young marshal spring and autumn

The year 1916 arrived, and as expected, Yuan Shikai had a very unhappy year.His proclaiming emperor brought immeasurable sequelae.Not only Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao and others resolutely opposed the imperial system, but also the Beiyang generals Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang who started their own families were also deeply dissatisfied.Duan Qirui called Yuan Shikai: "Restore the Congress and abdicate for self-sufficiency."The imperialist powers also kept warning him.On December 12 years ago, Cai E, Tang Jiyao and others announced an uprising in Yunnan, launched a war to protect the country, crusade against Yuan Shikai, and spread rapidly.Guizhou and Guangxi also responded one after another, and the Beiyang faction was in crisis.

Yuan Shikai found it necessary to postpone proclaiming himself emperor first; in March 1916, he finally gave up his ambition to restore the monarchy. On March 3, 1916, Yuan Shikai announced the abolition of the imperial system, the restoration of the "Republic of China" title, and appointed Duan Qirui as Secretary of State and Chief of the Army, in an attempt to rely on Duan to unite the Beiyang forces and support him to continue as the President.

But it was too late.

The uprising provinces did not recognize his qualifications to be president again, and Duan Qirui also forced him to surrender his military and political power.Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Sichuan all telegraphed to declare independence or to sever ties with Yuan Shikai personally.

When he was besieged on all sides, Yuan Shikai thought of Zhang Zuolin, who had expressed his loyalty to him. He asked Zhang Zuolin to send troops to Hunan, and promised that he could be named a duke and a marquis in the future.This was Yuan Shikai's last straw.

When Yuan Shikai conferred titles on his subordinates, Zhang was conferred the title of second-class viscount. According to Yuan’s common practice when conferring titles, division commanders and guardian envoys of the lieutenant-general class were only awarded captains of Qingche, and Zhang Zuolin was awarded the second-class viscount with only one division commander. , which means that Yuan made an exception to win over him.

There is also a folk legend that Zhang Zuolin didn't know what a Viscount was at that time, so he asked his staff member Yuan Jinkai.Yuan Jinkai told him that in ancient times, titles were divided into Gong, Marquis, Bo, Zi, and Nan, and the royal rewards were always harsh, and it was rare to confer a second-class viscount.However, how could Zhang Hanqing let Zhang Zuolin destroy his "future" at this time?Moreover, Zhang Zuolin also thought that he had made great efforts to the Hongxian Emperor, but he was not able to be named a Marquis, so he was greatly disappointed, and submitted a request for leave immediately, expressing that he would never be a "son" to others.

Of course this is nonsense, just for talking after dinner.How can Zhang Zuolin be so short-sighted if he can break out from the nest of elites and become a prince?How can such a thing related to one's own future be such a trifling matter?

However, it is true that he resigned from the second-class viscount. This is not cowardice, but pretending to be cowardly.Deliberately presenting an image of a big boss will not offend Yuan Shikai, who has a serious heart, and he will naturally reject the central government's title award, leaving a way for the future development of the situation.Zhang Hanqing knows very well that it cannot be overstated how much the "anti-imperialist" turmoil will have a great impact on the people and how deeply it will affect the people in the near future.This turmoil was directly the enlightenment of China's democratic movement and had a far-reaching impact.There is no room for such taint in politics at the moment.

At that time, the so-called leave was the harbinger of resignation, and resignation was the beginning of free action.So frightened, General Duan Shang went to the door to investigate the disease himself, but Zhang Zuolin blocked the door behind closed doors.Yuan wanted to transfer the tiger away from the mountain and asked Zhang to be the governor of Suiyuan. Of course Zhang refused. How could he leave his old nest to serve the sky?

When the national defense army defeated Yuan, Yuan Shikai planned to transfer troops to the south. In February, Yuan called Zhang Zuolin to Beijing to discuss the issue of the Southern Expedition. Yuan said many good things to Zhang and made many good wishes.Yuan thought that Zhang would be able to bargain, but unexpectedly, Zhang Zuolin agreed, patted his chest and wished to be a striker.Yuan Shikaiton felt that Zhang Zuolin was born in the green forest after all, and he had a chivalrous spirit.Immediately, my impression improved a lot, and my guard was greatly reduced.

