"Jianqiu, I don't understand what you said, but now that the chairman of the committee has just been defeated, if I turn my back on him at this time, will I live up to my friendship with the chairman?" Unlike Miao Jianqiu's anger, Zhang Xueliang looked very helpless when he said this.

"Affection?" Miao Jianqiu didn't expect that Zhang Xueliang still remembered the friendship with Chang Kaishen at this time, and said with some hatred, "Young marshal, if it wasn't for helping your sworn brother win the Central Plains War, our Northeast Army poured all its main force into the pass, leaving only a little troops outside the pass, how could the three eastern provinces fall into the hands of the little devil so easily?" Have you forgotten the lesson of the young marshal at that time? The young marshal has affection for the chairman, and the chairman is not necessarily righteous to us, at this time, the Central Army is in a new defeat, and there is a lack of a scapegoat, does the young marshal want us to make the Northeast Army the scapegoat? ”

"We will not be scapegoats, and the chairman will not be so ruthless and unjust, the red bandits are big in the northwest, and the chairman still needs us to suppress the bandits for him." Although Zhang Xueliang said so, he didn't even dare to believe it, whether it was the chairman's attitude or the chance of success in exterminating the red bandits, it was very small, but he needed to appease the extreme emotions in the army.

"Bandits?" Although Miao Jianqiu had long been accustomed to Zhang Xueliang's naivety, he was still very disappointed when he heard this, and said a little desolately, "The Central Army has learned from the past, does the young marshal think that the current Northeast Army can exterminate the red bandits?" I'm afraid that before the battle has started, my brothers have already begun to fight each other, has the young marshal forgotten that the civil war and the contradictions between the two factions have become more and more serious? ”

"Jianqiu, the brother of the Shaozhuang faction, you can help me comfort me more, and I will persuade the elder faction more. Our Northeast Army is outcast, and we can only survive by uniting as one, and we must not cause internal contradictions. When it came to the internal contradictions of the Northeast Army, Zhang Xueliang also sighed and asked Miao Jianqiu to help him pacify the restless troops below.

"Hey...... Whether it is war or peace, the young marshal had better make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise he will wait for the contradictions in the army to gradually expand, and then it will only be the relatives and the enemies who are happy. Seeing that Zhang Xueliang couldn't be convinced, Miao Jianqiu had no choice but to say so.

"Does Jianqiu want me to join the Datong Party?" Where is it so easy to make a decision on the issue of war and peace, Zhang Xueliang asked directly at the moment.

"It's not about taking refuge, it's about cooperation." Miao Jianqiu was very depressed, why did everyone think that cooperating with the Datong Party was to join the Datong Party, "The Datong Party is now powerful, and it is just a flick of a finger to want to destroy us, but the Datong Party did not do so, why is this?" This is because the Datong Party prides itself on being a righteous army, and its external slogan is 'stop the civil war and unanimously resist,' and taking the initiative to provoke a war is only self-defeating, and it does not have any real benefits for it.

Now that the situation in North China is very tense, there is a possibility that a battle may break out at any time. Once the army entered North China, the young marshal thought, could the Chinese people continue to endure the army's policy of non-resistance? Even the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee was afraid that he would not dare to go against the anger of the people after the army entered North China, which shows that resisting the protests has become the most important and urgent matter at present.

One of the keys is that resistance has become the most anticipated thing for most of the countrymen, no matter how good the slogan is, at this time, you will be a sinner in China. ”

Miao Jianqiu said a lot, and Zhang Xueliang also felt very reasonable, and finally muttered: "What does Jianqiu want me to do?" ”

Seeing that Zhang Xueliang's attitude had finally improved a lot, Miao Jianqiu was very happy, and continued while the iron was hot: "The young marshal doesn't need to do much, he just needs to conform to the slogan of the Datong Party and persuade the chairman to stop the civil war and unanimously resist." ”

"But ......" Miao Jianqiu said so simply, how can it be so easy to advise, if the enemy is another warlord, the matter is much simpler, but the Datong Party is a thorn in Chang Kaishen's eyes, that is, smashing the pot and selling iron must be completely eliminated.

Zhang Xueliang showed an embarrassed expression, Miao Jianqiu's mood that had just been happy suddenly fell to a low point again, and he said a little eagerly: "It's all at this juncture, what else is there for the young marshal?" ”

"Doesn't Jianqiu know that the chairman of the committee hates the Datong Party to the core, and he wants to get rid of it as soon as possible, so where is it so simple to ask the chairman to let go of his hatred for the Datong Party?" Zhang Xueliang shook his head and sighed.

