The elegant Jiang Ziyi,

As soon as I stepped into the Fourth Town’s central army tent, I felt some wolf-like and ferocious gazes.

In the account, besides old classmate Cao Tongzhi,

There were also five or six generals armed with live ammunition. Judging from their military ranks, they were all assistant commanders.

He didn’t care at all, smiled and bowed, greeting Cao Jinkun who was behind the case.
“Zhongshan, how are you?”

Although I know that my old classmates are here to help persuade the Far East Army to surrender,

But, Lao Cao is very proud and would not hit someone who smiles at him.
“It’s Brother Ziyi! Please take a seat and have some tea!”

Jiang Ziyi was not polite either. He sat down openly and nodded to the generals in the tent.

Seeing that he was fearless, Cao Jinkun asked:
“Ziyi and I haven’t seen each other for a long time. Why did you come to the camp alone today?”

Jiang Ziyi laughed and said, “One is to reminisce about the past, and the other is to find a way out for the officers and soldiers of the four towns. I wonder which one you would like to hear first, Brother Zhongshan?”

Look, all good lobbyists are good at grasping people’s hearts.

There was no mention of Cao Jinkun’s personal fame or fortune between the lines, but everyone knew it clearly.

Although Cao Jinkun was surprised, he was not angry.
After all, the other party used the names of all the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town, and it could be said that it was for official business.

As he was very careful about his reputation, it was naturally inconvenient for him to refute.

Even if the commander said nothing, his subordinates could bring an army to investigate.
“Is this guest sent by the Far East Army to disrupt our military morale?”

“No, no, no!”

Jiang Ziyi said frankly:
“I work for the Far East Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has nothing to do with the military.
I have no other intentions here, I just want to offer a personal suggestion…”

When these words came out, the generals were in uproar.

Some people pulled out their guns, some shouted “fight, kill, get out!”, and some just watched and watched.

Cao Jinkun slammed the table and said in a fake voice:
“Shut up! Are there any rules left?!

Back then, Ziyi and I were like brothers.
However, since we are now serving different masters, we will never protect or shield anyone. Could it be that you do not trust Cao?”

The generals fell silent, Cao Jinkun turned to Jiang Ziyi and asked generously:

“I failed to discipline my child properly and made Brother Ziyi laugh at me.
However, as the ruler of the imperial court, it is Cao’s duty to eat the emperor’s salary and worry about the emperor.
No matter who commissioned Brother Ziyi, or what you said, I’m afraid you’ll have made a wasted trip!”

Jiang Ziyi nodded and said:

“Brother Zhongshan, do you still remember the “Illustrated Records of the Maritime Countries” that you read in the Military Academy?”

“Remember, in particular, Mr. Wei said in the book,

“Learn from the foreigners to defeat them” is really refreshing… Hmm, could it be that Brother Ziyi has a new insight?”

Jiang Ziyi did not answer but asked:
“Brother Zhongshan, do you think that after sixty years, has the court achieved this? Or, can it achieve this?”

Cao Jinkun was suddenly speechless.
The Westernization faction was a minority in the government.
Queen Xingzhen was considered one of the few enlightened rulers in the Tifa Dynasty.
To the foreigners, it was like the warmth of spring, but to the Westernization faction, it was like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves…

More conservatives, however, wish to “cut the Westernization Movement in the country into pieces and grind their bones to scatter ashes”!
The imperial court, which failed to achieve its goal by drawing a tiger but ended up drawing a dog, is only a laughing stock when it wants to “control foreign things”!
However, Cao Jinkun immediately counterattacked:
“The imperial court has its own ideas on this century-long plan.

Cao is just a pure soldier, following orders, that’s all! “

Jiang Ziyi shook his head and said with a smile:
“If I say that the Far East Army has taken shape as a strong army and will soon be able to unify Tifa,
“Liberate 450 million compatriots and make our Chinese nation stand tall among the great powers. What do you think, brother Zhongshan?”

Cao Jinkun was stunned, and all the generals were stunned.

