On February 12, 1918, Under the sign of implementing the "crusade order" of the president, Zhang Zuolin appointed Zhang Jinghui and Ding Chao to lead 2 battalions of infantry and 1 machine gun company in the name of the advance team of the Southern Expeditionary Army to rush into the pass and garrison Qinhuangdao.
Before going, Zhang Zuolin deliberately found a "blind man".
Bao Xiufeng, a blind man named Bao Xiufeng, is a famous mr. fortune teller in Shenyang. Whenever Zhang Zuolin encountered something difficult, he had to find a blind man to take advantage of the decision, so he was paid 200 yuan per month. So the blind man became a "package consultant" again.
One day in early 1918, Yang Yuting, chief of staff of the Feng army, received a secret letter from Xu Shuzheng, a general under Duan Qirui, from Beijing, saying that Feng Guozhang had purchased a large amount of ordnance in Japan, which could equip seven or eight brigades, and would soon deliver it to Qinhuangdao, suggesting that the Feng army take the opportunity to intercept it. Yang Yuhuo did not dare to be sloppy and immediately reported this news to Zhang Zuolin. This news can make "Hu Shuai" make it difficult: don't rob it, this is fat meat that comes to the lips, it is really hungry; grab it, and I am afraid that the Zhi army will turn its face, and if it really fights, it is difficult to say who will win and who will lose. He hurriedly wandered back and forth in the Overseer's Office, and suddenly remembered bao blind man, and hurriedly shouted: "Please ask Bao Consultant, quick!" ”
Bao Blind was summoned to come, and before he could sit down, Zhang Zuolin said, "Mr. Xiufeng quickly calculate it for me." ”
Zhang Zuolin didn't say anything to ask, grabbed the red lacquer Gua Jian brought by the blind man and shook it up, then unscrewed the lid of the gua tube and carefully poured the ancient money in the tube on the table.
It just fell six times in a row. The blind man touched the yin and yang sides of the three ancient coins, pinched his fingers for a while, and rubbed Zhang Zuolin's hands in a hurry, and the lieutenants standing on the side did not dare to come out one by one, and the room was so quiet that they could only hear the sound of Zhang Zuolin's pocket watch hanging on the placket.
After counting for a while, the blind man of the bag made a mysterious "ah-ah" sound.
"What? Fierce? Zhang Zuolin's heart mentioned the throat eye.
"This is the trail of the gourd, the tail of the tiger, not the strange man, Heng." The blind man shook his head and said.
"Don't rip it off, you don't understand, you quickly explain." Zhang Zuolin was impatient.
The blind man still said unhurriedly: "Hen, go also." This is the best of luck. ”
Hearing that it was auspicious, Zhang Zuolin let out a long breath, sat back on the chair, stopped interjecting, and listened carefully to the blind man's explanation.
"The deeds are dry and the money is good. Dry is the sky above, and zeal is the bottom. The "Elephant Biography" says: 'Gentlemen are determined to be up and down, and to be at peace with the people.' Qianxiang Celestial Elephant Army, the Qian on the gua refers to the Great Marshal you. ”
Hearing this, Zhang Zuolin dug his mouth and smiled, and Shunshi stretched up again.
The blind man continued with the vernacular: "With the elephant ze xiangmin, the exchange on the gua is your old male soldier and fierce general, the people of Li Min." The king is above, the people are below, why not win? The marshal wants to add guns and cannons, and increase the number of troops. I wrap the blind man first to congratulate you old. ”
"That's it! You figure out the direction. Zhang Zuolin was a little impatient.
The blind man pretended to calculate for a while and said, "The matter is in the southwest, Ze Nai shui, in the southwest", "Good you bao blind man!" Zhang Zuolin, yile, actually called out his nickname, You calculate more accurately than the gods, Qinhuangdao is not in the southwest; the sea is water, and the ship is not on the water. After the fact, I Zhang Zuolin had another heavy reward. Where did Zhang Zuolin know that before the blind man came, he had already inquired about Zhang Zuolin's heart disease through the internal line of the Shuai Mansion.
Zhang Jinghui's Feng Jun gathered with Feng Guozhang's arms receivers every day to gamble, drink, and play cards, and spent all day drinking with them, bending and circling, and getting along very well. As a result, the situation of transporting weapons was all detected by the Feng Army.
