After the meeting, Xiao Yimin and his subordinate Wenwu began to get busy, working day and night to eliminate the negative impact of occupying large areas of land in northern Shaanxi and Suiyuan.

At this moment, an unexpected mutation occurred -- Zhang Zuolin, a warlord of the Feng faction, suddenly attacked, crossed the Shanhai Pass with 40,000 troops, and formed a confrontation with the Beiyang armies stationed on the front line of Zunhua, Fengrun, and Luanxian.

Cao Kun, who was depressed and depressed in the internal struggle in Beiyang, was taken aback in the face of the surging Feng army, and sent a liaison officer to question what the Feng army intended to do.

Duan Qirui and the Yanjing Central Political Axe officials were deeply shocked by the arrogance of the Feng warlord Zhang Zuolin, although Duan Qirui and his Central Political Axe were wary of Zhang Zuolin outside the Guan, and knew that Zhang Zuolin, who had been defeated again and again in the political struggle for the power of the central military and government, was actually strong, and with the strong support of Yue, the military strength expanded rapidly, and he was absolutely unwilling to fail and be in a safe corner, but no one thought that the ambitious Zhang Zuolin would be willing to risk the world's disapproval and enter the customs in order to compete for central power.

Just when Duan Qirui, Cao Kun and others launched a political offensive to attack Zhang Zuolin and mobilized the army to be tightly armed, another shocking incident of army division and betrayal occurred:

Feng Yuxiang, who had been promoted to commander of the 16th Division, refused to obey the dispatch of the central government, and without the consent of President Duan Qirui and his immediate boss Cao Kun, and without informing the friendly forces left and right, he suddenly telegraphed the whole country, refused to fight the civil war, and then led his troops to quickly evacuate the Jixian defense area, marched west to Huairou and forcibly occupied the Beiyang Army material warehouse, looted all weapons, ammunition and food supplies, and then withdrew to Changping County in the west again.

Duan Qirui, who was furious, hated Feng Yuxiang bitterly, and Cao Kun, who strongly recommended Feng Yuxiang to be promoted to division commander a few months ago and was in charge of his own affairs, even scolded this betrayal, but under the huge oppression of Zhang Zuolin, a warlord with a total strength of 200,000, Duan Qirui and Cao Kun could only face the reality, in addition to quickly dispatching troops to make up for the loopholes in the defense line, they also called Nanjing as soon as possible to inform Xiao Yimin of the details, and asked Xiao Yimin to give strong military and political support.

On the evening of June 28, Nanjing.

After listening to Xiao Yimin's detailed briefing, the military and political dignitaries attending the emergency meeting of the Nanjing camp immediately discovered that the situation in North China was far worse than they had imagined.

Yang Du, who was sitting on Xiao Yimin's left hand, slowly moved his body and whispered in Xiao Yimin's ear:

"I didn't expect your concerns to come so quickly...... But that's fine, our army is stationed in the Yulin area, and it is estimated that no one will talk about it anymore, and now I am afraid that the eyes of the whole of China and even the European and American powers are all focused on Yanjing and Shanhaiguan and beyond. ”

Xiao Yimin smiled bitterly: "If I can avoid the confrontation between the Zhi, Anhui and Feng factions, or postpone the struggle between these two forces for a year or two, I would rather accept the verbal and written criticism of our army from all walks of life in the country for forcibly occupying the Yulin area!" Well, now, we have paid a huge price, and finally won the support of the European and American powers at the Paris Peace Conference, forcing Xiao Yueben to promise to completely withdraw from Shandong by the end of this year. ”

Yang Du smiled: "Isn't this good?" If Zhang Zuolin doesn't come to this show, I'm afraid you won't be able to find an excuse to go north. ”

"It's hard!"

Xiao Yimin pointed to the folder on the desktop: "Duan Zhiquan and Cao Zhongshan just reached out to us for weapons and ammunition, and asked for military salaries and assistance, and they were not willing to let us send troops to help in the war at all. Now it seems that the two of them and the old and young people in Beiyang have long been wary of us. ”

Yang Du nodded: "Knowing this, you must also support them against Zhang Zuolin, otherwise, once Duan Zhiquan and them feel that they can't withstand the offensive of the Feng army, they will definitely transfer back the two elite divisions of Xu Shuzheng, who are quelling the rebellion in Kulun, and we have no preparations to take on the defense of Mongolia, even if we immediately order the troops stationed in Yulin to seize the time and quickly mobilize a large number of supplies from the Sichuan base camp to go north, it will take at least three or four months, in this way, Xu Shuzheng's Mongolian counterinsurgency operation will definitely fail. The hidden dangers will be even greater. ”

Xiao Yimin nodded heavily: "This is exactly what I'm worried about!" Now not only North China is at a loss for me, but even the situation in Shandong will be seriously affected...... From now on, we must always be careful to guard against the opportunity of Xiao Yuben to play a conspiracy, and if one is not careful, it may lead to turmoil in the whole country, or even a large-scale civil war. ”

Yang Du sighed slightly: "I am ruthless enough!" We finally persuaded Duan Zhiquan and the Central Political Axe and his gang to open the Northeast Market to all countries in the world on the pretext of weakening Zhang Zuolin's faction and preventing him from plotting to occupy the three eastern provinces of China, and he said that he would immediately give us a blow to the head, and that we would have to silently endure this blatant humiliation if we wanted to ensure a smooth handover in Shandong in the future, alas......"