Then, everyone was happy, some even laughed till tears came out, and the big tent was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Jiang Ziyi, in the spirit of “I am not embarrassed, it is you who are embarrassed”, sat there contentedly.
Cao Jinkun asked jokingly with a smile:

“Brother Ziyi, did you come here just to have some fun?”

Jiang Ziyi suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the door of the big tent.
“Brother Zhongshan, do you know what’s ahead?”

Cao Jinkun was of course aware that the Far East Army’s blocking position was directly opposite him.
They attacked for three or four days, losing nearly two thousand men, but they still failed to break through.

Every time the group charges, no matter from which direction,

The enemy’s artillery seemed to have eyes and its bombing was very accurate. It was really weird!

But he was very proud, so asking such a question from his old classmate was like exposing his scars.
“Ziyi, what do you mean?!”

“I think you went to the Military Academy for nothing!”

Cao Jinkun’s face suddenly turned the color of liver, and he almost vomited blood.

All the generals understood that the commander had murderous intentions, and they immediately kept silent.

Jiang Ziyi still smiled and asked: “It seems that you are not convinced!”

Cao Jinkun clenched his fists and asked in a muffled voice, “Oh! Then I’ll be all ears!”

“War is a place of life and death, so you must be careful. Have you done it?

If you don’t even know the other party’s background, you probably won’t be able to break through the front line in your lifetime…”

Cao Jinkun was stunned, and slowly loosened his fist.
“So, you know the details of the Far East Army?”

Jiang Ziyi smiled and said:
“I might as well tell you that they have special scouts to catch tongues.

There are also medium-altitude artillery balloons and high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

There are also guerrillas and special forces harassing your rear, all your military movements and deployments,
Deputy Commander Wang on the opposite side can see everything at a glance, like the lines in the palm of your hand. The Fourth Town will never be able to win!”

Huh?
Cao Jinkun and the generals knew about scouts, but what were artillery-aimed balloons and reconnaissance planes?

Suddenly, they remembered that on the enemy’s position,
The round “Kongming Lantern” is often raised. Could it be a “gun-aiming balloon”?
The gun aiming balloon, as the name suggests, should help the artillery calibrate various parameters…

Moreover, standing high, seeing far…

Cao Jinkun suddenly understood, so this is how it is… No wonder the enemy’s artillery shells seemed to have eyes!
Being inferior to others in skills is not a fault of war!

Jiang Ziyi continued to finish off the enemy:

“They only have three regiments, more than 6,000 people.
However, nearly a hundred trucks delivered supplies every day, and there was an abundance of food, ammunition and medicine.

The field hospital is on call 24 hours a day, and every wounded person can receive timely treatment.
Their soldiers only need to concentrate on fighting and don’t have to worry about anything else.
Discipline is strict, protection is strong, and it is popular among the people. Even the great powers cannot defeat such an army!”

Cao Jinkun was silent.

However, one of his subordinates was too embarrassed to bear the shame and said angrily:
“We have 100,000 troops in the six towns, five times more than them. I don’t believe we can’t defeat them…”

Jiang Ziyi sneered: “We don’t have an army of 100,000.

The third regiment was crippled and hid in Jiangning, and the sixth regiment was almost completely wiped out.
Yangzhou has been lost, and your Yuan Zhongtang has fled in terror.
As for the First Town and the Second Town, they have stopped at the gate of Fengyang City and have suffered heavy casualties. They will soon be surrounded and annihilated…”

Cao Jinkun was shocked.

He stood up with a shudder and shouted:
“If you keep talking nonsense, military law will be ruthless!”

Jiang Ziyi sighed and took out a piece of paper.
“This is the battle report sent by Fengyang today. Take a look!”

Cao Jinkun read it with a half-believing and half-doubting look on his face, his brows furrowed.
“Humph! Today’s battle report? Could it be that this messenger can fly?”

“Even if you haven’t seen a telegram, you should have heard of it, right?”

Cao Jinkun remained silent.
He realized that the Far East Army was much better equipped than the Six Towns.

Our intelligence and communication means are far ahead, this battle… is indeed unwinnable.

