Chapter Forty-Five It's Time to Expand Territory

  PS: Today's extra update is here, this chapter is today's regular update. As a newcomer, I'm grateful for the support that has brought our country to where it is today. Thank you and blessings to all!

  In the brief modern history of the Republic of China, Mr. Sun Yat-sen personally presided over the drafting of the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China and the First National Assembly (commonly known as the Old Parliament), which has always been regarded as a symbol of the bourgeois republic. This symbol condensed the blood and tears of countless people, including Mr. Sun Yat-sen himself.

  Sun Yat-sen, who was dedicated to achieving "expelling the Tartars and restoring China", can be said to have made many sacrifices for the Republic and the nation. Even after he was forced to relinquish power, he continued to fight tirelessly for the maintenance of constitutional law and parliament. Mr. Sun indeed made great contributions to the realization of the Republic, and the Qing government collapsed under his efforts, while Yuan Shikai's attempt to restore the monarchy was also thwarted.

  But the contributions belong to the contributors, and the rich fruits brought by the revolution may be too tempting, repeatedly stolen by others. Yuan Shikai left alone, but attracted more people instead.

  In May 1917, in the distant Beijing, Premier Duan Qirui used the Military Governors' Corps to coerce Parliament into passing a declaration of war against Germany. At that time, Sun Yat-sen, together with Zhang Taiyan, Cen Chunxuan and Tang Shaoyi, jointly sent a telegram to Duan Qirui and both houses of Parliament, demanding that they abide by the constitution and respect Parliament.

  Duan Qirui was soon dismissed by President Li Yuanhong for forcing the parliament to accept a bill. He then instigated the Beiyang warlords to rebel and become independent, using military force to coerce Li Yuanhong into dissolving the parliament. Sun Yat-sen, who was determined to protect the fruits of the revolution, quickly sent telegrams to various provinces, calling for support for the constitution and the parliament, and for the suppression of the Beiyang warlords by armed force. In early July, Zhang Xun's Pigtail Army supported the restoration of the Qing imperial court, giving Sun Yat-sen another opportunity to defend the republic, and also giving Duan Qirui a chance to seize power.

  Afterwards, Sun Yat-sen convened a meeting in Shanghai with the military and naval leaders as well as key figures of the Kuomintang to discuss plans for upholding the Republic and launching a campaign against the warlords. After research and discussion, it was decided that another national assembly would be convened in southern China to organize a provisional government. Even Zhang Yu, who controlled only one province with less than 100,000 troops in remote southwestern China, received an invitation from Sun Yat-sen, possibly due to his firm stance during the late stages of the National Protection War which led people to believe he was a supporter of the Republic.

  On June 20, 1917, the autonomous region issued a telegram stating that anyone who dared to restore the monarchy or attempt to dominate the country would be unpopular and doomed to fail. The implication was actually just opposition to Zhang Xun's restoration, while also not supporting Duan Qirui's actions, but it did not reveal that the autonomous region was definitely on Sun Yat-sen's side. However, this telegram allowed both sides of the conflict to be satisfied, and not sending troops or intervening would be beneficial to everyone.

  The reason why the autonomous region did so is very simple. Because the neighbors, Tang Jiyao and Liu Xianshi of Guizhou, are both on Duan Qirui's side. If they really want to thoroughly show their attitude, the autonomous region will directly suffer from war disasters. A ambiguous answer can not only avoid being in a passive position but also prevent one's situation from becoming too embarrassing. After all, words spoken are like water spilled, and if you don't spill this basin of water, others will definitely think there is something wrong with you. But once the spilled water is dirty, it is destined to offend one side. It can only be called a curse or two to make everyone feel comfortable.

  Of course, modern China has no face to speak of, everyone is just thinking about their own interests, but they are all hanging up a bright sign. Moreover, the autonomous region government has always been self-sufficient in politics, law, economy, military, education and other aspects, and has never had any intersection with the so-called central government. Of course, not a single penny of tax revenue has ever been submitted, nor has a single penny ever been asked from the central government. Everyone has always been minding their own business, living in peace and quiet.

  So-called internal problems in the central government can be scolded for a few sentences, but some people want to promote their own republican slogans, and it's hard to say whether to support or oppose. For the autonomous region with limited power at present, it's best to let them deal with it themselves.

  On June 28, 1917, Sun Yat-sen sent a telegram to the members of both houses of parliament, calling on them to go south to protect the law. Later, Sun Yat-sen, accompanied by Zhang Taiyan, Zhu Zhiqin, Liao Zhongkai and Chen Jiongming, set sail from Shanghai on the Haichen and Yingrui warships, heading south, and soon arrived in Guangzhou.

