Tao Rong thought about it and said, "Commander-in-chief, but what if Tang Shengzhi comes to the commander-in-chief to ask for someone?" and Hu Yisan's death, we have to give him and Nanjing an explanation. ”

Song Zhewu said with a smile: "Didn't Chief of Staff Cai Tao say that Tang Shengzhi is the most subordinate to protect his shortcomings!" Don't say that we hold on to his hundreds of deserters, even if Hu Yisan dies alone, he won't stop. Therefore, Tang Shengzhi will definitely come, but he is not here to ask for someone, he will come to me desperately. Moreover, even if Tang Shengzhi personally came to ask for someone, I wouldn't give it to him. These people will definitely die after they go back, and if I hand them over to Tang Shengzhi, it is equivalent to me Song Zhewu indirectly killing them, which is hundreds of lives! Don't say it's Tang Shengzhi, even Han Fuyu's people, I will do the same. Wearing a military uniform is my soldier, and I, Song Zhewu, will not let my people suffer. ”

Tao Rong looked at Song Zhewu with some surprise and asked, "Does the commander-in-chief mean that Tang Shengzhi will use force with us?" ”

Song Zhewu nodded and said, "This may be a big surname." ”

Tao Rong was even more surprised, and asked again in surprise: "We are now nominally under the leadership of the central government, and we are friendly troops, even if Tang Shengzhi is angry, he will also go to Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan to complain, and he will not use swords with us, right?" If the commander-in-chief thinks that Tang Shengzhi is going to use force, then why aren't we ready yet? ”

Song Zhewu looked at Tao Rong and Li Wentian and said with a smile: "The complaint is certain, and the use of force will also be possible, but we don't need to prepare." ”

Looking at Song Zhewu with a smile on his face, Li Wentian understood a little, and hesitated and said, "Does the commander-in-chief mean that we withdraw?" ”

Li Wentian said this, Tao Rong also understood what Song Zhewu meant, he had long felt that he was in the training ground, and Song Zhewu did not have any explanation, so he let go of the wounded people of the Fifth Route Army, and did not even apologize with false feelings, which was very inappropriate, and he thought that Song Zhewu was angry that Tang Shengzhi did not see him at the station. Originally, he wanted to persuade him, but now he finally understood that Song Zhewu was deliberately provoking Tang Shengzhi, and if the two armies clashed, their Fourth Route Army would have an excuse to withdraw to Laiyuan. Song Zhewu sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek asking him to withdraw the source, but he has not heard back from Chiang Kai-shek so far, and Tao Rong knows that this must be Chiang Kai-shek's unwillingness to let Song Zhewu go back. But if there is really an armed conflict with Tang Shengzhi's Fifth Route Army, then one side must leave Henan.

Seeing Tao Rong's thoughtful look, Song Zhewu explained: "I also had this idea when I saw Hu Yisan's death, we asked to return to Laiyuan, Yan Xishan has agreed, but Chiang Kai-shek has not heard back to us for a long time, I believe that Yan Xishan must have informed Chiang Kai-shek that we want to go back." Chiang Kai-shek's delay in agreeing will make it difficult for us to do it, if we don't leave, Yan Xishan will think that we will listen to Chiang Kai-shek more, and from then on alienate and guard against us, and even kill us; If we don't wait for Chiang Kai-shek's consent to leave, we will have the same consequences. I'm in a dilemma, Tang Shengzhi solved a big problem for me, and he did us a great favor this time! ”

Tao Rong nodded and said: "That's true, we have to offend one party whether we go or not, we can take this opportunity to withdraw to Laiyuan, this matter is not too late, I think we will evacuate Zhengzhou overnight." ”

Song Zhewu nodded and said: "You can withdraw overnight, but before we leave, we still have to do a few things, after a while, Chief of Staff Tao sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan, saying that Hu Yisan, the chief of the Military Law Division of the Fifth Route Army, forcibly broke into our barracks without the consent of our Fourth Route Army, and the two sides clashed, accidentally injuring Hu Yisan to death, and all the perpetrators had absconded in fear of crime. In order to avoid the aggravation of the conflict between the two armies, our troops took the initiative to retreat to the north bank of the Yellow River and waited for orders. ”

Seeing that Tao Rong had finished recording, Song Zhewu said again: "Order a regiment to strengthen the Huayuankou position, and the cavalry brigade will do a good job of guarding the area south of Zhengzhou, so as to cut off the whole army." Zhang Yafei commanded the 1st Regiment and the Cavalry Brigade in a unified manner, and once the Fifth Route Army approached the position of our army at Huayuankou, it could be severely attacked. The rest of the troops retreated across the Yellow River overnight. ”

Li Wentian said: "Commander-in-chief, chief of staff, our troops are strong and strong, Tang Shengzhi may not brazenly use force against us, I see if we can order the cavalry brigade, as long as we find traces of the Fifth Route Army near Zhengzhou, we will take the initiative to attack, provoke Tang Shengzhi, and make the conflict a fait accompli, so that Chiang Kai-shek just doesn't want us to go, and we can't resolve the contradiction between us and Tang Shengzhi." ”

Song Zhewu nodded with a smile and said, "Okay, Canxuan's method is better, so let's do it." This time, even if Tang Shengzhi doesn't want to fight, he can't do it, we have to force him to do it with us. ”

In Tang Shengzhi's headquarters in Zhumadian in southern Henan, Tang Shengzhi was playing Go with his first think tank, Master Gu.

