After Chiang Kai-shek received a secret telegram from Feng Yuxiang that Sun Lianzhong and other elite troops were going to encircle and annihilate his main force, he couldn't help but be shocked, and immediately urgently changed his deployment, on the one hand, he urgently ordered Liu Zhi to withdraw his troops to the line of Suixian and Hediling, and on the other hand, he urgently transferred the Ninth Army of Guan Yunxiang on the Pinghan Line to be reinforced, and ordered He Chengjun to actively counterattack on the Pinghan Line, forcing Feng Yuxiang to transfer troops from Longhai Road to support the Pinghan Line. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek personally went to Zhuji Station to supervise the battle and direct the response nearby.

However, it was too late for the Central Army to retreat smoothly, and Sun Liangcheng, Pang Bingxun, Ji Hongchang, Sun Lianzhong, and others of the Northwest Army had already surrounded the Central Army's raiding troops at Gaoxianji, Longquji, and other places, and the Central Army was cut into several sections under the sudden blow of the Northwest Army.

Although the Central Army received Chiang Kai-shek's emergency report, it still suffered heavy losses because of the haste of the incident, and the first part of the Canghuang Central Army retreated to Zhoukou through Taikang, and the other part retreated to Shangqiu through Sui County, and Zhang Zhizhong commanded and taught the second division to cover the retreat, and the losses were particularly huge. Among them, Zhang Zizhong's division of the Northwest Army seized dozens of trucks in the central part of Zhang Zhi of the Central Army, and there were many military flags, documents, guns and ammunition.

There is another thing that must be said, that is, during the fierce battle on Longhai Road, the cavalry of the Second Front Army made a surprise attack on the Guide airport, when Zheng Dazhang led his cavalry of more than 1,000 people, galloped more than 80 miles at night, made a surprise attack on the Guide airport, burned 12 Central Army planes, captured more than 50 pilots and ground crews, and Zhang Huichang, commander of the Central Army Aviation, was almost captured.

It's just that Feng Yuxiang regretted that Zheng Dazhang didn't know that Chiang Kai-shek was at Zhuji Station near the airport, and Chiang Kai-shek's general headquarters only had more than 200 guards and gendarmes at this time, but fortunately, Chen Tiaoyuan, who came to report the battle situation to Chiang Kai-shek, happened to be on the train where the headquarters was located, and Zheng Dazhang's cavalry appeared near the station, which immediately caused chaos. Intensive external shooting.

Because Chiang Kai-shek's guards all used German submachine guns, the firepower was very dense, so Zheng Dazhang mistakenly believed that there were large troops of the Central Army at the station, and because it was inconvenient to attack at night, and he had no heavy weapons, he had to quickly evacuate the scene with his more than 1,000 cavalry.

According to Chiang Kai-shek's retinue at the time, Zhou Fohai, in his memoirs, "The Past Collection": "When we were living in Guide, one night I was awakened from a dream by the sound of gunfire and a loud bombardment. I only heard Wang Shihe, the chief of the guard, shouting: 'Where is the locomotive?!' As it was about to start, the locomotive left the train, and the train was about to start, and the gunshots rang out for half an hour. Later, it was learned that Feng's cavalry was attacking the airfield. Their mission was to burn the plane and return, but at that time there were only more than 200 gendarmes on our car, and there were no other troops on the station, and if the cavalry reached the station, the commander and the commander would be captured. Then, the history after that time is another way to write. It's really a gas number. But at that time, we all learned from Kong Ming, who was planning to empty the city, and said in unison, 'It's so dangerous!' So the battle was very thrilling and hard. ”

After a long and bloody battle, a stalemate was finally formed, and the two sides had to build deep trenches and high fortifications, which was similar to the situation on the Western Front during World War I. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek realized that there was little chance of defeating the anti-Chiang coalition by force alone, and began to refocus his attention on his tried and tested strategy.

