For Xu Shuzheng's arrival, Zhang Zuolin was very happy. At least, in this troubled era, he is finally a character now, and he is really relied on by the authorities.

Although Zhang Zuolin was born in the green forest, he has long had great ambitions, and he supports troops outside the customs to respect himself, just waiting for the opportunity to win the Central Plains. However, whether it is Zhi, Anhui, or Yuan Shikai is alive, the army of Fengtian is guarded against and defended, and the Feng army has always been unable to go out of the pass. Now that the situation is stronger than people, Duan Qirui is sick and rushed to the doctor, and he "invited" him to go out, of course he was happy. When I heard the news, I was already eager to try.

On the contrary, Zhang Hanqing was surprisingly calm, and in private, he asked Zhang Zuolin directly: "Father, how much turmoil do you think can be stirred up in the political situation in Guannei with the current strength of our Feng and Hei provinces?" ”

Zhang Zuolin was silent.

Zhang Hanqing smiled slightly and said, "Although the strength of the two systems is equal now, it is far superior to us. Although we have the strength of five divisions on the surface, the 27th Division and the 1st Division have to take care of the situation in the two provinces, and the 28th Division has just returned to obedience, and the people's hearts are unstable; Although the 29th Division of the second uncle was assigned to our camp, it was located in the Black Province and was self-contained. To be honest, such a small number of troops has no decisive impact on the overall situation. The current situation, no matter which is better or worse in the end, has the heart of the embankment for us. If you join any of them rashly, you will become a vassal and lose your independent status. Although the situation in the northeast is unpredictable, it is generally favorable to us. What I mean is that you might as well be vain and wrong, beneficial is profitable, no profit is not harmful, in short, to strengthen yourself as your own responsibility is the first priority. ”

The Guards Division has become Zhang Zuolin's general reserve, and they are not used to settle accounts in normal times.

Zhang Zuolin is also a human spirit among the best, and these things were originally in his thoughts, so they naturally hit it off. So the father and son discussed it and decided that Zhang Hanqing would sing white. Anyway, the general principle is "don't scatter the eagle if you don't see the rabbit".

When meeting Xu Shuzheng, Zhang Hanqing was naturally present, and as soon as the two sides turned to the topic, Zhang Hanqing deliberately said to Zhang Zuolin: "Father, there is a life in power, and it is natural to send troops outside the border." However, at present, there is a shortage of weapons, and if we act hastily, if we fail, it will become an excuse for others to interfere in the political situation, and it will become a way to bring chaos down. Zhang Zuolin also reacted very quickly, and deliberately made it difficult to say: "I also know this, but the current situation in the capital is critical, if you wait for supplies, I am afraid that the opportunity will be missed and the ruling plan will be ruined." ”

For the double reed of Zhang's father and son, Xu Shuzheng has long been prepared. I want to say that Zhang Zuolin, who is old and treacherous, how can he do it without some homework? He was ordered to summon the army to Beijing outside the Guan, and he knew very well that Lao Zhang's personality of "no profit can not be early", and knew that Zhang Zuolin would never be summoned if he was not allowed to make heavy profits. In fact, if the Feng army does not enter the customs, the situation in Beijing will not be thrown into the Anhui system on a one-sided basis.

For Zhang Zuolin, the emperor of Fengtian, the best gift is armament. Xu Shuzheng, who had been the vice minister of the War Department, knew the details of Duan Qirui's purchase of Japanese arms, and at the same time, before he handed over his post as vice minister, he had left several blank pieces of official paper from the War Department with the seal of the letter and the customs defense, so he decided to steal a batch of arms in exchange for Zhang Zuolin to send troops into the customs. But Duan Qirui is stubborn, if he asks him for instructions in advance, he will definitely not allow it, only use actions to do it first.

Xu Shuzheng negotiated with Zhang Zuolin on the condition of supporting He Zuolin's appointment as vice president and dividing up the ordnance, he said: "Three-quarters of the weapons will go to Yushuai and one-quarter will go to Xu. As long as Yu Shuai's army was stationed in Tianjin and Langfang with the main force, Feng Guozhang was forced to resume all his duties as Premier Duan. ”

Even if there is a rabbit, of course there will be an eagle. After receiving Xu Shuzheng's promise, Zhang Zuolin readily agreed and immediately waved his troops into the customs. This time, the Feng army took Zhang Zuoxiang as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy. Although Zhang Hanqing is nominally auxiliary, he is actually responsible for all the policies in the Guannai, just because his qualifications are shallow, and he needs a veteran like Zhang Zuoxiang to control the situation.

After the news of Fengjun's entry into the customs came out, the most unsettling person was, of course, Feng Guozhang. Fengtian is behind Beijing, and the morning and evening are coming, and they will come as soon as they say. As early as the era of Yuan Shikai, he was impressed by the forces outside the border and tried his best to be gentle. Feng Guozhang couldn't help but think that after Zhang Xun led the pigtailed army into Beijing a year ago, Li Yuanhong was ousted from power, and now the army has entered the customs, and the old drama may be repeated. He was a president with no soldiers and no powers, and he had a premonition that he might be expelled or placed under house arrest at any time, so he planned 36 plans, and still took going as the upper plan, secretly arranging the second "southern tour", planning to go south from the Jinghan Road to Hubei, but how could the people of the Duan family let the tiger return to the mountain. Of course, he was not allowed to leave the city of Beijing.

In order to ensure the "speed of the soldiers", on February 24, 1918, the Jingfeng Road train was detained by the Feng army to transport troops; On the 25th, Yang Yuting, the general counselor of the Fengtian Military Administration, led troops to Luanzhou. After the main force of the five brigades was forcibly stationed in the Pingjin area, a headquarters was set up in the Tianjin Military Grain City, with Zhang Zuolin as commander and Xu Shuzheng as deputy commander and acting commander.

