After sending those reporters away, Han Zheng drank a glass of water, and then found a place in the tent to sit down, saw Lin Xiang standing next to him honestly, and pointed to the seat next to him, asked the other party to sit down, rubbed his head, shook his head with a smile and said: "You, your temperament is still like this, you are all the people who are the head of the regiment, why can't you control your mouth, I know that you are coming over, are you a little uncomfortable in your heart for our initiative to retreat this time?" ”

Lin Xiang thought that the commander would be dissatisfied with what he had just done, and would turn around and continue to reprimand him, but he didn't expect the commander to see his intentions, and at this time, he was a little embarrassed when he was pointed out by Han Zheng.

But if this matter is not said, it is really uncomfortable in my heart, Lin Xiang smiled wryly, and then replied: "Commander, this thing is too sudden, I am really uncomfortable in my heart, at that time the commander said to avenge the villagers and brothers, everyone was extremely happy, but I didn't expect the commander to let everyone retreat."

After saying this, Lin Xiang glanced at Han Zheng carefully, and noticed that Han Zheng was listening carefully, so he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and continued: "Moreover, the brothers suffered a lot of casualties this time, and they are holding back a lot of strength in their hearts, and they want to fight to the death with the group of pigtails in the north, and they finally won this position, so I will return it, I don't have the face to explain to the brothers below." ”

After listening to this, Han Zheng saw Lin Xiang looking at him expectantly beside him, and he couldn't help but feel funny in his heart, and opened his mouth and closed his mouth to say that his brothers were dissatisfied, but his official was also dissatisfied.

However, Han Zheng's own thing about designing Li Yan was not easy to say directly, so he had to point at Lin Xiang, and said with a wry smile: "You, you, it's not that you're unhappy with my order, I know what you mean, you don't want to think about it, let's not talk about anything else, just talk about the fortifications here, the fortifications here have been destroyed and defeated by our people, and there is no longer any value in defense, in case Yixun is really crazy over there, we won't be able to defend it at that time, originally I still wanted to set up a defensive position here, But the letter from the other party, Staff Officer Li, made me change my mind. ”

Han Zheng said this, seeing that Lin Xiang's face was better, but he was still a little unconvinced, after all, there were no good fortifications here, even after retreating, there were still no good fortifications.

Han Zheng seemed to know the other party's thoughts, but at this time, he didn't continue to explain, just knocked on the table with his fingers, and the smile on his face was a little uncertain: "Moreover, don't forget, under our hands, since we broke away from the north and took root here, whether it is the trembling and frightened at the beginning, or the current army of more than 10,000 people, what losses have we suffered in the past few years?" ”

"Let's go all the way, we fight the water bandits, we also fight the local army, we fight the chaotic people, it's the regular army in the south, we are not cowardly, we still fight, you say, who have we ever been afraid of? This time the brothers have emotions in their hearts, I know, I don't feel good in my heart, I also know what you are thinking now, but now it's different from before, since we can use all kinds of advantages, reduce sacrifices, and gain greater advantages, why do we want brothers to continue to increase sacrifices?! Han Zheng saw that Lin Xiang seemed to have listened, so he continued.

"I already have an idea here, don't worry, there are things to fight below, but not now! You go back and think about it first, calm the emotions of your brothers, and hurry up to carry out the order, and don't drag the army back when the time comes, or I will lend them a few in the next battle. ”

After Han Zheng finished speaking, he looked at Lin Xiang, whose face was slightly red.

When Lin Xiang heard this, he knew that he had misunderstood what the commander meant, although he didn't know what the commander thought, but it wouldn't be as simple as he thought, and the commander seemed to have a plan, for a while, he was a little embarrassed, and said in a whisper: "Commander, I"

"Forget it this time, I won't explain to you next time, go down first and let the brothers pack up their things, and then talk back thirty miles, and at the same time tell your second regiment to be ready to fight at any time!"

"Big fight? Let's "Lin Xiang heard this, his heart was suddenly happy, and he couldn't care about what happened just now.

