At around 9 a.m., the capital center had just started a new day. Minister of Defense Duan Qirui came to the office early as usual, dealing with the documents accumulated yesterday, drinking tea, stretching, getting up, holding a kettle to the window, serving the treasure flowers and plants, and humming Jingqu'er. Duan Qirui was in a good mood these days, especially after the news of the Japanese army retreating in Kantong Prefecture, he, as the Minister of Defense, felt much more relaxed.

Without the pressure of the Sino-Japanese incident, Duan Qirui has been thinking about the incident after Yuan Shikai these days. As one of the three heroes of Beiyang, he is now in a high position. Although the central government has established the General Staff Department and divided the powers of the former Army Department a lot, Duan Qirui, who was promoted from the Chief of the Army to Minister of National Defense, still holds most of the army's rights and controls part of the naval strength.

President Yuan Shikai has not had many days left. According to doctors' diagnosis, it is probably only possible to go to next spring. Once Yuan Shikai dies, there will inevitably be a vacuum in the power of the pivotal power, and there are very few people who are qualified to fill it. Among these people, Duan Qirui is the only one who can compete for the throne with him. Duan Qirui secretly compares the advantages and disadvantages of several parties. In his opinion, among the three heroes of Beiyang, Wang Shizhen is the boss of the three heroes, now he is the chief of staff. His prestige and ability in the army are comparable to his own. In theory, he is the best candidate.

, but because of his age and Wang Shizhen, this person has never had much power, I think he would not compete with him. The other one of the three heroes is Feng Guozhang, who has always been against him, has been fighting openly and secretly with Duan Qirui for nearly ten years. No one has been convinced by anyone. Now Feng Guozhang holds heavy troops in the south and is his biggest competitor. However, Feng Guozhang is not inferior in terms of strength in the army, but Duan Qirui is one higher than Feng Guozhang in the government, not to mention that Duan Qirui is supported by powerful faction such as Xu Shuzheng, Wang Yitang, and Zeng Yujun.

There is also Xu Shichang in the Beiyang system. However, Xu Shichang and Wang Shizhen are not keen on power. In this way, Duan Qirui has no big opponent. It seems natural for him to fill the vacuum of power. But don’t forget that the Beiyang is not the dominant one now, and the current government is a constitutional government. Whether it is the Congress or the various parties, its strength cannot be ignored.

Prime Minister Song Jiaoren and Duan Qirui felt their heads going up when they thought of this person. If Song Jiaoren wanted to compete for the position of president, Duan Qirui was not sure at all. Compared with Song Jiaoren, both political status and prestige among the people are far higher than anyone else. If Song Jiaoren wants to make a step further, no one can stop him.

However, Duan Qirui did not think Song Jiaoren would do this. As Minister of Defense, he certainly knew that Song Jiaoren was a promoter of constitutional politics. As Prime Minister, Song Jiaoren would never leave behind the Prime Minister’s power to be a short president. Duan Qirui himself was not sure that if he ascended the throne of the president, he would be able to compete with the Prime Minister like Yuan Shikai and share rights. So the position of the president looks good, but it is not affordable.

Duan Qirui is really focused on not the position of the president, but the position of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the highest person who truly controls national rights. Once Yuan Shikai dies, no one who succeeds the president will be able to have Yuan Shikai's power as the president, and can only become a symbol of the head of state. Duan Qirui's judgment is the same as Yang Du and others. He thinks that Song Jiaoren will never serve as the president, but will continue to implement constitutionalism and thoroughly implement the prime minister system. Retreat. For Duan Qirui, the most likely position is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense. If he can sit in this position, once Song Jiaoren's term reaches, he will have a great possibility of becoming the prime minister and becoming the highest authority in China.

Thinking of this, Duan Qirui frowned slightly. He still had a strong competitor as the position of Vice Premier, and this person was Fang Zida. Fang Zida emerged in the past few years and climbed to the high position of Deputy Finance Minister and President of the Central Bank in just a few years. What made Duan Qirui even more afraid of is that Fang Zida has a deep background and is not inferior to him. In some aspects, such as finance, industry and commerce, etc., it is not easy for Duan Qirui to take a step further.

Moreover, Fang Zida has a special identity, that is, Yuan Shikai's son-in-law. With Duan Qirui's understanding of Yuan Shikai, it is absolutely impossible not to pave the way for Fang Zida before his death, and the new army that had been formed a few days ago also illustrates this point. What is more likely is that if people from the Beiyang faction such as Wang Shizhen, Xu Shichang and even Feng Guozhang also support Fang Zida to compete with him, the feasibility of Duan Qirui's rise to power will be minimal...

"Bang..."

A sudden sound interrupted Duan Qirui's thoughts and turned around in displeasure. The door opened and Xu Shuzheng stood there in panic.

"Yu Zheng, why are you panic? What happened?"

Seeing that it was Xu Shuzheng, Duan Qirui swallowed the scolding that was coming to his mouth and asked in surprise.

"The big thing is wrong, Brother Zhiquan, Fengtian... Fengtian... Fengtian has started a war!" Xu Shuzheng said gasping, Duan Qirui was shocked and asked in disbelief: "What did you... say? Fengtian starts a war? Who is the Japanese? How is this possible?"

After receiving the telegram sent by Xu Shuzheng in a hurry, Duan Qirui finished reading the ten lines at a glance, and he was stunned and did not respond for a moment.

"How is this possible? Didn't the Japanese withdraw their troops? Why did the war suddenly start?"

