He Chengjun peeked at the expressionless Chiang Kai-shek, and did not dare to answer He Yingqin's words. Although he was not sure that Zhang Xueliang had initiated the "Middle East Road Incident" with Chiang Kai-shek's consent, judging from the fact that Zhang Xueliang had returned to Shenyang to launch the "Middle Road Incident" after meeting Chiang Kai-shek in his northern parallel camp, his intuition told him that Chiang Kai-shek was very likely to agree, or at least acquiesce. He Yingqin, the No. 2 person in Huangpu, can speak bluntly without scruples, but he He Chengjun does not have this capital.

Song Ziwen said: "I agree with General Manager He's opinion, in my opinion, the Middle East Road should be resolved through negotiations." It is worth redeeming the Eastern Railway from the Northeast, and he can afford the money in the Northeast, and with the capacity of the Eastern Railway, he can earn it back in less than ten years. ”

Yang Yongtai knew that Chiang Kai-shek agreed with Zhang Xueliang to take back the Middle East Road by force, and now not only He Yingqin, but also Song Ziwen, who had a good personal relationship with Zhang Xueliang, also accused Zhang Xueliang of taking back the Middle Road by force.

Yang Yongtai said with a smile: "Chief He, Minister Song, the Middle East Road incident is actually no wonder Zhang Xueliang, the Middle East Road was originally a Sino-Soviet joint venture, but the Soviets wanted to transfer the Middle East Road to Yue himself without our consent, in mid-October 1927, the deputy director of the Soviet side of the Middle East Railway went to Dalian to have a secret meeting with the president of the South Manchurian Society, Yamamoto Jotaro, and signed the "Middle East Road Draft Treaty." This draft contract was obtained by Zhang Xueliang's secretary Wang Jiazhen from the side. If the Eastern Railway reaches the hands of Yue himself, his influence will be extended to Inner Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia will also be unstable. Inner Mongolia's deputy head of the Xilingrad League, Prince Demuchuk Dongrup, and his group are making a fuss about reading, if they are allowed to hook up with Yue himself again, Inner Mongolia has the possibility of becoming the second Outer Mongolia. ”

He Yingqin said: "Let's not talk about whether this draft contract is real, since the Soviets want to sell the Eastern Railway, then we can redeem it!" ”

Yang Yongtai shook his head and said: "Things are not so simple, now the Soviets only want to sell to Yue himself, and don't want us to redeem them." On the draft contract signed between the Soviets and Yue himself, it was clearly written: 'This is an order for the South Manchurian Society to handle the Middle East Road; It was said that the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union jointly opposed China's repossession of the Middle East Road; The South Manchurian Society allowed the Soviet Union to send troops to protect the northern section of the Middle East Road, but limited to 5,600 people; The Middle East Road and the Ussuri Railway give preferential treatment to cargo transportation; The Middle East Road first ceded the south bank of the Songhua River to the South Manchurian Society, which was implemented within one year; It was said that the Soviet Union should assist in laying railways in Inner Mongolia and North Manchuria, and that the Soviet political axe sent engineers to plan everything together with the personnel of the Soviet side; The interests of the Soviet Union in Outer Mongolia were negotiated between the two countries on the principle of equality; This shows that the Soviets are now incapable of taking care of the Far East, but they are not willing to give up their interests in China, so they want to pull Yu himself. It is not unreasonable for Zhang Xueliang to take back the Middle East Road by force at this time. ”

Zhang Qun nodded and said: "What Chang Qing said is extremely true, this Eastern Railway can fall into the hands of the Americans, British, and French, but it cannot fall into the hands of Yue himself, who has always been insatiable, and they have always had a great interest in our Northeast, and once the Middle East Road falls into their hands, they will never let go." ”

Although He Yingqin is stubborn and upright, it is not unreasonable, if so, this Eastern Railway really has to be recovered as soon as possible. And the meaning of Yang Yongtai and Zhang Qun's words is to exonerate Zhang Xueliang, and he can't blame Zhang Xueliang anymore.

He Yingqin sighed slightly and said: "Despite this, I still think that the Middle East Road incident will ultimately be resolved by negotiation, not by force. Is it for Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting to negotiate with the Soviets? ”

Chiang Kai-shek snorted coldly and said: "Wang Zhengting is still in Qingdao!" Russia's situation is urgent, and our foreign minister is still at large in Qingdao and has not come to Beijing urgently. ”

Song Ziwen and Wang Zhengting are both personnel studying in the United States, and they have always been good friends, but when they heard that Chiang Kai-shek's language was not good, they knew that Wang Zhengting was going to be unlucky this time, so they were busy saying good things for Wang Zhengting.

"Chairman of the National Committee, Confucian Tang is an upright official, and he has made great achievements in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we have made a lot of contributions to the negotiations with the foreign powers on customs and taxation this time......

Chiang Kai-shek interrupted Song Ziwen and said: "Ziwen, Wang Zhengting didn't say it beforehand. ”

Chiang Kai-shek glanced at everyone and said slowly: "Jing Zhi is right, everything between countries must ultimately be resolved through negotiations, and force is only a means to finally occupy a dominant position in negotiations. But ......"