On the 23rd, when the Merchant Ship "Wude", which was responsible for transporting arms by the Japanese Taiping Company, arrived at the port of Qinhuangdao to unload its cargo, Xu Shuzheng also rushed to Qinhuangdao to cooperate closely with the Feng army. When the ordnance was loaded onto the train and ready to be shipped to Beijing, Zhang Jinghui used the muzzle of his gun to force the station master to turn the locomotive and drive in the direction of Fengtian. In this way, nearly 30,000 rifles and machine guns all fell into the hands of Zhang Zuolin.
Acting President Feng Guozhang, upon learning of this, stomped on his feet and hung his chest, and with great remorse, he sent several telegrams to Zhang Zuolin asking for it, hoping that Zhang would return the ordnance to the central authorities; and said that if the ordnance was really needed, it would be allocated separately in the future.
On February 25, Zhang Zuolin sent a telegram to Feng Guozhang: "The southwest has made peace, and has made it clear that all our people are the same as the enemy." Since I am a soldier, I have an unshirkable duty to send a team to Luanzhou to prepare for the gradual advancement. However, the lack of ordnance, is preparing electricity to request allocation, suitable for the central government to purchase weapons to transport, because of the urgency of time, to be used in a hurry, suction whiskers to work around, Jing first take it, so as not to transport, special electricity for the record. There is no doubt that Chang Zuolin is playing with Feng Guozhang, and Feng is full of anger at Zhang, but he can't help it, he is really dumb and eats Huang Lian, and he can't say it bitterly, and he has to stop it."
Feng Guozhang
Why did Xu Shuzheng leak the secret of the Japanese warship handing over and unloading arms in Qinhuangdao to Zhang Zuolin?
It turned out that after the failure of Zhang Xun's restoration, Grand President Li Yuanhong stepped into the wilderness, and Feng Guozhang established himself as acting president. He, Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui were previously known as the "Three Masters of Beiyang", thinking that there would be no more disputes between the government and the court in the future.
After Duan Qirui returned to power, he regarded himself as a hero of "rebuilding the republic", monopolized the military and political power of the Beiyang government, and refused to restore the "Provisional Law of the Republic of China" and the Parliament forced to be dissolved by Zhang Xun. This led to the Dharma Protection Movement led by Sun Yat-sen. When the War of Defending the French was a little more than two months old, Feng Guozhang, the leader of the Warlord Clan of Zhi Xu Shuzheng, and Duan Qirui, the leader of the Warlord of the Anhui Clan, fought in the main battle, and the two factions quarreled. Duan Qirui was indignant and asked for his resignation, and Feng Guozhang did indeed remove him from his post. Xu Shuzheng, a close confidant of Duan Qirui, suggested to Duan to "borrow Feng to fight straight."
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui knew that Zhang Zuolin was very ambitious and was worried that "it would be easy to ask God and send God to god", but because of the urgency of the situation, he could only "drink chicken to quench his thirst", so he sent Xu Shuzheng to contact national defense as a smokescreen, and went to Fengtian to mobilize Zhang Zuolin's army to enter the customs, hoping to use Zhang's forces to suppress Feng. At this time, according to the provisions of the "Nishihara Loan", a batch of arms equipped with the Beiyang Participating Army (participating in the First World War) will be transported from Japan to China, with a total value of about 39 million yuan, enough to equip 4 divisions. Feng Guozhang planned to use this batch of arms to set up 4 guard divisions in Beijing to compete with Duan Qirui. Xu Shuzheng and Zhang Zuolin's chief of staff, Yang Yuting, colluded with each other to encourage Zhang Zuolin to hijack these arms halfway and dismantle Feng Guozhang's platform.
Zhang Zuolin coincidentally obtained a large amount of ammunition, like a tiger. He used these intercepted weapons to equip 7 mixed brigades and built a new "Provisional First Division" with Zhang Jinghui as the commander of the division, which greatly enhanced his strength. On March 14, Zhang Zuolin again sent troops into the customs and set up the Fengjun General Headquarters in the military grain city. Xu Shuzheng was appointed deputy commander for his meritorious contribution to the interception of weapons, acting as commander-in-chief.