Insufficient balance

  Because of Feng Guozhang's disregard for Yuan Shikai's hints, he took down Hanyang in one move and bombarded Wuchang to thoroughly capture the three towns of Wuhan. This made Feng Guozhang gain a noble title from the imperial court while also greatly angering Yuan Shikai, who removed Feng from his position that very day. On the surface, it seemed like a normal transfer as he was appointed as the commander of the Imperial Guards, but anyone could see through this seemingly ordinary appointment and understand what was on Yuan's mind.

  When Duan Qirui arrived in Hubei, he immediately stopped the artillery fire on Wuchang and also halted the attack on Wuchang, which made Li Yuanhong, who had escaped from the governor's mansion to the suburbs of Wuchang, breathe a sigh of relief.

  On November 30, representatives from southern provinces arrived at the British Concession in Hankou to hold their first meeting. This meeting was quite interesting, as Hankou had already been occupied by the Northern Warlords for many days, but the representatives of the southern provinces still went to Hankou to hold their first national construction conference, and the venue was still the British Concession. Such a seemingly absurd event could only occur in the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China period, and it would be impossible in any other era.

  At the same time, Duan Qirui, who understood Yuan Shikai's mind, secretly contacted Li Yuanhong to discuss a ceasefire and negotiations. Meanwhile, the British also intervened, sending an envoy to Wuchang, claiming to be willing to act as a mediator to stop the war between the two sides.

  The British move is naturally related to Yuan Shikai. Since Feng Guozhang suddenly attacked on the 27th and disrupted Yuan Shikai's strategic plan, Yuan Shikai felt that things were getting out of his control, so he didn't want to drag it on any longer and wanted to settle the negotiation as soon as possible. Yuan Shikai's idea was supported by most people, especially the Western powers.

  For Britain, Germany, France, the US and even today's Russia, a weak but stable unified China is beneficial to them. Only in this way can they reap the greatest benefits from China without wasting any soldiers. If China were to erupt into large-scale war, such as the current civil war between the north and south, Western countries would feel helpless, wanting to intervene but unable to do so due to the tense situation in Europe where every soldier is precious and there's no energy to spare for the Far East. Not intervening would mean a divided and chaotic China would be extremely detrimental to the commercial interests of various nations in China. British Minister Zhu Jule has already received a simple business report, which states that British businessmen in China have suffered huge losses due to this civil war, with losses reaching as high as one million pounds in less than two months. If the war continues, these losses will only continue to rise.

  The current situation in Europe is tense, with all countries expanding their military and preparing for war. Even the United States, far away in America, is not lagging behind, launching one battleship after another. The European situation is so tense that the diplomatic and military centers of various countries are focusing on Europe, and Russia is no exception, intensifying its preparations for war on the Western Front.

  In such circumstances, a turbulent Far East is what they are unwilling to see.

  This has created a very interesting situation, where various countries, despite having drawn swords against each other in Europe and elsewhere, have maintained an astonishing consistency in their treatment of the Chinese question. After the Wuchang Uprising broke out, the foreign ministers gathered for various banquets, reached a verbal consensus, and jointly declared neutrality.

  They also set out to stop this war, which can be seen from the fact that various countries supported Yuan Shikai's comeback and reorganization of the cabinet. In their view, Yuan Shikai was a strongman and the only candidate for unifying China, and the most suitable agent for interests in China. As for the Manchu nobles of the Qing court, they had long been abandoned by them.

  But Yuan Shikai was a hero, if he said that in the early stage, he still planned to rely on this Wuchang Uprising to regain power. Now Yuan Shikai is not satisfied with the position of Premier, he wants a higher position, an emperor or a president, these two are not much different for Yuan Shikai, just different names.

  Yuan Shikai's mindset led to the slow action of the Beiyang Army, which was reluctant to eliminate the Southern People's Army. At this time, when Yuan Shikai revealed his intention to negotiate with foreign envoys, especially Zhu Jintan, who had long wanted to end China's civil war, Zhu immediately sent diplomats from the Hankou British Concession to contact the Wuchang Military Government.

  Several British diplomats arrived in Wuchang, the military government of Wuchang was already nervous, fearing that the Beiyang Army would attack the city. Before this, Li Yuanhong had also had several secret contacts with Duan Qirui. In this way, both sides reached an agreement and prepared to sign a ceasefire agreement.

  However, Li Yuanhong had already escaped from Wuchang City. Under duress, Jiang Yiwu and Wu Zhaolin, among others in Wuchang City, privately carved their own seals as military governors and signed a temporary ceasefire agreement with Duan Qirui's representative on the same day.

  It was on December 1st that the nearly two-month-long Hubei war officially entered a ceasefire phase. Coincidentally, it was also on this day that Xu Shaozhen's Southern Allied Army broke into Nanjing City.

  In Nanjing, Zhang Xun was furious upon learning that Li Yuanhong of Hubei and Duan Qirui had signed a temporary ceasefire agreement. He had no objections to signing a temporary ceasefire agreement with the Southern faction, although he ultimately belonged to the Beiyang government; however, he could see that the situation in the South was already hopeless, and continuing to fight would only lead to mutual destruction. What he hated was that Duan Qirui's temporary ceasefire agreement only applied to Hubei, without including Nanjing.

  This made him almost vomit blood, and the Southern Army was already approaching Nanjing, with a small group of soldiers entering the city. As the situation was on the verge of collapse, he could no longer afford to be loyal to the imperial court. He began to follow Yuan Shikai's secret order, gathering his troops to make a night raid and heading in the direction of Xuzhou. Due to the limited strength of the Southern Army, they were unable to encircle Nanjing, so they could only watch as Zhang Xun broke through and escaped.

