At this time, Japanese Army Major General Saito Kiji and Jin Yunpeng, a backbone of Duan Qirui's government, secretly signed the "Sino-Japanese Army Joint Defense Military Agreement" in Beijing to restrain China and Japan from taking "joint defense against the enemy." Among them, the "Detailed Agreement on the Joint Defense of the Army" stipulates that Japan can be stationed in China during the war (with the intention of North Manchuria); When the Japanese army fights abroad, China should send troops to show support; During the war, the two countries supplied each other with weapons and munitions. The Chinese and Japanese troops jointly entered the Baikal and Amur provinces, and the Chinese side was under the command of the Japanese side; After advancing from Manchuria, the troops of Baikal were commanded by the Chinese side on the Japanese side; And Japan could send another army from Kulen to Baikal.

Through this agreement, Japan was prepared to send a large number of troops into the northeast to quickly replace the aggressive position of Tsarist Russia in the northern part of the three eastern provinces.

This agreement is very unfavorable to the Northeast Autonomous Government. Originally, in Zhang Hanqing's mind, Heilongjiang, including the north of Changchun, was the self-reserved land of the Feng department, and he was preparing to make a big deal as his backyard. Although Mukden's economic and industrial conditions far exceeded those of Hei Province, many things could not be done because the Japanese were entrenched in it.

It's Hei Province, a blank piece of paper is easy to paint, Zhang Hanqing has a lot of ideas and plans to implement here, and he must not let the Japanese get involved anymore! As a city second only to Fengtian, Harbin is an important transportation hub at the crossroads of the South Manchurian and North Manchurian railways and a port advantage of choking the Huajiang River.

In his conception, Harbin wants to establish an extremely important university integrating heavy industry and military industry, and provide a steady stream of power for the development of the Feng Department, and the name of this university has been decided: Harbin Institute of Technology.

There is also a very secret thought: not far from here, on the Middle East Road, there is a city that has not yet been established, and later the blood of the new Chinese industry, its name is Daqing.

No one knows what this name means in later generations, but Zhang Hanqing knows that the Japanese have dispatched many resource exploration teams in the northeast, and if they are found to have the oil they dream of, God knows what will happen! In the official history, the Japanese dared to touch the ass of even thinking about it for the sake of oil, and they made a big deal with the world boss United States.

Therefore, from the perspective of its own development plan, it is necessary to cut off Japan's black hand extending into the hinterland of the Northeast no matter what!

The Northeast Local Self-Government Government is extremely quick to respond to the situation, and when Japan announced this agreement, Zhang Zuolin immediately sent a telegram to China and the rest of the world, vigorously opposing it. As he said in the telegram of the Central Government during the questioning: "What is the matter with the changes in Soviet Russia? China, as a country that has been weakened repeatedly, does not measure its own strength, and seeks the skin of the tiger, which is nothing more than a humiliation for itself! In the case of Feng, Ji, and Hei have been self-governing for a long time, and such a major incident that disrupts local public order and supports the ruling foundation of the government, the people of the country do not know that my dignified China has been squandered by a handful of scum at will? The former president Yuan Gongshang was ashamed of signing the 21st Article, and the princes in the court were proud of betraying the major interests of the Northeast? The Middle East Road is completely state-owned, which is an opportunity and benefit that has not been seen in recent decades, and it is not allowed to be tampered with by a private transaction! Duty to serve the country loyally, in order to protect the Middle Road, there is just death! ”

As soon as the word came out, the whole country shook. The Chinese people were not only angry at the shamelessness of the government, but also infected by Zhang Zuolin's patriotic heart. The direct lineage, which has been suppressed, has also continuously generated power in response, denouncing the secret covenant and claiming to protect the road.

Under the pressure of the whole country, Duan Qirui's government did not dare to admit it, and only issued a simple telegram saying: "The military agreement is purely imaginary, and the Middle East Road is an old matter between China and Russia, and it opposes the expansion of negotiations." ”

Since it was a secret treaty, it was not announced later, and although the Japanese were dissatisfied with the reversal of Duan Qirui's government, they also understood the situation in which they were located. It's just that Zhang Zuolin sang against Japan in such a high-profile manner, which made the Japanese feel very uneasy.

In order to cause chaos for Zhang Zuolin, the Japanese government ordered many intelligence officers in the northeast to collude with the bandits supported by him, and a large-scale riot came to the northeast. All of a sudden, the dark clouds in the three northeastern provinces changed, and most of the areas were in an emergency.

As the decision-maker and top executor of the Middle East Road negotiations, Zhang Hanqing is well aware that the situation in the Far East is changing three times a day, and this is the time to try his best to withstand the pressure. Otherwise, Japan would have had little power in North Manchuria, and after the conclusion of this agreement, tens of thousands of troops sent to Siberia would have set off from the Middle East. With the Japanese mind, they will certainly set up many auxiliary organs, such as military telephones, post offices, and military stations, in Kyrgyzstan and Hei provinces, and no matter what the outcome of the future situation against Russia is, the Japanese will not be able to lose their hands anyway. Just as most of the troops withdrawn from Baikal were stationed in North Manchuria, resulting in a de facto occupation after the failure of the intervention in history, this is also one of the important reasons why the Japanese in Northeast China continued to have opportunities to encroach and become larger and larger, while China became more and more difficult to exert its strength. On the one hand, he discussed with Zhang Zuolin the matter of suppressing bandits, and on the other hand, he took a tough stance and opposed the "collectivization" of the Middle East Road.