Zhang Zuolin's willingness to readily agree had something to do with Zhang Hanqing's suggestion.Zhang Hanqing believed that it would be better to make false claims against the central government and take advantage of Yuan Shikai's opportunity to reap the greatest benefits. Zhang Zuolin deeply believed that.

The first idea that Zhang's father and son made was to eliminate Feng Delin of the 28th Division and get rid of Duan Zhigui, Beijing's nail in Fengtian. Based on Fengtian, he lived outside the customs to accumulate energy and energy.After all, how can you allow others to sleep soundly next to the couch?

After Zhang Zuolin agreed to send troops, he had to solve the technical problems of sending troops.Yuan Shikai took special care of the Army Command Office, giving priority to solving his needs, supplementing the salary and equipment, and making it as convenient as possible.Unexpectedly, after getting the weapon, Zhang Zuolin suddenly changed his face.

After Zhang Zuolin turned his face, it was even worse. Not only did he recruit ten battalions of new soldiers with the central government's salary, but also because he had evidence that General Duan was short of millions of public funds. The people" settle the account.In addition, he used Feng Delin as an excuse to urge the central government to either transfer him away or clarify the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Anyway, Fengtian cannot have two bosses.

On April 4 of the same year, Duan Zhigui sneaked into Beijing in a micro-clothes to complain. At this time, Yuan Shikai's internal and external troubles broke out at the same time, and he could not give any substantive comfort.

At this time, Yuan Shikai received a secret report that Zhang Zuolin was ordering Yuan Jinkai to draft the constitution of the Fengtian Security Council. Yuan thought that during the Revolution of 4, Fengtian also created a Security Council to break away from the Qing court. The organization of the Security Council was a disguised form of independence; He was already very troubled by the explosion situation in the south, and he was naturally afraid that there would be troubles in the north as well, and he would be attacked by the enemy. He knew that there was no time to delay.In order to comfort Zhang Zuolin, he issued an order on April 22, appointing Zhang Zuolin, commander of the [-]th Division, as General Shengjing to supervise Fengtian military affairs, and appointed Feng Delin, commander of the [-]th Division, as assistant military affairs officer.

As Zhang Hanqing who is familiar with history, he is naturally aware of the subsequent changes.Unexpectedly, Naifu was even more skilled. Zhang Zuolin, who was determined to rebel against Yuan when he saw Yuan Shikai's general situation was over, still expressed on the surface that he would listen to Yuan's orders in order to cheat for money.After getting the guns, he suddenly changed his face, made a 180-degree turn, and put forward the slogan "Following the people and governing", expressing that he could not leave Fengtian.This move was so beautiful that even Zhang Hanqing couldn't help admiring secretly: Zhang Zuolin can ascend to the throne of "Northeast King", these two brushes are really not empty!

Feng Delin, who competed with Zhang Zuolin in the same city, could not just sit back and watch Zhang Zuolin get so many benefits: these days, he can recruit troops on the spot if he has ammunition, and he will expand his strength.Zhang Zuolin got the gun, not to be outdone, he set his eyes on the money in Duan Dujun's hand.

This money is the "public money" that Zhang Zuolin wants to liquidate for the people of Fengtian, that is, Duan's "harvest" after taking office in Northeast China.Duan Zhigui is a well-known corrupt official. He knew that Fengtian was not a place to stay forever, so he intended to flee back to Beijing with a huge amount of official money.However, according to Zhang Hanqing's suggestion, Zhang Zuolin said he was right, but he had no real idea of ​​using the money: it is true that money can grow, but after all, the central government still has power. Considering that the situation in the Northeast is not dominant, Zhang Hanqing will Advise Zhang Zuolin not to lose big because of small losses, so as not to become the enemy of public criticism, and try to set a trap to encourage Feng Delin to do it.

At this time, although Feng Delin was extremely dissatisfied with the junior Zhang Zuolin and himself, he always believed that they were internal conflicts. They should stand together in dealing with Duan Zhigui sent by Yuan Shikai, so he first made a deal with Zhang Zuolin. Drive segment communication.The reason is that Duan Zhigui was an official in the late Qing Dynasty, and Duan was the chief culprit in the support of Yuan Shikai's proclaiming emperor by the three eastern provinces (neither of them mentioned that they had been the vanguard of waving the flag). It is a disgrace to ride on his head, the honorable title of general and teacher, and he should be expelled as soon as possible.

