Chapter 427 The Defection of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Consortium!
Before the Battle of Naihu broke out, Lu Yongxiang, the envoy of the Songhu garrison, began his "crusade" against Li Houji!
The Northern Expeditionary Army commanded by Yang Sen and Yang Jie also began to deploy troops in Zhejiang, ready to seize this rich land at any time.
At this time, Li Houji was a little panicked.
It turned out that in his imagination, once he captured Zhejiang, his main force would still be there, plus Xijiang, using the rich land of Zhejiang as a source of military pay, and relying on Shanghai and Jiangsu, he might be able to barely fight the Northern Expedition.
But who would have thought that before the Northern Expeditionary Army arrived, Lu Yongxiang from Shanghai had already come to "conquer" him.
Attacked from two directions, can Zhejiang still hold on?
Li Houji, who was in danger, was arranging defenses and preparing for the worst, while secretly contacting the Northern Expeditionary Army in an attempt to sacrifice some of his own interests in exchange for most of his own interests.
Unfortunately, the current Northern Expeditionary Army has formulated a peace negotiation plan personally formulated by the President. Negotiations are possible, but the main prerequisite is that they must accept the National Government's request, abandon the army, and only serve as provincial governor, and the deadline is one year.
This point was unacceptable to Li Houji. The army meant everything to these warlords, large and small. If they lost the army, they would lose everything very quickly.
Just when Li Houji was hesitating, Lu Yongxiang's troops had already arrived!
In July, Lu Yongxiang used He Fenglin to guard Shanghai, and he personally led two divisions to attack Xijiang. On September 11, Lu Yongxiang launched an attack on Jiaxing.
On 112, the two armies launched a tentative attack in Jiaxing. As soon as they came into contact, the two armies took the initiative to separate and faced off with Jiashan as the center.
In Jiashan, the Zhejiang army arranged by Li Houji was personally guarded by his confidant Li Saiyuan. In Longquan, Li Houji personally defended the Northern Expeditionary Army with his defeated military parade in Zhejiang.
The Northern Expeditionary Army took Tong Jiaxuan's subordinate Lin Zhiyuan's 42nd Division as the vanguard and quickly entered Zhejiang.
As a result, it became the Northern Expeditionary Army and Lu Yongxiang's army encircled Zhejiang.
Until this time, Li Houji was still lucky. He hoped that his two groups of troops could stop the enemy's advance, gain a foothold in Zhejiang, and gain bargaining rights with the Nationalist Government!
However, His Majesty was dealt a ruthless blow immediately!
On July 18, as if agreed upon, the Northern Expeditionary Army and Lu Yongxiang's Army launched an attack on Zhejiang at the same time.
Li Houji first abandoned Tong Jiaxuan, then took advantage of Yang Shande's serious illness to seize the position of governor of Zhejiang, and angered former Zhejiang governor Yang Shande to death. This made his reputation in Zhejiang already very bad.
As soon as the war broke out, the Zhejiang troops on the front line were defeated one after another and had no intention of fighting. On the 16th alone, Zhejiang lost the battlefield of Jiashan and collapsed towards Jiaxing.
On the 20th, Li Saiyuan concentrated all his forces and fought a decisive battle with Lu Yongxiang in Jiaxing. But just like the battle of Jiashan, Zhejiang had no intention of accepting the challenge, and Li Saiyuan was defeated again in the decisive battle of Jiaxing.
The battle had reached this point, and Li Saiyuan had no intention of continuing.
He quickly abandoned Jiaxing and retreated to Tongxiang. While calming down the morale of the army, he made a posture of defending Tongxiang to the death.
Li Houji, who was in Hangzhou, was in a state of confusion. How could this happen? At the same time that the decisive battle in Jiaxing failed, his troops in Longquan also suffered a heavy blow from the Northern Expedition and abandoned Longquan in just one day.
Then an even heavier blow fell on Li Houji.
On July 21, Li Houji's close confidant, who was also his cousin Li Saiyuan, turned on the electricity in Tongxiang and announced his acceptance of the leadership of the National Government!
This news was like a thunderbolt that shocked Li Houji. He would never have imagined that his cousin, whom he trusted so much, would betray him!
In fact, when Li Houji betrayed Tong Jiaxuan and the Fujian Army, he should have expected that this day would come sooner or later. He can betray others, and others can betray him!
Yang Sen quickly expressed his acceptance of Li Saiyuan's surrender, and announced that he would reorganize Li Saiyuan's Zhejiang Army into the 43rd Division of the National Revolutionary Army, ordering it to defend Tongxiang and threaten Hangzhou.
This puts not only Li Houji but also Lu Yongxiang in a very embarrassing position!
Originally, he was fighting Li Houji, but with Li Saiyuan's surrender, he was no longer facing the Zhejiang Army, but the National Revolutionary Army!
If they continue to attack Tongxiang, they are openly opposing the National Revolutionary Army and will soon have the National Revolutionary Army targeting themselves.
what to do?
Lu Yongxiang was in a dilemma. He must not be able to attack, so he retreated to Shanghai? He was really unwilling to march in vain and waste so much military pay.
The Northern Expeditionary Army did not have so many scruples. The Northern Expeditionary Army that captured Longquan quickly advanced towards Jinhua. Li Houji's direct Fujian Army retreated all the way and was completely defeated.
Finally, Li Saiyuan still had some feelings for him and did not attack Hangzhou directly. This gave Li Houji some breathing space.
