August is the hottest time of the year in Nanjing, known as one of China's four furnace cities, when roads, buildings, vehicles, and even pedestrians emit unbearable heat under the strong sunlight. If there is any business in Nanjing that is the most prosperous at this time, it must be the tea shed where herbal tea is bought.

Many sweaty pedestrians rushed into the tea shed, threw down a handful of copper yuan, and then drank a few large bowls of sweet and sour plum soup or cool and fragrant mint tea before they left satisfied.

Although the climate in Nanjing was extremely hot, in Chiang Kai-shek's new official residence, Chiang Kai-shek's office, although the doors and windows were closed, the temperature was suitable. The guards had already placed large copper basins filled with ice cubes in the four corners of the room, and it was from there that the cool air emanated.

However, unlike the comfortable temperature in the house, the atmosphere in the room is a little dreary.

Chiang Kai-shek sat in the chair behind his huge mahogany desk, his eyes slightly closed, and he kept scanning the people sitting on the sofas.

Sitting on the sofa were He Yingqin, chief of the General Staff and acting minister of military affairs, Yang Yongtai, senator of the Military Committee of the National Axe, Dai Jitao, president of the National Axe Examination Institute and director of the Propaganda Department, Zhang Qun, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Kuomintang Political Conference, Song Ziwen, minister of finance of the National Political Axe, Lin Wei, director of the General Staff Department of the General Headquarters, and He Chengjun, head of the North Parallel Battalion.

They were listening to Dai Jitao's briefing on the "Middle East Road Incident" and the recent massive build-up of Soviet troops on the border and their constant cross-border provocations.

“…… Zhang Xueliang recently sent a telegram to the Central Committee, saying that he was inclined to end the dispute peacefully as soon as possible. On 20 July, he sent a telegram saying: "Now that the Soviet government is mobilizing its troops and making active preparations to approach Manchuria, Suifen, and other places, there is indeed a situation of oppression by force, and it is by no means a local accident, and the central authorities should be asked to predetermine the policy and give detailed instructions...... The situation is urgent, and it cannot be delayed, otherwise, it will affect the overall situation and the stakes are great.'" 22 The telegram made it even clearer: "The central government's statement that the Soviet Union may not dare to declare war is naturally correct, but a certain side is scheming, only sitting on the reaps of profits, and inciting them in every possible way, but fearing that the provocation will not be opened, and it is said that even the report will be clearly founded, and if it unfortunately causes a war, the implications are very great, and it is inconceivable that there are people who have a clear understanding of the international situation, and should not take good words as a concern, and on this occasion of reunification, the vitality is not full, and everything needs to be done, but there is a way to avoid disputes, and it is always advisable to avoid it, not for the sake of the northeast corner, but for the sake of the future of the whole country." ”

Dai Jitao breathed a sigh of relief and said helplessly: "This is the situation, Zhang Xueliang is now bent on negotiating with the Soviets by the central government. ”

Among these people, the four who know the cause and effect of the "Middle East Road Incident" best are Dai Jitao, Zhang Qun, Yang Yongtai, and Lin Wei, who are also well aware of Chiang Kai-shek's current attitude towards Northeast China and Zhang Xueliang; followed by He Chengjun and Dai Li. Although he was not present, judging from the fact that Zhang Xueliang returned to Shenyang immediately after meeting Chiang Kai-shek to launch the "Middle Road Incident," He Chengjun believed that the Middle East Road Incident was agreed to by Chiang Kai-shek, or at least acquiesced by Chiang Kai-shek. Dai Li's recent appreciation of Chiang Kai-shek, although the intelligence work he was in charge of has not been carried out for a long time, but quite a success, about the Northwest Army, the Jin Sui Army, the Northeast Army, and even the newly rapidly popular Song Zhewu Fourth Route Army, the intelligence has been handed to Chiang Kai-shek's hands in a steady stream, and he dare not be sloppy about the information about this "Middle East Road Incident", so he also roughly knows the origin of this incident; And the most unclear about the "Middle Road Incident" are He Yingqin and Song Ziwen.

Although Song Ziwen is in Nanjing, he is in charge of the Ministry of Finance, and now he needs money everywhere, and the most expensive is military spending. At present, although the national political axe has unified the whole country, the fiscal and tax revenues are still very chaotic, and many provinces controlled by powerful local factions have not been able to collect taxes at all, and they have delayed or even refused to hand over to the state treasury for various reasons. For these local powerful factions, not only can he take them now, but even Chiang Kai-shek also has a headache. However, he must control the customs, which is now the pillar of the national political axe's financial revenue, and during this time he has been busy negotiating customs matters with the British, and he has not bothered to care about the Middle East Road at all.

As for He Yingqin, he has been busy in Changsha for the past two months with the war against Guangxi, and he only returned to Nanjing yesterday, and he only knows a rough idea of the "Middle East Road Incident."

However, the "Middle East Road Incident" made him feel very strange, he didn't expect Zhang Xueliang to have such a big courage to dare to recapture the "Middle East Road" by force! This must be that the Soviets are provoking this sixth young master somewhere, making this sixth young master lose his temper, and he will be reckless as soon as his brain is hot.