Zhang Zuolin was secretly happy when he heard the words, he really "feels close to me".However, he still pretended to be embarrassed and said: "General Duan was my father and Zuolin's benefactor back then. Although I am not ashamed of him in various ways, I am afraid that Zuolin would do something unrighteous to him. People in the green forest ridiculed, and I will have no face to see my father in the ground in the future." Although Feng Delin was amazed by Zhang Zuolin's "jianghu demeanor", he did not doubt him, but was happy in his heart: "People say that Zhang Zuolin is a hero, it seems that it is exaggerated: the ancients said Those who achieve great things don't care about small details, no matter what time it is, they still read the so-called "morality and righteousness." Although thinking so, he said hypocritically: "Since Yuting is inconvenient to come forward, the 28th division will be responsible for driving Duan..."

Zhang Hanqing, who was accompanying him, said: "It is the righteousness of the country to expel Duan. Although it is inconvenient for my father to come forward, I have to do my part. In this way, my father came forward to persuade him to leave the service, and Uncle Feng threatened him by force. General Duan saw uncle Both father and father have a clear attitude, so naturally they cannot stay in Fengtian. Uncle is in charge of dealing with the aftermath, and father can be guaranteed not to be criticized, which is also worthy of this friendship."

So it was decided that Feng Delin's 28th division would play the black face and conflict with him; Zhang Zuolin's 27th division would play the bad face, which scared him away in fear of crime.Let Yuan Shikai's people know that Fengtian people are not easy to mess with!

So Zhang Zuolin arranged for the army to shoot on a certain night, and then pretended to report to Duan Zhigui, saying that Feng Delin would lead the 28th Division troops into the city to punish Duan Zhigui, the culprit of the imperial system.Zhang Zuolin said he could not stop it.Duan Zhigui was very nervous after hearing this.Zhang Zuolin took the opportunity to persuade Duan Zhigui to avoid him, and Duan Zhigui felt that this was a good idea.After requesting approval from the central government by telegram, he took the opportunity to seize a huge amount of official money and some arms, and took a special train to Tianjin.

Zhang Zuolin secretly sent someone to inform Feng Delin of all this, and on the surface he sent Zhang Zuolin's confidant, 54th Brigade Commander Sun Liechen, to lead a battalion of soldiers to personally escort him.However, when the train arrived at Goubangzi Station, a regiment of the 28th Division Jijinchun Brigade, which Feng Delin had already arranged, intercepted the train at Goubangzi Station.Qiu Enrong, the head of the regiment, got into the car and handed in two telegrams in the name of Fengtian soldiers and civilians, saying: "The outgoing general Duan Zhigui is the culprit of the imperial system, and the people of Fengtian are planning to punish them as they deserve. There was a lot of ammunition, and they fled in fear of the crime, and the people of Fengtian hated them all, so I asked the brigade commander Ji to send troops to arrest and take him to Fengtian nearby, and deal with it according to law." And the soldiers crowded onto the platform again, swords were on the verge of breaking out, and the situation was imminent.

Duan Zhigui showed the telegram to Sun Liechen, and after reading it, Sun Liechen said dissatisfied loudly: "Is that reasonable, let me ask." He got off the car and went to the box office to talk to Head Qiu, but there was no news as soon as Huang He left.Seeing that Sun Liechen hadn't returned for a long time, Duan Zhigui panicked and immediately ordered the unloading of official funds and ammunition and piled them on the platform.

Seeing all this, Sun Liechen got into the car and reported: "People from all walks of life in Fengtian are raging, so we must intercept the special car and take it back. After a long time of negotiation with Zhang Daidu, he agreed not to confiscate the special car, but the official money and military affairs must be accounted for and kept. , and call the central government to investigate and deal with it." Duan Zhigui nodded in approval quickly, and ordered it to be counted and brought back by Head Qiu.

Pingkong got a huge sum of money, Feng Delin was overjoyed.Zhang Zuolin has been dying for this huge sum of money for a long time, but Zhang Hanqing has made great contributions to being able to hold back.In his impression, after Yuan Shikai, the power belonged to Duan Qirui (Old Duan), and Duan Zhigui (Small Duan) had a lot of connections with this old Duan.In order to "have something to say when we meet" in the future, I have to bear the pain.But inadvertently, the people of Fengtian felt that Zhang Zuolin was still affectionate and righteous, and would not do things that would add insult to injury.