The dinner party of the instructor Huan Shuai Shen Honglie and his entourage ended hastily, but the aftermath continued.

After sending Shen Honglie and his entourage back to his residence, Luo Ronghuan immediately sent a telegram to the Central Committee and the Eighth Route Army, reporting in detail what had happened and asking for instructions on how to deal with Wang Xiangrong.

The instructions of the Central Committee were: 1. Publicize the facts of Wang Xiangrong's embezzlement of military salaries, salt taxes, and tobacco taxes, and Wang Xiangrong hand them over to Shen Honglie for handling. Pay attention to the tactics of struggle, and do not let the Kuomintang side think that our side intends to drive Shen out of Lu and affect the united front.

After the conclusion of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, Mr. Zhu, Mr. Peng, and the leaders of the divisions of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi all returned to their troops by car and horse at the speed of a rapid march.

The winter nights in Taihang Mountain are cold.

Mr. Zhu, Mr. Peng, and Deputy Chief of General Staff Zuo Quan, who had just returned to the headquarters, sat around a brazier and were discussing the enemy situation with oil lamps.

Due to Liu Yimin's rapid escape, the Japanese army's fishing operation had to be suspended, and on the contrary, the commander of the first starving division had to be urgently deployed, and he did not care about setting traps to find and annihilate our army. However, because Muto Zhang, deputy chief of staff of the North China Front, went to Taiyuan to supervise the battle, other units of the First Army of the Japanese Army in Shanxi were still busy preparing for war. According to various intelligence, the Japanese army in Shanxi is likely planning a round of offensive operations. At present, there is an urgent need to determine the direction of the Japanese attack so that we can take countermeasures.

After the confidential staff officer sent Luo Ronghuan's telegram, Mr. Zhu smiled and said to Mr. Peng and Zuo Quan: "If you want to fall asleep, someone will send a pillow, although this Wang Xiangrong is a straw bag, but it also gives full play to the use value of the straw bag." Well, this saves us a lot of trouble! "Zuo Quan has been independently supporting the work of the headquarters during this time, and the whole person has lost a lot of weight. Seeing that Mr. Zhu was in a good mood, he joked: "This Wang Xiangrong is purely a dizzy pervert, and he dares to beat his daughter-in-law without looking at who Liu Yiyi is." In my opinion, if Wang Xiangrong is shot, this will make Shen Honglie lose face and leave Shandong in disgrace. At the same time, he also made an example to reduce some trouble for Liu Yimin. Otherwise, when he fights devils, he has to worry about whether someone will beat his beautiful wife's idea, and he will be distracted. Alas, you must not look for a wife who is too beautiful, troublesome! ”

Mr. Zhu glanced at Zuo Quan, still smiling: "Everyone understands the truth, but the problem is that everyone can't do it." "Zuo Quan is in love at this time, the woman's name is Liu Zhilan, who graduated from Beijing Normal University and participated in the 129 movement, she is very beautiful, her body is exquisite, her skin is fair, she writes good articles and has good words. Historically, Mrs. Zuo Quan has the title of "number one beauty" among the leaders' wives, and now there is an extra Liu Yimin, and there are more Tang Xingying and Ni Hua, and I don't know who this title is.

Listening to Mr. Zhu's words, there was a hint of ridicule, Zuo Quan smiled, immediately turned the spearhead, and said to Mr. Zhu: "Mr. Peng's newlywed wife is a famous beauty and talented woman, I think, is it not to let Mr. Peng invite a guest, and let the comrades in the headquarters also serve a glass of wine to the groom!" ”

Mr. Peng married Pu Anxiu before returning to the front line, and he is indeed still the groom's officer. However, he ignored Zuo Quan's words and frowned, and said for a long time: "This is indeed a good opportunity to expel Shen Honglie." However, we can't kill Wang Xiangrong and kill him, which will become an excuse for the Kuomintang rightists to attack us in the future. It was still handed over to Shen Honglie and forced Shen Honglie to kill Wang Xiangrong. Zuo Quan called Liu and Luo back according to this meaning. ”

Mr. Zhu said: "I have to remind Liu Yimin, don't get caught up in these specific affairs, and concentrate on thinking about the battle situation." This kind of matter was left to Luo Ronghuan to deal with, Luo Ronghuan was older than him, had more experience, and was relatively calm, and he had to deal with these political struggle issues more comprehensively than he had considered. Although the Japanese army has not launched an attack at present, once it does, it will inevitably be a fierce offensive. Unlike in the past, Shandong is the largest area of occupied territory recovered by our army, which has attracted worldwide attention. From the perspective of the overall political needs of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, we can no longer say that we will transfer as in the past, and Jinan must be held on, at least for a period of time when the Japanese army attacks. In this way, it will affect our army's mobile operations and indicate the target of attack to the Japanese army. This is not an easy problem to deal with, and if it is not done well, it will incur heavy losses. We have to let Liu Yimin report the battle plan, and let's study it together to see if there is anything that is not complete. ”

