At that time, the contrast between the national revolutionary forces and the counter-revolutionary forces was also beneficial to the revolution: the Beiyang warlords were weakening day by day because of the constant wars between them; Although the two warlords, Wu and Zhang, were United, the contradiction could not be solved, and Beijing fell into anarchy; However, between Wu and Sun, the direct warlords who occupy the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River respectively, it is impossible for them to concentrate on dealing with the south because of the problems of joint logistics and counter-logistics. Wu, the first object of the Northern Expedition, was a fragile part of the northern warlords and was already in a state of being attacked by the national army on both sides. The internal division in Hunan created favorable conditions for the Northern Expeditionary Army to pass through Hunan. According to these circumstances, it is not only necessary for Guangdong revolutionary government to start the Northern Expedition, but also possible to win military victory quickly.
The internal differentiation of southern Hunan began in the late winter and early spring of 1925- 1926. Zhao Hengti, the governor of Hunan Province, should have expired on 1926 10/0. However, after the revision of the provincial constitution, the governor was re-elected. It can be seen that Zhao has no intention of stepping down after his term expires. Hunan's internal military and political finance is not unified; Ye, the third division commander, is also responsible for the aftermath of Xiangxi, and Tang Shengzhi, the fourth division commander, is also responsible for the aftermath of Xiangnan. They dominate each other and form a "domestic", and the provincial government has no right to ask. At this time, Zhao wants to change this situation. He sent Zhang, the chief of staff of the Third Division, as the chief financial officer, and Tang Shengzhi, the chairman of the Gun Inspection Committee, to prepare for "saving money" on a large scale, taking the financial power and military power that could not be unified for many years into his own hands. This measure caused a profound contradiction between him and a general. Later, Ye Qi, the brigade commander of the Second Division and the Third Brigade, secretly attended the Wuzhou meeting in the name of returning to Guangxi, and then went to Guangzhou. Born in Guangxi, he is closely related to Guangxi soldiers Li Zongren and Huang, and he and Tang Shengzhi are old classmates of Baoding Military Academy. He came here to contact the Guangzhou Revolutionary Army on behalf of Tang. As soon as the news came out, Changsha was rumored that there would be changes in Hunan's political situation, and Zhao Hengti's reign was not long.
1in the spring of 926, Zhao adopted the suggestion of Xiao Rulin, secretary general of the Second Division, and welcomed the White Lama to Changsha to preside over the so-called Golden Ming Dow Fa Conference to pray for disaster relief. At that time, monsters were everywhere. Just last winter, in Hengyang, Tang invited an "ancient monk" to preside over the Golden Light Dharma, and all the more than 20,000 officers and men in the division were ordained as Buddhas. Since there was another similar Buddhist conference in Changsha, there were rumors of "Buddhism resisting the law" with political background.
Then, the news came from Changsha that Tang Jun had been transferred back to Hengzhou from Chen Yong and set up a defense line in Hengshan, pointing his gun at Changsha. Tang's father and director of industry, Tang Shu, suddenly left the room, and the staff of the fourth division stationed in the province also evacuated. Under the increasingly severe situation, Zhao sent Zhang, Zhong and He Yaozu to Hengzhou, expressing that he had no intention of running for the next governor, hoping that Tang would succeed through the "law" procedure. Tang also said that he had no ambition to be a satrap and asked Zhao to review his army in Hengzhou. At an appropriate time, I came to Changsha and suggested that Tang be appointed Minister of the Interior. Article 53 of the original "Provincial Constitution" stipulates that when the governor leaves office before the expiration of his term of office for some reason, he may entrust the chairman of the provincial affairs to act on his behalf. The chairman of the provincial affairs also serves as the provincial affairs officer, the directors of various departments are ex officio provincial affairs officers, and the director of the interior is the chief provincial affairs officer. At this time, Zhao Can has only two choices, either stepping down early or waging civil war.
At that time, Zhao believed that the reliable third division was far away in Chenzhou. Zhao believes that if a civil war is launched, it will not only be difficult to save, but also cause a situation of mutual loss. So, on March 8, Tang was appointed as the chief of the interior and the dean of the provincial affairs, acting as the governor. Zhang sent to Hengzhou to welcome Tang to take office, and submitted his resignation to the provincial council on 12th. From 9th to 1 1, Changsha citizens held a demonstration against the warlord government led by the * * * production party, expressing their determination to welcome the revolution and completely transform the Hunan Bureau. With the great strength of the people, Zhao quickly boarded the ship and left on the 12th.