When Chiang Kai-shek said this, he couldn't help but increase his tone and said: "Negotiations are to be discussed, but we can't talk now; Zhang Hanqing's use of force to take back the Middle East Road this time can be said to be the first time in nearly a hundred years that the Chinese have used force to snatch back our own things from foreigners, and it is also catching up with the rising nationalist sentiment of the people at home, demanding that the political axe take back the concessions and various privileges that the foreign powers have forced the Manchus to lease them since the two Opium Wars." ”

After a pause, Chiang Kai-shek said a little sourly: "Now domestic public opinion is full of praise for Zhang Hanqing's move to recover the Middle East Road by force, and he has now become a great hero in recovering the country, and it is Yue Wumu." In fact, Zhang Hanqing's merits are far less great than his old son Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zuolin announced his reading power in Outer Mongolia that year, but he used force to snatch back a large amount of land from the Soviets! ”

When he thought of Outer Mongolia, Chiang Kai-shek's heart couldn't help but tighten, Outer Mongolia has always been a piece of his heart, which is also a reason why he hated the Soviets.

The Soviets, like themselves, had great ambitions for China's territory, especially in Tsarist Russia. They took 1.5 million square kilometers of land from the Manchus, but they were not satisfied, and now Stalin inherited the mantle of the old tsar, and was playing the idea of Outer Mongolia and Xinjiang Province. But these two places are located on the frontier, and although he Jiang Zhongzheng's whip is long, it is still not enough.

Last year, those who advocated the reunification and return of Outer Mongolia to China were bloodily suppressed by the Soviet army, and he also sent troops to try to enter Outer Mongolia, but he encountered Soviet troops at the junction of Inner and Outer Mongolia, and the two sides clashed. At that time, he had just been reinstated from the lower field, and the internal and external difficulties within the party, especially the single-handed planning, caused him to go to the opposition of the Gui family was still eyeing the sidelines, and if it was not eradicated as soon as possible, sooner or later the domestic political situation would be in chaos again. All this prevented him from using troops in Outer Mongolia. Fortunately, the Soviets were also unable to make a big move in the Far East, and as soon as the Nationalist Political Axe diplomatic note was issued, they took the initiative to withdraw from Outer Mongolia, but they only demanded that the Nationalist Axe follow the agreement they signed with the Beiyang warlord Political Axe, and the Chinese [***] team was not allowed to enter Outer Mongolia, so he had no choice but to give up.

The hateful Soviets, not only did not allow the army of the Chinese political axe to enter China's own land; even hinted that Jiang Zhongzheng could use his reading power in Outer Mongolia in exchange for his son Chiang Ching-kuo, who was sent to Moscow to study at "Sun Yat-sen University" against his will in order to gain a solid position and power in the party when he was in Guangzhou. "Niang Xipi", when I Jiang Zhongzheng is a person, I Jiang is not a businessman who does business, I am the dignified leader of the political axe of the Republic of China, how can I use my own selfishness to exchange the land for my son!

Chiang Kai-shek suddenly realized that his thoughts had run too far, blinked his slightly moist eyes, tried to pull back his thoughts about his son, and said, "What is negotiation?" Negotiation means that the two sides make concessions to each other and compromise with each other, the stronger side makes fewer concessions, and the weaker side makes more concessions, and without concessions and compromises, negotiations will not succeed. There are two reasons why we can't talk about it at this time. First, the Soviets are now taking a tough attitude, and according to the information sent back by Jiang Zuobin, the bottom line of the Soviets is to restore the status quo ante on the Middle East Road, and they have only made a small concession, that is, they have agreed that the powers of the director of the Soviet Railway Bureau can be appropriately reduced. The reason why the Soviets are tough is that they think that we will give in to his threat of force, and that we will suffer a great loss in negotiating with the Soviets; Second, the current domestic public opinion simply does not allow us to make any concessions, even a very small one. As long as the political axe makes concessions, it will immediately be regarded as weak by the people, and it will immediately attract a voice of criticism, and even scolding. ”

Chiang Kai-shek let out a long breath and said: "There is also the problem of GCD, which is now naïve and ridiculously put forward the slogan of 'armed defense of the Soviet Union', which has already been rebuked by people of insight in the country. They also tried to incite demonstrations and strikes, but they barely did so in Shanghai. The tougher we are on the Middle East Road incident at this time, the more we can make the Chinese people feel the contrast between us and GCD, the more we can hit GCD, and the more we will have the upper hand in competing with them for the hearts and minds of the people. ”

Chiang Kai-shek looked at the reaction of the crowd and said resolutely: "All this has determined that the 'Middle East Road Incident' is no longer just a military issue, it is a political issue. So, now it is not a question of whether to talk about it, but how to fight. Now the political axe must make a tough posture and resolutely support Zhang Hanqing to deal with the armed provocation of the Soviets by force, and the central government can not only send the central army to support, but as long as the northeast needs it, any arms and materials can be given to him. It's just that the problem now is that Zhang Hanqing does not agree with the Central Army entering the east. ”

Chiang Kai-shek sighed secretly and said: "As Jing Zhi said, the Northeast Army cannot defeat the Soviets, although the Northeast Army is now nominally a National Revolutionary Army, but after all, they are the old warlord troops who have changed banners, and although the Northeast Army is well armed, they do not have the revolutionary ......will of our Central Army."

(To be continued)