Insufficient balance

  In fact, the impact of Chen Jingyun's declaration of war on November 10 and the subsequent Guangdong Restoration Telegram was not limited to Guangdong and Fujian, but affected the entire Chinese situation.

  Chen Jingyun's mobilization of troops may seem like nothing out of the ordinary to ordinary people, isn't it just sending troops outside the province? However, in the eyes of those who are paying attention, especially the various forces in the south and the Qing court and Yuan Shikai in the north, it is not unusual.

  Those who are keenly aware will know that since Chen Jingyun led the recovery of Fuzhou, he has been quietly but aggressively expanding his influence throughout the province. In less than half a month, he has completely controlled the situation in Fujian Province. This swift action is unprecedented among the southern provinces that have already declared their independence. Other provinces, although they have also declared independence, are mostly in a state of chaos. Hubei and Jiangsu, located on the front lines, are not worth mentioning. The military governments of Hunan, Guangxi, and Yunnan, which control the entire province only in name, actually leave most areas within the province as power vacuums filled with numerous small armed forces.

  This is also why only Hunan has sent troops to aid Hubei so far, not that they didn't want to send them but because they couldn't. As for the young revolutionary party member, Tan Yankai of Hunan, he had no idea what power struggles were and after sending out his main forces, he was killed by the mutineers, and Tan's death made the de facto rulers of various provinces even more wary.

  In fact, to a certain extent, the main military forces in various southern provinces are still controlled by the former ruling class, such as high-ranking generals of the new army, former Qing officials, or constitutionalists. Most of them also temporarily joined the Tongmenghui like Chen Jingyun, but if they were called revolutionaries, probably no one would believe it.

  At present, all provinces in the south are clearing up within the province and rectifying their military forces. Fujian is the first to complete this preparation for war, and it has loudly declared that it will send national troops to Jiangsu and Guangdong.

  This fact has been told to the actual controllers of various forces. After keeping a low profile for nearly twenty days, Fujian is finally ready to show its sharp teeth.

  "Good! Chen Jiongming's move is a great comfort to the people!" Huang Xing, who was far away in Hanyang, looked at the telegram in his hand and a smile appeared on his tired face.

  Last night, the Beiyang army launched a large-scale night raid on Hanyang. Huang Xing personally went to the front line to direct the battle and stabilized the situation. The heavy casualties made him increasingly lose confidence in defending Wuhan. However, today he received a telegram from Chen Jingyun! Chen Jingyun knew very well why he sent this telegram, it was all because he had asked him to send a telegram asking the Fujian army to leave the province, otherwise Chen Jingyun's Fujian army would not have come out.

  Xing's excitement was natural, but he didn't know that Chen Jingyun, who had already begun to integrate Fujian, was originally planning to expand outward, and his telegram just happened to coincide with this.

  Huang Xing paced back and forth in the room, saying to Song Jiaoren: "I heard that Chen Jingyun has three regiments under his command. This time he deployed two armies north and south, so there should be one regiment left in Fujian Province. In this way, Nanjing can get at least one regiment of Fujian troops to support it. One of his regiments is equivalent to a division, with more than 4,000 people, plus the revolutionary army from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, totaling over 20,000 people, enough to take down Nanjing."

  Song Jiaoren also agreed: "This is the best way. After stabilizing Nanjing, we can stabilize the military's mind and force the Beiyang government to negotiate!"

  When Huang Xing heard Song Jiaoren's boastful words, he didn't agree in his heart but didn't refute him either. Although at this stage he advocated for peace talks, it was only a reluctant move; if the Allied Army could capture Nanjing in one fell swoop, he could integrate the military forces of the south to launch a northern expedition.

  Of course, this is a later story. Huang Xing looked at the map and said: "The situation in Jiangsu is now critical. The remnants of Xu Shaozhen's 9th Division have retreated to Zhenjiang and are in contact with Shi Ying (Chen Qimei) and others in Shanghai, saying they want to organize a joint army to attack Nanjing! Fujian is too far from Nanjing, and it's not clear if they can arrive in time!"

  Huang Xing did not know that Chen Jiongming's order to march north to Nanjing was only a ruse, and the actual command he gave to Ma Sen was merely to occupy Wenzhou, as for whether or not to continue marching north to Nanjing would depend on how the battle situation developed in the vicinity of Nanjing.

  Beijing, when Yuan Shikai heard that Chen Jingyun had sent troops out of Fujian, he was slightly stunned and then hastily looked at the map, calculating in his mind the strength of the troops near Nanjing and the troops available to him on the Tianjin-Pukou Railway line, finally his face sank.

  "Nanjing seems to be unable to hold on!" Yuan Shikai said to Xu Shichang: "However, this has nothing to do with Chen Jingyun, even if he didn't send troops to Nanjing, it would still be impossible to hold on."

  Xu Shichang was somewhat puzzled: "Why didn't the Grand President send troops south to support Zhang Xun?"

  Yuan Shikai, however, said nonchalantly: "Brother Chrysanthemum, it's not difficult to keep Nanjing safe, but what about after that?"

  Xu Shichang and Yuan Shikai had been sworn brothers for many years, knowing that Yuan Shikai had his heart set on the position of Grand President. However, with the current unclear situation at the front lines and those revolutionary party members still eager to take down Nanjing, could they really negotiate under such circumstances? Even if they were willing to negotiate, would the revolutionary party members in the south be willing to give up the position of Grand President?

