Chapter 716, General Xuanwu’s Mansion

The restoration of Wuchang means that the overall situation in Hubei is settled, but only the 13th Central Division in Xiangyang is still stationed in Xu Shuzheng.

During the fierce battle in Wuhan, Wei Rucong did not intend to divide his troops to attack Xiangyang, but only wanted to capture the three towns of Wuhan in the shortest time. Therefore, he only allowed Dai Kan's third division to protect the flanks and block the threat from Xiangyang. Wang Zhanyuan also repeatedly asked Xu Shuzheng to send troops to reinforce Wuhan. However, after Xu Shuzheng analyzed the situation, he knew that even if the reinforcements were drawn, it would be useless, so he remained silent and focused on building a defense line near Xiangyang.

After Wei Rucong met with Xu Haiying, he sent a telegram to Xu Shuzheng to recruit surrender. Xu Shuzheng's attitude was very tough. Not only did he refuse to surrender, but he also denounced the crime of rebellion in the south in his call.

Wei Rucong met with generals from various armies and discussed taking advantage of the high morale of Wuhan's victory to attack Xiangyang in one go and completely pacify the entire Hubei province.

On July 25, after two days of rest and preparation, Wei Rucong ordered Liu Zhenhuan's division to be the vanguard, and Dai Kan's division headed north from Jingmen to attack Xiangyang from the south. Liu Zhenhuan's division advanced rapidly along the Hanxiang Line Railway and had an encounter with a regiment of the 13th Central Division in Sui County. However, because the previous series of battles were very smooth, Liu Zhenhuan was quite sceptical and mistakenly entered the ambush circle when he was pursuing the Beiyang Army in Sui County, and the vanguard suffered heavy losses.

Thanks to the new unit of the 13th Central Division and lack of experience in soldiers and officers, Liu Zhenhuan timely gathered his troops to avoid the tragedy of the vanguard's entire army being wiped out.

After Wei Rucong learned about this, he sent an emergency telegram from Wuhan to denounce Liu Zhenhuan for "supremnant soldiers and underestimate the enemy", and ordered Liu Zhenhuan to calmly respond to the battle and make up for his mistakes. If there are any similar mistakes, certain military law will be dealt with.

On July 27, the battle of Xiangyang became fierce, and Dai Kan and Liu Zhenhuan finally pushed the war into Xiangyang. In order to resolve the stubborn forces in Xiangyang as soon as possible, Wei Rucong drew heavy artillery troops directly under the division headquarters and used the Hanxiang Line railway to transport them to the front line. After the artillery of the First Division and the Third Division arrived, they blasted towards Xiangyang without hesitation, which almost caused an earthquake to occur in Xiangyang, and the earth was shaking all the time.

Under the pressure of powerful artillery fire, Xu Shuzheng commanded his subordinates to defend the front line. He himself went to the front line to supervise the battle, running to the south and east, without regard for his own safety. The 13th Central Division was a unit led by Xu Shuzheng. The soldiers and officers all admired Xu Shuzheng very much. At this time, he saw that the division commander had no fear of the enemy, so he fought very tenaciously. Even under the almost terrible pressure of artillery fire, he finally managed to defend the Chengguan defense line.

Dai Kan and Liu Zhenhuan were unexpectedly expected of the tenacious battle of the 13th Central Division. Logically speaking, even if Xu Shuzheng had enough determination to persist in the battle, Hubei was already out of the blue, and the morale of the generals and officers under the 13th Central Division should have fallen sharply. Unexpectedly, the battle in Xiangyang became more and more vigorous, and the more they fought, the more they became more and more morale. Even the artillery formation that the Southern Army was proud of could not do anything to this lonely army.

Although Wei Rucong was in a hurry at the Wuhan Division Headquarters, he also found that something was wrong in Xiangyang. He did not put pressure on Liu Zhenhuan and Dai Kan. At this time, the front-line troops were already very anxious, and excessive pressure would cause chaos. Not only that, he also ordered the First Division and the Third Division to slow down the attack process and eliminate the spirit of Xiangyang. At the same time, he dispatched a unit of the Guizhou Army to increase troops with the 6th Hubei Mixed Brigade to increase troops in Xiangyang, determined to completely surround Xiangyang and fight a momentum.

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In Nanjing, Jiangsu, a brand new car slowly stopped at the main entrance of General Xuanwu’s mansion.

Shi Jingyun, the chief of staff of the General's Mansion who had been waiting at the gate for a long time, quickly walked down the steps, opened the car door himself, greeted the people in the car, and said, "Fourth Master, I have worked hard all the way."

The one who walked out of the car was not someone else, but Zhang Jian, who was then the Minister of Finance of the Southern Executive Government.

Zhang Jian set out north to Shanghai at the end of last month. His original purpose was to support the support of the Fujian army in support of the Fujian army to launch the Zhejiang War. Half a month ago, the Battle of Hangzhou ended and was about to return to Guangzhou, but suddenly received a secret telegram from Wu Shaoting, hoping that Zhang Jian would go to Jiangsu to secretly meet Feng Guozhang.

After a period of arrangement, Zhang Jian finally contacted Feng Guozhang through the relationship between some old Beiyang people. Faced with the current earth-shaking situation in the country, Feng Guozhang, who had been in the Jianghuai area, was also moved. Therefore, when he heard that Zhang Jian was going to meet, he immediately realized that this was an opportunity to seek a way out, and soon arranged this meeting.

