These actions of the Qing court certainly could not escape the intelligence network arranged by the East China Government in Beijing. In the past few years, the East China Government had already arranged a huge and strict intelligence network in Beijing. It can be said that everything that happened in Beijing, including the things in the palace, could not escape the eyes and ears of the East China Government. Moreover, the confidentiality level of the Qing court was too low and too poor, and there were no less than 20 eunuchs bought by the Beijing Office of the East China Government. Therefore, all the affairs of Qingyan were almost completely transparent to the East China Government. It can be said that as soon as any decision made by the Qing court was made, Qingdao would receive it at most two hours.

The preparations for escape made by the Qing court, including the carriages prepared in the palace and the army arranged to be supported in the Summer Palace, have long been passed to Qingdao. For the East China Government, if Cixi and Guangxu fled to the south, it would definitely be the most unfavorable result for him, because Cixi and Guangxu represented the orthodox of the Qing court. Once they fled to the south, and with the support of various countries, they would likely integrate the local forces in the south in a short time and compete with the East China Government. Although even if the entire South is unified, it is impossible to be an opponent of the East China Government, it is much more difficult to deal with than a loose sand and fighting south, and it requires the East China Government to consume more energy, manpower, material resources, and financial resources. Therefore, the Executive Yuan also ordered the Military Commission and the Ministry of Security to cooperate to prevent Cixi and Guangxu from fleeing south. Even if they were shot to death on the battlefield, it would be better than letting them escape to the south.

After receiving the order from the Executive Yuan, the Military Commission and the Ministry of Security immediately began to formulate corresponding plans. The Ministry of Security was mainly responsible for monitoring the dynamics of the palace and providing intelligence support. To prevent Cixi and Guangxu from fleeing south, it still had to rely on the army.

The East China Government has garrisons at the railway station east of Beijing, stationed a battalion of troops, and with logistics personnel, about 900 people. Although there was a lot of room for establishment of this camp, at most one battalion of troops could only be added. The number of available troops was about 1,500. Therefore, the Military Commission decided to use special forces to carry out this task.

The People's Army established a special forces before the Far East War and also participated in the Far East War. However, in large-scale wars, the special forces can play a limited role. Moreover, the special forces were just established, with insufficient training and limited practical experience. Therefore, they did not send special forces to carry out difficult combat tasks such as raids, beheadings, and combat behind enemy lines. Instead, they engage in relatively simple tasks such as reconnaissance, path exploration, and collecting battlefield intelligence. Of course, if the conditions are appropriate, some small-scale battles will be carried out to train the team in actual combat and accumulate experience. After the Far East War, the special forces also conducted targeted training based on the actual situation on the battlefield.

This time, when Cixi and Guangxu were prevented from fleeing south, and could only rely on the Beijing garrison, it was obvious that the special forces were the most suitable troops to carry out. Before the Tianjin negotiations, two special forces brigades, totaling about 840 people, had entered the camps of the Beijing garrison in batches, and began to familiarize themselves with the terrain, roads and other preliminary preparations. Moreover, the weapons and ammunition used by the special forces were transported in succession.

The Military Commission has also formulated three combat plans:

The first plan is to launch an attack by special forces during the war, before Cixi and Guangxu withdrew from Beijing, seize the palace, arrest Cixi and Guangxu, and then hold on to the palace for assistance, waiting for the main force to attack Beijing for support.

The advantage of this plan is the suddenness of the battle, that is, to directly attack the palace and capture Cixi and Guangxu with lightning speed, there is a great chance of success; but the disadvantage is that there are about 60,000 to 70,000 troops inside and outside the city of Beijing, and about 30,000 troops in Beijing. Although the combat effectiveness of the special forces is strong, it is difficult to stop so many Qing troops with only more than 800 soldiers. If the main force cannot arrive at the extreme and attack Beijing, the special forces will fall into a hard battle, which will cause serious casualties. In addition, in the city of Beijing, because they fight in the palace, it will cause great harm to civilians and ancient buildings in Beijing.

The second plan is to set up an ambush in the middle of the way before entering the Summer Palace after Cixi and Guangxu evacuated from Beijing and before entering the Summer Palace, they could quickly withdraw from the battlefield and take advantage of the special forces' advantage in field combat to deal with the Qing army.

The advantage of this plan is that the combat space and room for maneuvering has increased, but you can fight and run away if you can't fight. This kind of combat method can better play the combat advantages of the special forces. Moreover, when fighting outside Beijing, there is no need to worry about harming civilians and ancient buildings in Beijing. You can fight with mercy; the disadvantage is that the requirements for intelligence are higher, because the time between Cixi and Guangxu withdrawing from Beijing and entering the Summer Palace will not be too long. If you cannot get information at all times, you may miss the opportunity to intercept it.

The third plan is that after Cixi and Guangxu entered the Summer Palace, they sent troops to attack the Summer Palace. They arrested or shot Cixi and Guangxu, or besieged the Summer Palace, waiting for the large army to arrive.

