Early the next morning, Tang Jian came to the command center, and Yan Fu, Nie Shicheng and others were already waiting in the conference room.

After a brief greeting, everyone started to sit down and prepared to start discussing the issues left over from yesterday.

Tang Jian asked: "I wonder if you have any new ideas after a night of consideration?"

Zhang Zuolin said: "Report to the commander, I will stick to my point of view and go north to rescue!"

Tang Jian looked around, frowned slightly, and asked, "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"I'll say it!" Yan Fu stood up and said slowly: "I suggest that the troops of the veteran General Sun Wanling should withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River and make plans in the future. After all, there are many crises of rescue from north to north. Moreover, even if the reinforcements arrive in Xuzhou, the two armies will have a fierce battle. I am not afraid of the war, but I just feel that it is not wise to fight with Yuan Shikai at this time. Yuan Shikai has more soldiers than me, and it is not cost-effective to withdraw temporarily. When the time is ripe, we will go north again!"

"Yes, I agree with Mr. Yan's suggestion!" veteran Nie Shicheng also agreed, "both strong and weak, the weak should avoid the strong's edge. When the strong are relaxed and weak, they will give a heavy blow. This is the way to win!"

Tang Jian smiled and said, "So are there any other different suggestions?"

At this time, the command center was roughly divided into two factions. One was the young and strong sect, mainly young officers led by Zhang Zuolin. Their main suggestion was to support northward; the other was the veteran sect, mainly including a group of former Qing army veterans such as Nie Shicheng. Their suggestion was that the Anqing defenders would remain firm, but to withdraw Sun Wanling's three divisions to the south of the Yangtze River, which was safer.

Tang Jian passed Deng Yimeng's unintentional slap last night and had already made up his mind. At this time, he saw that everyone supported the veterans' side, so Tang Jian said: "Everyone said it is right, but according to the actual situation, Mr. Yan's suggestion is more in line with the current situation. The enemy is strong and we are weak. This is an indisputable fact. In this case, there is no need to fight with the enemy to consume, but we should preserve our strength to the greatest extent!"

Tang Jian paused for a moment and continued, "However, as Zhang Zuolin said, giving up Xuzhou means giving up the entire North China. However, what I want to say is that this is just our temporary strategic retreat. One day we will fight back, not only will we fight back, but we will also fight directly to Beijing!"

Tang Jian took a photo of Zhang Zuolin and several young officers and said, "Everyone should learn more from General Nie and Mr. Yan. As a qualified military general, we should not only pay attention to the changes in the battle situation at all times, but also the meaning represented behind the changes in the battle situation!"

Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Jinghui, Jie Jiajun and others nodded heavily. It is inevitable that young people are young and energetic, but they must know how to advance and retreat. Tang Jian just taught them another lesson.

The idea was decided. After the meeting, everyone began to step down, perform their duties, and began to prepare for the next job of taking over Sun Wanling's retreat.

Yan Fu walked to Tang Jian and smiled and said, "Haha, the commander is such a plan!"

Tang Jian heard the hidden meaning in Yan Fu's words and asked back: "Mr. Yan laughed. Are they all the good plans made by Mr. Yan and Mr. Nie just now?"

"The commander just likes to guess the riddle with Yan! Haha!" Yan Fu smiled without mind.

Tang Jian knew that he could not hide Yan Fu's eyes. As long as he shared the plate, he smiled and said, "Mr. Yan understands me! Indeed, I actually decided to withdraw Sun Wanling during the meeting yesterday. It was because I was the commander-in-chief of Hailu, it would be bad if I took the initiative to defeat!"

"So, did the Commander's Day specifically choose today? How did the Commander guess that I can't help it today!" Yan Fu said with a smile.

Tang Jian replied: "When I saw Mr. Yan frowning yesterday, I knew that Mr. Yan already had the answer. According to Mr. Yan's personality, I will definitely not be able to help but say it today! In fact, I have been waiting for you to speak out on your own initiative!"

Yan Fu joked: "It seems that the commander is still eating Yan very accurately!"

Tang Jian apologized: "As the commander of the First Army, although I already know what to do, I still want to seek some opinions from you and choose one of the suggestions that best meets my requirements from many opinions. Do you think this is not good?"

Yan Fu bowed and smiled and said, "This is very good, so that the commander can accept advice and gather ideas. In this way, other supervisors will not think that the commander is arbitrary, which is conducive to internal unity. More importantly, it is able to train those young generals and kill two birds with one stone, which is very good! Haha!"

Tang Jian patted Yan Fu on the shoulder: "I am a confidant in life!"

Yan Fu handed Tang Jian a cigarette and said slowly: "After withdrawing, the commander should consider how to consolidate the Yangtze River defense line. In addition, when will the Northern Expedition make plans again!"

Tang Jian took the cigarette roll and stared into the distance. Indeed, after retreating, he had to consider how to fight the Northern Expedition first. If Yuan Shikai's hundreds of thousands of troops stabilized north of the Yangtze River, then the Northern Expedition would be difficult!

...

On the last day of the last month of 1902, as Xuzhou was about to fall into the siege of nearly 40,000 troops of Wang Zhanyuan and Cao Kun, Lieutenant General Sun Wanling, commander of the Eastern Road of the National Revolutionary Army, led his troops to break through the siege in Suzhou and retreat to the ancient city of Nanjing.

