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Chapter 408 Behind the scenes

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    As early as the beginning of the year, Duan Qirui had already sensed Zhili's disobedience.  He tried his best to prevent Zhili from going north, but in the end he failed.  At the beginning of the new year, it was planned to replace the Henan governor Zhao Ti with Wu Guangxin, a figure from the Anhui clique, in order to block Wu Peifu's return north (at that time, the main force of Wu Peifu's army was fighting against the Guangzhou military government in Hunan).  The latter tended to favor the Feng clique, but had always opposed the Anhui clique's connivance with Japan.  However, President Xu Shichang refused to publish it for fear of causing a huge change.  In order to gain direct support, Jin Yunpeng also expressed his opposition. Therefore, he did not forgive Duan Qirui and almost resigned.

    On March 7, Wu Peifu, commander of the 3rd Division of the Zhili Army stationed in southern Hunan, ignored the Beijing government's request to withdraw his troops and move north, despite the Beijing government's refusal.  On March 18, the commanders of the mixed brigade under Wu Peifu, Wang Chengbin, Xiao Yaonan, and Yan Xiangwen, began to withdraw their defenses and move northward. The Guangzhou military government paid an additional 300,000 yuan as departure fees.  In response, Qu Tongfeng, Chen Wenyun, Wei Zonghan, Li Jincai, Liu Xun and other division commanders of the Anhui clique garrisoned near Beijing called on them, claiming that there were insufficient barracks and refusing to move the Zhili troops.

    At this time, Cao Kun was just testing the waters. Seeing the Anhui clique fighting back tit-for-tat, he did not dare to press too hard. However, both sides knew that a larger-scale war was about to begin, which was irreconcilable.

    The "May 4th Movement" brought disrepute to the "Anfu Congress" controlled by Duan Qirui's government and the Anhui clique, and its prestige among the people was gradually lost.  Seeing the achievements of Zhang Hanqing's "Anxi Army" in the northwest, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu became jealous.  Seeing that the current situation was like this, the two thought they had an opportunity to take advantage of it, so they sent people out to actively lobby Zhang Zuolin in order to achieve the goal of the Zhili and Feng cliques attacking the Anhui clique from the north and the south.

    At this time, Fengjun had completed the reorganization of 10 divisions, and it was a time when the troops were well equipped with sufficient food and talent.  The stability of Xing'an, Rehe, Chahar, and Mongolia and the achievements of the "Northwest Army" have brought the prestige of the Northeastern United Provincial Autonomous Government to a new peak, and also made the top officials of the Fengtian clique once again turn their attention to the interior of the pass.

    But Zhang Zuolin weighed the pros and cons of the olive branch offered by the Zhili clique, and could not make a decision: on one hand, he was tempted to gain benefits by entering the customs, and on the other hand, he wanted to offend the Japanese who were the supporters behind the Anhui clique.  Although he is a very patriotic warlord at heart, at this time and place, with his power and status, he cannot help but be concerned about the influence of the Japanese.  Wu Junsheng, an important ally in his life, is also unwilling to go out of seclusion. Wu insists on "secluded in seclusion and waiting for the future. Liaodong is small enough to be the king." At present, his priority is to wait and see the situation and keep a low profile.

    Zhang Hanqing and Sun Liechen were supporters of leaving the customs. Sun Liechen believed that the main force of the Anhui clique was dispersed in various places and was easy to defeat.  There was little resistance for Fengjun to leave the border, and with the power of stabilizing Mongolia and his influence among the Chinese people, it is not known that he might take advantage of the rebellion between Zhili and Anhui to seize control.  Zhang Hanqing, on the other hand, knew that the Zhili-Anhui War was a quick victory in history, so of course he advocated sending troops to prevent the Zhili clique from gaining power in the Beiyang government.  He believed that due to the fear of Britain and the United States, the lack of domestic economic strength, the influence of the political climate, and the burden of the Far East Intervention Force, the Japanese were not yet capable of large-scale intervention and would only express symbolic opposition.  Nothing to fear.

    Zhang Zuolin had become accustomed to Zhang Hanqing's advice. He readily agreed and in April, with Wang Naibin as his plenipotentiary representative, he discussed the conditions for forming an anti-Duan alliance with the Zhili clan.  The conditions given by Zhang Hanqing are:

    The Beijing government will be formed together, and the chief ministers of finance, agriculture, commerce, and transportation of the new government will be appointed by the Fengxi faction;

    The Feng clique obtained Zhangyuan, the capital of Chahar Province (i.e. Zhangjiakou, which was currently held by the Anhui clique's troops);

    Tangshan and Qinhuangdao in Zhili Province surrounded by Rehe were merged into the Rehe Special Area controlled by the Feng clique to form Rehe Province;

    The Suiyuan special area of ??the Zhili clique¡¯s customary forces belongs to the Fengcian clique;

    The Zhili and Fengxi factions joined forces to attack Shaanxi in the northwest. The two sides were bounded by the Wei River. The Northwest People's Army occupied the north and the Zhili Army occupied the south.

