Fuzhou City.

"What? The Pioneer Regiment has lost news? Are you kidding me! Li Cunhou said incredulously.

"The Overseer, it's true, as originally agreed, every half day the Vanguard will send a contact signal. But it's been half an hour since the contact time. Our people have never received a signal from the vanguard group. Li Cunhou's staff said cautiously.

"Damn it! Where is the Pioneer Regiment now? Somehow, Li Cunhou's heart was clouded.

"The last place where the Pioneer Regiment sent information was Quanzhou."

"Quanzhou? Send a telegram to the Quanzhou government. Let them send someone to find out the movements of the army at once! Li Cunhou roared. Now Fujian's troops are empty, and the army of 3,000 people cannot afford to lose. Li Cunhou did not pay attention to it.

"Yes!"

"Don't let anything happen!" Li Cunhou muttered to himself.

In the mountains of central Fujian Province, a team of more than 5,000 people is trekking hard.

"Zhongzheng, can this mountain road be passed? We've got thousands! Liao Zhongkai said breathlessly. To tell the truth, this kind of march was a great burden for a literati like him. If it weren't for the firm faith in his heart, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been able to hold it a long time ago.

"Our guide is looking for the mountain people in the Wuyi Mountains, they are very familiar with the mountains and forests, and the mountain people say that they can pass, they will definitely be able to pass. Although the mountain road is difficult to walk, it is the best hidden. We killed the vanguard regiment of the Min army near Quanzhou, and now the Min army is estimated to have gotten the news. Maybe the Beiyang forces near Quanzhou are desperately looking for our traces. Entering the mountains and forests allows us to get rid of the enemy and take the initiative strategically. Chiang Kai-shek said with a grim face.

"But this kind of march is too strict for the troops. At present, the form of the party army is not optimistic, He Yingqin's regiment is better, and it is still relatively stable, but Wang Bailing's second regiment has already deserted, and there are still quite a few of them. Shouldn't we stop and recuperate? Liao Zhongkai said. In Liao Zhongkai's heart, the party army is the treasure of the Kuomintang, and every party soldier is a force of the revolution. Therefore, seeing the desertion of the party army, Liao Zhongkai's heart was full of worry.

"Zhong Kai, don't worry, I have already given Wang Bailing an order. Enforce battlefield discipline against deserters, and kill them without mercy. After killing dozens of people, the atmosphere of the entire Second Regiment changed a lot, and the troops stabilized a lot. After all, it is a unit composed of captive soldiers, and it cannot be compared with the troops we have recruited ourselves. Chiang Kai-shek said harshly. It was as if it was a simple matter to kill a few people in his mouth.

"Zhongzheng, wouldn't it be bad to kill like this? We are a revolutionary army, how can we adopt such a barbaric way? Liao Zhongkai said. He saw the second regiment massacre deserters with his own eyes, to be honest, although Liao Zhongkai was a famous revolutionary soldier, he was more often dealing with the affairs of the revolutionary party, and he was very uncomfortable with this kind of blood-type killing.

"Zhong Kai, the army is the army, unlike others, only iron discipline can create a strong army. Therefore, now that the strength of the party army is weak and the war environment is difficult, in order to maintain the strength of the party army, it is necessary to curb the emergence of deserters. Moreover, in the ancient army of our country, there was no forgiveness for the rout. This is also to keep the fighters in awe and maintain a strong cohesion. Chiang Kai-shek said.

"Forget it, I don't know anything about military affairs, you can do it, but I always feel that this kind of killing is not good. Our party army is a revolutionary army, so we should use revolutionary ideals to conquer the troops, not rely on this kind of killing to maintain it! Liao Zhongkai shook his head and chose to let it go.

"I see!" Chiang Kai-shek said. But in my heart I didn't think so. In his heart, he still advocates iron-blooded strong soldiers. And how can the army fight the troops of other forces if it does not have the spirit of killing.

Fuzhou.

"Have you found out who did it?" Li Cunhou's face was extremely gloomy. I just received a telegram from the Quanzhou County Order. In a valley twenty kilometers southwest of Quanzhou. More than a thousand corpses of the Pioneer Regiment were dumped in the valley. Weapons, ammunition, and heavy vehicles all disappeared without a trace.

This news made Li Cunhou furious. To know. The fact that the vanguard regiment of 3,000 men was able to encircle and annihilate itself at one time means that the enemy's strength was at least 3,000 wounded. Such an unknown number of troops entering their own territory, a bad response, is simply a disaster.

"Who do you think did it?" Li Cunhou said with a gloomy expression.

"Overseer! Judging from the current form, this mysterious force is most likely the army of Liangguang. The Overseer's staff said.

"Liangguang?" Li Cunhou said in a deep voice. To be honest, he also thinks that the biggest suspect is Liangguang. But they don't have the handle, and they have no way to take Liangguang. You must know that the relationship between Beiyang and Liangguang is not harmonious, and his Li Cunhou's Fujian is at the forefront of the confrontation between Beiyang and Liangguang, and the most important thing is that the strength of the Fujian army is extremely empty, and it is impossible to resist the attack of Liangguang at all.

