Beijing's recovery, plus the previous Shanghai, Shenyang, Jilin, Wuchang, Jiangning, Anqing, Xi'an, there are already six provinces and two cities, and the remaining Qiqihar, Taiyuan, Fuzhou, Kunming, Guizhou The land of the five provinces is estimated to be taken after dawn.

Everyone was waiting for news from the rest of the place, and the staff officer outside suddenly said that Chengdu had also been taken, which was not originally in the plan, but the Tibet side was mainly to persuade to surrender, so the target of the 13th Division was only Chongqing and Chengdu, and the division commander Xie Cheng was originally from Chengdu, although it was a temporary plan, but it was still successful.

Seeing that the staff officers planted the flag of Sichuan again, Yang Rui was a little high-spirited, after tonight, the important places that have not been taken are the three provinces of North China and the land of Guangzhou, and in addition, there are Zhejiang and the unstable Nanjing in East China. Except for some troublesome places in Zhili, other places are not difficult to take.

"Sir, Kunming has also taken it. Guizhou has also just finished fighting. Another news came, Xu Jingxi read the good news, but this time he had a difficult face, and added: "Sir, Luo Peijin and Li Gengen over there in Kunming want to promote Cai Songpo as the governor, and they say that Cai Yi guarantees that he will support the revolution wholeheartedly,"

After Cai Ye was defeated in Jinhua, he was sent to Kunming by Liang Qichao, Luo Peijin and him over there were old acquaintances, the two were colleagues when they were in Guangxi, and Cai Ye has always appeared as sympathetic to the revolution, so as soon as he arrived in Kunming, he fought with the Yunnan Revolutionary Party, but it was so hot that he wanted to push Cai Ye as the governor, which was too much.

Yang Rui hadn't answered yet, and Liu Boyuan next to him said: "After Cai Songpo entered Yunnan, he was appointed by Li Jingxi as the assistant commander of the 37th Association. It has a close relationship with Luo Peijin and Li Gengen. Sir, some of the officers above the 19th Town Band are our men, and some of them are members of the Confederate. I think they are trying to reconcile the contradictions, which pushed Cai Songpo to the top. ”

Those members of the new army are not credible as long as they are above the pipe band. Yang Rui has long known this, these non-commissioned officer schools will return to China as officers as soon as they graduate, and they have not undergone rectification, even if they have ideological education work, they are in the big dye vat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. These may not be useful to them.

"Is Cai's guarantee useful?" Yang Rui has a good impression of Cai Yiben, but in this era, he is above the chess game. Favor only kills people, "Why should we trust his assurance?" ”

"This ......," Liu Boyuan said, "sir, the situation in Kunming is now in the hands of Luo Peijin and Li Gengen. We don't believe in Cai. But they believe in Cai. ”

"If they believe, they will believe, but I don't believe anyway!" Yang Rui said again, "Appoint Luo Peijin as the chief of military administration, Li Gengen as the chief of civil affairs, and Cai Yi will rest first." Kunming's uprising, he just happened to be at the meeting, and he should be the governor of everything for those who have committed crimes for the ineffectiveness of the revolution. It's a dream! ”

Yang Rui is a person who doesn't give any face to Kunming, Liu Boyuan shook his head in his heart. And Xu Jingxi knew Yang Rui's temper, so he had to ask people to draft a telegram and try to embellish the wording as tactfully, but after the telegram was sent, there was no response from Kunming for a long time, and the dispute between the governors of Yunnan only cast a shadow on this victorious night.

The occupation of the provincial capitals is the task of this evening, and the movement of the new army, the pre-battle uprising, is another extremely important task. When the sky was bright, Pei Shoutong came to report, "The 8th and 11th towns west of Yanzhou have revolted, Zhang Biao, the commander of the 8th town, was killed, and the officers above the standard command were imprisoned, Li Yuanhong, the commander of the 11th town, was also imprisoned as well as the officers above the standard commander, and the 7th and 16th towns in the north have also been notified in place, once we send troops to the north, they will turn against the front of the battle, and surround the 12th town together, if they do not surrender, they can annihilate the 12th town......"

