After the Southern Army occupied Weihai Guard, Yuan Shikai then held an emergency military meeting in order to achieve the strategic goal of urging frontline soldiers to fight bravely. (eng.com_)

However, the news that Yuan Shikai shot a major general and commander in the venue had spread throughout the Southern Army, and the subsequent measures made most of the generals in the Beiyang New Army feel panic.

I don't know when, many generals of the Beiyang New Army found that there were many new faces in their respective armies, and from time to time, there were military police rushing into their residences to search at will. For a moment, the people in the Beiyang New Army were panicked, and many officers were panicked all day long.

A few days later, a terrifying news came out. Two more major commanders in Beijing were shot dead by Yuan Shikai, on the grounds that they had letters with Feng and Duan, colluded with the southern rebel party, and intended to lead their troops to surrender to the enemy.

After some inquiries, some people understood what it was like to "have correspondence with Feng and Duan, colluded with the southern rebel party, and intended to lead their troops to surrender to the enemy."

Feng and Duan did write letters to the two commanders, but the two commanders were intercepted by Liang Shiyi's people before they received the letter. Liang Shiyi presented the two letters to Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai was furious after seeing these two letters and detained the two for review on the spot.

Although the two major commanders did not receive the letter at all, Yuan Shikai still found some clues. It turned out that the two commanders had talked about the Southern Army in private and had some admiration for the Southern Army in their words.

In just a few words praising the Southern Army, the two major commanders were identified by Yuan Shikai as evidence of collusion with the Southern Army. In the end, they were shot dead when the two regiment commanders shouted wronged.

After this incident, there were huge changes within the Beiyang New Army. Officers were guarding against officers, and officers were guarding against subordinates. In short, everyone in the Beiyang New Army was in danger, for fear that the people close to them would be suspicious sent by Yuan Shikai, which would be detrimental to him. Everyone was very careful when talking, and they didn't even dare to drink too much, for fear of losing their words after drinking.

However, under Yuan Shikai's series of high-pressure policies, some generals who had no intention of rebelling began to secretly seek a way out. Now who is willing to stay in the Beiyang New Army? The southern army has strong firepower and with naval gun support, the Beiyang New Army will sooner or later be unable to withstand it.

Moreover, staying in the Beiyang New Army every day was like walking on thin ice, with Yuan Shikai's eyes everywhere, and the trust between the officers and subordinates was gone. Everyone was worried about their own safety, fearing that they would be taken away by the military police, and then like the two unlucky major commanders, they ended up dead and unknown.

At this time, two young regiment commanders in a Beiyang New Army camp in Shandong were plotting to launch a mutiny, preparing to take their subordinates to kill their division commanders and submit a letter of surrender to the southern army.

The two young major commanders, one was Yan Feng and the other was Wang Zixuan. They were once subordinates of Wang Fenglin, the commander-in-chief of Weihai Guard. After Wang Fenglin was executed on the spot by Yuan Shikai, both of them were reorganized into a new division.

Since the division where the two were in the past was really defeated in the Weihai Guard War, the two did not have a high status in the army, but were often sarcastic from others.

On this day, the two were scolded by the new teacher for no reason, and then made an appointment to drink and relieve their boredom in a small restaurant.

Yan Feng said angrily: "You are so cowardly now!"

Wang Zixuan poured a glass of wine for Yan Feng and said, "Come on, let's do it first! Gu Long..." After tilting his head and having a glass, Wang Zixuan continued to persuade, "Oh, who said it was not! When we came to this bullshit new 15th Division, look at the new commander, who relied on being the confidant of the Grand Commander, actually showed off his power in front of us. He didn't even see who had the final say in this division."

Yan Feng and Wang Zixuan were relatively young, only thirty years old. Both of them graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officers' school. After returning to China, they served as captain platoon commanders in the Beiyang New Army. Then they were promoted all the way and climbed to the major regiment commander in a short time. Therefore, they naturally couldn't stand this new division commander, and it seemed that before he took office, the people in Beijing were just the commanders of the guard army.

Yan Feng smiled bitterly and said, "Oh, I'm sorry for our Commander Wang Fenglin. Although he doesn't have a high military command ability, he is still good to our subordinates. If he hadn't been responsible for the main crime this time, we might have been different at this time."

"The Grand Marshal is so arrogant! Why doesn't he believe what Commander Wang said? His words are true!" Wang Zixuan said hatefully, "The Southern Army that landed did not know what new weapons were used. Each of them was holding a strange-shaped spear. This spear can be fired continuously, which is comparable to the Makqin water-cooled heavy machine gun. Ours are all single-shot Mauser. How can we compare to the Southern Army? If we really count according to the firepower comparison, the Southern Army's firepower of the two thousand men is five times that of ours. No one can withstand such strong firepower. Do you think this can be blamed? Or let the Grand Marshal pull his elite troops up and try it out. I promise the ending is the same as ours..."

