On October 4, 1918, the news of the loss of Hanzhong finally made Duan Qirui understand what it meant to be besieged on all sides (Four-sided Chu song). Within two months, Xu Shuzheng was first captured and then defected. Suiyuan Province was lost, and Hanzhong was taken by the People's Party. Similar to his previous experiences of being hostile to the People's Party, before Duan Qirui could exert his strength, he was already struggling. The People's Party, occupying Shan County, gathered heavy troops and glared like a tiger. If troops were mobilized at this time to recapture Hanzhong or Suiyuan, let alone whether it could be done, firstly, the troops guarding Tongguan would be weakened, and Xi'an would also have to play the empty city stratagem. If Tongguan were captured by the People's Party, the gate of Shaanxi would be completely open. Duan Qirui was not arrogant enough to think he still had the slightest chance of winning at this time.

If confronting the People's Party at Tongguan, the result would be letting the People's Party wreak havoc in other places. Since Suiyuan had been taken down, other areas were completely unstable. After a large number of former Beiyang people defected to the People's Party, some also communicated with Duan Qirui with good intentions or other thoughts, so Duan Qirui had a clear understanding this time that the People's Party did not march south on a large scale after occupying Suiyuan. The goal of the People's Party was not him, Duan Qirui, but Outer Mongolia and Xinjiang. Instead of using troops in Guanzhong where the roads were difficult, it was more convenient to take the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line which was already there and the Beijing-Suiyuan line which would likely be open to traffic within half a year.

The People's Party still occupied the moral high ground of the nation this time. As long as they could successfully recover the old lands, any attack by Duan Qirui on the People's Party in this process would be enough to nail Duan Qirui to the pillar of shame in history. Duan Qirui could absolutely not escape the reputation of a traitor. Even if Duan Qirui stood still, after the People's Party completed its strategic goals, it could easily turn back and eliminate Duan Qirui. After the People's Party eliminated Duan Qirui, putting the title of traitor on Duan Qirui would be a piece of cake.

At this time, Duan Qirui deeply regretted not listening to Wang Shizhen's advice two months ago. If he had been willing to negotiate with the People's Party then, even if he couldn't gain the initiative, at least he would have had more opportunities. Like in the Beiyang era, Duan Qirui still stubbornly believed that the goal of the People's Party was the northwest, to launch a civil war, and did not expect that the People's Party actually intended to target Russia, to launch a foreign war.

Back then, the People's Party relied on fighting the Germans in Qingdao and the Japanese in the Northeast. Through the victory of foreign wars, it quickly gained the support of public opinion. Even the literati who opposed the People's Party most at most dared to question the People's Party's domestic policies and dared not mention the People's Party's foreign wars at all. The reason why a large group of people who were quite dissatisfied with the People's Party dared not or were unwilling to oppose the People's Party was also because the People's Party won every battle in foreign wars.

Now even Duan Qirui's die-hard follower Xu Shuzheng had surrendered to the People's Party. As a traitor, he actually got the title of "Uprising General." It was as if Xu Shuzheng had always been wearing the same pair of pants as the People's Party. This was inevitably too ridiculous.

Duan Qirui began to seriously consider Wang Shizhen's suggestion, at least to conduct political negotiations with the People's Party first. As long as political negotiations started, at least there would be no military conflict between the two sides for the time being. With Yuan Shikai's lesson from the past, it was really too difficult for Duan Qirui to make this determination.

After agreeing to the autonomy of associated provinces back then, the People's Party immediately grew big. The period of peace indeed gave Beiyang a chance to recuperate, but compared with the fierce expansion of the People's Party's power, this peace could even be said to be aiding the enemy. Now the People's Party was already so powerful and had inserted its hands into the northwest. Duan Qirui firmly believed that even if peace could be achieved temporarily this time, when this peace ended, it would be the time when the People's Party seized the entire China.

After fighting with the People's Party for more than ten years, Duan Qirui felt for the first time that he really couldn't hold on anymore.

Regardless of what he thought in his heart, Duan Qirui had to maintain calm at least on the surface. Whenever a subordinate tried to talk to Duan Qirui about this matter, Duan Qirui would coldly refuse to let the subordinate continue. Duan Qirui knew very well that his subordinates followed him for glory and wealth. Before reaching the end of the rope, these people would abandon Duan Qirui without hesitation. This was also an important reason why Duan Qirui refused to accept Wang Shizhen's advice.

It never rains but it pours. While Duan Qirui was contemplating, Wu Peifu strode into Duan Qirui's office with an anxious look, "Premier Duan, Tongguan reported back that dozens of brothers ran to the People's Party under the cover of night yesterday."