But now the situation is no longer critical. According to the current strength and morale of the two armies, Jinhua will soon fall, and then the Northern Expeditionary Army, which has been advancing with great success, will soon advance to Hangzhou!
Li Houji no longer has the strength to hold on any longer. At this time, he has less than a mixed brigade left in his hands!
The Northern Expeditionary Army has even closed the door to peace talks!
There is only one last way left for Li Houji: go to the wild!
On July 26, something that dealt Li Houji a fatal blow happened: the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce announced its support for the National Government’s Northern Expedition and provided one million military funds for the Northern Expedition!
Although it was just a Zhejiang Business Federation, the blow it dealt to Li Houji was no less than the annihilation of several divisions.
This means that the Zhejiang Consortium has abandoned the "outsider" Li Houji and completely turned to the Northern Expeditionary Army!
In fact, the Zhejiang Consortium did not regard Li Houji, who had seized the position of governor of Zhejiang, as one of its own from the beginning. However, when the Northern Expeditionary Army was unstoppable on the front line, Li Houji was completely abandoned.
What businessmen value most is profit!
After a disastrous military defeat and loss of financial support, Li Houji had no choice!
On the 28th, a large number of representatives of Zhejiang banks, including Zhejiang Industrial Bank, Industrial Bank, and China Eastland Bank, arrived in Jinhua to persuade the local defenders to lay down their weapons.
On that day, under the persuasion of representatives of these consortiums, the Jinhua garrison announced its surrender.
In the Battle of Zhejiang, these consortiums played an important role. Although Jinhua would fall into the hands of the Northern Expedition sooner or later. But the Jinhua defenders did this, preventing them from continuing to flee to Hangzhou, allowing Li Houji to continue to cherish his thoughts.
fantasy.
On the 30th, the General Headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army's Cavalry Corps entered Jinhua and met with representatives of these Zhejiang consortiums.
During the meeting, Yang Sen accepted the Zhejiang Consortium's one million yuan funding for the Northern Expeditionary Army, expressed his friendship to the Zhejiang Consortium on behalf of the president, and stated that he would ensure their interests in Zhejiang.
This undoubtedly makes these consortium representatives very satisfied.
The influence of the Zhejiang Consortium, or to be more precise, the "Jiang-Zhejiang Consortium" is very great.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the transformation of banks into modern banks began. During this process, in addition to the gradual impact of business dealings between banks and foreign banks and the new demands placed on banks by new industry and commerce, there were two major events that affected this transformation.
The influence was huge. In 1897, Sheng Xuanhuai founded China's first bank, China Commercial Bank. On the eve of the Revolution of 1911, China Commercial Bank's capital plus deposits and banknotes could be used.
The capital reached 10 million taels, far more than any other bank at that time, which gave the bank industry a huge shock and a sense of crisis.
But at the same time, Yan Xinhou, Ye Chengzhong, and Zhu Jiasan from Ningbo invested in the China Commercial Bank and served as general directors, marking the beginning of the bank industry's march into modern banks. 190
In 4 A.D., Lu Zhonglin, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, was ordered to establish the Household Bank of the Qing Dynasty. Due to the empty state treasury, private capital was invited to take shares. However, the originally invited Shanxi banks unanimously refused to take shares. As a result, the Household Bank was replaced by Jiangsu and Zhejiang silk merchants.
In 1908, Hubu Bank was renamed Daqing Bank, and its capital was expanded to 10 million taels, most of which were controlled by businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At the same time, they independently invested in the establishment of Siming, Xijiang Xingye, Zhejiang Industrial, China Eastern Land, and China Labor Force.
A large number of banks such as 〖中〗国产业,〖中〗国enterprise, etc., have relied on the large amount of capital accumulated in the bank industry to make the above-mentioned banks rich in capital and highly competitive. In the process of expansion of banking business, Fei Ningbo
Businessmen and capitalists from the country have had close contacts with it, and the scope of financing has gradually expanded from the single Ningbo country to Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangsu!
At this point, banks controlled by people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang have become the most important force in Shanghai's financial sector, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium has been formally formed.
And now, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium has completely fallen to the side of the National Government!
The double military and economic blow made it impossible for Li Houji to persist any longer.
On August 2, 1911, Li Houji announced his resignation.
On the same day, Yang Sen announced that he would accept Li Houji's resignation and made it clear that he would ensure the safety of Li Houji's personal life and property. After the Northern Expeditionary Army did not enter Hangzhou, Li Houji was still responsible for the security of Hangzhou.
On August 9, after full preparations, the vanguard troops of the Northern Expedition entered Hangzhou, and Li Houji walked out of his military governor's office.
At this point, another warlord who once dominated China has stepped down.
Li Houji then left Zhejiang and arrived in Hong Kong via Shanghai. He and the previous governors of Xia Ye,
Like the military governor, Li Houji left the military and political circles and became a carefree apartment dweller.
They no longer have to worry about military victory or defeat, or political infighting. Perhaps condominium apartments are the best choice for them.
Zhejiang fell into the hands of the National Government. In addition to Jiaxing, Lu Yongxiang's troops were also stationed.
The Northern Expeditionary Army did not seem to express any objection to Lu Yongxiang's stationing in Jiaxing. They even adopted a tacit approval policy, which is indeed very puzzling.
Yang Sen and Yang Jie were waiting, and the Northern Expeditionary Army was also waiting for something. It must have been some sudden change.
In fact, Lu Yongxiang, who was stationed in Jiaxing at this time, had a very strange feeling in his heart for some reason!!