Tang Jiyao wants to send troops to Sichuan, this is naturally impossible to send troops for no reason, how to say it, people always want to save face, even if they cover their ears and steal the bell, it is good.

It takes an excuse to start a war, the Nationalist Army marched into Shanghai because the soldiers were lost, the Beiyang Army attacked Nanjing to say that the Nationalist Army had destroyed the domestic peace, and as for other small forces and small warlords, they might say that you robbed my eighteenth aunt, so I led the army to take revenge and something like that, but there will always be a reason. Tang Jiyao boasted that the Yunnan Army was also a first-class force in China, and he also positioned himself as an important role in his life, and his personal image and the image of the Yunnan Army needed to be maintained, at least he couldn't do much worse than Chen Jingyun, so in the matter of sending troops to Sichuan, he spent a lot of thought to find a reasonable excuse.

The excuse is also simple, just say that Xiong Kewu, who was stationed in Yucheng, sent troops into Luzhou and killed nearly 1,000 innocent people, while Liu Cunhou, who was entrenched in the Nanchong area, said that Xiong Kewu was mad and something, and then openly invited soldiers and horses from all sides to encircle and suppress Xiong Kewu in Yucheng. Tang Jiyao took this opportunity to officially send troops from Guiyang and Zunyi into Sichuan. At the same time as sending troops, he sent a telegram to the War Department of Beiyang Political Axe, and also sent a painless telegram, saying that the Yunnan army could not bear to see the people of Sichuan innocently killed by the cruel warlords, and was determined to sacrifice the lives of the children of the Yunnan army to protect the lives and happiness of the people of Sichuan.

Whether this excuse is true or false is not clear to anyone, and it doesn't matter, anyway, in the eyes of people in real power, there is no difference whether there is an excuse or not, the point is that Tang Jiyao officially sent troops into Sichuan.

Speaking of which, the Dian army had already tried to enter Sichuan Province before, but at that time, the Dian army was in power by Cai Yi, and the military strength was not too strong, and it had to return in vain in the face of the opposition of various warlords and warlords from all walks of life in Sichuan and Yuan Shikai's tough attitude. Now, because of the defense zone system in Sichuan Province, various warlords of all sizes have been completely divided, and the Beiyang Army and the Nationalist Army are fighting to the death in southern Jiangsu, which can be said to be the best time for the Dian army to enter Sichuan.

Yuan Shikai looked at the telegram in his hand, his face was not very good-looking, as the head of Beiyang, the nominal ruler of China, he was concerned about the situation in various provinces in China, and he was naturally very clear about the affairs in Sichuan, and he could also guess Tang Jiyao's thoughts when Tang Jiyao sent troops into Sichuan at this juncture, which was nothing more than taking advantage of the time when he and Chen Jingyun were fighting.

Yuan Shikai also spent a lot of thought in order to win over Tang Jiyao before, and he also gave Tang Jiyao a lot of benefits before and after, but Mi Ah did not win over Chen Jingyun and Yuan Shikai, Tang Jiyao has not made a clear statement, and has always had a vague attitude, obviously to be a wall-riding party, and it will not fall over there. This time, if Yuan Shikai openly opposes Tang Jiyao's march into Sichuan, it is not good to say that Tang Jiyao will completely stand on Chen Jingyun's side, which will bring more pressure to Beiyang.

It's a pity that if Tang Jiyao occupies Sichuan for no reason, the original strength of the Dian army will swell rapidly, this Sichuan is not a poor province, although it is not subject to rich coastal provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, but it is not bad, once the Yunnan army controls Sichuan, the threat caused by it does not have to be in the hands of the national army in the southeastern coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, how much smaller, or even greater.

Yuan Shikai pondered for a long time and said, "Who did Tang Jiyao send into Sichuan?" ”

Duan Qirui said: "Now Tang Jiyao has only sent one brigade into Sichuan, which is the second brigade in Yunnan, and the brigade commander is his brother Tang Jiyu!" ”

After hearing this, Yuan Shikai said while thinking about it: "In this way, contact Xiong Kewu and Liu Xiancun in Sichuan, and make it clear to them that it's okay to fight by yourself in Sichuan, but it's not so easy to leave when the Yunnan army comes!" In addition, find out as soon as possible to see who Tang Jiyao sent to lead the main force into Sichuan, Sichuan is so big, he will never send only one brigade in! There is also a temptation to test Yin Changheng, the governor of Sichuan, he is always unwilling to be a nominal governor! ”

Sichuan is already chaotic, and it is impossible for him Tang Jiyao to take Sichuan smoothly, without the Beiyang Army directly sending troops, he can make a lot of trouble by provoking it casually. For the time being, Yuan Shikai will not pay too much attention to this, just like Hubei, the situation is still under control, and occasionally some turmoil will not affect the overall situation.

Now the threat that can really affect the situation in the whole country and shake the foundation of the Beiyang Army lies in the National Army and the war in southern Jiangsu, and other things are not worth mentioning compared to this.

