Chapter 181 On the eve of the storm 3

From October 6, the day Yuan Shikai was stabbed, almost all the Beiyang generals in other places did the same thing, that is, to prepare for war!

Zhao Dongyun in Fengtian, Duan Qirui and Wu Fengling in Shanhaiguan, Wang Yingkai in Baoding and Zhang Huaizhi in Shandong all began to mobilise troops without exception, and this situation became more obvious with the news of Yuan Shikai's death on October 7.

Taking Zhao Dongyun in Fengtian as an example, after learning that Yuan Shikai had been assassinated on the evening of the 6th, he began to summon the main generals of the army. After learning that Yuan Shikai had died on the morning of the 7th, Zhao Dongyun immediately ordered the third town to prepare for customs, and also established a temporary Fengtian Cavalry Association.

At the same time, he also went to the barracks in person, received all the officers above the rank of team officers in Jinzhou, and also went to the ninth base of the third town to inspect the barracks and express condolences to the soldiers. According to later generations, Zhao Dongyun cordially visited the ninth standard officers and soldiers, expressed his cordial greetings to the soldiers in Beiyang Central, and personally distributed medals to soldiers who had achieved excellent training results.

As an off-topic, this medal is still made of pure gold, engraved with Zhao Dongyun's head and relief.

Almost all day, Zhao Dongyun stayed in the barracks of the third town. In addition to constantly inspecting the battalions and receiving hundreds of middle- and low-level officers, he also constantly made arrangements for many military affairs.

However, just as Zhao Dongyun was preparing to enter the customs and marched with several other Beiyang bosses into the capital, there was news that Cixi agreed to establish a province and appointed Zhao Dongyun as the governor of the three eastern provinces.

The governor of the three eastern provinces, but this ** is not small!

You should know that in Zhao Dongyun's original plan, he was thinking about how to completely control the three eastern provinces. Just a few days ago, his plan was still like this, that is, relying on Yuan Shikai to stop Zhao Erxun outside the gate of the three eastern provinces and postpone the timetable for the establishment of the three eastern provinces. After his development in Fengtian for two or three years, then His strength and qualifications are also sufficient. At that time, he will promote the establishment of the three eastern provinces and then seek the plan of the governors of the three eastern provinces.

Originally, this plan went smoothly, and a secret discussion in Yuguan made the imperial court give up all the plans to suppress the Beiyang system. However, what Zhao Dongyun did not expect was that Yuan Shikai was assassinated the next day.

Once Yuan Shikai dies, it means that all Zhao Dongyun's previous plans have been ruined!

Now, in order to stabilize itself, the court suddenly sent out the whole eastern three provinces. To be honest, it is impossible not to be moved. However, this ** is a veritable sugar-coated cannonball. The current governor of the three eastern provinces looks very beautiful, but as long as Zhao Dongyun accepts it, he will let the Qing court get through this at all. During this difficult period, it is estimated that he will deal with the Beiyang generals separately. At that time, Zhao Dongyun will return home in addition to rebellion.

But it's not appropriate to enter the customs directly now!

Once he enters the customs, he will rise up with Duan Qirui and Wang Yingkai. Even if the Qing court can attract Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang, it will not stop the joint attack of its own three. It is inevitable that the Qing court will die.

However, now the question arises. Once the Qing court is destroyed, who will be the master of Beiyang?

The question is not about who is the president, but who is the lord of Beiyang!

Looking at the whole Beiyang, there are actually only three people who have the ability to compete for the lord of the North Sea. At the top, the most likely one is Wang Yingkai. He is already strong and has the highest prestige. If he still takes the Beiyang generals to destroy the Qing court, whether it is Zhao Dongyun or Duan Qirui, He had to pinch his nose and admit that he was the heir of Beiyang.

However, will Zhao Dongyun and Duan Qirui let this happen?

Absolutely impossible. If Wang Yingkai wants to be the heir of Beiyang, not to mention whether Zhao Dongyun agrees or not, a large number of Soviet generals under Zhao Dongyun must first refuse. With his toes, he knows that if Wang Yingkai ascends to the position of the lord of Beiyang and then become president or something else, in Beiyang The war is appropriate. Even if Zhao Dongyun doesn't want to fight, the fierce generals of the three Soviet towns and the Beiyang young strong faction led by Zhao Dongyun will raise Zhao Dongyun's banner to rise again.

If the previous Beiyang is a whole and the Beiyang people have an overall pursuit of interests, then now after Yuan Shikai's death, the Soviet faction separated from it has become a whole of interests alone, and this interest group absolutely cannot accept another faction of Beiyang to ascend to the presidency.

And in addition to Zhao Dongyun, there is also Duan Qirui, who is a swornony with Wang Yingkai. If Duan Qirui can stand Wang Yingkai climbing over his head to poop and pee, he will not be Duan Qirui.

So now the question of whether Beiyang generals send troops or not is not about whether to fight the Qing court or not. In fact, there is nothing to discuss!

The key to today's problem is, once the army is raised, who will be the boss of Beiyang?

Wang Yingkai can't do it, but Duan Qirui can't do it either. Although Zhao Dongyun holds three towns in his hand, he said that except for the Soviet generals, the generals of other factions will not obey him.

