In winter, Sichuan has already become cold before it gets cold. Instead of blocking the cold current coming from afar, the climate in the basin has condensed the cold air into a ball. In fact, several wars between the north and the south have occurred in Chengdu and Chongqing.
It was not as intense as described in the message sent to Beijing. Just like the current weather, it was a very cold stalemate.
As early as seven or eight days ago, the troops of Liu Cunhou, Wang Lingji, Zhou Jun and others retreated to Tongnan, Beibei and Bishan areas respectively. These three places are Chongqing's main traffic routes to the west. To guard these three strongholds, Chongqing
Then you can sit back and relax. As for the main force of the 15th Division of the Central Army, they have never left Chongqing from the beginning to the end. Instead, the troops from Luzhou have been transferred back one after another.
Nearly forty days have passed since the National Protectorate Army officially announced their pursuit of Yuan Yuan. The Central Army has basically not had a head-on conflict with any echelon of the National Protector Army. During the entire forty days, even if they were regarded as
The Sichuan Army troops pushing artillery fire to the front line only occasionally had sporadic clashes with the National Defense Army's forward troops. Most of them were just collisions between reconnaissance troops, nothing more.
Even though the 15th Division now bears the designation of the Central Army, and during this period it also underwent simple training in accordance with the system of the Central Army, the foundation of this unit is still the old Beiyang Army. It can be said that, looking at the central system of the Beiyang Government
, only Yuan Su's Tenth Division of the Central Army and its First Corps of the Central Army have strictly instilled new military disciplines, ideological education, and new training methods from the beginning to create the only qualified Central Army. The rest of the troops are
Various degrees of old military habits remain.
After all, the Central Army system has only been established for less than two years. From soldiers to officers, it is far from the stage of fresh blood replacement. It can be said that the so-called Central Army is only an improvement on the old Beiyang Army system. In order to truly
To achieve obvious elite effects, it must go through a long period of hard work.
Therefore, in addition to having great advantages in the number of soldiers and equipment and logistics, the 15th Division is mediocre in other aspects. It has finally been peaceful for two years, and it is also a period of great joy when the president has just ascended the throne and became emperor.
, many Beiyang troops were not adapted to and unwilling to fight at this time. As a result, the old army's scoundrel nature gradually gained the upper hand.
Of course, the most important reason why the situation in Sichuan has developed to the current situation is Chen Huan's own ideological changes.
Many people in the outside world think that Chen Huan is Yuan Shikai's confidant, and Yuan Shikai treats Chen Huan as half a son, but no one knows where the relationship between Chen Huan and Yuan Shikai comes from. Even in history,
There is not much introduction to Chen Huan. I only know that it was Chen Huan's letter of communication at the end that gave the final fatal blow to the Hongxian monarchy.
However, the reason why Yuan Shikai regarded Chen Huan as a confidant can be traced back to the period of Gengzi's national calamity. At that time, when Chen Huan led his remnants of only 80 people to break through the capital, he picked up a total of more than 100,000 taels on the way.
Silver salary. For the people who fled, this was undoubtedly a huge fortune from heaven. I am afraid that many people would choose to take this salary away without hesitation and go to the south to find a peaceful place to live a prosperous life.
However, Chen Huan was unexpected at that time. He took this salary all the way west until he caught up with the emperor's western patrol team, and then handed over all the money without missing a penny. And this money was at that time
Yuan Shikai used the tribute gift to honor the high officials of the court. He originally sent a team of people to escort him, but he never expected that his whereabouts would be unknown after leaving the capital. Because of this, Yuan Shikai firmly remembered Chen Huan's "recovery of gold".
In my heart, I decided that Chen Huan was a very reliable person.
In the following ten years or so, Chen Huan showed a very timely and principled side in his treatment of the revolutionary party and his political attitude towards the end of the Qing Dynasty. In 1907, the revolutionary party came to
Sichuan tried to instigate Chen Huan, but Chen Huan declined the invitation of the revolutionary party on the grounds that the time was not ripe. A year later, Chen Huan was promoted by his superiors because he had contributed to the suppression of the revolutionary party.
Later, when the Republic of China was established, Chen Huan actively supported Yuan Shikai to control the country and used various means to eliminate the influence of local warlords. He successively participated in the activities of "inviting" Li Yuanhong to go north and "luring" Zhang Taiyan to go to Beijing for house arrest. This laid the foundation for the establishment of the Republic of China.
The foundation of Yuan Shikai's right-hand man.
It is undeniable that Chen Huan is indeed a principled person. His principle is to follow the behavioral rules of the old bureaucracy, and everything is to serve the interests of the bureaucratic class. Before Yuan Shikai became emperor, he had truly realized the impact of the imperial system on the bureaucracy.
The great benefits brought by class are, therefore, they spare no effort to travel left and right, echoing each other from afar.
But when he was assigned to Sichuan, a place where the north and the south are in conflict, he came into contact with the not huge but very dense anti-monarchy and anti-Yuan Shikai voices in the south, and even his former classmates, old friends and fellow villagers.
All have had a great impact subjectively.
In addition, he himself did not have any "will to be an official". When he was a child, he stayed with his great-uncle Chen Xuefen all the time. He was deeply influenced by the royalist ideology and attached great importance to feudal etiquette. He did not expect to become like Yuan Shikai.
A superior person only hopes to be the kind of person who can assist people in life. Indirectly speaking, at a certain level of thinking, he is a person without any independent opinions and is easily influenced by other people.
With the establishment of the National Protectorate Military Government, many forces within the Beiyang Military Government have been acting secretly. These forces are basically under the banner of opposing the imperial system and believe that the imperial system is the trigger for the destruction of Beiyang. Although they are somewhat rational
Anyone can tell that this is just a high-sounding excuse. The real purpose is to use anti-imperialism to severely damage Yuan Shikai's vitality and carve up the dominance of Beiyang.
But for a person like Chen Huan, who lacks independent opinions and is extremely conservative and bureaucratic, he is easily influenced by the mainstream forces and gradually moves closer to them.
Although he admitted that Yuan Shikai treated him well, he never admitted that he was Yuan Shikai's confidant. This was just a misunderstanding between Yuan Shikai and the outside world. He simply did not pull the strings like Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui, and Li Yuanhong.
Gangs formed a faction, such as the Anhui clique, the Zhili clique, etc., so they could easily be regarded as direct cliques loyal to Yuan Shikai.
If we talk about factions, he himself is a faction. There are very few "pure" bureaucrats like him in this era.