Mr. Peng continued: "Yes." It is necessary to deploy before the enemy, act before the enemy, attack before the enemy, and completely disrupt the strategic deployment of the little devils. However, we are not in a hurry, we cannot rush. The fighters did not appear, and it was useless to urge. Liu Yimin's basic principles for the next step of the campaign had already been explained in his speech at the Sixth Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee, and he was asked to actively organize and implement the basic principles of the campaign. Shandong's top priority at the moment is to stabilize the base areas and organize supplementary troops. As long as these two items are done well, the battle will be easy to fight. On the Shanxi side, we can't be passive, we have to prepare for a war, contain the Japanese army, and make it impossible for them to calmly deploy an attack. ”

In this way, the instructions sent by the headquarters to Liu and Luo were to take advantage of the situation to drive Shen out of Lu, and second, to instruct Luo Ronghuan to be responsible for handling the relationship with Shen. Third, it is necessary to step up preparations for war and prepare for the anti-siege and combat reports.

After Shen Honglie returned to his residence, he immediately ordered to prepare to leave Jinan early tomorrow morning.

Qin Qirong was dissatisfied with Shen Honglie's decision, and proposed that he should report to Chairman Jiang and ask for instructions. This Shandong can't just cheapen the Eighth Route Army, at least it has to join forces with Li Wenli and Zhang Liyuan to help them develop and expand their ranks.

Shen Honglie was stunned by Wang Xiangrong's matter, Qin Qirong said this, he immediately understood that he did not have the right to withdraw from Shandong, and that had to be approved by Chairman Jiang. Evacuation without permission is subject to discipline.

Therefore, Shen Honglie sent an urgent telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, reporting in detail what happened after arriving in Shandong, sorting out all the words of Liu Yimin, Luo Ronghuan, Cai Zhong, and Ni Hua, and reporting Wang Xiangrong's performance and the content of his confession.

At the end of the telegram, Shen Honglie wrote: "Commission: After observing all the way, the Eighth Route Army has gained a firm foothold in Shandong. Unless the Japanese army concentrates on sweeping with all its might, as it did last time, Shandong will definitely become the second Shaanxi. ”

Chiang Kai-shek received a telegram from Shen Honglie in Chongqing.

At dinner, Chiang Kai-shek invited Wang Jingwei to dinner.

Chiang Kai-shek was dressed in military uniform, but Wang Jingwei was dressed in a black tunic and looked very well maintained, living up to his title of beautiful man.

The two of them had Western food.

The snow-white tablecloth, napkins, and boiled water in the goblet must be crystal clear.

Chiang Kai-shek had a good attitude and inquired about the work of the various organs after they retreated to Chongqing.

Since the outbreak of the 77 Lugou Bridge Incident, Chiang Kai-shek was anxious to understand the bottom line of the Japanese government. At noon on July 31, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Gao Zongwu, director of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a young master of negotiations with Japan, in Nanjing to hear his views on the situation between China and Japan. Gao Zongwu boasted to Chiang Kai-shek that he had gone to Haikou and asked him to assume the heavy responsibility of final negotiations with Japan, and to persuade Japanese Prime Minister Fumima Konoe to make a complete withdrawal of the Japanese army from North China.

Chiang Kai-shek did not express a clear opinion on the request made by the arrogant, childish and somewhat cute Gao Zongwu. However, in the afternoon, Wang Jingwei, who had just returned to Nanjing from other places, also urgently summoned Gao Zongwu and expressed some praise for Gao Zongwu's idea.

Gao Zongwu felt that his opportunity to show his skills had arrived, and wanted to make the "Japanese army" withdraw from the army through diplomatic means to achieve peace.

That night, Gao Zongwu, who couldn't wait, found Nishi Yoshixian, director of the Nanjing office of the "Manchurian Railway", and asked him to directly communicate with Konoe Wenying through the assistance of Matsuoka Yoyou, president of the Manchurian Railway. Naturally, the result was that the mud cow went into the sea and there was no news.