    Tianjin is the demarcation point between the two sides¡¯ forces. Both sides can station troops in Tianjin, but they are not allowed to interfere in Tianjin¡¯s civil affairs;

    After the war, the Fengcian Clan agreed and supported the Zhili Clan to own the Anhui, Shandong, and Zhejiang provinces.

    This is an agreement that is generally acceptable to both parties: Shaanxi is separated from Gansu controlled by the Feng clique and Hubei controlled by the direct line. It is actually a fair move to divide Shaanxi equally; if northern Shaanxi is owned by the Feng clique, Suiyuan will be divided between Gansu and Mongolia under the Feng clique.  , Chahar is surrounded and there is no possibility of perfecting it (nearby Shanxi is the unbreakable sphere of influence of another warlord Yan Xishan); Tianjin is a place where foreign forces gather. Although it has the benefits of customs, it is often blamed, and the direct line is not too big.  Interest; Zhili and Zhili, which are close to Shanhaiguan, are where the Feng army must pass to connect Tianjin and Rehe. The Feng army is bound to win and no negotiation is allowed.  The Zhili Clan consolidated its territory in the Yangtze River Basin and the north, while the Fengcian Clan acquired large tracts of land connecting the northwest and northeast with convenient access.  It can be said that everyone is happy.

    On May 17, Duan Qirui held a combat meeting in Tuanhe and ordered the border defense troops to concentrate in the Beijing area. Duan planned to station himself in Zhengzhou to attack the Wu army.  In order to boost morale, on April 4 of the following month?, Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng announced that they would mobilize to attack the Southern Army.

    As soon as Duan Qirui left, on June 10, Fengjun outside the customs was ordered to drive from Duliu Town, Zhili, to Langfang via Tianjin.

    While Anhui was sharpening its knives, the Anhui clique's thorns in Hunan were uprooted. On June 13, Zhang Jingyao, the governor of Hunan in the Anhui clique, was expelled from Hunan by all parties. Beijing had no choice but to "remove his position as Hunan governor and provincial governor."  , temporarily stay in office."

    On June 15, Wu Peifu and the Zhili Army brigade commanders Wang Chengbin, Xiao Yaonan, and Yan Xiangwen traveled from Zhengzhou to Baoding to meet with Cao Kun, the governor of the Zhili Army.

    On July 4, Xu Shichang dismissed Xu Shuzheng from the post of northwest border commander, appointed Li Yuan as his caretaker, abolished the commander-in-chief of border defense, and the army under his jurisdiction was taken over by the Ministry of War.

    On July 5, Anhui governor Ni Si rushed to Beijing, and Duan Qirui ordered the border guards to mobilize.

    On July 6, the border guards were dispatched to Changxindian and Langfang, and there were signs of war.

    Zhang Zuolin was already prepared to beat up the drowned dog, but in order to paralyze Duan Qirui, he personally went to Tuanhe to persuade Duan Qirui not to use troops.  However, after Duan Qirui received Zhang Zuolin's "guarantee" that Fengjun would remain neutral, he believed that victory was within his grasp, insisted on starting a war, and demanded that Wu Peifu be punished.  Under this situation, Feng Yuxiang, commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade of the Direct Line, led his troops to retreat from Taoyuan, Changde, and moved to Chenjiaji, Hankou

    The battle between Zhili and Anhui is inevitable, but the Zhili clique only has three mixed brigades of the third division led by Wu Peifu and two divisions of Cao Kun. Facing the Anhui clique's army backed by the Japanese garrison in North China, they have to be cautious.  At Wu Peifu's suggestion, Cao Kun called the Beijing mission on July 10, asking them to pay attention to the fact that Japan was secretly aiding Duan.  The United States, Britain, and France oppressed the Japanese minister to express his attitude.  On the 14th, the Japanese minister was forced to issue a declaration stating that he would never help Duan.

    In order to cheer up the Zhili clique, Zhang Zuolin sent a telegram to Cao Kun on July 11, saying that he had dispatched the 28th Division to enter the Pass first, and the Fengjun in the Pass sent Zhang Jinghui as the commander.  He estimated that there were 70,000 to 80,000 troops in the allied forces within the Pass, which could handle the war on both the east and west fronts.  He also assured Cao Kun: "We are close friends of ours. At this critical moment of life and death, we have to do our best to help."

    With the assurance that the Japanese would not help Anhui and the support from the Feng clan, Cao Kun decided to fight Duan Qirui, and the Zhi-Anhui War began.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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