How could Feng Yuxiang not understand Yan Xishan's words, Feng Yuxiang smiled slightly and said: "Baichuan, in military affairs, I, Feng Huanzhang, really haven't really admired anyone, but this war is not just a strategic and tactical strategy, soldiers not only need weapons and ammunition, they also have to eat and support their families, these are all money in the final analysis, and you can't win a battle without money." ”

Then you said very helplessly: "My old Feng only knows how to use knives and guns, he is a Qiu Ba soldier, and now he is only poor in the barren land of the northwest provinces, and he has no money and no food, if I become the commander-in-chief of the anti-Chiang coalition army, what will I use to support more than a million people?" This position has to be Baichuan, you Shanxi...... The rich man will do it. ”

Feng Yuxiang, who didn't look up to Yan Xishan from his heart, almost said the word "soil" that had reached his mouth. But the situation is stronger than people, don't say that he Feng Yuxiang has no money and no food, even if he has, he can't do this commander-in-chief, the Jin Sui Army plus Song Zhewu's Fourth Route Army has more than 600,000 guns, and the Northwest Army is only more than 400,000 troops in its heyday, with his current more than 200,000 horses as the backing, his waist is not hard, don't say whether the generals of the Jin Sui Army will oppose it, even the Song Zhewu in front of him will not listen to him, rather than command failure, it is better to be a favor and take the initiative to give this position to Yan Xishan.

"Let's go back to Taiyuan to discuss this matter, the eldest brother and sister-in-law should prepare quickly, and we will rush back to Taiyuan today."

Hearing that Feng Yuxiang was no longer pretentious, Yan Xishan was secretly happy, but he still had a sincere look of fear on his face.

Because Yan Xishan arranged for Zhao Pilian to rush to Shi Yousan in Henan immediately, Song Zhewu and Zhao Pilian did not go with Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, but rushed back to Taiyuan first.

Not long after Song Zhewu returned to his residence in Taiyuan, Yang Yushan, director and chief engineer of the Shanxi Aircraft Factory and principal of the Aviation Preparatory School, and Liu Jie, head of the Shanxi Aviation Corps, jointly reported to Song Zhewu.

From the mouths of the two of them, Song Zhewu knew that Yan Xishan had personally announced his decision to the two early yesterday morning, and asked them to report to Song Zhewu as soon as possible.

Through the introduction of the two, Song Zhewu had a further understanding of Shanxi Aircraft Factory and Shanxi Aviation Corps.

Yan Xishan was very eager to develop his own aircraft, and Yan Xishan knew very well that in order to gain a firm foothold in Shanxi and develop his own forces, it was necessary to have a strong army as a backup, so the development of the air force became the goal that Yan Xishan pursued not to be left behind. Encouraged by the smooth development of the arsenal, Yan Xishan thought too easily about the manufacture of aircraft, which was an absolutely high-tech industry at the time.

Under the influence of Feng Ru, after searching all over Shanxi and Hebei to find Liu Jie, a talent who had learned to fly in France, he immediately prepared to set up his own aircraft factory. Yan Xishan, who understood it, not only sent his nephew Yan Xiaowen to France to study aviation technology, but also contacted Yang Yushan and others who had studied aviation manufacturing technology in France through Liu Jie.

After Yang Yushan returned to China, Yan Xishan immediately set up an aircraft factory, which was called "Taiyuan Automobile Repair Factory" and appointed Yang Yushan as the factory director.

In 1925, Yan Xishan, through Yang Yushan, introduced the "Gao Delong" aircraft manufacturing technology from France, and after a period of manufacturing and assembly, the aircraft was finally born in Shanxi. Later, in order to cultivate talents in aviation, Yan Xishan set up the "Aviation Preparatory School", the principal of which was Yang Yushan, and now the school has more than 60 students.

As for the Shanxi Aviation Corps, it is really a bit unworthy of its name, and now the regiment has 20 pilots, more than 30 ground crews, and nearly 50 repair workers. Not only is there a small crew, but there are also very few aircraft, only a few old trainer aircraft. However, there was one news that made Song Zhewu very happy, that is, Liu Jie said, "Half a month ago, he and Yang Yushan, in accordance with Yan Xishan's order, negotiated the purchase of aircraft with commercial agents of Britain, France, Germany, and other countries in Tianjin.

It's just that in view of the current domestic situation, it is not good for these countries to sell Shanxi planes in a big way, but they dare not sell them, because they are not sure about China's political situation, so they have to sell only a few planes to Shanxi, this is to prevent Yan Xishan from seizing power, so that they can continue to deal with Yan Xishan and leave a foreshadowing. In this way, a total of 22 planes were ordered, and the goods could arrive in May or June.

For various reasons, the Shanxi aircraft factory can only do some maintenance work on existing aircraft; The Shanxi Air Corps is only using those training planes to train pilots, and there are no combat planes available at all. It's not that Yan Xishan is reluctant to spend money, it's just that Yan Xishan spends a lot of money, and most of Shanxi's money is used by Yan Xishan for arsenals and army expansion. If it weren't for Yan Xishan's preparation against Chiang Kai-shek this time, Yan Xishan would have moved his old bottom in the Shanxi Provincial Bank, and he wouldn't have the money to buy a plane!

