Song Zhewu's words made Li Wentian's heart shake a lot, what Song Zhewu said Li Wentian thought was true, although he knew it in the past, he had never thought so much, nor did he think so deeply.

He always believed that as soon as he defeated the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek began to use his knife against the Northwest Army and the Gui system, and began to cut off dissidents, which was a betrayal of Sun Yat-sen, the father of the nation, and a betrayal of the revolution. Li Wentian was not a stubborn and old-fashioned person, and he also joined the Northwest Army with the enthusiasm of saving the country and the people. Therefore, after listening to Song Zhewu's words, Li Wentian thought that this young man was reasonable. If it is said that Chiang Kai-shek betrayed Sun Yat-sen, the father of the nation, it can only be said that Chiang Kai-shek betrayed Sun Yat-sen's three major policies of "uniting Russia, uniting the Communist Party, and supporting peasants and workers". But which of these local factions in the country has not betrayed these three policies? And who hasn't purged the party? Is it Li Zongren? Or did Yuxiang and Yan Xishan not? Since they are all equally purging the party, it is impossible to blame Chiang Kai-shek alone.

It was only Chiang Kai-shek who did it first.

It would be too far-fetched to say that Chiang Kai-shek's attempt to seize power and military power in the central government's political axe was a counter-revolutionary. The central political axe of a country should be the highest civil and military authority in the country, and the central political axe of any country will not allow local forces to divide and govern themselves by armed force. Countries like Europe and the United States will not, and neither will countries led by [***] like the Soviet Union. As Song Zhewu said, since everyone will not be like this, then what is wrong with Chiang Kai-shek? If Chiang Kai-shek had left it alone, wouldn't he have just overthrown the old warlords and sat back and watched the existence of these new warlords? If that were the case, Chiang Kai-shek would have really betrayed the revolution and betrayed Sun Yat-sen.

Ask yourself, now these local powerful factions, whether it is the Northwest Army, the Gui Army, the Jin Sui Army, and all kinds of forces, large and small, what they do is actually warlords. The difference with the old warlords is that they are nominally or to a certain extent subordinate to the central leadership, but in reality they are still self-contained. Nowhere is this more evident than in the stubborn grip on the army. These people will not take the initiative to give up military power, and even today, when all the old warlords have been overthrown, they are still ignoring the orders of the central government and secretly expanding their troops, which is especially true for the Northwest Army. Originally, the Northwest Army was located in a relatively poor area, and it was very difficult to support 400,000 troops, and this was when Chiang Kai-shek gave part of the military funds. But now it has expanded to more than 500,000.

But how does this situation end? Can it only be a sword and a soldier meeting each other, until one side defeats the other?

Li Wentian, who was contemplative, even forgot the cigarette in his hand, until it had burned his fingers, he was burned, threw away the cigarette butt, and hurriedly stepped on it. Li Wentian saw that Song Zhewu was just silently smoking a cigarette and looking at him, and in order to hide his uneasiness, he took out a second cigarette from Song Zhewu's cigarette case and lit it.

After taking a puff of cigarette, he asked Song Zhewu: "Commander Song, but these new troops ...... None of the powerful factions willingly hand over the military power in their hands, is there only one way to this civil war? Li Wentian meant that it was inappropriate to say that it was inappropriate to say the warlord in his current capacity, and he did not let the word "warlord" come out.

Song Zhewu looked at Li Wentian's demeanor, knowing that his words had moved him, he shook his head and said: "Not really, not all powerful factions are unwilling to hand over the power in their hands, such as Zhu Peide in Jiangxi, who has basically handed over the army to the central government now. Zhu Peide's seniority in the Kuomintang is not only higher than Feng Yuxiang, but also far superior to Li Zongren. In February 1923, Premier Xian returned to Guangzhou from Shanghai to set up the Generalissimo's Palace, and reorganized Zhu Peide's Northern Expeditionary Yunnan Army into the base camp Gongwei Army, and Zhu Peide concurrently served as the chief of staff of the base camp and the acting minister of military affairs. In the second or third year, Feng Yuxiang was still the commander of the 11th Division in the Beiyang Army; In the second or third year, Li Zongren, who was only the battalion commander, was also leading more than 10 companies that had retreated with him to the Yulin area of the 60,000 mountains, reorganizing the army and waiting for an opportunity to move. Even Chairman Chiang was only the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy at that time. In addition, in 26 years, the "Zhongshan Ship" incident occurred in Guangzhou, and the [***] members of the army were persecuted, and Zhu Peide dismissed Xiong Shihui, the education chief who persecuted the [***] of the Third Army, from his post with the authority of the army commander, and expressed his condolences to all the victimized political cadres of the Third Army. In the 27th year, Chairman Chiang staged a coup d'état in Shanghai and completely purged the [***] members, and Zhu Peide presented gifts to the above-mentioned political cadres in the Third Army, and said at the mobilization meeting: "Those who stay are welcome, those who leave are welcome, and Zhu will never embarrass his brothers." "They were sent to Wuhan in two batches by special car, and each person was also given three months' food and travel expenses. The remaining Zhu De, who is now the head of the Red Army co-led by Mao Zd in the Jinggangshan region of Jiangxi, is still as trusted as before. This is in stark contrast to the inventory and arrest of other armies. Although Feng Yuxiang also sent the [***] gifts in the army out of the country at that time, he gave them very thoroughly, and he also made a big move against the local [***]; As for Li Zongren, not to mention. If there is anyone who has not violated the three major policies of the former prime minister, only Zhu Peide can be counted as one. If Zhu Peide didn't say that Chairman Chiang betrayed the former premier, who else would be qualified to say so? If a person with qualifications like Zhu Peide can hand over the army regardless of personal gains and losses, who can accuse Chairman Chiang of cutting off dissidents? ”