During the Battle of Songhu, Gao Zongwu and a group of pessimistic politicians and literati hid in the basement of Zhou Fohai's house in order to escape the bombing of Nanjing by the Japanese army. Now it's good, Gao Zongwu is a well-known "day" Bentong, became the guest of honor of these people, chatting with God every day, and came to the conclusion that the war will be defeated, and the peace may not be chaos, and it should be better to carry out diplomacy and end the war in a diplomatic way when victory or defeat is not divided.

This idea coincided with Wang Ching-wei, the No. 2 figure in the Kuomintang, who inadvertently "became their spiritual leader." Gao Zongwu visited Wang Jingwei many times, took the initiative to ask for help, and asked to go to Shanghai to contact the Japanese ambassador to China, Chuan Yuemao, for an armistice. Wang Jingwei forwarded to Chiang Kai-shek the steps and key points for diplomatic diplomacy with Japan drafted by Gao Zongwu, and Chiang Kai-shek's reply was that the time had not come, which made Gao Zongwu very frustrated.

Later, German Ambassador to China Taudemann came forward to mediate the Sino-Japanese war, and Gao Zongwu privately sent Dong Daoning, chief of the First Section of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Shanghai to secretly meet with Japan's ambassador to China, Shigeru Chuan, in an attempt to get the Japanese side to lower the conditions and "mediate Todmann from within." The result can be imagined, the Japanese army in its prime, is bent on destroying China, where will there be real peace talks?

It was not until the Japanese government issued the first Konoe statement that the door to peace talks was closed, and China and Japan recalled each other's ambassadors, that Gao Zongwu still tried to create a miracle and reopen the door to negotiations with Japan.

Zhou Fohai, deputy director of the Second Division of Chiang Kai-shek's chamberlain, had a clear understanding with Gao Zongwu, and immediately made a suggestion to Chiang Kai-shek: Gao Zongwu is a very useful talent, and it is useless to keep him in Hankou, so it is better to send him to Hong Kong to collect intelligence on Japan. Chiang Kai-shek was unaware of Zhou's hidden inner motives, took his advice, and spent 6,000 Hong Kong dollars from his monthly military secrets as funds for Gao Zongwu's activities. Luo Junqiang, director of the Secretariat of the General Office of the Military Commission, was instructed to issue a certificate of military business trip for Gao Zongwu, and the letter was filled with the words "Gao Commissioner Zongwu."

From then on, Gao Zongwu began to work in Hong Kong to thread the needle for the Sino-Japanese peace talks, and connected with the head of the Strategy Section of the General Staff Headquarters of Japan, Kage Zhenzhao. Chiang Kai-shek also once met with him and gave instructions. After Ugaki Kazunari, who advocated not expanding the situation at the time of the Lugou Bridge Incident, became foreign minister, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang Qun to send a congratulatory telegram to Ugaki Kazunari in his capacity as vice president of the Executive Yuan, and ordered Gao Zongwu to send a message to the Japanese side, telling them that the Central Army still had one million arms, that is, it would not be imported for two years, and even if the Japanese army captured Wuhan, the internal war of the Nationalist Government would never change.

Chiang Kai-shek's original intention was to show his strength in Japan and to urge Japan to take the initiative to seek peace in order to gain a favorable situation. Unexpectedly, the audacious and reckless Gao Zongwu far exceeded Chiang Kai-shek's bottom line, and even told the Japanese himself that there was a peace faction headed by Wang Jingwei in Hankow, and he actually made an appointment with the Japanese himself to jointly carry out the peace movement. In the end, Gao Zongwu actually went to Japan, sat down with the little devils, talked about peace, and came up with a ridiculous plan for Chiang Kai-shek to go into the wilderness and Wang Jingwei to preside over the peace talks. The Japanese Prime Minister even publicly stated that Chiang Kai-shek must go to the field to cooperate with Gao Zongwu's activities.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was completely annoyed, and he ordered to sever relations with Gao Zongwu and stop issuing funds for activities. However, "this also let Wang Jingwei know the news that the Japanese himself intended to let him go, and began to instruct Gao Zongwu and Mei Siping to negotiate with the Japanese army as his plenipotentiary representatives."

On 12 November, Wang Jingwei's representatives, Gao Chongwu and Mei Siping, held a preparatory meeting with Takeo Imai and Yoshiyoshi Ito of the Japanese side in the house of Kenji Dohi Mototo, the head of the secret service of the Japanese Hondai, and then held talks for eight days and reached a secret agreement, which is known in history as the "Chongguangtang Secret Treaty." The main point is the four words ** and surrender.

At this time, Mei Siping had already returned to Chongqing, handed over the secret agreement to Wang Jingwei for inspection, and preliminarily agreed to flee Chongqing the day after tomorrow, that is, on December 8. Now it's time for Chiang Kai-shek to leave Chongqing.