On the same day, Zhang Jinghui's division of the 53rd Brigade of the 27th Division of the Feng Army drove to Qinhuangdao, where there were more than 30,000 rifles and ammunition transported by the Japanese government in accordance with the Sino-Japanese military armament loan agreement.

This munition was originally a new Japanese-made firearm that Duan Qirui had painstakingly acquired after some operation (at this time, China was unable to make suitable weapons on its own, usually the firearms were purchased from Japan, and the artillery fire came from the German Krupp), and it was originally borrowed 20 million yuan in the name of participating in the war against Germany in the later stage of World War I, and it was to be used by itself to train the three divisions and four mixed brigades of the participating army, and this was the first batch.

The person in charge of guarding these firearms was the Changde Sheng Department under Jiang Guidi, a peripheral force of the Anhui system. The Yi army is a branch of the Huai army, and it is attached to the Anhui system in the battle between the government and the court. As the "General Zhaowu" who is said to have 100,000 Yi troops, supervising the military affairs of Rehe, and being the commander of Rehe, Jiang Gui is old and spicy. Duan Qirui originally thought that it would be safer to transfer this batch of arms through his territory, but who knew that as soon as the Fengjun, who kept supporting Premier Duan, came out of the customs, the first thing was to fight the idea of this batch of arms! What about the promised alliances?

Who is to blame? At the meeting of the Tianjin Governor's Army, Jiang Guidi had already turned against Zhang Hanqing. There is no possibility of reconciliation between the Song Jiuling Department of the Guards Division and the Yi Army, and compared to 30,000 guns, the boat of friendship will capsize, not to mention that there is no friendship between the two sides at all!

Chang Desheng, the commander of the Yi Army stationed in Qinhuangdao, could not have imagined that Feng Jun would dare to risk the world's disapproval and hit the idea on the head of Duan's "center". Moreover, the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, and Qinhuangdao is also the territory under the control of Rehe! Originally, I thought that the Feng army sent troops to Tianjin, and Qinhuangdao just borrowed it, but the Feng army seemed to have been prepared, and the vanguard had just entered the city, and a platoon in front of it rushed to surround the "Chengnan Military Quartermaster Depot", which was the storage place for the 30,000 rifles.

Although the Yi Army has been glorious in history, it is a corrupt and decrepit army at this time. In the face of the vigorous posture of the Feng army, only one recruit mustered up the courage to question the "bad behavior" of the Feng army, but was raised by the head platoon commander of the Feng army, who had already accepted the order, and beat him to the ground, and the garrisons of the Yi Army, who had always been arrogant, lost their voices collectively, you must know that they have enough strength to strengthen the company!

There is no way, whether it is intentional or not, the deeds of the heroic suppression of bandits by the Guards Brigade have been widely spread in the Northeast, and Song Jiuling was strongly shocked. Anyway, it is normal for the resolute army to become intimidated by a large number of people and a large force, and it is normal for the resolute army to become cowardly.

The Feng army quickly took over the warehouse, as if no one was there. This made Yi Jun feel ashamed, and they all picked up the weapons in their hands to save a little face. However, the successors of the Feng army poured in, and it soon became a situation in which the Feng army was superior in numbers. In this way, the courage that I had finally saved up was leaked again. This time, I couldn't get up again.

In the face of such a major upheaval, Chang Desheng has no reason not to express indignation and protest. On the one hand, he ordered his garrison to enter a state of combat readiness, and on the other hand, he personally went to the south of the city, intending to negotiate by force. If the Feng army is allowed to snatch this batch of arms, not only will Duan Qirui not be able to explain it, but the reputation of this Yi army will be completely over.

But what made him dumbfounded was that the Feng army had already prepared, not only did the heavily armed soldiers block the entire warehouse, but also set up several cannons and set up a frame of "resistance" by force. According to the strength of a reorganized brigade of the Feng Army, it is said that it is still the headquarters of the 27th Division started by Zhang Zuolin, and it is absolutely impossible for the "double spearmen" of less than 2,000 men in two battalions in Desheng District to win by force.

Jiang Guidi allowed the people of Rehe to grow opium, making Rehe a well-known tobacco growing area throughout the country. Because he was born poor and became in the army, he still retains the nature of a vigorous style and simple life, and also attaches great importance to the combat effectiveness and military appearance and discipline of the army, so the combat effectiveness of the Yi Army can be regarded as a force that cannot be underestimated in the early days of the Republic of China; But as he entered the twilight of his life, the Yi army also seemed to enter the twilight years, due to the lack of military pay and many years of comfortable life, the Yi army has gradually corrupted, opium smoking has become a landscape in the army, and it is also the earliest local army in China named "double spearmen" (the more famous one is the Guizhou army). The current Yijun's mental outlook is not yesterday, and it is far from the same level as the well-trained Fengjun.

Chang Desheng is not afraid of a surprise attack by the Feng army, at least for now, everyone is still obeying the banner of Duan Qirui of the Central ----, although Duan has nominally deprived him of the post of prime minister and army chief at this time. It's too inauthentic to tie up a gun and kill people again, which will shake Beiyang! He is ready to know the benefits and disadvantages, and solve the incident by means of civil contention rather than armed fighting.

But he met the young marshal.

The young marshal dressed in a yellow tweed coat and ring greeted Chang Desheng accompanied by Major General Zhang Jinghui and the brigade commander. Zhang Hanqing, who was in charge of the army for the first time, tried his best to maintain his personable image, but the heroic spirit he expected was overshadowed by age, which was helpless. Who told him to be so handsome?