"Go ahead, Mr. Zhang was slapped by us like this, do you think he is the most disrespectful and face-saving big guy will be willing? And next, we still have a dish to go up, I think Mr. Zhang will go crazy even more, let's take a step back first, let him call first, and then our chance will come! Han Zheng said, and then waved his hand to signal that the other party could go out.

"Yes! Commander! Lin Xiang heard this and completely understood what the commander meant, if he didn't know what the commander meant by now, it is estimated that he would just find a piece of tofu and kill him now.

Han Zheng looked at Lin Xiang, who was rushing out, touched his head helplessly, and muttered to himself: "It turns out that it is not only Zhang Xun and I who are crazy, it seems that there are many of my subordinates who want to be crazy, and even Lin Xiang, who has always been silent, is so belligerent."

Originally, Han Zheng had always wanted to settle things and calm people's attitudes to strive for a safe development environment in northern Anhui, but since the Zhouxing Village tragedy, at this time he found that in this troubled era, nothing can be obtained by compromise alone, if you want to be stable, you must first make others afraid of you, since Zhang Xun took the initiative to jump out, Han Zheng will not refuse this springboard.

And now it's okay to just go crazy yourself, anyway, all the foreshadowing has been done, that is, Beijing may complain or reprimand afterwards, but what's the use, as long as you don't leave a handle, you will naturally not worry, and if you remember it well, it won't be long before the north seems to be anxious and doesn't bother to pay attention to your side.

As for his retreat of thirty miles, it was naturally not just like what he said to Lin Xiang, he didn't plan to defend at this time, he had already learned through the channel that there seemed to be a slight rift between Li Yan and Zhang Xun, and when he learned that Li Yan was leading the troops, he finally decided on the current plan in his heart.

And what I have to do is to tear this rift open, and then take advantage of the chaos to get in, maybe I can get a talent.

"Brother Li, since you have such a great talent, and now you are facing the disaster of killing, you are an acquaintance with a good relationship, you will not see death or save yourself, although what you said in the letter is very reasonable, but you have followed your boss Zhang for so long, can you still not know that this matter can no longer be discussed? I'm just going to push you here, and everyone will be fine then. ”

Han Zheng thought about it again, and after feeling that there were no loopholes, he tidied up his military uniform, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and walked out

On the afternoon of 30 September, the units under the jurisdiction of the 1st Division of Northern Anhui led by Han Zheng retreated 30 miles overnight in the face of the advance of the whip army.

From the outside world's point of view, it seems to be a compromise with Zhang Xunbu, and if you don't know, you naturally ridicule Han Zheng for being cowardly and afraid of things, and of course there are also those who say that Han Zheng cares about the overall situation.

But those who are more intelligent and know some clues are thinking of Han Zheng's earlier and did not hesitate to eliminate the strength of one company of the other party, such a tough method, how can he not be a master who is easy to succumb, and think about it carefully, Han Zheng has come all the way, but he really stepped on blood to rise!

However, at this time, no matter how slanderous the outside world was, those newspapers issued editorials one after another, believing that Han Zheng's move would help local peace, and criticizing Zhang Xunbu's atrocities, which simply criticized Zhang Xun as bloody.

In various newspapers, Han Zheng was described as a representative of young soldiers who endured humiliation for the sake of local stability and peace, and for the sake of the overall situation of the country, and a model for soldiers!

And Han Zheng's previous completely crushing and eliminating the company of Zhang Xun's department was also described as Han Zheng's failure to be afraid of power and fulfill his duty to defend the land and protect the people!

Some editorials even held that Han Zheng's move was in line with the current domestic call and desire for peace, and that it was not only responsible to the people of the two places, but also a sign of respect and trust for the Beijing government.

Therefore, in their view, this series of conflicts, known as the Northern Anhui Incident, is very likely to stop, even if the local people are dissatisfied with Han Zheng's initiative to retreat, and even the army feels aggrieved, but still retreat 30 miles under Han Zheng's order, it can only be executed.

