However, when the happy Yan Xishan and Song Zhewu came to Feng Yuxiang's headquarters in Bishagang together, especially Yan Xishan told Feng Yuxiang as if showing off that he had handed over Suiyuan and Inner Mongolia to Song Zhewu, and Song Zhewu had promised to give up Henan, he still almost made Feng Yuxiang half angry, then Inner Mongolia was a "masterless" place, why didn't he think of it?

Although Feng Yuxiang regretted and disappointed, he still warmly received Yan Xishan and Song Zhewu without changing his face.

The battle plan of the Second and Third Front Armies brought by Yan Xishan was still based on the plan agreed upon by Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan when he was in Taiyuan, and the changes were not very great, only because the various units had made some minor adjustments due to the different times of arrival in the designated areas due to the different times of their arrival at the designated areas due to the route and other reasons.

The main content of the battle plan is to continue to take Xuzhou and Wuhan as the first phase of the operation target, and to attack from Jinpu, Longhai, and Pinghan in three directions. On the Jinpu Road, the Third Front Army served as the main attack, and the offensive was taken as the target of Xuzhou; On the Longhai and Pinghan roads, because the Second Front Army was transferred from the northwest to the east, it took time to concentrate on the two roads, so it was temporarily taken on offensive defense. For the time being, the Longhai Line also took the Third Front Army as the main force, and Sun Dianying, Wan Xuancai, Liu Maoen, Liu Chunrong and Shi You's Third Division were all under the direct command of Xu Yongchang, the former commander-in-chief of the Third Front Army; The Pinghan Line was dominated by the Second Front Army, with Fan Zhongxiu's troops cooperating. In the triangle east of Pinghan Road and south of Longhai Road, it is fortified in the line of Lanfeng, Musi County, Fugou and Xuchang. With about 100,000 troops of the Fourth and Fifth Route Armies of the Second Front Army as mobile reserves, they were controlled in Tongxu, Weishi, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and other places to deal with all sides.

If the main force of the Central Army attacks the Jinpu line, this army will drive Bengbu for a long time to threaten the rear of the Central Army; If the main force of the Central Army attacked from the Pinghan Line, this army would turn to the direction of Wushengguan and respond to the frontal troops on two fronts to divert the offensive.

To say that the biggest change is that Yan Xishan proposed in this new plan that since the Second and Third Front Armies were to launch attacks in the three directions of Pinghan, Longhai, and Jinpu, these battlefields would run through almost half of China from west to east, and the territory was vast, and it was very difficult for each battlefield to coordinate its actions, and it was necessary to set up a former enemy commander-in-chief to unify command and coordinate military operations in various battlefields, and Yan Xishan also unexpectedly recommended Feng Yuxiang's right-hand man Lu Junlin as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and Xu Yongchang as the deputy commander-in-chief.

It's not that Yan Xishan is selfless, in fact, what Yan Xishan wants most is for Xu Yongchang to take this position, but he takes into account that the troops on the Pinghan Line and the Longhai Line are all based on the Northwest Army, as well as those small miscellaneous cards controlled by Feng Yuxiang, he Yan Xishan only sent Xu Yongchang to lead Sun Chu, Yang Xiaoou and Guan Fu'an to assist, and he almost couldn't interfere in these two places. Without the generals of the Northwest Army to command, it is very likely that the problem of command failure will occur.

And Song Zhewu, the main force of the deputy commander-in-chief of the Jin Sui Army, is still in Taihang Mountain for training, and Yan Xishan is not willing to charge Song Zhewu in front at all. In this way, it is really unreasonable for the former commander-in-chief of the enemy not to give it to the Northwest Army.

Regarding Yan Xishan's suggestion, Feng Yuxiang naturally raised his hands in favor. If Yan Xishan suggested that Xu Yongchang serve as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, because the Northwest Army's food, salary, and ammunition all depended on Yan Xishan, he would naturally not be able to refuse, but he would be very worried that Yan Xishan would take this opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity to fight with Chiang Kai-shek and take the opportunity to weaken the strength of the Northwest Army.

Yan Xishan did this, Feng Yuxiang thought that this was the manifestation of Yan Xishan's sincere anti-Chiang, at least until Chiang Kai-shek was driven away, Yan Xishan would no longer play tricks and tricks with himself.

After doing these two things well, because the war is about to break out, Yan Xishan, the commander-in-chief who likes to personally ask about everything, will naturally not stay in Zhengzhou for another moment. Therefore, Yan Xishan refused the banquet of Feng Yuxiang, who was not very gracious, and of course refused Song Zhewu's retention, and wanted to rush back overnight.

Feng Yuxiang and Song Zhewu led the generals of the Northwest Army in Zhengzhou, Wang Xu, Zhang Tao and others to see Yan Xishan off at the railway station, and when Yan Xishan was about to get on the train, under the repeated instructions of Song Zheyuan, Shi Jingting, Sun Lianzhong and other generals, Lu Linglin took a step forward very helplessly and said to Yan Xishan: "Commander-in-chief, there is something to report to the commander-in-chief. ”

There is no need to wait for Lu Linglin to finish speaking, Feng Yuxiang also knows what he is going to say, he has long seen the small actions of Song Zheyuan, Shi Jingting, Sun Lianzhong and others, the arrogant Feng Yuxiang was a little annoyed by the behavior of these people, and wanted to stop it, but then he sighed secretly and turned his face slightly to the side.

Yan Xishan, who was a little surprised, glanced at Feng Yuxiang, smiled and said: "Brother Ruibo, the upcoming war between Meng and Huanzhang is counting on you, and Meng should stop being polite, just say anything directly, Meng will never blame you." ”

Feng Yuxiang's dissatisfied expression, Lu Linglin saw it, but when he thought of the earnest entrustment of several old brothers, Lu Linglin only hesitated slightly, gritted his teeth and said: "Commander-in-chief, you promised to allocate the food and salary to our Second Front Army......"