These two people are not Yan Xishan's absolute confidants, Yan Xishan will naturally not tell them about Song Zhewu's thoughts, but Yan Xishan will help Song Zhewu brag a little in order to let the two of them do things with Song Zhewu with peace of mind.

For the current predicament faced by the Shanxi Aircraft Factory and the Shanxi Aviation Corps, the two who have nothing to do are also very helpless, and when they hear about this incident this time, they are happy from the bottom of their hearts. Yang Yushan had long heard about Ba Yuzao, Wang Zhu and others, and he had heard Yan Xishan say that Song Zhewu had purchased a lot of aircraft manufacturing equipment from the United States, and if it was combined with Shanxi's equipment to create his own aircraft, it would not be a matter of waiting; Liu Jie was very excited because Song Zhewu had a large number of DH-10s, although he was an old plane of World War I, but as long as he did not encounter the fighters of the Central Army, it was more than enough to bomb the ground troops with these aircraft, and he really had a place in the sky. As for the status after the merger, the two did not think too much about it.

Song Zhewu was very happy that Yang Yushan and Liu Jie came to report, especially in the conversation, he could feel that the two of them were not the slightest dissatisfied with the command of Song Zhewu, who belonged to him, but on the contrary, they were a little excited, which made Song Zhewu even more happy. In order to allow the two of them to work with peace of mind in the Fourth Route Army, Song Zhewu carefully introduced his development plan and bright prospects for the aircraft factory and the Air Force Corps to the two. After Song Zhewu's "flickering", Yang Yushan and Liu Jie were very excited. Song Zhewu struck while the iron was hot, promoted both of them to two levels, and appointed Liu Jie as the commander of the second division of the Air Force Corps on the spot, with the rank of major general; Yang Yushan was appointed director and deputy chief engineer of the merged aircraft factory, with the rank of colonel.

In order to complete the merger as soon as possible and to facilitate the relocation of Laiyuan's machinery and equipment and planes after the Spring Festival, and after the two of them returned, they immediately reported the equipment, personnel, venues, warehouses, and raw materials of the Shanxi Aircraft Factory, as well as the aircraft models, airport locations, personnel, and weapons and fuels of the Shanxi Air Regiment. When the two were leaving, they asked Liang Bi to take the ocean, and gave each of them 2,000 oceans for the New Year.

In the Jin Sui Army, it was easy for the generals to get praise and praise from Yan Xishan, but it was difficult to get Yan Xishan's money and rewards. In particular, because Yan Xishan had very strict control over the empty salaries of officers, and had a complete set of reporting systems for the posts of various units, and he also required that if a soldier dies in the morning or quits the unit, he must report it for the record in the afternoon, and it is absolutely impossible for officers at all levels of the Jinsui Army to eat empty salary. Therefore, the officers at all levels of the Jin Sui Army, especially the grassroots officers, said that they had a very difficult time. Yang Yushan and Liu Jie used to be a major and a lieutenant colonel, and their annual military salary was not 2,000 oceans, so they both left happily.

From Wutai to Taiyuan, there is only a distance of more than 200 kilometers, even if Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang walked an hour or two later than Song Zhewu, they should have returned to Taiyuan at three or four o'clock in the afternoon, but it was not until about five o'clock in the afternoon that Yan Xishan and his entourage rushed back under the escort of a large number of cavalry, causing the representatives of various factions who greeted Feng Yuxiang outside the north gate to freeze for several hours in the biting cold wind.

Because of the sudden increase in sentry posts on the streets, a large number of gendarmes were also on duty on the streets, especially the street of the Governor's Mansion where Song Zhewu was located, which aroused the vigilance of Li Dayong and Liang Bi, and by asking Li Zibiao, director of the Taiyuan Office of the Fourth Route Army, and Zhang Dasan, commander of the military police, it was learned that Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang had encountered the shooting of the assassins on the way back. However, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang were both unscathed, because Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and Feng Yuxiang's family did not sit in their cars, but were all nested in the bed of the truck. Of Yan Xishan's adjutant Lu Huande, who was sitting in two cars, and several of Yan Xishan's guards, two of the guards died, and everyone else, including Lu Huande, was injured.

It's just that in this way, Yan Xishan didn't dare to come back as if nothing happened, he mobilized Zhao Chengshou's cavalry to guard all the way, which delayed time.

You don't have to think about it to know that this must be done by someone sent by Nanjing, at this time only Chiang Kai-shek wants the lives of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang the most, as long as these two people die, there is no one to lead the anti-Chiang coalition army, these local powerful factions will immediately be leaderless, become a plate of scattered sand, and a big war will disappear into invisibility.

Song Zhewu also once had this thought, if there was no Central Plains War, hundreds of thousands of people would have died.

It's just that Song Zhewu is very worried about this, first, after the death of these two people, the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army will inevitably accept the reorganization of the central government, and it is very questionable whether he can successfully enter Shanxi; Second, up to now, Song Zhewu has been very careful not to change the original trajectory of history too much, knowing history well is where his advantage lies, and only by running on the original trajectory of history, he can better grasp the direction. If possible, Song Zhewu hoped that this history would not change much until the start of the Anti-Japanese War.

(To be continued)