Throughout the first half of March, the focus of national public opinion focused on the internal confrontation between the two armies in Beiyang.
The military government including the National Protectorate was also looking forward to it, hoping that the Beiyang Army would kill each other and cause serious damage to their vitality, so that the revolutionary movement could take the opportunity to rise. Whether it was Cai E, Tang Jiyao or Sun Yat-sen, on the surface they were willing to support Cao
Kun promotes Beiyang's military reform. It doesn't matter what the outcome of the reform is. Anyway, he will always spare no effort to burn bridges across rivers.
In this battle for publicity, ordinary people will inevitably feel hesitant and directionless. In short, wherever public opinion goes, their hearts will naturally lean to which side. But it is just a bias, for ordinary people like them,
No matter what they do, it seems like a drop in the ocean under the great torrent of this country. Sometimes people wonder, does the Revolutionary Party really take itself seriously? Is the Beiyang government nothing more than that?
However, under the general trend, it is somewhat difficult for people to control their emotions.
As Cao Kun expected, the Beiyang Military Reform Commission in Hankou now does not need to rely on any military operations. Now that he has carried the flag in Hankou, more than a hundred state officials in Xinhua Palace have also expressed their position.
.Coupled with the Chinese Revolutionary Party's sleepless propaganda and campaigning, anti-imperialism has become the mainstream, and it suddenly reversed and gained the absolute upper hand.
In the eyes of many foreigners, this inconsistent change is not surprising. On the contrary, it reflects China's current situation more realistically. People's hearts are like a piece of loose sand. Not only do they not have a firm subjective position, but they also
Full of internal contradictions, the so-called unity was sown as early as the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Multi-ethnic countries have always been unable to solve this inherent trouble.
Several major newspapers in Shanghai and foreign newspapers were the first to follow and report on the confrontation between the two armies in Henan and Hubei. However, both the readers of the newspapers and the reporters who wrote the newspapers soon discovered a puzzling situation. That is, regardless of their
How to exaggerate and build momentum in the newspapers, describing the situation between the North and the South as if it were fire and water, and the war was about to break out, and there were some sporadic frictions. But from the formation of the Guards to today, in the three months, the newspapers have
There was no way to update the "big fight" news on the front page the next day.
The situation in Henan and Hubei is a deadlock. The two sides are facing each other, but there has been no action.
In the past two months, it may be understood that the army's move south requires a certain amount of time to adapt, including logistics supplies, munitions, follow-up troops, etc., which also take time to be in place. But even to prepare for these later things, by today it should be
It's a head start, but there's still no misfire.
Judging from the current situation, the more entangled the two sides become, the outside world will only think that the central government has a "guilty conscience." In the end, it is still the Beiyang Military Reform Commission in Hankou that has the advantage.
The people all realize this, whether it is the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards in Zhengzhou or Yuan Shikai at Xinhua Palace in Beijing, of course they can also realize this. Because of this, starting from mid-March, Yuan Shikai has
Somewhat unbearable, even Duan Qirui felt that the situation in Henan was a bit strange. Xinhua Palace began to send messages one after another, asking how far the situation on the front line was progressing.
The telegram sent from Beijing to Zhengzhou quickly spread among several division commanders. For Yuan Su, this was indeed a signal, but it was not a very critical signal. At the same time, for Zhu Panzao, he also felt that it was time to send a message to Yuan Su.
Yuan Su launched an attack, and even though the liaison personnel sent from Hankou had not yet arrived, there was no telling what Yuan Su would do if the delay continued like this.
On the afternoon of the 24th, Zhu Panzao discussed with his subordinates and decided to secretly dispatch the fifth division stationed outside the city into the city in batches. However, he also expected that even if he secretly arranged the troops to enter the city,
, after all, this is a big move, and it can be easily noticed by Yuan Su's troops stationed in the city. So when the fifth division entered the city, he also surrounded the headquarters compound and mansion with the guards, and then summoned
Several other division commanders came to accuse Yuan Su of his crimes in person.
