The Beiyang army withdrew from the southwest, and the country suddenly became peaceful. But this peace is also shrouded in the clouds of war.

The confrontation between the two lakes and the southwest, the confrontation with the Gui system, and the confrontation between the Chahar line and the northeast. On the three battlefields, the Beiyang army was nearly 400,000 people. Although war is unlikely at the moment, there is no peace between the two sides, and skirmishes continue. As for the southwest, although Beiyang failed to attack it by force, it did not stop blockading it. Although because of the end of the war, the consumption of materials in the southwest will be much smaller. But because of the blockade of the Beiyang, it is not easy for the southwest to recover its strength. This is also Premier Duan Qirui's tiger binding policy. The northeast has become a serious problem, and since the tiger in the southwest cannot be wiped out, it is necessary to make it as difficult as possible to develop. Delay the time for its development.

Beijing.

Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang reunited again.

"Brother Qirui, I want to know what you use as a condition for Japan to send troops to the Northeast?" Feng Guozhang's face was not very good-looking. Duan Qirui hid it from him very deeply, which made Feng Guozhang very dissatisfied, after all, the two sides are still in an alliance.

"Brother Huafu, you and I are both soldiers of China, how can we betray the country. Although we in Beiyang urgently need Japan's assistance. However, there is no possibility of betraying national sovereignty. For this point, I Duan Qirui still has a bottom line! Duan Qirui said with a calm face. He did have the idea of asking Japan to send troops to extinguish the Northeast at all costs, but that was when Beiyang suffered consecutive defeats and suffered a great loss in strength, and he did everything he did for the sake of his beloved Beiyang system. Now that he has calmed down, Duan Qirui has also regained his original composure. In addition, in the negotiations with Japan, the Japanese were too greedy, and they actually wanted the entire three eastern provinces, not to lend, but to cede, which Duan Qirui could not agree. If there is anyone in the entire Beiyang who cherishes his reputation the most, it is none other than him Duan Qirui.

Borrowing troops from Japan may be able to take advantage of it for a while, but it may also trigger Japan's all-out aggression against China. As Duan Qirui, he knows a lot and sees nature farther. Although he was close to Japan, he had the intention of using Japan's national strength to help China rise. After all, Japan is the only country in Asia that has won the victory of reform. Now Japan's international status is the envy of all Asian countries. After all, before opening its doors, Japan was in a worse position than China. But now that Japan is a world power, China is in danger of falling apart. This is why the elites of Asian countries rushed to Japan like moths to a flame. After all, this is the only successful example in Asia, and it has much to learn from the reform of poor and weak Asian countries.

"There is no best! Brother Qirui, we can give up our lives for Beiyang, but we can't give up the dignity of the nation. Feng Guozhang nodded.

"Yes, yes, yes! Of course I know that. Brother Huafu, I came to you this time in the hope that I could discuss with you to reintegrate the forces of Beiyang. Compared with the Northeast or Southwest, although our Beiyang is the central government, the organizational structure is too loose. The local overseers are in their own way, which seriously weakens the power of our Beiyang. Now Beiyang is facing an existential crisis, and if it is not reformed, the result of Beiyang can only be weakened and annexed by other forces. Duan Qirui said in a deep voice.

"Not bad! However, since President Yuan Da established Beiyang, Beiyang has experienced too many honors, and many things have become customized. Although you and I are the leaders of this Beiyang session, our rights are far from being as beautiful as they seem. To tell you the truth, Brother Qirui, the troops I can use are definitely less than 200,000, and they are still basically stationed on the border between the north and the south. Feng Guozhang did not hide it. He believed that Duan Qirui's situation was similar to him, and even Duan Qirui might not be as good as himself, after all, there were not many generals with real power in the composition of the Anhui faction.

"Not bad! The local overseers each have their own descendants, but when there is a crisis in Beiyang, the first thing they think of is their own net worth, in this case, in order to cope with the call of Beiyang, they send some rabble, ruining Beiyang's reputation in vain! Thinking of the previous failures, Duan Qirui was furious.

"Brother Qirui, what can I do?" Feng Guozhang asked in a deep voice. The current form of Beiyang is indeed not optimistic. Reform may be the only way forward. It's just that even with the support of the bigwigs on both sides, I'm afraid the resistance to reform will be very great.

"Centralization!" Duan Qirui said these two words categorically! In the past few days, he has been studying the reasons why the Northeast can expand and develop rapidly, in addition to Feng Yong's precise decision, there are many other aspects worth learning, and finally he really found some usable methods.

First of all, the army and the government in the northeast were completely separated, and officers were stationed in the localities only to guard against enemy aggression and not to interfere in the work of local governments. The government departments have police forces equipped with simple weaponry, which are responsible for local law and order, and because they are not very strong, they cause unrest. After the founding of the Republic of China, a police station was also established, but in many cases, the military would interfere in local security matters, and the police station often became an ornament.