As soon as Lu Junlin mentioned the matter of food and salary, Yan Xishan couldn't help but blush slightly, in order to hide his embarrassment, Yan Xishan hurriedly said to Feng Yuxiang: "Brother Huanzhang, hasn't the food and salary already been allocated to you?" Hasn't it arrived yet? Meng returned and immediately urged them. ”

Then he complained: "Now everywhere is asking Meng for food and ammunition, and Meng is under great pressure! Meng is hurrying to raise money these days, although Zhang Hanqing has not expressed his opposition to Chiang, but he has promised to support us with some ammunition, and as soon as these ammunition arrives, Meng will allocate it to you. ”

Yan Xishan did not answer Lu Junlin's words, but complained directly to Feng Yuxiang, because he knew Feng Yuxiang's surname very well, and Feng Yuxiang would never worry about himself in public for a few "small money".

Lu Linglin, who also knew Feng Yuxiang very well, also hurriedly said to Yan Xishan: "The food and ammunition have indeed been allocated, although the ammunition is not very sufficient, it is enough. It's just that the grain and military salaries are only halfway, and in order to use these rations to support them for a longer period of time, most of the troops below can only eat cornmeal nests and pickles every day. Even so, some troops did not dare to eat breakfast. The great war is coming, so we must not let the brothers go into battle hungry! ”

"Is there such a thing?" Yan Xishan asked with a look of surprise on his face.

Then, without waiting for Lu Linglin to speak, he turned his head indignantly and said to the adjutant director Lu Dehuan behind him: "You go back and immediately investigate this matter for Meng Che, and see who is so bold that he dares to delay the distribution of food and wages, and whoever dares to do anything about it will be killed." ”

Yan Xishan's face changed extremely quickly, which surprised Song Zhewu, who was standing on the side.

Yan Xishan said to Feng Yuxiang apologetically: "Brother Huanzhang, this matter will be thoroughly investigated as soon as Meng goes back, and it is likely that the following links will not be opened, after all, the current military quartermaster of more than one million troops has to be handled by them." Meng repeatedly told the lower authorities that all the troops participating in the war are now Mongolian troops, and there must be no distinction between relatives and distant people in the distribution of food and ammunition, and there will never be any deliberate deduction of the food and salary of the army in the northwest. ”

Then Yan Xishan said to Lu Junlin: "Brother Ruibo, you go back and tell the officers and soldiers of the Northwest Army that in order to raise funds, Meng had originally appointed Lu Zongyu to negotiate a loan with a foreign consortium in Tianjin, but after Chiang Kai-shek learned the news, he actually instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a note to the great powers and not allow them to lend money to Mongolia. In particular, they went so far as to move US Minister to China Johnson to make Johnson issue a statement that the US political axe does not support any opposition to the central political axe. With Johnson taking the lead, Britain, France, and other countries have all expressed their neutrality, so now foreigners dare not lend money to Mongolia. As a result, the salary is a little out of hand for a while. ”

Yan Xishan said this, just to let Feng Yuxiang, Lu Junlin, Song Zheyuan, and even Song Zhewu understand that I, Yan Xishan, did not open a bank, and I also tried my best, and everyone had to "endure" if there was something that could not be taken care of.

However, Yan Xishan was also afraid that Feng Yuxiang, Song Zhewu, and a cadre of generals under them would be discouraged, and swore that "As for the matter of money, Brother Huanzhang and Brother Wenge, please rest assured, since Chiang Kai-shek did not let foreigners lend money to Meng, Meng would not be polite to him, and Meng had already begun to arrange for the reception of Tianjin Customs." Tianjin Customs is now the second largest customs in the country, and the annual customs revenue accounts for one-fifth of the country's, and there will be several million every month, once we take over, not only will we improve financially, but also greatly deal a blow to Nanjing's financial ......."

After comforting Feng Yuxiang, Song Zhewu, Lu Linglin and others, Yan Xishan hurriedly got on his special train and left.

Although Song Zhewu did not know the details of Yan Xishan's reception of Tianjin Customs, he knew that Yan Xishan was not successful in real history, and Yan Xishan was just looking for plums to quench his thirst and draw cakes to satisfy his hunger. Moreover, even if Yan Xishan succeeded in receiving it, the military salary for the Northwest Army would never be treated the same as his Jin Sui Army, which was also a major reason for the failure of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang in the Central Plains War.

Seeing Yan Xishan's special train leave, Feng Yuxiang glanced at the dejected generals such as Lu Junlin, Song Zheyuan, Sun Lianzhong, etc., and said with a sigh of relief: "Brother Wenge, people are poor and short-minded, and Rui Bo They are also thinking about the brothers of the Northwest Army, don't be surprised." However, Wen Ge, please rest assured, our officers and soldiers in the northwest are all from poor backgrounds, and they are used to suffering, as long as they have a bite to eat, we can endure these. ”

Feng Yuxiang looked at the direction of Yan Xishan's special train departure, and said bitterly: "As long as Baichuan can focus on the overall situation and seriously oppose Jiang." ”

Then, he said to himself naturally: "I believe that Baichuan should understand that once the anti-Chiang fails this time, not only me, Feng Yuxiang, but also Yan Baichuan, will fall into a situation from which there will be no return, and our alliance in Nanjing will never give us another chance." ”

After speaking, Feng Yuxiang waved his hand and motioned for Lu Linglin and other generals to follow him away.

Feng Yuxiang walked a few steps, stopped again, turned to Song Zhewu, who was still thoughtful, and said, "You must have a big heart to do great things, Wen Ge, I am very optimistic about you." ”

(To be continued)