Speaking of this, Song Zhewu sighed lightly, and then said: "However, Brigade Commander Li, you are basically right, except for Zhu Peide, other powerful factions will not willingly hand over the army in their hands. To solve the problem, I can't think of a second way other than civil war. ”

Li Wentian also sighed involuntarily, thought about it and said: "However, although the Northwest Army is very poorly armed and equipped, its combat effectiveness is very strong, and after all, there are more than 500,000 troops, and it is easy to solve the Gui system, but it is not so easy to deal with the Northwest Army. ”

Song Zhewu noticed Li Wentian's tone of words, which was very worried about Chiang Kai-shek, and couldn't help but rejoice in his heart. Song Zhewu decided to add fuel to the fire, not only to make Li Wentian give up his illusions, but also to strengthen his confidence in the central government's political axe to truly unify the political power and military power. He continued: "Although the Northwest Army has low military spending, low salaries, and poor weapons and equipment, its combat effectiveness is indeed very high, and this is not only related to the fact that the soldiers of the Northwest Army are all born in places with difficult living conditions in the north, but also to the fact that Feng Yuxiang led the troops strictly, and there are only a few units in China that can meet the combat effectiveness standards of the Northwest Army. However, on the whole, it is impossible for the Northwest Army to defeat the central troops, because after all, the Northwest Army is short of salaries, ammunition, and weapons, and its follow-up is weak, so it cannot fight for a long time, and although the Northwest Army has more than 500,000 troops, the Central Army has even more troops. ”

Seeing that Li Wentian was a little puzzled, Song Zhewu explained: "In this crusade against the Gui system, the troops of the Central Army have already been greatly expanded, and they are no longer more than 300,000 before, and now they are conservatively estimated to have 400,000, and this does not include the troops of Zhu Peide in Jiangxi, Chen Jitang in Guangdong, Tang Shengzhi in Hebei, He Jian in Hunan, and others. Although it is necessary to leave a certain reserve and guard against other powerful factions, once the Central Army and the Northwest Army go to war, the troops that can be directly used on the frontal battlefield will never be less than 300,000, and if Chairman Chiang wants, even 500,000 can do it. ”

"This doesn't even count the more than 100,000 people of your Fourth Route Army!" Li Wentian, who had calmed down, teased.

Song Zhewu just smiled and said without mind: "Yes, it didn't count my Fourth Route Army, but I want to correct Brigade Commander Li's words, my Fourth Route Army is not more than 100,000 people, but more than 200,000, and I think Chairman Jiang can achieve his goal without my troops." ”

Li Wentian opened his mouth wide in surprise, this Song Zhewu's speed was too fast! It took less than three years to ......

Song Zhewu ignored Li Wentian's surprised expression and said seriously: "Brigade Commander Li, since you entered the Baoding Military Academy, you have been living in the army for more than ten years, from your point of view, how do you think my Fourth Route Army compares to the Northwest Army?" I also ask Brigade Commander Li to speak out. ”

It is naturally honorable for a soldier to be regarded as an expert by others, which shows that the other party thinks that you have a high military standard. Li Wentian was naturally very happy in his heart, and after thinking about it seriously, he asked Song Zhewu: "May I ask if the other units of the Fourth Route Army are also equipped with the same training as this regiment outside?" ”

Song Zhewu introduced Li Wentian and said: "The Fourth Route Army has a special establishment, and this regiment outside has a full strength of 7,688 people, and it belongs to the First Division of the Fourth Route Army, and one division has three such infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, and a baggage regiment, plus three battalions directly under the division and organs directly under the division, with nearly 40,000 people in the whole division. Brigadier Li used this division to compare with the Northwest Army. ”

This is the strongest division in Song Zhewu's hands now, as for the other divisions have not yet been completed, that is, if they want to form combat effectiveness after they are completed, they will not be able to achieve it in half a year, this still refers to the ready-made soldiers of the 19th Army of the Gui Department, they need time to integrate with the troops of the Fourth Route Army, and the newly recruited soldiers will take even longer, Song Zhewu does not want to reveal too many details to Li Wentian.

Judging from Li Wentian's many years in the army, this so-called Second Regiment, which has more than 8,000 people, is almost equivalent to his two 60 brigades, and these soldiers are all well-trained and very powerful. In the past, Li Wentian always believed that the training of the Northwest Army was the strictest and most arduous, and not only the 20 th Division, but also the troops in the Northwest Army, except for Liu Zhenhua, Qin Decun, Pang Bingxun, Zhang Liansheng, Wan Xuancai, Liu Maoen, and other units that were later incorporated after the Northwest Army, had a slightly worse training, and the military quality of the officers and men of the other veteran units of the Northwest Army was absolutely first-class in China. Even the troops that were incorporated later were only slightly worse than these old units of the Northwest Army.

The soldiers of the Northwest Army are mainly composed of Northwest people, and these Northwest men have a fierce and ruthless spirit, fight bravely, are natural warriors, and are definitely the best soldiers, far better than the soldiers of other troops. But since seeing this second regiment of the Fourth Route Army, his opinion has changed.

(To be continued)