On June 7, 1917, under the expectation of Li Yuanhong, Zhang Xun, who was sitting in Xuzhou, led ten battalions of infantry, horses and artillery to about 5,000 people from Xuzhou and arrived in Tianjin. Li Yuanhong did not realize that he was luring the wolf into the room, and Zhang Xun had other intentions.
Zhang Xun
Since the outbreak of the dispute between the government and the court, Li Yuanhong temporarily gained the upper hand with the help of the "citizens' group incident", and Duan Qirui was forced to flee to Tianjin. However, the situation was not as good as Li Yuanhong imagined, and although he appointed Li Jingxi as the premier of the state, li Jingxi did not dare to take office at all because of the opposition of the Beiyang soldiers. At Li Jingxi's suggestion, Li Yuanhong pinned all his hopes on Zhang Xun, hoping that he would be able to go north to mediate. After the Overseers left Beijing, it was rumored outside that the Anhui Overseer Ni Sichong was about to lead his army north to take the lead for Duan Qirui, which made Li Yuanhong have to repeatedly call Zhang Xun to let him come to Beijing quickly.
What Li Yuanhong did not expect was that Zhang Xun had already held a meeting with the representatives of the provincial overseers in Xuzhou before he set out. With the acquiescence of the provincial overseers, his purpose in going north was no longer to mediate the contradictions between the houses and houses, but to prepare for a restoration drama. When Zhang Xun led the army to Tianjin, Li Yuanhong realized that things were not good, but it was too late. Zhang Xun soon issued a telegram demanding that Mr. Lai must dissolve the National Assembly within three days.
On June 9, the vanguard of the Dingwu Army marched into Beijing. On June 13, Li Yuanhong was forced to sign a decree to dissolve the National Assembly, and the National Assembly was dissolved. On June 14, Zhang Xun rushed from Tianjin to Beijing. The next day, Zhang Xun couldn't wait to secretly go to the Forbidden City to meet The Xuantong Emperor Puyi. On July 1, Puyi, with the support of Zhang Xun, officially proclaimed himself on the throne and became emperor again, and changed July 1 to May 13 of the first year of Xuanun. At this time, Li Yuanhong realized that he had lured the wolf into the room and had made a big mistake, but it was too late to regret it
Zhang Xun's restoration had only just begun, and Duan Qirui, who was far away in Tianjin, had already received the news, not because Duan Qirui was well informed, but because Lei Zhenchun, general staff officer of the Military Affairs Staff Office who participated in the restoration activities, revealed the news. Lei Zhenchun and Duan Zhigui, the general under Duan Qirui, had both carried out restoration activities for Yuan Shikai, and this time Zhang Xun engaged in restoration, and Lei Zhenchun thought of Duan Zhigui's old partner, hoping to pull him into the camp of restoration. What Lei Zhenchun did not expect was that after Duan Zhigui defected to Duan Qirui, he had long been bent on Duan Qirui, and although he followed Zhang Xun to Beijing, he found that the signs were not right and had already returned to Tianjin. Seeing that Lei Zhenchun had sent someone again, Duan Zhigui immediately asked his adjutant Li Huafu to call Duan Qirui's home and report the situation to Duan Qirui.
Receiving the call was Duan Qirui's subordinate Jia Runquan, who knew that Li Huafu could not call him for no reason, and quickly asked: "What happened?" Li Huafu replied, "Just now Lei Zhenchun sent someone to say that there was a holy general (referring to Duan Zhigui) who went to Beijing to assist the emperor, and even sent clothes such as red tops, large flower collars, boots, and robes. The general refused to go, and everything he married was returned to the people who came and brought them back to Beijing. It has been said that Xuantong has become emperor again, and now all the residents of the yamen businesses in Beijing are hanging dragon flags, and before the sky is bright, the market and stations are bustling. ”
Lei Zhenchun served under Wu Changqing in his early years, and had long known Yuan Shikai, and later participated in the small station training, and became increasingly close to Yuan Shikai. When Yuan Shikai was in power, Lei Zhenchun served as an envoy to the Henan Military Guard and the director of the Gyeonggi Military and Political Law Enforcement Department. Lei Zhenchun, like Duan Qirui and Duan Zhigui, is from Anhui. After Duan Qirui was deposed, he established independent provincial military staff offices in Tianjin and appointed Lei Zhenchun as general staff officer.