"Don't annihilate, just surround them and make them surrender." Yang Rui interrupted, there are three Jiangsu towns in the north, one Anhui town, and the 12th town is organized and trained in northern Jiangsu, and it is also controlled by the Beiyang system, and the Fuxing Society does not penetrate it deeply.

"Yes, sir!" Pei Shoutong agreed, "But I'm afraid that there will be some trouble over there in the 9th Town, they killed a lot of us when they were in Hangzhou a few years ago, and the soldiers and officers are worried that we will retaliate after the uprising, and Chief of Staff Tao is now transferred to the 7th Town, and the work there is not very good." ”

"Then send someone to sue them, as long as it is a fight on the battlefield, then our revival will definitely not be blamed for the past." Yang Rui said unhappily, so many people died in Hangzhou, and the 9th town was involved.

"Sir, I'm afraid it's not enough." Pei Shoutong said, "After the city of Hangzhou was broken, many troops in the 9th town participated in the massacre, and they could only be assured that they would not be relieved. Now the location of the 9th town is behind the other towns, that is, near Xuancheng, when we surround the 12th town, they are likely to flee to Nanjing, and the chief of staff of the 9th town is called Shi Jiuguang, who was a member of the Huaxing Association earlier, and it is not known whether he is a member of the League now. Although Nanjing was occupied by our side, the number of troops was too small, just some patrols and the like, and on the other side of the river were stationed in Pukou, the governor of Jiangnan, Liu Guangcai, with more than 8,000 Jiang defense troops, and they did not dare to cross the river at night, but it was difficult to say after dawn. ”

"Nanjing was originally a rush to run." Yang Rui was not worried about Nanjing, "After a night's work, can't the treasury be empty?" Beijing has been occupied by us, it doesn't matter if Nanjing is in hand or not, Liu Guangcai is a person who has meritorious service to the country, I remember that Gengzi Nian's mother closed the fight against the Germans, it was he who led people to do it, it doesn't matter if he doesn't surrender, as long as he doesn't go to the river! And in the 9th town, if the people involved in the massacre are let go, how can they explain to the association? ”

"Sir, Liu Guangcai we have been in contact with before, not a foolish person, once he knows that we occupy the north of Beijing, it is not difficult for him to cross the river, but the 9th town is not good, Xuancheng is only one hundred and fifty kilometers away from Nanjing, if it is really a rapid march only three days at most. When Nanjing is occupied by them, and they are afraid that we will attack, they are likely to take refuge in the League, which ...... "Bei Shou is a fellow Taoist, and he still stands on the side of the overall situation in terms of grievances and the overall situation."

"Ji Mei, I know that the 9th town is very important, but even if we say that the previous things are not to blame, will they really believe it? In the 9th Town, not only the officers did not worry about us, but also many of the soldiers. Most of the people who were inclined to revolution were transferred by Xu Shaozhen to the 7th town, which seemed to me to be no different from Beiyang. North. I think it's better to force the 12th town down first, and then solve the 9th town. Yang Rui looked at Nanjing on the map, thinking about the situation of the 9th town, and only felt that this town was really troublesome. The two sides of the League must go all out to suppress them, and they must not be allowed to occupy any of them, and those members of the League in the 100,000 mountains of Qinzhou, Guangxi, must also be expelled. ”

Yang Rui finished speaking. Glancing at Liu Boyuan again, Liu Boyuan hurriedly said, "Sir, according to the current information." Because of the events in Hangzhou, the whole town of No. 9 did not believe us, and it was almost impossible to propagate the revolutionary development organization in the town. Now that the whole country is unknown, it is impossible for them to surrender. Retreating to Nanjing would be their only option. The only way to deal with them is to encircle and annihilate. ”

Yang Rui's opinion is only the opinion of his superiors, and the opinion of the Military Intelligence Bureau is based on the actual situation, Pei Shoutong actually knows the truth about the 9th Town, but he still wants to work hard, his hard work was said by Yang Rui and Liu Boyuan, but he let go in his heart, he had to say: "Then try to drag the 9th Town in Xuancheng." When the fighting on Yanzhou's side is over, we will have a showdown with them. ”

"How's it going to the east?" No more talking about the 9th town. Yang Rui only asked about the east, after the big victory at the beginning of the year, the Qing soldiers had the idea of joining forces on the southeast side, so the east side that Yang Rui said was actually the southeast side.

