After Song Ziwen nodded in agreement, Chiang Kai-shek asked with some uncertainty: "Ziwen, do you say that Mei Lehe, an Englishman from the General Taxation Department, will agree to Yan Xishan's request?" ”

Song Ziwen thought for a while, and said with a deep face: "If Yan Xishan guarantees that the foreign debt guarantee will be maintained as usual and only take the balance of the customs, the customs side controlled by the foreign side may not agree." Moreover, Tianjin is in the territory of Yan Xishan's Jin Suijun, even if the foreigners do not agree, he can forcibly seize it, as long as the foreign debt guarantee money is still allocated, presumably the foreign side will not do anything. ”

He Yingqin said with some indifference: "If Yan Xishan forcibly seizes Tianjin Customs, it is a big deal that we will send warships to seal Tianjin Customs at sea." ”

"That's not good, the foreign side will never agree to the closure......"

Song Ziwen was a little unimpressed by He Yingqin's layman's words, but he was suddenly inspired by He Yingqin, clapped his hands and said loudly: "Yes, it is the closure that Chief He said." ”

Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Song Ziwen explained: "Forcibly sealing the customs, although it will not work, the foreign side will definitely not agree." However, we don't have to do this, as once Yan Xishan forcibly seizes the customs, or if the Tianjin Customs hands over the balance of the customs duties to Yan Xishan, we can demand that all shipping companies pay customs duties at the Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian, Qinhuangdao, and other customs offices on their way to Tianjin. In this way, Tianjin Customs will have no tariffs to collect, and Yan Xishan will naturally not be able to get money. ”

Because Zhang Qun served as the Foreign Affairs Councilor of the National Political Axe, among the people present, except for Song Ziwen, who was most familiar with foreign-related affairs, Zhang Qun said with some worry: "The domestic shipping company is fine, but will the ships of foreign companies listen to us?" ”

Without waiting for Song Ziwen to answer, Chiang Kai-shek waved his hand and said: "For disobedient companies, all domestic companies will be seized, and foreign companies will be forbidden to call at any other port under our control." This matter will be handled by Ziwen and Wang Zhengting, prepare first, and once Yan Xishan makes a move, he will start to implement it. ”

Chiang Kai-shek was still a little uneasy, and said to Song Ziwen: "You, the Minister of Finance, will go to Shanghai again to show Mei Lehe the attitude of the Nationalist Axe, and if the Tianjin Customs supports Yan Rebellion, the Nationalist Axe will reserve the right to take drastic measures and ask them to do their own thing." ”

"Also, what did that Ge Jingyou do when he went to Tianjin Bank of Communications?"

Tianjin Customs is dealing with the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance, and Song Ziwen knows best about it.

Song Ziwen explained: "The monthly customs balance is deposited in advance at the Tianjin branch of the Bank of Communications and transferred to the Ministry of Finance every quarter according to the agreement between us and the foreign party. Ge Jingyou must have gone there to prevent the Bank of Communications from transferring money to the Ministry of Finance. ”

"When you go back, you will immediately confess, and the customs money deposited in the Tianjin branch of the Bank of Communications will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance immediately. At the same time, Tianjin Customs and HSBC Tianjin Branch will be notified, and the balance will be handed over to HSBC Bank in the future. ”

Chiang Kai-shek, who understood it, decisively gave the order. HSBC is a foreign bank, and Yan Xishan would never dare to go to HSBC to openly take money.

Yan Xishan's conspiracy to snatch the balance of customs duties was laid down by Chiang Kai-shek, and it went bankrupt before it was implemented, which made everyone excited again.

Before Dai Jitao, Zhang Qun, Wu Zhihui, Yang Yongtai, Wu Tiecheng, Song Ziwen, Chen Lifu and others left, Chiang Kai-shek smiled and said to several people: "You have all read the telegram sent to me by Yan Xishan. Although I disdain these nonsense, Yan Xishan handed it over to the press for publication, which can still confuse some people, and I think that Ji Tao and Wu Zhilao organized personnel to severely refute Yan Xishan's nonsense in order to set the record straight. ”

Then Chiang Kai-shek lowered his face and said to Zhang Qun: "Also, the reorganization faction colluded with the warlords to plot rebellion, and this is no longer a dispute within our party, but an act of treason against the party. Yue Jun, the new mayor of Shanghai, can no longer let them go in and out of Shanghai, you discuss it with Guofu, and go back and seal up their headquarters in Shanghai. ”

After these literati left, He Yingqin, Lin Wei, He Chengjun, Zhang Zhizhong and other soldiers did not leave, and they still had military matters to discuss.

"German adviser Kriebeier and the General Staff jointly formulated this battle plan for the Central Plains War." He Yingqin spread out a combat map on the table.

"Yan Xishan plans to attack us along the Guangxi direction of Jinpu, Longhai, Pinghan and Li Zongren, although the specific battle plan has not yet been introduced, however, according to our judgment according to the position where the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army are now stationed, the direction of the Jinpu Road should be dominated by the Jin Sui Army, because Hebei is the territory of the Jin Sui Army; And Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army and other small forces should be concentrated in the two directions of Pinghan Road and Longhai Road. The Jin Sui Army, which was attacking along the Jinpu Road, and the Northwest Army, which was attacking along the Longhai Road, were bound to have the idea of attacking Xuzhou on two roads, so we decided to take the Longhai Road as the main direction of our army's operations. ”

"Because our army is numerically inferior." Because Dai Jitao, Zhang Qun and other literati have left, He Yingqin no longer has any scruples when he speaks.

