Insufficient balance

  When the Fujian National Guard suddenly appeared in Chaozhou, Hu Hanmin of Guangzhou was lost in thought for a long time after seeing the telegram, and then walked towards the map while asking: "Where is the National Guard now?"

  Someone immediately replied: "According to the telegram passed from Chaozhou, the National Army did not continue to advance westward, but stationed in Chaozhou and fought under the banner of the Guangdong Relief Army!"

  "Relief for Guangdong? What a joke, we need relief over there!" One of the staff officers next to him immediately showed dissatisfaction and said: "I think Chen Jingyun is not good-hearted!"

  But Hu Hanmin didn't think so!

  The current situation in Guangdong is very complicated. On the surface, it appears that the military government in Guangzhou has taken control of the entire province's political power. However, this military government was formed through compromise among multiple factions, including the People's Army, the original garrison troops in Guangzhou, and the Tongmenghui. These three parties initially formed the military government. But looking at the personnel appointments within the military government, it seems that the Tongmenghui has taken control of power. In reality, however, the Tongmenghui is actually the weakest party! The reason is simple: military power. The leaders of the People's Army collectively controlled tens of thousands of bandits and vagrants, while the Guangzhou garrison troops were divided into two parts. One part was the naval soldiers under Li Zhun, the naval commander-in-chief, which had a relatively small number of people and could not affect the overall situation. The other part was the 25th Division led by Long Jiguang.

  The 25th Division is a bit complicated. Originally, according to the Qing Dynasty's Ministry of War regulations, Guangdong was first formed into the 26th Division, but due to the mutiny of officers and soldiers in the 26th Division, it was disbanded by the Qing court, and the remaining small part was reorganized into the 49th Brigade. Then, the 25th Division that had not been formed in Guangxi was transferred to Guangdong. Before the Xinhai Revolution, theoretically, Guangdong had a fully-staffed 25th Division, which included the 49th Brigade, 50th Brigade, Artillery Regiment 25, and other related branches.

  However, the 49th Division and two artillery battalions were originally from the Guangdong New Army, which had been infiltrated by the Tongmenghui to a very serious extent. Long Jiguang did not trust these troops at all, so he dispersed the 49th Division and the two artillery battalions to various parts of Guangdong under the pretext of suppressing bandits, but in reality to guard against them. As a result, these two new army units are still scattered throughout Guangdong and have not played their due role in the recovery of Guangdong.

  So, several forces jointly formed the military government on the Guangzhou side!

  But who was the most depressed in the days following the establishment of the military government? That was Hu Hanmin, the nominal highest military and political leader of Guangdong!

  Since Zhang Mingqi announced the recovery a few days ago, Hu Hanmin was elected as the governor by everyone, but this governorship is very embarrassing! The reason is simple, that is, after the people's army recovered Guangzhou, they entered the city one after another. However, these people's armies are not regular revolutionary troops, but a gathering of bandits and refugees. They participated in the revolution, apart from opposing the imperial court, more of them were thinking of looting and taking advantage of the chaos to make a fortune!

  After these six or seven irregular military units without a unified affiliation entered the city one after another, they turned Guangzhou into a scene of utter chaos, making life unbearable for its residents. Even in broad daylight, women in their 40s and 50s did not dare to venture out due to fear of being harassed by the undisciplined soldiers. Moreover, every day, large crowds would gather in front of the Governor's Mansion, causing a ruckus, while several leaders of these irregular military units claimed to be revolutionary heroes, constantly demanding tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in military expenses.

  The other main military force in the city, the 25th Division, remained inactive. Although Long Jiguang had turned to the revolution at the last moment, he had originally been somewhat hopeful about it, but did not expect that these revolutionary parties would turn Guangzhou upside down in just a few days, causing Long Jiguang's little good impression of the revolutionary party to completely disappear.

  These past few days, he has come to realize that the world is already in chaos. The imperial court in the north is not a good thing, but the revolutionary party is also not a good bird. Only with troops in hand does one have power; everything else is useless nonsense. In order to continue holding military power in his hands and increase his own strength, he turns a blind eye and deaf ear to the chaotic army within the city.

  He is waiting!

  "He's waiting!" Hu Hanmin's face was full of anger: "Don't think I don't understand what he's thinking, isn't it just waiting for me to beg him? From the beginning, I knew that this person is absolutely not a revolutionary at heart, but an opportunist! People like this should be thoroughly overthrown!"

  A few days ago, Hu Hanmin was still publicly proclaiming in the newspapers that Long Jiguang and Li Zhun's counter-revolutionary actions were the greatest contributors to Guangdong's recovery!

  "But now the city is in such a mess, some merchants and gentry have jointly written to the military government, asking us to clean up the chaotic troops in the city!" Next to him, Vice Governor Chen Jiongming also had a helpless look on his face. He understood the chaos in the city very well, and even more so, he knew that Long Jiguang was hesitant to take action because at the military government's founding meeting, his own allies from the Tongmenghui had strongly opposed him taking the position of Minister of Military Affairs.

  The military government system in Guangzhou was originally intended to be modeled after Wuhan, but later found the military government framework in Fujian more reasonable and simple, so it followed the government framework of Fujian. At that time, when the military government was established, the Guangzhou Tongmenghui lacked high-ranking generals, no one could take on the important position of Military Governor, on the other hand, in order to balance Long Jiguang's power, Hu Hanmin decided to concurrently serve as Military Governor with his identity as Governor.

