Chapter 35: Borrowing the Way? No Way!

  "Borrowing the way? What does it mean?"

  Inside the People's Army Military Affairs Office, Zhang Yugang had just started a new day of work and hadn't even finished his morning tea when he received two letters with almost identical content. The main content or request of the two letters was "borrowing a path". The Yunnan-based Huguo Army hoped to pass through Guangxi to attack Long Jiguang's forces under Yuan Shikai in Guangdong, while Long Jiguang in Guangdong also hoped to counterattack against the rebels in Yunnan via Guangxi. Both sides required passage through Guangxi and guaranteed that they would not interfere with any matters, and there were even gifts of gratitude.

  So, after getting these two strange and traditional Chinese character-written things, there were many unclear points, which made Zhang Yu rack his brains for a long time before he could understand the letters. After that, he fell into a difficult situation again. "Yuan Shikai's ascension to the throne is absolutely unacceptable and will inevitably lead to retribution. If we don't send troops to overthrow Yuan at this time, some people will think that our side supports or sympathizes with Yuan Shikai. Why else would both sides be fighting fiercely? Your autonomous region is indifferent and doesn't take a stand? Both sides are good neighbors, and it's not good to offend either of them." Zhang Yu was constantly thinking about various ideas in his heart, and he didn't forget that he should discuss this matter with someone.

  "Deputy officer, come in for a moment!" Zhang Yu called out. The deputy officer next door, who was waiting for orders, quickly ran over after hearing the call. "You go and ask the Premier to come over, just say I have something important to discuss with him. By the way, how's the document you were organizing yesterday? If it's ready, hand it over to me first, I'll take a look while waiting for you and the Premier." Zhang Yu implied that the deputy officer must bring the Premier over.

  "This is the file that needed to be sorted out yesterday, and it's not even two-thirds done!" The deputy officer quickly pulled out what Zhang Yu was concerned about from his portable file bag. "The unfinished part is just that the data hasn't been verified yet, everything else is done." After adding this sentence, the deputy officer saluted and quickly disappeared into Zhang Yu's office.

  "After a month of fierce battle, the casualties have already exceeded 300,000? Not bad!" Zhang Yu took a look at the document handed over by his deputy officer earlier, and the string of data was simply breathtaking. He couldn't believe it and quickly checked the calendar on his desk, which indeed showed March 22nd. Even if you subtracted the time spent organizing data and verifying the situation, it should still be around a month since the Battle of Verdun broke out. But Europe wouldn't randomly report false information, so he didn't believe such a result and continued to read on."

  On February 21, the German army concentrated all its artillery on the narrow triangular area near Verdun and bombarded it for over 10 hours, flattening the forests, hills, and trenches in this small area, and then advanced with a force of six divisions, formally marking the outbreak of the Battle of Verdun.

  The actual situation was that the troops who received the offensive mission were led by German Crown Prince Wilhelm's 5th Army, which had 7 corps and 18 divisions, more than 2,000 artillery pieces, about 170 aircraft, and an unknown number of light and heavy machine guns and mortars. At 16:45 on the day of the opening of hostilities, the German infantry launched a charge that took almost no effort to occupy the first line of defense, and soon occupied the second line of defense and disrupted the third line of defense. Soon after, they successfully captured the third line of defense and successfully captured the important supporting point of Douaumont in Verdun. For the French, it was time to be desperate. The newly appointed front commander-in-chief, Pétain, immediately used all kinds of thunderous means to restore morale and rectify military equipment, and mobilized all available troops to decide on a decisive battle with the Germans in the Verdun area.

  Then the French army performed a crazy miracle of strategic transportation, and also brewed a life road called "French Holy Road". However, the German army was not without any movement, both sides were heavily reinforcing the front line and stockpiling supplies. On March 13, 1916, the two armies' war opened again, the French army used all means to try to retake Douaumont Fort, including night raids, concentrated artillery fire, and massed charges, but under the German army's dense firepower, they suffered heavy casualties and ended up with nothing. Sometimes the German army would even launch counterattacks to strike back at the French army. So in the first month of the war, both sides were full of energy, the battle was very lively, and the total number of casualties suddenly rose to over 300,000 people, really treating human life as worthless.

  "This war has only been going on for so many days and it's already become like this, much more brutal than the real one!" Zhang Yu said, putting down another set of documents comparing it to the Battle of Verdun. Of course, these documents were only meant for two people to see. Through comparison, Zhang Yu could only sigh at the great power of the butterfly effect, flapping its wings a few times and causing drastic changes in the development of history. What would happen next, Zhang Yu really didn't know.