For the next three hours, Dongcheng District seemed quiet, but beneath the quiet was an undercurrent.
Many officials from the Fifth Division headquarters gathered in Zhu Panzao's mansion. From noon to now, Zhu Panzao has been studying with everyone how to avoid the troops of the First Corps and the Tenth Division in the city, take a surprise and preemptive strike, and capture the headquarters in one fell swoop. For
For them, the actions they are currently planning are quite risky. After all, the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. If the people of the First Corps and the 10th Division were not fully present a few days ago, they could have easily taken action.
After some plotting, Cai Chengxun suggested that he make a phone call to the commander-in-chief first, saying that he had urgent matters here and hoped to discuss them with Yuan Su. Then he would dress up all the guards and lurk to the commander-in-chief several times.
Near the headquarters, when all the people here arrived at the headquarters, they would use the sound of gunshots as a signal, and the guards would immediately seize the headquarters as quickly as possible.
This action plan is obviously a bit nondescript, but at this time, there is not so much time to take into account the matter. I simply decide on it for now. Anyway, what is important now is to take surprise and strike first.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Zhu Panzao arranged seven carriages and headed toward the headquarters in a mighty manner. Along the way, he imagined the situation when he met Yuan Su many times, and he could not hide the feeling of giving Yuan Su a blow in his heart.
Excitement. I fantasize about the most intense moments, and from time to time I show a bit of a triumphant grin.
As soon as they arrived at the gate of the headquarters, Yuan Su's adjutant Du Yu was waiting to greet him at the door. It was almost night time. Since Zhu Panzao had something urgent to see, he naturally had to be cautious to receive him. Zhu Panzao had just got off the carriage, but he found that
Two other carriages had been parked inside the courtyard gate, and they looked familiar, but I didn't look too closely because it was already dark.
When Zhu Panzao walked into the door of the main building accompanied by Du Yu, Du Yu said to Zhu Panzao with a somewhat strange smile: "It's strange to say that Mr. Zhu has received some news? That's why he is in a hurry at this time.
Come to see the Commander-in-Chief?”
Zhu Panzao was suddenly startled, and couldn't help feeling a chill running down his spine. Then he asked in a cold voice: "What do you mean by Adjutant Du's words? Why did you get the news? Why can't I understand it clearly?"
Du Yu said with a smile: "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that at noon today, the commander-in-chief invited General Tian and General Lu to the headquarters to talk about something. It seemed to be something very secret and important. As for what it was, even if
I, the first adjutant, don’t even know. No, General Tian and General Lu are still talking to the commander-in-chief in the conference room right now. I’m afraid Mr. Zhu will have to wait for a while."
Zhu Panzao was a little surprised when he heard this, but since it was Tian Wenlie and Lu Jin, there was no problem. Instead, he would make the matter public to the public immediately after asking Yuan Su for a showdown, and he would definitely invite Tian Wenlie as well.
Lu Jin and several other teachers came to certify this matter.
After a slight pause, he laughed along with Du Yu and said, "Really? I think I will be able to meet Commander-in-Chief Yuan soon, and by the way, I will also meet Commander Tian and Mr. Lu."
Du Yu did not think carefully about the meaning of Zhu Panzao's words. He just nodded slowly and prepared to go up to the second floor with Zhu Panzao.
Zhu Panzao took a look at the duty status of several guard rooms on the first floor and found that the guards seemed a bit loose today, not as many as he had seen in the past. Maybe it was the psychological effect before the work was done, or maybe he just happened to catch up with the guards from the headquarters.
The shift was empty. He had rarely been to the headquarters before and didn't know much about the situation there.
With this in mind, he felt that it was time to take action immediately to seize control of the headquarters building as soon as possible.
"When you said Commander-in-Chief Yuan was in the conference room on the second floor just now, was it the large conference room where we had meetings before?"
