From the bottom of his heart, Yuan Shikai also did not want to go south so early, and it was a very dangerous thing to rashly start a war before the big loans for the aftermath were not in place and a large amount of military spending was not settled. And if you start a war too early, it is easy for many warlords in the south to unite, and the Beiyang Army will not have much problem dealing with Huang Xing's three divisions alone, or against the Nationalist Army, or even the Dian Army or even Li Yuanhong's troops on the Hubei side, but if these people are united, it will be very difficult for the Beiyang Army to deal with them at the same time.

Therefore, on the one hand, Yuan Shikai is preparing for a big loan for the aftermath, on the other hand, he is continuing to expand the army, and on the other hand, he is dividing the major warlords in the south, such as winning over Cai Yi to the north is a very successful example, and for example, it was not bad to let Long Jiguang go east into Guangzhou, but then it became a stinky chess, Long Jiguang occupied so many advantages in the early stage that he couldn't take Guangzhou, so that Guangzhou was occupied by the National Army, and after Guangzhou was officially occupied by the National Army, Yuan Shikai increased his worries about the National Army. As a result, there were frequent movements on the Jinpu line, and in the end, the two sides slowly turned into confrontation, and even had the feeling of a big war.

Then supporting Lu Rongting as the governor of Guangdong is also a trick to divide the governors of the south, and this trick has a great effect, otherwise it will buy the seeds that will turn Lu Rongting and Chen Jingyun against each other, and let the two sides confront each other on the Guangdong side, containing at least two divisions or more of the national army, and the Gui army, as one of the three feudatories, basically has no way to affect the situation in Hunan and Hubei.

So when he heard that Sun Wen, Huang Xing and other revolutionaries wanted to act as lobbyists to persuade the Beiyang Army to stop going south and confront the Nationalist Army, he was also a little moved, but it was only heartbeat. This is not a day or two in order to prepare for the battle on the Jinpu line, he Yuan Shikai has spent millions of troops in order to dispatch three divisions, and he can't let this money go to waste, besides, now the situation is about a momentum, so many eyes at home and abroad are staring at it, if he Yuan Shikai is the first to soften down, he must not let people scold to death, so many people in the Beiyang system must not complain about his inaction.

So even if there is no money, he Lao Yuan has to hold on, it is unrealistic to destroy the national army in one fell swoop, it is best to hit the national army hard, and lay the foundation for the Beiyang Army to go south in the future, and at the very least, to give the national army a lesson to boost the morale of the Beiyang, so that other warlords in the country can see, this China is still his old Yuan in charge, you all don't make a fuss, whoever makes trouble I will fight whom.

Otherwise, why did he spend so much money to mobilize the troops, why did he transfer Feng Guozhang to the Jinpu line, could it be that he was really just scaring Chen Jingyun.

Yuan Shikai has such an attitude, so he didn't give Sun Wen and others any good face to mediate, in Yuan Shikai's opinion, this Sun Wen Huang Xing and Chen Jingyun are all a group of people, this Chen Jingyun is still a Kuomintang, Chen Jingyun, Li Junlie, Huang Xing, are roughly the same group of people, even if there are some differences, but it should not be big.

Anyway, it's all the kind of southern chaos that will have to be cleaned up sooner or later.

However, Huang Xing on the Nanjing side still has three divisions under him, and the national army can go north at any time, so Yuan Shikai feels that the Jinpu line should be cautious, especially in the direction of Nanjing.

Based on this arrangement, Yuan Shikai ordered the Fifth Division from Xuzhou to postpone its departure to Nanjing, but to camp in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, which is 100 miles away from Nanjing, and the Beiyang Army entered Anhui through the Jinpu Line openly, although Bai Wenwei, the governor of Anhui, expressed opposition, but Anhui had no strength to resist, and Hu Wantai, the commander of the first division in Anhui, was still waiting, ostensibly obeying Bai Wenwei's command, but he didn't hear Bai Wenwei's transfer order, joking, asking him Hu Wantai to go to the Jinpu Line to fight with the Beiyang Army, It's better to just ask for his life.

The Fifth Division of the Beiyang Army was stationed in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, but the Eighth Division of the Beiyang Army began to move, on the second day after Chen Jingyun left Fuzhou, that is, on October 16, Zhang Xun's Department of the Eighth Division of the Beiyang Army received an order from Feng Guozhang, ordering him to advance south from the line of Qingjiangpu (Huai'an).

That night, Feng Guozhang once again gave an order to Cao Kun's Third Division, which had not yet arrived in Xuzhou, ordering them not to stop in Xuzhou, but to take the train south to Chuzhou, Anhui Province, and to fight the Fifth Division.

In just one day, Feng Guozhang had already arranged the general strategy, and judging from Feng Guozhang's mobilization, it can be found that the mobilization of the Fifth and Third Divisions of the Beiyang Army relied on the Jinpu line, and the operational goal of the first stage was very clear, that is, Nanjing.

On the same day, when he learned that the Beiyang Army was carrying out a formal large-scale transfer, Huang Xing was a little panicked, on the one hand, he ordered the troops to step up preparations for war, and then carefully considered whether it was time to invite the Nationalist Army to go north.

However, at this time, Huang Xing still hoped that this war would not break out, and Chen Jingyun and Yuan Shikai would be able to accept the peace proposal.

