On June 13, Li Shizeng and Hu Ruoyu, a close confidant of Zhang Xueliang, who had been appointed as the mayor of Qingdao by the Nanjing political axe, went to Shanghai to discuss with Song Ziwen the issue of receiving votes. Zhang Xueliang had some problems issuing banknotes in the Northeast, and since the Middle East Road incident, he has faced inflation problems.

Zhang Xueliang sent Hu Ruoyu to Shanghai to ask for money, on the grounds that "although the "current foreign bills" for subsidies and vouchers have been issued since 1929, there is still a risk of financial scarcity. The Nanjing Central Committee promised to remit the expenses for the opening of the bill and to assist in solving the financial problem of issuing bills, which was of great help to the financial affairs of Northeast China and the development of Northeast China's rich resources. The central government needs financial support, and the opening is 20 million. ”

Finance Minister Song Ziwen was not worried about military spending during this period of time because of the abundant finances, but he was familiar with finance, he thought that the Northeast did not need this money, and the Northeast itself was fully capable of solving it, but he was afraid of affecting Chiang Kai-shek's plan if he did not give it, so he hesitated for a long time and sent a telegram to ask Chiang Kai-shek, who was still on the front line, for instructions.

Chiang Kai-shek immediately replied to Song Ziwen, and the telegram was very simple, just telling Song Ziwen that he would not only promise to give, but also give more, and set it at 25 million, but this money was not given now, and it would not be given until the Northeast Army went out of the customs to assist the Central Army in quelling the rebellion.

If it was just some money, Chiang Kai-shek didn't care, although the finances were not very rich, but he could still afford the tens of millions. However, the next thing that happened was not a matter of money, it was a matter that made Zhang Xueliang very faceless and very angry.

That was the Mattingford incident. Ma Tingfu was a brigade commander of the Northeast Army's Yu Xuezhong Department stationed in Shanhaiguan, and Yintu cooperated with the regiment commanders Meng Baifu and An Fukui to send troops to attack Ping and Tianjin, and attached themselves to Chiang Kai-shek. According to the investigation, Ma Tingfu and others were bribed by Tao Dunli, a senator of the Nanjing Military Senate, to induce the horse brigade to enter the customs to help Chiang on the conditions of giving 2 million yuan, expanding the Ma Department to three divisions, and Ma Tingfu being promoted to army commander.

Because Tao Dunli was a fellow villager with Fang Benren, the representative of Nanjing, and had served in He Chengjun's ministry, it was rumored in Pingping, Tianjin, and Shanghai that the "Ma Tingfu Incident" was entirely instigated by Chiang Kai-shek, and it was believed that this incident would lead to a formal break between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang, and the Northeast would definitely join the ranks of the fight against Chiang.

Chiang Kai-shek also lamented in the "Chronicles": "Fengzhang's rebellious heart is gradually visible!" The warlords and politicians of the north do not want to unify the country, but they divide their selfish hearts, and the traditions are inherited and cannot be broken. This is what China cannot do in this world, and it will be humiliated by imperialism. Alack! ”

Zhang Xueliang, who was originally more inclined to Nanjing's political axe, seems to have changed his attitude because of the "Ma Tingfu incident," and met with northern representatives Jia Jingde, Xue Dubi, Guo Taiqi, Fu Zuoyi, Qin Zhen, Chen Gongbo, and others to discuss the current situation. According to Qin Zhen and others, they pointed out to reporters: Zhang Xueliang believes that the northern part of the country stands fair and bright, and absolutely does not oppose the organization of political axes, but his bad feelings toward Nanjing have increased because of the "Ma Tingfu incident."

In fact, Zhang Xueliang's attitude towards the political axe of the northern organization is still unclear, but because of this incident, he complained about the south and almost changed his original intention.

Zhang Xueliang once called He Chengjun: "Tao Dunli came to Feng once last year, and this year he was expelled from Yanjing by the Jin side and came to live in Feng, and his brother treated people leniently and did not discriminate. He said that he was very close, going back and forth between Yuguan and Beidaihe, inciting the army, and having a plan. The northeast direction is the whole, although one or two people are tempted by it, that is, they are discovered. According to Yaoting, my brother once had a telegram, and Tao was not allowed to play a role here, which proved his foresight. Tao Dunli has been arrested and is being interrogated. Although the tone is calm, it still refers to what Tao has to do with it.

In order to avoid Zhang Xueliang from having any trouble, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Zhang Xueliang to explain: "Zhongji hopes that the filial piety marquis will participate in the rebellion, but he must give priority to upholding his brother's life; For those who turn their backs on filial piety and move to their subordinates, they will never think of this, and they will be able to perceive it. also let He Chengjun, Wu Tiecheng, Fang Benren, Zhang Qun and others earnestly explain the truth to Zhang Xueliang. In order to show his sincerity, he once again offered a large price, saying that as long as Zhang Xueliang led his troops into the customs, the military and civilian political unification north of the Yellow River would be under the jurisdiction of Zhang Xueliang.

After hesitating for two days, Zhang Xueliang proposed that as long as the Central Army recaptured Jinan, he would persuade the veterans in the Northeast Army who opposed the dispatch of troops.

In order to prompt Zhang Xueliang to send troops as soon as possible, Chiang Kai-shek immediately instructed the General Staff to formulate a battle plan for recapturing Jinan as quickly as possible.

In order to thwart Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy and break the deadlock as soon as possible, Yan Xishan no longer had any scruples about preventing the growth of Song Zhewu's forces, and decided to use Song Zhewu, a force that only retained sufficient combat power.

After receiving Yan Xishan's order for him to send troops, Song Zhewu was very excited, and Yan Xishan asked him to send no less than three corps to join the Jinpu Road battlefield, quickly solve the central army in Shandong led by Han Fuyu, force the central army on Longhai Road to retreat to Xuzhou, and then use Song Zhewu and Longhailu's troops to jointly encircle and solve the central army in Xuzhou.

