Of course, Yuan Shikai was very clear that the ultimate goal of the East China Government was to unify the entire China. But there was always a order. According to Yuan Shikai's judgment, the East China Government should adopt a order of north first and then south. After occupying the north, it would take a few years to stabilize the situation and then develop to the south. Because the ruling areas of the East China Government were almost all in the north, and the center of the Qing court was also in the north, so naturally, it would be the first to unify the north.

In addition, Yuan Shikai also conducted a detailed analysis of the East China Government, believing that the East China Government's military and governance capabilities are very strong, but it is not without weaknesses. The shortcomings are that the return time is too short and the foundation is not deep. Of course, if the East China Government just wants to complete a simple dynasty change, it will not have much impact. However, what the East China Government has done is to completely subvert China's old system for more than 2,000 years, which determines that the process of the East China Government's unification of the entire China will never be achieved overnight. It must be steadily and steadily. If a piece of territory is built, it must be stabilized first, so as to gradually promote the process of unification of the entire China.

Yuan Shikai's estimate was that after the East China Government unified the northern part, it would take at least 3-5 years to stabilize it, which gave Yuan Shikai time to maintain his foothold in the south. Of course, Yuan Shikai's mind was still clear and knew that no matter how he managed his current territory, when the East China Government stabilized the situation in the north and was rushing south, he would definitely not be an opponent. Therefore, if it really reached that time, Yuan Shikai would not intend to resist stubbornly, but would directly surrender to the East China Government.

But there is still a few years of buffering time, and many things may happen in these years. If the East China government is involved in a foreign war, Yuan Shikai knew that the East China government had a bad relationship with Britain, France, Japan and Russia, and because it was with Japan and Russia, there was indeed a risk of war. In this way, it would bring a turning point for himself, and perhaps it could support the south for a few more years, and in the end it would be even a long-term separatist.

The sudden attack on Hubei made Yuan Shikai very nervous. If the East China Government did not advance north and then south as expected, but instead advance north and south, then his plan would be lost, because his strength is definitely not a match for the East China Government. Therefore, Yuan Shikai was also depressed and wanted to think of a way to remind the East China Government, saying, "Don't be too aggressive, it's better to fight steadily."

However, the strategy of unifying China is the decision of the East China government, Yuan Shikai cannot make the decision. If the decision of the East China government is really the same, then he can only surrender, because he will never fight with the East China government, which is no different from seeking death.

Of course, Yuan Shikai is also a strategic person. He also thought about whether the purpose of the East China Government would only capture Hubei instead of the entire south. This is also a very likely thing, because it is only capture Hubei, which does not violate the grand strategy of first north and then south. Moreover, Hubei is located at the critical road between east, west, south and north of China, and its strategic position is very important. Therefore, it is understandable that the East China Government should seize Hubei first.

Although the East China Government seized Hubei and would form a pincer attack on its own territory, putting itself in a very unfavorable form, if the East China Government's goal was limited to Hubei, then its plan could still continue. However, the actual situation was not confirmed at all. Yuan Shikai and his staff also discussed it several times, but they were not sure. Although Yuan Shikai arranged Xu Shichang and Tang Shaoyi in the East China Government, they were both in Beijing and had nothing to do with the south. Before he could do so, Yuan Shikai did not intend to inquire about the purpose of the East China Government's attack on Hubei through Xu Shichang and Tang Shaoyi.

Yuan Shikai also thought of contacting Shanghai directly and asking questions. He and Shanghai have always had a smooth channel of contact, but now the People's Army has not attacked its own territory. It is not good to rashly ask about the military operations of the East China Government.

At this moment, Zhao Erxun asked Yuan Shikai to mediate and say peace, which was just an excuse for Yuan Shikai. Of course, if the purpose of the East China Government's attack on Hubei this time was to advance north and south to unify the entire China, then Yuan Shikai certainly would not have such a great face and could persuade the East China Government to withdraw. Even he could not even protect himself, but he could take this opportunity to test the real purpose of the East China Government and he would have made plans to deal with it early.

So Yuan Shikai immediately sent a telegram to Shanghai, with a very polite wording, saying that Zhao Erxun asked himself to come forward, hoping to make peace with the East China Government, and asked if the East China Government had the intention to make peace. If he was willing to make peace, what conditions would be there?

The general command center for attacking Hubei was located in Shanghai, with Luo Yue, Shanghai Mayor Li Songchen, and Southeast Military Region Commander-in-Chief Liu Tie. After receiving Yuan Shikai's telegram, the three of them also found it a little funny, because from the lines of the telegram, Yuan Shikai was quite eager to know the real purpose of the East China Government's attack on Hubei.

