Bao Guiqing is also one of Duan Qirui's humerus and is a veteran of Northeast China. And Zhang Zuolin was originally married to Zhao's eldest daughter Zhang Shoufang (also known as Guanying, Zhang Hanqing's sister) born in 1898, that is, to marry his son Bao Yucai, and with this relationship, it is estimated that it is an acceptable role for all parties. When the dispute between the government and the court reached the first level, both sides gave a certain degree of restraint to the incident that occurred outside the Guan, and the overseer was not Zhang Zuolin's family, and the Beijing government, which did not want to be troubled, quickly agreed to Zhang Zuolin's sponsorship and officially announced Bao Guiqing as the overseer and governor of Heilongjiang.

Xu Lanzhou, who was threatened by the British and Pakistani and severely reprimanded by the central government, was also disheartened and did not have much resistance to Bao Guiqing's arrival. Although he compares himself to Zhang Zuolin in his heart, he does not have the strength of the latter. Coupled with the improper name, there is no way to do anything at all.

Considering that Xu Lanzhou was a dangerous person in the military circles of Jiang Province, and he had heavy troops under him, Bao Guiqing had just arrived, and he was afraid that he would not be able to contain his people and cause chaos, so he called Duan Qirui many times to seek countermeasures. Duan Qirui also believed that although Bao Guiqing was Zhang Zuolin's in-laws, he was loyal to himself, and if he could not control the situation, it would inevitably affect the authority of the Central Committee, so he had the heart to transfer Xu Lanzhou to Zhang Zuolin in order to restrain him.

However, Zhang Zuolin replied with hypocrisy that he was only concerned about Hei Province for the sake of peace in the northeast, and since he was friendly with Bao and Xu, if Xu Lanzhou was merged, first, it would greatly damage the righteousness of his friends, and second, it would make people feel that Zhang Zuolin was here for the benefit of power expansion, and insisted on not allowing it.

Except for Zhang Zuolin, who can restrain an elephant like Xu Lanzhou? And if Xu is not allowed to completely leave his Root Black Province, Bao Guiqing, the overseer, will have no real name. So after many consultations between the two sides, Duan Qirui still pretended to be the hand of the Central Government, and strictly ordered Xu Lanzhou and his 1st Division to transfer 5 battalions of cavalry and 3 battalions of infantry to Fengtian immediately and under the command of Zhang Zuolin! ”

Xu Lanzhou had to obey.

When he saw Xu Lanzhou, the first thing Zhang Zuolin said was: "I'm sorry for my eldest brother, I couldn't help my eldest brother, because my people are busy dealing with the 28th Division and can't spare their hands, please forgive me."

Xu Lanzhou was angry, but seeing Zhang Zuolin's sincere appearance, it was not good to say anything else. Yes, it is the idea of the middle man to take away his military power, Zhang Zuolin also shirked several times and worked hard to turn it around, but he had no choice but to return to the sky, who is to blame? Moreover, the discord between Zhang Zuolin and Feng Delin is a well-known matter in the military and political circles of the three eastern provinces, and his pressure must be understood.

Therefore, Xu Lanzhou could only say that he came to Feng Province, and his life was sparse, and all kinds of supplies and military salaries needed to be widely raised and resettled by Zhang Zuolin.

Zhang Zuolin had already prepared and agreed repeatedly. He called Zhang Hanqing and said to his face: "Master Xu is my eldest brother, he is going to settle in Fengxing Province temporarily, you have to treat him like your uncle." Ask for food for food, and pay for it. In a word, if there is food for the 27th Division, there must be something for the 1st Division to drink. You will be responsible for the specific matters, and if you have any difficulties, you can report them directly to me. ”

Such words and the way to deal with them have been carefully rehearsed before Xu Lanzhou came, and Zhang Hanqing also vowed that he would go all out to take care of Xu Min's life in Feng Province. He also called the quartermaster of the Guards Brigade on the spot and asked him to fully cooperate with the logistics of the Xu Division.