Tang Shengzhi is in his forties, although he is not very handsome, a pair of gold-rimmed eyes on the bridge of his nose adds a lot of elegance to him, and a well-trimmed black beard brings him a little majesty, but a pair of tricky ears are a little defeated.

Master Gu is a middle-aged man wearing a monk's robe but not ordained, Master Gu's Dharma name is Jingyuan, his surname is Gu, and his common name is Boxu. A native of Wujin, Jiangsu (some say he was from Yangzhou), a Buddhist tantric layman. Gu Boxu believed in Buddhism, but did not approve of the ordination of self-harm, so he became a layman.

Master Gu and Tang Shengzhi met in the sixteenth year of the Republic of China, and both of them had the feeling of hating each other, and Tang obeyed him and respected him as a teacher. When he was still in Hunan, Tang Shengzhi built a "Second School Garden" in Changsha for Master Gu as a place for Gu's lectures and teachings. Gu regularly preaches the Dharma. Because of Tang Shengzhi, the commander, Tang Shengzhi's subordinates and military officials at that time surrendered to Gu's disciples.

Master Gu behaved abnormally. Buddhists should be pure-hearted, but he has six wives, the eldest of whom is no more than 30 years old and the youngest is only 17 years old. Although he advised people to quit killing, he was not a vegetarian, and slaughtered ducks and chickens every day, and the strange thing was that he only ate the internal organs of chickens and ducks, and gave the rest to others. At the same time, he is a good drinker, and can drink two large bottles of brandy at a time.

In the second year of Master Gu's arrival in Tang Shengzhi's department, Hunan was plagued by mist and rain, and people were uneasy. Tang Shengzhi asked Master Gu for advice. "I can set up an altar and pray for peace." Master Gu said with a smile. Outside the south gate of Hengyang, a high platform was set up according to Gu's instructions, and eight boys and girls were fasting and bathing. In the continuous rain, Master Gu ascended the altar to chant mantras, and performed like this, perhaps by coincidence, the rain suddenly stopped and the clouds opened, and the sun was released. Thousands of people and soldiers in the audience shouted long live, and from then on, the soldiers and civilians of Hengyang respected Master Gu like a god.

Although Tang Shengzhi didn't believe that Master Gu's magic power was boundless, he still valued his mind and vision very much. When Ning Han was divided, Wang Jingwei tried his best to win over Feng Yuxiang, but he was unwilling to give Feng Yuxiang too high an official position, Master Gu thought that Wang Jingwei was short-sighted, and Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army would be the decisive force that would determine who would eventually become the leader of the country, and persuaded Tang Shengzhi many times to persuade Wang Jingwei. However, Tang Shengzhi did not listen to Master Gu's advice, because Tang Shengzhi was very afraid that Feng Yuxiang would replace him as the military leader of the Wuhan political axe, because the price offered by Wuhan was too low, Feng Yuxiang finally chose to throw himself into Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing political axe, this result can be said to be the main reason for the failure of Tang Shengzhi's eastern expedition and the resignation of Wuhan political axe.

Tang Shengzhi and Master Gu both have very good chess skills, at this time this game of chess is nearing the end, on the chessboard Tang Shengzhi and Master Gu each occupy two corners, fighting fiercely with each other. The difference is that Tang Shengzhi's forces are mainly in the mid-abdomen, while Master Gu is relying on the corner field and constantly encroaching on Tang Shengzhi's field in the mid-abdomen. After the failure of a key robbery, Tang Shengzhi's power in the middle of the belly was broken, and the power of Master Gu's white chess smoothly entered the middle belly, and Tang Shengzhi's black chess power in the middle of the belly immediately collapsed, and Tang Shengzhi had no choice but to admit defeat.

