Insufficient balance

  The war in Hubei had already been intense enough to capture people's attention, but the complete recovery of Fujian ignited a powder keg. Immediately after that, Hunan and Shaanxi were almost simultaneously recovered, which not only terrified the Qing court but also greatly boosted the confidence of the revolutionaries! At the same time, the gentry class in various provinces across the country began to consider their future path: whether to support the imperial court or the revolutionary party, or maintain their current neutral stance.

  On October 24, the day after Hunan and Shaanxi provinces were recovered, the new army in Jiujiang rose up in a successful uprising and established a military government, with Ma Yu-bao as governor and Lin Sen as minister of civil affairs. Soon afterwards, Li Jun-li rushed to Jiujiang and was appointed chief of staff, thus opening the curtain on Jiangxi's recovery. On October 25, the Guangzhou general was assassinated by revolutionaries, and unrest in Guangdong was imminent, while small-scale disturbances also broke out in Guangxi.

  From the Wuchang Uprising until now, it has only been about half a month, but the situation in various southern provinces has already deteriorated to an irreversible point.

  "Really want to bring him back?" Zaizhen looked at the group of civil and military officials, the tone of his words was painful, making people feel that it was difficult for him to say this. And the "he" in his mouth, apart from Yuan Shikai, who else could make him so cautious. The other day, in order to let the Beiyang Army fight bravely on the front line, he even agreed to let Yuan Shikai bring back Wang Shizhen and other Beiyang generals who had been dismissed or transferred out to be used in Hubei. It is worth noting that it took him three years to get rid of these Beiyang generals.

  "The situation in the southern provinces has already deteriorated to the point of no return!" Minister Na Tong sighed after speaking: "If this continues, I'm afraid we'll lose the south!"

  Xu Shichang, also a cabinet counselor, nodded in agreement: "The front line in Hubei is at a stalemate, and after Fujian, Shaanxi, and Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi have all reported news of the rebel party!"

  Xu Shichang did not explicitly say that the situation had reached a point where Yuan Shikai was indispensable, but everyone present understood that Xu Shichang and Yuan Shikai's relationship was not simple, it could be said that they were two people wearing one pair of pants.

  Although it was not explicitly stated, the meaning was clear enough. The ministers below fell silent, and after a while, the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Pu Lun, spoke up: "Since there is a rebel party, we must resolutely crack down on it! If Feng Guozhang can't do it, then send in the Imperial Guard, I don't believe those rebels will be able to withstand it!"

  The Imperial Guard was also formed and trained according to the new military system, with soldiers from the Eight Banners, modeled after the Japanese Imperial Guard Division. Its main purpose was to protect the imperial palace. However, in recent years, mid-to-high-ranking officers of the Imperial Guard were mostly dispatched from the Beiyang clique, while lower-ranking officers were also trained by the Beiyang system. Although the soldiers were Manchu, it remains to be seen whether they would listen to Yuan Shikai or the imperial court.

  "Hum, send the Imperial Guard away, how can we ensure the safety of the capital!" At this time, Prince Qing spoke up: "Without the Imperial Guard, what about the safety of Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager?"

  Seeing Qingxiang Prince Yixin speaking like this, Puyi didn't dare to refute him, but in his heart he secretly thought: "If things continue like this, we won't even be able to keep the country safe, let alone talk about peace and security!" Of course, he absolutely dared not say such treasonous words.

  "What did he say?" Prince Qing turned his eyes to Liang Tunyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

  Liang Dunyan did not answer immediately, but after a moment's consideration, he said: "Yesterday I went to visit the British Minister, Sir Halliday Macartney. In our conversation, he expressed great concern about the situation in our country and hoped that we could have strong figures stand up to end the current turmoil!"

  Everyone present could guess what Zhu Zhi's intention was, which was nothing more than pushing out Yuan Shikai.

  Afterwards, the crowd discussed for a few more sentences. The main topic was no longer the chaos in the south, but rather focused on Yuan Shikai. Some supported Yuan Shikai's emergence, while others opposed it. For a time, they couldn't come to an agreement. Zaifeng looked at the people below and sighed: "Regent King, this important matter still needs your decision!"

  Zai Yun gritted his teeth and looked at the crowd below, he had seen the whole discussion just now, seeing so many people supporting Yuan Shikai to come out of retirement, his heart was already burning with anger, but he still gritted his teeth and listened on.

  It wasn't until quite a while later that he finally spoke up with a sentence: "Director Xu, would you please take a trip for me? Just tell Rong Ze to form the cabinet!"

  After saying this, he seemed to have lost all his strength and slumped motionless in the chair. This country was his son Puyi's country, and it must not be lost in his own hands.

  The Qing court's cabinet meeting ended, and the Qing court immediately appointed Yuan Shikai as a special envoy, while recalling Yin Chang. As soon as Yuan received the imperial edict, he sent a telegram to Feng Guozhang.

  "The court has used me, and I, Yuan, naturally want to give them a sweet deal. I couldn't let people say that I occupied the position without doing anything!" When he said this, Xu Shichang was also present, and the two of them burst out laughing at each other.

  Feng Guozhang received a telegram from Yuan Shikai and immediately ordered an attack, saying he wanted to give General Yuan a gift for his inauguration. The Beiyang Army advanced in three routes and soon captured Liujiatun, and was rapidly advancing towards Hankou, which was in a state of emergency. When the news reached Beijing, Zaifeng finally breathed a sigh of relief after being worried for a long time.

