Volume 2 King of the Northwest Chapter 35 Governor
Zhang Xun's restoration was nothing but a pipe dream of a small group of old and young people. It disappeared in just 12 days under the sharp offensive of the Beiyang Army, and Duan Qirui thus achieved the reputation of establishing the republic for the third time.
But things didn't end so simply.
On July 14, Li Yuanhong was forced to resign through a telegram.
After Li resigned, Feng Guozhang took over the powers of the President and Duan Qirui became Prime Minister.
Duan's faction, together with politicians from the Research Faction and the Communications Faction, jointly organized a cabinet. A group of shameless politicians led by Liang Qichao and Tang Hualong from the Research Faction gave advice to Duan Qirui. They used the restoration of Xuantong as an excuse to interrupt the Republic of China and declared to convene a provisional Senate and not to restore the National Assembly. For this reason, on July 19, Sun Yat-sen sent a telegram to the Beijing government in Guangzhou to oppose the re-establishment of the National Assembly in order to safeguard the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China.
On the 21st, Navy Commander-in-Chief Cheng Bi-guang responded to Sun Yat-sen's call and declared "support for the Provisional Constitution and restoration of Congress." On the 22nd, the entire navy fleet sailed from Shanghai to Guangdong, and members of Congress also went to Guangdong. From then on, the dispute over protecting the Constitution intensified.
"What do you want to do? This is the governor's office. Let me go."
Amid the sounds of pushing and shoving, the door of Li Genyuan's office was roughly pushed open by the military police, and a group of fully armed soldiers rushed in with live ammunition.
"Did Dai Jiliang finally take action?"
Li Genyuan sat behind his desk, looking calmly at the soldiers walking in front of him, without a trace of panic in his tone.
"I thought he had great patience, but in the end, I am very disappointed with this senior!"
However, Li Genyuan's thick Yunnan accent was not understood by the soldiers in front of him. A young soldier wearing the uniform of a Shaanxi Army major walked out of the crowd and stood in front of Li Genyuan. He stood at attention, raised his hand, and respectfully saluted Governor Li who was sitting in a critical moment.
"Report to you, Senior. The Infantry Training Model of the 7th batch of Chinese students in the Army Department has been ordered to inform you that on July 12, President Li announced his resignation. Premier Duan has recently appointed the Shaanxi Military Governor to concurrently serve as the Governor of Shaanxi Province. Now, according to the order of the Shaanxi Military Governor and the Governor of Shaanxi Province, we are sending you out of the province with special courtesy."
As Li Genyuan listened to the familiar Japanese, his expression slowly softened. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened his eyes and stood up.
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go! I won't make things difficult for the juniors."
Li Genyuan made a sarcastic remark with a double entendre, but it did not help.
On July 22, 1917, Li Genyuan was escorted out of Tongguan by a large group of military and police officers. From then on, Dai Jiliang legally became the sole and undisputed ruler of Shaanxi.
"Director Wang, no, I'm going to call you Secretary General Wang from now on."
Now that the politics of Shaanxi have been unified, Dai Jiliang will naturally distribute the rewards generously.
"Brother-in-law, the provincial government will be handed over to you from now on."
Looking at the excited Wang Danping, Dai Jiliang nodded. This was the first time he called Wang Danping "brother-in-law" in front of everyone.
"Please arrange for the land of Li Genyuan's Governor's Office to be vacant anyway. Once our cement factory is officially put into production, you can rebuild the land. From now on, the Education Department, Finance Department, Construction Department, Civil Affairs Department, Customs and Transportation Bureau, and Likin Bureau will all be moved together. Efficiency, what I demand is efficiency!"
"Don't worry, Zhixiang, I will definitely get this done as soon as possible."
Wang Danping nodded. Dai Jiliang did not have much energy to manage the provincial government, so he, as the secretary-general of the provincial government, was actually the uncrowned governor of Shaanxi, so he was naturally full of energy.