At the same time, in order to prevent the recurrence of the Zhouxing Village incident, the people of the surrounding villages, under the escort and organization of the army, have moved to Shitai Town in the rear, which is also the proper meaning of the question, and has not aroused the suspicion of others.

Originally, those royalist newspapers had already kept a low profile when the truth of the Yangcun incident was revealed, and because of their maintenance of Zhang Xun, they almost became a joke in the industry.

There was nothing to say all night, and those war correspondents were praised by the newspaper because they got first-hand information, and they were naturally even more reluctant to go back at this time.

But on the afternoon of the day after those editorials and newspapers were published, these war correspondents had already sensed the anomaly from Han Zheng's seemingly frowning brow!

On the morning of 3 October, the gendarmerie arranged by Han Zheng in the rear, under the leadership of Wang Xian, suddenly drove to the front line of Shitai in a high-profile manner, which further confirmed the speculation of those reporters.

The reporters finally couldn't sit still, and kept asking questions, and finally, after Han Zheng seemed to be angry, he told these reporters that Zhang Xun's department in Xuzhou had begun to concentrate troops one after another in the area of the border bridge, and the letters he later sent to Zhang Xun did not receive any reply.

In the face of this increasingly severe situation, in order to protect the people here, Han Zheng had to prepare for the worst, and at the same time, in order not to give up the efforts to fight for peace, Han Zheng had already sent another telegram to the presidential office of Yuan Da in Beijing, seeking mediation from the central government!

But if there is a real war, wait until the central government mediates and orders, it is estimated that this side will already be killed and killed!

After this news came out, these reporters were shocked, it turned out that the war was really coming, they didn't care about other things, they went directly to their residences, wrote down the matter, and at the same time rushed to a telegraph room specially equipped for them by Han Zheng, and the news spread around in the telegram!

It seems that the situation in northern Anhui, which seems to be gradually stable in the eyes of the outside world, has become the focus again with the arrival of this news!

On the evening of the 30th, Zhang Xun, who was anxiously waiting for the news ahead, did not wait for the news he was looking forward to, but got the bad news that made him angry!

Only then did Zhang Xun know that his side was a step late, one of his elite companies was directly wiped out, and the other party had already started to send the tragedy in Zhouxing Village out, and put all the responsibility for the war on his head, making himself the best notorious annotation!

When he got the news, Zhang Xun even thought for a moment that he had read it wrong or that Lin Xiang's telegram had been sent by mistake, but at midnight in the evening, after the spies sent out to confirm the matter came back, Zhang Xun's last luck was finally shattered.

Then before Zhang Xun came back to his senses, news came from the army again, I don't know who spread this matter, the army already knew about it, and they had never suffered such a big loss.

The news came one after another, but none of them were good, and then Zhang Xun's staff office took out several newspapers and handed them to Zhang Xun, Zhang Xun never noticed these things, when he saw that those newspapers with the fragrance of ink were full of accusations against himself, and even abuse, Zhang Xun almost spit out a mouthful of blood in anger.

But at this time, they were just angry, and they still didn't care, in the hearts of these veteran generals, subconsciously, they still held whose fist was bigger, who had the truth, and these newspapers were disgusting at best.

But the news that came next made Zhang Xun completely shocked and angry, and when he learned that all over Shanghai, there were even students marching and sit-ins on the streets, demanding that the Beijing government severely punish Zhang Xun and hand over the mastermind behind the Zhouxing Village tragedy, the mouthful of blood held in his throat finally spurted out, and then he roared: "I will kill this child when I am Zhang Xun!" ”

Zhang Xun didn't know why he didn't make any waves at all before, and only the trivial matter of hundreds of people dying in mud legs became like this!

In this way, Zhang Xun faced this situation, and finally felt unprecedented pressure, at this time, if he didn't want to be deposed, it seemed that he could only hold on and press down Han Zheng, the initiator, so that the other party would never come out! (To be continued.) )