Lei Zhenchun did not care much about the official position of the Republic of China, he was a person who was enthusiastic about the imperial system. As early as when Yuan Shikai was proclaimed emperor, he was an important member of the Preparatory Office of the Grand Ceremony and actively actively actively represented Yuan Shikai. After Yuan Shikai claimed that the emperor had failed, he became a wanted imperial criminal, or Duan Qirui looked at the old colleagues of Beiyang and saved him. However, after Zhang Xun arrived in Tianjin, they hit it off again. On June 14, when Zhang Xun entered Beijing, Lei Zhenchun also went with the car, and participated in the secrets of the restoration, and was awarded the post of Minister of War.
Li Yuanhong
Before Zhang Xun entered Beijing, he also went to Duan Fu to invite Duan Qirui to Beijing to raise a big plan together. Zhang Xun was pulling Li Jingxi along. Li Jingxi's uncle was Li Hongzhang, the originator of the Huai Army, and most of the Beiyang warlords were from the Huai Army, including Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui and others, so Duan Qirui also treated Li Jingxi with courtesy. After arriving at Duan Mansion, Zhang Xun persuaded Duan Qirui to enter Beijing together and discuss important matters, but Duan Qirui refused, only laughing and saying: "The political situation is like a chess game, and those who are not in a hurry to fall are masters." Zhang Xun repeatedly invited, and Duan Qirui was always unmoved. Zhang Xun insisted on inviting Duan Qirui to Beijing, in large part because he needed to guard against Duan Qirui, because Duan Qirui was the leader of the Beiyang clan, and once there was a change, the impact would be extremely great, and the truth was indeed as he feared.
Although Duan Qirui refused Zhang Xun, Duan Zhigui accepted the invitation and prepared to go to Beijing with Zhang Xun. Before leaving, Duan Qirui specially explained to Duan Zhigui that he must not participate in the restoration, and said that if Zhang Xun wanted to carry out restoration, he would definitely organize an army to fight him. Because of this, soon after Duan Zhigui entered Beijing, he found that Zhang Xun was really about to be restored, so he quickly returned to Tianjin and reported the situation to Duan Qirui.
After Jia Runquan reported Li Huafu's phone to Duan Qirui, Duan Qirui was not surprised, and everything seemed to be expected. After eating breakfast, Duan Qirui rushed to Duan Zhigui's house by car, ready to discuss how to deal with Zhang Xun. Shortly after Duan Qirui arrived, the Anhui general Fu Liangzuo and Duan Zhigui's younger brother Duan Yongbin and others also arrived. Several people discussed in the room for a while, and they all thought that Zhang Xun must be beaten, of which Duan Qirui was the most resolute, he thought that Zhang Xun did not listen to his own meaning, insisting on playing restoration, which was forcing him to do it.
The idea of reviving the army was unanimously supported by those present at that time, but the problem was that Duan Qirui did not have an army in his hands at that time, none of the more reliable troops of the Anhui clan were in the Beijing-Tianjin area, and even the troops of Duan Qirui's brother Wu Guangxin also drove to Hunan, and it was difficult to quench the thirst in the distant waters, and he was not sure whether the troops directly under the vicinity could obey his command. However, Duan Zhigui and Fu Liangzuo were more optimistic, and they both believed that with Duan Qirui's prestige, as long as they raised their arms and exhaled, they would not worry that no one would respond.
Duan Qirui agreed with this statement, and he asked people to check the nearby troops and found that there was a unit stationed in Machang, not far from Tianjin, that is, the Eighth Division of the Beiyang Army, which belonged to the direct line. The division commander's name was Li Changtai, a native of Wuqing, and although he was a soldier of the direct lineage and had a distant relationship with Duan Qirui, he was a graduate of the Beiyang Wubei Academy, and he had served as an assistant commander in the sixth town of Beiyang, and he was also Duan Qirui's former student and subordinate. In addition to Li Changtai, many officers in the Eighth Division were also from the Beiyang Martial Arts Academy and had a lot of relations with Duan Qirui. After some thought, Duan Qirui felt that this unit could be won over. Therefore, he sent Fu Liangzuo to the horse factory immediately to contact.
After Fu Liangzuo left, the meeting continued. It wasn't until around 12 noon that Duan Qirui went home for dinner. By this time, the restoration had affected Tianjin, and Zhu Jiabao, the governor of Tianjin, took the lead in responding to the restoration and ordered Tianjin to fly the dragon flag. At about 18:00 p.m., Fu Liangzuo finally rushed back from the horse factory. He reported to Duan Qirui that Master Li had expressed his determination to follow the prime minister.