As for Wang Shizhen, Feng Guozhang, Zhang Huaizhi and Wu Fengling, there is no hope.

Well, in addition, there is Xu Shichang of the civilian system. If Xu Shichang is barely qualified to be a nominal president in peacetime, but the problem is that it is not a peacetime now. In this Beiyang system with military power as the core, the civilian faction can only be regarded as an auxiliary. The real power bosses are all holding the army. The northern generals of power.

People generally refer to Wang Yingkai, Duan Qirui, Zhao Dongyun and other generals, not Xu Shichang and Zhou Xuexi.

Contemporary Beiyang can't find an heir who can convince the public!

Therefore, the division of Beiyang is actually inevitable. Even without Cixi's move, it will be divided. The only difference is that if Cixi does not use these powers, many factions in Beiyang will split and break out civil war after the destruction of the Qing court. Now after Cixi used these means, Beiyang will split immediately.

In the headquarters of Baoding First Town, Wang Yingkai's face was full of anger: "He is so bold. Now that most of the day has passed, isn't it enough for him to resign?"

"I think he has already defected to the court!" The lowered man immediately said, "And Feng Guozhang, I think he has already forgotten Yuan Gong's kindness, and an additional title will make him run over!"

Wang Yingkai is in a bad mood!

In the day, he also frequently sent secret messages with Duan Qirui and Zhao Dongyun. Although it was not explicitly stated, it was also secretly agreed to rise up in accordance with the secret discussion of Yuguan. However, after several appointments of Cixi in the afternoon, Zhang Huaizhi, who regarded as his confidant, cut off the news. Shandong already There hasn't been a telegram for more than six hours.

Then Wu Fengling of Shanhaiguan immediately announced that he had no intention of dispute and led the second town to the Rehe overnight. This news made Wang Yingkai angrily overturn the table.

Duan Qirui is the only one who still keeps the same pace as Wang Yingkai. Duan Qirui has sent several secret messages to him, saying that he is ready to march into Beijing as usual according to Yuan Gong's will.

In addition, Zhao Dongyun, another major faction in Beiyang, was fine during the day, but in the afternoon and evening, according to the spy arranged by Wang Yingkai in the third town, Zhao Dongyun was also shaken. In the evening, he once again summoned a large number of middle and senior officers for an expanded meeting. Obviously, we are discussing the gains and losses of this matter.

When Wang Yingkai hurriedly wooed all the factions in Baoding, he also continued to surge in Beijing!

First of all, Feng Guozhang. When the court announced the addition of Prince Shaobao to him, he was the first to be grateful. The reason why he chose to turn to the court so happily is very simple, that is, the court has returned the jurisdiction of the original Beijing flag standing army and the current seventh town of the army to the Army Department. In other words It is said that he was in the hands of Feng Guozhang.

This seventh town is originally dominated by flagmen and soldiers, and the officers also have a large number of flagmen, and the rest are a large number of Beiyang direct line!

In order to maintain the overall situation, it is naturally not a big problem for Tie Liang to come forward to attract those flag officers and soldiers, while the remaining Beiyang officers were handed over to Feng Guozhang one by one to appease and attract them.

However, they can't get over several well-known officers from other factions in Beiyang. For example, Cao Kun, who wears the same pair of trousers as Zhao Dongyun in the eyes of outsiders, has been monitored since Yuan Shikai was assassinated. After Yuan Shikai's death on the 7th, he was immediately under house arrest by Tieliang.

He Zonglian, who has the same good relationship with Zhao Dongyun, was lucky. Although he was also monitored before, after Cixi issued a series of personnel appointments on the afternoon of the 7th, she sneaked out of the house under house arrest, and then changed into casual clothes and boarded the train to Fengtian.

For Cao Kuning, He Zonglian and other people who have an obvious Soviet brand, the current Guannei is definitely a very dangerous place. It's better to go to Fengtian early and rely on Zhao Dongyun.

Tieliang and Feng Guozhang joined hands to control the seventh town of the army within two days, which can be said to be quick action. Of course, this is also inseparable from Feng Guozhang's contribution. Although they are not as famous as Wang Yingkai and Duan Qirui, at least they are also Beiyang bosses, but they have never been practical before. It's just military power.

Then came Wang Shizhen's attitude. From beginning to end, Wang Shizhen's attitude has always been very ambiguous. She not only worried Wang Yingkai and Duan Qirui, but also made the Qing court extremely worried. Otherwise, Feng Guozhang would not have immediately transferred the first town to Beijing as soon as he closed the first town. What he was afraid was that Wang Shizhen would suddenly turned around. .

On the evening of the 7th, in the Huici Church Hospital, which is still brightly lit, Wang Shizhen looked at Yuan Shikai, who had been scrubbed and changed into a new official robe, and Yuan Shikai, who was no longer silent, was no longer the majesty of the past. This led Beiyang Zhujiang conging to start training at a small station and let the north step by step. Yang has become the largest political faction in China. At this moment, he is just a cold corpse.

Wang Shizhen took a deep breath and muttered, "Now Beiyang is no longer the original Beiyang. My lord, don't blame me!"