Zhang Jian nodded slightly to Shi Jingyun and smiled and said, "It's not hard, Shanghai is only half a day away, which is much better than asking me to take a boat."

Shi Jingyun smiled and said, "It's best if the Fourth Master is safe. Please come in. The Fourth Master, Old General Feng has already been waiting for the grand ceremony in the reception room."

Zhang Jian said happily: "I can't stand it because I'm sorry for letting Brother Huafu wait. I also asked the General Staff of the Teachers to guide the way."

In terms of age, Zhang Jian was a little older than Feng Guozhang, but Zhang Jian always planned things in the north and was used to the habit of being polite in the north, calling his friend "Brother".

Shi Jingyun made a "please" gesture and led Zhang Jian into the gate of the General's Mansion. After passing the front hall and the garden, he walked into an outdoor corridor. The General's Mansion is a typical Suzhou-Hangzhou garden design, with neat and parallel layout, and the walk was indeed a bit long. Fortunately, he arrived at the atrium and arrived at the reception room.

Feng Guozhang was sitting in the hall drinking tea. After hearing the servant's notice, he immediately stood up and walked forward and took a few steps.

"Fourth brother, I have been away from Beijing for several years. I feel deeply moved when I meet here today. The fourth brother is still so strong." Although Feng Guozhang is almost 70 years old, his years of military career seems to be full of energy. He strode forward and grabbed Zhang Jian's hand to welcome the emperor and ask him to sit down.

"Can Hua Fu be healthy? I'm so happy when I meet again after a long time," Zhang Jian said politely.

"Come on, give me some good tea." Feng Guozhang ordered his servants. After the two of them sat down, he asked tentatively, "I have heard that the fourth brother has already entered the south recently. This is really something I didn't expect. I really don't know how to get close to him in the future."

"If Huafu is convenient to speak here, I don't say anything outsiders to Huafu. The young man said that we two old men had been nagging for most of the time." Zhang Jian smiled indifferently, his expression seemed meticulous.

Feng Guozhang nodded slowly and understood, waiting for the servants to come up to have some tea, and immediately ordered everyone else to step down.

"Hua Fu, the current situation in the country is obvious. What will happen if the north and south continue to fight like this? Hua Fu, you are the one who leads troops, must know better than me, an old scholar. I believe Hua Fu is very clear in his heart. My old bones are valued by Wu Zhizheng, and Zhuo Ru and other backbone members of the party are now in charge of the government's finance department. This time, he went north to meet Wu Zhizheng's request and is willing to discuss national affairs with Hua Fu and calm the war between the north and the south." Zhang Jian deliberately said it better, which showed that the south took the initiative to seek peace between the north and the north and the north. Anyway, the general situation has been decided, and it is no big deal to suffer some losses.

Feng Guozhang sighed deeply. He was also thinking about the contradiction between the north and the south. After the arrogant president promulgated the "Three Civil Constitutions" and weakened the power of the parliament with great fanfare, the entire situation became increasingly out of control. To be honest, he personally did not oppose the "Three Civil Constitutions" because it was to consolidate the dominant position of the Beiyang regime. Unfortunately, the south used the excuse to make too fierce. The president was too eager for the warlords under Beiyang in the early stage, but instead failed to manage enough central power, so that the south would become more and more profitable and more powerful.

Thinking of the collapse of such a building, he couldn't help but shook his head helplessly, and then said: "Wu Zhenzhi is a person of sensibility. Wuhan has been lost, so it's meaningless to continue this war. But... will it make us destroyed from now on? This is the hard work of several generations of our Beiyang. If we really want to erase us, let alone I disagree, those generals who have soldiers and guns in their hands will not be willing to do so. Fourth brother, we should also discuss a convincing truth to discuss peace talks."

Zhang Jian nodded in agreement and smiled and said, "This is true, but we, Wu Zhizheng, did not regard all the Beiyang factions as equals. Wu Zhizheng repeatedly emphasized in his secret letter that there are still admirable people in Beiyang, one is the president, and the other is Feng Xuanwu. Unfortunately, the president fell into a lost path and refused to understand himself, which led to the good Republic of China on the wrong path. Since the president has laid the root of disaster, someone in Beiyang should inherit the righteousness and preside over the overall situation. And this person is Hua Fu."

Feng Guozhang was silent for a moment, and Xuan'er asked, "I can't afford this."

Zhang Jian continued: "Wu Zhizheng still remembers meeting with Hua Fu in Guangzhou seven years ago. I heard that Wu Zhizheng was still a minor official of the new army at that time, but he was fortunate to have lunch with Hua Fu. Hua Fu valued Wu Zhizheng at that time, so Wu Zhizheng was always grateful and highly praised Hua Fu for coming to clean up the overall situation in Beiyang and jointly seek the great cause of national peace."

Feng Guozhang nodded with deep emotion and murmured to himself: "I knew back then that this young man was definitely not a thing in the pool. I didn't expect that I not only made the right answer, but also proved it so quickly. Alas, if Wu Zhenzhi could compete with Beiyang back then, maybe today would be a different situation."

Zhang Jian smiled and said, "What I mean, whether in Beiyang or in the south, everyone is still in the Greater China lineage, and everyone is still thinking about Greater China. The President made a mistake in making a hatred for the ages is no longer what the people want. Hua Fu, you are a wise person, why not work with Wu Zhuzheng to form a coalition government and work hard for the country and the country and the national plan?"

Feng Guozhang frowned slightly and said in confusion: "United Government?"
Chapter completed!