readx; On April 14, the 7th Division of the 3rd Army of the Nationalist Army captured Shijiazhuang, which is not yet the kind of big city it was in later generations, in fact, just like its name, it was a small village a few years ago. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Zhengtai Railway was built, and the starting point of the Zhengtai Railway at that time was originally selected in Zhengding County, and then extended to Taiyuan, which is also the origin of the name Zhengtai Railway, but later in order to avoid building bridges on the Hutuo River, the starting point of the Zhengtai Railway was changed to Shijiazhuang on the south bank of the Hutuo River, and Shijiazhuang at that time was only a small village and few people knew, so it chose a large town name not far away 'Zhentou' as the station name. Shijiazhuang has thus become the intersection of the Jinghan Railway and the Zhengtai Railway, which not only brings the source of economic development to Shanxi, but also enables Shijiazhuang to develop from a small village to a small city in just a few years, and is still developing rapidly.

The reason why the National Army wants to occupy this place is very simple, because this is the intersection of the Jinghan Railway and the Zhengtai Railway, which is not only the southwest gate of Zhili, but also the necessary place to march into Shanxi. A large number of generals of the Nationalist Army were reluctant to let their troops climb mountains. Therefore, Shijiazhuang, a strategic transportation location, must be controlled in the same way as Xuzhou.

With the capture of Shijiazhuang by the Nationalist Army, it means that the area south of the capital of Zhili Province has all fallen into the control of the Nationalist Army, and the Nationalist Army in addition to sending the main force to prepare to attack Yanjing, but also sent troops to bypass Yanjing and advance further north, in addition to sending a regiment to march in the direction of Chengde, in addition to sending troops to the northeast along the railway line, preparing to seize Shanhaiguan.

Seeing that the Nationalist Army was about to take down the entire Zhili, and the Beiyang people who were besieged in Yanjing City were also panicked, the Nationalist Army outside the city had attacked fiercely in the past two days, and it had successively taken more than the peripheral positions deployed by the Beiyang Army outside the city. The 13th Division under Yuan Keding, who was the main force of the defense, suffered heavy casualties.

"Why didn't they send people to reinforce them, couldn't the remnants of the 14th Division even serve as reserves?" Yuan Keding was even more furious when he heard that a regiment under the 13th Division under his command had been defeated outside the city and could not even get the scheduled reinforcements.

In the face of Yuan Keding's angry question, the officers under him did not dare to speak, and Yuan Keding saw that this was also a sulking alone, although he was recalled to China by Yuan Shikai within a few months of studying military affairs, but after returning to China, he was also diligent, and he also specialized in military knowledge, although he still went through actual battles for most of the year, but the theoretical level was much stronger than that of the group of junior officers of the National Army who had only studied for three months, but even if it was stronger than a large group of middle and low-level generals of the National Army, But what he Yuan Ke is going to command is not a platoon, a company or even a battalion, but he has to command a whole division of more than 10,000 people. If you have to compare, the Beiyang Army can do better than him by pulling out an officer at the battalion commander level or above, you must know which of the middle and senior officers in the Beiyang Army, including the regiment commander, brigade commander, and division commander, has not been in the army for many years, and those division commander-level characters are more likely to follow Yuan Shikai in the era of small station training, even if they are among the southern warlords, although their generals including the national army are also young, there are many in their twenties, and there are even a large group in their thirties. However, even among the southern warlords, most of the people who can become division commanders are from professional military academies, among which the most non-commissioned officers and students are retained, and the remaining group is mostly from army middle schools or other domestic military academies. Although they were inexperienced at the beginning, but after the melee in the past few years, some generals have been cultivated more or less, as for those who are incapable, they have long been wiped out by the big waves, and the warlord melee in the early years of the Republic of China is not a game, and if they fail, they will either commit suicide with Zhu Rui or flee to the concession.

Yuan Keding knew that many people were not convinced by themselves, not only some people outside were not convinced, but even a large group of people in the 13th Division were not convinced by themselves, and it was easy to say in normal times, but when it came to the critical moment, the chain fell off, and a regiment under his command did not obey his orders to hold on, but immediately withdrew from the front line as soon as he encountered the attack of the National Army, which made Yuan Keding angry at the same time, but also because the 14th Division controlled by Duan Qirui was even more depressed.

And he didn't know at this time that Duan Qirui was already plotting to send the entire Yanjing City and the tens of thousands of Beiyang troops in Yanjing as a letter of surrender to Chen Jingyun, after all, most people have thinking limitations, according to Yuan Keding's thinking ideas, Duan Qirui is the undisputed number two person in the Beiyang system, although the role of Beiyang is not as important as his old man, but it is definitely a pivotal role, and Duan Qirui's power also comes from the Beiyang system. So he couldn't have imagined that Duan Qirui would have the intention of surrendering now.