Since we can’t win, we can only retreat.
Get to Jiangning as soon as possible, and work together with the Third and Fifth Towns to defeat the main force of the Far East elite and turn the entire battle situation around…

Jiang Ziyi observed his expression and suddenly smiled and said:
“Brother Zhongshan, are you thinking of quitting?
If that is the case, I advise you not to do this… Otherwise, there is a danger of the entire army being wiped out!”

Cao Jinkun asked in surprise: “Can a few thousand people stop me?”

Jiang Ziyi explained:

“We can’t even defeat the enemy in the field, so what can we do if we are blocked from the front and chased from the back?”

One of the generals was so angry that he said forcefully:

“It doesn’t matter! If it really comes to that, we will die for our country!”

“Haha! Your Majesty the Queen’s sixtieth birthday,
3600 million taels of silver could have been used to build 36 new garrison troops, but they were wasted like this…

Is such a court worth your death?

Let’s take a step back. Even if you are willing, will the lower-level officers and soldiers be willing?

By the way, guess what Yuan Zhongtang and the other commanders and assistant commanders will do?
Also, don’t you care at all about your elderly parents, frail wives and children at home?”

As soon as the words fell, in the tent,
There was silence, and everyone seemed to hold their breath.
Unable to advance or retreat, supplies cut off, morale low,

Left is death, right is death,
More than 10,000 officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town are sliding irreversibly towards a dead end step by step…

The other generals were not sure.
But Cao Jinkun knew that the war in Jiangnan would definitely be unfavorable.
Otherwise, Yuan Zhongtang would not have given himself the order to return to Jiangning to relieve the siege.
Combined with the words of old classmates,

The situation of the North-South conflict has reached its final stage.
Regardless of whether the other party’s position is right or wrong, one thing is true.

What if other towns were destroyed? Would he really be loyal to Yuan Shikai and the corrupt and incompetent court?
Or, why not sell it for a good price while it still has value?
Once confidence is shaken, it is impossible to restore it.

Cao Jinkun invited his old classmates to the next tent and held closed-door consultations with his trusted subordinates.
Finally, Cao Jinkun offered a condition that the Fourth Town could surrender to the Far East Army.
However, he wanted a state’s territory, and did not participate in the battle against the five towns, in order to ensure the safety of his family.

Having the conditions for negotiation means half of the success.

Lu Yuan received the telegram and quickly gave instructions:

“The Fourth Regiment is to be reorganized. All officers who wish to continue to lead troops must attend the Officers’ School for further training.

You can choose not to participate in the civil war, or help relocate your family, but forget about the territory. Not interfering in politics is a red line of discipline.

However, we can give a generous retirement allowance, enough for the officer to live comfortably for the rest of his life!”

Realizing that the Far East did not use them as cannon fodder, the officers of the Fourth Town breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Ziyi said to Cao Jinkun alone:
“Zhong Shan is a great general. The standing army of the new Tifa will not be less than one million. There is a lot of room for improvement!”

Cao Jinkun understood the situation and decisively agreed to the conditions, leading his entire army to surrender.
Wang Laowu started to reorganize the Fourth Regiment. First, the officers and soldiers were separated and the officers were sent to the military academy.

After the heavy weapons were seized, they set out with two regiments,

Rushed to Jiangning to assist Zhu Yingjun in dealing with the third and fifth towns of the Jiangning camp.

Wang Zhen and Sun Fang did not wait for Cao Jinkun,

But they received the enemy’s reinforcements and a letter from Cao Jinkun persuading them to surrender.

Zhu Yingjun surrounded the Third and Fifth Towns with superior forces.

They even enthusiastically invited the other party to come over and check the number of armored vehicles and artillery.

After counting fifty cannons, the messenger, who was good at arithmetic, said there was no need to count anymore.

The next day, the Third and Fifth Towns declared their surrender to the Far East.

Unlike Cao Jinkun, Sun Fang tried his best to express his willingness to serve the Far East and unify Tifa.

Zhu Yingjun readily agreed, since he had five regiments under his control.
Moreover, the other party does not have heavy weapons, so even if they have ideas, they can’t make any waves!
So he left two regiments to reorganize the Third Town, and personally led three regiments across the river to participate in the final battle.

