was afraid that he only had a few thousand troops in his hands. He was afraid that even the scattered troops in northern Lijiang assembled by Lu Yuguang could not cope with them. How could they possibly deal with the First and Second Divisions of Guangxi?
In the end, Yang Ximin only promised on the surface that he would send troops to contain the situation, but in fact he only sent a few reconnaissance teams and cavalry troops to move around the Hechi area. Once they encountered counterattacks from local troops, they immediately retreated.
The momentum of the National Protectorate Army has been heating up in the following days, and as each echelon has been put into combat one after another, the fighting that broke out in the southwestern provinces has also become more and more intense. The eyes of the whole country have just been paying attention to Yuan Shikai's coronation ceremony, and now
All of a sudden, they all focused on the anti-imperialist war to protect the country. However, in the northern provinces, people who support the monarchy still account for the majority, so in their view, the so-called "war to protect the country" is also a "war to protect the country" by the central government.
Counterinsurgency operations."
On the other hand, in many towns south of the Yangtze River, under the momentum of the Revolutionary Party, the common people viewed this war to protect the country with sympathy. But in the final analysis, the war to protect the country only accounted for less than four quarters of the national momentum.
A quarter of public opinion calls, and even among this quarter of the population, a considerable number simply do not oppose it.
The weather is getting colder and colder, and at the end of the month there is a heavy rain of ice particles.
Danshang Village in the French Concession in Tianjin is still peaceful. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, Yuan Su has almost no contact with other outsiders, including the group of old subordinates in Luanzhou and Gao Shun, who was sent to the south by him earlier.
.However, these are just superficial appearances he made. The purpose is to confuse those who monitor him, so that Yuan Shikai really thinks that he is only focused on taking care of his wife Zhang Hanling and the fetus in his belly.
At the beginning of the month, an honor guard came from Beijing's Xinhua Palace and personally went to the French Concession to conduct a knighting ceremony for Yuan Su. Although the whole ceremony did not take much time, all the procedures and etiquette were followed and it was done in a well-organized manner.
So, to be honest, he was very dissatisfied with Duke Zhaolie, but these false titles were just a formality, and there was no need to really lose his temper over this matter.
He even knew very clearly why Yuan Shikai gave him the title of "Zhao Lie". He took the title of Emperor Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms period. The subtext was to warn him that just like Liu Bei, he was not a relative of the emperor fishing in troubled waters. Naturally, he didn't
Will care about these discriminatory hints, Yuan Shikai's pride is only for a moment, and the one who laughs at the end is the real pride.
In the past period of time, it was not true that Yuan Su had no contact with the outside world. He used various methods and channels to obtain information on the latest developments in the domestic situation, and maintained certain contact with the old Luanzhou ministry. What he was most worried about before was
The problem is that the momentum of the southern revolutionary camp is too low, and ultimately there is not enough confidence to launch this anti-imperialist revolution. Now that the war to protect the country has barely begun, his attention has gradually shifted to the battle on the front line.
Based on the information he currently has, the strength of the National Defense Military Government is obviously not enough to deal with the Beiyang Army that Yuan Shikai had arranged in Sichuan and Hunan earlier. Cai E and Sun Yat-sen seemed to be making a desperate move and did not consider the ability of this National Defense Movement from the beginning.
Whether we can win or not depends on seizing the opportunity of anti-imperialism as much as possible to carry out revolutionary action practice. Perhaps for the Chinese Revolutionary Party, they have long been accustomed to using small things to make big gains. Even if they cannot win a revolutionary movement, at least they can
Won a lot of reputation.
If the war to protect the country continues in its current form and force, it is not difficult to imagine that it will soon end in failure.
After all, the strength of the southwest warlords is limited. Even if they can take advantage at the beginning, once the war restrictions are expanded, Yuan Shikai will definitely continue to mobilize troops south to increase the intensity of suppression. When it comes to the ability to continue fighting, the resources of the National Guard Army are definitely
Far inferior to the Beiyang government.
Yuan Su is somewhat worried about this now, but the informant he arranged in Beijing sent back some very important information, that is, the forces within the Beiyang government that oppose Yuan Shikai are about to move. If the source of this information is true,
, there will definitely be room for improvement in this war to protect the country. Just like the trend in history, the Beiyang government will eventually be destroyed internally. Now there are secrets about this, which shows the anti-Yuan forces within Beiyang
What a trend.[
More than ten days ago, he specially sent someone to contact Lin Boxen and encouraged Lin Boxen to provide economic and material assistance to the National Protectorate Military Government as much as possible through overseas companies or banks, so as to enable the National Protectorate Military Government to win on the frontal battlefield.
It can last longer and expand the scale of the war.
Although this seems to be like a profit-seeking arms dealer sowing discord between two forces, regardless of the interests and lives of the people, it is the most disgusting and angry. But just as Yuan Su made the determination at the beginning
In that way, long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. Instead of placing hope on others, it is better to rely on yourself to change this era. So in this matter, he did not feel the slightest guilt.
Everything is in order in Luanzhou, whether it is the army or the situation of local governments. Although Tian Wenlie and Zhu Panzao have never forgotten to place confidants in the army and complete the handover of rule bit by bit, Jiang Baili, Chen Wenian, He Qigong
They have grasped all the links in place. Even if Tian Wenlie and Zhu Panzao took over some parts, the core parts are still firmly in the hands of Yuan Su and other old subordinates.
And because Tian Wenlie and Zhu Panzao took over the First Corps and the Tenth Division, the Beiyang government has increased several funds this year to improve the construction of these two troops. Whether it is the expansion of troops, the construction of logistics systems or weapons
In terms of equipment, they have been improved to a certain extent.