Of course, he didn't expect that Duan Qirui not only had the intention of surrendering, but also prepared to control all the Beiyang Army in the city, and if he wanted to control all the Beiyang Army, he would have to control the 13th Division, and if he wanted to control the 13th Division, he had to solve Yuan Keding first.

And before that, Duan Qirui still had to wait for one thing, he was waiting for Yuan Shikai to close his last breath.

On the night of the 14th, Duan Qirui went to visit Yuan Shikai for the last time, but to his surprise, the Yuan Shikai he saw was not unconscious but awake, but looking at the face of the doctor next to him, he was worried and sighed, Duan Qirui also guessed that Yuan Shikai might be a phenomenon of returning to the light.

Although Yuan Shikai was awake, he was still weak and couldn't get up or even do it, so he could only continue to lie down.

"Zhiquan, you're here!" Yuan Shikai made an extremely faint voice, but fortunately, Duan Qirui listened carefully, otherwise he couldn't hear clearly, and immediately stepped forward two steps to the side of the bed and leaned down: "President! ”

Yuan Shikai looked up at Duan Qirui with great effort, and then said, "How is the war in the south?" Did the Nationalist Army cross Jinan? ”

Hearing Yuan Shikai's question, Duan Qirui felt very complicated in his heart and didn't know how to answer, since Yuan Shikai fell into a coma, he rarely had time to be awake, and Duan Qirui's previous reports of defeat on the front line in order to avoid making Yuan Shikai angry and aggravate his condition, so he didn't report things to Yuan Shikai, and now Duan Qirui still didn't want to say it.

Beiyang was defeated, but looking at the old man's appearance, he Duan Qirui couldn't bear to tell him the truth, it can't be said that the national army has reached outside Yanjing City, and even Duan Qirui and Li Yuanhong are ready to surrender to the national army.

Let the old man go with peace of mind, this is the last thing Duan Qirui can do for Yuan Shikai, so he took a deep breath and said: "Don't worry, the president, the generals have worked hard, and they have blocked Chen Yi in the south in Jinan, Shandong, and recently, Brother Wang and Brother Duan in Hubei are preparing to plan a counteroffensive and prepare to recover Xuzhou!" ”

After hearing this, Yuan Shikai showed a smile that was more ugly than crying: "Okay! Good! ”

"You have to do a good job and keep the foundation of Beiyang!" When Yuan Shikai said this, he sped up his speech: "Originally, I planned to let Ke Ding succeed me in this position, but that kid has always been domineering. Now I'm afraid I won't live for a few days, and after I go, the foundation of Beiyang will be for you to see! ”

Duan Qirui suddenly felt like tears streaming down his face when he heard this!

For the position of the heir of Beiyang, he and Feng Guozhang have been fighting from Xinhai to the present, from the former best friends to not talking when they meet now, but after fighting for several years, Duan Qirui found that Yuan Shikai actually replaced his eldest son Yuan Keding again, and as soon as he came up, the lieutenant general and division commander directly controlled the military power, which clearly showed the appearance of cultivating an heir, which made many Beiyang Army generals dissatisfied and Duan Qirui very dissatisfied.

But when Yuan Shikai was about to breathe, Yuan Shikai said to him: I chose you as the heir!

And this made Duan Qirui cry and laugh, if it was earlier, even if it was in the morning, Duan Qirui would not have such a complicated mind, he might have excitedly taken over the power given to him by Yuan Shikai and fought hard to resist the national army to the end, but now that the national army has reached the doorstep, he Duan Qirui is ready to surrender, and what is the use of letting him be a Beiyang heir.

Yuan Shikai was exhausted after saying these words, and he didn't have the energy to pay attention to the changes in Duan Qirui's face, but after finishing speaking, he closed his eyes and stopped talking.

Duan Qirui stayed for a while, and after being silent for a long time, he said: "Don't worry, president, I, Duan Qirui, will keep the foundation of Beiyang!" ”

After finishing speaking, seeing that Yuan Shikai didn't reply, but as if he had fallen into a deep sleep, Duan Qirui also got up and went out, and then he went to contact others, to surrender with Yanjing City and tens of thousands of troops, it is not an easy thing, he can't do it alone, and he has to pull in a large group of other people, and in fact, there are not a few people in Yanjing City who have the same thoughts as Duan Qirui and Li Yuanhong, plus Duan Qirui, a Beiyang bigwig, went out in person, and soon attracted a large number of people.

The next day, Duan Qirui's cronies who arranged for Yuan Shikai suddenly ran over in a panic and said to Duan Qirui: "President him, President he went west!" ”

After hearing this, the teacup that Duan Qirui was still holding in his hand fell to the ground in an instant! Although he had expected this, he was still stunned for a long time before taking a deep breath: "Let's act according to the plan!" ”