  Because he thinks that if they keep fighting like this, the German army will not fail due to logistical supplies and strategic support troops not keeping up, and through sustained effective strikes, they really managed to make the French bleed dry. And France will continue to repeat the tactic of adding oil because it can't bear to give up Verdun, and may suffer a disastrous defeat similar to another historical space.

  "Poison gas bombs, flamethrowers, bombers, giant cannons, everything that should have appeared did, and what shouldn't have also appeared, and were used in large quantities. This battle was entertaining enough." After muttering to himself, Zhang Yu closed the folder and picked up a red pen to write "Non-Classified Document" on the cover. As soon as he finished writing, Zhang Yusheng rushed over in a flurry.

  "What does 'borrowing a road' mean?" Zhang Yu shouted out these six words as soon as he finished reading the two letters that Zhang Yu had thrown over. "Those who should protect the country should go and protect it, those who should suppress the rebels should go and suppress them, why do they need to come and interfere with our good cause? If we really let them pass through our territory with a smile, where would our face be? Where is the reason?" After finishing speaking, Zhang Yu directly turned the two letters into paper balls and threw them into the wastebasket with a standard shooting posture.

  The War to Protect the Nation refers to a war waged by some revolutionary martyrs to defend the Republic of China and oppose the restoration of imperialism. After the failure of the Second Revolution, Yuan Shikai accelerated his pace in attacking democratic republican forces, step by step approaching imperial power until he declared himself emperor. During this period, he did a lot of work, such as forcing the National Assembly to elect him as the formal President, then ordering the dissolution of the National People's Party, revoking the qualifications of its members as congressmen, making the National Assembly unable to convene due to insufficient legal personnel and dispersing some congressmen back to their hometowns.

  With this, his greatest political enemy on Chinese soil was gone, and he began to take further action, abolishing the "Provisional Constitution" and promulgating the "Constitution of the Republic of China", later enacting a new presidential election law that allowed the president to be re-elected indefinitely and to determine his successor. This is equivalent to making good preparations for becoming emperor in terms of politics and law, leaving only the aspect of actual power.

  However, in order to quickly gain greater strength, due to the urgent time and pressing demands, Yuan Shikai had very limited options. Finding a backer became Yuan Shikai's only way to rapidly gain great power. Thus, Yuan Shikai soon signed with Japan, with whom he had a long-term close cooperative relationship, the humiliating Twenty-One Demands, trading sovereignty for Japanese support of his imperial ambitions.

  He then let his trusted Yang Du establish the Society for Planning Peace, advocating for the restoration of the imperial system. Using the remnants of feudalism to build a political council, he pushed for Yuan Shikai to be crowned as the Emperor of the Chinese Empire. With this, he had completed the two major steps of consolidating power and propaganda, after which he issued an edict accepting the throne, formally ascending to the throne, and changing the national title to "Hongxian Year One".

  His series of performances did not win the support of the people, and those who opposed him quickly turned from political criticism and public opinion to armed resistance. As the most radical Yunnan, it quickly declared independence and formed a national army to conquer Yuan. Such a move was unbearable for Yuan Shikai, who had just ascended to the throne. Soon, Yuan Shikai also ordered the third division commander Cao Kun in Yueyang, the seventh division commander Zhang Jingyao in Nanyuan, and the sixth division commander Ma Jizeng in Jiangxi to lead part of their troops to Sichuan and Xiangxi, preparing for war against Yunnan. The Xiangxi direction was the first route army, with Ma Jizeng as the commander; the second army in Sichuan, with Zhang Jingyao as the commander; Cao Kun was the general commander, responsible for organizing the front-line battle.

  January 17, 1916, the First Division of the National Protection Army's first brigade engaged in battle with the enemy at Xin Chang, marking the official start of the war between the two sides. However, the Beiyang Army, which had traveled from afar, was completely unfamiliar with the terrain and climate of the southwest, and lacked supplies and popular support. After more than a month of repeated battles, the Beiyang Army suffered heavy casualties. In the Xiangxi Battle, the National Protection Army used less than four brigades to tie down two enemy divisions and four mixed brigades, effectively supporting the battle in the Sichuan direction and achieving remarkable results. However, unlike another historical timeline, Yuan Shikai was not intimidated by the effective battles of the National Protection Army on these two fronts, because he still had an ace up his sleeve.

