Song Zhewu hurried back to Laiyuan on December 10 under the urging of Chiang Kai-shek's telegrams.

It turned out that in the nearly half a year since Song Zhewu left Laiyuan, the Central Plains has become a pot of porridge.

In order to rescue Feng Yuxiang, Song Zheyuan sent his chief of staff, Chen Zhuoru, to Nanjing in mid-July to ask Chiang Kai-shek, expressing that the Northwest Army was willing to accept the central command and eliminate Yan Xishan's Jin Sui army, and asked for military salaries.

Chiang Kai-shek believed Song Zheyuan's surrender, believing that the Northwest Army without Feng Yuxiang had succumbed to him, and that it was no longer necessary to rely on Yan Xishan's strength to disintegrate the Northwest Army.

Therefore, he sent Yu Youren and He Yaozu to Xi'an to comfort and organize the troops of the Northwest Army, and in order to appease Song Zheyuan and other generals of the Northwest Army, Chiang Kai-shek generously agreed to provide the Northwest Army with military salaries according to the standards of the Central Army. Since then, representatives of the two sides have been in constant contact. In order to encompass the generals of the Northwest Army, Chiang Kai-shek also ordered Lu Zhonglin, Xue Dubi, Xiong Bin, and Tang Yueliang, who had already been dismissed by him, to be invited back to Nanjing.

In addition to the generous reception of Chiang Kai-shek's summoning banquet, on 10 August, he appointed Lu Zhonglin as acting minister of military affairs. On August 22, another of Feng's confidants, Li Zhongming, was appointed as a member of the National Deployment Committee.

Seeing this, Yan Xishan was very panicked, and was deeply afraid that the generals of the Northwest Army had resumed contact with Chiang Kai-shek, which would be unfavorable to him, so he hurriedly changed his tactics and hurried to Feng Yuxiang's residence on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the instigation of Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang immediately telegraphed Song Zheyuan and Liu Yufenke to raise troops.

Yan Xishan also sent people to contact Song Zheyuan and other generals of the Northwest Army, and swore that he would be responsible for the supply of Feng's army's grain and straw.

After receiving Yan Xishan's order, although Song Zheyuan was very uneasy about Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang's order could never be disobeyed, so he dealt with the dispatch committee sent by Chiang Kai-shek on the one hand, and on the other hand, he mobilized troops to secretly prepare without a trace, and at the same time telegraphed Lu Zhonglin and Liu Yufen in Nanjing to escape and go to Shanghai to take refuge.

On October 10, 27 generals, including Liu Yufen, Shi Jingting, Song Zheyuan, and Sun Liangcheng, jointly sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, announcing six major crimes, including destroying the party and misleading the country. Dai Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang were appointed commanders-in-chief and deputy commanders. All the armies of the Northwest Army were organized into 8 routes, and they set off separately, and the generals elected Song Zheyuan as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army and Sun Liangcheng as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.

Seeing that the generals of the Northwest Army rebelled, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but be furious, and immediately in the name of the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force, he issued the "Speech on the Oath of Feng", scolding Feng Yuxiang: "It is so chaotic to become a surname, colluding with tyranny Russia, bringing disaster to the country and the people, not only calling foreign insults, but also trying to call soldiers, destroying the country's foundation internally, losing prestige abroad, the whole country is the same enemy, the head is heartbroken, the whole army is angry, the division is right, the party is rebellious, sacrificed for the country, the party dies and dies, the country survives and survives, as the queen dies, vows not to steal life, there is no hesitation, bravely advance, military law sits together, the enemy is concentric, the internal annihilation is not eliminated, and the country does not survive, Traitors will not be destroyed, the people will not be peaceful, annihilation will be eliminated, our country will be strengthened, rebellion will be eliminated, and our people will be safe. ”

At the same time, the 5th Route Army was appointed to crusade against the Northwest Army. These 5 route armies are: Ding Ying of the First Route Army, Liu Zhi of the Second Route Army, Han Fuyu of the Third Route Army, He Jian of the Fourth Route Army, and Tang Shengzhi of the Fifth Route Army. The commander-in-chief of the general reserve is Chen Tiaoyuan. Commander-in-Chief of Transport, He Yaozu.

11 Sun Liangcheng's army broke through to the east, and Li Pinxian and others of the Fifth Route Army thought that they could take this opportunity to ask Tang Shengzhi to return to the army, so they did not fight seriously, but withdrew at the touch of a button, and Gong Hao's division of the 51st Division retreated all the way through Luoyang from western Henan without a battle. 12 Tang Shengzhi, Zhu Peide, and He Yingqin telegraphed Yan Xishan to persuade Feng Yuxiang to enter Beijing, and declared that they were determined to rebel, and sent a telegram to denounce Song Zheyuan.