Duan Qirui was very satisfied with this result, and he ordered Duan Zhigui to immediately go to Tianjin North Railway Station to arrange a special car. That night, at about 23:00, Duan Qirui, accompanied by Duan Zhigui, Fu Liangzuo, and others, led a small number of aide-de-camps, retinues, plainclothes guards, and Chinese and Western food cooks, a total of about twenty or thirty people, to secretly board a special car in the dark of night, leaving Tianjin and heading for the horse factory.
Duan Zhigui
When Duan Qirui's special car arrived there at a small town south of Tianjin, it was more than 1 a.m. on July 2, and Li Changtai, commander of the Eighth Division, was already waiting at the station with officers of the division of the middle level or above. Immediately, Duan Qirui, accompanied by Li Changtai and others, rushed to the headquarters of the Eighth Division. After Duan Qirui arrived at the headquarters of the Eighth Division, he took a short rest, and the sky was bright. At this time, Fu Liangzuo and Cao Kun, commander of the Army's Third Division stationed in Baoding, had already made proper contact. Cao Kun also expressed his willingness to accept the prime minister's command, obey the dispatch of everything, and unanimously fight against rebellion. The predecessor of the Third Division was the Third Town of Beiyang, which was an elite unit of the newly built army, and Cao Kun was known as the "Tiger General" at that time. After receiving the report, Duan Qirui's spirit was greatly lifted, and he felt that he had a greater grasp.
Just when Duan Qirui and others were busy deploying, Chen Wenyun also arrived. Chen Wenyun was a student and veteran subordinate of Duan Qirui, who was then a lieutenant general in the Beiyang government and served as the head of the Second Lecture Martial Arts Hall in Beijing. On the night of Zhang Xun's restoration, Chen Wenyun was in Beijing, and when he found that things were not good, he quietly slipped out of the capital and returned to his home in Tianjin. When Duan Qirui left Tianjin, he sent someone to leave a message for the Chen family, asking Chen Wenyun to go to the horse factory as soon as he returned. Therefore, soon after Chen Wenyun arrived in Tianjin, he rushed to the garrison of the Eighth Division. Duan Qirui came to Chen Wenyun in the hope that he would solve the restoration party in Tianjin.
At that time in Tianjin, Zhu Jiabao, the governor of the province, and Yang Yide, the director of the police department directly under the police department, had already defected to Zhang Xun, of which Zhu Jiabao belonged to a group of people who were keen on the imperial system, while Yang Yide belonged to the faction that followed the trend. What Duan Qirui had to do was to let Chen Wenyun coerce Yang Yide and let him drive away Zhu Jiabao. Zhu Jiabao had already been appointed by Zhang Xun as minister of civil affairs at that time, and he himself actively responded to the restoration, and Duan Qirui believed that he was unreliable and had to be driven away to stabilize the rear.
After receiving the order, Chen Wenyun immediately returned to Tianjin and relayed Duan Qirui's words to Yang Yide. Yang Yide was originally just following the trend, and as soon as he saw that Duan Qirui was going to move the real thing, he did not hesitate to agree to do as Duan Qirui wanted. Soon after, Zhu Jiabao was driven out of Tianjin by Yang Yide, and the city was replaced with a five-colored national flag again, and Chen Wenyun immediately reported the situation to Duan Qirui. Duan Qirui soon appointed Chen Wenyun as the commander of the Tianjin garrison and put him in charge of the defense of Tianjin.
The news of Duan Qirui's arrival at the horse factory spread quickly. Because the incident came suddenly, Duan Qirui was very hasty, and many of his subordinates, staff, and followers were not informed at that time. After learning of this situation, these people rushed to the scene, including Jin Yunpeng, Jia Deyao, and a large number of other people.
On the afternoon of July 2, Liang Qichao also rushed to the horse factory. For this public opinion leader, Duan Qirui did not dare to be sloppy, and he immediately personally greeted him at the door of the headquarters. For Liang Qichao's arrival, Duan Qirui was also very happy: "Ren Gong is here to greatly revitalize the military prestige of our army." Liang Qichao smiled and replied, "I can't fight a war, I'll be a little secretary to the premier this time." Duan Qirui was overjoyed. Subsequently, Liang Qichao began to draft a telegram against Zhang Xun.