Zhang Xueliang said, Miao Jianqiu didn't know where, and said hatefully: "The righteousness of resistance is in front, and if you can't let go, you have to let go, isn't the Datong Party's hatred for the chairman less than the chairman's hatred for the Datong Party?" The Datong Party can be put down, why can't the chairman? If the chairman of the committee is really unwilling to let go, then it is up to us to force the chairman to let go. ”

"Jian Qiu, you are trying to trap me in injustice." Seeing that Miao Jianqiu wanted to force Chang Kaishen to resist, Zhang Xueliang said very sadly.

"It's not that we want to trap the young marshal in injustice, but we have no choice, whether to fight or peace, and ask the young marshal to make a decision as soon as possible." Seeing that Zhang Xueliang couldn't be convinced, after saying the last sentence, Miao Jianqiu took the initiative to leave.

After Miao Jianqiu left, the irritability in Zhang Xue's conscience increased instead of decreasing, and he even had a feeling of emptiness, and his good friend was afraid that he would part ways with him soon.

Not long after Miao Jianqiu left, Wan Fulin also came to him on behalf of the patriarch, and said a little angrily in the first sentence of entering the door: "Young marshal, I just saw Miao Jianqiu's kid leave from you, did they come to persuade the young marshal to join the Datong Party?" ”

"Take refuge? How could Captain Wan think that? Jianqiu just hopes that I can cooperate with the Datong Party to fight against him. After asking Wan Fulin to sit down, Zhang Xueliang said slowly.

"Cooperative resistance? It's easy to say, the young marshal must not listen to these young people, they think things are too simple, all with enthusiasm, how can they do great things? Wan Fulin shook his head and said.

"Cooperating with the Datong Party is a big deal, and it is impossible for me to make a decision alone, just now I persuaded Jianqiu to act calmly." Zhang Xueliang said with a haha.

"The young marshal is right, one person is short, everyone is long, and some major matters still need to gather everyone's suggestions in order to make the best choice, of course, the marshal is so good at listening and knowing, so we can lay down the family business of our Northeast Army." Zhang Xueliang played haha, and Wan Fulin naturally also played haha, and pulled out Zhang Zuolin as he spoke.

Thinking of his father, Zhang Xueliang's face couldn't help but gloomy, and he couldn't help but sigh: "I can only hate my father being persecuted by myself, but I have no ability to avenge my father. ”

Hearing Zhang Xueliang's words, Wan Fulin couldn't help but secretly scolded himself for being cheap, which pot is not opened, why do you want to mention the boss and handsome, and pretended to be gloomy at the moment: "What the young marshal said is that the little devil occupies my homeland and takes my property to humiliate my sister and kill my relatives, and this revenge will have to be found sooner or later." It's just that now the little devil's national strength is strong, and our Northeast Army is rootless duckweed, and if you want to take revenge, you have more than enough heart but not enough strength. ”

Speaking of the current situation of the Northeast Army, Zhang Xueliang couldn't help but sigh, he has been scolded outside for not resisting generals, but who knows that money is needed to fight. There is no money, where is the weapons and ammunition; Without money, where can you afford to raise hundreds of thousands of troops; Without money, who is willing to die for himself when fighting and charging.

Even if there is enough money in hand, the strong national strength of the little devil is not something that the Northeast Army can win alone, and if the other warlord troops do not help, the three eastern provinces will eventually fall into the hands of himself, and his own Northeast Army will all be buried in the three eastern provinces.

But it is even more difficult to get the help of other warlord forces than the sun coming out of the west, who does not want to see their northeastern army defeated by the Yue army, it is better to destroy it completely, and then they will have one less powerful competitor on the road to supremacy.

All these factors were mixed together, but no one paid attention to them, and they only saw that they had abandoned the three eastern provinces without resistance, and in this way, they blamed him alone.