Feng Yuxiang was not satisfied with Yan Xishan's plan, he understood that Yan Xishan wanted to seize Nanjing first, and he was seizing a high score politically, so as to win the highest power.

Originally, because Wang Jingwei and Yan Xishan, who had already returned to China, formed a new political axe in Beiping, Feng Yuxiang was very dissatisfied. The key positions in the New Deal Axe were almost divided between Wang Jingwei's reorganization faction, the Xishan Conference faction, and Yan Xishan's Jin Sui military line, but the surname land left some unimportant positions for his Northwest Army and Li Zongren's Gui line, which made Feng Yuxiang very helpless and angry. If Yan Xishan was allowed to enter Nanjing first, he would be a little unwilling.

After consulting with Lu Linglin and other confidant generals, Feng Yuxiang came to Song Zhewu's headquarters for the first time to discuss the next plan of action with Song Zhewu.

After Feng Yuxiang expressed his attitude, Song Zhewu was very happy, Yan Xishan wanted his troops to join the Jinpu Road battlefield, which was very detrimental to his plan, once he began to seize Shanxi, the troops on the Jinpu Road would definitely be besieged by the Jin Sui army, which was not what he wanted to see.

After Song Zhewu "humbly" discussed with Feng Yuxiang, it was decided that the two of them jointly suggest to Yan Xishan that Song Zhewu's three armies would not join the Jinpu Road battlefield, and that the Jinpu Road and Longhai Road were now heavily armed by the Central Army, and even if Song Zhewu's troops were put into the battlefield, it would definitely be a vicious battle, and even if they won, the losses on both sides would not be small. It is better to throw this part of Song Zhewu's troops on the Pinghan Line and break through the 300,000 or so miscellaneous Central Army on the Pinghan Road, so that it can not only quickly seize Central China, but also quickly pacify Central China and the southern regions after joining with Li Zongren's troops, and then attack Nanjing along the river.

Yan Xishan quickly called back to agree, but Yan Xishan proposed some changes to Feng Yuxiang and Song Zhewu's plan. Yan Xishan demanded that Song Zhewu's three armies not participate in the military operation to attack Wuhan after the anti-Chiang coalition led by the Northwest Army on the Pinghan Line defeated He Chengjun's Third Army, but immediately marched east along the north bank of the Yangtze River, forcing the Central Army on the Longhai Road to retreat to Xuzhou, and then the anti-Chiang coalition forces still converging on the Longhai Road would attack Xuzhou. At the same time, Yan Xishan asked Song Zhewu's other troops to stay in Laiyuan to step up their training and be ready to send troops to Beiping at any time.

Although there was nothing wrong with Yan Xishan's plan, defeating the two central armies of the Pinghan Line and the Longhai Line could be said to have laid a victory militarily. It's just that Yan Xishan still has selfish intentions, and he is planning for him and his descendant, Jin Suijun.

Yan Xishan believes that if the Central Army's Pinghan Line defense line collapses, He Chengjun will inevitably lead his remnants to Hankou, and He Yingqin, who is sitting in Wuhan, has already defeated Li Zongren and has no worries, and will inevitably mobilize troops from Hunan and Hubei to gather Wuhan and He Chengjun's remnants to defend Wuhan, and there is also the Central Army's fleet to assist in defense, which is not something that Feng Yuxiang can easily deal with. At least Feng Yuxiang wants to cross the river, and it is unlikely that he will be able to cross the river in a short time. In addition to Feng Yuxiang's occupation of northern Hubei, the actual results were not great.

And letting Song Zhewu leave Feng Yuxiang and march east along the river can not only weaken Feng Yuxiang's power to attack Wuhan, but also definitely force the central army on the Longhai line to retreat to Xuzhou. In this way, even if Han Fuyu of Shandong does not surrender, he will inevitably retreat south, and the central army in Xuzhou will become a lone army, and it will be a matter of time before he is defeated.

At that time, Chiang Kai-shek would inevitably be embattled and under great pressure from within the party, and it was certain that he Yan Xishan would enter Nanjing without bloodshed, and then his Jin Sui army would occupy the rich Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

It's just that this plan not only didn't take Feng Yuxiang into account, but even calculated Song Zhewu. If Song Zhewu really broke through He Chengjun's troops and advanced eastward along the Yangtze River, Chiang Kai-shek would certainly not sit idly by, and would definitely take advantage of his convenient transportation on the Yangtze River to send troops to intercept them repeatedly. And Song Zhewu must have fought hard, and when he reached Xuzhou, the troops must have suffered a lot of vitality and urgently needed to be repaired, and they simply could not afford to go south to Pukou with him, and Song Zhewu would actually get very little "things".

Yan Xishan's purpose was not only clear to Song Zhewu, but also to Feng Yuxiang. However, Feng Yuxiang was very disdainful of Yan Xishan's calculations, and he was even a little happy. In his opinion, as long as Song Zhewu can help him defeat these miscellaneous central armies commanded by He Chengjun, a considerable part of these miscellaneous armies will turn to him Feng Yuxiang, and his strength will immediately soar, and it will not be a problem to fight across the Yangtze River at all. As soon as Song Zhewu's troops left, the provinces of Central China were all under the control of his Northwest Army, and with the two major financial and grain provinces of Hubei and Hunan, he no longer had to rely on others.

Moreover, he can also take advantage of the situation to integrate the chaos in Sichuan, unite with Li Zongren, take Guangdong and Fujian in the south, and most of China will be under his control, even if Yan Xishan occupies the highest power, sooner or later he will have to obediently hand it over to him.

(To be continued)