Licheng, the headquarters of the Beiyang Army of Daming Lake.

"Prime Minister, I just received news that General Xu Shuzheng was ambushed by the Northeast Army in Qufu!" Fu Liangzuo walked into the command room with a gloomy expression and reported this news to Duan Qirui, which was undoubtedly desperate for Beiyang.

"What!" Duan Qirui's face suddenly turned snow-white.

"How is this possible, hasn't the Northeast Army been pinned down by us in the Luzhong region? How could there be troops of the Northeast Army in Lunan? This must be a mistake! Duan Qirui really felt unbelievable.

"Although I don't want to believe it, it's impossible for General Xu Shuzheng to joke about this kind of thing." Fu Liangzuo's face was also very bad. After coming to Licheng, Duan Qirui did not let him take charge of the army, but let him be in charge of intelligence work, and he personally took on the heavy responsibility of command. The continuous failures made Duan Qirui distrust Fu Liangzuo's command ability. After all, this is the only remaining force of Beiyang in the northern region. If something happens again, the strength of the Beiyang Anhui system he represents will be lost.

"What the hell is going on? Can anyone tell me what's going on? Duan Qirui roared loudly. The entire war room fell silent. The combat staff officers, who were usually trembling, trembled with fear, not knowing whether they were frightened by Duan Qirui's hideous appearance or by the news brought by Fu Liangzuo.

"The enemy must have released a partial division before a full-scale attack, in order to prevent General Xu from going north. Let us lose hope of continuing to persevere. Fu Liangzuo said in a low voice. After all, he was a top talent in Beiyang, and he quickly figured out Jiang Baili's plan.

"Damn it! The Northeast Army is too ruthless. They are trying to wipe us out in the Luzhong region completely. Pass on my orders, keep the news tight, and whoever leaks the news will be killed! Duan Qirui's expression was hideous. Since the Battle of Beijing, Beiyang has assembled no less than 500,000 troops, but now the remaining remnants of the army will be defeated by less than one-tenth. And it is also a soldier whose morale is unstable and may collapse at any time. If the news of Xu Shuzheng's ambush spread in Licheng, it was very likely that the entire army would mutini before the northeast attack. If this situation really occurs, then the last bit of strength in Beiyang will not be saved.

"Yes!" Fu Liangzuo said loudly, fortunately, the prime minister's reason was not overwhelmed by anger. also knew the impact of this news on the morale of the Beiyang army, and chose to block the news as soon as possible.

"How's the loss?" Duan Qirui gasped a little, not knowing whether he was angry or nervous. Xu Shuzheng's army of 80,000 is the trump card of the Beiyang Anhui system, and it is also the last capital of his Duan Qi Rui'an. He couldn't help but care.

"The enemy has ambushed our baggage troops. The artillery regiment was put off. More than half of the weapons and ammunition are lost! ”

"What!" Duan Qirui's eyes darkened, and he almost fainted.

"Prime Minister! General Xu has temporarily withdrawn to Taean, asking for your next instructions! Fu Liangzuo said.

"Bastard, who told him to withdraw to Tai'an!" Duan Qirui finally couldn't help but roar.

"Prime Minister, General Xu is short of weapons and ammunition, even if he comes to Licheng, I'm afraid he won't be able to help much. The firepower of the Northeast heavy artillery is not compensated for by numbers. Fu Liangzuo explained. He could understand Xu Shuzheng's thoughts. On the battlefield of Zhili, the Beiyang direct line was completely defeated, and even took the initiative to cede Zhili Province. The Northeast Army also seems to have accepted this reality and did not continue south. Zhang Zuolin's division of the Northeast Army even began to dispatch military forces to crusade against local bandits and robbers, crack down on smuggling crimes, and calm the people's hearts. Wu Peifu, who was directly related to Wu Peifu, stayed in Henan, and took advantage of the fact that Zhao Qi, the overseer of Henan, led the army to the north, and annexed a large number of Yu troops left by Zhao Qi. Now Wu Peifu is in Luoyang as a Henan patrol envoy to raise the banner of Beiyang recruitment. Zhao Qi, who fled back to Henan, as the nominal overseer of Henan, was suppressed by Wu Peifu in a small county town, and the Yu army was almost completely lost after the double blow of the Northeast Army and Wu Peifu. The whole of Henan also completely fell under the rule of the Beiyang direct line.

In addition, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and Beiyang are now the only nine remaining provinces, and the direct line has completely controlled four provinces. of the remaining five provinces. Yan Xishan in Shanxi and Zhang Xun in Anhui are both neutrals in Beiyang. The only forces that the Anhui system can influence are the three provinces of Hunan, Zhejiang, and Fujian. Fu Liangzuo had just received news that the Beiyang government in Nanjing had decided to let Cao Kun lead the elite of the Beiyang Army into Fujian to eliminate the Kuomintang party army entrenched in Fujian. But Fu Liangzuo didn't see it that way, the Kuomintang army in Fujian was only a few thousand people, and there was no need to send tens of thousands of troops and let the navy transport them. The purpose of the Beiyang government in Nanjing is debatable.

"Whew!" Duan Qirui raised his head suddenly. Some blood-red eyes stared at Fu Liangzuo, and Fu Liangzuo looked at Duan Qirui very calmly.

"Do you also think that we have no hope in Shandong?" Duan Qirui said in a low voice. Shandong is the starting place of Yuan Shikai and the starting place of Beiyang, so Beiyang has a deep relationship with Beiyang and Shandong.

