Chapter 613: Things in Hangzhou

"Let He Zonglian's first division go to Chongqing, and Wang Zhanyuan also go to Chongqing. Their command posts and offices must be in Chongqing!" After pondering for a long time, Yuan Shikai finally spoke, his tone full of majesty and indisobedience.

"But... He Chunjiang and Wang Guantao both went to Sichuan, who will take charge of Wuhan? Zhang Zhenwu, Jiang Yiwu has to be on guard!" Yang Shiqi said with confusion.

Lu Jianzhang and Li Yuanhong were both unable to sit still. The former had been in Beijing for more than a year and had long been hoping to go down to the place to gain real power. The latter was originally a celebrity in Hubei. If he had the opportunity, he wanted to return to Hubei to take charge. It was better than a mediocre vice president who had no achievements. However, Li Yuanhong still had more thoughts than Lu Jianzhang. He saw the looseness of Beiyang and the general trend of the south. He had confidence in Beiyang earlier, but as time went by, this confidence was weakening. Perhaps he could leave a way out when he was transferred to Hubei.

"I will make other arrangements." Yuan Shikai said bluntly without any hesitation, "In short, we must make up the situation in Sichuan. If He Zonglian and Wang Zhanyuan still do not improve after entering Sichuan, don't blame me for not being sympathetic."

"The President, the situation in Jiangxi, Fujian, and Hunan..." Lu Jianzhang said tentatively.

"I plan to send a telegram to Wenzhou and let Cao Kun and Wu Peifu decide on their own. Hunan and Jiangxi will not move their troops." Yuan Shikai said.

"Don't hold on? The Central First Division is ready." Lu Jianzhang said.

"Do as I said!" Yuan Shikai said angrily. After saying that, he stood up from the presidential seat and walked out of the gate with his old steps.

Duan Qirui looked at Yuan Shikai's back and felt some enlightenment in his heart. Wang Zhanyuan and He Zonglian were going to Sichuan. Looking at Hubei, only his disciple Xu Shuzheng was left. Perhaps the president was determined to support young people! He was a bit proud. If Xu Shuzheng could take charge of Hubei, it would definitely be a good omen for him to expand his power.

After the office was silent for a while, Zhang Yiao first spoke to break the deadlock. He said he was going to issue the president's order and said he would leave first. Then the others looked at each other and left one after another. It seemed that everyone had their own ulterior motives and did not put their minds on Sichuan.

Zhu Rui paced back and forth in the back garden of General Xingwu's Mansion. From the beginning of winter to the beginning of spring, he had been feeling restless. The situation in the north and south made it difficult for him to figure out. In addition, typhoid fever in winter aggravated his condition and has not recovered yet. It is really an internal and external trouble. After the first month of the year, he no longer went to the Governor's Mansion to work, but only set up a small office garden in the Governor's Mansion. The Governor's Mansion had long been occupied by the pro-Beiyang faction.

During the Second Revolution, Zhejiang did not respond to Sun Yat-sen's call. Yuan Shikai awarded Zhu Rui the rank of General Xingwu and allocated additional special funds to build the General's Mansion for him. However, since then, the situation in Hangzhou actually formed a split confrontation between the General's Mansion and the Governor's Mansion.

For Zhu Rui, the biggest dilemma he faces now is that he is sandwiched between the north and the south. The pro-Beijing faction of the Zhejiang military government never treats him as his own person, while the revolutionary faction regards him as a traitor. He has always been upset about why Liu Cunhou in Sichuan can repeat it over and over again, but the only choice he chose is not the inside and outside.

The only one who can walk with him now is the few old subordinates of the Fifth Army of the Army, and there is almost no one who can trust in politics. The reason why he can still retain the position of governor of Zhejiang is not because of his own strength, but because the local bureaucrats in Zhejiang need a person from Zhejiang to take charge of provincial affairs.

He didn't know that his identity as a supervisor could last for a long time, which was one of the things he was worried about. The north did not trust him, and the south rejected him, so he could not find a strong support to consolidate his power.