After Chiang Kai-shek promised Tang Shengzhi to return to the army, Tang Shengzhi ordered Li Pinxian, Liu Xing and others to stick to Zhengzhou, and he returned to the army without saying that the Fifth Route Army had a fierce battle with Liu Ruming and Ji Hongchang of the Northwest Army in Zhengzhou.

In the initial battle between the two sides, the Northwest Army fought a series of victories and made rapid progress. Chiang Kai-shek, while arranging troops to prepare for an attack on the Northwest Army, sent people to Shanxi to win over Yan Xishan, and ordered Yan Xishan's subordinate Zhu Shouxian to act as Minister of Military Affairs.

Yan Xishan saw that his goal of separating Chiang Kai-shek from the Northwest Army had been achieved, and that Chiang Kai-shek had been given the post of Minister of Military Affairs that originally belonged to the Northwest Army, and immediately reacted to Chiang Kai-shek.

18 said that the Northwest Army was repulsed by the Fifth Route Army in Zhengzhou, 19 said He Yingqin and Tang Shengzhi from Nanjing to Zhengzhou to command the operation, 26 said that Liu Xing and Pang Bingxun of the Eighth Army fought fiercely at Heishi Pass, 27 said that Liang Guanying and Cheng Xinming stormed Dengfeng and fought fiercely with the Ninth Army, 28 said that the Central Army began to launch a general attack on the Northwest Army, Tang Shengzhi led the Fifth Route Army to defeat Pang Bingxun's department at Heishi Pass in one fell swoop, reversing the entire battle situation.

On November 3, Chiang Kai-shek went to Xuchang and ordered all troops in Henan to be under the command of Tang Shengzhi. 18 said, Tang Shengzhi's Fifth Route Army Keyan Division. On November 19, the Central Political Council explicitly ordered Tang Shengzhi, Liu Xing, Xu Yuanquan, Wang Jinyu, and others to be commended, and on the 20th, the Central Political Council asked the Central Executive Committee to elect Zhu Peide and Tang Shengzhi as members of the National Political Axe.

On November 21, Chiang Kai-shek, who was supervising the division in Yuncheng, needed to return to Nanjing to preside over the war against Zhang Fakui and Yu Zuobai in Guangxi, and telegraphed Yan Xishan to Zhengzhou to take command of military affairs in the northwest, and ordered Tang Shengzhi to act as commander-in-chief and carry out the aftermath affairs.

Because Yan Xishan secretly informed Chiang Kai-shek of the military secrets of the Northwest Army and accepted Chiang Kai-shek's order to appoint him deputy commander of the army, navy, and air force of the Republic of China, the Northwest Army was in a situation of being caught between Yan Xishan and the Central Army, and defeat was a matter of time. As a last resort, I had to retreat to the west of Tongguan. At this point, the anti-Chiang military came to an end for the time being.

Feng Yuxiang, who was under house arrest in Jian'an Village by Yan Xishan, learned that Yan Xishan's renegade had put 300,000 officers and soldiers of the Northwest Army in a desperate situation, and he went on a hunger strike in anger. After Feng Yuxiang went on a hunger strike for more than 100 hours, he resumed eating after being persuaded by Li Shucheng and others.

Lu Zhonglin, who escaped from Nanjing, knew that the Northwest Army was in chaos, and that Song Zhewu and Sun Liangcheng were already on the same page, and that if it were not for Feng Yuxiang's order, the Northwest Army in Shaanxi would probably collapse, and he also disregarded the danger and disguised himself as a soldier to go to Jian'an Village to meet Feng Yuxiang with a certain dignitary.

Feng Yuxiang was anxious when he learned about the situation of the troops in Shaanxi, but he couldn't go back, so he had no choice but to hand over the warrant written in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with rice soup to Lu Junlin.

The content of the warrant was to remove Song Zheyuan from the part-time position of acting commander-in-chief, and to appoint Lu Zhonglin as acting commander-in-chief, and ordered Lu Zhonglin, Liu Yufen, Song Zheyuan, Sun Liangcheng and other generals: "Don't take me as your thoughts, try to unite Han Fuyu and Shi You, and even do not hesitate to reconcile with Nanjing, deal with Yan Xishan, and save him from danger." ”

During this period, Tang Shengzhi was afraid that Chiang Kai-shek would seize his military power again after the war, so he took advantage of the favorable opportunity of monopolizing military power in western Henan to plot with Song Zheyuan, Shi Yousan, and Yan Xishan of the Northwest Army to unite against Chiang.