Then everyone said something about the reform of the salt administration and the reform of government affairs, these things Duan Qirui and other generals were naturally inconvenient to speak, Yuan Shikai and Zhou Xuexi and Zhao Bingjun said for a while, that is, let them do it. The salt administration reform has also been carried out for a long time, and one of the most important reasons is that the aftermath of the big loan is mortgaged by the salt administration, since the foreigners are naturally unwilling to continue to see China's salt administration system backward and corrupt, etc., so they are required to carry out the salt administration reform, and even directly give a reference target, that is, the salt administration reform of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

So the Beiyang side also learned from the Fujian and Zhejiang side to carry out the salt policy reform, but so far it has not been completed, the main reason is still a problem of control, the interests involved in the salt policy are too large, and the Beiyang Army is not a completely new military group like the national army, and the reform does not care about some of the original power system at all. But Beiyang is different, he basically inherited the rule of the Qing Dynasty in Northern China, and even the officials and the like have not been replaced, and the difficulty of this reform is not ordinary, so so far it is still in vain.

These things didn't take long to say, but after a few simple words, Yuan Shikai asked Zhou Xuexi and Zhao Bingjun to go out, leaving only Duan Qirui alone, leaving Duan Qirui to ask about some military things, especially the war in southern Jiangsu.

"According to this, the planes of the National Army have played a great role!" Yuan Shikai asked while listening to Duan Qirui's briefing.

Duan Qirui replied: "Indeed, in the past month, the planes of the Nationalist Army have appeared over the position almost every day, and they are well aware of every move of our army, and not long ago they also used dozens of planes to bomb Nanjing, causing the loss of more than half of Nanjing's ammunition stockpile. ”

"At the beginning of the month, didn't you already find a foreign company to buy an airplane, do you have eyebrows now?" Yuan Shikai is not a pedantic person, in fact, when he formed the Beiyang Army, he has always been extremely concerned about weapons and equipment, in the early years of large-scale equipment of Manlixia rifles, and then to the Mauser 1888 rifle and the 30-year rifle of the "Ben" and a large number of 75 artillery pieces used by the army, as well as the first large-scale heavy machine gun in China, these are basically the advanced weapons in service of the armies of various countries, and they are not much worse than the first powers. The quality of the personnel dispatched, if we look at the surface weapons and establishment, is not much worse than the armies of other powers, but it lacks large-caliber artillery of more than 105 mm.

He was quick to accept advanced weapons, such as balloons for army artillery, and airplanes that had only recently appeared. It is a pity that the development of aircraft in all countries in the world is still in a very primitive stage, and the level of aircraft manufacturing and application is extremely limited. They have all kinds of basic technologies, but up to now they have lacked an opportunity for large-scale development, and the Beiyang Army, which is trying to quickly purchase aircraft from abroad, has encountered a lot of trouble.

Originally, I wanted to go to "Ben to buy", but when I asked, I found out that people said, "Ben himself doesn't have a plane, and then he went to Germany, France and England and so on, this is there, but not to mention that it has to be transported from their own country, and the surname can also be extremely poor." However, how to say it, now the surname of the aircraft can be as long as it can fly, the flight range is long, and it is easy to pilot, even if it is qualified, and there are no strict requirements for other flight surnames, and a very important reason for this is that the aviation units of various countries themselves do not know what kind of aircraft they need, and what else can this aircraft do except reconnaissance......

In these years, the aircraft was quite cheap, even if the Beiyang Army was purchased from outside, but the price was only about a few thousand yuan, and Lao Yuan ordered 30 planes from France in one go.

"Now this batch of aircraft has been manufactured in France, and it is expected to be completed next month, and we have sent a group of students in France and the United Kingdom to receive and train, and it is expected to arrive in China in the next month!" Duan Qirui was also a little depressed when he said that, after these planes returned to China, not to mention problems such as training, even if they could be used as soon as they returned to China, it would be too late. The war in southern Jiangsu has been fought for a month now, and if it continues to fight for two months, Lao Yuan, who has no money to pay for the military, will have to step down directly.

The plane can't come back in a short time, although Yuan Shikai is anxious, he also knows that he can't change anything, so he can only wait patiently. Yuan Shikai was not short of patience, and during the Xuantong period, he was able to live in seclusion in his hometown in Xiangcheng for several years under the threat of Zaifeng, and in one fell swoop after Xinhai, he took control of the largest power in northern China. For more than a year, he has been waiting for the opportunity to come in the face of the chaos in the south, and now he continues to wait in the face of the dilemma of the war in southern Jiangsu.

Yuan Shikai is waiting for the war in southern Jiangsu to take a turn for the better, and Chen Jingyun is also waiting for the good news from the war in southern Jiangsu!

As time passed day by day, the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army had been fighting in southern Jiangsu for a month, Yuan Shikai had worked hard for the various military expenses of the Beiyang Army, and the pressure on Chen Jingyun was not small. Although the Nationalist Army does not need all kinds of messy promotion fees when mobilizing troops, the consumption of ammunition and other logistical materials, the treatment of the wounded, and the pensions of the fallen soldiers are all huge expenses.

The cost of the one-month war of the Nationalist Army in southern Jiangsu has exceeded the total cost of all the previous wars of the Nationalist Army.