At this time, the discussion in the conference room became louder and louder, Xiao Yimin was full of anger and had no way to vent, stood up with his hands under pressure, and shouted loudly: "Everyone, please be quiet, if you really want to express your opinions, you have to come one by one...... Wang Jian, why are you so excited? ”

Wang Jian stood up with a red face: "Commander, we have completely the same opinion, that is, we must not show weakness to the bandit leaders in the northeast, let alone let Yu himself succeed in his conspiracy!" Commander, give the order, the three divisions of our First Group Army have basically completed the change of clothes, as long as the commander gives an order, our division can move north within three days and drive Zhang Zuolin and Feng Jun out of the pass! ”

"Commander, give the order!" Several division commanders and chiefs of staff of the First Army stood up and asked for orders.

Liao Zhen, commander of the Third Group Army stationed in Xuzhou, hurriedly stood up: "Commander, although our two divisions in Xuzhou have not changed their clothes, the equipment in their hands is enough to defeat the Feng army!" ”

Xiao Yimin sat down slowly, raised his right hand and waved: "Okay, okay!" Everyone sit down, this matter is not in a hurry, it is useless to be in a hurry, to bring you here is to discuss countermeasures, the more we need to calm down at this time. ”

The meeting hall immediately fell silent, and the generals, under the guidance of Xiao Yimin and Yang Du, expressed their opinions in an orderly manner, and Ma Gang, the commander of the military intelligence corps, who rushed from Shanghai, also briefly introduced the relevant information on all aspects of the northern provinces, and informed everyone of the news that the 50,000 troops and horses of the Feng army were continuously assembled in Jinzhou.

The emergency meeting lasted until 9 o'clock in the morning of 29 July, and after a short wash, Xiao Yimin took Yang Du, Wang Jian, Liao Zhen, and the three directors of the headquarters down to the hall on the first floor to announce the important decision to the more than 100 Chinese and foreign reporters who had heard the news:

1. The three divisions of the Wang Jian Group Army stationed in Nantong, Changzhou, and Yangzhou immediately mobilized Nanjing to change their equipment, and the first garrison division of the Zhejiang army and the first and second garrison divisions of Jiangsu took over the defense of the above defense areas.

2. The 32 river gunboats, torpedo ships, and transport ships of the river defense fleet, which are currently conducting training in the waters of Guangdong and Hainan, have successfully completed their training tasks and will return to the defense area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

3. After discussion and approval at the special meeting of the camp in Nanjing, and after the approval of the central authorities, the camp in Nanjing will hold a military parade at 8 a.m. on 1 July.

Fourth, the Nanjing camp obeys the leadership of the central government, supports the correct decision of President Duan Qirui, and obeys the dispatch and orders of the central government at any time.

As soon as the four decisions were announced, they immediately caused an exclamation in the venue, and all the reporters smelled the strong smell of gunsmoke, and they were so excited that they couldn't help themselves.

Xiao Yimin and others did not accept any more questions from reporters, and stood up with a smile to end the press conference.

A few hours later, the four-point decision of the camp in Nanjing spread throughout the country, triggering strong reactions from various forces at home and abroad, especially the military parade scheduled for 1 July, which touched the nerves of countless people.

Prior to this, many advanced weapons successfully developed and mass-produced by Xiao Yimin's military enterprises were successively exposed by Chinese and foreign newspapers.

Among them, including the powerful 120mm heavy artillery produced in Yucheng, Sichuan, the wheeled ironclad chariot assembled by the Texas Tractor Manufacturing Company and Chevrolet Automobile Company in Jinling Heavy Industry Group, and the new submachine gun independently developed by Jinling Heavy Industry Group, each weapon has attracted the attention of all walks of life at home and abroad.

Now, it is very likely that these weapons and equipment will appear in the military parade on 1 July, and they have strong political significance and a declaration of force.

What is helpless is that both the two major industrial enterprises in Nanjing, as well as the three major military camps inside and outside Nanjing, have been in a state of strict blockade and alert for a long time; The Huaihe Estuary Military Wharf, where military transport ships continue to arrive in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, also docked at three steps, one post, five steps, and one sentry, and many reporters and citizens were isolated 300 meters away by the guards and men with loaded guns and ammunition, and no one could see the true face of the heavy equipment that had been lifted down the wharf in batches from a 1,000-ton cargo ship.

Within two days, the city's foreign population had increased dramatically, and the streets and alleys, teahouses, and liquor shops were all talking about the upcoming grand military parade.

The spies and spies of various Chinese and foreign forces quietly gathered in Nanjing, making thousands of military intelligence personnel and Nanjing police nervous. Envoys from Europe and the United States flocked to the heavily guarded camp in Nanjing to explore the ultimate goal of China's largest military group.

At 1 a.m. on 1 July, martial law began at the Dinghuai Gate, which had just been repaired to the north of the camp in Nanjing, and at the Qingliangmen gate south of the camp in Nanjing.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, 10,000 officers and men of all arms gathered from the Pukou base, the Purple Mountain camp, the Xuanwu Lake camp, and the southern arsenal camp entered the main road of the parade in an orderly manner.

At six o'clock in the morning, eighty-two armored combat vehicles painted in camouflage and covered with camouflage nets finally drove into Qingliangmen and rumbled north along the clean and neat avenue.

(To be continued)