The key to this war is none other than Zhang Xueliang. If Song Zhewu must be really Wang Zuo, then Zhang Xueliang is dispensable, even if Zhang Xueliang helps Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang to oppose the central government, Chiang Kai-shek will not care, with the strength of Song Zhewu's Fourth Route Army, he will immediately take Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang's lair, and if the Northeast Army enters the pass, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang will completely collapse.

However, Chiang Kai-shek would never completely trust anyone at any time, and so many years of political struggle have convinced Chiang Kai-shek that any promise is unreliable, and only interests are the most real. What's more, now is a good time for Song Zhewu to fight back, in order to prompt Song Zhewu to act as soon as possible, he secretly appointed Song Zhewu as the deputy commander-in-chief of the People's Republic of China [***] Army, Navy and Air Force, but Song Zhewu's main force is still nested in the Taihang Mountains and does not move, which makes Chiang Kai-shek very suspicious.

Therefore, at this time, Zhang Xueliang became more and more important to Chiang Kai-shek.

Although on April 1, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren, Feng Yuxiang, and Song Zhewu respectively assumed the posts of commander-in-chief and deputy commander of the so-called army, navy, and air force of the Republic of China. and repeatedly urged Zhang Xueliang to take up the post of deputy commander, but Zhang Xueliang did not take office, which already shows that Zhang Xueliang is still hesitating.

However, Chiang Kai-shek did not immediately grant Zhang Xueliang a high-ranking official, because he was waiting for Song Zhewu's action, and even he thought that the existing strength of the Central Army would be enough to defeat the rabble led by Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang. However, as the tide of war progressed, Chiang Kai-shek knew that he had underestimated the strength of these rabble.

Therefore, after secretly appointing Song Zhewu, on 21 June, the Nanjing Nationalist Political Axe also publicly appointed Zhang Xueliang as deputy commander of the army, navy, and air force, and Zhang Qun went to Shenyang to send a letter and a letter of appointment.

According to the information obtained, Zhang Xueliang once considered whether to take up Chiang Kai-shek's appointment, and separately telegraphed Zhang Zuoxiang, Wan Fulin, Tang Yulin, and others. It was only because of the dissuasion of these three people that Zhang Xueliang did not take office immediately. However, judging from Zhang Xueliang's reaction to the deputy commanders appointed by the north and the south, his attitude was indeed more inclined to the central government of Nanjing.

There are also a few things that also reassure Chiang Kai-shek, the first of which is that Chiang Kai-shek instructed the Ordnance Industry Administration to order ammunition from the Northeast Arsenal in the name of war readiness. Although several arsenals in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hanyang, Fujian, and other countries now have a large output, coupled with the accumulation of stocks in recent years, and the large number of weapons and ammunition ordered from Germany are enough for the Central Army to use, and the Central Army has sufficient weapons and ammunition, he still bought it from Zhang Xueliang, which is to test Zhang Xueliang's attitude, and of course there is also the intention of wooing Zhang Xueliang, and Chiang Kai-shek gave double the price.

Secondly, Wang Jingwei and Yan Xishan were preparing the Beiping National Political Axe in Beiping, and invited Zhang Xueliang to serve as a member of the Political Axe Committee, but Zhang Xueliang not only refused politely, but also recalled Gu Weijun, Tang Erhe, Luo Wengan and other Feng figures, and prevented them from joining the Northern Political Axe. However, he sponsored and agreed to appoint Wang Jiazhen, Hu Ruoyu and others to the posts of vice minister of foreign affairs of Nanjing and mayor of Qingdao. It can also be seen that Zhang Xueliang's attitude is clueless.

Moreover, when He Chengjun was the director of the Northern Parallel Battalion, he had a very good relationship with Zhang Xueliang, and He Chengjun, who was in Henan, had been constantly communicating with Zhang Xueliang by telegram according to Chiang Kai-shek's request. According to Zhang Xueliang's telegram transmitted by He Chengjun, "...... However, since the conflict against Russia, the Northeast has suffered great pain, and the people have been displaced, and Zhongzhou has been regarded as a disaster. Looking at the two neighbors of Russia, one is said to be wanton bullying; One is so cunning,...... The younger brother uses materials to support the difficult situation, but this is the internal and external, and there is a real tendency to deal with it. It can be seen from the content of the telegram that although Zhang Xueliang's position is inclined to Nanjing, he still has a cautious attitude towards sending troops to help the central authorities quell the rebellion because of differences of internal opinions.