  "As long as he can get rid of the revolutionary party, let him form a cabinet, this world is still the world of the Qing dynasty, and this mountain and river are still my son's mountain and river!" Zaifeng was in a good mood that night, and even had the energy to have a big fight with Ce Furen several times, sweeping away the gloom of the past half month.

  Beijing and Hubei are in a state of turmoil, with every move being closely watched by the world. In comparison, Fujian is relatively quiet, with only a few minor incidents reported, except for the 21st when a telegram was sent announcing the restoration of order.

  At this moment, Fuzhou seems very calm. The war has long since ended, and the city of Fuzhou has returned to normal. Although from time to time you can see a group of bald-headed National Army soldiers patrolling the streets, it is generally quiet as usual. All walks of life have resumed business, and wine houses and brothels have also regained some popularity.

  When Hubei and Beijing were fighting, Chen Jingyun was not idle. On the one hand, he handled civil affairs, and on the other hand, he also had to handle military affairs.

  Civil affairs were managed by Zheng Zuyin, and the time was relatively calm. Since the military government was newly established, it did not carry out too many political reforms except for eliminating some bad habits. According to public opinion, what the military government needed most in a short period of time was stability. Only when the situation was stabilized could other things be discussed.

  In military affairs, Chen Jingyun attaches great importance and grasps it tightly! In order to grasp the military power in his hands, he reorganized the Fujian National Military Command, setting up three major departments: the General Staff Department, the Equipment Department, and the Logistics Department. Feng Qin was appointed as the Chief of the General Staff Department, Xia Xinggang, the former deputy quartermaster of the 38th Brigade, was appointed as the Chief of the Logistics Department, and Ouyang Tian, the former deputy armorer of the 38th Brigade, was appointed as the Chief of the Equipment Department. These three people are all Chen Jingyun's trusted followers from the 38th Brigade, and everything is based on Chen Jingyun's instructions. Without Chen Jingyun's approval, neither troop movements nor military supplies can be carried out.

  As for the military government's Military Affairs Department, Chen Jingyun didn't give Lin Wenyin any real power. In these few days, Lin Wenyin seemed to have realized that this Military Affairs Department could control everything but couldn't actually do anything. He had come to find Chen Jingyun several times already, but Chen Jingyun just evaded the issue and stalled for time, thinking that after a while he would be able to fully control the National Army, and by then these Tongmenghui people wouldn't be able to turn things around.

  "Report to the commander, the first brigade has assembled!" Ma Cheng was wearing a brand new military uniform, with long leather boots on his feet, and he stood at attention, saluting Chen Jingyun with spirit.

  Chen Jingyun walked up with a smile, stretched out his hand and pressed it down to signal Ma Cheng to relax: "The troops have assembled, what's the situation?"

  "Back to the commander, everything is fine! My first division has already been fully equipped and can go into battle at any time!" Ma Chenghua said loudly, looking very confident, but everyone present knew that there was a lot of water in Ma Chenghua's words.

  According to the previous plan, the first brigade was composed of two regiments with six infantry battalions, a company of artillery and two Maxim heavy machine gun squads. With full staffing, it would have around 4,500 people. Hmm, that's what is usually referred to as a mixed brigade. The backbone of the old soldiers in the First Brigade was about 1,500 people, who were originally from the Second Battalion of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment and most of them defected to the Qing army. The remaining 3,000 people were all new recruits hastily recruited in these days, it can be said that they couldn't even shoot a gun accurately, they could only scare people, if they really went onto the battlefield, they would probably collapse within a minute.

  The second brigade, which was also known as the elite of Chen Jingyun's direct line, was no better than the first one. The second brigade consisted of the third and fourth regiments, an artillery company, and a heavy machine gun platoon, with the same organization as the first brigade. There were about 1,500 old soldiers, mainly from Li Jimin's unit and the surrendered 37th Regiment's First and Third Battalions, which were mixed with about 3,000 new recruits to form the second brigade.

  The combat effectiveness of the two brigades was slightly inferior, but they both had a backbone of about 1,500 veteran soldiers. With some more training and tempering, they could also be brought to the battlefield. As for the remaining third brigade, its backbone consisted of the garrison battalion and the second battalion of the 37th regiment of the Yuan faction, with nearly a thousand veteran soldiers. Except for fewer veterans, their equipment was uniform with the first and second brigades, made by Hanyang Arsenal. They had an artillery company but no heavy machine gun platoon. The reason was that Chen Jingyun only had six heavy machine guns in total, two of which were taken by the first and second brigades respectively, while the remaining two were assigned to the guard regiment for defending Fuzhou. Except for these heavy machine guns, there was not much difference with the first and second brigades.

  In order to make up for these three full-division trips, Chen Jingyun spent a lot of thought recruiting soldiers. The settlement fee was uniformly given 20 yuan, and the monthly response was 8 yuan. It was clearly stated that they were currently in a revolutionary period, and no food and lodging fees would be deducted, and the full amount would be issued. Such conditions attracted a large number of young and strong people to join the army. In addition to setting up recruitment points in the city, Chen Jingyun also arranged for people to go to the countryside outside the city to recruit soldiers. After seven or eight days, although not as fierce as Jiao Dafeng in Hunan, he still recruited tens of thousands of people.

  However, the First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Guard Corps, and newly formed Fourth Division were all waiting for new recruits to arrive. There weren't enough people to go around, so there was no choice but to first fill up these three divisions with personnel, and then have the Fourth Division wait a few more days.