Regarding the intervention armies of various countries against Russia, Zhang Hanqing, who is familiar with history, knows that this is a period of fruitless and failed policy. But for Japan, it was another time when it was seen as a natural political opportunity. The joint declaration of the commanders of the intervention forces of the major powers said that Vladivostok and its vicinity should be temporarily placed under the protection of the Entente on the grounds that the situation in Russia was too chaotic, but in the end the armies of the countries did not do anything, but the Japanese soldiers carried the old Russian party Seminov through Baikal and occupied the headquarters of the railway organization in Chita; He also set up a headquarters in Khabarovka with the old party Kamilgov, and divided his troops to Hailanpao, Amur, and Irkutsk. At its peak, the Japanese had as many as 11 divisions and regiments on the Russian border! (Editor's note: At that time, there were 21 divisions in Japan).

In doing so, Japan intends to seize the territory of Siberia by taking advantage of its strong national strength, taking advantage of the crisis in which Soviet Russia itself is in a crisis, and waiting for an opportunity to attack the semi-encircled northeast and Mongolia, so as to realize its established national policy of "Manchurian and Mongolian Republic." At the same time, the abundant resources in Soviet Russia are also coveted by Japan. It can have this mind because it has confidence.

During the First World War, the old Western colonial countries had no time to look eastward, which not only provided space for Japan's aggressive and expansionist policy, but also brought a "war boom" to Japan's economy. From the summer of the second year of World War II, Japan's trade exports soared, and shipping flourished, creating opportunities for the development and prosperity of exports, shipbuilding, and basic and related industries, including mining, and led to the rapid expansion of various industrial sectors. The entire manufacturing industry has increased by more than 30 times, and the chemical industry has increased by more than 96 times. By the second half of 1918, the profit rate of the major industries reached 55.2 percent, including 191.6 percent in some periods, and the shipbuilding industry also reached 166.6 percent. Through World War I, Japan became a superpower from a superpower that had been a superpower for a long time since the Meiji era, and its industrial structure changed from an agricultural country before the war to an industrial country.

Japan's invasion of Siberia to intervene in the Russian Revolution as part of its strategy to weaken Russia was intended to be unscrupulous. However, due to the hasty dispatch of troops, after the powerful war potential of Soviet Russia was stimulated, Japan gained nothing but a lot of debts and bitter hatred of the Soviet Union during the several years of war, which objectively provided valuable time for Japan to delay its attack on China.

For Chang, however, how to make the northeast rise safely is his first priority, and limiting Japan's movement of the South Manchurian Railway, which he controls, and limiting its power to the Kwantung Prefecture is the foundation. The key is that in any case, the Japanese army must not be given the opportunity to garrison troops in Heilongjiang, which is common sense and a premise.

However, it seems that Britain, the United States and Japan will control the Middle East Road, and tens of thousands of Japanese troops planned to go to Siberia will set off from the Middle East Road. A large number of military telephones, telegraphs, and military stations have been set up along the roads in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces. Moreover, Japan has signed an agreement with Duan Qirui's central government, and if the Feng army interferes, the Japanese division will be famous.

On the one hand, he was angry at the short-sightedness of the central government, and on the other hand, he wanted to make peace with the great powers. In his capacity as the supervisor of the Middle East Road, Zhang Hanqing called on Stephen, director of technology of the US Vladivostok Organizing Committee, and Vice Admiral Hoshino of Japan, minister of military transportation. Stephen took an unusual interest in the legendary and masculine young man, but kept repeating the same thing, saying that China's inadequate management capacity and the dangers of the Northeast bandits would put the Middle East Road in danger and hinder the actions of the intervening forces. (This old thing, too, knows about the bandits at the moment)

Zhang Hanqing snorted at this, and he said sonorously: "Mr. Stephen only knows one thing about the current situation in the three eastern provinces, but he does not know the other. On the surface, the bandits in the northeast seem to be on fire, but after several major clearances, the large number of bandits has been annihilated, and the small group has been torn apart and cowered in various deep mountains and old forests. The Feng army has firmly controlled all the large and medium-sized cities in Northeast China and the vast rural areas about the size of Alaska in the United States, and the elimination of bandits is just around the corner. Because we use the railroad as a mobile to suppress bandits, the garrison force along the railway line of the Middle East Road is the most powerful, and the control is effective. If the so-called condominium doctrine is implemented, chaos will return, which will be very detrimental to the war in the Far East. ”

Lieutenant General Hoshino was unmoved, he looked at the problem purely from a military point of view. He said: "It is an established policy for many countries to jointly intervene in the Russian Far East, and the Chinese Government has also signed a joint defense agreement with China. If you are an ally, you must show due sincerity. Considering that the troops of various countries will soon have to go straight to Siberia from the Middle East, the huge logistical supply is not something that China can handle. In order to avoid mistakes, the Commission must take control of the Middle Road. Of course, as a guarantee, once the war in the Far East is over, Japan will first withdraw from the Middle East and will not break its promise. ”

! If the Japanese soldiers do not return, who can do anything? Historically, Japan has done just that, and as soon as it does, it dragged on until Japan surrendered, and the government, people, and the international community were helpless ----to fight him for this kind of behavior, and they couldn't fight it at all, and it would cause even greater incidents, giving the Japanese a justifiable excuse to enter; talk, people simply use all kinds of reasons to prevaricate.