The old and young marshals were so polite, and Xu Lanzhou's last trace of resentment disappeared without a trace. According to Zhang Hanqing's suggestion, in order to facilitate supplies, Xu Lanzhou's troops were stationed in the former Lilactun outside the western city of Fengtian, which was very close to Dafangshitun, the training base of the Guards Brigade. This point was approved by Xu Lanzhou.

At the beginning, the interaction between the two sides was good, and Zhang Hanqing lived up to his preface, and the supplies were delivered on time. But gradually, some gossip slowly spread to Zhang Zuolin, saying that Xu's garrison often dominated the market, and the people in Fengtian Province had many complaints, saying that it was rare to be handsome and benevolent, and the truth was seen in adversity. But Xu Bu couldn't support the wall with mud, and he didn't know how to converge.

Zhang Zuolin was furious when he heard this, and he scolded Zhang Hanqing at a military and political conference for not doing things effectively, so that Xu's soldiers were wronged, so that he could disturb the people.

These actions, of course, were deliberate. In front of everyone, let the younger generations be implicated, no matter what, Xu Lanzhou had to express his stance to ease his cheeks. He said that his troops had been idle for a long time, and he said that he would strictly control it.

Zhang Hanqing chased the snake and followed the shadow, wanting to atone for his crimes, saying that the training base of the Guards Brigade was there, and Xu Bu could be allowed to conduct phased rotation training. He also said that in order to improve the military quality of its officers, the second phase of the Fengtian Lecture and Martial Arts Hall can reserve some places for them, and the new officer training regiment of the Guard Brigade can also conduct short-term training for middle and lower-ranking officers to maintain combat effectiveness. His enthusiasm, enthusiasm and enthusiasm made it difficult for Xu Lanzhou to refuse the enthusiasm of his children.

In this way, as batches of troops were transferred back and forth, and some officers were also sent out for rotation training, Xu Lanzhou gradually found that he had lost control of this unit: the battalion commanders often did not know where their subordinate companies were, and they could only have the opportunity to meet their familiar subordinates every ten days and half a month. On the contrary, the officer training regiment of Zhang Hanqing's guard brigade successively placed many officers in the positions of commanders at all levels of the battalion and company, and they called them "trainee advisers."

The skills of these advisers are really not bad, not only did they quickly get along with the officers and soldiers, but they also had a proud ability in training and mastering ideological dynamics, which made him disheartened again: After being transferred to Fengtian, Xu Lanzhou lost the base he had operated for many years, and his subordinates were all supported by the Fengjun in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation. As the saying goes, the hands of people are short, the mouth of eating people is soft, and the trend of centrifugation has been formed. Regardless of morality or power, he is no longer Zhang Zuolin's opponent. Can you still say, "Your son has calculated against me and made me a bare-bones commander?" As soon as these words came out, it was nothing more than a joke.

Of course, the "trainee advisers" were all selected by the Political Department of the Guards Brigade, and the purpose was to attack the First Division---- saying that the Zhang father and son had been staring at this piece of meat for a long time.

The Guards Brigade was able to form a very strong combat effectiveness in a short period of time and made great contributions to its political work, so it was quite powerful in disintegrating and dividing the officers and men of the First Division, but it was also silent and subtle. Ordinary officers and men felt the unique management style of the Guards Brigade, especially the unity of officers and soldiers, treating soldiers as human beings, and being respected, and being very well supported by officers and men at lower levels.

As for the middle and senior commanders, Zhang's father and son have a two-pronged approach: bribery and elevation.

To be an official is to make money. The battalion commanders of the eight battalions of the Xu Department have gained a lot of benefits, and Xu Lanzhou himself is difficult to protect, so they have long been in Xu Ying's heart.

In addition, if we often go to the martial arts hall for "training," it is inevitable that there will be ineffective control of the troops. What's more, Zhang Hanqing adopted a staff system that completely subverted the common sense of the military circles of the Republic of China, and to a large extent hollowed out the chief officer---- if it was really useless.