"To the east, there are two towns, the 10th town in Fujian and the 14th town in Jiangxi, the 10th town will be led by the town commander Xu Chongzhi to defect, and the 14th town will be led by several members to lead the uprising. The Qing army on this side has the most, two towns in Manchu and Mongolia, one town in Beiyang, and then there are 30,000 or 40,000 people in the patrol team, I think it is best to wait for the 4th Army's arms to enter the port before doing a decisive battle, only in this way can we prevent the scattered Qing army from escaping to the Ningbo area. "Bei Shou is like-minded.

"The British will not let an arms ship into the port." Yang Rui said very dissatisfied, the South African side is to transport troops first, and then to transport weapons, although they are all rifles, but the munitions ship was still stopped by the customs outside Wusong in the middle of the night, "They just want to let them go, and they have to wait until the domestic situation is clear." The 4th Army should first use the equipment of the Jiangnan Bureau. When the airship in Beijing is free, let the munitions ship unload the weapons on the island and use the airship to bring them in. ”

What Yang Rui said was indeed the truth, and Bei Shou said: "But those rifles in the Jiangnan Bureau ...... A lot of them are unusable! ”

"If you can't use it, you have to settle it, if you can't do it, then only drop one division and go to Hangzhou, and the other two divisions will be on standby in Shanghai, whether it's airship transportation, or the capture of the Manchurian and Mongolian new troops, it's important to wait for the guns in hand, then immediately drive to Nanjing, aren't you worried about the 9th town, let these two divisions go." Yang Rui waved his hand, Britain's attitude made him more and more angry, he wanted to see what else they could do after the whole country was restored in a few days.

Yang Rui no longer looked at the map of China with more and more red flags, but asked Liu Boyuan, "Yuanshi, Huang Xing in Hong Kong, Song Dunchu in Wuchang, and Yuan Shikai in Anyang, what will these people do when they get up and receive the news of the change in the country?" And that Sun Wen, where is it now? ”

Yang Rui asked several people one after another, Liu Boyuan didn't know what to say for a while, so he had to pick Sun Wen and said: "After Sun Wen remitted money to Huang Xing, he got on a cruise ship to Europe, it is estimated that he went to France, and wanted the French who had supported him before to support him again, and then during our Northern Expedition, we could occupy Liangguang as a revolutionary base." When we went north to Beijing, he went north to Jiangxi and Hunan, anyway, to divide the country into the north and the south. ”

"Well, that's like how he did it." Yang Rui nodded, and then smiled: "What about Huang Xing in Hong Kong?" He has 300,000 oceans in his hands, and he hasn't found anyone to sell his life yet? ”

Yang Rui said that Huang Xing was funny, and Liu Boyuan also laughed, "Sir, you have money in your hands, but people can't recruit them casually, the last time Guangzhou made an incident, Huang Xing was harmed by those parties, and many people received money but ran away that night." This time, he recruited people again, and I am afraid that he will not be able to do it for half a month. However, Song Dunchu and Tan Renfeng have some influence in Hunan, but they are now in Wuchang, and it is too late to return to Changsha. What they can do is probably to wait for Sun Wen and Huang Xing to return to China before discussing major matters. ”

After Liu Boyuan finished speaking, Yang Rui nodded and said, "That's the truth, if nothing else, the alliance will be out." Now it's Yuan Shikai who is our great enemy. If we don't fight a decisive battle and flee to the concession of foreigners to make peace with us, then Beiyang will be the biggest opposition force after the founding of the People's Republic of China. ”

"Although there are many in the Beiyang. There are only four and a half towns, plus the fifth town in Zhejiang, which is five and a half towns. Mr. Even if it is peace, it will not be a big problem for us. Liu Boyuan said.