"I think we should just build a building, what do you think?"
"You are the Secretary General of the Provincial Government. You have the final say. Director Wang."
Dai Jiliang responded casually, and then his eyes turned to Wang Shifeng, the former deputy director of the Finance Department. As the uncle of Dai Jiliang's fifth concubine who was not married yet, Han Jun had been in charge of the Provincial Finance Department since his resignation, and now he can be said to have completed his mission.
"I'll leave the overall coordination of the Department of Finance, the Customs and Transportation Bureau, and the Likin Bureau to you."
"yes!"
Although they were family members who kept to themselves, it was obvious that Wang Shifeng was still somewhat resistant to Dai Jiliang's forcible marriage to his poor niece, so he didn't say much, just nodded and stepped aside.
"Director Li, Director Gu."
Since Li Yuanding claimed to be ill and stayed at home, only the directors of the Civil Affairs and Construction Departments were present.
"You are the elders of Shaanxi now. I hope you can cooperate with Secretary Wang in the future construction of Shaanxi. The first is of course industrial construction, and the second is social welfare. Please!"
"We will definitely cooperate with Secretary-General Wang."
The two old bureaucrats naturally knew how to deal with the relationship with Wang Danping. He was the brother-in-law of the military governor and the provincial governor, so they would naturally obey his orders in the future.
"Fan Jie'an, Guo Bingchang, while Director He is away, the security of the provincial capital will be handed over to you two."
Dai Jiliang looked coldly at the two directors of the provincial police station. Guo Sinan didn't care about it, but Fan Weining felt very uncomfortable.
"If something unexpected happens, I'll peel off your skin..."
While Dai Jiliang and his followers were celebrating in Xi'an , the atmosphere in Hu Jingyi's headquarters in Fushe, Shaanxi was terribly grim.
"I just received news that Dai Jiliang has already driven Li Genyuan away ."
Hu Jingyi looked haggard, and it was obvious that he had not had a good rest in these days. Having just recovered from a serious injury, he was already a little exhausted.
"Another bad news is that Guo Fanggang and Geng Duanren were besieged by Yan Xishan's Jin army in Shanxi . Brother Fanggang and Brother Xiangchen died on the spot, and the fate of Brother Duanren and Brother Lingshan is unknown."
Fan Lingshan and Song Xiangchen were both the backbone of the Shaanxi-Gansu Democratic Party. This time they went to Zhili to develop with Guo and Geng. Unexpectedly, they were also killed in this battle, which made Hu Jingyi feel the pain even more deeply.
"Why would the Jin army attack our northern Shaanxi militia? Didn't Dai Jiliang say that he had reached an agreement with Yan Xishan? Besides, Fang Gang and his men are attacking the First Detachment of the Shaanxi Anti-Rebellion Army!"
Gao Jun asked angrily, as if Yan Xishan was right in front of him.
"Yan Baichuan, he, isn't he also a comrade of our Tongmenghui? How could he have the guts to do this?"
"Yan Baichuan has long since surrendered to the Beiyang warlords. He is no longer our comrade. As for why we want to attack Fang Gang and his men, the apparent reason is that Fang Gang is plundering the local area and is acting like a bandit."
Guo Jian's troops did not carry many supplies, so they must have been resupplied locally in Shanxi Province. Given Guo Jian's previous style, there must have been some forced buying and selling. However, the fact that Yan Xishan brought this up in a serious manner and used it as a reason to attack the Shaanxi-Gansu militia clearly showed that there was an ulterior motive.
"But according to information our people got from the Xi'an Telegraph Bureau, Dai Jiliang had previously wired 50,000 yuan to Shanxi Province."
"I've said it before, Dai Jiliang has bad intentions, but these two bastards just won't listen."
Fan Zhongxiu, that big mouth, is speaking foul language again.
"Well, death is the greatest thing!"
Hu Jingyi waved his hand to stop Fan Zhongxiu from saying anything more unpleasant.
