In the front headquarters of the Jinsui Army in Dezhou, Yan Xishan did not rest, and at this moment he was wandering around the room with his hands behind his back.

Since Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Yinwu divided their troops, the war in Shandong began to go unwell, and Fu Zuoyi, who attacked Xuzhou, had not yet occupied Qufu, but was besieged by a steady stream of reinforcements from the Central Army. These central army reinforcements include Li Yunjie, Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, Yang Shengzhi, Feng Tiepei, Hu Bohan and other troops, and the troops are strong, because Fu Zuoyi's troops are weak, so they have to fight and retreat.

But when Chen Cheng, Hu Zongnan and other absolute main forces of the Central Army joined the battle group, and Li Shengda's Fourth Army of the Jin Sui Army was defeated, Fu Zuoyi had no choice but to retreat to Jinan.

Subsequently, because Chen Cheng led his troops to defeat the Feng Yuxi Department of the Jin Sui Army one after another, they occupied the palace and Loude Town; And after fierce battles with Fu Zuoyi on the front line of Lianhuayu, Huafeng and Ciyao, he captured the head of the world, the White Horse Temple. And along the railway line, through Wande, Zhangxia, Gushan, Dangjiazhuang, all the way to Jinan. Subsequently, he cooperated with Jiang Guangnai and Cai Tingkai's 61st and 60th Divisions to take Jinan, the capital of Shandong, in one fell swoop. This made the limited results that the Jin Sui army had only obtained after more than two months of hard fighting suddenly all come to naught.

Although Yan Xishan was a little unhappy about Fu Zuoyi's defeat, because Fu Zuoyi commanded properly, the losses of the troops were not large, and because the new recruits from Shanxi were continuously transported to the Shandong battlefield through the Pingsui Line and Zhengtai Road, Fu Zuoyi's troops were soon full again. Now in Datong Yang Chengyuan and Linfen Qin Shaoguan, there are tens of thousands of recruits who are waiting to replenish the front line.

Yan Xishan did not express his dissatisfaction with Fu Zuoyi's defeat, and there was another reason, that is, the vast majority of senior officers in the Jin Sui army, headed by Chief of Staff Gu Renfa and Artillery Commander Zhou Jue, did not think that the defeat was Fu Zuoyi's fault. They believed that Fu Zuoyi's failure was entirely due to too few troops. Of course, Yan Xishan also knew very well that these people were very strange that he Yan Xishan did not listen to dissuasion, insisted on going his own way, and insisted that Fu Zuoyi should go south with a thin division, and they all thought that the responsibility for this failure was borne by him Yan Xishan, but they were just not easy to say.

As soon as Yan Xishan thought of this, he regretted and helplessly, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He was forced to do so. According to Zhang Yinwu's secret report, he received a report in Beiping that 'Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Xueliang were in contact', and Zhang Xueliang had not made a clear statement on his position so far, which made Yan Xishan even more uneasy, and he could not help but be on guard.

In Yan Xishan's view, Fu Zuoyi voted for Zhang Xueliang in Zhuozhou, although it was because he was unable to relieve Fu Zuoyi, and he couldn't even blapping the rescue, out of his instructions, Fu Zuoyi went out of the city to accept Zhang Xueliang's adaptation. But Fu Zuoyi had close contact with Zhang Xueliang after all, and it can even be said that he was once Zhang Xueliang's subordinate. Moreover, according to the information he obtained, Zhang Xueliang also cherished Fu Zuoyi very much.

Since Fu Zuoyi has this "criminal record", in the current anti-Chiang coalition army and the Central Army are facing off on all fronts, and Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army is eyeing him behind him, for Zhang Yinwu's secret report, he Yan Xishan must have an attitude of rather believing what he has than believing it, which is also the reason why he insisted that Fu Zuoyi go south to Xuzhou with a meager force despite the opposition of the generals, and handed over most of the troops to Zhang Yinwu to deal with Han Fuyu who retreated to Jiaodong.

The purpose of his doing this is to separate Fu Zuoyi from Zhang Xueliang, who lives in Beidaihe, and the farther away the better. It is absolutely impossible to hand over the main force to Fu Zuoyi, who makes him uneasy. Although it is only a rumor that Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Xueliang have dealings, there is no evidence, and even he can't tell this rumor to the opposing generals. If the truth was told to them, Yan Xishan could imagine it, and they would unanimously think that he was suspicious.

But Yan Xishan doesn't see it that way, he thinks that just rumors of such a thing are enough, and if he waits until there is real evidence, then everything will become true.

However, Zhang Yinwu, who had a heavy army, was not angry, not only did he not fulfill his promise to drive Han Fuyu into the sea, but on the contrary, he was repeatedly counterattacked by Han Fuyu, if it were not for the fact that Han Fuyu and the Central Army under his command were not very strong, it was very possible for Han Fuyu to drive Zhang Yinwu down the Yellow River.

Although Jinan was lost, most of the Jin Sui army had now retreated across the Yellow River, and the good situation on the Shandong battlefield had been lost, Yan Xishan believed that these defeats were all tactical, and it was far from being a strategic failure, as long as Song Zhewu and Feng Yuxiang made a breakthrough on the Pinghan line, the current strategic situation would soon be reversed.