On December 1, more than 70 people, including Tang Shengzhi, Song Zheyuan, and Liu Wenhui, sent a telegram to Jiang to discuss it, claiming that "the main thing is to fight against Russia and implement anti-Chiang, and take up the post of commander-in-chief appointed by Wang Jingwei to protect the party and save [***], and declare Yan Xishan as deputy commander-in-chief." ”

2. Shi Yousan led his troops to bombard Nanjing City across the river at Pukou. More than 50 people, including Tang Shengzhi and Liu Wenhui, once again telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek to "change the map and immediately call off the troops."

On 3 December, Tang Shengzhi issued a telegram entitled "Supporting Wang Lianzhang (Fa Kui)", in which he only admired Chiang Kai-shek's military talents, saying that Chiang Kai-shek "is not his forte," which meant that Chiang Kai-shek was asked to relinquish his post as head of state. Tang Shengzhi was said to have assumed the post of commander-in-chief in Zhengzhou.

After Yan Xishan saw the power of Tang Shengzhi and others, he was very annoyed, and scolded Tang Shengzhi for not being trustworthy and unilaterally destroying the agreement between the two of them.

Because the reason why Yan was food and ammunition again, and because he supported Tang to act as the vanguard of the overthrow of Chiang, was nothing more than a plot to succeed in overthrowing Chiang, he Yan Xishan could replace Chiang Kai-shek and become the 'head of state'. But Tang Shengzhi took matters into his own hands, defected to Wang Jingwei's door, and only hung a sign of deputy commander-in-chief for him, and asked him Yan Xishan to also act as Wang Jingwei's thug to overthrow Jiang and fight for Wang Jingwei's power. He, Yan Xishan, would not do such a thing as taking advantage of losses. Therefore, the food, guns, ammunition and salaries delivered to Tang Shengzhi were urgently withheld and no longer issued.

On December 5, Tang Shengzhi sent a telegram to the commander-in-chief of the "Fourth Route to Protect the Party and Save [***]" appointed by the Second Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang headed by Wang Jingwei and others, and on 6 December Tang Shengzhi appointed the commander-in-chief and commander of the various armies, and Tang Shengzhi himself led his troops south from Zhengzhou, and at the same time sent a telegram to Liu Zhi, commander of the Wuhan garrison, asking him to give up Wuhan.

On December 7, the national political axe ordered Tang Shengzhi to be taken, on the 10th, Chiang Kai-shek issued a "letter to the soldiers in front", vowing to destroy Tang Shengzhi, and on the 17th, Tang Shengzhi retreated south from Zhengzhou to Xuchang, planning to enter Hubei to seize Wuhan, and the Tang army concentrated near Zhumadian on the Pinghan line.

At that time, the war between the two Cantons had not stopped, and Tang Shengzhi, Shi Yousan and others were raising troops again, and Chiang Kai-shek was panicked. After repeated weighing and consideration, Chiang Kai-shek determined that Yan Xishan, Zhang Xueliang, and Song Zhewu were the key to solving the problem.

However, Zhang Xueliang was busy dealing with the border war with the Soviet army, and he had no time to be distracted; Song Zhewu was in Manchuria, and it was difficult for him to deploy the troops left in Laiyuan. However, Chiang Kai-shek was still afraid that Zhang Xueliang would be moved, so he sent Wu Tiecheng to the northeast to pull Zhang Xueliang in the name of the labor army, and sent Zhao Daiwen back to Shanxi to persuade Yan Xishan to oppose the Tang Dynasty, and asked He Yingqin, Lin Wei, Zhang Zhizhong, and Song Ziwen to send telegrams to Song Zhewu to comfort him, and at the same time, transfer all units of the Central Army to pursue Tang Shengzhi's department.

Yan Xishan knew very well that if Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang united, he and Tang Shengzhi would not be opponents, not to mention that there was also an unclear attitude of Song Zhewu, through the persuasion of Zhao Daiwen, who rushed back from Nanjing, Yan Xishan quickly changed his attitude, from uniting Tang to opposing Chiang to supporting Chiang and opposing Tang.

Yan's change affected the overall situation of the war, causing various local forces that had been listed on Tang Shengzhi's anti-Chiang telegram to issue statements one after another, denying their participation in the anti-Chiang action.

(To be continued)