"Let's not talk about this. Now tell me, have you gathered your men? Are your guns and ammunition ready?"
"I now have 1,200 people, 800 guns, and 50,000 bullets. Except for 10,000 bullets as a reserve, the rest have been distributed."
Although he lost Geng Zhi's battalion, Gao Jun's forces were still intact with the addition of Fan Zhongxiu's cavalry battalion.
"I now have more than 1,000 brothers, more than 700 guns, and 25,000 bullets."
Compared with Gao Jun's troops, Cao Shiying's troops were a little inferior. Although they had a company allocated by Hu Jingyi, they obviously did not have enough bullets.
"Brother Songsheng has 2,500 men and more than 1,900 guns."
Since Jing Xiuyue's troops were stationed in Yulin, the richest area in northern Shaanxi, their strength was naturally the strongest. However, even this strongest force did not have the ability to have a gun for every man.
"My two regiments have 2,200 men, 1,300 guns, and 60,000 bullets. So, Junfu, you can take 5,000 bullets with you later."
Hu Jingyi is obviously very generous, and because of this, everyone is convinced by him.
"According to the numbers you reported, I have increased them to 7,000 men and 4,800 guns. It would be difficult for such a force to protect itself, let alone march south to Xi'an."
Previously, Dai Jiliang's step-by-step concessions had made the militia quite arrogant. But now the force in Xi'an that could restrain Dai Jiliang no longer existed, and the militia had just suffered a major loss, so the situation suddenly became difficult.
"Now that you have arrived in Guangzhou, the dispute over protecting the law may turn into a war of protecting the law. We will have to fight Dai Jiliang sooner or later, so everyone must do their best to expand their forces and strive to double the current team after the autumn grain is collected. Brother Songsheng and I will try to buy some guns and bullets from Gansu and Mongolia. I'll leave the rest to you."
"With Brother Liseng's words, we feel confident. Don't worry! As long as you set the standard, there is nothing else. We can have as many good guys as we want in northern Shaanxi."
Gao Jun and Cao Shiying looked at each other, their eyes filled with excitement.
"Also, Mr. Zijing sent a telegram from Shanghai."
Seeing the excitement of the crowd below, Hu Jingyi naturally felt relieved a lot of his depression. Now, he brought out another good news.
"Brother Ranweng and Brother Boying may return to Shaanxi to take charge of the overall situation."
Yu Youren represents political power, while Zhang Xun symbolizes military support. As expected, when Hu Jingyi said this, everyone present showed joy on their faces.
"How much money can the bearded man bring back? Can Brother Boying bring back men and guns?"
People as impatient as Li Huchen and Fan Zhongxiu were already whispering to each other, looking forward to a bright future.
"Of course, we don't know when they will be able to return to Shaanxi, so don't be too optimistic."
Hu Jingyi quickly poured cold water on him.
"Before they come back, we have to do what we need to do. We can't relax for a moment."
"yes!"
Everyone roared in response. It was obvious that the Kuomintang had united as one and was just waiting for the war to break out.
"Marshal, the 1,200 rifles and two Maxim guns that Director Chu sent to escort have entered the customs."
Dai Jiliang was holding and teasing his newly born second son Sihuai and Li Yuan's newly born eldest daughter Nianwei when Li Dingzhang quietly walked in.
"In addition, Director Sima just sent someone to report that an American 79 round-nosed bullet production line has arrived in Luoyang and will be able to enter Shaanxi in half a month."
"That's great news. Now we can have a big fight."
Dai Jiliang handed the two children to their respective wet nurses and stood up. It was a rare moment of leisure in his life, and he was unable to enjoy the joy of family life even though he wanted to.
"Let the Chief of Staff come over. No, I'll go there myself."
Since they were ready to fall out, Dai Jiliang naturally had to clear up the hidden dangers behind him.
"Order all units to immediately enter the preset forward positions, and also have He Guangfu immediately seal off the Lequn Academy!"