At this time, the headquarters of the third division of the province has moved to Yuezhou, and the teacher Ye asked for leave due to illness and sent Zhang to take his place. After Zhao left, the first division commander Ye, He Yaozu and the second division commander all sent telegrams expressing their support for the Tang Dynasty. When Tang/KLOC-arrived in Changsha on 0/6, he did not announce his inauguration. He advocated welcoming Zhao back to his post and invited officers above the brigade commander to hold a meeting in the province to discuss various issues related to the Hunan Bureau.
On 25th, Tang took over as acting governor at the urging of all parties, that is, a military meeting was held that night. On the spot, Tang Xituan, commander of the Second Division and brigade commander of the Second Division, Xiao Rulin, secretary general of the Second Division, Zhang, acting commander of the Third Division, and Liu Chongwei, brigade commander of the Third Division and the Fifth Brigade, who attended the meeting, were detained in lightning speed. The reason for the announcement is that these domineering soldiers have been controlling the people and people for many years. At the same time, he ordered the dismissal of Ye, the commander of the third division, and Jiang Chuou, the brigade commander of the eleventh brigade of the third division, and sent He Yaozu, the commander of the first division, to supervise the aftermath of Xiangxi; Cancel the titles of the second and third divisions and change the brigades under their jurisdiction to the direct command of the governor; He Jian, the brigade commander of cavalry brigade, was also sent to Xiangyin and Miluo River for fortification.
After the incident, Jiang Chuou Brigade, which had moved from Chenzhou to Yuezhou, retreated to Yangloushi, Hubei. On the 26th, the train on Xiang 'e Road was blocked. On the 27th, He Lv entered Yuezhou.
The sudden change in Hunan's political situation is an extremely serious blow to Wu. In the past, Zhao Hengti hung the banner of "autonomy" in Hunan. Although it is not to his taste, he can use Hunan invisibly to stop the revolutionary forces from advancing northward. Now he can't sit back and relax. So, he immediately dispatched troops, sent Lu Jinshan, Wang, Song Dayou, Liu Yuelong, Sun Jianye and Yu Yinsen to strengthen the defense of southern Hubei, and sent Peng Shouxin to supervise the border defense of Hunan and Hubei and preside over the defense of Hunan.
Because the Northern Expeditionary Army can't leave for Hunan at the moment, and the Northern Army can break dawn as soon as possible, Tang Shengzhi sent Wei Liu's representative in Guangdong to keep in touch with the Guangdong revolutionary government, and sent Ouyang Ren to Hankou to say that he would continue to safeguard the "provincial constitution" in order to ease the tension between Hunan and Hubei provinces. At this time, Wu has not yet left for the north. On April 1st, when he met Ouyang Ren, he wrote the word "Bing" on a piece of paper, then wrote the words "North" and "South" at the upper and lower ends, then drew an arrow pointing to the word "North" and said, "I was going to fight North", and drew an arrow pointing to the word "South" and said, "But it can be changed. He put forward three conditions to Tang: (1) withdrawing troops from Yuezhou within 24 hours; (two) the electricity tariff is declared as a deficit; ③ Restore feelings with Ye.
On April 3, Tang Jun evacuated from Yuezhou to the south bank of Miluo River, and Zou, the prefect of Yueyang County, returned to Yuezhou before Wu Ming. But the other two conditions were unacceptable to Tang Dou, so Wu Pai people went to Changsha on behalf of Tan Daonan, threatening Tang to accept his orders, announcing "fighting for the Red", or leading the troops back to southern Hunan, and at the same time returning to western Hunan to restore the state before Zhao Hengti left Hunan, and Changsha and Yuezhou were designated as garrison-free areas. At the beginning, Tang was also perfunctory, admitting to safeguarding the "provincial constitution", protecting the environment and people, and never infringing on neighboring provinces. Later, when he talked about anger, he said rudely, "Wu should not underestimate Hunan." He has an army and a navy. He can attack Changsha in three ways and five ways, but I concentrate my forces on a little breakthrough and directly win Wuhan! " As he spoke, he suddenly took out a pistol from his waist and slapped it heavily on the table and said, "Either the gold-lettered signboard of the fourteen provinces was smashed to pieces, or this thing (pistol) solved me!" At this point, the negotiations broke down completely.