Pushing away the chessboard, Tang Shengzhi stood up and said with a wry smile: "The master's chess skills are getting better and better, and Meng Xiao is willing to bow down." ”

Master Gu looked at Tang Shengzhi with a smile and said: "Commander-in-chief, it's not that Jingyuan is perfecting his chess skills, but that the middle belly is actually the place of the four battles, although it seems to be huge, but in fact it is necessary to fortify everywhere, and there are great risks. ”

Tang Shengzhi, who looked at the thinking, said with a pun: "The Central Plains is helpless, but it can't catch up with the stability of the corner land. ”

Master Gu's words, Tang Shengzhi understood, that is, he wanted to give up his plan to dominate the Central Plains. But Tang Shengzhi was not reconciled, this Central Plains land once belonged to him, and he was once only one step away from the throne of the supreme military governor of the Republic of China. While Tang Shengzhi was pacing indoors, he couldn't help but think of the glory of the past.

In June 1926, Tang Shengzhi announced that he was appointed commander of the Eighth Army of the National Revolutionary Army and commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and officially joined the Northern Expeditionary Army. With the assistance of his four major generals, He Jian, Li Pinxian, Liu Xing, and Zhou Lan, he swept through Hunan and occupied Changsha alone, and was appointed chairman of the Hunan Provincial Political Axe.

In September, Tang Shengzhi personally led the Eighth Army He Jian and Xia Douyin divisions from Jiayu to cross the river to occupy Dajunshan and Caidian, Hubei Provincial Governor Liu Zuolong retreated eastward without a fight, 6 He Jian, Liu Xing, Xia Douyin Division conquered Hanyang, 7 said to occupy Hankou, Wu Peifu and Jin Yunju left Hankou and retreated north to Xiaogan, 9 said to occupy Huangpi, 10 said Liu Xing to occupy Xiaogan, Wu Peifu retreated to Xinyang, 16 said that Liu Xing's division Kewusheng Pass, Xia Douyin's division Keping Jingguan, Li Pinxian's division Kejiuli Pass, Chiang Kai-shek's attack on Wuchang was even said to be Buke, and 17 said that Chiang Kai-shek left Wuchang and transferred to Jiangxi Governor, Tang Shengzhi, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, was in charge of the affairs of Hubei and acted as chairman of the Hubei Provisional Political Conference. Under the command of Tang Shengzhi, the Wuchang defenders were divided and disintegrated, and in October, the Wuchang defenders responded to the court regiment, and Chen Mingshu, the tenth division of the Fourth Army, entered the city, captured Wu Peifu's generals Liu Yuchun and Chen Jiamo, Wuchang Kefu, and Wu Peifu's main force was basically wiped out. Tang Shengzhi was also promoted to a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang and a member of the Provisional Joint Conference of the Kuomintang on the 13th.

In January 1927, Chiang Kai-shek participated in the military aftermath conference in Nanchang, and advocated the invasion of Nanjing and Shanghai, while Tang Shengzhi led the march to Henan. On the 20th, Tang Shengzhi was appointed chairman of the Military System Review Committee of the Wuhan National Political Axe Military Committee. On the 25th, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and led the fourth, eighth, eleventh, and fifteenth armies to advance along the Jinghan Line through Wusheng Pass.

In February, Tang Shengzhi vigorously expanded the troops of the original Eighth Army into four armies (Tang Shengzhi, commander of the Eighth Army, Ye Qi, commander of the Twelfth Army, He Jian, commander of the 35th Army, and Liu Xing, commander of the 36th Army) of 60,000 people, and controlled the military and political power of Lianghu. In March, Tang Shengzhi forced Chen Mingshu, commander of the Wuhan garrison and commander of the 11th Army, to succeed him as commander of the garrison, and on 11 November he was elected as a member of the Wuhan Military Commission, a member of the presidium of the Central Military Commission, and a member of the National Political Axe Committee.

On April 12, Chiang Kai-shek carried out a massacre in Shanghai, and the Wuhan Nationalist Axe removed Chiang Kai-shek from his post as commander-in-chief. On April 18, the Wuhan National Political Axe held a swearing-in ceremony for the Northern Expedition, and Tang Shengzhi was appointed commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, which was the opportunity for Tang Shengzhi to get closest to the throne of the supreme military leader of the National Political Axe. Subsequently, Tang Shengzhi personally led the three-way army into Henan, defeated the Feng army several times, and drove the Feng army, which even Feng Yuxiang was helpless, out of Henan in only one month......

On December 12 of the 16th year of the Republic of China, Tang Shengzhi was besieged by various factions led by the Gui family and was forced to go to the east to cross to the east. Most of his troops were absorbed by the Gui family, which made Tang Shengzhi in Yueben not only disheartened, but even considered becoming a monk for a time, and spent the rest of his life quietly facing the morning bell and dusk drums.

What he didn't expect was that Chiang Kai-shek, who had returned to power, had been in the field for less than a year before he was in the wilderness, in order to deal with the Gui family, support him to re-emerge from the mountains and recapture part of the troops he had just lost.

