Zhang Xueliang believed that Song Zhewu was not only prudent, but also full of strategy, and he analyzed the situation of the Soviet army and their country very accurately, and Song Zhewu had already told him some of these when they met in the Left Banner of Bahrain.

Song Zhewu's judgment has not only been confirmed by the Battle of Manchuria, that is, after the Battle of Manchuria, it took the Soviet army a full week to transport a division from Boli West to Chita, and then it was no longer willing to go south to Dauri, obviously unable to counterattack Manchuria, just afraid that the Chinese [***] team would attack Chita and cut off the Trans-Siberian Railway and made a limited passive defense. This shows that the Soviet troops in the Far East, at least for the time being, no longer have the strength to continue fighting in the Great Uri and the Central [***] squadron in the south.

After receiving Song Zhewu's telegram, Zhang Xueliang, who had already rushed to Harbin to take command of the negotiations, immediately summoned his negotiator, Mo Dehui, in the office of Zhang Jinghui, the governor of the Harbin Special Administrative Region.

Mo Dehui was a member of the House of Representatives and vice president of the Mongolian and Tibetan Yuan when he was in Beiyang. In 1925, he also served as the deputy minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of Beiyang Political Axe. In the spring of 1926, he was appointed by Zhang Zuolin as the director of the Fengtian Provincial Department of Finance and the acting governor of Fengtian Province.

During the period when Mo Dehui was in charge of Fengtian Province, in addition to the orderly development of various undertakings, he attached great importance to education in Fengtian Province, especially primary education, and strictly ordered all counties to set up primary schools in all villages, and also vigorously expanded middle schools, normal schools, and Northeastern University to ensure that funds were allocated in full. The education circles in Feng Province reported a lot of favor to Mo Dehui, and when Mo Dehui was appointed to another place, the citizens of Shenyang even planned to hold a demonstration to keep him.

Mo Dehui has a high reputation in the Northeast, especially because he not only has the trust of Zhang Zuolin, but also Zhang Xueliang's closest supporter, which is why Zhang Xueliang entrusted him with the important task of this negotiation.

After reading the negotiation conditions drawn up by Song Zhewu, Mo Dehui couldn't help but praise repeatedly, "Okay! Good! ”。

"This Song Wenge is not only profound, but Wen Tao is also extremely clever. This condition of counter-negotiation will definitely make the negotiator of Lao Maozi cry. The compensation for these losses adds up to nearly 300 million yuan, and Lao Maozi can't get it anyway. ”

Zhang Xueliang laughed and said: "Their country is in chaos now, Wen Ge interrogated the Soviet prisoners of war and obtained information that Lao Maozi fought this border war, and even asked the people to donate, the military expenditure is insufficient, where is the money to give us compensation." ”

Mo Dehui thought for a while and reminded Zhang Xueliang: "Young marshal, this money Lao Maozi must not be able to afford it, but in this way, it will inevitably delay the negotiation time. ”

Zhang Xueliang said with great interest: "Liu Chen, this is natural, Wen Ge didn't expect Lao Maozi to agree to this clause, this is just the one that wants to deal with Lao Maozi and us to pay compensation." As for delaying the negotiations, this Wenge is well thought out. Look at the article about prisoners of war, Lion Wenge opened his mouth, and even said that Lao Maozi's tens of thousands of prisoners of war cost 100,000 yuan a day, and if it really costs 100,000 yuan, this treatment is even unaffordable for our soldiers in the Northeast Army. You say that Lao Maozi's captives can afford it? ”

"Lao Maozi costs 100,000 yuan a day for every delay, if they have money, then drag it. Otherwise, I won't let them go, and I'll be forced to do what Wenge said, and let the army take them to do coolies. As for the expenses of prisoners of war, Lao Maozi must pay them by the day, and not less than a day, and this point must be insisted on. ”

Mo Dehui also nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, we just want to use the prisoner of war issue to force Lao Maozi to negotiate with us as soon as possible." ”

After a pause, Mo Dehui pointed to the second clause and said with some concern: "The other clauses are fine, but is there something wrong with this second clause?" The ten-year income of the Middle East Road is a large amount, estimated to be ** million, or even more, if you agree to Lao Maozi's terms, the young marshal may inevitably be criticized by the people. Moreover, Song Wenge said in the clause that the repayment period 'lasts for 10 years, during which time, if the Chinese side does not make a profit on the Middle East Road, and the Chinese side does not give other compensation to the Soviet side, the year will still be included in the 10-year repayment period'. ”

Zhang Xueliang put away his smile and said with a heavy face: "Liu Chen, as soon as the treaty is signed, I, Zhang Xueliang, will inevitably be criticized by the people, and some people will even scold me Zhang Xueliang as a traitor, I also know this." You must know that the central government is now clamoring to take the opportunity to recover the land that was robbed by the Tsar during the Manchu Dynasty!"