After the three negotiated, they believed that they could make peace with Zhao Erxun, but the condition was to let Zhao Erxun withdraw from Hubei Province and hand over the entire Hubei Province to the East China Government for management. If Zhao Erxun accepts this condition, then the remaining prefectures in Hubei Province can be taken down without bloodshed. After all, it would be better if there was no war. Soon Qingdao agreed to Shanghai's suggestion and could negotiate with Zhao Erxun to peacefully occupy the entire Hubei Province.

So Li Songchen, on behalf of the East China Government, called back to Yuan Shikai, saying that the East China Government's march this time was only to occupy the entire territory of Hubei Province and ensure the safety of the Yangtze River waterway, and had no other purpose. Therefore, if Zhao Erxun wanted to quit the army and make peace, he had to withdraw from Hubei, and the East China Government could repay Zhao Erxun's property in Wuchang.

After receiving the telegram from Li Songchen, Yuan Shikai also breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, the goal of the East China Government is only Hubei rather than the entire south, so Yuan Shikai could certainly feel at ease. However, now that Yuan Shikai has become the mediator between the East China Government and Zhao Erxun, this matter cannot be careless. It must be done well. On the one hand, it must leave a good impression on the East China Government and prove that Yuan Shikai is useful; on the other hand, it must also meet other governors and ministers in the southeast and various countries to show the good relationship between Yuan Shikai and the East China Government.

So Yuan Shikai sent a telegram to Zhao Ergong to tell him the attitude of the East China Government, and at the same time, he sent his confidant Yang Du and his eldest son Yuan Keding to Yuezhou Prefecture to persuade Zhao Erxun in person. If Zhao Erxun accepted the conditions of the East China Government, Yuan Shikai estimated that Zhao Erxun would most likely accept it. In this way, Yang Du and Yuan Keding would stay in Yuezhou Prefecture and help Zhao Erxun communicate with the East China Government. As long as the Southeast Governor and the East China Government are in contact, he would better participate in the matter of contact with the East China Government, so as to continuously consolidate his image of friendship with the East China Government.

As expected, after learning about the conditions of the East China Government, Zhao Erxun agreed without thinking, because it would not be possible to agree. Who could withstand the attack of the People's Army? The governor of Hunan Yang Wending breathed a sigh of relief, at least his Hunan Province was saved. Although Duan Fang had objections, he was just the governor of Hubei, and Zhao Erxun was the governor of Huguang. Although according to the Qing court's official system, the governor was not the direct boss of the governor.

Both are directly responsible to the emperor, but it is an indisputable fact that the Governor is superior to the Governor. Once there is a conflict between the Governor and the Governor, the court will tend to be the Governor. Over time, the Governor gradually obeys the Governor. Secondly, Duan Fang also knew that he had no choice but to disagree. Who could withstand the attack of the People's Army? Therefore, Duan Fang only proposed to Zhao Erxun to set a place for himself in Hunan Province so that he could have a foothold and to place defeated soldiers brought from Hubei.

Seeing that Duan Fang did not object to surrendering himself from Hubei Province, Zhao Erxun also breathed a sigh of relief. If Duan Fang opposed it, it would be a very troublesome thing, and Duan Fang's request was not excessive. The governor of a province really needed a foothold. So Zhao Erxun decided to place Duan Fang in Changde Mansion. Although Hunan Governor Yang Wending felt a little unhappy, after all, Changde Mansion was his own territory, so he would feel uncomfortable if he had given it to Duan Fang like this. However, this was the governor's decision, and he comforted Duan Fang to avoid any problems. He would suffer some losses.

So Zhao Erxun immediately sent another telephone to Yuan Shikai, asking him to tell the East China Government that he had accepted the conditions of the East China Government. At the same time, he entrusted Yang Du and Yuan Keding to contact and communicate with the East China Government and handle the transfer of matters to other prefectures and prefectures in Hubei Province.

As a result, the battle on the southern front of the East China Government was even smoother than the northern front. The People's Army only captured the two prefectures of Wuchang and Hanyang, and all the Qing troops in other places voluntarily withdrew and handed over the local area to the People's Army.

After occupying the entire Hubei territory, there is another thing to deal with, which is the French Concession in Hankou. In the old time and space, it was known as the three major concessions in China together with the Shanghai Concession and Tianjin Concession. At this time, there was no concept of Wuhan. Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou each did their own affairs and had nothing to do with each other. However, Wuchang and Hanyang all established their prefectures, and only Hankou was still a town-level administrative agency. However, since Hankou had a French Concession, although it was only a town-level administrative agency, it could also face the two prefectures of Wuchang and Hanyang across the river to form a tripod.

As for the French Concession in Hankou, the East China Government naturally took it back. The foreigners in the concession were very tactful this time and did not make any tricks such as protest because they knew that it would be useless if they did it. It would be better to save some effort and keep it for packing up the goods and property. After all, the foreigners had already avoided a new concession area in Nanjing, so they all moved to Nanjing nearby.
Chapter completed!