Yan Feng interrupted Wang Zixuan's complaint and reminded: "Shut up, aren't you afraid of someone rumoring it? You are also charged with intention to rebel and colluding with the Southern Army!"

Wang Zixuan had a little alcohol tolerance. After drinking a few drinks just now, his face was like a peach blossom. He said with the alcohol: "What are you afraid of? Now everyone in the army is in danger, who will have the leisure to listen to us? Besides, I really don't want to do it anymore, as the commander of the regiment!"

Yan Feng advised: "Sound it lightly!"

Wang Zixuan was not afraid. He still said ignorantly: "The general was strict with his laws and regulations, and he would be killed if he was defeated. He was not at ease when he stayed in the rear. He would be imposed on a false charge at any time. Many people could not stand it anymore. I heard that they were plotting against Yuan and surrendering to the Southern Army!"

Yan Feng asked in surprise: "Really? Are they so unafraid of death? If the general finds out, they will not be able to escape!"

Wang Zixuan smiled back and said, "It's not safe to stay here anyway. The Southern Army is about to fight. I think Yuan Shikai can't hold on for a long time. We might as well surrender before taking advantage of the Southern Army to attack Beijing. Otherwise, when the Southern Army arrives, will we be dragged into cannon fodder again?"

"But..." Yan Feng hesitated a little.

"But what? Do you dare to follow me? Anyway, you are worried all day long when you stay here, so you might as well fight to the death! Maybe there is still a way out." Wang Zixuan said firmly.

Yan Feng hesitated for a while, but when he thought of Yuan Shikai's unreasonable persecution of some generals of the Beiyang New Army over the past few days, he immediately made up his mind and said, "Okay, Zixuan, I'll follow you!"

"Come on, have a drink!" The two of them raised their glasses at the same time, drank them all, and then slapped their high fives in the air, which determined the decision to change their destiny.

"But, what should I do next?" Yan Feng asked.

Wang Zixuan smiled and said, "Now this new 15th Division has five regiments. Both of you and me are the old foundations of Commander Wang, and the other two regiments have very good personal relationships with me. Before deciding on this matter with you, I had already conspired with them for a long time. Just wait for my order, the four regiments will turn against each other at the same time. Moreover, our two regiments are less than 80 miles away from the southern army of Weihaiwei. As long as we move quickly, Yuan Shikai had no time to mobilize other troops, so he could only sigh and watch us leave."

"You Wang Zixuan, it turns out that you have planned everything. It turns out that I am the last one to know! I am really unrighteous, come and punish yourself for three cups," Yan Feng said.

Wang Zixuan nodded: "Okay, okay, since Captain Yan is speaking, I dare not refuse to obey!" After saying that, he finished three glasses of white wine.

This banquet was not long, but Wang Zixuan was drunk very quickly. After a while, Yan Feng helped Wang Zixuan walk towards his station.

Three days later, a news that shocked Yuan Shikai reached the Prime Minister's Office in Beijing. The troops of the four regiments defending the Weihai Guard's front line actually surrendered to the enemy at the forefront, shot his division commander, and surrendered to the hands of the Southern Army of Weihai Guard.

When Yuan Shikai received this news, he was extremely furious. He immediately ordered several regiment commanders who surrendered to the enemy to arrest him, and offered a reward of 5,000 taels of silver to buy the heads of Yan Feng, Wang Zixuan and others.

What made Yuan Shikai feel a little scared was not just a few thousand people who surrendered to the enemy, but that when the incident of surrendering to the enemy was about to break out, many people would definitely follow suit, so he had to come up with more stringent policies to strengthen the control of these front-line officers.

However, what made Yuan Shikai the most headache was that after the Russian Emperor Nicholas II lost in Jingzhou, he said that he would not increase his troops to go south again, which means that Yuan Shikai no longer had foreign aid, and he could only rely on the Beiyang New Army to defeat the Southern Army's naval and land coalition.

At the same time, Britain, France, the United States and other countries suspended their weapons supply, and at the same time, Yuan Shikai's loans and orders from Britain, the United States, France and other countries were suspended.

In order to deal with the Southern Army, Yuan Shikai borrowed a large amount of loans from Britain, the United States, France and other countries to order new warships. Because Yuan Shi also knew that the existence of the Beiyang Fleet was always a threat, so he also had to build a new fleet to protect the capital.

However, what Yuan Shikai did not expect was that the Russian Pacific Fleet would be defeated so quickly that before the warship he purchased returned to China, the Russian army had already fled back to Vladivostok. Now, the coastlines along the southeast coast are all under the hands of the Beiyang Fleet.

Yuan Shikai felt very regretful. If the Russian Pacific Fleet could support it for several months, then he might have led the Beiyang New Army south to Fuzhou.

However, there is often a difference between reality and ideals. At this time, Yuan Shikai felt that he seemed to have fallen into a situation of being surrounded by enemies. The Southern Army was pressing step by step, the Beiyang New Army was demoralized, and he lost strong aid and was already fighting alone!
Chapter completed!