On October 19, the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Nationalist Army formally marched to southern Jiangsu, the 2nd Division marched north in the direction of Nanjing, and the 1st Division marched in Suzhou and Shanghai as the main operational directions.

Sa Zhenbing's prestige in the navy is incomparable to other admirals, and there is a precedent of defection led by Wen Tinghe and others in the past, so now there is a fierce debate within the Hairong and other ships, some advocate going north, and then some hope to end the confrontation, the navy remains neutral in the war between the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army, and some hope to throw themselves to Fuzhou like the previous Haiqi and other ships.

This controversy soon spread to the entire fleet, first of all, there was a riot in the Yuzhang, the sailors who supported the Nationalist Army and the officers and the sailors who supported the Beiyang Army exchanged fire with the officers, and then the officers and sailors who supported the Nationalist Army took control of the warship and quickly raised the white flag.

In this way, it can be regarded as causing a chain reaction, and soon the Haichen also raised the white flag, followed by other ships also raised the white flag, but there are also a few ships that want to break out, in the face of this situation, Sa Zhenbing is not polite, directly fired a few shots at the nearby water, under the threat of force, the remaining few ships also had to hang the white flag.

Although these naval ships all hung white flags, they did not say that they would surrender directly, and the Hairong and Haichen and other ships jointly sent people to meet Sa Zhenbing on the Haiqi side to discuss the surrender and the follow-up matters of the Hairong, Haichen and other ships, and put forward relevant requirements, such as if the Hairong and other ships joined the Fuzhou fleet, whether the arrears of the officers and sailors on these warships could be resolved, whether the treatment of the officers and sailors on the ships would change, and whether the positions of the main officers would change.

In the face of the many concerns and demands of these people, Sa Zhenbing did not dare to make a decision, but chose to send a direct report to the Hangzhou Headquarters on the Haiqi, asking Chen Jingyun to make a decision.

Chen Jingyun looked at the requirements of the navy, and found that there was nothing else, but there was a lot of arrears of pay for the personnel on these warships, and he had already allocated hundreds of thousands of special funds to the Navy Department for the arrears of personnel of the four ships, including the Haiqi and Haichou, and now with the addition of such a large number of people, the expenses required would not be small.

Although Chen Jingyun still has some spare money in his pocket, no one can predict how long the war between the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army will last, and Chen Jingyun must keep a large amount of money in his hand for military expenses, and this money cannot be used easily. However, the navy can't say that it won't give it directly, it has already taken in Haiqi and other ships, and if Hairong, Haichen and other ships are taken in now, then there will be no more usable surface forces on the Beiyang side except for a few gunboats. And he controls most of China's naval forces, which is nothing to the great powers, but if it is used in the civil war at home, especially in the Yangtze River to support the army, it is still quite good.

So Chen Jingyun pondered for a while and said: "Yu Feng, remember, let's just say that I agree to their request, including not changing the officers and soldiers of the existing ships, and the treatment of officers and soldiers will remain the same. ”

After Yu Feng wrote it down, he immediately turned around and went out.

The matter of the navy has been roughly settled now, and Chen Jingyun has paid attention to other aspects.

The 19th National Army marched into southern Jiangsu and Shanghai, the situation was not clear in the morning, not many people knew the news, and the few who found that the National Army had made some moves only thought that the National Army had some movements or exercises, and when the National Army entered the Shanghai area in the afternoon, the news of the National Army's large-scale attack on southern Jiangsu was spread, and Yuan Shikai in the north also got accurate news at this time.

"How's it going down south?" Yuan Shikai asked in a calm voice.

Duan Qirui said: "The reaction of the Southern National Army is what we expected! Indeed, when the Beiyang Army appointed Feng Guozhang as the commander of the Second Army and sent the Eighth and Fifth Divisions southward, they had already guessed that the Nationalist Army would react, and also guessed that they would take the initiative to go north to southern Jiangsu and rely on the Yangtze River to resist.

Duan Qirui continued: "According to the news, now the first division of the Nationalist Army has attacked the Shanghai and Suzhou areas, and has clashed with the Shanghai army and the merchant group stationed in Shanghai.

The Second Division of the Nationalist Army had already entered the southern Jiangsu region, and it can be judged that they were coming in the direction of Nanjing

In addition, there is accurate information that the 7th and 4th Divisions of the National Army and Chen Jingyun's private guard division have also arrived near Hangzhou, and it is expected that they will also be put into operation in southern Jiangsu one by one! ”

Although everyone's intelligence system is very backward in these years, the Nationalist Army can say that there is a military intelligence department, and the Beiyang Army lacks such a professional intelligence department, but now the northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu regions are transparent for both sides, and the long-term focus allows both sides to know how many troops the other side has, although the specific details of the operation are impossible to know, but the general things can still be investigated.