  At the welcome meeting of all circles in Guangdong, Sun Yat-sen delivered a speech, pointing out that the current turmoil is "a struggle between true republicanism and false republicanism", believing that "the disaster of false republicanism is even more severe than true restoration", and only by overthrowing false republicanism can we "achieve the construction of true republicanism".

  The earliest response to Sun Yat-sen's call for protection was Admiral Cheng Biguang, who issued a proclamation denouncing Zhang Xun's restoration on July 4. After Sun Yat-sen went south to protect the law, Cheng Biguang and Commander-in-Chief of the First Fleet Lin Baoyi jointly telegraphed, proposing three main points: upholding the constitution, restoring the National Assembly, and punishing the culprits. He led the First Fleet with ten warships and arrived at Huangpu on August 5, accompanied by Tang Shaoyi, Wang Jingwei, and others.

  Things are getting out of hand in Guangdong, and now something big has happened in Beijing.

  Duan Qirui, with his strong military power, quickly defeated Zhang Xun and regained control of the government. However, he also refused to restore the Provisional Constitution and the Parliament, and instead adopted Liang Qichao's suggestion to convene a "Temporary Senate" to redraft the parliamentary organization law and election law, elect a new parliament, and achieve his goal of abolishing the old parliament dominated by the Nationalist Party and repealing the Temporary Constitution. This move further dissatisfied many old parliament members, who responded to Sun Yat-sen's call to reconvene the parliament in another location and flocked south to Guangdong. By mid-August, over 150 parliament members had arrived in Guangzhou.

  Sun Yat-sen immediately hosted a banquet for the National Assembly members at Huangpu Park to discuss the issue of convening the National Assembly. Considering that the number of delegates from Guangdong was insufficient, it was decided to follow the precedent of the Third Estate representatives holding the National People's Congress before the French Revolution and convene an "Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly", also known as the Extraordinary National Assembly, after a week of preparation.

  The National Assembly was formally opened in September, and on the last day of August, it passed the "Organizational Outline of the Military Government of the Republic of China", which stipulated that the Republic of China was specially organized to suppress rebellion and restore the "Provisional Constitution". The military government had one Grand Marshal and three Marshals. Before the effectiveness of the "Provisional Constitution" was fully restored, the administrative power of the Republic of China was exercised by the Grand Marshal, who represented the Republic of China externally, and the Marshals assisted the Grand Marshal in deliberating on state affairs.

  The military government set up six departments: foreign affairs, internal affairs, finance, army, navy and transportation. In order to adapt to the war needs of the Warlord-Repelling War, the military government did not adopt the cabinet system stipulated in the Provisional Constitution, but adopted the scheme of integrating party, political and military powers into one proposed by the Chinese Revolutionary Party's "Revolutionary Strategy", implementing a unified head of state for military, internal affairs and foreign affairs, reflecting the intention of Sun Yat-sen and other members of the Chinese Revolutionary Party to establish a bourgeois revolutionary regime ruled solely by their own party through the Warlord-Repelling Movement.

  Of course, all this is just their beautiful dream. To quote a great man again, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." The military government has been messing around for half a day and still can't even build an empty framework, let alone achieve anything practical like Beijing did.

  After the military government was established, an emergency meeting attended by the main leaders of the autonomous government was immediately held in the autonomous region. The meeting focused on discussing the impending civil war that would sweep across southern China and what the autonomous region should do about it.

  The establishment of the military government also marked the arrival of the warlord era and the formation of the confrontation between the North and the South. Duan Qirui would soon inherit Yuan Shikai's mantle of using Beiyang forces to unify China by force, determined to use northern forces to suppress the forces of the protection of the constitution, triggering a second civil war between the North and the South. Of course, his military strategy was very clear, with only two focuses: one was to attack Hunan in order to control Guangdong and Guangxi, and the other was to attack Sichuan in order to control Yunnan and Guizhou.

  "But for now, it seems that the plan to send troops to Sichuan is no longer needed, because Tang Jiyao of Yunnan and Liu Xianshi of Guizhou are clearly going to stand on Duan Qirui's side. Duan Qirui's strategic focus has become one, which is to use Yunnan and Guizhou to control Guangxi, take advantage of his own strong military power to send troops to Hunan, and then thoroughly subdue Guangdong. In his view, the surrounded Guangxi will only have two outcomes: either resist and be annihilated, or surrender to Duan Qirui."

  "I have multiple copies of the report here, everyone can take a look!" Zhang Yusheng personally handed out documents to each of the attendees at the meeting. This closed-door meeting was quite high-level, with only old party members and deputy department heads in attendance, not even any staff to serve tea or pour water.

  The main content of the report is based on some materials compiled by the autonomous region's intelligence bureau, from the day of returning home, the advance team that originally returned to China for inspection has slowly expanded into an intelligence bureau, relying on strong financial resources. The intelligence source of the autonomous region has always been very accurate and timely, including the collection and processing of intelligence in response to this major crisis.