These things are okay to say, in fact, what bothers Yan Xishan the most is Zhang Xueliang, the son-in-law. Before Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek tore their faces, Zhang Xueliang not only sent Ge Guangting to Taiyuan several times to discuss anti-Chiang matters, but also took the initiative to express his interest in jointly sending troops. But once he really started a war with Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xueliang retracted again, not only did not explicitly mention the matter of opposing Chiang, but even avoided Jia Jingde, whom he sent to contact, even the arms he swore to support him were nowhere to be found. Zhang Xueliang stayed out of the matter as a bystander, to put it bluntly, he wanted to benefit from both sides, and then finally chose the side with great benefits to take refuge, and there was no faith at all.

What annoyed Yan Xishan the most was that Zhang Xueliang not only did not give him arms, but on the contrary, sold a large amount of arms to the Central Army. Although Zhang Xueliang slaughtered Chiang Kai-shek fiercely in terms of price, the asking price was even more than twice the market price. But what made Yan Xishan so angry that his nose was crooked, Chiang Kai-shek never bargained, and was willing to do this wrong.

Annoyed is annoyed, this is also something that can't be helped, who let Chiang Kai-shek control the central power and have a lot of money!

As soon as he thought of the problem of money, Yan Xishan was a little depressed, people are more popular than people, and what he said is true. Compared with Chiang Kai-shek, who was wealthy, he Yan Xishan can almost be said to be a beggar now. After he transferred 11 million oceans from the Shanxi Provincial Bank to the Tianjin HSBC Bank half a month ago, the Shanxi Provincial Bank now only has 4.5 million oceans left in reserve, and the 15.5 million oceans added to these two together is his Yan Xishan's last capital, and he will not use a penny of this money unless he has to. For the telegrams begging for military pay that flew like snowflakes everywhere, he could only grit his teeth and print Jin banknotes recklessly to deal with it.

The only thing that made him happy was that he and Wang Jingwei, who is now in Beiping, both believed that the reason why Zhang Xueliang couldn't make up his mind was because Chiang Kai-shek occupied the central government and had a lot of official positions and benefits to give the young master who loved face, so after discussing with Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren a month ago, they agreed to set up a new political axe in Beiping. After some bargaining with Wang Jingwei, he finally got his wish and sat on the throne of the chairman of the new political axe, and concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force.

Regarding the time when the new political axe was established, Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren all thought that the sooner the better, but he Yan Xishan didn't think so, this was what he Yan Xishan pursued all his life, and it was also the most important thing for him to go to the peak of his life.

He has always paid attention to feng shui, so he naturally wants to choose a good name that is very auspicious. After repeated calculations, Yan Xishan ignored everyone's opposition and tried his best to overcome public opinion, and set the date for the establishment of the new political axe at 9:09 on September 9. Although it will take a long time to wait, Yan Xishan thinks that it is worth waiting for the auspicious time of this 49.

After Yan Xishan firmly grasped several key positions of the New Deal Axe, he threw a big bait to Zhang Xueliang, who was staying in Beidaihe to watch the wind direction, and appointed Zhang Xueliang as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force of the New Deal Axe, and reluctantly promised that as long as Zhang Xueliang sent troops, Hebei, Rehe, Chahar, and Shandong would all be handed over to Zhang Xueliang for jurisdiction. Then, throwing a gang of power-hungry politicians in Beiping, he himself hurried back to Texas to clean up the chaos in Shandong.

Because of the tense fighting on the front line in the past few days, Han Fuyu and the Central Army's offensive was very fierce, it was already 1 o'clock in the morning, and Yan Xishan was not a little sleepy. He walked over to the large military map on the wall and pondered how he could get the most advantageous position for the Jin Sui army after Song Zhewu broke through the defense line of the central army on the Pinghan line.

At this time, his chief of staff, Gu Renfa, hurriedly walked in with a telegram. Judging from Gu Renfa's sleepy expression, it was obvious that he had just been woken up from his sleep. Seeing Gu Renfa's serious expression, Yan Xishan's heart couldn't help but tremble, "Could it be that something went wrong?" ”

At this time, what can wake Gu Renfa from his sleep is obviously not an ordinary telegram. Although Yan Xishan could still maintain his composure on the surface, he was extremely worried inside.

"Baigong, Feng Yuxiang is in a hurry."

As soon as he heard Feng Yuxiang's telegram, Yan Xishan's heart quietly dropped again.

During this time, Feng Yuxiang sent constant telegrams, almost every day, with only two contents: one was to ask him for military salaries and food and ammunition; The other is to ask him to urge Song Zhewu to join the war as soon as possible. But it was already early in the morning, and Feng Yuxiang obviously wouldn't bother him with these two things at this time, unless Feng Yuxiang had hysteria while sleeping.

But if it's not these two questions, what is it?

Although Lu Junlin and Xu Yongchang were nominally the former commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Second and Third Front Armies, in fact these two men were only able to command the troops of both sides of the Longhai Line to a limited extent, and Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang were still in actual command on the Jinpu Line and the Pinghan Line. At best, Lu Junlin and Xu Yongchang played the role of a coordinator between the two armies. Therefore, if Feng Yuxiang calls in person, it is basically a problem with the Pinghan line.

Yan Xishan doesn't care very much about what went wrong with the Pinghan Line, and even he gloated a little, haven't you Feng Huanzhang been boasting that the Northwest Army can fight well?

(To be continued)