At this moment, a figure appeared in the small door of the back garden. He quickly walked around the rockery pool and came to Zhu Rui's side.

"General!" the man called out softly.

Zhu Rui stopped and quickly turned around and saw that the person who came was his secretary-general Zhang Renfeng.

"Chengyi, how about it? Is there any news from Daizhi?" he asked impatiently.

"I waited for almost two hours at the Guard Command. Commander Lu finally saw me, but he still didn't say anything." Zhang Renfeng sighed and said helplessly.

"Don't express his opinion? What does he mean? The form of the north and south is obvious. What is he waiting for!" Zhu Rui was very angry and said loudly. In a hurry, he was involved in his chest tightness and couldn't help but cough.

"General, are you okay? I'll pour a cup of tea!" Zhang Renfeng asked worriedly.

"No need... cough cough... *** is like this. It will naturally get better when the weather gets warmer." Zhu Rui took a big breath, calmed down, and his complexion finally improved a little. "We don't have much time now. The north ignores me, and the south dislikes me. I, the governor of Zhejiang, can hardly do anything, I am afraid that even the governor's position will be gone in a short time. Dai Zhi must negotiate, he is my only way out!"

The "Daizhi" mentioned by Zhu Rui is the powerful Zhejiang figure Lu Gongwang.

During the Second Revolution, Lu Gongwang kept instigating Zhu Rui to respond to the call, but unfortunately Zhu Rui did not agree. Lu Gongwang finally endured this tone and did not lead his troops to revolt, and finally saved his real military power in Zhejiang. However, since then, Lu Gongwang gradually became distant from Zhu Rui, and even comrades of the Restoration Association had obvious concerns.

With the rich income in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, Zhejiang was successfully organized into the Fifth Army less than a year after the Great Revolution, which included the Ninth Division of the Army, the Tenth Division of the Army, the Third Division of the Zhejiang, the Sixth Division of the Zhejiang and the newly formed Fifth Division. Although Zhu Rui was nominally the commander of the Fifth Army, there were less than two regiments who could actually call him. There were two people in the Fifth Army who held the actual military power, one was Lu Yongxiang and the other was Lu Gongwang.

Because of the tone of being insurmounted by Lu Gongwang, the Beiyang government granted him the position of Jiahu Guardian in order to win over it. However, the headquarters and the Guardian institution were all in Hangzhou. Among the entire Fifth Army, except for the troops with the Beiyang Army number, the rest were under the jurisdiction of Lu Gongwang. Although his troops were not as strong as Lu Yongxiang, he was from Zhejiang Province after all, and there were a group of local bureaucrats and wealthy businessmen behind it.

In addition, in recent years, Lu Gongwang has always been in contact with Shanghai and Japan, and even went to Japan to meet Sun Yat-sen in person when he had time, so his popularity has long surpassed Lu Yongxiang.

Zhu Rui recently felt that Lu Yongxiang was frequently mobilizing troops, and he had a premonition that Beiyang would attack the governor of Zhejiang. Moreover, he no longer wanted to continue to be sandwiched between the north and the south. It was time to decide his position. Of course, this was his helpless move to preserve his position. If it weren't for his uninhabitable inside and outside, and he did not have enough support, he would not want to get involved in the showdown between the north and the south. He just wanted to be the head of a local area safely, even if it was just a short position.

"But General, Commander Lu doesn't seem to know what to make a decision!" Zhang Renfeng said anxiously.

Zhu Rui was silent for a while, then sighed worriedly.

"Daizhi has always been dissatisfied with Beiyang, so he only chose to stand in the south. Unfortunately, this time the South established a government and actually excluded Sun Yixian from the outside. Daizhi would inevitably feel unhappy. It seems that he does not trust Wu Shaoting." He shook his head in distress and expressed his opinion.

"Or, let's contact Wuzhou by ourselves. Now that the Southern Government is about to be established, they are eager to attract more provincial governments to join the southern camp. We may not have no chance." Zhang Renfeng suggested that this was what he had wanted to say for a long time, but unfortunately he has never found a suitable opportunity.
Chapter completed!