Of
this Yuan Shih-kai became aware through his extraordinary system
of intelligence; and following his usual practice he had ordered
General Feng Kuo-chang to Peking as Chief of the General Staff--an
appointment which would place him under direct surveillance. First
on one excuse, then on another, General Feng Kuo-chang had managed
to delay his departure from day to day without actually coming
under the grave charge of refusing to obey orders. But finally the
position was such that he telegraphed to General Tsao-ao that
unless the Yunnan arrangements were hastened he would have to
leave Nanking--and abandon this important centre to one of Yuan
Shih-kai's own henchmen--which meant the end of all hopes of the
Yangtsze Valley rising EN MASSE.
It was to save Feng Kuo-chang, then, that the young patriot Tsao-
ao caused the ultimatum to be dispatched fourteen days too soon
i.e., before the Yunnan troops had marched over the mountain-
barrier into the neighbouring province of Szechuan and seized the
city of Chungking--which would have barred the advance of the
Northern troops permanently as the river defiles even when lightly
defended are impassable here to the strongest force. It was
largely due to the hardships of forced marches conducted over
these rugged mountains, which raise their precipitous peaks to the
heavens, that Tsao-ao subsequently lost his life, his health being
undermined by exposure, tuberculosis finally claiming him.
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