Zhang Xueliang is not like his father Zhang Zuolin, he is a new type of soldier and knows the important surname of aircraft in modern warfare. In that year, because Zhang Xueliang went to Yueben to visit the autumn military exercises, he was deeply impressed by the performance of the Yueben Air Force, and only after returning to China persuaded Zhang Zuolin to strengthen the building of aviation forces, and formulated a corresponding plan for the expansion of the Northeast Army's air force.

It is not enough to have an airplane, the air force is a technical service that needs to be supported by a perfect logistics and personnel training system, and Zhang Xueliang set up the aviation school of the three eastern provinces in November 1922.

The duration of the aviation school in the three eastern provinces is 2 years, and it offers theoretical and practical courses such as flight, aircraft construction, engine science, and aeronautics. The following year, it was changed to the "Army Aviation School of the Three Eastern Provinces", and Zhang Xueliang personally served as the principal, which shows that Zhang Xueliang has always spared no effort for the development of the Northeast Army Air Force. What's more, in this war against the Soviet Union, his troops suffered from being bombed indiscriminately by Soviet planes.

Although Zhang Xueliang couldn't give up his baby plane in his heart, since he promised it, he had to fulfill it, and he Zhang Xueliang was not a person who broke his word and gained weight. Even if the original promise is fulfilled, the air force of the Northeast Army will become an air force without aircraft, and he, Zhang Xueliang, will do what he says.

If the plane is gone, he can buy a new one, if he breaks his promise, he is likely to lose a good friend like Song Zhewu, and let him become a laughing stock in front of the countrymen, this "face" Zhang Xueliang, the dignified young marshal of the Northeast Army, can't afford to lose, not to mention that this plane is a great benefactor for him.

Zhang Xueliang knew that if Song Zhewu hadn't won such a big victory on the Western Front, he would have used these planes to beg Lao Maozi to change the Middle Road, and Lao Maozi would not have done it!

This time, although Song Zhewu resisted Soviet Russia in the east and Outer Mongolia in the west, and was in the limelight in front of the Chinese people, he Zhang Xueliang himself also benefited a lot, and the victory on the Western Front made his prestige among the Northeast Army and the people of the Northeast soar, and even the senior generals who opposed him to reclaim the Middle East Road by force, and even did not be very active in the war against the Soviet Union, have now had a great change of 180 degrees in their attitude towards him.

Among them, the most typical one is Wan Fulin, the superintendent of Heilongjiang. Wan Fulin not only shirked in every possible way at the beginning, refused to take up the post of commander of the Second Army to defend against Russia, but also did not cooperate very well with the war against the Soviet Union; in Zhang Xueliang's view, Wan Fulin even had a communiqué for personal vendetta and was suspected of passive confrontation.

But this time, after Song Zhewu's great victory on the Western Front, Wan Fulin is now crying and shouting that he wants to take up the post of commander of the Second Army against Russia. Zhang Xueliang knew that Wan Fulin used to be a person who talked about Su Sechang, although there was a reason for Liang Zhongjia's resignation, but if it was not for Song Zhewu's victory over the Soviet army on the Western Front, he Wan Fulin would never have dared to fight against the Soviet army.

Therefore, although Zhang Xueliang was a little "painful" about giving his more than 200 planes to Song Zhewu, he still gritted his teeth and called Song Zhewu back, "Tell Song Zhewu that Gao Zhihang is now not lost to the Northeast Army, and Song Zhewu can arrange Gao Zhihang's work at will."

Then, he carefully asked Song Zhewu when he would drive the plane of the Northeast Army away, and jokingly said that if Song Zhewu did not drive the plane away, he Zhang Xueliang would have to charge a storage fee. According to the agreement, he wants to give Song Zhewu 390 planes, but he doesn't have so many planes now, please forgive Song Zhewu for this! If you want to blame Song Zhewu himself, this captive has been caught too much. ’

Zhang Xueliang's telegram hit Song Zhewu's heart, and he waited for Zhang Xueliang to talk about the plane himself.

Song Zhewu wanted Zhang Xueliang's planes from the bottom of his heart, especially the 100 French fighters that Zhang Xueliang bought newly.

As a traverser, Song Zhewu is well aware of the important role of aircraft in modern warfare. However, he can't ask for these planes now, if he asks Zhang Xueliang for planes now, he will never repay the debt with Zhang Xueliang's surname, but his relationship with Zhang Xueliang will end here, Zhang Xueliang will think in his heart that he no longer owes Song Zhewu favors, even the Northeast Army and the people of the Northeast will think that he Song Zhewu came to the Northeast for money, and even think that he Song Zhewu is taking advantage of the fire to rob, which is extremely unfavorable to Song Zhewu's future Northeast strategy.