The matter of Gao Zongwu's contact with the "Nichimoto" is highly confidential and unknown to outsiders. But Chiang Kai-shek knew it very well from beginning to end, but he didn't know about Wang Jingwei sending Gao Zongwu to negotiate with Mei Siping and the Japanese army and sign the "Chongguangtang Secret Treaty". Therefore, when the first side reported the relevant situation of the interrogation of Gu Shoufu and the Supreme Court reported on the interrogation of Otaka Kamizo, Chiang Kai-shek did not pay real attention, mainly because Gu Shoufu and others knew very little about these situations, and only explained that the Japanese government had a plan to lure down the first-rate people in China, and other information such as the main contacts were Kagesa Zhenzhao and Imai Takeo, and Chiang Kai-shek had already received a report from Gao Zongwu that "they know much better than Gu Shoufu."

In Chiang Kai-shek's mind, the Japanese army's attempt to lure down the leading figures of the Nationalist Government should have existed from beginning to end, but it could not succeed. Because he himself will neither go into the wilderness nor surrender, and the second person, Wang Jingwei, will not be on the day. Although Wang Ching-wei and himself often disagreed, and sometimes even got into a stalemate, Wang Ching-wei had long been one of the main leaders of the Kuomintang and had a very high position in the country and within the party. It is Wang Jingwei's peace argument, Chiang Kai-shek also thinks that it is normal, the two countries are at war, war and peace are the solution to the problem, and the war will end in peace! Nothing surprising!

However, "Chiang Kai-shek was very suspicious, and he took some precautions." When I made an appointment with Wang Jingwei today, I just wanted to knock and knock, and it was okay to shout a few times about peace, but I couldn't take it seriously.

At this time, Wang Jingwei was bent on escaping Chongqing and going to the southwest to reorganize the regime, "to conduct peace negotiations with Japan, where did he have the heart to accompany Chiang Kai-shek to dinner." But the thief is most afraid that others will find clues, not to mention the interrogation of Gu Shoufu and Ozaka Kamizo, he also knows that "his heart is extremely vigilant."

Wang Jingwei quickly informed Chiang Kai-shek of the work carried out by the government organs after they arrived in Chongqing.

After hearing this, Chiang Kai-shek said a few words of encouragement. Then the conversation changed: "It was said that according to the confessions of the Japanese chieftains such as Tani Shoufu and Otaka Kamezo, the Japanese secret service had the intention of luring down the senior leaders of the Nationalist Government and had secret contacts with relevant personnel. This is because the Japanese army realized that it was impossible to destroy our country militarily quickly, and took political measures instead, with the aim of luring those who were not strong-willed and dividing us internally. Heads of various party, government, and military departments in our country must be cautious in their speeches and not leave an opportunity for Japan to take advantage of.

Wang Jingwei had already expected Chiang Kai-shek's move, and he also thought of countermeasures, he even saved his politeness, and said directly: "The state affairs have been corrupted to the point where today, even Wuhan and Guangzhou have been lost, and someone should always be responsible for this." Zhao Ming thought about it repeatedly, as the vice president of the party and the president of the Executive Yuan, he really had no shame to eat again. After repeated thinking, I am willing to resign with Mr. Jiang to thank the world! ”

Wang Jingwei openly proposed to resign with Chiang Kai-shek and bear the responsibility for the defeat of the battle, but the purpose was to tell Chiang Kai-shek that the information you have obtained is useless, and I, Wang Jingwei, do not even want my current position and status, how can I collude and negotiate with the Japanese army?

When Chiang Kai-shek heard this, his lungs were about to explode. This Wang Jingwei is simply a nerd who doesn't understand affairs, and he will resign and go to the field at every turn, does he regard today's War of Resistance as the Northern Expedition of the year? I want Lao Tzu to go into the wilderness, and you Wang Jingwei also want Lao Tzu to go into the wilderness, do you have any heart!

Chiang Kai-shek was no longer in the mood to talk to Wang Jingwei, stood up and snorted coldly, shook his hand, went back to the study, and left Wang Jingwei alone in the restaurant.

After Wang Jingwei left, Chiang Kai-shek was sulking in his study when he received a telegram from Shen Honglie.

After reading the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek was completely annoyed and scolded in the study.

Song Meiling didn't know what was going on, so she hurriedly came over to persuade her.