"Oh, no, it's a small conference room next to the corridor to the left of the big conference room. I would like to ask Mr. Zhu to wait in the tea room next to the conference room for a moment. Let me go and make an announcement first. Look at Commander Yuan and General Tian, Lu
When will the general end the talks?"
"I think this is unnecessary. I want to see Commander Yuan now, and by the way, I also want to see Master Tian and Mr. Lu." Zhu Panzao suddenly said in an extremely serious tone. After saying that, without waiting for Du Yu's reply, he immediately
He turned around and nodded to his adjutant. The adjutant also nodded in understanding.
"Master Zhu, I'm afraid this is inappropriate..." Du Yu was about to speak politely, but just halfway through his words, he suddenly felt someone rushing up from behind and grabbed his shoulder, and the other pistol was like this without any movement.
An omen hit the back of his head. At this moment, the seven or eight guards following Zhu Panzao, as well as the entourage parked outside the compound with the carriage, took action immediately after seeing the situation in the corridor of the main building.
stand up.
"Bang"! A gunshot was heard outside the compound, followed by chaotic shouts.
Faced with the sudden changes, the guards at the headquarters obviously did not have enough reaction ability. Originally, there were more guards in the compound than Zhu Panzao's people, but instead, Zhu Panzao's people suddenly took the initiative and transferred several key personnel.
The sentries and duty points were all under control. Most of the guards in the compound had their guns pointed at them before they could even take out their guns.
Not only that, as the gunfire rang out, the guards of the Fifth Division who had been ambushing around the headquarters responded one after another, swarming up from many alleys and street intersections. Not only did they rush into the main entrance of the headquarters compound from the front,
At the same time, we also cut into the large compound of the headquarters mansion from the back and side.
Zhu Panzao arranged a total of 300 people for this trip. Even the cooks and handymen who stayed in the mansion were temporarily assigned weapons and requisitioned. These 300 people were all the guards and entourage Zhu Panzao brought with him, but there was still no garrison in the distance.
There are many guards at the headquarters. The permanent guard at the headquarters is a regiment. The regiment headquarters is located on the street next door due to geographical reasons, but the headquarters always maintains a guard strength of 500 people.
According to the plan before the raid, Zhu Panzao aimed to control the command system as soon as possible and capture the officers in the guard room and attendant room, in order to blackmail the guards at the headquarters into not daring to act rashly.
Generally speaking, the expected raid plan went smoothly. Even though the previous gunshots alerted the entire headquarters compound, the guards ambushing around the headquarters compound still took over before the headquarters guards could react.
Several key locations held several key commanders hostage.
"Master Zhu, what do you mean by this? Do you want to rebel?" Du, who had a pistol pressed to the back of his head, was panicked for a while, then slowly calmed down and asked Zhu Panzao.
"Am I rebelling? Humph, you Master Yuan are really interesting. You think that we are just some big thugs who don't understand the way of Qi Zheng. On the surface, we pretend to be righteous and upright, and keep saying that we are going to carry out a surprise attack on Hankou. In the end,
What? Are you secretly colluding with Cao Kun and preparing to catch us off guard?" Zhu Panzao said with a sneer.
"I don't even know what you're talking about." Du Yu said angrily without any hesitation.
"It's no use telling you. I'm going to question that brat Yuan Su face to face when I see him later." Zhu Panzao said this nonchalantly, and then walked towards the second floor with a few guards.
After the gunfire rang out, Zhu Panzao's guards rushed to the second floor as quickly as possible to control the situation.
When Zhu Panzao came to the second floor in person, the situation on the second floor was a little more complicated. It was not that there was no fighting between the two sides. From the beginning of the incident, some gunshots were heard from the second floor, the third floor and the mansion. At this time, the second floor
The corridor upstairs was in a mess, with several injured guards lying on the ground, including those from the headquarters and those brought by Zhu Panzao. However, Zhu Panzao was able to control the situation in the end. Although there were still guards who did not put down their weapons, it was obvious that
It is also difficult to support a tree alone.