After the political changes in Hunan, the institutions of the two parties in Changsha changed from secret to public, and the revolutionary sentiment of the people in Hunan was even higher. Calls for the abolition of the "provincial constitution", the dissolution of the provincial council and the overthrow of warlords resounded throughout Yue Yun. Guangdong revolutionary government sent chandy four brigade brigade commander and chief of staff Bai Chongxi to Hunan, urging Tang to send troops to crusade against Wu, and ensuring that the second and sixth armies were not allowed to enter Hunan [6]. When Bai and Chen attended the mass meeting in Changsha, they publicly shouted slogans such as "National Revolution" and "Down with Wu". In this situation, I made up my mind to get rid of Wu in the Tang Dynasty. Wu did not welcome Zhao's restoration of political power, because Zhao's insistence on "autonomy" was also a resistance to Wu's plan of "going south", so he directly appointed Ye as the commander-in-chief of Xiang Army and He Yaozu as the deputy commander-in-chief (and was appointed as the governor of Hunan), hoping that he and Ye would cooperate to expel the Tang Dynasty, abolish the "provincial constitution" and completely incorporate Hunan into their sphere of influence. On April 19, Jun Ye returned to Yuezhou by bus, and on April 2 1 day, Ye Diantong became the commander-in-chief of Xiang Army, so the civil war broke out in Hunan and became the prelude to the Northern Expedition.
Wu's plan is to use Hunan people to fight Hunan people, while the northern army will monitor them. In addition, he ordered Deng Ruzhuo, commander-in-chief of Jiangxi Province, to send troops.
The third brigade disturbed Xiangdong with Xie Wenbing, the former Guangdong army in Chen Jiongming, and the remnants of Shen and Han Caifeng disturbed Yongzhou behind Tang Jun.
At present, only one brigade (Jiang Brigade) drives to Miluo to confront Tang Jun across the river, while its fifth and sixth brigades in Xiangxi, led by Zou, the brigade commander of the sixth brigade, attack Xinhua. According to the situation at that time, the main front was from Chenzhou and Xupu all the way to Xinhua and Baoqing, and the left and right of the first division, He Yaozu, was also an important factor in determining the outcome of both sides.
On April 27, Tang appointed He Yaozu, the first division commander, as the commander-in-chief of the Xiang army and sent troops to crusade. He's defensive field is in Changde, and he has become a corner with the second division of Lizhou. On 28th, Ye Qi, who was sent by the Second Division to be in charge of the division, was expelled, and her in-laws were in charge of the teacher's functions and powers, and she announced that she would take concerted action with the First Division, which greatly increased her status. He strongly disapproved of Tang's caution and Ye's attachment to the north, and refused to accept the appointment of Wu Hetang. On April 30, he sent a telegram asking Ye and Tang to stop military operations, so that the armies could return to the defensive positions before Zhao left Hunan, and the northern army stopped moving forward, which was decided by the Hunan people themselves. This neutral attitude is certainly not good for Tang.
On April 28th, Zou captured it and went straight to Hengzhou via Hongluo Temple. At the same time, the Second Division moved from Lizhou to Changde and Taoyuan. This situation made Tang Jun fall into the position of being attacked on all sides, so Tang published a thrifty telegram (28th), saying: "He has always followed the rules of (Zhao) since he was born with wisdom and accepted things. Although he was ready to handle all the difficulties properly, he was bossed around and humiliated, and he always tolerated it for the sake of the overall situation. As far as today is concerned, Hunan has never been a socialist and has never attracted a foreign aid. Ye, the rebel, fled back from Hubei and took advantage of it to enter Yue. In case the provincial constitution is destroyed and there is a dispute between the north and the south, whoever will be the leader will have to resort to public opinion. " On May 1 day, Tang Jun left Changsha, and on May 2, Jun Ye entered Changsha.
The situation at that time was very clear. The battle between Tang and Ye was not a local problem in Hunan, but a prelude to the large-scale civil war between the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Northern Warlords. The people of Hunan warmly welcomed the Northern Expeditionary Army to quickly enter Hunan, liberated Hunan from the painful state of warlord separatism, further completed the Northern Expedition and overthrew the dark rule of Beiyang warlords. However, in order to safeguard the interests of the class, the upper class in Hunan has a peaceful mind and fantasizes about restoring the situation that "Hunan is not involved in the north-south vortex" before Zhao Hengti stepped down. Therefore, after Tang Jun retired, various organizations in Changsha (except workers' and students' organizations) launched a campaign to welcome Zhao's reinstatement (3rd), and the provincial council released a message to welcome Zhao (6th). On 13th, the First and Second Divisions and the leaders of Xiangxi electrified to organize the "Hunan Protection Army", and elected Zhao as the commander-in-chief of the "Hunan Protection Army", Ye as the deputy commander-in-chief, He Yaozu as the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief of the frontier defense. Before Zhao returned to Hunan, Tuye was the governor. Therefore, the First Division and the Second Division agreed with Ye on the Tang issue, but opposed to luring the northern soldiers into Hunan, so they were another banner besides Tang and Ye, and He Yaozu also refused Ye's invitation and could not reach Changsha.
