Zhang Xueliang understood that he was asked to go to Xi'an because the entire Northeast Army was transferred to the northwest and was the main force in the northwest to suppress bandits, and he had an unshirkable duty as the deputy commander-in-chief of the northwest to suppress bandits, and he did not want to go, but he had difficulties.

Since the Northeast Army lost the three eastern provinces, the economic source has been cut off, and the losses of the two Great Wall Anti-Japanese Wars are not small, but they can be supplemented but very little, and because of their poor performance in the first Great Wall Anti-Japanese War, they were strictly ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to reorganize, and the size of the troops was reduced to 160,000 people, but for these 160,000 people, the military salary is still not guaranteed, and the weapons and ammunition are also very lacking.

I know the current situation of the Northeast Army, the current situation of the Northeast Army is very bad, and the officers and men have not been paid for half a year, so there will be great complaints; in addition to the military salary accident, there is also an extreme shortage of weapons and ammunition, and the soldiers have no will have the will to fight, and they will not be able to undertake the heavy task of suppressing bandits." Zhang Xueliang said earnestly: "Chairman of the Committee, the officers and men of the Northeast Army want Xueliang to go, but Xueliang is empty-handed and shameless to see them. ”

"Well, I know the situation of the Northeast Army," Chiang Kai-shek is of course clear about all this, but there are so many [***] troops, and the finances are so tight, and money is needed everywhere, except for the Central Army, the military salary of that army has not been paid in full, but now that the Northeast Army is going to contribute, I am afraid that it will not work if the hungry soldiers are missing: "Let's supplement the three-month salary first, Han Qing, you know the central finance, it is overstretched, after the implementation of the fiat currency, there will be a certain improvement, you can overcome it temporarily." As for weapons and ammunition...., I'll give you a warrant, you go to Yucheng to find Zhuang Cultural Revolution and ask him to give you a dial, you probably don't know that the arsenal in Yucheng can already produce machine guns and cannons 120 mortars, these are all preparations for the War of Resistance since 9183. ”

Zhang Xueliang was a little surprised, you must know that at this time there were very few factories that could produce artillery in China, Shanxi Taiyuan and Shenyang Arsenal used to be two major production bases, but they were unable to produce 120 mortars, the best is 82 mortars, which couldn't help but arouse his strong interest.

After Zhang Xueliang left, Yan Daogang came in and reported: "Chairman of the Committee, Li Zhilong has sent ammunition, and he has asked to see you." ”

"Send ammo?" Chiang Kai-shek was relieved, and the decisive battle in northwest Sichuan was imminent, so he ordered a batch of ammunition from Yucheng to be transferred to the front line, but how did this kind of work make Li Zhilong come? What's going on with this Zhuang Jihua? Chiang Kai-shek was puzzled: "Let him in." ”

"Report to the principal, according to your order, I escorted xxx thousand rounds of bullets, xx thousand grenades, three hundred mortars, and fifty thousand shells, and I have handed over to the Quartermaster Department." Li Zhilong reported loudly to Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek frowned slightly: "That's it?" Nothing else? ”

"Yes, the main reason for seeing the principal is for another matter," Li Zhilong immediately replied: "In May, we began to implement rent and interest reductions throughout Sichuan, but at the end of June, we randomly inspected all counties in Sichuan, and we found that quite a few places were just going through the motions, and did not implement the rent and interest reduction orders at all. After the autumn harvest, we checked again and found that there were more such counties, in general, the closer to Yucheng the more thorough the execution, the farther away from Yucheng the worse, the northern Sichuan region basically did not move, but the provincial political axe and the party department did nothing, and even attacked the team we sent, principal, after we studied it, we had an idea, that the entire party and government system of Sichuan Province must be assigned to the camp, under the unified command of the camp. ”

After Li Zhilong finished speaking, he took out the report signed by Zhuang Jihua, Chiang Kai-shek took the report and read it carefully, he did not agree immediately, but pondered for a while before asking: "You reported that you want the establishment of three divisions (hey, I didn't learn the arithmetic well, 50,000 people actually only have three divisions, thank you for the correction of the Rose Knights) has been approved, have you recruited all the people?" ”

"The recruits are all in place, but the weapons are not enough." Li Zhilong said.

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Li Zhilong's serious face, his style is completely different from Zhuang Jihua, if Zhuang Jihua is asked to do today's situation report, it must be a different taste, absolutely witty and funny, but he explains things clearly, and he doesn't feel vulgar at all.

"Not enough weapons? Zhuang Wenge didn't complain this time, he has always been the most bitter. Chiang Kai-shek asked lightly.