"Prime Minister, to tell you the truth, it is difficult for our current strength to remain undefeated. We now lack elite soldiers and sufficient logistical baggage. The Northeast Army has standard weapons and equipment, sufficient logistical supplies, and extremely powerful heavy artillery. From these aspects, the current Beiyang Army is indeed incomparable with the Northeast Army. Fu Liangzuo said heavily. These are all facts, Fu Liangzuo believes that Duan Qirui has also seen it, but he doesn't want to believe it.

"Nope! I believe that Beiyang has the ability to keep most of Shandong. Duan Qirui said excitedly. His hard work is in Beiyang, and it can be said that Beiyang has been integrated into his bones. For the prosperity of the Beiyang system, he would give up the idea of going south to Nanjing to fight for power with Feng Guozhang, and command the Beiyang Army wholeheartedly. In order to resist the advance of the Northeast Army as much as possible and retain more vitality for Beiyang.

"Prime Minister, we can't keep the central Luzhong region anymore. Now our reinforcements have been severely damaged, and they will not be able to reach the battlefield in a short time, and the Nanjing government has no ability to allocate military supplies to support the next battle. In this case love, we can't win! Fu Liangzuo said loudly. He hoped that Duan Qirui would be able to calm down and return to his original shrewdness and ability, after all, Duan Qirui was still followed by a large number of Beiyang people. If something happens to Duan Qirui, the entire Beiyang Anhui system will be completely finished.

"Can't win! Can't win! Duan Qirui said faintly.

"You guys go out first, let me be quiet!" Duan Qirui waved his hand, and the whole person seemed to have aged a lot in an instant.

Command of the Northeast Army.

"Report to the commander, there is an urgent telegram from Division Commander Guo Shanhu. The Fourth Brigade ambushed Xu Shuzheng's unit of the Beiyang Army in the Qufu area, destroying more than 3,000 of its logistics troops, and more than 2,000 of the enemy's artillery regiment were captured, and all the enemy's artillery equipment fell into our hands. Wang Jigang said excitedly.

"Great! Ha ha! I'm afraid Duan Qirui won't be able to stand it this time! Jiang Baili said excitedly. Speaking of which, there are still grievances between Jiang Baili and Duan Qirui. When Jiang Baili returned from studying in Germany, he attracted the attention of Yuan Shikai, the president of the Republic of China, by virtue of his title as the first of the three outstanding non-commissioned officers of foreign students. At that time, Duan Qirui's power in the middle of the Beiyang Army was extremely inflated, which made Yuan Shikai feel pressure, so he was ready to start weakening Duan Qirui's power, so Yuan Shikai wanted to suppress Duan Qirui by supporting Jiang Baili. Jiang Baili also lived up to expectations, with extreme time to train several regiments of excellent troops, unfortunately, the internal forces of Beiyang are huge, although Jiang Baili is excellent, but not the opponent of the entire Beiyang system, under this pressure, President Yuan Da also chose to compromise, so Jiang Baili was kicked out of the army, was transferred to the principal of the Baoding Army School, even so, Duan Qirui did not let him go, he and Xu Shuzheng teamed up, constantly suppressed Jiang Baili, Baoding Military Academy was naturally affected. This incident put a lot of pressure on Jiang Baili, and eventually led to Jiang Baili's suicide, which moved the whole country.

Since Jiang Baili joined the Northeast, Feng Shui rotated, and luck began to stand on Jiang Baili's side, in just half a year, General Duan and Premier Duan, who had been high above, were trampled under the feet of the Northeast Army led by Jiang Baili. In this form now, Duan Qirui probably never dreamed of it.

"Commander, there's even better news! Xu Shuzheng's troops, after losing the logistics unit and the artillery unit, have retreated back to the city of Tai'an! Wang Jigang said with a smile. secretly laughed at Xu Shuzheng for being timid.

"Send a telegram to Division Commander Guo Shanhu, asking them to determine whether Xu Shuzheng chose to secretly go north?" Jiang Baili said in a deep voice.

"Commander, what's wrong? Is there something wrong? Wang Jigang said in surprise.

"If Xu Shuzheng really stopped going north, then the war in the entire central Lu region would be over. We might even take over the entire city peacefully! ”

"Peaceful takeover of Licheng? How is this possible? "If there is anyone in Beiyang who is the least likely to surrender, it must be Duan Qirui, there is no doubt that this person's feelings for Beiyang have been deeply rooted in his bones. In his heart, the interests of Beiyang are even higher than the interests of the country. It can be said that people like Duan Qirui are also Beiyang in success and Beiyang in defeat.

"Nothing is impossible. The artillery units were ordered to suspend the siege. There may be a possibility of negotiation between us and Beiyang! Jiang Baili showed a smile on his lips, and now he really wanted to see what Duan Qirui's face would be when he saw him.

"Negotiations, in this case? Commander, will Duan Qirui surrender? Wang Jigang asked.

"Surrender is impossible. Duan Qirui is not Li Yuanhong, he is the real boss of Beiyang, the decision-maker of the entire Beiyang system, although Feng Guozhang is now in charge of the Nanjing Beiyang Government, but even if Feng Guozhang put Duan Qirui together in Beijing, when the Nanjing Beiyang Government was established, he had to give Duan Qirui the first high position in the army like the deputy chief of the army. Because without Duan Qirui, Beiyang will immediately fall apart and collapse! If there is anyone who has the most prestige to inherit the Beiyang system after Yuan Shikai's death, it is Duan Qirui Undoubtedly, Feng Guozhang is undoubtedly much worse in this regard! As an opponent, Jiang Baili has an extremely in-depth understanding of Duan Qirui.

(To be continued)