"If we want to win, we can't distribute our forces evenly, we must concentrate our superior forces in a certain direction as much as possible, and as long as we annihilate or defeat the enemy in one direction first, we can gain an advantage, or at least stabilize the situation of the war. In that way, the war will not be beneficial to Yan Xishan in a short period of time, and this is the last thing Yan Xishan wants to see, we can afford to drag it, but Yan Xishan can't afford to drag it. Over time, the internal contradictions of these rabble will manifest themselves, which will be extremely beneficial to us. ”

"Where are we going to attack? After repeated study, we decided to launch an offensive on the Longhai Road. Because, the Jin Sui army attacking along the Jinpu Road did not have strong attack power. ”

When it came to Jin Suijun, He Yingqin couldn't help but pout.

"Our troops in Shandong and Han Fuyu's troops can completely withstand their attack, at least it will be a stalemate, and their plan to attack Xuzhou on two ways will be aborted because of the Jin Sui army. We can seize the opportunity to gather and annihilate the enemy along the Longhai Road. ”

Chiang Kai-shek interjected: "Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang spread their troops in the three directions of Pinghan, Longhai, and Jinpu, which seemed to be violent, but in fact committed a taboo in the division of troops. If we can take Kaifeng and Shangqiu, we will basically cut off the connection between Pinghan and Jinpu, at that time, whether we are attacking the Northwest Army along the Pinghan Road, or the Jinsui Army in the direction of Jinpu Road, the initiative is in our hands. ”

"What the chairman said is very true."

He Yingqin complimented Chiang Kai-shek, and then said: "In order to achieve this goal, we must try our best to hold back the enemy along the Pinghan Road, but the problem is that our strength is limited, and it is impossible to use a large number of powerful troops there, so we can only rely on our absorbed troops and local troops in Hubei to accomplish this task, the specific troops are Xu Yuanquan's 48th Division, Xiao Zhichu's 44th Division, Yang Hucheng's 17th Division, Wang Jinyu's 47th Division, and Hao Menglin's 54th Division." The Central Army, dominated by Chen Cheng's 11th Division, could only remain as a reserve near Wuhan to guard against Pinghan Road and Li Zongren's Gui troops in Guangxi. ”

After He Yingqin finished speaking, he glanced at Chiang Kai-shek and stopped talking.

Chiang Kai-shek nodded, pondered for a moment and said to everyone: "Whether it is these incorporated troops or the local troops in Hubei, there are many opportunistic people who are not strong in revolutionary will and who are opportunistic at both ends of the mouse, and if they are negligent, some people may defect again. ”

He Chengjun, a graduate of the fifth phase of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School, was really lackluster in military command, and was repeatedly defeated during the Northern Expedition, and even once disarmed and returned to Shanghai.

But He Chengjun has a great advantage, that is, he can speak well, and he is easy-going and generous. He Chengjun is known by many as a genius lobbyist and a genius leader of the motley army, and is even known as one of the top ten lobbyists in modern times, which is why Chiang Kai-shek values him very much.

Before and after the Northern Expedition, he lobbied Wang Lequan, Sun Chuanfang, Fang Benren, Yan Xishan, Zhang Xueliang, Tang Shengzhi, etc., and ran in many ways in major events such as the Northern Expedition War, the Chiang-Gui War, and the Northeast Banner Change, and made great contributions to Chiang Kai-shek's efforts to win over and divide various local warlords, and was one of Chiang Kai-shek's most important think tanks in the early days. The reason why Tang Shengzhi's rebellion against Jiang failed so quickly had a lot to do with He Chengjun's successful rebellion against Tang Shengzhi's general Li Pinxian.

Because He Chengjun has deep qualifications, coupled with his easy-going personality, does not put on a show, and treats the miscellaneous army very leniently, he is supported by the miscellaneous army generals who were excluded by Chiang Kai-shek. Under his command, the combat effectiveness of the motley army was sometimes not inferior to that of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army, so he was also hailed as the genius "leader" of the motley army.

He Chengjun naturally could not disobey Chiang Kai-shek's arrangement, but he had to face the Northwest Army, which had always been known for its fierceness, and he could not be cautious.

He Chengjun thought for a moment, straightened his chest and said: "Since the chairman of the committee raises love, Cheng Jun will never obey, but Cheng Jun has a few things to ask the chairman of the committee, if the chairman agrees, then Cheng Jun can keep the Han line safe." ”

As soon as he heard that He Chengjun promised to guard the Pinghan line, Chiang Kai-shek was very happy, for these miscellaneous armies, Chiang Kai-shek really had no bottom in his heart, and He Chengjun, the "natural leader" of the miscellaneous army, was there, it couldn't be better.

"As long as Xuezhu is in charge of the Western Front, I will rest assured, don't say a few things, even ten, I will definitely agree."

(To be continued)