  The main military forces of the Guangdong warlord government were the Guangdong Army led by Long Jiguang, who was persuaded by Sun Yat-sen, the Hunan Southern Army led by Chen Tianfang, the Navy led by Chen Biguang, the Hubei Xiangyang Garrison Commander and the 9th Division Commander Li Tiancai's "Hubei Jingguo Army", and the Shaanxi Defense Force leader Guo Jian's "Shaanxi Hu Fa Army".

  In addition, in Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Gansu and other places, as well as the Northeast region, there were many protection troops, but they were all small in scale and had little impact on military struggles. As for Duan Qirui's side, apart from Tang Jiyao's Yunnan army and Liu Xianshi's Guizhou, which had already shown their loyalty to him, he also had a number of main force troops, such as Fu Liangzuo as the commander-in-chief of the punitive expedition, Wang Ruxian's 8th Division, Fan Guozhang's 20th Division and other so-called elite troops.

  "The Guangdong side has given us higher hopes, Yunnan and Guizhou will eventually fall into Duan Qirui's arms, and our safety is naturally the first to be threatened. Whether we express support for either side or not, just looking at the good results of our own development, it is enough to make both neighbors envy. However, now Guangdong's Long Jiguang must have forgotten about this piece of fat meat, but Tang Jiyao is a man who cannot be underestimated! In short, my opinion is to strongly support and assist the Constitution Protection Army in their war efforts, and at the same time we also need to make preparations for military struggle, ready to..."

  "I agree with this opinion. After nearly a year of preparation, we have developed a good mass base in various places such as Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan and Guangdong. Of course, the process of establishing these bases has been subject to many pressures, the greatest pressure being the suppression by warlords. The land revolution is proceeding with great difficulty! Many comrades hope that we can soon break through the warlords' ruling position and transform our underground work into open and legitimate..."

  The second party congress enabled the Revival Party to establish its revolutionary struggle guidelines for the next stage, within the autonomous region of course continuing reform and construction, accelerating the development of production forces that are both good and fast, solidifying the good momentum of economic development, and continuing to maintain steady progress in all aspects of social construction. Of course, the first time expanding the scope of revolutionary development, the primary target is several nearby provinces.

  "This battle to defend the law is a rare opportunity, as long as we are well-prepared, it is entirely possible to expand the revolutionary forces' control and take down the resource-rich provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan without any problem. I dare guarantee this militarily, but I don't know if you can keep up with the pace in subsequent construction."

  Zhang Yu's speech to a large extent provided information for the workers of the arduous revolutionary struggle, especially the chairman of the Revolutionary Expansion Struggle Writers' Association, Yang Kezheng, who was born and died several times in the provinces around the autonomous region with great confidence. This revolutionary leader not only perfectly completed Zhang Yu's instructions but also summarized more practical revolutionary struggle plans.

  "Yunnan and Guizhou are two provinces with high mountains, dense forests and poor roads. In these two provinces, military struggle is secondary, the key is to win the support and help of the people. With a mass base, we have 100% confidence, of course, without it, we can still achieve victory, but the follow-up work will be more difficult. After all, the common people are used to seeing bandits coming and going in a hurry, who knows if our People's Army is not another group of chaotic soldiers occupying territory? Of course, with Yang Kezheng's efforts, I believe that our military struggle work will go smoothly and successfully!"

  "So, we have determined the key work during the period of the autonomous region's war of law enforcement. The main points are: all construction projects will proceed steadily, and all levels of authorities must ensure stability within the autonomous region during the war, especially the security and defense work of key units. The People's Army will begin military mobilization preparations, be prepared to respond to large-scale military struggles at any time, and of course, backup military-industrial enterprises must activate their backup production capacity, striving to meet the needs of the autonomous region's military actions while also ensuring timely delivery of European arms orders...". Zhang Yusheng made a final summary for the closed-door meeting, and from then on, the autonomous region entered a special period of war of law enforcement.

  On September 11, 1917, Tang Jiyao of Yunnan and Liu Xianshi of Guizhou formally issued a telegram in support of Duan Qirui, condemning the illegality of the Guangdong Military Government and expressing their willingness to send troops to assist Duan Qirui in suppressing the Republican rebels. In response, the Guangdong Military Government announced large-scale military preparations for the Constitutional Protection War, while the first batch of military supplies "supported" by the autonomous region arrived at the port of Guangzhou, including 10,000 rifles, 20 Maxim machine guns that had been stored in the People's Army warehouse for unknown years, mountain cannons left over from the war with Lu Rongting, and a large quantity of ammunition. The autonomous region's provision of military supplies to the military government was a direct indication that the people's army stood on the side of constitutional protection.