Wu initially opposed the continuation of "autonomy." Because the first, second and third divisions of Xiang Army can't unite and cooperate, he intends to add the title of "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces of Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi", and welcome him back to Hunan to preside over the Tang military affairs, and prepare to ask him to lead the troops to attack Guangdong and Guangxi in the next step. Sun did not agree with this opinion, and suggested to Wu that the legal issues in Hunan (that is, the issue of autonomy) could be put on hold for the time being, and Zhao was welcome to come back and command the Xiang army in a unified way. "Otherwise, the Hunan Bureau will collapse and the Yangtze River will be hard to rest in peace." Finally, Wu agreed with Sun.
According to the situation of Tang and Ye armies at that time, although Tang Jun gave up Changsha and Xiangtan, Jun Ye's Jiang Chuou brigade attacked Hengshan and Hengzhou from the front, Hubei's northern and southern armies were stationed in Zhuzhou and Yisuhe, Jiangxi's Tang Fushan division was stationed in Liling and Youxian, especially Zou led most of them to capture Hongluo Temple between Hengzhou, and Hengzhou was surrounded by a half moon. If 1, Division 2 and the Northern Army fight together, and the number far exceeds that of Tang Jun, Hengzhou may be captured. If Hengzhou can't hold on, Jun Ye and the northern army will March on Chenzhou and Guangdong, and the northern army in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces will be launched at the same time, which will seriously threaten the Guangdong revolutionary base area. In this situation, it is necessary for Guangdong Revolutionary Government to quickly assist Tang Jun in counterattacking Changsha and start the Northern Expedition ahead of schedule. Therefore, Chen (newly promoted), commander of the tenth division of the Fourth Army, Zhang Fakui, commander of the eleventh division, and Ye Ting, head of the independent regiment, were sent from Shaoguan to Chenzhou, and the Li Zongren Department of the Seventh Army set out from Guilin to Yongzhou. On may 2 1 day, Tang was appointed commander of the eighth army and commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the middle of the northern expedition.
Before the arrival of the Northern Expeditionary Army, it rained for a long time in southern Hunan, and the frontal war could not be carried out because of the flood. From the beginning of May to the middle of May, the Tang and Ye armies only fought a tug-of-war with Xiangxiang. He Jian, the general of Tang Jun, suggested a truce, so Ye and Tang abdicated at the same time, and the air of Zhao Hengti's heavy responsibility as the governor of Hunan was filled at that time. In fact, this is Tang Jun's plan to slow down. The Hunan issue has become a North-South issue, and it has become the fuse for the decisive battle between the revolutionary forces in the south and the counter-revolutionary forces in the north. There is no room for reconciliation and compromise. At the same time, counter-revolutionary forces are deepening decay and accelerating their demise. The so-called "aid to Hunan" northern army refused to go to the front line to fight, only responsible for guarding the rear, and obviously had the ambition of "yellow finch behind".
Most senior officers in Jun Ye stayed in Changsha to "eat, drink, and be merry", but their salaries were not paid, which caused soldiers' rebellious mentality and war-weariness. In particular, Ye lured the northern army into Hunan, and the tyrannical behavior of the northern army in its stationed area aroused the hatred of the people in eastern Hunan and northern Hunan. According to these circumstances, we can see the future of the war without waiting for the decisive battle between the two armies. After the Northern Expeditionary Army of Guangdong and Guangxi arrived in Hunan at the beginning of July, Tang Jun counterattacked Xiangxiang, Ningxiang and Xiangtan in three ways. Along the way, the peasants cooperated with the battle, and the northern army retreated without fighting. Jun Ye doesn't want to fight. Tang Jun occupied Xiangtan on July 9, and Changsha on July 10. Liu Xuexuan, the brigade commander of Jun Ye 14th Brigade, was captured and killed. After the Tang Dynasty 14 arrived in Changsha, it announced the abolition of the "provincial constitution" and the dissolution of the provincial parliament, ending the situation of fake autonomy in Hunan and beginning a new period of high revolution.