As the weather gets colder and colder, a few sporadic light snowfalls have fallen in the north.
The outside world has been discussing the War to Protect the Country for a long time. In fact, the anti-monarchy and anti-Yuan Shikai revolutionary activities provoked by the South have been delayed to this day and have not been concluded. The Beiyang government has not even suppressed them at all.
The momentum of the National Defense Army has not been effective, so it is inevitable that it will not be criticized.
Prior to this, the official mouthpiece of the Beiyang government had not reported positively on the progress of the revolutionary activities in the south. On the one hand, it was to make the revolutionary activities appear small-scale, and on the other hand, it did not want to add fuel to the flames of the Protectorate government. Many ordinary people in the northern provinces
They all accepted this concept at the beginning. Whether it was Cai E or Sun Yat-sen, it was just a small fight, not a big battle at all.
To this day, ordinary people who originally had such a concept are confused because of the delay in making a decision on this matter. With doubts, they naturally become curious to pay more attention, and learn more about relevant content through various news channels.
It is really incredible to find that there are only about 70,000 to 80,000 National Guard troops in total, but they are gradually gaining the upper hand despite being surrounded by the Beiyang Army in four provinces.
The weather in Tianjin has been cold for a while, and it was not until mid-December that the first light snow of winter came. A thin sheet of white shrouded the streets and alleys of Tianjin, and the buildings of different styles in each concession were
They were uniformly put on a layer of silver clothing, and when they looked at the sky and the earth, it was so pure and pure.
Since talking to Duan Qirui, Yuan Su has spent every day during this period to understand the war situation in Sichuan and Hunan provinces. In addition, Duan Qirui can see through his mind sharply. This is also the case
Never took it lightly.
To this end, he also specially arranged for Gao Shun to set up a non-standard organization with no name, that is, a personal office, specifically responsible for using Beiyang Young Officers Clubs across the country to collect and explore useful intelligence. Regardless of
Whether it's military intelligence, commercial intelligence, or the secret scandals of local officials, as long as they can be expected to be useful, they will all be sorted out and summarized clearly.
He believed that Duan Qirui must have his own intelligence circle. Perhaps there is no concept of "intelligence" in the eyes of people like Duan Qirui, but there are students, generals, relatives and friends in the circle, and they pass it on to each other or
Whether it's discussion, speculation, or chatting, useful information can be filtered out more or less.
After all, Gao Shun was a person who had received a new education. He understood what Yuan Su said immediately. Times were changing. Whether it was business or military tasks, intelligence work played a top priority. However, he himself did not
He was not very willing to do this job, and he always felt that it was a bit unfair. If the current situation was not special and the manpower around Yuan Su was limited, he would probably still refuse.
In just a few days, Gao Shun has prepared relevant intelligence network frameworks in Beijing, Tianjin, and Luanzhou. Although there are no rules and regulations that are too standardized or too strict, at least there is a clear direction of work.
.China’s intelligence work started too late. Although Gao Shun was a person with a new education, he had no experience in this field after all. All intelligence work could only be carried out slowly and gropingly.
After this period of operation, although no relevant information about Duan Qirui was collected in the end, Gao Shun found out some information about Cao Kun in Ezhou through the Young Officers Club in Beijing.
On December 14, Gao Shun took the night train from Beijing to Tianjin, and went to Danshangzhuang in the French Concession overnight to have a meeting with Yuan Su. Among the many old departments of the Luanzhou Group, Gao Shun is the only one at present.
The reason why he could travel to Tianjin to meet Yuan Su in a slightly public manner was because Yuan Su had specially arranged Gao Shun to be the clerk responsible for managing the Young Officers Club, and the Young Officers Club happened to be aligned with Yuan Shikai's ruling interests, so he could be exempted.
Even so, Gao Shun still tried to keep a low profile every time he met with Yuan Su to avoid unnecessary trouble.
At this hour, Yuan Su had just gone to bed. He was somewhat surprised that Gao Shun suddenly came to Tianjin without saying hello in advance, but he also realized that Gao Shun must have important news to report urgently. He ordered his attendants to invite Gao Shun to the second floor first.
I waited in the private study room on the first floor. After washing myself a little, I quickly came to the second floor.
After meeting, Yuan Su waved his hand to Gao Shun and told him not to be polite. The two of them sat down casually, and then he said, "Brother Jianyang rushed over just after getting off the train. Is there something urgent?"
Gao Shun's expression was somewhat solemn, and he said in the same meticulous tone: "Sir, we got news yesterday morning that there were some accidents in Hankou and Ezhou. However, the news is currently blocked in Hubei.
There are very few people in the capital who know the news."
Yuan Su raised his eyebrows. He was currently paying attention to the war on the front line. Since Gao Shun mentioned the accident in Hubei, it was natural that he was right in his mind. He quickly asked: "Really? What kind of accident was it? Why Ezhou and Hankou?"
Today, there are several garrisons in Hubei, but almost all military officers are gathered in Hankou. Hankou seems to be the military and political core of the entire Central China map.
Gao Shun seemed to lower his voice out of habit, and then said: "It is rumored that Cao Kun intended to imprison Duan Zhigui on the 7th of this month. Later, Duan Zhigui returned Hankou's guard and launched an attack on Ezhou. There was a lot of trouble between the two sides.
Serious. But the whole thing only lasted about three days. Later, Wang Zhanyuan and Li Chun came forward to mediate the matter."
After listening to Gao Shun's words, Yuan Su frowned involuntarily. There was a stunned silence at first, and then his face gradually regained his composure and said: "Where did you get the news? Such a big thing has happened again.
After all this time, how could the Hubei side cover it up?"
Gao Shun replied: "Not long ago, the commander of the Seventh Division, Zhang Jingyao, was transferred north. He left the day before yesterday and just arrived in Beijing yesterday. It happened that some colleagues in Beijing made an appointment with him to meet at the club. I have a close relationship with one of Zhang Jingyao's colleagues.
Well, I happened to overhear Zhang Jingyao’s conversation while we were introducing each other.”
When Yuan Su heard this, he couldn't help but have some doubts. Zhang Jingyao actually dared to talk about such a big matter? Once the news reached Xinhua Palace, if Yuan Shikai took a closer look, wouldn't this be a big deal? At this time, Duan Zhigui
He should have been very supportive of Yuan Shikai's proclaimed emperor, but Cao Kun seemed to be afraid that the world would not be in chaos. In other words, Cao Kun intended to detain Duan Zhigui, obviously to remove this obstacle that was so close at hand.