On March 1, Zhang Xueliang issued a telegram of neutrality that made both Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan bittersweet:

The husband and the other way can return together, and the picture is more expensive than the beginning. In the public service, the task is arduous, and the heart of dedication is solid; In Baigong (Yan Xishan), it is also a matter of seeking truth from facts. The words of special fear are clear and clear, difficult and thoughtful, and every misunderstanding that causes a moment will tame everyone's suspicions, or add fuel to the fire, causing war disasters, and circular revenge, which is not too late. It is the wish of the two princes to save the country that has not been fulfilled, and the disaster of the country has come first, which is not within the reach of the two princes, nor is it the patience of Xueliang...... You Wangjie, Baiergong, Rong Pao Ze's opinions, the ferocity of the war, a party-state to pay for its power, the implementation of the work of the leader.

Zhang Xueliang telegraphed to advise Jiang and Yan Xizheng to jointly lead Qunlun. It is worth noting that the text treats Chiang and Yan equally, which seems to imply some dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek; Therefore, when Chiang Kai-shek replied to the telegram, he specifically stated that it was not a dispute of private opinion between him and Yan Xishan, but a dispute between reunification and separatism that had a bearing on the survival of the party-state. Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan also began to wrestle with Fengzhang from then on.

Yan Xishan also saw that the time was almost up, and immediately sent a telegram to the Central Party Department in Nanjing, the Nationalist Axe, and Chiang Kai-shek himself on 3 March, preparing to set up another stove to talk to Chiang Kai-shek by force. Then he instructed Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, and Song Zhewu to ask the generals under these people to go into battle again to accuse Chiang Kai-shek.

Song Zhewu didn't want to wade into this troubled water that was easy to make Chiang Kai-shek jealous, thinking that he was already a member of the Jin Sui army, so there was no need to express his position at all. Moreover, now he is unifying the anti-Chiang ideology of the generals, and it is inconvenient to reject it on the grounds that he is too drastic.

In addition, the generals of the Northwest Army headed by Lu Junlin and Song Zheyuan insisted that Feng Yuxiang would not send a telegram if he did not return to Shaanxi, and Yan Xishan had no choice but to let Feng Yuxiang return to Shaanxi "reluctantly", but Feng Yuxiang was very honorable and took the initiative to leave his family in Taiyuan, so Feng Yuxiang returned to Tongguan from Shanxi on March 10, 1930.

As soon as he returned to Tongguan, Feng Yuxiang excitedly convened a meeting of senior generals of the Northwest Army in Shaanxi that night to brief everyone on the situation.

As for the opposition to Chiang, these generals all agreed, but for joining forces with Yan Xishan, most of these generals were opposed, only people like Pang Bingxun who were not Feng Yuxiang's descendants did not express their position, but it can be seen that they are also suitable for the general thinking of these generals.

Regarding the attitude of his generals, Feng Yuxiang was both happy and helpless, happy that these generals supported him Feng Yuxiang had no other words against Jiang, which showed that they were still loyal to themselves; What made him a little helpless was that they were highly unanimous in opposing the alliance with Yan Xishan. If you don't unite with Yan Xishan to oppose Chiang, the Northwest Army has no food and no salary, so why fight with Chiang Kai-shek?

Without uniting with Yan Xishan, his thoughts were in vain, and the house arrest in the past few months was in vain. Although he ate well, lived well, and rested well, he hadn't had these few months of comfort for decades. But this is also what he Feng Yuxiang surrendered his identity and lost a lot of face in exchange.

Since Han Fuyu and Shi Yousan surrendered to Jiang, Feng Yuxiang has repeatedly thought about the reasons in the past few months, and even reflected on it, so his attitude towards these generals under him when he came back this time has changed greatly, and he will no longer easily reprimand these generals, but patiently explain the reason for doing so.