In fact, at this point, a military confrontation is unlikely.
Sun Fang arrived in Fengyang and met Lu Yuan.
He expressed his willingness to act as an envoy and personally persuade Yuan Zhongtang to facilitate the early birth of the new Tifa.

Lu Yuan was naturally happy to see this happen.

“Tell Yuan Xiangcheng that Tifa people don’t fight Tifa people.

As long as he sincerely hopes that Tifa will be strong and the people will live and work in peace and contentment, he should follow the trend and create a better future together!”

Unexpectedly, Sun Fang returned empty-handed, not because Yuan Datou “would rather die than surrender”,
“Commander-in-chief!” Yuan Zhongtang said to me.
Once the Far East Army heads south to the capital, the Golden Horde and Izu will jointly send troops to intervene!”

Huh?
I’m sleepy, someone hand me a pillow!
Lu Yuan perked up and asked, “Is the news confirmed?”

Sun Fang replied:

“Beside Zhongtang, there are the Golden Horde and Izu advisor instructors;
I’m afraid the interference is not groundless!”

Lu Yuan laughed and said:

“Go tell Lao Yuan that when the army goes south, you might as well follow them.
I will let him see how our Tifa soldiers beat up the foreign devils!”

Sun Fang, please come back soon.

Seeing that Lu Yuan was not frightened, Lao Yuan proposed another condition.
“The queen’s position is unshakable!”

Lu Yuan frowned and looked at Sun Fang for a long time without saying anything.
Sun Fang felt uncomfortable being watched and resented her old leader.
A new emperor has new ministers, and a new generation replaces the old.

With your offer, they rebelled in vain. How can we make peace with this?

After Lu Yuan thought about it, he said coldly:

“My bottom line is to follow the example of Yingjisha.

If he objects again, I will make him a loyal minister and bury him with Xingzhen!”

Sun Fang’s heart was beating wildly, and she quickly said, “Yes! I’ll be there right away!”

We rode at full speed to the central army tent in the hall.

Sun Fang ran in breathlessly.
Yuan Xiangcheng saw that he looked anxious and felt very nervous.

He strongly advocated retaining Xingzhen’s status, which would fulfill his reputation of loyalty and filial piety.
But, for the Far East Army, this condition is too harsh… most likely they will not agree to it, right?
“Zhong, Zhongtang! The Far East is willing to emulate the Yingjisha system…

He also said that if you don’t agree, he will fight all the way to the capital!”

Yuan Xiangcheng was silent.
Under the Yingjisha system, she was only a queen in name only.
But, having said that, the situation is such that it cannot be saved by human power.

In any case, at least I have preserved His Majesty’s last bit of dignity, and I have done my best!
He nodded and said, “Forget it! Let’s do it this way!”

Sun Fang asked anxiously: “Zhongtang, when will the contract be signed?”

“Let me bathe, change my clothes, burn incense and pray!”

After Yuan Xiangcheng washed up, he changed into his court uniform.

He directed the offering table toward the southern capital and led a group of middle and senior military officers to pay homage to the queen from afar, performing the final ceremony between the monarch and his subjects.

The next day, that is, New Year’s Eve, Yuan Xiangcheng, who was surrounded by heavy siege, took his main generals with him.

Walking out of the camp, stepping on the ice and snow, he came to Lu Yuan.
He bowed deeply and handed over the imperial sword with both hands.

Lu Yuan stepped forward and laughed, “Mr. Yuan, this is not allowed. Please stand up quickly!”

After saying that, he pulled the other person up and said to everyone:

“On behalf of the billions of people in Tifa, I thank you for putting aside your prejudices.
We have reached peace between us, sparing the division and grief of thousands of Gandhifa families.

It is precisely because of your participation that a new era has begun on this land!
Long live Tifa! Long live the people! “

The cold south wind blew up the flags, and countless soldiers cheered.

“Long live Tifa! Long live the people! Long live the Far East Army!”

Behind the guards, Captain Li and Kong Erlangzi were very excited when they saw the grand occasion.
They quietly took out a simple yellow robe and rushed towards Lu Yuan… (End of this chapter)