  But seeing Yuan Shikai's expression, Xu Shichang also knew what he should say and what he shouldn't!

  Of course, Nanjing, a city with more symbolic significance than actual significance, is not that important anyway. After all, this city has been repeatedly attacked and breached by the enemy army. Decades ago, it was once taken over by the Taiping rebels, and later the Qing army also broke into the city. Both times were not too difficult, which shows that this city is not as easy to defend as people think. Although Nanjing has been abandoned, those revolutionary party members cannot be allowed to move north along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway line.

  When Yuan Shikai was thinking about which part to reinforce the Tianjin-Pukou Railway defense, news came that Guangdong had been recovered. After hearing this, Yuan Shikai said: "Zhang Jianbai (Zhang Mingqi's courtesy name) is also a capable minister. Now that all provinces in the south are in chaos, it's not easy for him to keep Guangdong safe until now! I don't know if he is safe!"

  Xu Shichang sighed, "In these years, he and the party people from the south have made many enemies, with hundreds of lives in his hands. Now this time is feared to be over! Alas, I'll order someone to investigate later, if he's still alive bring him back, if he's dead we must handle the aftermath properly!"

  They certainly did not know that Zhang Mingqi had already escaped into the concession area of Shajing, and Zhang Mingqi was not a fool, how could he not know that the revolutionaries hated him to the bone!

  However, the Guangdong Restoration itself did not bring too much surprise to Yuan Shikai. The southern provinces were all in chaos, and it was not surprising that Guangdong was also in chaos. So, apart from feeling some regret over Zhang Mingqi's fate, he put the Guangdong affair out of his mind.

  Later, Yuan Shikai finally made a new adjustment to the war in the south, ordering the Fifth Division stationed in Shandong to move south to Xuzhou, preventing the collapse of Jiangsu's situation, while commanding Cao Kun to lead the Third Division and other remaining troops to advance westward, guarding against the threat from Shanxi Province in the northwest direction.

  Feng Guozhang's First Army was ordered to intensify its attacks, putting pressure on the Hubei militia, while also hinting that Feng should not push too hard, lest he actually capture Hankou and Wuchang, which would make it difficult to bring things to a close.

  Old Yuan's idea is simple, to talk and return to talk, to fight and return to fight. On the one hand, he wants to let the Qing court see the pressure, feel that the Southern Alliance Army is invincible and fearful in their hearts, so that when they retreat, it will be a relief. Additionally, he also wants to preserve his limited military strength, so Nanjing cannot be defended. However, on the other hand, he also wants to let the various provinces in the south see the pressure, to make them know that my Beiyang Army is not unable to fight, but rather does not want to fight!

  So Hubei has to continue fighting, and another point is that the fifth town was transferred to Xuzhou, which is a preventive measure against the deterioration of the situation.

  So far, Yuan Shikai has been firmly in control of the situation on the front lines with the powerful fighting force of the Beiyang Army. In another sense, Yuan Shikai is also controlling the overall situation in China. At least so far, whether it's the southern provinces, the war in Hubei and Jiangsu, or the reaction of the Beijing imperial court, all are under Yuan Shikai's control.

  If he could really negotiate, he would have the confidence to overthrow Puyi from the throne. If he couldn't negotiate, he also had the confidence to pacify Hubei and Jiangsu in a short period of time, and then march southward. According to Yuan's estimation, if it really came to war, it would be over in two or three months. As for dealing with the southern forces, he didn't even need to mobilize most of the Beiyang Army.

  The 20th Division, the 23rd Division, the Zhili Mixed Brigade, the Fengtian Mixed Brigade, the Imperial Guard Corps, and the 1st Division have not moved yet! Along the Beijing-Hankou Railway, he has deployed one brigade each of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Divisions, most of the 6th Division, and the main forces of various departments are still resting and preparing for battle in the rear.

  If the overall strength of the Beiyang system's army is compared to one hundred, then Yuan Shikai only used about twenty in the front line, with more than half of his forces still waiting for an opportunity.

  History has proven the gap between the Beiyang Army and the Southern League Army, that is, the 1913 campaign against Yuan Shikai. The Beiyang Army in Yuan's hands had not changed much since the Xinhai Revolution, while the armies of various southern provinces were stronger than during the Xinhai Revolution, having been trained for over a year and purchasing large quantities of military equipment. However, the Beiyang Army still crushed what was called the Second Revolution in less than a month, forcing Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing, and others to flee overseas once again!

  No matter what the future holds, but for now, the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army is undoubtedly unparalleled in the country. In fact, this is also the closest gap between the Chinese land forces and the strong powers since the Opium War to the founding of the People's Republic of China! Other times are too miserable to look at.

  The Beiyang Fleet and the Beiyang Army, these two modern armed forces with obvious warlord characteristics, although they eventually disappeared into the dust of history, they still shone brightly at certain specific times!

  In 1911, it was the heyday of the Beiyang Army.

  While Yuan Shikai was busy mobilizing his troops, the south was also not idle. On November 11th, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai's Chen Qimei and others jointly issued a telegram inviting representatives from various provinces to come to Shanghai to discuss the establishment of a provisional government.

  The revolution has not yet succeeded, and the situation in the war is unclear. The southern provinces have already erupted in the first large-scale conflict of opinions!