Master Yuan, start!

The 9th Regiment was also sent to Xiangyin. Counting the local Xiangyong, 4 people, relying on the advantage of the Xiangjiang River, are enough to stop Yuan's army north of Dongting Lake!

Li Hongzhang nodded, expressing his satisfaction with the situation in Hunan.

Western Hunan is covered with dense forests and has towering cliffs, making it impossible for a large army to pass through.

The only way is to go through Xiangdong, but the 800-mile Dongting Lake stretches between Hubei and Hunan, blocking the road from eastern Hubei to eastern Hunan, so there is no way around it.

Some of the Hunan Braves were the remnants of the original Jiangnan Hunan Army, and they had a mortal feud with Yuan Shikai, so people's hearts were not a problem.

When Li Hongzhang mentioned the eight hearts of people, he thought of seven and six, Sichuan six, and three and four, the Sichuan governor Liu Bingzhang who was assassinated. When Li Hongzhang mentioned assassination, he thought of Li Jingfang, who was also assassinated.

Shaking his head, Li Hongzhang buried the pain of losing his son deep in his heart, pretending to be tough, and said in a stern tone: "What about Sichuan, what about the Sichuan New Army, haven't you accepted it yet?

What's Ye Zhichao doing? He's been in charge of Guizhou for a few years now, so he's said to have figured out the details of the Sichuan New Army, right?

Ding Ruchang replied, "Don't worry, Marshal Quan. I've already sent a telegram urging them to come. Ye Zhichao said he's currently in Luzhou and will be arriving in Chengdu soon!"

"If we take Sichuan, our situation can be reversed and we will no longer be trapped in a passive position of being beaten." Li Hongzhang said in a low voice, then put down his chopsticks and said:

"That Wang Xiaoqi did a good job. He was able to think of taking the initiative to bypass Poyang Lake and attack Yuan's army from behind. He is a talented person. Tell Wei Rugui in Nanchang City to send him more troops."

"Yes!"

After the military talk, the room fell silent for a moment. Li Hongzhang noticed this and asked, "What do the French and Americans say?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Shimei replied, "Marshal Quan, the French said they can lend money, but they still refuse to compromise on some conditions.

As for the Americans, they used the excuse that this was a Chinese civil war and were unwilling to get involved."

Li Hongzhang had long anticipated the French appetite, which was nothing more than signing a treaty to lease land.

But Americans are not even willing to lend money.

Is this still a foreigner?

"Ahem, you don't want to get involved?" Li Hongzhang coughed twice and roared in a low voice:

"When the Americans and the South Sea Fleet intervened in the colonial affairs of Luzon and established the Sino-American International Settlement in Manila, why didn't they say it was Spain's internal affairs?!"

After saying this, Li Hongzhang heaved a long sigh and said dejectedly:

"Forget it, let's go talk to the French and borrow the money first."

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, Yu Shimei left in a hurry.

Li Hongzhang wanted to give Ding Ruchang and Zhang Peilun some more instructions on military and political affairs, but at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the house.

"Governor, Governor, Nanchang is lost, Nanchang is lost!"

"what?"

Before Li Hongzhang could speak, Ding Ruchang grabbed the messenger who ran in waving a telegram and asked:

"Bullshit! Wei Rugui said yesterday that Wang Xiaoqi led his troops to attack proactively and to outflank Yuan's army. How come Nanchang City was lost today?

If you lie about military intelligence, I'll chop off your head!"

5 The messenger was so frightened when he heard this that his legs could not stand steadily. He stammered and replied tremblingly: "Sir Ding, this telegram was indeed sent by Commander Wei Rugui.

6 He said that Wang Xiaoqi was ambushed when he went north, his entire army was captured, and he was also taken to the gate of Nanchang by Yuan’s army.

The people in the city were uneasy, and a traitor tried to break the gate in the middle of the night. Fortunately, he discovered it during his night patrol, but the Northern Army had already taken the opportunity to enter the city. He had no choice but to retreat to Ganzhou with 3 troops!