Song Zhewu called back and told Zhang Xueliang, "Nearly 40,000 Soviet prisoners of war can be exchanged for more than 390 planes, and as far as he knows, the current number of planes of the Northeast Army Air Force is less than this number, that is to say, all the planes of the Northeast Army are now his Song Zhewu's." ’

Then the conversation changed and he said, "It's just that he doesn't want these planes now, he Song Zhewu has changed his mind, he wants to use these planes as tuition, so he uses one plane as one person's tuition, and sends 200 people to Zhang Xueliang's "Army Aviation School of the Three Eastern Provinces" to study, of which 100 people learn to fly, and 100 people learn aircraft structure, engine science, aeronautics and other theories. In addition, Zhang Xueliang once said that he would give Gao Zhihang a dowry, this must be honored, Gao Zhihang is now the chief of staff of the Fourth Route Army Air Force, this dowry is too thin to look bad for Zhang Shaoshuai's face, it is best to give a squadron fighter as Gao Zhihang's dowry to "marry" the Fourth Route Army, which is in line with Zhang Shaoshuai's identity. ’

In Zhang Xueliang's view, this is Song Zhewu giving him a big face, and asking him to train personnel on his behalf is purely Song Zhewu giving him the steps, his more than 200 planes are replaced by tens of millions of oceans, Song Zhewu actually regarded tens of millions of oceans as nothing, and his mind can be seen, this friend Zhang Xueliang is agreed.

As for Song Zhewu asking him for a squadron plane to Gao Zhihang as a "dowry", it was just that Song Zhewu didn't want him Zhang Xueliang to be too embarrassed.

Zhang Xueliang, who was very grateful, immediately called back, and the substitute training personnel could go to Shenyang to study at any time, and all the treatment was the same as that of the personnel of the Northeast Army, and the expenses were all free. Give Gao Zhihang's "dowry", and when Song Zhewu returns to Laiyuan, he can let Gao Zhihang take the plane and the fighter pilot away, and he will not only send the plane as a dowry, but also send 12 pilots.

In the following days, the terms of the Sino-Soviet negotiations came to a standstill because they were far from their respective demands. After a few days of stalemate, the Soviet side changed its negotiators, and the new Soviet representative was named Vaineros, supposedly from Moscow.

As soon as Vaineros arrived in Harbin, he came up with a new negotiating condition, which was very different from the first one put forward by the Soviet side. The new conditions for negotiations put forward that they would not talk about the Outer Mongolia issue, nor would they demand that the Northeast authorities return the Middle East Road, let alone demand war reparations from China.

Of course, China should not ask for any compensation. They agreed that the Northeast authorities would use the profits from the Middle East Road as compensation for the Soviet investment, but the period could not be 10 years, and the Soviet side believed that the repayment period would be 20 years, that is, the repayment period would end in 50 years.

At the same time, the two sides should unconditionally release the prisoners of war on both sides, and the Soviet side should give up all the Chinese territory occupied in the border war. In order to avoid the recurrence of border disputes between the two sides, the Soviet side is willing to immediately start negotiations with the authorities in the northeast to demarcate the border.

Although the Soviet side's asking price for the redemption of the Middle East Road was a bit high, Zhang Xueliang had already recognized it in his heart. In the past, although the Middle East Road was jointly managed by the two sides, the Soviet side had the final say on how the profits were used, or even whether they were distributed or not, and the Chinese side had no say at all. In the past two years, the capacity of the Middle East Road has risen sharply, but he Zhang Xueliang has not seen a penny. Now it is to repay the Soviet side in 20-year installments, at least Zhang Xueliang can still get millions of oceans of income every year.

Although he had to pay an extra ten years of ransom, he had not been able to get any of the money before. And with this clause, it can be said that he not only recovered the Middle East Road without paying a penny, but even he had to earn millions of oceans more every year. Such a good deed, a fool would not do it!

Zhang Xueliang called Song Zhewu to discuss, and Song Zhewu quickly called back and told Zhang Xueliang that the Soviet side's concession showed that they could no longer hold on now, and they were powerless to expand the war at all. Therefore, it is necessary to adhere to the 10-year deadline, but in order to conclude the negotiations as soon as possible, some concessions can be made to increase the annual reimbursement ratio to 70 per cent.

As for the demarcation negotiations with the Soviet side, Song Zhewu resolutely opposed it and clearly told Zhang Xueliang that he, Zhang Xueliang, did not have such qualifications, and only the central political axe was qualified to discuss the demarcation issue with the Soviet side.

When Mo Dehui handed over this new heavenly payment, which still had a big gap with the Soviet side in terms of negotiation with the Soviet side, he thought that there would be some dispute between the two sides, but what he did not expect was that at the beginning of the negotiations the next day, Vainheiros said that the Soviet side fully agreed with the new terms proposed by the Chinese side.

After reporting to Zhang Xueliang for approval, the two sides signed an armistice document on the same day, and thus the Sino-Soviet Northeast Border War, which lasted nearly half a year triggered by the Middle East Road, finally came to an end.

Although the Soviets inflicted heavy damage on the Northeast Army and the local economy on the Eastern Front, they also paid a heavy price on the Western Front, losing no less than 10 million weapons and equipment on the Western Front, not to mention the need to reorganize their troops and restore their combat effectiveness, including the cost of transporting weapons and ammunition from their European part by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

What's more, not only have they lost the Middle East Road, but they have no legal foothold in the Northeast since then, which has greatly reduced their influence in the Far East, and the hinterland of the Soviet Union has also lost the barrier of Outer Mongolia.

The reason why Moscow wants to support foreign independence is that it wants Outer Mongolia to become a buffer and early warning zone between China and China, otherwise, once China and the Soviet Union have a bad relationship, the Central [***] team attacking from Outer Mongolia can immediately cut off the only major artery in the Far East from Siberia in the middle, so that the Far East will lose control.

In order to ensure the security of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Moscow now has to strengthen the forces of the Transbaikal Military District, which is again a huge expense......

(To be continued)