In his view, this matter is both complex and simple, but no matter how complicated, there is only one way to solve the problem, and that is negotiation. Since the "Middle East Road" was built by the Russians at their expense, if they wanted to take it back, they should have negotiated with the Soviet Union with the political axe, and after negotiation, the two sides found an acceptable price and conditions, and then the national political axe paid for the redemption.

He Yingqin was very unimpressed with Zhang Xueliang, the sixth young master who inherited his father's position, and thought that he was just a hairy boy who relied on Zhang Zuolin's Yu Yin to sit on the throne of the "King of the Northeast". Although Zhang Xueliang and Song Zhewu are of the same age, Song Zhewu's status is completely based on his own talent and hard work, and the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Route Army is not boastful, it is genuine. And this sixth young master is different, in He Yingqin's view, Zhang Xueliang is a rich son with great ambition and talent, and the Northeast Army has not been carried forward in his hands, but its combat effectiveness seems to be declining.

He Yingqin also believed that the Northeast Army was definitely not the opponent of the Soviet Army, he knew too well the combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army, and during the Second Northern Expedition, he led the Central Army all the way to Hebei. In his opinion, although the weapons and equipment of the Northeast Army are first-class in China, its combat effectiveness is second-rate. If he were asked to choose an opponent to fight in the Northwest Army, which was the worst in weapons and equipment, and the Northeast Army, which was the best in equipment, he would definitely choose the Northeast Army, and he was confident that he could easily defeat them. The Northeast Army and the Northwest Army can be said to be two typical extremes in terms of weaponry and combat effectiveness. Although the Northeast Army has first-class weapons and equipment, its combat effectiveness should be between the Gui and Jin Sui armies. The Northeast Army and the Jin Sui Army are very similar, their weapons and equipment are very good, but their combat effectiveness is very average.

The reason why this is the case, He Yingqin believes that it is because they all have a stable and prosperous rear, and when the situation is favorable, they rush out to grab benefits; When the situation is unfavorable, immediately retract to the nest to protect itself. This is like a person, if he has a reliable way out, he will look ahead and backward when he starts to do things, suffer from gains and losses, and lack the spirit of determination to move forward. The same can be said of an army with a reliable way out.

Chiang Kai-shek leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes slightly, as if he was thinking about something, as if he was observing the reaction of everyone in the room to the "Middle East Road Incident".

He Yingqin had followed Chiang Kai-shek for many years and knew that this was Chiang Kai-shek's habit, and in most cases, although he had already made up his mind in his heart, he was still willing to listen to the opinions of his confidants and aides, and then corroborate their views with his own decisions, and sometimes make appropriate changes to his own decisions according to the opinions of his aides. However, it was very difficult to finally get Chiang Kai-shek to change his mind.

However, He Yingqin doesn't mind this, although he, a native of Guizhou, has been out of the mountains for many years and is also a person who has seen the world through wind and rain, but the stubborn and upright surname of the Guizhou mountain people in his bones has always lingered, and he only talks about the correctness of the thing itself, completely ignoring the feelings of others, which he can offend many people. This is also the reason why He Yingqin is the No. 2 person in Whampoa, but the Whampoa students close to him are only a few people such as Guan Zhenglin and Du Yuming, while Chen Cheng, the Whampoa instructor, has come from behind and set up the largest faction in the army, the "civil engineering department".

He Yingqin said disdainfully: "Zhang Xueliang did a reckless thing in this matter, he thought that he had the strong financial support of the northeast, and he had the backing of a well-equipped army of 400,000. Although the Soviets are now busy dealing with the threat of the Western powers and are unable to deploy more troops in the Far East, the Soviets have stationed more than 300,000 troops in the Far East in order to guard against themselves, and that is not something that Zhang Xueliang can deal with. Even the more than 60,000 people now deployed to the border scared him a lot. But fortunately, he understands now, his more than 400,000 Northeast Army is okay to scare Yan Xishan, if he fights the Soviet Army, the Northeast Army is far behind. ”

Seeing that everyone was silent, He Yingqin sighed and said: "Zhang Xueliang not only has a well-equipped army of 400,000, he also has more than 300 planes and dozens of tanks, and there are more planes and tanks than our Central Army. ”

"Zhang Xueliang recently bought back 24 new FT-17 tanks from France." He Chengjun interjected.

He Yingqin continued: "He has such good equipment, and the Soviet army has only gathered 60,000 people on the border, and it is still divided into east and west, and this battle has not yet been fought, he is clamoring to negotiate, I really don't know what his troops are doing!" Those equipment will not be bad even if they are handed over to the newly incorporated troops of the Xuezhubei Parallel Battalion. ”

He Yingqin pouted and said: "If his weapons are given to our Central Army, it is okay for our Central Army and the Soviet Army to fight them, and it is just a show for those unsuccessful Northeast Army, and it is just a strong façade." Want to negotiate now! What did you do in the first place? Now he Zhang Xueliang has become a big hero, and he is out of the limelight, but he wants the central political axe to clean up the mess for him.

(To be continued)