For a moment, Duan Qirui's mind was ashamed of the news. He could not understand how the situation that had been understood suddenly turned out like this.

"Brother Zhiquan! Brother Zhiquan!"

Seeing Duan Qirui being stunned on the spot, Xu Shuzheng shouted anxiously.

Duan Qirui, who came back to his senses, sorted out his thoughts and asked Xu Shuzheng: "What is the situation in Fengtian now? How many troops are the Japanese army launching an attack? What is the Fengtian defense line now? Does Zhang Zuolin have a corresponding solution?"

A series of questions made Xu Shuzheng unable to answer at all. He had just received a telegram. According to the telegram, Zhang Zuolin's troops were unprepared and suffered heavy losses in the first line of defense. He called for the central government to rescue. As for the specific situation, he had no idea what was going on.

Duan Qirui, who was anxious, hurriedly took Xu Shuzheng out without saying a word. The sudden war made him nervous suddenly. The situation on the front line is unclear, and he must first understand before he can make a countermeasure. Moreover, the Ministry of National Defense alone cannot make the decision on such a big thing, and must act in unison with the General Staff. I think that when he received the telegram, the General Staff and even the Prime Minister's Office should have received the news, and he must meet Prime Minister Song Jiaoren immediately.

The news of Japan's attack on Fengtian reached the capital about three hours and twenty-five minutes after the war started. With the current communication situation, this is the fastest speed. But the war has changed rapidly. No one knows what the front line is like in this short three hours. It takes at least one or two days to make countermeasures, plus the dispatch of troops and preparations. It is impossible without more than ten days.

Prime Minister Song Jiaoren, Chief of Staff Wang Shizhen, Minister of National Defense Duan Qirui... and so on learned about this at about the same time. When Duan Qirui arrived at the Prime Minister's Office, Wang Shizhen also arrived, and even Fang Zida rushed over.

"Everyone knows the news? The Fengtian War suddenly broke out, and the Japanese army launched a sneak attack while I was unprepared. Fengtian's first line of defense was lost. Zhang Zuolin had already urgently called the central government for help." Seeing that they were coming, Song Jiaoren was not polite and asked to enter the conference room without waiting for everyone to sit down.

The sudden beginning of the war made everyone worried. Duan Qirui, as Minister of National Defense, said first: "Before I came, I asked Xu Youzheng to send a call to the Ninth Army and the Twenty-Eighth Army, and asked his two units to reinforce Zhang Zuolin as soon as possible. As for the others, because there has not been accurate information yet,..." Speaking of this, Duan Qirui glanced at Wang Shizhen.

The General Staff was in charge of military plans. Wang Shizhen took Duan Qirui's words knowingly and stood up and said, "About the Ninth Army and the Twenty-Eighth Army, our General Staff has also sent a telegram to urge him. As soon as he received the news, our General Staff also sent another telegram to the Chengde area troops to prepare and move north to the outside of the pass at any time. Once Fengtian is unfortunately broken, our army will take the primary goal of guarding Shanhaiguan. Try to stop the Japanese army in Jinzhou and Chaoyang areas."

"Doesn't this mean giving up Nanman?" Song Jiaoren frowned and asked.

Wang Shizhen quickly explained that this was just the worst plan. If the situation in Fengtian is still under control, the troops on the front line of Chengde will leave the pass as soon as possible to rush to Fengtian to cooperate with the Ninth Army, the 27th and 28th Army will block the Japanese in the southern part of Fengtian. But once the situation deteriorates, defending Shanhaiguan is the best strategy. Only by setting a foothold and waiting for the Japanese army to pass through their spirits can we plan a plan to recover the lost land.

Nodding, Song Jiaoren expressed his agreement with the plan, but he was still worried about Fengtian's current situation and urged the staff of the Prime Minister's Office to continue to contact Fengtian to get first-hand news. At the same time, he announced that the General Command will be located in the Prime Minister's Office from now on, and Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui will fully command the war in the Northeast.

When the order was issued, everyone did not delay and took action immediately. Only Fang Zida sat quietly aside, showing a deep thought expression and didn't know what he was thinking.

"Zhengming!Zhengming!"

"Ah!" Fang Zida looked up at Song Jiaoren with a serious expression and said quickly: "Sorry, I'm just thinking about Fengtian."

"Oh, you might as well say anything if you have any ideas." Fang Zida often had unexpected and wonderful ideas. When he heard him say this, Song Jiaoren immediately asked happily.

"Where did I have any idea? I was just a little surprised by the sudden attack of the Japanese army." Fang Zida smiled bitterly and shook his head, and stood up and said, "I can't help here for the time being. I will go back and urge the subordinates to prepare supplies. Once the war begins, the supply of supplies is of great importance, but it is not careless."

"Okay, you go first, come here immediately after the arrangements are made. Zheng Ming, you know that I don't know much about military affairs, and you still need to help you counselors here." Song Jiaoren looked at Wang Shizhen and others not far away, and lowered his voice.

Nodded slightly, Fang Zida hurriedly left the Prime Minister's Office and arranged it. On the way back, he thought that he had asked Yang Du to remind Zhang Zuolin a long time ago? Why did he catch the Japanese off guard? Is there something else on the front line? He was thinking about this issue just now, but it was not easy for him to tell this matter directly. After all, he sent Yang Du to the past only to make arrangements privately and did not inform the Ministry of National Defense and General Staff. Even Song Jiaoren did not say it. Once he said it now, it would be counterproductive. Welcome to your support, which is my greatest motivation.m
Chapter completed!