"3 troops, retreat to Ganzhou?!" Ding Ruchang widened his eyes and immediately saw the loophole in this statement.

"Nanchang and Ganzhou are over 600 miles apart. How foolish must the Yuan army be to abandon the defeated troops and take over the undefended city of Nanchang?

I'm afraid that it's true that Wang Xiaoqi was ambushed, but it's false that there was a traitor who broke into the city!

This Wei Rugui clearly didn't see the enemy and fled all the way back to Ganzhou!"

Ding Ruchang was furious and said what he was thinking directly, completely unaware that Li Hongzhang's expression behind him was becoming increasingly worse.

However, what everyone present did not expect was that there was even worse news waiting for them.

"Governor, Governor, something bad has happened, something bad has happened!" Another messenger staggered in from outside the door, and fell down when he reached the door.

He quickly got up, covered in dust and dirt, and shouted, "Governor, Zuo Baogui and Nie Shicheng have sent a telegram to the whole country in Chengdu, demanding revenge for the Sichuan governor, announcing their joining the Republican government and marching south to attack the Huai Army.

Now, the Sichuan Army, which is mainly composed of Sichuan people, is fighting against the Sichuan Army, which was originally the old Huai Army! "

"It's over!"

Even though Li Hongzhang was good at disguising himself, he could not hold back his expression after hearing two sudden shocks, and slumped in his chair.

"It's over!"

Nanchang was lost and they retreated to Ganzhou, losing three-quarters of their territory in Jiangxi.

If Sichuan does not obey orders, we may have to send Ye Zhichao from Guizhou to pacify it.

Ding Ruchang and Zhang Peilun in the room both knew that the Lingnan Huai Army was completely passive!

Chapter 397 Behind Enemy Lines

The land of China was in turmoil. At the beginning, people from all walks of life across the country believed that Yuan Shikai's decision to go to war was too hasty.

After all, he was in Wuchang discussing the convening of the National Assembly, and the next moment he went up to the Yellow Crane Tower and claimed that he wanted to eliminate the rebels.

The southern expedition seemed too hasty and mistakes were inevitable.

But what was unexpected was that in less than a month, the standoff along the Yangtze River, from Sichuan to Hubei and Jiangxi, was completely broken.

Rather than saying that all this was due to the National Revolutionary Army's bravery and invincibility, it is better to say that it should be attributed to the Lingnan side's frequent stupid moves and the use of the wrong people.

First, Sichuan Governor Liu Bingzhang was assassinated by Li Jingfang's men, causing the originally unified Sichuan New Army to split into the Sichuan Gang and the Huai Army Gang, becoming a loose sand and fighting each other in the Sichuan Basin, greatly reducing the threat of the National Revolutionary Army on the western battlefield.

Secondly, Wang Xiaoqi's hasty advance and Wei Rugui's escape without fighting led to the loss of Nanchang City and a huge loophole in Jiangxi's defense line.

Of course, Yuan Shikai's unexpected decision to take Hubei alone without a single soldier was also an extremely important part.

When the news of the civil war between the Sichuan Army and the fall of Nanchang spread, people all over the world realized that the Republican government's momentum to sweep across the country was unstoppable.

After losing Sichuan and Jiangxi, the ruling area of ​​Lingnan Grand Military Governorate has been reduced from half of the southern country to only Guangdong and Guangxi and some marginal areas.

Looking at the map, Yuan Shikai's southern expedition was just like Emperor Wu of Han conquering the Nanyue Kingdom and Emperor Taizu of Song destroying the Southern Han Kingdom.

This is undoubtedly extremely exciting good news for the people living in the 12 provinces of the Republican government.

However, this good news is not good for some people.

"Mr. Sheng, don't you understand?" French Consul Aoliwei looked out the window at the panicked Xiamen residents, shook his head, and turned to the anxious Sheng Xuanhuai and said:

"Without sufficient physical gold and silver or collateral, it is impossible for French bankers to support His Excellency Li Hongzhang under the current conditions."