On July 3, Tang Hualong also arrived at the horse factory. After some intense discussion and arrangement, on this day, the rebel army headquarters was officially established. Duan Qirui made himself commander-in-chief, Liang Qichao, Li Changtai, Tang Hualong, and Xu Shuzheng as counselors, and Fu Liangzuo and Qu Tongfeng as counselors. The rebel army had two routes under its command: Duan Zhigui, the commander-in-chief of the East Road, Cao Kun, and Duan Qirui personally commanded the Eighth Division.
The next day, Duan Qirui, in the name of the commander-in-chief of the rebel army, sent a telegram against Zhang Xun and issued a letter of repulsion and withdrawal, and Feng Guozhang first telegraphed a response in Nanjing. On the same day, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang also jointly issued a telegram, counting Zhang Xun's eight major crimes. With these two Beiyang giants leading the team, the whole country was suddenly full of crusades against Zhang Xun. On July 5, after the vanguard of the Eighth Division reached the area of Hanliushu and Langfang in Tianjin, Duan Qirui also returned to Tianjin from Machang and began to rebel. Before leaving, Liang Qichao also improvised a couplet, the upper link was "General Duan Qirui", and the lower link was "to seek treason against Zhang Xun". After the couplet was written, Liang Qichao gave it to Li Changtai on the spot.
Duan Qirui
In order to strengthen their own forces in order to extinguish the restoration in the shortest possible time, Jia Deyao and others suggested to Duan Qirui that Feng Yuxiang be re-employed. Feng Yuxiang was originally the brigade commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade, and although he was also from Anhui, because of his disagreement with Xu Shuzheng, Fu Liangzuo and others, he preferred to be direct and was therefore ostracized by the Anhui family. In the end, Feng Yuxiang's position as brigade commander was also removed under the pretext of being replaced by his regimental commander Yang Guitang. However, Feng Yuxiang had deep roots in the Sixteenth Brigade and won the hearts of the army, and after Yang Guitang took over, he could not command the troops at all. At that time, the 16th Mixed Brigade was stationed in Langfang, which was the throat of the attack on Beijing, and Zhang Xun was also fighting for this force, so this force was extremely important both militarily and strategically.
As for whether he could get Feng Yuxiang's support, Duan Qirui was not sure. Jia Deyao immediately advised: "Feng Yuxiang himself is opposed to restoration, and I believe that as long as the premier is willing to restore his post, he will certainly go all out." Duan Qirui agreed: "You go and talk to him, as long as he opposes restoration, I will resume his post." When Jia Deyao walked outside, Duan Qirui added another sentence: "You told him that as long as he fights this battle well, I will not only restore him to his post, but also make him a division commander." After Feng Yuxiang received Duan Qirui's assurance, he joined the rebel army on the spot.
Compared with Duan Qirui, Li Yuanhong at this time was particularly difficult, he originally only invited Zhang Xun to beijing alone to mediate, but he never expected that he would actually lead the army to come. Originally, before Zhang Xun arrived in Beijing, Li Yuanhong's subordinate Xia Shoukang had already made a proposal to him to restore Duan Qirui to the post of premier and put him in charge of stopping Zhang Xun in Tianjin. Unfortunately, Li Yuanhong couldn't make up his mind, he had come to Beijing to find Zhang Xun to deal with Duan Qirui, and now in order to deal with Zhang Xun, he had to restore Duan Qirui's post, and he really couldn't pull down this face. Just when Li Yuanhong hesitated, the opportunity was missed.
After Zhang Xun's restoration, Li Yuanhong had no choice but to hide in the Japanese embassy. However, before taking refuge, Li Yuanhong finally issued two orders, reinstating Duan Qirui as premier and asking Vice President Feng Guozhang to act as president. Li Yuanhong knew that it was difficult for him to leave Beijing at this time, and he could only pin his hopes on Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang in the fight against rebellion. Duan Qirui himself organized the rebel army as an opposition, and Li Yuanhong's reinstatement of his post as prime minister just gave him a suitable identity. On the other side, Feng Guozhang, as acting president, soon sent a telegram to the whole country to attack Zhang Xun, and he appointed Ni Sichong as the commander-in-chief of the Rebel Army's South Road, leading the Beiyang Army in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and other provinces to attack Zhang Xun's stronghold, Xuzhou.