  The newly appointed Yunnan Investigating Commissioner, Guangdong's 1st Division Commander Long Jiguang, was also the brother of Guangdong General Long Jigong. They still had nearly 8,000 troops that had not moved, and the attitude of Guangxi was also undetermined. In case of necessity, they could go straight to Yunnan, the old nest of the Protect the Country Army, through Guangxi. However, the Protect the Country Army also clearly knew about this deficiency, so the Commander-in-Chief of the Second Army, Li Liejun, led his troops of over 1,000 men, and Tang Jiyao also transferred a part of the Third Army that was originally going to open up Xiangxi to Li Liejun's command, with a scale of almost 8,000 people. They were also preparing to launch an attack on Guangdong from Kunming via Guangxi.

  In the directions of Sichuan and Xiangxi, Yuan Shikai greatly increased reinforcements with a large number of troops, while the Protect the Nation Army's forces in both major directions were also exhausted. Both sides were stuck in a stalemate, neither having the ability to launch a large-scale attack. Therefore, the victors of Li Liejun and Long Jiguang's two fresh armies would be the overall winners of the National Protection War, but no one expected that there was still another force in between - the Guangxi People's Army, which had always maintained an attitude of being uninvolved.

  "Yuan Shikai's failure is inevitable, and we must stand up to say a few words to establish our position. People are not afraid of entering the wrong profession, but they are afraid of standing in the wrong team. Now it is very clear that squeezing into Yuan Shikai's team will surely end in failure, while joining the ranks of the National Protection Army is also futile."

  Apart from love, there is also teeth that can make people unable to extricate themselves. However, apart from shoelaces, there are also difficult choices that can make people entangled indefinitely. Nevertheless, at this moment, making a choice may not be difficult for the autonomous region. "We will declare Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system as an act of rebellion and express our opposition to Yuan Shikai. Of course, if I were asked to send out one soldier or fire one bullet, that would be absolutely impossible. And if Li Liejun of the National Protection Army wants to fly a bird over my territory, that is also impossible, and so is Long Jiguang of Guangdong."

  "Your meaning is that we only establish a position and don't make any extra moves." Zhang Yusheng looked at Zhang Yu in extreme surprise, never expecting that he had been misunderstanding his younger brother all along. It was not that Zhang Yu was too deep to be understood, but rather that this might be the best solution for now and an inevitable choice for the autonomous region, having nothing to do with Zhang Yu's ability.

  "Actually, Yuan Shikai is now at an absolute disadvantage, as long as we declare to stand on the opposite side of him, this is already enough to tip the balance of the scales."

  "It's not the straw that balances the scale, but the last straw that crushes the elephant Yuan Shikai. Besides, what weight is a single straw to us?" Zhang Yushe hastily went to find two letters in the paper basket and said with a smile: "When I was studying, classical Chinese wasn't learned well at all. This time, it's still necessary to borrow from others' formats for writing formal military telegrams, especially in this era! Don't laugh!"

  On March 22, 1916, Guangxi officially joined the anti-Yuan campaign and did not respond to Tang Jiyao's inquiry about whether Yunnan could borrow a road. Instead, Zhang Yuansong gave Long Jiaguang a letter, advising him to stop his wrong actions and correct his thinking immediately, return to the road of republican democracy, and withdraw the imperial system and restore the republic as soon as possible.

  Of course, it's not just talk, and soon the Guangxi People's Fifth Army Corps officially entered the military stronghold of Zhaoqing. Originally, only one company was stationed there, but increasing to a division-level force was enough to show the determination of the autonomous region's people's army. However, another large-scale mobilization that had not been exposed was the First Division entering Baise, while the Second Division in Hechi and the Third Division in Guilin raised their combat readiness level to prepare for any unexpected situation.

  On March 24, Yuan Shikai formally announced the abolition of the imperial system due to domestic and foreign pressures, and the war between the two sides officially ceased. On April 6, General Long Jiguang of Guangdong Province declared independence under military pressure from Guangxi and coercion from revolutionary parties. Soon after, Zhejiang Province also declared independence, and Feng Guozhang sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai advising him to step down. At this time, representatives from various provinces gathered in Zhaoqing, which was controlled by Guangxi, to establish the Military Affairs Bureau, jointly electing Li Yuanhong as the Provisional President. Later, Sichuan and Hunan Provinces also declared independence.

  The situation of everyone rebelling and leaving finally made Yuan Shikai seriously ill, and he died on June 6. The next day, Li Yuanhong announced his succession to the presidency, and soon after, the Zhaoqing Military Affairs Bureau was abolished, and the representatives of each province returned to their respective places, marking the formal end of the War for the Protection of the Nation.