"The Cultural Revolution said that the needs of war come first, and the big deal is that we will use wooden sticks as guns first and practice first." Chiang Kai-shek was joking, but Li Zhilong didn't accept the offer, but on the contrary, he couldn't help but show a trace of unnaturalness.

Chiang Kai-shek immediately realized: "What? What's wrong with him again, does he think I didn't pay? ”

"No, this time it was the Cultural Revolution out of pocket, but the controversy is still quite big." Li Zhilong said honestly: "Guangting and Brother Fan have a big opinion, and the Cultural Revolution also made concessions, so I didn't pull the rifle this time." ”

Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help frowning, he had just given Zhang Xueliang a warrant, and he hadn't given the money yet, Zhang Xueliang didn't know that he was going to give money to transfer things from Zhuang Wenge.

"The Northeast Army is also very short of weapons and ammunition, and the task of suppressing bandits in the northwest is also very heavy, you go back and tell the Cultural Revolution about it, and give Zhang Hanqing some of the weapons and ammunition he wants."

"Yes." Li Zhilong agreed without hesitation, which made Chiang Kai-shek a little strange, you must know that although Li Zhilong and Zhuang Jihua have different styles, they are both masters who dare to confront each other face to face, this time knowing that there are difficulties in allocation, he actually did not object.

"Why don't you have an opinion?" Chiang Kai-shek asked.

"No, the principal's orders should be obeyed by the students, and it's good to annoy the Cultural Revolution anyway, but Guangting and they will definitely make trouble with the Cultural Revolution." Li Zhilong said calmly that Zhuang Jihua deliberately asked him to come forward when he came to Chengdu this time, and this kind of "diplomatic" negotiations are gradually shifting to him, and this time he came to make a declaration that Li Zhilong will be responsible for such things in the future.

Chiang Kai-shek stared at Li Zhilong for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, you go back first, as for the matter of being assigned to the Yucheng camp, I have to think about it." ”

After Li Zhilong left, Chiang Kai-shek told Yan Daogang to send weapons and ammunition to the front line as soon as possible, and the decisive battle on the front line of Baizhang Pass had begun.

When Zhuang Jihua received a report that someone was looking for him, he had just finished teaching the officers of the Sichuan Army Training Corps, this was the fourth phase of training, at first he didn't care, but when the officer who came to report said that it was Zhang Xueliang, he couldn't help but be stunned for nearly a minute, but then he was awakened by a gunshot at the door of the barracks, Zhuang Jihua secretly screamed in his heart, and he walked to the gate of the barracks.

From afar, he saw several soldiers in military uniforms fanning one in a white suit in the middle, and an officer with a dozen gendarmes was confronting them, Zhuang Jihua couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, it seemed that this young marshal had clashed with the sentry who stopped them.

"Stop! Stop it! Zhuang Jihua hurriedly shouted to stop the angry officer: "Put the gun away." ”

With Zhuang Jihua's order, all weapons were put away.

"Young Marshal Zhang, humble Zhuang Jihua, welcome late, and please forgive me." Zhuang Jihua said to Zhang Xueliang with a smile, but there was no meaning of forgiveness on his face, let alone the intention of dealing with the officer and soldier.

Zhang Xueliang didn't have the slightest anger on his face, he just looked at the young lieutenant general in front of him with a little curiosity, to be honest, he didn't know this person, he heard about it as early as the Northern Expedition, when the results of the Niu Xing War were transmitted to the north, he and a group of Feng army officers also laughed and scolded Sun Chuanfang for being incompetent, and the six-fold advantage of troops could not take a small Niu Xing, and he deserved to lose, but today after half a circle in Yucheng, and after clashing with the military police at the gate of the camp, he realized that Sun Chuanfang had lost unjustly.

Zhang Xueliang boarded the train last night and arrived in Yucheng at dawn today, because no one was notified, so no one did not have a car to pick them up, in fact, there were not many people in this group, four guards and an adjutant.

But when he stepped out of the train station, Yucheng was still a city that had just opened his eyes, and there were only a few early cleaners cleaning the city on the streets, and slowly the burden of the small carts selling breakfast began to appear on both sides of the street.

But in such a quiet autumn dawn, judging from Zhang Xueliang's old and spicy eyes, it has already shown the difference of Yucheng. The waiting hall is spacious and bright, the waiting square is flat and wide and magnificent, although there are a lot of people in the station, but it is very orderly, especially rarely see the littered garbage, the police in the station are the same as the railway stations in other cities, but there is no other city that specializes in the gangsters who go around the foreign passengers, the passengers are quietly waiting on the benches in the waiting hall, and the sweet voice in the waiting hall from time to time informs the news of the arrival of the train and the ticket check, but obviously, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway is only a local railway, The train only runs in both directions between Chengdu and Chongqing.

