"Take care of them all, put away the guns, and bring them back! Hurry up! Seeing that the police and army he brought with him had completely controlled the scene, Duan Zhengtao ordered. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Looking at the approaching soldiers with guns, naturally no one was resisting in the next action. After so many years of traveling south and north, Zhu Sanlong's eyesight is still there, just by looking at the momentum, you can know that these soldiers are definitely hard stubble.

The members of the Ma Gang put down their guns one after another, and the police in Dingbian County did not make it difficult for them. After returning to Dingbian County, Duan Zhengtao immediately interrogated the owner of the horse gang and Zhu Sanlong and others. After getting the confession, Duan Zhengtao routinely reported the matter to his superior department, the administrative office area in Yulin. When things came to this point, perhaps Duan Zhengtao himself would not have thought that the pace of the Communist Party's annexation of the Great Northwest would be kicked off by his report.

With this excuse, Zhang Xiaohuai, who was in Xi'an, was simply overjoyed. He quickly asked Chengdu for instructions, hoping to take this opportunity to take Gansu in one fell swoop. Xiao Mubai's instructions came quickly, but compared to Zhang Xiaohuai, his appetite was greater, and what he wanted was the entire northwest.

What kind of place is the great northwest of China? It is a place with an area of about one-third of the total area of the country and a population of more than 30 million, accounting for about one-fourteenth of the country's population. Although there have been 17 ethnic groups such as Han, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, and Kazakh living here for a long time, because of the vast and sparsely populated land, the mountains are vertical and horizontal, the land is barren, and the people's livelihood is withered, making it the same as the previous southwest.

Because the northwest is located in the borderland, the transportation is backward, and the information is blocked, this place has long been a place with strong folk customs and backward culture. Moreover, because of its intricate feudal customs, religious forces, ethnic contradictions, etc., there have been thousands of large and small turmoil here in the past few hundred years. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that the northwest region is currently the poorest, most chaotic and most turbulent region in China. All these constitute the special cultural and geographical environment of the great northwest region. The special social and historical situation made it so that at that time, except for the local forces such as the "Five Horses" in the northwest, few people could really look down on this place.

Of course, these people did not include Xiao Mubai, but he knew very well how rich the resources contained in the underground of these places were. Although such a huge area is very difficult to manage and control, Xiao Mubai is not afraid. Horse bandits are rampant, he can suppress bandits; When people's livelihood withers, he can develop; Traffic is blocked, and he can build roads. Although all this costs money, there is a good saying that anything that can be solved with money is not a problem.

December 10, Xi'an.

In the office, Zhang Xiaohuai's mind kept recalling the distribution of forces in the northwest. In fact, the Northwest issue is not difficult to say, but it is not easy to say. In terms of military strength, Gansu and Xinjiang provinces should be the most important in the entire northwest region, and Gansu is the most military in the two provinces. In this way, Lanzhou, as the political center, military center, and transportation hub of the northwest region, is very important. It can be said that as long as Lanzhou can be taken, then the northwest will be in the mundane.

"The military council has approved our military operation against the northwest. Yinquan, what do you think? After putting aside the thoughts in his mind, Zhang Xiaohuai asked Li Gengen, the chief of staff of the military region who had just taken office.

"Commander, I think that the enemy in the northwest, whether it is Ma Anliang's Hui Western Army, or Lu Hongtao's Zhenwu Army, or Yang Shuzeng and Yang Zhanxu in Xinjiang, is not to be feared. When it comes to the combat effectiveness, weaponry, and morale of the officers and men, our people's army, not to mention the whole of China, is now in the world today, and it is now among the first-class ranks. Therefore, if our army launches an attack, there is no doubt that the enemy will be destroyed, and it will only take time. Hearing Zhang Xiaohuai's question, Li Gengen, who had prepared early, replied without hesitation, only to hear him continue: "However, the northwest region is vast and sparsely populated, the mountains are crisscrossed, and the desert wasteland is crisscrossed by it, and the transportation is extremely poor, and it will be a great difficulty for us to supply logistics in the later operations. ”

"What do you think about the logistics?" Zhang Xiaohuai asked with a frown.

"In view of the topography and population distribution characteristics of the northwest, we have made a detailed plan, intending to garrison along Qinzhou, Lanzhou, Zhangye and other places in sections and sections, and set up logistics supply points."

"Sectional and sectional garrison? That's a good idea. I have already reported this to the General Staff and have been preliminarily resolved. In this operation, the General Logistics Department will give priority to the allocation of more than 2,000 trucks and tens of thousands of camel animals to ensure the logistical supply of the combat units. Zhang Xiaohuai nodded and agreed: "In terms of operations, which troops are you going to use to complete it?" ”

"I have decided that this operation will be mainly completed by the Eighth Army. The troops are a little less, but for the entire Northwest, it is enough. There are many new recruits in the various units of the Eighth Army, who have just completed their initial training for half a year, and were originally going to be pulled out for use during the training period, but now it seems that there is no way to wait. Moreover, we are also prepared to use part of the strength of the Third Army, and there is no problem in terms of military strength. Li Gengen reported on the preparations of the army one by one.