Ancient city Xuzhou Prefecture

Sun Wanling stood behind the ancient city wall of Xuzhou and watched the last batch of baggage troops withdraw from Xuzhou City and the last batch of baggages exit the city, which means that the entire army has begun to retreat south. Cao Kun will seize the Xuzhou where Sun Wanling has worked hard for several months without bloodshed.

Sun Wanling was beside his commander of the Fifth Division. Wang Rui, the commander of the 5th Division, was cut off three fingers by bullets during the battle with Wu Peifu the day before yesterday, and a shrapnel was pierced into his abdomen. At this time, his whole body was covered with bandages, and only one right eye was exposed.

Wang Rui was in extreme pain. When he led the Fifth Division to station in Xuzhou for nearly half a year, he interrupted the enemy's attack many times, but this time it was different. He witnessed with his own eyes the power of the four-wheeled iron box, which was not something he could resist, otherwise he would not have been injured like this.

However, Xuzhou, which had been working hard for half a year, would retreat south in shame without firing a single shot. As the commander of the division, he always felt very cowardly!

"General, do we really want to withdraw?" Wang Rui felt that he had asked a question that was equivalent to nonsense.

Sun Wanling smiled bitterly: "Haha, that's right, retreat all the way south and retreat to Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties!"

"Why? We obviously have the power to fight, why do we still have to escape back to the south in shame with our tails? What are we doing tortoises? At worst, we can have a big fight with Cao Kun and Wang Zhanyuan. Humph! If we want to join us and eat us in one bite, they still lack a good tooth!" Wang Rui said angrily.

Sun Wanling stood behind the city wall, looked down on the entire Xuzhou city and said, "The situation is not good for me now. The commander does not want us to fight with Yuan Shikai to consume. Now he retreats south just to avoid his edge. He retreats to Nanjing for a better Northern Expedition. Do you understand?"

Although Wang Rui was unwilling to accept it, he understood the truth, but he really couldn't swallow this. Wang Rui took a last look at Xuzhou City in the evening and sweared silently: "In the future, I must be the pioneer and take back Xuzhou first!"

Sun Wanling glanced at the south city gate under her feet. The last soldier had already left the south gate. Sun Wanling said, "Let's go!"

Wang Rui wiped the corners of his eyes and followed Sun Wanling silently. Wang Rui clearly saw Sun Wanling's figure shaking slightly on the city wall at dusk. It turned out that Sun Wanling cared more about this retreat than he did.

………….

Beijing Zijing City, Hall of Peace of Heart.

"Go to court!" The eunuch Sili at the door shouted at the door of Yangxin Hall with his duck voice.

As soon as the words were finished, all the civil and military officials who had been waiting for a long time began to enter the hall in gorgeous official uniforms. The flower feathers on the heads of the people showed their respective official ranks.

The leader of all officials was Yuan Shikai, who wore a first-rate and a flower feather. After Yuan Shikai took the lead in stepping into the Yangxin Palace with a arrogant attitude, other civil and military officials dared to follow him into the hall.

"Long live my emperor!"

"Flat!"

Emperor Guangxu sat upright on the dragon throne with a sick look on his face. I don’t know if it was too much indulgence or excessive indulgence indulgence. Emperor Guangxu seemed to be much more depressed than a few months ago.

"Cough cough." Emperor Guangxu coughed twice and asked, "My ministers, please report something!"

At this time, an old minister came out and bowed: "Your Majesty, Lord Yuan broke the rebels in Xuzhou. Not only did he recover Xuzhou, but also Jiangsu and Anhui provinces were under the control of the court. Lord Yuan made such a great contribution, and the emperor should reward him!"

Emperor Guangxu glanced at the old minister coldly. He was obviously Yuan Shikai's gangster and he spoke nice things for Yuan Shikai as soon as he came to court.

Hum! Reward! Now that the military and political power and financial power are all over Yuan Shikai, what else can I give? Emperor Guangxu said in his heart.

Yuan Shikai gave a wink to a little eunuch next to him. The little eunuch immediately cleverly brought a chair from the back hall. Yuan Shikai did not avoid suspicion at all, and sat in the Hall of Heart Raising.

Although Emperor Guangxu was so angry that his face turned a sickly flushed by Yuan Shikai's contempt, he could only get angry in his heart. He could not say it out, otherwise it would cause a disaster of killing. Therefore, he could only bury this humiliation and anger deeply in his heart.

Yuan Shikai smiled and said, "It was the responsibility of the minister to destroy the rebels. Now, it is just that the minister has fulfilled his responsibilities. The merits are small and small, so they are not enough to reward!"

Emperor Guangxu forced a smile and said, "Mr. Yuan is too humble. I must reward such a great contribution. Look at what I can give you. Just say, I will try my best to satisfy you!" Emperor Guangxu deliberately accentuated the word "can", and I don't know if Yuan Shikai could hear the meaning.

Yuan Shikai stared at Emperor Guangxu for a moment with deep meaning, and the entire body was filled with coldness.

Yuan Shikai smiled and said, "Thank you for the reward of the emperor. I appreciate it. But I still have something to report!" After that, Yuan Shikai took out a memorial.

A short eunuch beside Emperor Guangxu was about to walk down to take over the memorial, but Yuan Shikai waved his sleeves and walked straight to the Luantai, and handed the memorial directly to Emperor Guangxu.

Emperor Guangxu obviously had not had time to scold Yuan Shikai for his ruthless behavior, but he was attracted by a few conspicuous words on the memorial: Allow Outer Mongolia Autonomy**!
Chapter completed!