It is basically impossible to conceal the large-scale movement of the Beiyang Army from others, and although outsiders do not know the detailed movement of the Beiyang Army, it can be analyzed from the actions of the Beiyang Army.

However, due to communication and other reasons, this situation did not even reflect in front of Chen Jingyun.

On the Angelina, Chen Jingyun was having dinner with the U.S. Consul in Fuzhou, Faller, the captain of the Agilina, the U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom, and Feng Qin.

The Angelina is a cruiser of more than 4,000 tons, which is about the same as the Haiqi in terms of tonnage, but this warship is a new ship recently launched by the United States, and it is stronger than the Haiqi, which has been more than ten years old, in terms of protection, speed, or armament. This ship is not small, and it does not seem crowded after living with Chen Jingyun and other people, and even in order to welcome Chen Jingyun and his party, Angelina specially made a big supply in Fuzhou and replenished a lot of food and other daily necessities.

After a typical Western-style dinner, everyone left the table and went to the captain's lounge, where Lieutenant Commander Tom, the owner of the Angelina, took out a box of cigars and said in English, "A Cuban cigar?" ”

Chen Jingyun shook his head and said no, he smoked in his previous life, but after coming to Xinhai, he didn't have this hobby, but the others picked up one very unceremoniously.

Faller exhaled smoke and said, "General Chen, the situation in your country is tense now, and General you will inevitably trigger a series of reactions after you go to Hangzhou. I'm afraid there will be a battle between your army and the Beiyang Army! ”

Everyone is speculating about this, but no one knows whether they can fight or not, let alone others, and even Chen Jingyun himself is not sure if he can fight.

Chen Jingyun said: "Maybe! ”

Faller said: "However, according to my understanding of the Beiyang Army and your troops, there should be little difference in combat effectiveness between the two, if your troops are the same as the guard division, then it is not impossible to contend with the Beiyang Army!" ”

In this way, as Chen Jingyun's life-saving unit, the guard division has the top staffing and weaponry in the national army, and it is not even comparable to the first division, especially the quality of officers and senior non-commissioned officers is the first in the whole army, and the two subordinate regiments and related auxiliary units have experienced the baptism of the war in Hangzhou and Guangzhou, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the combat effectiveness of this guard division is the first in the national army, and it is impossible to demand that other units of the national army be as strong as the guard division.

Faller continued: "But General, your troops on the Zhejiang side are much higher than the Beiyang Army, so it shouldn't be a big problem at that time!" ”

Chen Jingyun said with a smile: "Then I have to accept your noble words!" ”

At this time, the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Tom, also spoke: "General Chen, as far as I know, Vice Admiral Sa Zhenbing, the commander of the fleet this time, is the main host of the Bethlehem contract?" ”

Hearing this Bethlehem contract, Chen Jingyun was a little strange, because the Bethlehem contract and the military assistance treaty are both secret agreements, except for a few high-level officials on both sides who know about it, ordinary people don't know, and many middle-level officers of the Nationalist Army only know that Chen Jingyun has purchased a large number of artillery from the United States, but they don't know that the money for the purchase of artillery is still borrowed from the United States, and they don't know that there is a huge naval cooperation plan between the Nationalist Army and the United States.

And the Lieutenant Commander Tom in front of him seemed to know the inside story, so he immediately nodded and said: "Yes, Sa Lao is the elder of our Chinese Navy, and he is also in charge of this naval cooperation plan!" ”

At this time, Faller spoke: "By the way, I forgot to mention before, now our Admiralty has decided to send a naval advisory group to Fuzhou, which will be led by our Rear Admiral General Najaf and will arrive next month, and Lieutenant Commander Tom is also one of the advisers in the advisory team. ”

This naval advisory group is also one of the naval cooperation programs, after all, China is now extremely short of naval talents, and if those new warships want to give full play to their combat effectiveness after returning to China in the future, corresponding preparation and training work is indispensable; in addition to sending cadets to the US Naval Academy, the US Navy will also directly send an advisory group to Fuzhou to help China conduct training and build a modern navy.

Lieutenant Colonel Tom seems to be very interested in Sa Zhenbing, but since boarding the ship from Fuzhou, Sa Zhenbing has been staying on the Haiqi to lead the fleet, and has always passed over to the Angelina.

Immediately, Chen Jingyun said: "When you arrive in Hangzhou, I will introduce you to you!" ”

Lieutenant Colonel Tom smiled and thanked him.

Departing from Fuzhou on the morning of the 15th, the speed along the way was not very fast, and the fleet did not arrive in Hangzhou until the afternoon of the 17th. At this time, the high-level generals of the National Army near Hangzhou all arrived at the port of Hangzhou to pick up the ship, such as Chen Weihua of the First Division, Ma Cheng of the Second Division, Lin Zhaomin of the Seventh Division, and some civil affairs officials of the Zhejiang Military and Political Axe also came, such as Jiang Zungui, the governor of Zhejiang, and Zhuang Nan, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Finance.

After the fleet arrived, Chen Jingyun and others did not leave the American cruiser Angelina first, but a regiment of the guard division in the fleet got off the ship first, this regiment is the first regiment of the guard division, and it also came to Hangzhou by boat at the beginning of the year. Another half an hour later, Chen Jingyun led a group of high-ranking generals of the National Army to descend from the Angelina and set foot on the land of Hangzhou.