"Hard to say!" Yang Rui said, "Because Yuan Shikai supports the constitution, he has an extremely harmonious relationship with the gentry across the country, and he has these four or five towns, so he can help the gentry speak." Besides, he is an old man of the former Qing Dynasty, and those minions who feel the grace of the Manchu Qing Dynasty will all revolve around him when the time comes. This force is not small! ”

Thinking of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army, Yang Rui called Chen Guangshou over again and asked him to go to the General Staff to sue Sù Beishou and others, and the 5th town on the Zhejiang side was bound to be completely annihilated. And the two Beiyang towns in Yizhou. If it is possible, it is better to eat one, and not to leave too many soldiers for Yuan Shikai, when the peasant association carries out land reform, those gentry will go to Yuan Shikai to send troops, it will be a big trouble.

Looking at the whole country, Yang Rui only regarded Yuan Shikai as the only opponent, and in order to prevent Yuan Shikai from being prepared in the early stage of the uprising, the telegraph line from Shijiazhuang to Zhengzhou section of the Jinghan Railway was cut off. Even if the situation in Beijing calms down, this section of the telegram will still not be opened.

When we are in Shanghai to discuss the response from various places. At this time, it was already dawning in Beijing, and on the high wall of the embassy area, many foreign ministers came up to see the Forbidden City that had fought all night, but the smoke of the Forbidden City was nothing to see, and they were all attracted by the airship next to the Temple of Heaven. Looking at that behemoth, the Japanese minister Ijiin Hikoyoshi, who had never seen this thing, exclaimed, "What is this, is it a hot air balloon?" ”

"Nope! Mr. Minister, this is an airship. The German Minister Rex looked at the motionless airship and said proudly: "It is made in Germany, the original German goods!" I finally understood how these soldiers got in, they must be ......"

When Rex said this, he thought that tens of thousands of people could not be transported in by airships, and immediately swallowed back the words that followed, and at this time, the Belgian minister next to him, Beaumel, sarcastically said: "Sir, how many airships did Germany sell to the Renaissance Society, so that they occupied Beijing?" I think the Qing government ...... If it is still there, there will be a protest against your country's behavior. ”

Belgium is just a small root class of Britain and France, and it is a small follower, he dares to joke with Germany, Germany on the one hand to the Qing arms loan, and at the same time sell airships to the Revival Association, it is really difficult to determine the position, Rex saw this can only bite the bullet and say: "The airship is not a military weapon, it is no different from a merchant ship, but it is just transported in the sky......

Rex argued, but most of the people present didn't want to hear it, and at this time, reporters from all over the world who had just landed on the city wall kept taking pictures of the airship in the distance, and some people asked if it was broken. Under the burning of magnesium powder, the airship suddenly rose. No one, including the German Minister Lex, had ever seen an airship take off, and now that this behemoth had begun to rise, everyone was attracted to this big thing.

The airship was forced to land last night, and although it was aimed at the buffer bag, some things were still damaged, and Pan Shizhong could only wait for dawn to carefully inspect the airship. However, after circling the airship in the morning and seeing that there was no major problem, he ordered to untie the tether rope and start taking off. Because the nine tons of cargo loaded were all emptied, and there was no need for people to lift them, the airship flew. It was only at this time that the ministers of various countries on the east side of the city wall of Zhengyangmen saw the whole picture of the airship, the huge cigar-shaped body, black on the top and white on the bottom, and the white part had the logo of the Fuxing Society and the two Chinese characters "Youlong". Even though they knew that the behemoth was full of gas, the ministers present were still startled by its appearance.

The French minister, Marsley, said: "If it can be equipped with artillery, it may be more majestic than a battleship." ”

"Sir, battleships are made of steel, airships are made of cotton, and I don't think they can do anything in wartime, except to transport soldiers or guns. ”

"But the battleship can't fly." Ma Shili shook his head, still looking at the flying thing and sighed.