Seeing Zhang Xueliang's lonely expression, Wan Fulin adjusted his tone and continued: "Young Marshal, I say that my national strength is strong, and the navy and army are the first in the Far East, and it is impossible for us to win the battle with the Northeast Army alone. However, if we can unify all of them and do our best to make the whole country do our best, we should be able to compete with myself, and then we will ask the international community to mediate, and I will definitely withdraw from China under international pressure. Therefore, he held that the chairman's policy of 'settling the interior before attacking the outside world' is very correct, and only by uniting the strength of the whole country can we have the strength to fight a war with the army. ”

After being comforted by Wan Fulin for a few words, Zhang Xueliang was in a much better mood, but when he heard him talk about the chairman's "outside must first be at ease", he couldn't help but ask: "What does Commander Wan mean that we should continue to suppress bandits and help the chairman eliminate the Datong Party, a big trouble?" ”

"Isn't that what we've been doing?" Wan Fulin asked rhetorically.

"But the Red Bandit Army is now powerful, and even the ace main force of the Central Army is not the opponent of the Red Bandit Army, where does our Northeast Army have the ability to exterminate the Red Bandit Army?" Zhang Xueliang really didn't expect that Wan Fulin and others would still be delusional about exterminating the Datong Party, and this suggestion was not as good as Miao Jianqiu.

"This ......" Wan Fulin said happily, but he forgot about this stubble, and he didn't know what to say for a while, so he held back for a while before he said, "Young marshal, the Datong Party and the chairman of the committee are all the same dogs, and their eyes can only tolerate their own interests, where is the position of our Northeast Army." In the present situation, we should just sit back and watch what happens, and if the chairman wants to fight, we will sit back and wait for the main force of the Central Army to arrive and follow the action, and if the Central Army does not come, we will find all kinds of excuses to delay the march. ”

"What if the Red Bandit Army takes the initiative to attack?" Zhang Xueliang asked angrily.

"The Red Bandit Army will not take the initiative to attack." At this point, Wan Fulin is very sure and looks very confident, "The Red Bandit Army itself played the slogan of 'stop the civil war and fight together', this is because they have dug a hole for themselves, in order to fill this hole, the Red Bandit Army will not take the initiative to attack us." Therefore, as long as we do not take the initiative to provoke the Red Bandit Army, the Red Bandit Army will not come to attack us on its own initiative, so that the two armies can maintain a delicate peace. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Xueliang felt that Wan Fulin and the others were not old and confused, and the Datong Party was now powerful, and it was just a fool's behavior to take the initiative to be hostile, so he asked: "In this case, how can the Datong Party deal with it?" ”

Zhang Xueliang said that it was naturally a matter of cooperation and resistance, and Wan Fulin answered: "Thinking of it as a snake, the Northeast Army is now sandwiched between the two powers, and it should focus on protecting itself." Moreover, now that the situation in the north is urgent, the army may move south at any time, and when the time comes, I am afraid that no one will be able to bear the responsibility of not resisting, and everyone will stand up and resist, and the chairman of the committee will bear the brunt. Under such circumstances, we will also be transferred to the front line to fight against the Yue army, regardless of whether we can win or not, at least the brothers' desire to fight with the Yue army will be fulfilled, and the Northeast Army will be more united, and it is even possible to regain the foundation of the three eastern provinces after defeating the Yue army. ”

Although Wan Fulin's words are good, they are very troublesome in practice, especially in the end, to recapture the three eastern provinces, which is even more nonsense. With the infamy of the Northeast Army today, it is extremely difficult to replenish the troops, and when others hear that they will lose the Northeast Army in the three eastern provinces without resistance, they are afraid that they will not be able to avoid it, where will they be soldiers under you.

The number of troops cannot be replenished, the 200,000 Northeast Army seems to be a lot, and it will soon be exhausted after a few more battles on the battlefield, and when the time comes, let alone recapture the Northeast, it is not even certain whether the Northeast Army can be saved.

Zhang Xueliang, who was helpless, had to appease Wan Fulin for a few words, and finally sent him away amicably, leaving him alone on the ceiling, thinking about where the Northeast Army would go in the future.

Considering the situation of the three parties, Zhang Xueliang's thinking not only did not become clear, but became more and more confused, and in the end he simply chose to sit back and watch the changes, and first see the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee's reaction to the failure of the northwest encirclement and suppression campaign before making a decision.

During the waiting period, the young Zhuang faction and the patriarchal faction also sent people from time to time to admonish and tempt, but in the end they were pushed back by him in a way of harmony, and they were really annoyed, and finally simply took the guards out to hunt, out of sight and out of mind, so that they could be quiet and rational.