In the era of the Beiyang Army, the status of the chief of staff was not high. Taking the division of the Republic of China as an example, the division commander generally has the rank of lieutenant general and the brigade commander is a major general, but the rank of division chief of staff is usually only colonel. At this time, the chief of staff of the division was only the staff of the division commander and not the core of the war department.

However, Zhang Hanqing did the opposite, and he vigorously promoted the promotion of the status of chief of staff. For example, after Zhang Zuoxiang served as the chief of staff of the Overseer Military Administration, he changed from a junior Sun Liechen and Tang Yulin to a flat level. In the Guards Brigade, not only is it made to a role equal to that of the adjutant at all levels, but in the absence of the commander-in-chief, it is also used to exercise combat power.

Moreover, he also set up adjutant chiefs at all levels for the first time to exercise the authority of the commander in the absence of the commander-in-chief. In the Beiyang Army, deputy positions at all levels did not exist. His approach, if interpreted from a positive perspective, is a guarantee for the army's command system; But on the other hand, it is completely possible to promote some obedient junior officers to contain the chief officer---- and there can be a promotion and a chance to replace them, and no one is willing to be lower.

With mental calculations or unintentional, the morale of the army soon fluctuated, and Xu Lanzhou actually became Zhang Zuolin's "senior prisoner". Other people's wedding dresses have been made, so why bother with the fig leaf that the stack is draped? Xu Lanzhou simply declared that he had given up his jurisdiction over the troops, and solemnly recommended Zhang Hanqing to Zhang Zuolin: "Hanqing is young and promising, and he can be proud of his sons and nephews, I should let him go." I am also very relieved that my subordinates are handed over to Han Qing. ”

Zhang Zuolin half-truthfully agreed: "A half-grown child, what do you know how to lead soldiers?" To be an uncle's beating him is to love him. ”

Zhang Hanqing was naïve: "Uncle Xu wants to support me, and he will do it and cherish it." ”

However, he did not mean anything: Xu's five cavalry battalions were organized into two cavalry regiments together with the cavalry battalion directly under the Guards Brigade; The three infantry battalions were also incorporated into the three regiments of the Guards Brigade, and one battalion drawn from each of the three regiments formed an artillery regiment with the artillery battalion. In this way, there is no obstacle to the formal expansion of the Guards Brigade to the division level: the standard structure of four infantry regiments and the engineer and baggage regiments have long been established, and now the cavalry regiment and artillery regiment have also come into being.

Zhang Hanqing rose to the top and was promoted to the acting commander of the Guards Division, and everyone was promoted to another level: Han Linchun was the acting deputy division commander, Guo Songling was the acting chief of staff of the division, Wang Yizhe was the acting director of the political department of the division and the head of the teaching group, and Ji Yiqiao was the acting division training director---- the time interval between the last promotion was less than a month.

The reason why they are all agents is because the central government has not agreed to this force, but so what's the matter?

There has always been no shortage of cadres in the Guards Brigade, and it also has its own set of methods for forming, and the same is true for changing them into Guards Divisions. The officers and men of the Xu Division, who have become accustomed to the dispatch of officers of the Guards Brigade, have no strangeness to the new commander and the new structure. Besides, the Guards Division is also very good.

Due to the fact that most of the officers of the Xu Department were originally dragged to "study and train" under various names, the commanders of the battalions and companies of the newly established unit were all people placed by the Guards Brigade, and in a word, Xu Lanzhou's troops were completely merged. Faced with this situation, Xu Lanzhou couldn't help sighing: "Hunting geese all day long, but letting the geese peck blind"!

As a result, Zhang Zuolin successfully kicked away the first stumbling block to seizing power in Jiang Province. Of course, Xu Lanzhou's title of a senior advisor to the Fengtian Governor's Military Mansion is not short.