The battle officially began on July 5, 1917, when the rebels were divided into two routes: li Changtai's Eighth Army Division and Feng Yuxiang's 16th Mixed Brigade, who rendezvoused at Langfang under the command of Duan Zhigui, commander of the Eastern Road, and then attacked Huangcun along the railway. The West Road was composed of the Army's Third Division, led by Commander Cao Kun of the West Road, who took a train from Baoding to Machang to assemble and then attack Beijing.
On the day the battle began, the Eastern Route Army captured Huangcun, and the Wu Peifu Brigade, the vanguard of the Western Route Army, also occupied the Lugou Bridge, forming a pinch attack on the Braided Army stationed in Fengtai. By 7 July, the two sides engaged in the first head-on confrontation, and the rebels, relying on their overwhelming superiority, launched an onslaught on Fengtai. The garrison stationed around Fengtai and Nanyuan had about four brigades of troops, mainly the 11th Army Division and the 12th Army Division, while the Braided Army, which really belonged to Zhang Xun, had only two battalions of men and horses. The Eleventh Division and the Twelfth Division were also men and horses of the Beiyang Department, who were willing to fight for Zhang Xun's life, and after the battle began, they directly turned against the front of the battle, and the Braid Army panicked, and had to flee to the city, and the rebel army took advantage of the situation to pursue the city.
Feng Yuxiang
It was also on this day that the first aircraft in China's history to participate in the war was born. In response to the rebels, Qin Guoyong, the principal of the Nanyuan Aviation School, sent the flight cadet Zhang Naqi to fly the plane to Tianjin Duan Qirui to ask for battle. Duan Qirui immediately agreed, and let Qin Guoyong and others organize aircraft to bomb the city of Beijing. Soon after, Pan Shizhong, director of the aircraft factory of the Aviation School, personally flew the plane to drop bombs on the Fengtai battlefield. After the braid army was defeated and retreated, Pan Shizhong and others flew a plane and dropped three bombs at the Forbidden City. This was the first time that China really used aircraft to fight, only forty or fifty people were killed by the braid army, and more than ten civilians were injured by mistake, although the power was not large, but the impact was extremely great, the Xuantong Emperor was frightened in the palace, and the other ministers were frightened and fled.
On July 8, the rebel army attacked the Chaoyang Gate, and the Braid Army was forced to retreat to the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City for defense. At this point, Zhang Xun found that Duan Qirui really wanted to beat him. What made Zhang Xun even more stunned was that the overseers who had originally expressed their support for him at the Xuzhou meeting suddenly lost all their voices, but instead stood up and prepared to attack him. Zhang Xun knew that he had been deceived, but he had no choice but to order the construction of fortifications to resist stubbornly, and at the same time urgently send reinforcements to Xuzhou. Unfortunately, at this time, Zhang Xun's back road had long been cut off at this time.
Before the rebel army launched an attack, the head of the transportation department, Ye Gongqiu, had secretly informed the Jingfeng, Jinghan, Jingpu and other road bureaus, and quickly concentrated all locomotives, passenger and freight cars in the Tianjin area, not allowing the braid army to use. On July 1, after Duan Qirui arrived at the horse factory, he ordered the Eighth Division to set up posts on the main roads in the south to strictly inspect them, and all those who had pigtails were detained. In order to prevent reinforcements from the Braided Army, Duan Qirui appointed Ni Sichong as the commander-in-chief of the combined forces of the three provinces of Anhui, Jin, and Yu, and sent Xu Shuzheng to Bengbu to sit in the town and contain the Braided Army in Xuzhou from behind. At the same time, Duan Qirui sent Zeng Yujun to Jinan to urge Zhang Huaizhi, the overseer of Shandong, to cut off the connection between Xuzhou and the Braided Army in Beijing from the middle. At this time, Zhang Xun, who was trapped in Beijing, had long become a turtle in an urn, and he could neither enter nor retreat.
What was even more frightening was that the people who had originally participated in the restoration with Zhang Xun at this time either shrank their heads or fled or hid, and even his subordinates began to betray. Li Futing, the general of the Braided Army stationed at the Temple of Heaven, was bribed after the rebel army invaded Beijing. He remained motionless and refused to obey Zhang Xun's dispatches. Zhang Xun brought a total of ten battalions to Beijing, and by the 8th, six battalions were out of control, which was a big blow to Zhang Xun. Zhang Wensheng, who remained at the Xuzhou base camp, also stabbed him in the back at this time.