On March 14, 57 generals of the former 2nd, 3rd, and 4th group armies headed by Lu Zhonglin, Shang Zhen, and Huang Shaohong jointly sent a telegram to the whole country accusing Chiang Kai-shek, listing Chiang Kai-shek's ten major crimes, and thinking that it was public opinion to oppose Chiang Kai-shek. The message reads as follows:

“…… From now on, the national revolution cannot be formed by the public, and will be defeated by the public; National politics cannot be governed by the public, and will be chaotic by the public; The people cannot live by the public, and will die by the public; Even if the people of the country can't bear to reject the public, the public has cut itself off from the people. ”

"Ten eyes see, ten hands point, the boat is overturned, the people's words are terrifying! For the sake of the public plan, it is advisable to blame oneself and not others, repent, honor oneself, return the people of the country with the party and government, turn the war into a jade silk, know that today is and yesterday is not, and the people of the country remember the former honor, or forgiveness for the public. But to make the opportunity to rein in the precipice, Xi will take the punishment of grabbing the cattle? The public still has to cover the front sorrow, and the evening festival ends. If you still insist on going your own way, the remnants of the people will succeed, in vain for a while, laughing through the ages, starting with saving the country and ending with calamity for the country, it is not what Lin and others can bear, nor is it appropriate for the public to come out. ”

"Those who are regents will surely say: inherit the prime minister, complete the revolution, and the party-state will be entrusted with power and power, and it will not be abandoned. This kind of appeasement is suitable for misleading the country and the public, and it is not perceived. The success of the Northern Expedition was the result of the joint efforts of the Chinese people, and it was not something to be done for one's own work. In the past, when it was called revolution, it won the faith of the whole country, but now it is called counter-revolution, it is spurned by the whole country, and the blessing and misfortune are up to oneself. Those who feel sorry for my husband today, all of them feel like my husband in the past, and they want to introspect themselves. Lin and others ignore taboos and steal crimes; Suppressing good people can accept scorn, so they dare to be a little stubborn. The country will not be a country, and will you wake up violently? etc. The special telegram was heard, and Fu Wei inspected. ”

Subsequently, on March 15, 57 generals, including Lu Zhonglin, Shang Zhen, and Huang Shaohong, jointly sent a telegram supporting Yan Xishan as commander-in-chief of the army, navy, and air force of the Republic of China, and Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Xueliang, Li Zongren, and Song Zhewu as deputy commanders-in-chief. Except for Zhang Xueliang, who remained silent, several others immediately took office.

Immediately, the various ministries stepped up the mobilization of troops and prepared for battle.

On April 1, nearly two months after the telegram debate between Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan made the last verbal and written attack on Chiang Kai-shek before the sword and soldier met in his inaugural telegram:

"Unfortunately for the party-state, the Third National Congress appointed more than half of the delegates, resulting in the party, whose power is above all else, becoming the embodiment of one person, [***] reading talents, doing whatever he wants, and all political mistakes, the responsibility for which is attributed to the party, so that bribery is carried out in public offices, the people of the country dare not be reprimanded, bandits are all over the country, and the political axe is not questioned. Raising huge sums of money and borrowing huge debts is nothing more than a means of usurpation; Zhang Tart's assassination is nothing more than a private display of his usurpation. The party is not the party, the government is not the government, the country is not the country, and the people are not happy. He still compelled me to use force to help him eradicate dissent. ”

"I can't bear it, and if I refuse it, I will be angry. After several remarks, it was impossible to save it, so he sent a special steaming power and went to the field together, and the bandits used it to save the party, save the country and save the people, and so they saved Jiang's also. In the end, he did not follow, rethinking his own wilderness, and urging him to reflect. Unexpectedly, Jiang (3 said) passed the electricity of the wilderness, and the fish (6 said) came to ask the guilty teacher, and the bandit could not make him conscious, but instead went to the field and attracted him to insult him. ”

As a result, public opinion was boiling, the army and the people were stubborn, and they asked for the army, navy, and air force headquarters to be organized immediately to fight against them. He still made an appointment with the army and the people, forbearance and forbearance, and waited for him to come to his senses, and if he was still obsessed, he would take office again. As a last resort, at the urging of the Party members and the request of the military and the people, I hereby swear in on April 1, 19th year of the Republic of China, to take the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force of the Republic of China, to command all armies, and to divide the Central Plains in order to save the Party and the country. In ancient times, there were those who coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and the whole country will rise up and crusade against it, and now there are those who coerce the party department to make a fortune, and the people of the whole country should also rise up and crusade against it. Yan Xishan East Seal. ”

Subsequently, Yan Xishan immediately announced the numbers of the various units of the anti-Chiang coalition army: Li Zongren's Gui and Zhang Fakui were the first front army; Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army was the Second Front Army; Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army was the Third Front Army; Shiyou's third division is the Fourth Front Army; The Northeast Army was designated as the Fifth Front Army, and actively fought for a common fight against Chiang; Liu Wenhui of Sichuan was designated as the Sixth Front Army, and He Jian of Hunan was also given the number of the Seventh Front Army.