  The military mobilization of the People's Army was also swift. On a dramatic day, September 18th, the First Division of Baicheng marched out of Xingyi City, claiming to protect the Hongshui River Power Plant. The Second Division of Hechi moved by rail and road to Maowei (in Guizhou Province), while the Third Division of Guilin shifted to Yongzhou (in Hunan Province). The People's Army was rapidly deploying troops to areas along the actual border, with obvious intentions.

  "This time is different from the last Dharma War, we might be getting serious this time!"

  In a six-wheeled military off-road transport truck, two logistics transportation soldiers of the People's Army First Division were chatting idly. Not long after the troops marched out, another order came down from above, requiring them to build a large-scale logistics warehouse base in Xingyi again. Since the railway leading to this place has always been serving the hydroelectric project, the task of transporting heavy materials fell on the shoulders of automobile transportation soldiers.

  "It's about time we got serious, last time's Battle of the Guards was a joke, both sides had their guns loaded and were waiting for the signal to fire, but then Yuan Shikai gave the order to stand down. Luckily for us, he kicked the bucket soon after, leaving behind this super mess. It didn't take long before trouble started brewing again, that scoundrel Duan Qirui is actually one of his leftovers...". The two elite soldiers with the fine mustaches on their shoulders were fondling their steel guns, although their eyes were fixed intently on the front, their mouths couldn't help but mutter incessantly.

  "Alright, if it weren't for him making a fuss and Tang Jiayao following up, would we be able to get our hands on this genuine off-road heavy truck? But this thing is meant to be driven on muddy roads, not asphalt highways. Anyway, this time we're destined for great things, and we'll inevitably be driving on rough roads in the future. Let's just drive it around for now so we can get familiar with it, and later when we transport supplies, the car will definitely show its advantages..."

  The best-selling heavy trucks in Europe, in the eyes of the People's Army, generally appear in warehouses. They usually use ordinary trucks. As a motorized infantryman, who doesn't want to drive a better car? When they finally get the opportunity to fight a big battle, they naturally start by being humble and scolding, but secretly rejoicing in their hearts. However, their mouths still spew out vicious curses.

  Twenty heavy trucks formed a convoy, all of them were olive green and pulling green standard containers, flashing hazard lights as they sped towards their destination. On the highway, there were many yellow civilian transport trucks coming and going, most of which were transporting materials for the hydroelectric project on that side. The transportation capacity of the dual-track railway from Baise to Xingyi had recently reached its peak, so many automobile logistics companies received orders, and now they unknowingly drove alongside military vehicles.

  "Oh my god! Why don't we use those kinds of trailers in our unit? Those super-large 22-wheeled trailers, one would be enough for several of ours!" A gigantic vehicle was approaching from the opposite direction, and the second-class officer driving the giant military truck couldn't help but tease, quickly gesturing to his comrade next to him to take a look at that super-gigantic monster.

  "This thing is for heavy-duty equipment, what are you yelling about! Drive your car well, if it wasn't to let us get familiar with the performance of the car, would there be a need for us to pull goods? The autonomous region has many logistics companies willing to undertake material transportation work. However, looking at that situation, I estimate that the progress of the first-level step-down substation on that side is very fast..."

  "Actually, the vehicles that come out of our warehouse are still not the same, and our superiors are really good at saving fuel. After adapting to wear and tear, they will be used for transporting materials, I reckon your rifle is probably also newly unsealed! The second lieutenant glanced sideways at the superior soldier's rifle, the black body was obviously one of the objects he had dreamed of equipping many times before, an M18 automatic."

  He glanced at him several times and continued, "This 18-style is not bad, but if it weren't for Duan Qirui's disturbance, we would really have to wait until 1918 to equip it. But on the other hand, this quantity is too small. However, this is also good, with top-notch soldiers having good guns, us officers can rest assured!"

  A straight and spacious cement road has always been the favorite of cars, especially for these transport soldiers. They really hope that there are not many people who like to toss around on muddy and rugged roads. Who doesn't like driving on a good road? The steering wheel, brakes, and accelerator are all less moved, especially when shifting gears is not too frequent. The driver naturally feels relaxed and has time to joke around and relieve boredom.

  "You're probably suffering from war phobia! Otherwise, you wouldn't have so much to say, and talking too much only proves that you feel very empty inside..." The superior soldier couldn't take the officer's harassment anymore and finally spoke out in resistance. "Actually, I'm also quite uneasy, not because I'm afraid of dying myself, but because I'm afraid of killing people who shouldn't be killed... damn Tang Jiyao, when will he think about us ordinary people, we wouldn't have to go through so much trouble!" The superior soldier cursed and then revealed the reason for his silence before the officer could retort.

  "The war will come soon and pass quickly!" The officer actually wanted to say that he hoped the supplies he had transported would not be used, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

  Civil war, a war where brothers and compatriots slaughter each other, who would wish for it? Even an ordinary soldier.