As early as when the turmoil broke out, Yuan Su, who was in the conference room with Tian Wenlie and Lu Jin, had already gone out to check the situation. At this moment, he happened to meet Zhu Panzao in the corridor.
The remaining five guards and several attendants on the second floor stood in front of Yuan Su. The guards still had weapons in their hands, but the attendants were all bare-handed. But even so, everyone had varying degrees of nervousness on their faces.
, but no one flinched.
"Master Zhu, you really want to rebel." Yuan Su, standing at one end of the corridor, scolded angrily.
"Hmph, stop pretending in front of me, Mr. Yuan, I will expose your true colors today as a deviant and complicit in foreign enemies." Zhu Panzao from the other end of the corridor said menacingly.
"Am I a deviant? Am I collaborating with foreign enemies? Mr. Zhu, I think you have a guilty conscience and deliberately accuse evil people first to confuse the public, right?" Yuan Su looked very calm and was meticulous in his words.
Just when Zhu Panzao was about to retort, the door of the conference room behind Yuan Su suddenly opened, and several figures walked out. The leader was none other than Tian Wenlie, followed by Lu Jin, and finally two security guards.
There was a slightly fat middle-aged man wearing a summer gown. Tian Wenlie and Lu Jin both had angry expressions, but the middle-aged man in a gown looked flustered.
"Master Tian, Master Lu, you can stay here. I already have the evidence. Yuan Su intends to collude with Cao Kun to catch us off guard. Hum, luckily I discovered it early. Now I have to take a preemptive strike to kill this traitor first."
Take it." Zhu Panzao spoke matter-of-factly, with a look of pride that could not be concealed on his face, as if it was his foresight that saved everyone from danger.
"Zhu Panzao, I'm damn blind. I didn't expect you to be so bold. I'm afraid if I get the news, I'm going to kill you! Let me tell you, even if you tie us all up now,
Don't expect to be able to escape unscathed afterwards." Tian Wenlie shouted angrily at Zhu Panzao.
"You dare to shoot at the headquarters. The troops in the city will soon arrive after hearing the news. Let's see how you can get out of this gate." Lu Jin also looked furious.
Zhu Panzao was stunned for a moment, not understanding what was going on.
"Master Tian, Master Lu, what are you..."
"I really didn't expect that now that we in Beiyang have reached such a critical juncture, you are still only thinking about your own small calculations, completely ignoring the overall situation? You just want to think about your own small calculations, why do you go so far? You people are simply
They want to trap me in Beiyang for great injustice, and even more so, they want to put me to death!" Tian Wenlie scolded loudly.
"What nonsense are you talking about! The one who really put us to death without caring about the overall situation was Yuan Su. He secretly communicated with Cao Kun in private, trying to join forces with the Disobedience Committee in Hankou to oppose the imperial system. I have evidence!" Zhu Panzao felt more and more
Strange, he quickly said with emphasis.
"Okay, you said you have evidence. I don't ask you what evidence it is. I just ask you where the evidence comes from and who gave you the evidence." Yuan Su had long expected that Zhu Panzao would speak like this, so he immediately refuted it.
asked.
"The evidence in my hand... I don't care where it comes from. Anyway, I arrested you today. I will naturally give an explanation to Mr. Tian and Mr. Lu later." Zhu Panzao always felt that Yuan Su's words were a bit strange, and at the same time he also
He knew very well that his secret contact with Cao Kun could not be disclosed rashly. Anyway, he must control Yuan Su at this moment, and then slowly make up a reasonable and suitable excuse to explain.
"Let me guess whether your evidence was given to you by Cao Kun." Yuan Su said calmly.
"You, how did you..." Zhu Panzao instinctively planned to blurt out, "How do you know?", but felt that these words were too explicit, so he hurriedly changed his words and said, "What are you talking about!"
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[One chapter per day is 5,000 words. It’s hard to think of the names of key chapters!