The Survival Wisdom of the Beiyang Era (119): Winning the Hasty Northern Gu.
In the three years of the declaration of reunification, Yuan Shikai, who was added by the provisional president, made frequent moves, first large-scale dissolution of the army, but mainly involved the southern provinces, for a time the southern provinces were full of complaints, more than 300,000 people and horses in the provinces were reduced, of which there were not many Beiyang army involving Yuan Shikai's concubines, so the relative strength of the southern army was seriously reduced. Also adding fuel to the fire was Song Jiaoren's assassination on the territory of the Beiyang Clique, and this assassination case, which had been difficult to cover the coffin, made Yuan Shikai much criticized at that time, and it is reasonable to say that Yuan Shikai's heart was like a sea, even if he wanted to kill the killer, there was absolutely no need to act on his own turf after Song Jiaoren went to the appointment, and this strange suspense case also played a role in fueling the Battle of Ganning that broke out between the two sides.
But for Yuan Shikai, the Beiyang Army was definitely victorious in the Battle of Ganning. Two divisions of the six divisions of the Beiyang Army had already opened the southeast front, shocking the southern armies, and secretly dispatching troops, Yuan Shikai then ordered the dismissal of the three most powerful overseers of the Southern Army, and the Southern Army finally could not sit still. The deposed Jiangxi overseer Li Liejun took the lead in raising troops at Hukou and openly telegraphed against Yuan Shikai, so the Beiyang Army also focused its attack on Jiangxi, and the Battle of Ganning began. The forwards of the Beiyang Army of the Sixth Division marched into Jiangxi in the middle of summer to engage the Southern Army, and after several days of fighting between the men and horses of nearly two divisions on both sides along the Shahe River, Li Chun, a general of the Beiyang Army, felt that "the left supports the right and the danger is extremely dangerous." After that, several provinces in the south, including Jiangsu, Hunan, Guangzhou, and Fujian, actively responded to Jiangxi's call to overthrow Yuan, and the Battle of Ganning was fully rolled out, but the Beiyang Army reacted quickly, and after the reinforcements arrived, they made a breakthrough in the Area of Balipo, the Gan Army suffered more than 300 casualties, and the position was broken, and Duan Zhigui led the main force of the Beiyang Army to the mouth of the Gan army's base camp, Hukou.
In the positions outside the lake mouth, the north and south fought fiercely for more than ten days, and in Duan Zhigui's battle report, "the soldiers' faces were scorched black, and their skin was difficult to distinguish." Finally, the Beiyang Army broke through the position with superior troops, and although Li Liejun tried his best to maintain it, it was still difficult to hide the defeat of the Gan army, and the Beiyang Army was like a broken bamboo, and with the support of the navy, Lianke Jiujiang, Nanchang, and other important military towns basically swept away the Gan army in Jiangxi. Jiangsu as another main war in the Battle of Ganning, stationed in Nanjing is the elite Eighth Division of the Southern Army, the beiyang army elders Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang led the attack, Zhang Xun led the army of more than 10,000 people into the battlefield, including more than 1,000 Anhui reinforcements to carry out fierce battles, and finally Feng Guozhang's three divisions of the Beiyang army were still watching the battle across the river, and then Guangzhou and other provinces saw that the general trend had gone, and they turned against Yuan Shikai one after another, and the Battle of Ganning also came to an end.
In the end, this north-south war that lasted for nearly two months, whether in terms of superiority in strength and deployment preparations, the Beiyang Army under Yuan Shikai's command was victorious, and then the Beiyang Army also expanded its territory to the Yangtze River Basin, even if the great southwestern provinces that could not reach the whip also gave a certain deterrent, but Yuan Shikai, who won this war, lost the hearts of the people. In the Battle of Ganning, although the Beiyang Army was able to infiltrate into many territories but suffered serious attrition, Zhang Xun alone lost twenty battalions of soldiers, most of the former old pawns died on the battlefield, and the government court seized the opportunity of Yuan Shikai's use of troops to criticize and write, and Yuan Shikai, who seemed to be proud of the spring breeze, also quietly came behind the crisis.