Sheng Xuanhuai did not expect the French to be so heartless. He immediately disregarded diplomatic etiquette and accused the French consul in front of him:

"But wasn't it you who proposed the idea of ​​federal autonomy and informed Marshal Tsuen? Why are you now turning your back on it?"

Ao Liwei had been in China for three years and had learned a little bit of simple Chinese, but he still didn't understand some of the idioms used by Sheng Xuanhuai.

Long-term $6310109 monthly fee

He looked at the translator beside him and asked for detailed explanation before he finally understood everything.

"No, no, no!" French Consul Aoliwei shook his head and retorted with a firm look in his eyes:

"Mr. Sheng, the proposal of federal autonomy was indeed put forward by France, and France did promise to provide weapons to Lingnan if Yuan Shikai did not recognize federal autonomy.

However, France did not allow His Excellency Li Hongzhang to send someone to assassinate the Governor of Sichuan.

In my opinion, it was His Excellency Li Hongzhang who broke his promise first."

Sheng Xuanhuai was anxious. Seeing that the French were trying to keep people out, he quickly played his trump card:

"Your Excellency, Consul, as long as France can provide loan support, Lingnan is willing to use the Guangdong-Hankou Railway and the Guangxi-Vietnam Railway as collateral and hand over the construction rights to a French company. All the property will belong to France!"

"Mr. Sheng, you are a banker and a businessman. I think you know that two railways that only exist in the planning stage are not worth France paying substantial benefits.

If it were peacetime, these two railways might be taken over by a financial tycoon from Paris, but now..." French Consul Aoliwei shook his head and said nothing more.

The Guangxi-Vietnam Railway and the Guangdong-Hankou Railway are indeed very tempting, especially the latter, which is to build a railway directly from Guangxi to Hanoi, Vietnam.

Over the past few years, France has proposed to Li Hongzhang several times to build this railway, but Li Hongzhang has refused.

Even for the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, Li Hongzhang preferred to find an American company rather than a French company to build it.

However, this is one time and that is another situation.

Li Hongzhang used to ignore the French, but now the French are out of his reach.

If Sheng Xuanhuai had come 10 days earlier and offered the conditions for building these two railways, French Consul Aoliwei might have actually agreed.

However, when the Lingnan Huai Army encountered civil unrest in Sichuan, suffered a crushing defeat in Nanchang, and faced an offensive from Hubei.

Even French politicians who paid little attention to the so-called "backward regions of the Far East" learned through various channels that China was about to usher in the dawn of unification.

As a result, diplomats in the Far East colonies quickly received instructions from Paris that they must not, under any circumstances, provoke Yuan Shikai or the National Revolutionary Army.

Find a way to repair relations with the new Chinese government as soon as possible. If it cannot be repaired, we must not deepen France's bad impression.

In the final analysis, the Lingnan Huai Army fought too poorly.

This completely thwarted the French plan to divide China into two parts by relying on Li Hongzhang.

"Sorry." Ao Liwei bowed slightly, then half leaned on the sofa and picked up the black tea in his hand.

After coming to China, he also learned the gesture of "serving tea to guests".

Seeing Ao Liwei blowing the boiling hot tea leisurely, Sheng Xuanhuai felt a little unwilling and annoyed. He did not expect the French to refuse so bluntly.

But what can I do?

Seeing that there was no way to reach a conclusion, Sheng Xuanhuai could only bow, say thank you to Consul Ao Liwei for his hospitality, and then leave the Xiamen Consulate.

Next, who can I turn to for help?

"To the dock!"

Sheng Xuanhuai got on the rickshaw that had been waiting in front of the consulate for a long time, and lowered his head in thought as the rickshaw sped by.

He didn't notice at all that the rickshaw driver in front of him had been replaced by someone else, and the original driver was lying naked in the alley.

It was not until the rickshaw made many twists and turns on Xiamen Island and passed through one village after another that Sheng Xuanhuai realized something was wrong.

"Where is this?" Sheng Xuanhuai noticed something was wrong and immediately became alert. He quickly pulled out a revolver from under the rickshaw seat and shouted, "Stop! Stop now!"