Soon after, the telegram from the chairman of the committee came, and Zhang Xueliang's tense spirit was finally relaxed, and after the telegram of loyalty in front of them, the chairman of the committee really did not get angry with the Northeast Army because of the destruction of the first army in the world, but comforted Zhang Xueliang in the telegram, asking him to take good care of the Northeast Army under his command, appease the unstable morale of the army caused by "On the Songhua River" as soon as possible, and wait for the arrival of the Central Army to exterminate the red bandits in the northwest together.

Just let go of a worrying matter, a new problem was placed in front of Zhang Xueliang, that is, the Northeast Army ran out of food again.

Since the loss of the three eastern provinces, the Northeast Army has lost its economic resources, and begged his father to tell his grandmother to get a little food and salary from the central political axe, so he had to become a thug in the hands of the Central Army.

Despite this, food shortages will still occur frequently, resulting in the generals of the Northeast Army, although they have strong soldiers, they have to beg those logistics officials with low eyebrows and smiles, just to get a little more food.

If it were usual, where would a soldier suffer such humiliation, and the barrel of the gun would light up there, who would dare to say no.

However, since 918, the whole country has infinitely spurned the Northeast Army, you dare to move the gun a little, others immediately scolded all kinds of vicious words, the most common is to say that the Northeast Army is so majestic, holding the gun and not daring to put it right with Xiao Yueben, only dare to use it to bully and bully their own compatriots.

Northeast men have always been hot-blooded, and they love face the most, they are cursed like this, no matter how fierce they were before, they have no face to continue to rely on the weapons in their hands to continue to show off their might.

In addition, even if the Northeast Army held silver dollars in their hands, many merchants were reluctant to do business with them, and even if they were willing to do business, the price was several times more expensive than usual, so that the silver money in the hands of the Northeast Army disappeared quickly like flowing water, but they couldn't buy much food.

Under such circumstances, when the Northeast Army was urging for food, it generally did not need silver dollars as long as the grain, because the silver dollars in the hands of the Northeast Army could not buy anything of the same price.

In order to win the battle of encirclement and suppression in the northwest, the central political axe had already prepared a batch of food and salary for the Northeast Army, but the central army was defeated too quickly, so that most of it was not delivered. Although Chang Kaishen didn't want to anger the Northeast Army on the surface, delaying the arrival of food and salary as a punishment was also a method, although there was no direct order, the personnel below were very good at figuring out their intentions, and they all deliberately stopped halfway.

After the news of the food shortage came, Zhang Xueliang had already guessed that it was the chairman's warning to him, and he couldn't help but be very disappointed.

As the time of food shortages became longer and longer, the internal instability of the Northeast Army became more and more unstable, Miao Jianqiu and other young Zhuang factions stepped up their persuasion of him, and the veteran faction also had their own minds, and there was a possibility of breaking up the gang and defecting to the Central Army at any time.

Just when Zhang Xueliang was anxious, Yang Hucheng, the director of the Northwest Battalion and the commander of the 17th Route Army, suddenly found him at this time and brought him a lot of food to relieve his urgent needs.

When he saw Yang Hucheng, Zhang Xueliang was very happy, took Yang Hucheng's hands and said gratefully: "Commander Yang is really the savior of our army, if Commander Yang comes a day late, I am afraid that my Northeast Army will fall apart." ”

"The young marshal is polite, you and I are both cadres of the party and the state, and it is natural for us to solve each other's problems, I only hate that I am a few days late, and I have caused the brothers of the Northeast Army to suffer." Unlike Zhang Xueliang's sincere gratitude, the smile on Yang Hucheng's face was very polite, but Zhang Xueliang didn't pay attention at all at this time.

After a simple courtesy, Zhang Xueliang welcomed Yang Hucheng into his own line, and arranged a high-level banquet, which was attended by all the senior generals of the Northeast Army. At the banquet, everyone drank and talked happily, and they were very grateful to Yang Hucheng for his generosity, and after wandering in the customs for so many years, this was the first time that someone took the initiative to help them.

After the banquet was dispersed, the other generals of the Northeast Army had already returned, but when Zhang and Yang were left, Zhang Xueliang was still grateful to Yang Hucheng, but Yang Hucheng suddenly said: "The young marshal is too famous, in fact, the little food I sent can't last long, and the young marshal should find another way out as soon as possible." ”