This time, Chiang Kai-shek's anger became even greater, first scolding Shen Honglie for being incompetent, and then scolding Wang Xiangrong for not being a thing, and all Feng Yuxiang's people are not things, especially Han Fuqu's remnants are not things. In the end, he scolded Ni Hua for being a fool, turning his elbow outward, and he was confused when he saw a man, forgetting what his surname was, and actually helped Liu Yimin speak, living up to his expectations of her.

The scolding was so ruthless that Song Meiling couldn't stand it anymore, took the telegram and read it, and said coldly: "You still have the face to scold, look at the people you use, people kindly invited him to dinner, but he openly molested other people's wives, and the ones who molested you were relatives of the chairman of the committee." Tell me that this kind of person will be shot quickly, so as not to be embarrassed! ”

Chiang Kai-shek had a violent temper when he was young, and when Mao was pregnant with Chiang Ching-kuo, there was a quarrel between the two of them, and Chiang Kai-shek actually raised his foot and kicked Mao's stomach, which almost led to a miscarriage. Later, he read more, his identity changed, and he paid attention to cultivating his mind, and Chiang Kai-shek's temper was much better.

When Soong Meiling said this, Chiang Kai-shek was simply annoyed and angry, and he didn't look at who was talking to him, and began to shout "confused" and "stupid". shouted a few times, only then did he remember that he was facing his charming wife, so he stopped roaring, took Song Meiling's hand and sat on the sofa, and whispered a few words of no.

After the compensation, seeing that Song Meiling's face was a little better, Chiang Kai-shek said that this Wang Xiangrong is indeed not a thing, he is the former director of finance of Han Fuqu, who committed corruption and crime, and molested the family members of the meritorious soldiers who resisted Japan, and the crime is unforgivable. However, it is heart-wrenching that a scoundrel who has no idea how to spoil the strategy. ** definitely didn't want Shen Honglie to go to Jinan, and dreamed of finding some excuse to drive him out, so that Shandong could become the world of ** family. It's just that they are bound by the unity to resist Japan and dare not openly tear their faces with the Nationalist Government. It's okay now, Wang Xiangrong, a hooligan and a thief, has provided an opportunity for **, and Liu Yimin can get rid of Shen Honglie openly. Even whether the headquarters of the commander of the Lusu Theater can go to Shandong has become a problem. If you don't believe it, wait and see, Liu Yimin will not only drive out Shen Honglie, but also create all kinds of excuses to resist Yu Xuezhong's Lusu Theater Commander's Department entering Lu. It's a pity that Qilu landscape first fell into the hands of the Japanese invaders, and then it became the world's best.

Song Meiling didn't want to get involved in these things, but when it involved Ni Hua, she said a few more words: "Darling, I don't think you have seen Liu Yimin through."

He was the best young general I had ever met, he knew the war situation thoroughly, and he was hell-bent on defeating the little devils. ** He was the first to mention unity against Japan. I don't believe you, check the newspapers of the Red Army. He's not the kind of person who doesn't have political acumen! I don't think he will even kill Wang Xiangrong, and will hand over Wang Xiangrong to Shen Honglie to deal with. This is not what you said to expel Shen Honglie and make for independence, but to let Shen Honglie deal with Wang Xiangrong fairly. However, let me remind you that it is absolutely impossible not to kill Wang Xiangrong! That is an insult to Liu Yimin and Ni Hua, and in the future, if you think about letting Liu Yimin put out the fire for you at a critical time, I am afraid it will be difficult. Ni Hua is also right, in terms of military merits, Liu Yimin should be appointed as the "Chief" of Shandong Province and the commander of the Lusu Theater. This kind of personnel arrangement of yours is not fair in itself. ”

Chiang Kai-shek shook his head, said what the woman had to say, and called the staff officer on duty and dictated the order to Shen Honglie, telling him to insist on staying in Jinan no matter what, and once the Japanese army launched a heavy siege of Liu Yimin's troops, he would go behind the enemy to develop. If you need to have troops, you can report it at any time, and you can transfer at least one army to him. In case you can't stay in Jinan, you should also think of contacting Zhang Liyuan or Li Wenli and other ministries to insist on development in Shandong.

As for Wang Xiangrong, Chiang Kai-shek made it very clear that after verifying the facts of corruption, he would be shot on the spot, but he would not announce it to the public.

Historically, it was only at this time that the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army began to march into Shandong. Chiang Kai-shek only set up the Lusu Theater in order to coordinate with the armed forces behind enemy lines controlled by the Shandong Provincial Government to contain the Japanese army. Now that history has changed, Chiang Kai-shek still insists on letting Shen Honglie stay in Shandong, and he still insists on setting up the Lusu Theater, which means that it has completely changed.