"The preparatory work in the early stage of the operation must be sufficient, and Chairman Xiao asked us that, in view of the characteristics of the various armies in the northwest, all battles must be mainly fought in a war of annihilation, so as not to cause disaster to the scattered troops." Zhang Xiaohuai habitually knocked on the table, and continued: "In addition, the Military Committee has agreed to reorganize the troops under the Qinzhou Military Government, and the number is the 25th Division. In this way, we will have three divisions of the Eighth Army, one division of the Third Army, and five infantry divisions of the 25th Division. Whether it is military strength or scale, it is far superior to the other side. Yin Quan, I'm going to work hard for you next. ”

"Understood!"

This Qinzhou military government was one of the few successful uprisings in Gansu during the Xinhai Revolution. At the beginning, because of the western expedition of the Gan army, the whole uprising did not make a big move, and it was soon victorious. Then, as in most places, the revolutionary Huang Yue immediately established the Gansu Provisional Military Government and was elected as the governor of the military government. However, soon after the uprising, Yuan Shikai was inaugurated as the provisional president, and Zhao Weixi was appointed as the governor of Gansu to preside over the provincial government. Zhao Weixi, with the support of Yuan Shikai, regarded the Qinzhou rebel army as illegal and urged Huang Yue to follow his orders to "cancel independence and ensure law and order." But Huang Yue has been arguing on the basis of reason, and has persisted for several months until now.

It is also relied on the support of the southwest all the time, otherwise, just like in the original time and space, this revolutionary military government would have been overthrown by Zhao Weixi, Ma Anliang and others.

On 14 December, a telegram was sent to the whole country in the southwest, claiming that Zhao Weixi, the governor of Gansu, had "recruited power, accepted bribes, and appointed private individuals" and that at the time of the republic, he had "not done anything" except for "hoisting the national flag" and declaring that the political platform and system were "still in place for the time being." In fact, he was following the corrupt autocracy. And Admiral Ma Anliang was "violent and wanton, and he was a wolf", and his people not only secretly smuggled ** to the southwest and harmed the people, but also sent troops to besiege the Gansu Provincial Assembly, assassinated the speaker Li Jingqing, and destroyed the republican form of government. Subsequently, the southwest government sent a telegram to Gansu, demanding that its governor Zhao Weixi resign on his own within four days, and while strictly investigating the assassination of Speaker Li Jingqing, he could hand over the mastermind of selling ** to the southwest.

When the news broke, the whole country was shocked. At a time when the forces of the north and the south began to speculate about the meaning of this move in the southwest, only those who had a heart knew that this was a precursor for the Communist Party to be ready to show its knife against the northwest.

To tell the truth, after the Republic of China, Zhao Weixi did a lot of excessives during his time in Dugan. His narrow local ideas and national prejudices provoked and manipulated conflicts among the Hui and Han generals, and even the State Council in Beijing considered him a "very good republican form of government." Now that the southwest is poor and the sword is pointing to the northwest, Yuan Shikai will naturally not touch that brow head-on, at this time, he hopes that the southwest can vent his remaining energy in other places, thinking that he will buy time to expand the army and rectify the finances. Now that there are many ethnic groups in the northwest and the situation is complicated, once Xiao Mubai falls into it, he expects that in a short period of time, he is afraid that the Communist Party will no longer have the energy to meddle in the affairs of the Central Plains and the south. For this reason, for Xiao Mubai's move to take the barren Northwest, Yuan Shikai, who knew that he could not stop it, had already made up his mind to turn a blind eye and watch from the wall.

Yuan Shikai really made a good calculation. Zhao Weixi and Ma Anliang naturally refused to let go of their rights and lead to death, and after temporarily putting aside their prejudices, they sent out a telegram after some discussion, saying: Gansu "The people are conservative, obey the religion and fear God, and have become a habit for a long time", and now the sudden implementation of a republican government will make the people confused and uneasy, leading to turmoil, so it is necessary to "slowly plan it". As for the death of Speaker Li Jingqing, it was because he provoked contradictions between the Hui and Han dynasties and was committed by "righteous people" who did not resent his actions. And about Admiral Ma Anliang's sale of ** to the southwest, it is really nonsense.

Gansu's electrification, not only Xiao Mubai frowned, but even Yuan Shikai in Beijing shook his head.

On 18 December, all units of the Eighth Army of the Southwest Army stationed in the Baoji and Fengxiang areas of Shaanxi Province began to reorganize and prepare for westward advance. The news came out and shook Gansu. Zhao Weixi sent seven telegrams a day to Chengdu, and after receiving no reply, he immediately sent an urgent telegram to Beijing, and Yuan Shikai, who had already made up his mind to watch from the sidelines, naturally would not wade into this troubled water, but after sending a telegram urging him to resign and hand over the murderer, he no longer bothered to pay attention to it.