In order to encourage the generals of the non-directly subordinate troops, and also to compete to win over these little miscellaneous cards, and to prepare for the power struggle after the ouster of Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang appointed Shi Yousan as the chairman of Shandong Province. In order to win over Sun Dianying, when meeting with Sun Dianying, he not only appointed Sun Dianying as the chairman of Anhui Province, but also praised Sun Dianying's tomb robbery, which made Sun Dianying, who had always been criticized for tomb robbery, cry of gratitude, and since then Sun Dianying has been very willing to be called his army the Northwest Army.

Seeing that Feng Yuxiang preemptively sealed the official and pulled people, Yan Xishan naturally refused to lag behind, and also appointed Wan Xuancai as the chairman of Henan Province.

Fan Zhongxiu, who was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander-in-chief of the Henan-Shaanxi Frontier Army, moved the headquarters to Xuchang, and organized the old department of Sun Shigui into the First Army and Wang Zhen's Department as the Second Army. At this time, Ren Yingqi's Twelfth Army returned to Xuchang from Lu'an, Anhui Province to defect to Fan Zhongxiu, who organized it into the Third Army, plus Jiao Wendian's reading division, Fan Zhongyu's guard brigade, Liu Shaowu's reading force group and more than 1,000 cadets from the cadre school where Yao Liang was the chief of education, and Fan Zhongxiu's department totaled more than 40,000 people.

Seeing that Fan Zhongxiu's banner brought tens of thousands of horses in one fell swoop, Feng Yuxiang couldn't sit still, and personally rushed to Xuchang to persuade Fan Zhongxiu to join his Northwest Army.

Fan Zhongxiu in the Republic of China, once took advantage of Feng Yuxiang and Feng Jun to fight Feng Yuxiang together, the two had a grudge, at this time in order to deal with their common enemy Chiang Kai-shek, both of them generously gave up their previous suspicions, Fan Zhongxiu accepted Feng Yuxiang's appointment as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Front Army.

Fan Zhongxiu, who had just become the commander-in-chief, looked down on the hundreds of thousands of miscellaneous troops commanded by He Chengjun opposite him, and immediately waved his troops to occupy Linying and threaten Luohe.

Fan Zhongxiu's move immediately provoked He Chengjun's counterattack, and he sent three divisions, including Xu Yuanquan and Shangguan Yunxiang, to the north to prepare to attack Linying.

Subsequently, Yan Xishan, with Liu Ji as the chief of the general staff, set up a headquarters in Shijiazhuang, and officially carried out war deployment:

Li Zongren's First Front Army, led by Li Zongren, was less than 60,000 people, and Minquan sent troops to Hunan and marched to Wuhan.

Feng Yuxiang's Second Front Army, led by Feng Yuxiang, with part of the Jin Sui Army and most of the miscellaneous armies, served as the Longhai and Pinghan combat missions in Henan Province, and attacked Xuzhou and Wuhan respectively.

The specific deployment is: with Zhang Weixi's department as the first road, from southern Shaanxi out of Jingziguan, through Neixiang, Lushan into and out of the Pinghan line; With Sun Liangcheng's department as the second road, Pang Bingxun's department as the third road, from Longhai Road to Zhengzhou; With Song Zheyuan's department as the fourth road, Sun Lianzhong's department as the fifth road, respectively, from Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai to Henan; With Wanxuan Talent Department as the sixth road, along the Longhai line to Kaifeng, Guide forward; The cavalry of all units was concentrated and organized into a cavalry group army, which was commanded by Zheng Dazhang to enter and exit eastern Henan and northern Anhui to cooperate with the infantry in combat; With Liu Yufen as the commander-in-chief of the rear, he was responsible for all rear affairs in Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningbo, and Qingdao.

(To be continued)