Of course, this was only before the war, and after the outbreak of war, the frequent movement of various troops, coupled with the relevant secrecy, would make it difficult for outsiders to know the movements of the troops.

Yuan Shikai nodded and said: "Since the national army has moved, then we can't lag behind, give Feng Guozhang an order, let him immediately launch an attack on Nanjing, and be sure to take Nanjing before the national army reaches Nanjing!" In addition, Nantong and Zhenjiang should also pay more attention! ”

Like Chen Jingyun, Yuan Shikai only gave his subordinates a general combat goal, as for the specific combat process and tactics, he didn't care, in fact, he couldn't manage it, limited to the current communication situation, he Yuan Shikai had no way to carry out remote command before being thousands of miles away.

When Feng Guozhang received Yuan Shikai's telegram, he had already arrived in Chuzhou, Anhui Province with Cao Kun's Third Division, and set up a headquarters in Chuzhou.

Since a regiment of the vanguard of the Fifth Division arrived in Chuzhou, various military columns of the Beiyang Army have been constantly stopping at Chuzhou, transporting follow-up troops and at the same time transporting a large number of heavy weapons and equipment and logistical supplies to the Beiyang Army troops in Chuzhou.

"Now that Chen Jingyun's national army has begun to move, we can't continue to drag it out, we must set off as soon as possible!" Jin Yunpeng, the commander of the Fifth Division, said bluntly as always.

The Fifth Division of the Beiyang Army had already arrived in Chuzhou, and if it hadn't been for Feng Guozhang's order to postpone their southward march and wait for the arrival of the Third Division, they would have already arrived in Nanjing at this time, where they would have been passive today.

Regarding Jin Yunpeng's complaining tone, Feng Guozhang just didn't hear it, this Jin Yunpeng is Duan Qirui's confidant, and it is normal to be dissatisfied with himself, Feng Guozhang didn't bother to argue with him, but turned his head to Cao Kun and said: "Zhong Shan, has the third division settled down now, how is the situation!" ”

Cao Kun and Feng Guozhang have always had a close relationship, the Beiyang system is basically a pyramid, Yuan Shikai is a well-deserved spire, and then in the second echelon are Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, and in the next third echelon, they are basically the division commanders of each division, such as Cao Kun, Wang Zhanyuan, Jin Yunpeng and others, and Cao Kun in this third echelon Because of Yuan Shikai's deep trust, the third division has always been regarded by Yuan Shikai as a descendant of the army, so this Cao Kun can be regarded as the leader of the third echelon. At the beginning of the year, when Feng Guozhang was snubbed by Yuan Shikai because of the Hubei incident, he Cao Kun maintained a close relationship with Feng Guozhang, and later when the Guangzhou army was in turmoil and the situation in northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu was tense, he tried his best to let Feng Guozhang serve as the commander of the Second Army, so the relationship between the two is a little complicated.

Cao Kun paused and said, "Brother Feng, don't worry, the sons and daughters of my third division are all men who can endure hardships, and now they have all settled down and can go south to fight at any time!" ”

Feng Guozhang nodded: "That's good!" Then he glanced at the few generals below and said: "Since there is a move, then we should also move, tonight the fifth division set off by car overnight, and the third division will follow closely and take Nanjing in the shortest time!" ”

After Feng Guozhang gave the order, the Beiyang Army moved up and down, and the main force of the Fifth Division had already taken the army column that had been prepared for a long time and headed south overnight, and early the next morning, the front troops of the Third Division had also begun to get on the bus, and they were exactly following the Fifth Division.

And at this time, Feng Guozhang got the news that Shanghai had been captured by the Nationalist Army.

That Chen Qimei wasn't so loud before, why was she silent when she was beaten by Chen Jingyun! Feng Guozhang did not hide his dislike for the revolutionaries, when he was in charge of the Hubei front as the commander of the First Army in Hubei, he was not polite to the revolutionaries, and he didn't even care about Yuan Shikai's hints, if he could be more resolute at that time and did not obey Yuan Shikai's orders, maybe the uprising in Hubei would have been extinguished.

"I already knew that there would be such a day, I didn't kill them all in Hubei, and this time I had to let their heads cover Nanjing City!" Feng Guozhang pressed the saber in his hand and looked at the soldiers of the Beiyang Army who were slowly walking on the train, wearing gray military uniforms, at this moment he seemed to have found the spirit when he was in Hubei.