  "Why don't we first give him the title of Military Governor and let him dispatch troops to clean up the city!" Chen Jiongming worriedly said: "Just a few days ago when we attacked the city, there were only more than 400,000 militia, now just a few days later it has increased to at least one million people, so many people causing trouble in Guangzhou is no trivial matter!"

  Hu Hanmin coldly said: "He Long Jiguang wants military power, wants to seize the fruits of revolutionary victory. I, Hu Hanmin, will absolutely not allow him to do so!"

  Then he looked at the map of Guangdong again: "How about the 49th Corps in the past few days? When can they all gather together?"

  "It's difficult, the 49th Division has been dispersed and its organization has been disrupted. Now it's scattered all over the place, with one company or even one platoon here and there. It would take at least half a month to gather them together. And if they were to be summoned to Guangzhou after gathering, it would probably take another month! Besides..."

  Chen Kuang-ming hesitated and stammered, Hu Han-min hastily asked: "Is there anything else?"

  "We have received news that the majority of the 49th Division's troops did not listen to orders and concentrate in Guangzhou, but instead continued to roam around various places! There is also news that some have already made contact with Long Jiguang!" Chen Jiongming continued: "After all, Long Jiguang is the commander of the 25th Division, he wants to gather his old troops and we can't say anything about it!"

  In fact, even if he could say something, it would be useless. Long Jiguang has not been seen by anyone in the past few days, and while focusing on military training, he has gathered all units of the 49th Brigade, attempting to restore the 25th Regiment's establishment.

  Hu Hanmin gritted his teeth: "He Long Jiguang is too much!"

  After saying this, Hu Hanmin's gaze fell on Chaozhou and then slowly shifted to the direction of Fuzhou. After a moment of contemplation, he said: "Contact Chen Jingyun in Fuzhou!"

  Chen Kuoming's face changed slightly: "Looking for Fujian? This is not good!"

  "Chen Jingyun of Fujian is one of our allies, and the third brigade under his command happens to be in Chaozhou. It will only take them a few days to arrive in Guangzhou. Once they get here, I'll see if Long Jiguang still dares to say anything!"

  Chen Kuoming said, "This matter is probably not suitable! Originally, the Fujian army was stationed in Chaozhou and had already invaded our province. Instead of considering driving them back, we want to invite them to Guangzhou. How can we protect our province's autonomy in the future?"

  Hu Hanmin looked at Chen Jiongming and thought of his usual remarks. This Chen Jiongming is a revolutionary party, but he believes in the provincial autonomy system, full of American federalism, without thinking that 'the king's relatives have a kind' and 'the great unity idea' are deeply engraved in the bones of every Chinese person.

  Anyone who advocates for provincial autonomy while holding military power basically has the idea of becoming an independent king. Hmm, there are two words that can better express this: rebellion!

  It seems to Hu Hanmin that rebellion and revolution are two different things! Among the gentlemen of the Alliance, some were rich young masters from good families, some were newlyweds, some were young men who had not yet come of age, and some were fathers with children. Yet they all threw themselves into the revolutionary cause without hesitation, sacrificing and shedding blood for it. What was it all for? It was all for the sake of the entire nation and people.

  But rebellion is just an individual's right to pursue their own heart's desire.

  However, Hu Hanmin did not think that Chen Jiongming was going to rebel. He knew that this man was also a revolutionary party member, but had some different political beliefs from himself and others. What he thought of was simply American-style provincial autonomy. Although it didn't seem like anything before, today it sounds very jarring.

  "It's all just a wave of the hand: 'The revolution is not yet successful, what's the point of talking about provincial governance?'"

  He was unwilling to discuss political views with Chen Jiongming because he knew it was impossible to reach an agreement. It's better not to mention this!

  "If the Fujian army is not invited to Guangzhou, what method can be used to solve the problem of the over 1 million undisciplined troops in Guangzhou?" Hu Hanmin did not directly insist on finding reinforcements, but instead asked Chen Jiongming how he would resolve the current predicament.

  But Chen Kuoming is just a bookworm, talking about provincial autonomy is all well and good, but when it comes to military affairs, asking him to come up with a solution to the current Guangzhou predicament would be difficult for him! He's not stupid either, naturally understanding the implication of Hu Hanmin's move, his face immediately turned bright red, after being choked for half a day, he took a deep breath: "If Zhan Tang has made up his mind, I won't oppose it!"

  "Alright, since that's the case we'll send a telegram to Fuzhou immediately and discuss with Chen Jingyun about borrowing troops!" Hu Hanmin had anticipated Chen Jiongming's reaction and smiled as he stretched out his hand to pull Chen Jiongming along: "Let's go, I'll have the kitchen prepare some dishes, we can eat while we deliberate!"

  But Chen Jioming felt uncomfortable in his heart, where was the mood, and he immediately bid farewell to Hu Hanmin.

  After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Chen Jiongming felt more and more uncomfortable in his heart, as if he had been betrayed by Hu Hanmin and even the entire Alliance. As he walked halfway, he happened to see a man riding a tall horse in front of him, slowly advancing under the escort of a group of guards. It wasn't until later that Chen Jiongming recognized him as Long Jiguang.

  Then he gritted his teeth and thought to himself: "For the sake of Guangdong's autonomy, why bother with the Tongmenghui!"

  He immediately led the men in a quick pace towards Long Jiguang!