According to Wu Tiecheng's report, June 3 was Zhang Xueliang's 30th birthday, and several military and political dignitaries in Northeast China went to Shenyang to celebrate his birthday. Wang Shuhan, Mo Dehui, Liu Shangqing, Shen Honglie, Bao Wenyue and others advocated cooperation with Nanjing, among which Wang Shuhan advocated the most powerful; In addition, Yu Xuezhong, Wan Fulin, Wang Shuchang, Zang Shiyi, Rong Zhen and others are waiting for Zhang Xueliang's decision. Because of internal differences, Zhang Xueliang is still undecided.

However, Zhang Xueliang's attitude has become more obvious, and he has sent Rong Zhen, director of the Military Department of the Northeast Frontier Governor's Office, to secretly discuss with Li Shizeng, a special envoy sent by Chiang Kai-shek to celebrate his birthday, on the matter of sending troops. Zhang Xueliang himself also called He Chengjunyun on June 14: "...... As for ending the war long ago and alleviating the harm of the people, it is true that the benevolent man wishes. Mr. Shi Zeng stayed in Shen, and even said that he was talking to him, and he was planning carefully. ”

It's just that what makes Chiang Kai-shek anxious is that half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and there is no movement on Zhang Xueliang's side. During this time, Zhang Xueliang has been hiding in Huludao on the pretext of recuperation, although he has refused the invitation of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang's representatives Jia Jingde and Xue Dubi to meet three times; However, he did not make a clear statement to Zhang Qun, Wu Tiecheng, Fang Benren and others sent by Chiang Kai-shek, but he never tired of playing mahjong with Zhang Qun and Wu Tiecheng.

Seeing that the war situation was stalemate, Chiang Kai-shek was very anxious, and it was not until he was pressed and fought for more than a month by Zhang Yinwu of the Jin Sui Army that Han Fuyu, who had retreated to the Jiaoji line, called for reinforcements, which made Chiang Kai-shek's eyes shine.

Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered the transfer of Li Yunheng's 53rd Division from Wuhan, planning to land from Hubei via Changsha and then by sea from Qingdao to assist Han Fuyu in attacking Zhang Yinwu's troops of the Jin Sui Army on the Jiaoji Line. This matter was discussed with Lin Wei, Liu Zhi, and Chen Tiaoyuan, and several people unanimously praised Chiang Kai-shek's high move.

At this time, the Qingdao area was controlled by Shen Honglie of the Northeast Army Navy, and Zhang Xueliang's consent was required to land in Qingdao; Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Zhang Qun, asking him to ask Zhang Xueliang to agree, "order Shen Honglie to dock at the dock and land and cover it." ”

Zhang Qun, who received the telegram, handed the telegram to Zhang Xueliang on the mahjong table the next day, and Zhang Xueliang did not hesitate this time, and immediately called Shen Honglie to agree. Although only one division, Li Yunheng's 53rd Division, landed in Qingdao, and its strength was limited, so it played little role in the Shandong war, Chiang Kai-shek was very happy.

This is because Qingdao is controlled by the Northeast Army and Navy, and the Central Army has to go to land, and in the eyes of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, they must have suspected that Zhang Xueliang is going to join Chiang Kai-shek's camp and cause panic among the anti-Chiang coalition forces! Moreover, since the Central Army can land in Qingdao, Tianjin can also land, and the rear of Yan Xishan will inevitably be shaken.

And what excites Chiang Kai-shek the most is that his move has made Zhang Xueliang unconsciously show his attitude.

However, another accident soon occurred, which made Chiang Kai-shek immediately anxious......

(To be continued)