Duan Qirui dared not proclaim himself president, but assumed the post of Premier of the Cabinet himself. No one else dared to be this president either, so Duan Qirui commanded the northwest as Premier.

Before Duan Qirui could reply, Wu Peifu continued: "The Tongguan commander asked us for military pay again!"

Duan Qirui shot a gaze full of anger from his eyes, as if wanting to penetrate the distance between Xi'an and Tongguan and burn that incompetent commander to death. In the past month, almost every day soldiers fled to the People's Party side. The commander of the Tongguan garrison had no other way but to spend money, just watching people run away every day.

But the anger was only momentary. Duan Qirui stood up, put his hands behind his back, and began to pace back and forth in the room. The treasury in Xi'an had bottomed out and couldn't take out any money at all. The Shanxi Chamber of Commerce had also been extorted by Duan Qirui almost completely, and all mobilizable financial resources had been completely exhausted. If there was no money to pay the army, using strict military discipline would only incite mutiny.

After walking for a while, Duan Qirui said to Wu Peifu: "Go find Sun Yongsheng."

Wu Peifu was stunned. As Chen Ke's "uncle," since He Qian passed away, Sun Yongsheng actually had no kinship with Chen Ke anymore. But this former kinship still made Sun Yongsheng quite embarrassed in the Beiyang Army all along. However, since Sun Yongsheng could follow Duan Qirui to Shanxi, this had already demonstrated his loyalty to Beiyang. Moreover, killing Sun Yongsheng would be meaningless, so Duan Qirui arranged an idle job for Sun Yongsheng. Now at such a desperate stage, Duan Qirui called Sun Yongsheng over. Wu Peifu already felt an unsettling taste. However, Wu Peifu did not refuse this order, just saluted simply and went out.

Duan Qirui walked a few more circles and stopped in front of the map. Until now, as the Premier of the Cabinet, he nominally controlled provinces such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Tibet, but only nominally. Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang had long been virtually independent, completely controlled by local warlords. Tibet Province had never had any official contact with Duan Qirui. As long as Duan Qirui lost Shanxi and Shaanxi, he would be finished.

Sun Yongsheng came quickly. When he entered the door, Duan Qirui was still standing quietly in front of the map. Duan Qirui was not fat, and worrying day and night these days made him much thinner. Seeing Duan Qirui's thin back, Sun Yongsheng felt an inexplicable sadness. After Yuan Shikai died, the Beiyang government in Beijing collapsed, and the golden age of Beiyang ended. More than two years later, the People's Party pressed forward step by step, and everyone in Beiyang felt panic before the end came.

At present, only Duan Qirui personally could unite the Beiyang Army and barely keep this group in existence. When Wu Peifu told Sun Yongsheng that Duan Qirui called him over, Sun Yongsheng was indeed anxious in his heart.

"Yongsheng, sit down." Duan Qirui said as he turned around.

Sun Yongsheng dared not disobey the order, but only dared to sit on the stool with half a buttock.

Duan Qirui sat back in his seat and then slowly said to Sun Yongsheng: "Yongsheng, I want you to go and pass a message to the People's Party."

These words made Sun Yongsheng's body stiffen immediately. Mentioning the People's Party, Sun Yongsheng felt uncomfortable all over. He said with a dry throat: "I wonder what Premier Duan wants this subordinate to say."

"I want to negotiate peace with them." Duan Qirui finally said what he least wanted to say.

"This... there are so many people in our Beiyang; anyone can be sent." Sun Yongsheng's heart beat very fast. As a middle-level officer, even an awkwardly positioned middle-level officer, Sun Yongsheng knew the current situation of Beiyang. Many officers who originally didn't want to have much contact with Sun Yongsheng had recently started to invite Sun Yongsheng to drink often. Although the place they could go was just to eat mutton soup, a meal of this level in Beijing could only be called eating, but in Xi'an, it was already a very "high-end" pastime.

When eating together, many people also mentioned Sun Yongsheng's identity. Now it was not mockery, but heartfelt envy. Thanks to Beiyang's propaganda and the People's Party's own political propaganda, both the speakers and the listeners knew that the People's Party was not a political organization that practiced "when a man gets to the top, all his friends and relations get there with him." The reason for saying this was simply because Sun Yongsheng still had a way out at any rate. The Beiyang troops who followed Duan Qirui to the northwest had been promoted, but they were far from getting rich. The reason why everyone didn't disband was only because they didn't know where to make a living after disbanding.

The people below were extremely confused about the future, yet the upper-level Duan Qirui actually wanted to "negotiate peace" with the People's Party. Sun Yongsheng's heart was filled with strong anxiety at this time.

"Negotiating peace is not surrendering. I want to maintain the situation of associated provincial autonomy for Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces." Duan Qirui explained, but his voice was not so confident.