When Zhang Xun moved north from Xuzhou, he believed that there was the support of the overseers of other provinces, so there were not many people and horses, and most of the troops remained in Xuzhou. However, Zhang Xun also kept a hand, and before he left, he specially explained that Zhang Wensheng took good care of his home in Xuzhou, and agreed with Zhang Wensheng to have a secret code, that is, after the restoration began, as long as he saw Zhang Xun's telegram "Forty pots of flowers to Beijing quickly", Xuzhou would transfer forty battalions of soldiers to Beijing, and Zhang Wensheng promised to do it as promised. As a result, when the restoration was announced, Zhang Xun sent a telegram according to the agreed secret code, but Zhang Wensheng really took out forty pots of various flowers from the Xuzhou garden and sent two lieutenants to escort them to Beijing and hand them over to Zhang Xun.
As soon as Zhang Xun saw it, he knew that Zhang Wensheng had betrayed himself, and he was so angry that he trembled with anger and even said, "Broken, broken, this boy also smoked my ladder." Faced with the situation of rebellion and embattlement, Zhang Xun still refused to surrender. At this time, the troops loyal to him only had four battalions under the command of Su Xilin, and together with the guards, there were only 1500 people, while the rebel army and the rebellious Gyeonggi army were so numerous and well-armed that they surrounded the city of Beijing and waited for Duan Qirui's order to launch a final attack.
At this time, Duan Qirui issued an order to the troops to suspend the attack. It turned out that the envoys of various countries in China had proposed diplomatic solutions in order to avoid being affected. Duan Qirui believes that in order to preserve the lives and property of the people of Beijing and avoid the destruction of this ancient city from war, he agreed to accept diplomatic negotiations to settle the matter.
On July 8, Duan Qirui sent liu chongjie and Wang Daxie, the head of the negotiation department, into the city and proposed to Zhang Xun through the diplomatic mission in China four conditions for an armistice: abolishing the imperial system, disarming, preserving Zhang Xun's own life, and maintaining the preferential conditions for the Qing Dynasty. Under pressure from the diplomatic corps, Zhang Xun still bargained and refused to accept all the conditions. He said to the Dutch prince, who had come to contact him on behalf of the ministers of various countries: "I will never surrender, I did not do this alone, I have their telegram and signature in my hand, and none of them can run away." If it pushes me to hurry, I will just shake it all out. ”
Fast forward three days, the peace talks were still without progress, and after reaching an agreement with the diplomatic corps, Duan Qirui issued a three-way offensive order to the rebel forces on the night of July 11, asking them to end the battle within 12 hours. At dawn on July 12, the rebel army successively attacked Chaoyang Gate, Yongding Gate, Qing'an Gate, Zhangyi Gate, and Zhonghua Gate, and the Braided Army was unable to resist and surrendered. For a moment, only the South River along the Zhang Xun residence was still resisting. While the battle was in progress, Wu Bingxiang, the police chief of the Beijing Division, suddenly came and announced the suspension of the attack. He told the officers directing the battle: "Immediately a car with a Dutch flag will pass by, please do not shoot, let it pass." ”
Ye Gongqiu
The car was there to pick up Zhang Xun, with two Dutchmen, a German and an interpreter. Prior to this, Zhang Xun's two aunts and children had already avoided the Dutch embassy first, and at this time only Zhang Xun and his second wife, Lady Shao, were left in the mansion along the South River. After the car arrived, everyone advised Zhang Xun to get into the car, but he refused to leave. At this time, a sudden shot came from somewhere, and the house suddenly burned. The foreigner was suddenly anxious, and together with the translator, he involuntarily put Zhang Xun, who was short, on the car. Zhang Xun struggled desperately, angry and anxious, and even bit down a Dutchman next to him in anger, but to no avail. After Zhang Xun left, the remaining braided army was all disarmed. A five-colored national flag flew in the city of Beijing. A restoration farce lasted only twelve days before it ended.
After Zhang Xun's restoration was suppressed, Duan Qirui won the reputation of "three republics". Those involved in the restoration were also wanted, arrested or brought to justice. However, the real culprit, Zhang Xun, has been at large and has not been punished in the slightest. This naturally gave rise to speculation. The most general view is that Zhang Xun retained the signatures of the provincial overseers and delegates at the Xuzhou Conference, as well as the letters and telegrams of the Restoration sent by them. These materials involved many Beiyang warlords, including even the then acting president Feng Guozhang and the prime minister Duan Qirui. Because of this, these people had to let him go. However, although Zhang Xun escaped the disaster, his political career ended and he never came back.