When Zhu Erdian was about to belittle the airship again, the people from the legation rushed up, but this time he said not to Zhu Erdian alone, but to everyone, "Gentlemen, the revolutionary army has sent someone to inform you that the telegraph station is ready to operate. ”

"Oh! That's great! Someone said happily. But at this time, the visitor added: "The diplomats of the Revival Society are outside the embassy area, and they want to have a friendly conversation with us." ”

"Talk?" Someone questioned, but Zhu Erdian immediately thought of the other party's intention, and he said to the visitor: "The legation requires that people be sent to inspect the churches and confirm the safety of the nationals of various countries before talking to them. Until then, even if the two sides meet, they will not be able to reach any useful opinions. ”

"Yes! Mr. When the visitor heard Zhu Erdian's order, and saw that the ministers of other countries did not object, they withdrew directly. As soon as he left, the ministers of various countries, in addition to instructing their subordinates to go out and send telegrams, gathered together to discuss talks with the revolutionary army.

Jurdian had already received an order from the country before dawn that Foreign Secretary Gray had granted him a certain degree of autonomy because of the drastic changes in the situation in China, and the general principle was to reduce the influence and control of the Revival Society as much as possible while ensuring the safety of the existing interests of Great Britain and the lives and property of the expatriates, and to actively support other powerful people through guò, so as to ensure that the new regime would fall into infighting in the future.

The meaning of the instruction is vague, but in Zhu Erdian's view, there are only three choices to achieve this result, one is to support Yuan Shikai and Sun Wen, of course, the best result is to support Yuan Shikai instead of Sun Wen, who can only brag; The second is to acquiesce in certain actions of Japan, such as not opposing their dispatch of troops to Manchuria.

However, this method needs to be well measured, and Japan's dispatch of troops is likely to cause Russia and the United States to send troops as well, and no matter how greedy Japan is, it will only encroach, for fear that Russia will take advantage of European tensions to annex Mongolia and Xinjiang, and once this happens, the earlier fragile Anglo-Russian agreement will collapse. This was a time of tension in Europe, and Britain and France needed Russia's help, and even if Russia violated the previous agreement at this time, Britain would have nothing to do. Thinking of this, Zhu Erdian would be even more taboo about revival, the uprising was neither early nor late, but launched at the height of the tension in Europe, if it were not for the fact that Germany had always supported the Qing government, he would have thought that Germany had instructed this revolution behind the scenes.

In addition to the first two measures, the third method is to cut off the loans to China from the banks of the four countries, and at the same time, the customs customs will not transfer them to the Renaissance Commission on the pretext that they have not recognized the new government. In fact, this is to cut off the revolutionary army's food and wages, whether it is a revolution or a war, it must be sustained by funds, and once there is no money, then the revolutionary army and the new government will be torn apart.

"Gentlemen, I think the Revolutionary Army wants us to recognize them as belligerents." Looking at the ministers, Zhu Erdian said the intention of the Fuxing Society to send people here, "According to the report of the Shanghai Customs, they have two ships full of arms that were stopped by the customs outside the Wusong Pass, without those arms, their troops in Shanghai would not be able to march to the Yangtze River and Hangzhou.

As the British Minister to the Qing Dynasty, I am not in a position to comment on the revolution that is taking place now, but from a humanitarian standpoint, I think the Legation should immediately put pressure on the Renaissance Society to stop the civil war immediately, and to immediately declare a general election to reconvene the Diet. China will now be governed by a provisional government, which could be composed of members of the Revival Society and the Qing government, and after the general election, the government would be formed by the prime minister elected by the National Assembly. Gentlemen, I think this is the most humane solution to the current situation, and I hope that gentlemen will support me in my proposal.

In addition, according to last night's report, the soldiers of the Fuxing Society have occupied the imperial palace and various royal palaces, and in view of the hatred of the Han people for the Manchus, as decent people in the civilized world, I propose that we should ensure the safety of the Guangxu Emperor and the royal family, and should do everything in our power to stop their massacre of the Manchus, as well as other uncivilized behaviors, such as the violent expropriation of Manchu property. Banks in the embassy district should stop cashing out large deposits.

If we do not stop the war immediately, or if we do not immediately stop our uncivilized behavior against the Manchus, we will not be able to recognize the Fuxing Society as a belligerent group. Gentlemen, this is my suggestion, and I hope that fellow gentlemen of the civilized world will unanimously support my decision. ”

Zhu Erdian rarely makes such a tirade, because it is an inherent tradition of British diplomacy to disguise his own self-interest in some kind of righteousness, so after this painstaking remark, his head is full of sweat. (To be continued......)