"Send a telegram to the Nanjing government and report the intelligence of southern Fujian to the president!" After pondering for a long time, Li Cunhou said. If Liangguang really intervened in this matter, it would be impossible for the Min army to do anything at all, so they could only report this matter to the Beiyang government.

"Overseer, do you want to look any further. Although it seems that Liangguang is the most suspicious, there is no movement of large army movements in the entire Liangguang area. Lu Yuguang, the young marshal of the Gui department, also returned to Guangzhou after Chen Jiongming was electrified. If this mysterious army is really the army of the Gui family, I am afraid that the army of the Gui family has now come to the border of Fujian. Now the form of southern Fujian is a little weird! One of Li Cunhou's aides said. This person's name is Jiangdong, and he is a small and famous cultural person in Fujian Province. was valued by Li Cunhou and raised as a staff member.

"Overseer, according to our intelligence. It is true that one of the troops in Liangguang has disappeared! The officer in charge of intelligence in Fujian said.

"Which one?" Li Cunhou was stunned for a moment and asked.

"The party army established by the Kuomintang!"

"Party army, that 3,000-strong army? It's not that Lu Rongting is mean to them. Even weapons and ammunition have not been fully distributed. Is it possible for such a force to make such a big move in southern Fujian? Li Cunhou said with some noncommittality.

"Overseer, don't forget the influence of the Kuomintang throughout the country, and according to the information we began to receive, the city of Zhangzhou fell without a fierce battle. This can only show that the enemy has an internal response in Zhangzhou City. And those who can do this, except for those ubiquitous revolutionary parties, I am afraid that the two Guangxi will not have this kind of influence. Moreover, after the Kuomintang party troops took Zhangzhou, they must have seized the weapons and ammunition of the Zhangzhou Security Regiment. The entire arsenal of Zhangzhou was ransacked, although there were no high-quality arms in it, but after all, it was a modern gun, and it was no problem to equip an army of 3,000 people. In this way, the party army will also have arms and weapons, and it will also have the strength to ambush our vanguard regiment. Jiang Dong carefully analyzed.

"Makes sense! But either way, it's just speculation. The relationship between the two Guangxi and our Beiyang is tense, regardless of whether this matter is done by the two Guangxi or the Kuomintang. Let's all be prepared! Therefore, it is necessary to report to the Nanjing government, and besides, the Overseer has decided to lead the main force of the entire Fujian army to the south. Garrison the border of Fujian and Guangzhou! Li Cunhou said.

After several transfers from Beiyang, the entire Fujian army was extremely empty, and the main force of the Fujian army as a deterrent force was only about 10,000 people, and now it has been killed by the Kuomintang party army of 3,000. Now there are only 7,000 elite Beiyang troops in the whole of Fujian. Of course, there are still quite a few local security regiments. Unfortunately, there is a big gap between the training level and the regular army in terms of training level and weaponry. After all, in the whole of Fujian, there are few big counties like Zhangzhou. Therefore, the defense forces of Fujian as a whole are already very weak.

Nanking.

Although Feng Guozhang is nominally the Ministry of Foreign Propaganda and the Nanjing Beiyang Government is a continuation of the Beiyang Government in Beijing, only Feng Guozhang himself knows the actual situation. Originally, Feng Guozhang didn't have much real power in Beijing, and he clashed with Duan Qirui several times, but he didn't get much power from Duan Qirui. When he left, although there were many followers, the foundation of the Beijing government was firmly controlled by Duan Qirui. The treasury is not even more accessible to him. It can be said that the current Nanjing Beiyang government is an empty shelf. Originally, part of the wealth left by Beiyang was still in the hands of Duan Qirui, who was sitting in Jinan.

"We must think of establishing a government financial system in the shortest possible time, and without money, we can build a new Beiyang army there!" Feng Guozhang fell into deep distress.

"President, we can draw a sum of money from the provincial overseers as a turnover, and I will re-establish our central bank as soon as possible." Wang Shizhen also scratched his head a little. Although he also held a high-level position in the Beijing government, everything in Beijing developed from the Manchu system. It can be said that many things have been developed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty for hundreds of years. They just need to improve. It takes a lot less effort. But now the situation is different. Since the establishment of the Beijing government, Nanjing's influence has been weakened, and although the city is still magnificent, it is not a place where financial resources are accumulated, which leads to the embarrassing situation of the new Beiyang government with a lot of enthusiasm for the lack of rice. There was no money, and the conscription order issued by Feng Guozhang also became a joke.

"That's all there is to it now! Prime Minister, the current situation in Beiyang is not optimistic, we must grit our teeth and hold on. We in Beiyang must not perish like this! Feng Guozhang said firmly.

(To be continued)