The advantage of this plan is that it is still that it is fighting outside the city, with a lot of room for maneuver. Moreover, the garrison in the Summer Palace is far less than that in Beijing, and with the combat effectiveness of the special forces, it is still quite sure; but the disadvantages are also very obvious. First of all, the Summer Palace is also a valuable royal garden. Once it is damaged by the war, it will be a huge loss. Moreover, the scope of the Summer Palace is too large, and it is only possible to completely siege with a special forces of more than 800 people. It can only be defended by a few pass-through nodes. However, this leaves a considerable space for the Qing army, and there is a certain chance that it can break through successfully.

Among these three combat plans, the General Staff and the command center of the special forces conducted repeated research and comparison, and organized several deductions to finally choose the second plan, and the third plan was given up as an alternative, and at the same time, they negotiated with the Ministry of Security to make certain revisions to the second plan, that is, several temporary strongholds can be prepared before going from Beijing to the Summer Palace, so that the troops can first enter the temporary strongholds, which can also increase the success rate of interception.

Of course, in addition to preventing Cixi and Guangxu from escaping, the East China Government was also fully prepared for the battle on the front battlefield. This battle will involve three field troops, totaling about 130,000 troops, and encircling the urban area of ​​Beijing from the east, south and west directions.

On the east side, the 11th Field Army of the Central Military Region was responsible for the attack from Tianjin, advancing along the Tianjin-Beijing Railway, and directly attacking Beijing; on the south side, the 12th Field Army of the Southwest Military Region was responsible for the attack from Shunde Prefecture, Hebei, along the line of Zhengding Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture, and Zhuozhou, all the way north, joining with the 11th Field Army in Beijing, forming a joint attack on Beijing; on the west side, the 5th Field Army of the Northwest Military Region was responsible for the attack from Lu'an Prefecture, attacking along the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, capturing Xuanhua Prefecture, cutting off the connection between Beijing and Shanxi, and preventing the escape from Beijing to Shanxi.

The Northeast Military Region remained unmoved and was responsible for monitoring the movements of the Russian army. Because Russia seemed very active at this time, it was necessary to guard against Russia.

In addition, in the south, the East China Government also had military operations. This front will be led by the Marine Corps and the 9th Field Army of the Southeast Military Region. It will swim up the Yangtze River, attack Wuchang Prefecture, and then occupy the area south of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province. The Marine Corps is responsible for the landing operations of the Wuchang Prefecture, and the 9th Field Army will be responsible for the task of subsequently capturing the area south of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province.

Now the southeastern local forces of the East China Government and the Qing court are bounded by the Yangtze River. The East China Government occupies north of the Yangtze River and Taicang Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture. The southeastern local forces of the Qing court occupy the area south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, the goal of this battle is to capture Beijing, destroy the Qing court, and unify the north. The southern region is not in this combat plan.

But the south will also have to be occupied sooner or later. The East China Government cannot accept the division of north and south with the Yangtze River as the boundary. Therefore, the Military Commission believes that this battle should also be made in the south, at least occupying several key points in the area south of the Yangtze River. First, it is to break the fantasy of the division of north and south by the local officials of the Qing court; second, it is to have several reliable fulcrums in the Jiangnan region when the East China Government marchs to the south in the future, so there are no need to cross the river to fight again.

The Central Military Commission selected the targets of Wuchang and Nanjing, which are the two most important cities along the Yangtze River. Once the East China Government controls these two cities, and with the three points in the hands of the East China Government, Taicang Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, which are in the hands of the East China Government, they form a front line. The East China Government will be able to completely control the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Military Commission submitted this combat plan to the Executive Yuan. After careful consideration, the Executive Yuan basically agreed with the plan, but believed that Nanjing was Yuan Shikai's territory. Now the relationship between the East China Government and Yuan Shikai is not bad, and there is no need to destroy it for the time being. Therefore, Nanjing was deleted from the target of this combat, leaving only Wuchang Prefecture, and at the same time decided to expand the scope of the combat to the area south of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province.

Because the main purpose of this battle is to occupy several key points in the area south of the Yangtze River, and to prepare for the future advancement of the East China Government to the south of the Yangtze River, occupying the area south of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, and basically achieving this goal. Whether to occupy Nanjing or not is not very effective. Moreover, Hubei Province is located in the middle section of the Yangtze River, bordering Anhui in the east, Sichuan in the west, Shaanxi in the northwest, Jiangxi in the south, Hunan in the south, and Henan in the north. Since ancient times, it has been a key road between the east, south and north, and a strategic location. Therefore, it has occupied the entire territory of Hubei Province and can serve as the general base for the East China Government to march in the south in the future.

In addition, when Zhang Zhidong was the governor, a large number of modern industrial and mining enterprises and schools were built. Although the level was very backward in the eyes of the East China Government, it was considered very advanced in the whole of China, at least it could be considered to have a certain foundation in modern industry and education, and it still has great value.
Chapter completed!