  The next morning, Xu Shaozhen issued a telegram in Nanjing announcing the recovery of Nanjing!

  This telegram caused a sensation throughout the country! Its influence was no less than that of the Wuchang Uprising Telegram at the beginning. If the initial Wuchang Uprising was a spark, the Fuzhou Uprising added oil to it, and the uprisings in various provinces added firewood, then the Southern Revolutionary Army's capture of Nanjing represented the Xinhai Revolution, which had already ignited into a raging inferno.

  As mentioned earlier, the importance of Nanjing lies not in its military position, but in its political significance. The capital of the Six Dynasties and the most important political city in southern China fell into the hands of the Southern Revolutionary Party, which means that the south has completely fallen into the hands of the revolutionary party. This can be seen as a situation where the north and south are pitted against each other on the surface.

  On the same day, including Chen Jingyun, the governors of various southern provinces sent congratulatory telegrams to Nanjing. Sun Wen, who was far away in a foreign country, heard this news and immediately expressed his intention to return home and lead the revolution, without even considering "fundraising".

  When Zaifeng heard the news, he almost fainted and saw Empress Longyu crying and holding Puyi. Zaifeng's mind went blank, he didn't speak, and walked out of the palace alone with a staggering gait. Puren and other Manchu nobles also looked gloomy, in the large Yangxin Hall, except for the sound of Empress Longyu's sobbing, there was no other sound.

  The frowns and bitter faces in the palace are different, inside the Yuan Fu, Yuan Shikai and a group of high-ranking officials from Beiyang gathered together. Originally, they were here to discuss the armistice agreement on the Hubei side, planning the next strategic step and subsequent negotiations. Just as they were discussing, they received news of Nanjing's recovery.

  After seeing this telegram, Yuan Shikai did not lose heart but rather felt a sense of relief in his heart. This has put the situation back under control as expected.

  The fall of Nanjing was actually a deliberate act by Yuan Shikai, intended to give the Qing court, especially the palace, a sense of terror and pressure. This way, when it comes time to abdicate, things will go more smoothly. After all, he can't really follow Cao Cao's example and use his army to drive out the widows and orphans from the palace. If he did that, he would be saddled with the reputation of usurping the throne for a thousand years. In the future, when people curse traitors, they will have to mention not only Cao Cao's name but also Yuan Shikai's.

  If it's about forcing those people in the south to make the palace voluntarily step down, then the nature of the matter would be different.

  Feng Guozhang, who had just returned to Beijing, was extremely dissatisfied with Yuan Shikai's recent move of recalling him. However, as a member of the Beiyang clique, he had to consider not only the imperial court but also the overall interests of the Beiyang faction. This was why he had obediently returned to the capital when Yuan recalled him earlier. Now that the peace talks between the north and south had become a fait accompli, Feng abandoned his previous ideas.

  "Nanjing has been lost, and the Southern Party's momentum is surging, it's hard to guarantee that they won't march north along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway. Now on the Xuzhou side, there's only one banner, isn't their military strength a bit weaker?" Feng Guozhang was after all a high-ranking official of the Beiyang government, and apart from Yuan Shikai, no one else could speak with more authority than him.

  "Now Shandong is also stabilizing, how about transferring the Fifth Division to Xuzhou?" The Third Division's Cao Kun was one of Yuan Shikai's trusted generals and spoke with confidence.

  Yuan Shikai nodded: "Xuzhou cannot be lost, but Shandong also cannot be chaotic! Zhang Xun's Jiangsu Army has already broken out of Nanjing and is heading towards Xuzhou with its main force intact. However, to be on the safe side, the Tianjin-Pukou Railway and Beijing-Hankou Railway still need to be readjusted."

  Yuan Shikai was a veteran of the Korean battlefield and had fought against the Japanese, later establishing the Beiyang Army with his own hands. Apart from his personal prestige and charisma, he also possessed extremely high military skills at that time.

  He continued: "Originally, the situation in Hubei was urgent and troops could only be hastily withdrawn from Yongping Autumn Exercise. Now that a temporary ceasefire agreement has been signed in Hubei and the Beijing-Hankou Railway is initially stable, various units should also return to their original formations as soon as possible."

  The First Army of the Beijing-Hankou Railway was originally composed of troops from the Beiyang Army that participated in the autumn maneuvers at Yongping, mainly including the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division, the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division, the 8th Brigade of the 4th Division, and the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division, as well as a considerable portion of artillery units from each division. From an organizational standpoint, except for the 1st Division guarding the capital and the 20th and 23rd Divisions in the northeast and the 5th Division in Shandong, most of the main Beiyang forces had troops under the command of the First Army. This was acceptable for a short period of time, but as time went on it became less suitable. As the war situation stabilized, it was necessary to restore the original organizational structure of each unit so that they could be commanded more effectively in future battles.

  "In this way, the remaining troops of the 12th Division of the 6th Town were sent to Hubei, and the remaining troops of the 7th Division of the 4th Town were also transferred to Hubei. These two towns are now under the jurisdiction of the First Army. Next, let's reorganize the Third Town and Second Town!" Yuan Shikai said, looking at Cao Kun: "Cao Kun, get ready, your Third Town is preparing to head south to Shandong!"

  Cao Kun led the way and said: "What about the original fifth town in Shandong?"

  "Let Jing Yunpeng's Fifth Division go south to Xuzhou!" Yuan Shikai continued: "In this way, with one more division in Xuzhou added to Zhang Xun's Jiangsu Army, we should be able to ensure that Northern Jiangsu is not lost. Even if something happens in Xuzhou, the Third Division from Shandong can rush to its aid along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway."