Also on this night, Zhongnanhai in Beijing was quiet, except for the flickering lights in the courtyard of Sizhaotang, where Wu Peifu temporarily lived.

Wu Peifu's study was full of choking smoke from cigarettes and the aroma of strong tea. Forty-six-year-old Wu Peifu is still at the peak of his life mentally and intellectually, and twenty-seven-year-old Mao ZD, who is sitting opposite him, is even more energetic. The two of them had been talking for half a night, and neither of them was tired at all.

Mao arrived in Beijing on March 10, the same day Chang Ruiqing was assassinated. He had been to Baoding before, but he had not seen Wu Peifu?????? The other party has already led troops into Beijing first. As a result, he had no choice but to meet with Cao Kun in the Overseer Office in Baoding, and made a life fortune to the other party, and the 244th catastrophe was coming, and they flew separately, do they still have a monthly pass? After the safety of production was guaranteed, he took Cao Kun's business card and came to Beijing to save Wu Peifu, a revolutionary comrade who had gone astray.

“?????? General Ziyu, what is the situation in Beiyang now, you should always be clear, right? The banner of Beiyang will definitely not be able to be kept, and it is impossible for Beijing to defend it. If you still want to retain a little strength and continue to perform on the political stage in China in the future, the only way is to go up! ”

Mao Zd flicked the cigarette ash, looked at Wu Peifu in front of him intently, and continued to persuade in a calm voice: "Before I left Xuzhou, I had already told Chang Yaoru that your army and our party's new Eighth Division could march westward together, go to Chahar, Suiyuan, Gansu and then go to Xinjiang. Chang Yaoru will also help us get the appointment of Xinjiang Provincial Chairman and Security Commander, and the central government will also subsidize Xinjiang Province with 2 million yuan a year in the future. All tax revenues in Xinjiang are also at the disposal of the local government, and the central government does not interfere in the appointment of local officials and local administration in Xinjiang. The central government also turned a blind eye! ”

Wu Peifu didn't really join GCD, did he still have a monthly pass when he heard that Mao ZD was going to engage in GCD ism in Xinjiang, and the 244th catastrophe was coming? couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, but his face was still silent: "Mr. Runzhi, Chang Yaoru won't give us the territory of a province unconditionally, right?" ”

Mao Zd smiled and said lightly: "Of course there are conditions, but it's just a trivial matter, he wants us to clean up the eight towns of Longshang by the way." so that his central army could capture the entire Gansu Province without bloodshed. ”

The eight towns of Longshang refer to the eight local powerful small warlords that appeared in Gansu Province after the Xinhai Revolution, half of each of which was Hui and Han. On the Hui side, there are: Ningxia Protector Ma Fuxiang (Ma Hongkui's father), Ninghai (Qinghai) Town Guard Ma Lin (Ma Bufang, Ma Buqing's father), Liangzhou Town Guard Ma Yanxing, Ganzhou Town Guard Ma Lan; On the Han side, there are: Lu Hongtao, the envoy of Longdong Town, Wu Tongren, the envoy of Suzhou Town, Kong Fanjin, the envoy of Longnan Town, and Pei Jianzhun, the envoy of Hezhou Town.

At this time, the eight towns of Longshang were not a great force, and they were not the same thing as the later Qingma (Ma Bufang, Ma Buqing) in history. So Chang Ruiqing planned to let Mao ZD and Wu Peifu eliminate them by the way when they went west. Save the central army from doing it.

Hearing this condition, Wu Peifu nodded: "The eight towns of Longshang don't have any strength, and it's a trivial matter to clean them up." It's just that Xinjiang is vast and sparsely populated, and the transportation is extremely inconvenient, so it is easy for our army to enter it. It's hard to fight back! ”

It seems that Wu Peifu has not completely given up until now! Mao ZD shook his head with a smile and said: "Let's think about how to get in first, I think we still have to think about some more difficulties when we go west to Xinjiang." And the more troops you bring over, the better?????? Comrade Ziyu, I heard that Beijing City is now in addition to your army. And Xu Youzheng's three mixed brigades? Do you think we can take them to Xinjiang with us? ”

Mao ZD's current thinking is to collect the embers of Beiyang as much as possible, and then take them to the northwest to build a piece of territory. And then try to adapt them into the "Red Army". At that time, he will be the secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the Central G, and he will have the army as his backing. If it can still get the support of Soviet Russia, it is not impossible to go further! So after successfully winning over Wu Peifu, his goal turned to Xu Shuzheng's Third Brigade to participate in the army.

When he mentioned this, Wu Peifu seemed to feel the same way, he thought about it for a while, and said with some distress: "Now Jiang Jishi is also trying to win over Xu Youzheng?????? Jiang Jshi is ready to take out one of the three northeastern provinces for Xu Youzheng to govern! Youzheng has already approached me and wants me to go to the Northeast with him. With such good conditions there, it seems unrealistic to ask him to go to the northwest with us. ”

Hearing that there was no way to win over Xu Shuzheng, Mao ZD sighed with some regret: "It seems that our party and Xu Youzheng still have no chance?????? But that's okay, we now have nearly 30,000 revolutionary troops, and if we find a way to integrate them on the way west, we may be able to have 100,000 troops when we get to Xinjiang! ”

His idea is very good, but how can a poor province in Xinjiang raise an army of 100,000? Wu Peifu couldn't think of it, but he didn't plan to pour cold water on Mao ZD now?????? Mao ZD and Wu Peifu talked about the beautiful vision of building GCISM in Xinjiang, and then wrote a telegram to report the work, and asked Wu Peifu to use the radio of their third division to send it to the GCD Central Committee in Nanjing.

By the time this telegram was transferred from the Nanjing Party Central Committee to Chang Ruiqing's headquarters in Xuzhou, it was already the morning of the next day. Because last night, our Chang Da revolutionaries made a cameo appearance in Bao Heizi and came to interrogate White Peony (Zhao Yigui) at night, and they were busy until the second half of the night, and finally exposed a Manchu counter-revolutionary group headed by Prince Gong Pu Wei, Prince Qing Zaizhen, Prince Chun Zaifeng and others! So I'm going to have to wake up later today.

After learning that Comrade Wu Peifu had once again returned to the revolutionary ranks, Chang Ruiqing immediately called a meeting of the senior generals in Xuzhou. The meeting took place in the war room of his headquarters in the Yamen of Xuzhou Daotai, and he walked briskly into the room full of military maps. Lu Yixuan, Xu Zuyi, Ma Xiaojun, as well as Liao Zhongkai, the representative sent by Sun Yat-sen, and a group of staff officers were already waiting here.

Chang Ruiqing walked in and nodded slightly at everyone. Everyone looked at him, too. I don't know if it was because of the assassination and frightened, Chang Ruiqing looked a lot haggard than a while ago. Everyone was secretly thinking in their hearts, their commander-in-chief was not a good stubble, and they didn't know how to take revenge on the Manchu counter-revolutionary group that planned this assassination?

I saw that everyone had gathered in the war room. Chang Ruiqing smiled slightly and glanced at everyone: "I just received a telegram forwarded by the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Comrade Mao ZD has successfully persuaded Wu Ziyu to participate in the National Revolution!" His newly formed Third Division will go to Xinjiang to develop together with the newly formed Eighth Division of the Central G. Control Zhì. In addition, Mao Zd also told us that Xu Youzheng had also reached an agreement with Jiang Jshi, that the mixed brigades of the three participating armies would go to the northeast, and Xu Youzheng himself would also get the position of provincial chairman. In this way, Beijing and Tianjin can basically be taken without a fight. The remnants of the First Front of the Beiyang Army, which were surrounded in Shangqiu, were also expected to surrender within a few days. The only one who is still resisting the revolution is the remnants of the Beiyang Jinpu Road Front Army in Dezhou. Guys, what do you think we should do to clean them up? ”

Liao Zhongkai, who was sent by Sun Yat-sen, was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly reminded: "Yao Shuai." General Feng Huanzhang has also secretly defected to the revolution, and Mr. Sun also appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier! ”

Chang Ruiqing nodded and smiled, thinking that if he was not Lu Jianzhang's in-laws, it would be okay to let him go to the northwest for a few years, and Wu Peifu was holding him back. Forgive him for not being able to turn the sky upside down. But Lu Jianzhang sent White Peony to assassinate him! If he can't catch Lu Jianzhang now, he can only take Feng Yuxiang's top bag to vent his anger. This commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier, he can only be an empty head!

Thinking of this, he glanced at Lu Yixuan. The other party immediately understood and smiled lowly. said: "What we have to deal with now is not General Huanzhang, but the Jinpu Road Front Army in Beiyang. General Huanzhang can go to the northwest at any time to take office. It's just that this Jinpu Road Front Army must all be disarmed and disbanded! ”

Chang Ruiqing smiled and nodded, and asked Liao Zhongkai: "Mr. Zhongkai, do you think this arrangement is good?" ”

Liao Zhongkai thought about it for a while and nodded, and he didn't mean to speak for Feng Yuxiang. His political propositions have always been left-leaning, and he is relatively close to Chang Ruiqing, and the relationship between the two sides has always been relatively harmonious, so naturally he will not go against Chang Ruiqing for Feng Yuxiang, a warlord he has never known. He just said with a faint expression: "I don't have an opinion on how to arrange Feng Huanzhang, and Sun Yat-sen doesn't care, the key is to end the war against Beiyang as much as possible?????? That's what Mr. Sun meant. He also sent me an urgent telegram last night, asking me to urge your Northern Expeditionary Army to seize Zhili, Beijing, Tianjin, Chahar and other places and open up contact with Mongolia. ”

He glanced at Chang Ruiqing, and then said: "In addition, Mr. also hopes that after you arrange the front-line affairs, you will go back to Nanjing, and he will have important matters to discuss." ”

Chang Ruiqing frowned and asked, "Brother Zhongkai, do you know what is going on?" ”

Liao Zhongkai smiled at Chang Ruiqing: "Maybe I want to discuss the Northeast issue with you, as well as the relationship between our Nationalist Government and Japan, Soviet Russia, right?" What he means is that the situation in the Northeast is very complicated and involves the interests of the two powerful countries, Japan and Russia, so it is necessary to make some specializations. Now that Jiang Jshi is doing very well in the Northeast, can he continue to maintain it? In addition, we will soon be representing China in the international community, and I am afraid that our foreign policy will have to be adjusted, especially our relations with Japan and Soviet Russia. Now the representatives of these two countries are urging us to form an alliance every day, and we must give an explanation, right? ”

Liao Zhongkai didn't know about "Kolchak Gold" at this time, so he didn't mention it.

Chang Ruiqing's eyebrows furrowed even tighter. Sun Yat-sen obviously did not want to immediately reorganize Chiang J-shi's army into the "Central Army," and in terms of relations with Japan and Russia, Sun Yat-sen now seems to be clearly biased towards Japan?????? However, the current situation in East Asia is also slightly different from the past, and it seems that the direction of Japan's expansion has shifted to the Russian Far East and Siberia.

Thinking of this, he looked at Liao Zhongkai with a smile and said, "I also want to end this Northern Expedition as much as possible, so that I can go back to Nanjing to see Mr. Sun as soon as possible." However, Feng Huanzhang still has tens of thousands of troops to solve, and it is estimated that it will take some time if he wants to transfer troops to attack. It's better to send another telegram to Feng Huanzhang to persuade him, telling him that if he still does not agree to accept the dispatch of the Northern Expeditionary Army Headquarters within three days (in fact, it is surrender), then we can only fight again!

In addition, it is how to receive Beijing and Tianjin. Now the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front Army has also arrived in Qinhuangdao. I would also like to ask Mr. Zhong Kai to come and have a good talk with Commander-in-Chief Chiang on my behalf?????? In Beijing and Tianjin, it is better to be stationed by the Central Army, but Rehe and Jidong can be stationed by his Fourth Front Army. Moreover, I am also in favor of doing some specialization in the Northeast. ”

??????

"Huanzhang, now we can't hesitate anymore, we must decisively choose a way out! With a brigade of elite troops to hold Dezhou, the others hurried to Zhangjiakou, from Dezhou to take a train over, there was still time to force the southern army to take over Beijing, before the west. As long as you get to Saiwai, or go north to Mongolia. Or go west to Gansu, it's always a way out, and you can save some strength for the future! If it is a step later, wait until the Southern Army adjusts its forces to launch an attack. Then it would really be annihilated! ”

It was Lu Jianzhang who proposed to Feng Yuxiang in the headquarters of the Beiyang Jinpu Road Front Army in Dezhou. Originally, after the news of the failure of the assassination came out, he planned to leave Japan to avoid the limelight. But Xu Shuzheng wanted to ask him to do one last favor, and asked him to come to Texas to persuade Feng Yuxiang to immediately lead his troops west.

In fact, after Xu Shuzheng failed in the decisive battle in the Central Plains, he has been busy preserving the last bit of blood for Beiyang! Even if you want to put on the cloak of the Kuomintang or GCD, it is better than completely wiped out?????? Of course. Defecting to Chang Ruiqing, a Beiyang rebel, must not be considered! Therefore, he himself agreed to Jiang Jshi's request very happily and prepared to take refuge with three mixed brigade troops. And Wu Peifu proposed to him that he wanted to lead the troops to join the GCD. When I went to Xinjiang to develop. He had no intention of obstructing it, and also allocated a sum of money to Wu Peifu from the account of the Ministry of Finance of the Beiyang ruling government. Let him hurry on his way.

In this way, the only remaining force in the Beiyang system is the Second Front Army in Shaanxi and the main force of the First Front Army in the Shangqiu encirclement. There are also the remnants of the Jinpu Road Front Army in Texas. Among them, the second front army is not too dangerous for the time being, and it can be let go first, and the main force of the first front that is surrounded will be wiped out, and rescue will not be considered. And the tens of thousands of Beiyang troops here in Texas can still be saved, but Feng Yuxiang has been standing still and doesn't know what he is planning, so Xu Shuzheng asked Lu Jianzhang to come over and persuade him.

"Lang Gong, do you think I want to stay here and sit still?" Feng Yuxiang stomped his feet and sighed. The 11th Division of his descendant was overshadowed by Bai Chongxi near Jinan, and now there is less than one brigade left in strength. And here in Dezhou, there are the remnants of Li Chun's Second Army, the remnants of Zhang Huaizhi's Fifth Division, most of Wang Tingzhen's Sixteenth Division, as well as the First Division and the Fifteenth Division, as well as several mixed brigades. Each of these troops has its own masters, and each master also has his own little abacus. It's not impossible to follow to the northwest, the question is who will be the boss? Feng Yuxiang's qualifications among them are not old, and now he can't even rank in strength, who is willing to obey him as the commander of the front army?

Li Chun, Wang Zhanyuan, Zhang Huaizhi, and several of them who had served as army commanders and division commanders had already released their words: instead of going to the northwest with the surname Feng, it is better to hand over the troops to the National Revolutionary Army for deployment, and go home to enjoy the blessings of the Qing Dynasty by themselves!

Feng Yuxiang told Lu Jianzhang about the situation here in Texas, and Lu Jianzhang had no idea, just kept shaking his head: "How can this be!" It's all come to this point, and I'm still making opinions! Huanzhang, why don't I persuade them?????? Even if they want to go into the wilderness, they should leave the team to you! ”

How did Lu Jianzhang know that Li Chun and the others had long been suspicious of the ambush on Jinpu Road that day! They are not fools, how can they not see the catty of that ambush war? In this case, they would rather dismiss the troops than leave it to Feng Yuxiang.

"Forget it, forget it, Gong Lang?????? It is useless for you to persuade them about this. Feng Yuxiang waved his hand at Lu Jianzhang and changed the topic: "By the way, a few days ago, it was rumored that Chang Ruiqing was assassinated, is this the handiwork of you and Xu Youzheng?" ”

As soon as he heard this, Lu Jianzhang sighed: "It's all Xu Youzheng who wants to get rid of Chang Ruiqing, a traitor?????? I didn't expect to miss it! Now we can't get in touch with the inside line in Xuzhou City, I don't know what the specific situation is? By the way, Huanzhang, did your spies from the Jinpu Road Front find out anything? ”

Feng Yuxiang's heart sank again, and he said: "This time I was really killed by Old Man Lu!" Who is Chang Ruiqing? He has the intelligence system in the south in his hands, and it won't be long before you, the mastermind behind the assassination, will be found out by him, and I will definitely be implicated when the time comes! It seems that the commander of the Northwest Frontier Army who is empty can't be either, otherwise he will die sooner or later! For today's plan, probably the only way to go to Jiang Jshi is to take refuge, right? I just don't know what's going on, and I have a particularly nasty feeling when I think of this name? ”

Thinking of this, he also sighed: "Gong Lang, Chang Ruiqing will know sooner or later that we did this, so we can't go to the northwest, and the only way out is the northeast!" Jiang Jshi has his own system in the Northeast, and now under Sun Yat-sen, he is probably the only one who can compete with Chang Ruiqing, so it is better for us to go north immediately to take refuge. ”

Lu Jianzhang was stunned: "What about the tens of thousands of people here?" ”

Feng Yuxiang smiled bitterly: "I can't care so much, I'll take my eleventh division and leave immediately?????? Let the rest of the troops go! Now our Beiyang Army is in a catastrophe and flies separately! ”！！！