After leaving the station, Zhang Xueliang refused to find the suggestion of the chief guard hotel, but roamed the streets of Yucheng at will, as time passed, the city woke up, the streets were full of people, and every bus stop was full of people waiting for the bus, but Zhang Xueliang found that there were people at each station to maintain order, so although there were many people, there was no chaos at all, which is rare in other cities.

With interest, Zhang Xueliang went to Linjiangmen and Chaotianmen again, and this circle, although it was a quick trip, he also had to admit that the Yucheng market and its prosperity, the people are not as good as other places, except for Chaotianmen in Chaotianmen to see those outsiders who have just gotten off the boat with salutes on their backs, and are obviously to work, the spiritual outlook of the locals in Yucheng is higher than that of other places, and even more than Shanghai.

When I arrived at the gate of the base with a good impression, I was stopped and not allowed to enter; However, he did not get angry, and his chief guard explained to the sentry that he was looking for Zhuang Jihua, and the sentry looked at them and told them that Captain Zhuang was in the opposite barracks.

So Zhang Xueliang had to turn to the barracks again, but when he arrived at the door of the barracks, he was stopped again, although Zhang Xueliang and others showed their documents to the sentry, but the officer on duty insisted that they wait, the guard chief raised his hand is a palm, and the officer was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground, but before the guard chief had time to take out the next action, he heard a gunshot, a bullet flew over his head, and a bolt sounded next to him, a group of gendarmes appeared around them, and none of them dared to move under the pressure of more than a dozen black holes. The downed officers got up and angrily wanted to get off their guns, and at this moment, Zhuang Jihua arrived.

"Zhang Shaoshuai is very different from the rumors, he is refreshed and energetic." Zhuang Jihua didn't care what Zhang Xueliang meant, and began to pour [***] soup.

"General Zhuang, your yamen is so high, even the deputy commander dares to stand in the way." The adjutant didn't eat this, his face was cold, and he said coldly: "Even the chairman's guards don't dare to be so bold." ”

"It's not that they're bold, it's that I'm burdened, and they're just doing their duty." Zhuang Jihua said with a smile: "Actually, this is still to blame the young marshal, the young marshal's appearance is very different from the rumors, they just didn't recognize it for a while." ”

"Oh, what about the rumors that I, Zhang Xueliang?" Zhang Xueliang asked coldly.

"Mentally embarrassed, yellow-faced, and unfocused, but now it looks like this is not the case at all, it is really better to meet than to be famous." Zhuang Jihua said lightly that he was talking about the common image of drug addicts.

"Hehe," Zhang Xueliang laughed, of course he understood what Zhuang Jihua meant: "No wonder the chairman said that you Zhuang Wenge is bold and careful, good at offending people, and good at turning enemies into friends. ”

"The young marshal praised it falsely," Zhuang Jihua's face showed a faint line of helplessness, this Zhang Xueliang looked very bold, no wonder he could do such a big thing: "After Mayor Yang was assassinated last time, organs at all levels have strengthened security, especially the barracks and the base headquarters. This rule is very troublesome, but it can't be done. After Zhuang Jihua finished speaking, he turned sideways and gave way: "Young marshal, please." ”

"Don't you want someone to take it, you go ahead, and I follow behind." Zhang Xueliang made a joke, Zhuang Jihua walked in front without hesitation, but the pace was very slow, and between the two steps, Zhang Xueliang caught up and walked side by side with him.

"Cultural Revolution, you really have a bit of Zhou Yafu's fine willow camp here, the military discipline is strict, and you are alive and well." Zhang Xueliang looked at the soldiers who were being trained on the training ground, and said with a little sigh.

Zhuang Jihua said lightly: "They are new recruits who have just enlisted in the army, and they have not yet been in the army, and this is just the beginning. ”

Zhuang Jihua thought that Zhang Xueliang was polite, but he didn't know that Zhang Xueliang was emotional, Guo Songling was also like this back then, the military discipline in the barracks was harsh, so he trained an elite soldier, and approached the nine gates in the second Zhifeng War, and made the first contribution to the final victory over Wu Peifu, but this Zhuang Jihua is too far away from the image of the mentor, Guo Songling is serious and serious, but Zhuang Jihua looks a little casual, but Zhang Xueliang intuitively feels that Zhuang Jihua's casualness is a bit like it was made on purpose, Because it is impossible for a loose man to bring out such a disciplined army.

(To be continued)