In the past year in Xiaye, Tang Shengzhi calmed down and thought about many things, of course, what he thought about the most was the reason why he was defeated in Xiaye.

Tang Shengzhi believed that there were two main reasons for his defeat: one was that he was too arrogant and believed too much in his own strength, thinking that with his Tang Shengzhi's intelligence and ability, he could compete with Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, when he was in Lianghu, he had always been domineering, with no friends, only opponents and enemies, and in the end, not to mention fighting with Chiang Kai-shek, even Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi could lead a group of small warlords who were usually oppressed by him and had a stomach full of resentment, and beat him into defeat; The second is to have a territory that truly belongs to you. During the Northern Expedition, although he was the chairman of Hunan Province, because Wang Jingwei was in Wuhan, he had been busy with the military affairs of Wuhan and his control over Hunan was relatively weak, which gave He Jian the opportunity to take the opportunity of him to go to Henan to supervise the war, and instructed Xu Kexiang to launch the "Ma Yue Incident" in Changsha, which shook his foundation in Hunan.

After going out of the mountain again this time, Tang Shengzhi mainly did three things: First, having learned a lesson, he sent his cronies to contact various factions everywhere, although he had concerns about trying to protect himself, but the implicit meaning was that he wanted to fight with Chiang Kai-shek at the right time. For example, he sent his confidant Yuan Shiquan to contact Yan Xishan, and he had received a positive response from Yan Xishan, agreeing to support each other with him, and asked Yuan Shiquan to bring back a batch of food, ordnance, and even 600,000 oceans, and promised to allocate a batch of weapons to him from Beiping. This is because with the support of Yan Xishan, Tang Shengzhi has now privately expanded his army by 10,000 people.

Tang Shengzhi understood that this was Yan Xishan who was also afraid that Chiang Kai-shek would clean him up if he turned against him, and if he joined forces with Tang Shengzhi, he would have another strength. And Tang Shengzhi valued Yan Xishan more in Shanxi, Suiyuan and Hebei, once he and Chiang Kai-shek turned their faces, at least there would be a stable rear, so that they would not be embattled. Of course, for Yan Xishan's support, Tang Shengzhi also has to pay a sufficient price, and this price is that once the time is ripe, Yan Xishan will be the commander-in-chief and Tang Shengzhi will be the deputy commander to jointly fight against Jiang and force Jiang to go into the wilderness. At this stage, it is the two who join forces to prevent Chiang Kai-shek from being broken by each other.

Regarding the matter of agreeing to support Yan Xishan as the commander-in-chief, Master Gu took a lot of effort to convince Tang Shengzhi. Where would the arrogant Tang Shengzhi tolerate Yan Xishan, the old man of Shanxi, who was in the upper position, he was unwilling, Master Gu tried his best to persuade Tang Shengzhi, Tang Shengzhi also knew that his strength was limited now, and if he wanted to make a difference, he had to endure humiliation and burden, and he would be able to compete with Yan Xishan before his strength. So, the two hit it off, of course, such a thing is extremely secret.

For another powerful force in the north, Feng Yuxiang and his Northwest Army, Tang Shengzhi did not consider it at all. He was very disgusted with Feng Yuxiang, and Tang Shengzhi always thought that if Feng Yuxiang hadn't abandoned the Wuhan political axe and supported Chiang Kai-shek instead, he should have been Tang Shengzhi instead of Chiang Kai-shek in the position of chairman of the Nanjing National Political Axe Military Committee. Therefore, he would never go to Feng Yuxiang, he was afraid that he would be sold by Feng Yuxiang again. Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek is now crusading against him Feng Yuxiang, he Tang Shengzhi is still fledgling, and now he has no capital to do anything with Chiang Kai-shek, if he contacts Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek will not care about cleaning him up now.

Contacts with other forces were also smooth, and Tang Shengzhi found that there were many people who were dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek, such as Cheng Qian and He Jian in Hunan, Liu Wenhui, Tian Songrao, and Deng Xihou in Sichuan, all of whom promised to join forces with him to oppose Chiang Kai-shek at an appropriate time. There was also a person who had just been sent to Kaifeng to contact Han Fuyu who also sent back news that Han Fuyu had promised to support and support each other with him. Some smaller forces simply defected to him, such as Deng Baoshan's former Fifth Army of the Northwest Army, which belonged to Qiu Weijun's Southern Route Army before the Second Northern Expedition, and after Qiu Weijun defected to Chiang Kai-shek, Deng Baoshan was unwilling to surrender to Chiang, and his troops were stranded in southern Henan; There is also Wang Jinyu, the former subordinate of Sun Chuanfang, who is now appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the Ninth Army of the Rebel Army, and also brought troops to him. Although Tang Shengzhi's basic army now has only one Eighth Army, there are now more than 80,000 troops under his command.

(To be continued)