Zhang Xueliang sighed and said: "It's just that this battle is not only unaffordable for Lao Maozi, but also for us!" This is not a matter of funding, but we alone in the Northeast, we can support this kind of expenditure for another year. It's not a question of money, it's a question of our army. In this border war, the Eastern Front was a mess, and if it weren't for the big victory on the Western Front, I don't know how it would have ended. The combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army urgently needs to be improved, and although the Northeast Army is still passable at home, it will show a clear gap as soon as it encounters the Soviet Army. To increase the combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army, it will take time. And Wenge and his Fourth Route Army are not our Northeast Army after all, and he will not stay in our Northeast all the time. ”

Zhang Xueliang shook his head and said happily: "After all, the Middle East Road was funded by Lao Maozi, and it should be redeemed by giving them some money, otherwise Lao Maozi has no steps to go down, and he is likely to be annoyed and angry, and fight with us again, then the war will be rekindled, and the people will suffer. ”

"As for the Wenge clause, 'for a period of 10 years, during this period, if the Chinese side does not make a profit on the Middle East Road, and the Chinese side does not give other compensation to the Soviet side, that year will still be included in the 10-year repayment period.' Is this ......" Speaking of this, Zhang Xueliang stopped talking.

To be honest, he didn't understand why Song Zhewu wrote so many sentences. The Middle East Road is now busy with capacity, even if it is impossible not to make a profit, and the profit will definitely get higher and higher, he really can't understand how the Middle East Road is not profitable?

After thinking for a while, Zhang Xueliang said categorically: "Wen Ge is cautious, he must have another deep meaning when he writes like this, so let's do it." ”

At the same time, Song Zhewu also sent another telegram to Zhang Xueliang, which was to explain to Zhang Xueliang that Chiang Kai-shek wanted him to recruit soldiers on the spot in the northeast. In this matter, it is necessary to greet Zhang Xueliang, the "landlord", otherwise Zhang Xueliang will definitely be dissatisfied, and if Zhang Xueliang does not cooperate, it will not even be able to recruit a single soldier in the northeast.

Regarding Song Zhewu's recruitment in the Northeast, Zhang Xueliang happily agreed. Chiang Kai-shek gave Song Zhewu another division about the establishment, and Zhang Xueliang had already been informed by the Nanjing Military and Political Department. Although China and the Soviet Union have temporarily ceased war, the Middle East Road issue has not yet been finally resolved, in case Lao Maozi does not give up, this border war will continue, and Song Zhewu has one more division, even if it is a new division that will not be useful for a while and a half, it is always good.

Moreover, Song Zhewu made great efforts for the war in the Northeast, not to mention recruiting only one division of recruits, even now that Song Zhewu wants to recruit 100,000 people, Zhang Xueliang will not say a word. What's more, there are tens of millions of people in the northeast, and there are millions of school-age youths, and there is no shortage of these tens of thousands of soldiers in the Northeast Army.

With Zhang Xueliang's nod, Song Zhewu naturally would not be polite anymore, and immediately summoned Li Wentian, Zhang Yafei, Han Guangdi, and Liang Zhongjia to arrange recruitment.

In accordance with Song Zhewu's request, Li Wentian was fully responsible for organizing all matters related to recruitment, and the Fourth Route Army set up recruitment offices in the three provincial capitals of Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang, and Han Guangdi and Liang Zhongjia, two heroes of resistance against the Soviet Union, were personally responsible for recruiting troops in Harbin and Shenyang.

For recruitment, Song Zhewu only has two requirements, one is that all soldiers must be in good health; The second is that there are as many young students as there are, and they don't matter whether they are male or female. He believes that as long as Han Guangdi and Liang Zhongjia appear, there will be a large number of hot-blooded young people who will come to join the army, and Song Zhewu has seen a lot of heroic effects in his previous life.

Song Zhewu meant that he wanted as much as he wanted, he would not stick to one division, not to mention that he had already had a way to block Zhang Xueliang's mouth.

After arranging the recruitment, Song Zhewu sent Zhang Xueliang another telegram, but his telegram startled Zhang Xueliang.

The content of Song Zhewu's telegram was very simple, that is, to remind Zhang Xueliang not to forget the promise made in Bahrain Zuoqi, and now it was time to hand over Gao Zhihang to him.

Before the war, in the Left Banner of Bahrain, Zhang Xueliang promised to let Gao Zhihang join the Fourth Route Army, and also promised that Song Zhewu could exchange Soviet prisoners for planes, and every 100 Soviet prisoners for one plane.

If you really want to change planes at this number, it will be 390. In this battle with the Soviet Army, Zhang Xueliang's old-fashioned planes lost dozens of planes on the Eastern Front, and the planes of the Northeast Army in the later period no longer dared to take off, and now Zhang Xueliang is not enough to give all his planes to Song Zhewu.

Although Song Zhewu only proposed to ask Gao Zhihang, he did not say that he wanted a plane, but in Zhang Xueliang's opinion, this may be because Song Zhewu was embarrassed to ask for a plane, so he used Gao Zhihang to remind him not to forget the promise about the plane.

At the beginning of the Left Banner in Bahrain, Zhang Xueliang absolutely did not expect that Song Zhewu and his Fourth Route Army not only won a battle in Manchuria, but also a great victory that everyone did not expect, Song Zhewu and his Fourth Route Army actually wiped out five divisions and one brigade of the Soviet Army on the Western Front!

When he received the telegram from Han Guangdi that night, Zhang Xueliang was stunned for a minute with the telegram, because he never thought that there would be such a big victory. Zhang Xueliang, who came to his senses, immediately excitedly took out 100,000 oceans out of his own pocket, and asked his guard battalion commander to lead people to buy all the firecrackers that could be bought in Shenyang City, and then let people set off them on the street for free to celebrate the victory.

The earth-shattering sound of firecrackers in Shenyang that night even alarmed Yue himself, and as far as he knew, all the soldiers of the South Manchurian Railway were nervously on guard for a night.

(To be continued)