"This subordinate still feels it is inappropriate for this subordinate to go." Sun Yongsheng still didn't want to wade into this muddy water.

Duan Qirui kept a straight face, "Yongsheng, if I ask you to go, you just go. Now there are so many brothers who are uneasy in their hearts. As long as you can go and come back, everyone will naturally have confidence. In fact, for so long, I have always trusted you. At this point, you are the most suitable candidate to pass messages with the People's Party."

Sun Yongsheng also knew that Duan Qirui treated him well. Listening to Duan Qirui's meaning, it was impossible to refuse. Sun Yongsheng stood up, "The Premier orders this subordinate to go, so this subordinate will go. This trip will absolutely not disappoint the Premier's expectations."

"That's right!" Duan Qirui said to Sun Yongsheng in an encouraging tone.

Although the news that Sun Yongsheng was going to pass messages to the People's Party was considered "confidential information," given the current level of Duan Qirui's organization, this secret could not be kept for long at all. Before Sun Yongsheng set off, several groups of people privately approached Sun Yongsheng to inquire about news. After sending these people away with difficulty, Sun Yongsheng embarked on the journey under the protection of a group of guards.

The journey was not long, starting from Xi'an and ending in Shan County. As a messenger rather than a negotiator, Sun Yongsheng only needed to make this round trip. When he arrived at Tongguan and passed outside the military camp, Sun Yongsheng's only feeling was a chill in his heart. Logically speaking, Tongguan at this time should be heavily guarded and full of war atmosphere. However, although there were many troops and many military camps, it gave a deserted feeling. It seemed that there was nothing left in Tongguan except military camps. No soldiers could be seen, and no noise of drilling could be heard.

Some of the defenders responsible for the pass at Tongguan knew Sun Yongsheng. They looked at Sun Yongsheng with eyes full of surprise. If it weren't for many people following Sun Yongsheng, they would probably have come up to ask at this time. Sun Yongsheng saw that the complexion of these people guarding the checkpoint was not very good, and their attitude was even more casual. As if this was not a battlefield at all. Judging militarily, not to mention the fierce People's Party, if the hostile party were Sun Yongsheng, he would also dare to boldly lead troops to charge over. Judging from the situation seen before his eyes, Sun Yongsheng felt that the Beiyang Army of the Yuan Shikai era would have at least an 80% chance of winning against the current group of Beiyang Army.

Leaving Tongguan and arriving in Shan County, Sun Yongsheng immediately felt a familiar army feeling. Those formations, those soldiers, all looked vigorous. As for those barbed wire fences, wooden fences, and tall watchtowers, just looking at them made Sun Yongsheng lose the thought of attacking. Without powerful firepower to destroy these military facilities, no matter how many people came up, it would be sending them to death.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army treated the envoy with the same rigor and politeness, asked Sun Yongsheng's purpose, accepted the letters and documents brought by Sun Yongsheng, and arranged for Sun Yongsheng and his party to stay. The next afternoon, they invited Sun Yongsheng over for a talk.

"If the Northwest and Tibet can formally recognize the leadership of the Central Government, accept officials dispatched by the Central Government, gradually adopt unified judicial and administrative systems in various places, accept the reorganization of the army by the Central Government, and obey the orders of the Central Government in the military actions to be taken by the Central Government, we can accept peace talks." The Tongguan Commander said.

Sun Yongsheng calculated these conditions in his heart; no matter how he listened, it was almost the same as surrendering. He dared not promise anything, just simply said: "Does your side have an official document for the requirements?"

The Tongguan Commander pushed a document stapled with a few sheets of paper in front of Sun Yongsheng, "All our requirements are on it. You can take it back for Duan Qirui to see."

As a messenger, the task is to deliver the message. After getting the reply from the People's Party, Sun Yongsheng immediately returned. The Tongguan checkpoint was still guarded by those people. seeing that Sun Yongsheng and others actually came back, their eyes showed a little enthusiasm besides astonishment. Sun Yongsheng even heard someone shouting to others: "Old Sun is back! Old Sun is back! I won the bet!"

It seems these people were really afraid that I would run away. Sun Yongsheng thought helplessly. Is my conduct as Sun Yongsheng really that bad?

But on second thought, Duan Qirui himself also said that as long as Sun Yongsheng could come back after going, the Beiyang brothers would have confidence. Even Sun Yongsheng, who had the most options for retreat, didn't choose to defect to the People's Party, so what were others anxious about?

Sun Yongsheng felt quite sad that Beiyang had to use such a method to stimulate military morale. He came back this time, but if he really ran to the People's Party and didn't come back, what would happen to the Beiyang Army?