The second point is the high degree of unification of military power in the Northeast! The army in the Northeast is divided into seven military districts, which are under the command of the Northeast Command. The entire Northeast Security Army belongs to one person, from small soldiers to generals, and that is Feng Yong, the young marshal of the Northeast. If Feng Yong didn't agree, others wouldn't even be able to mobilize a single soldier. Feng Yong can transfer any military cadre from any military region to serve in another military region, and he can even be dismissed from his post and lose everything in an instant. However, it is different in Beiyang, although the Beiyang army is nominally subordinate to the Beiyang government, in fact, a large part of the elite troops are the personal soldiers of the commanders at all levels. That is, private arming. In the later period of Yuan Shikai's reign, the ruling power of the Beiyang army became more and more chaotic, especially the emergence of the direct Anhui lineage, and the struggle for power and profit between the two sides, which made small warlords within Beiyang spring up like mushrooms after a rain.

Beiyang Presidential Palace.

It was supposed to be the most dazzling place in the whole of Beijing, but after the battle between the government and the court came to an end, the entire presidential palace suddenly became a hot place, and the people who originally sharpened their heads and wanted to drill the camp disappeared without a trace. The warmth and coldness of the people are very obvious in front of the gate of the presidential palace. The presidential palace is also closed, which has a bit of a legacy and independent taste. It's just that what the interior is like is another story.

"How's the preparation going?" More than three months have passed since Li Yuanhong's political defeat, and Li Yuanhong has lost a lot of weight, but his eyes are still as shining as before.

"The Southwest New Army has been secretly contacted. General Cai Ye has replied to the letter, willing to welcome the president to govern the southwest, and jointly oppose Beiyang Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and other mistakes. Wu Tingfang said excitedly.

"Great! I knew that Cai Ye must still be dedicated to the revolution. But our people haven't been discovered, have we? Li Yuanhong's face looked a lot better. There is also hope for the future.

"No, our people have been back and forth a few times, and they have never been found. But President, why don't you choose the more powerful Northeast and choose the Southwest, where the strength is greatly reduced? Wu Tingfang didn't understand what caused Li Yuanhong's thinking to change.

After being placed under house arrest by Duan Qirui, Li Yuanhong was ready to break the kettle with a vengeful attitude, and fled to the northeast to join Feng Yong. As a top political figure, Li Yuanhong certainly knows what he means to the Northeast, and to be precise, what his status as a president means. After all, the president is the leader of the Republic of China and represents the righteousness of the Republic of China. Even if Duan Qirui held the military and political power, he would not dare to speak to him and abolish him. It was only through persecution that Li Yuanhong gave up the presidential throne with his own interest.

Of course, at this stage, Duan Qirui does not attach much importance to the throne of the president, and if Li Yuanhong gives up the throne of the president now, I am afraid it will not be his turn to sit. After all, he is only the prime minister of the Republic of China, and it is impossible for him to take over in the presence of a vice president.

"Tingfang, you don't understand this. We went to the Northeast and we were just puppets. is what is said in the play, Cao Cao mastered Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. This will only greatly increase the strength of the Northeast. Coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, although I am not the emperor, but the president of the Republic of China is also the first person in the Republic of China. Whoever I am there is the central government. Feng Yong, this little doll is a ruthless person, I'm going to the Northeast, I'm afraid that the civil war will break out soon. But let's go to the southwest differently. I still know this person in the southwest, I have the ability and patriotism. The most important thing is that he has no political ambitions, and we will not be overly constrained when we go. And this time the southwest repelled the Beiyang, which also proved their ability. The southwest has a country of abundance such as the Chengdu Plain as the foundation, as long as it occupies the righteousness and restores its eyesight, it may not be able to sweep the world again when the time comes! Li Yuanhong said excitedly.

"President, I'm afraid it won't be easy for us to leave this time, although Premier Duan has been much weaker in monitoring us during this time, he has never revoked the surveillance. There is a certain danger to your exodus. Wu Tingfang said worriedly. He only took what Li Yuanhong meant to the entire Beiyang government, although now Beiyang has made Premier Duan anxious because of repeated failures, but if the president leaves, then the matter is definitely a big deal. When the time comes, Beiyang will definitely dispatch all its forces to find it. Whether they will succeed in escaping is still unknown.

"I know that, but I'd rather take risks on the way out than be kept captive like a puppet!" Li Yuanhong said firmly.

That night, there was a fire in the presidential palace, and for a while, the people who monitored it were in chaos, and they urgently mobilized forces to extinguish the fire, and the entire presidential palace was in chaos, and after working for most of the night, the fire that swept half of the presidential palace was finally extinguished. Just when the people involved in the fire extinguishing breathed a sigh of relief, they found something terrifying: President Li Yuanhong was gone!

(To be continued)