Proud bones

After the Anqing area was captured by the Northern Expeditionary Army, Sun Chuanfang and Wu Peifu's army completely lost contact, which meant that the Anguo Army could no longer have any hope of victory south of the Yangtze River.

The vigorous Battle of Wuhan finally came to an end, the Central Route Army led by Cui Wu marched rapidly, after Anqing surrendered his hand, Wu Peifu's left flank was completely exposed to the firepower of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and soon the Eastern Route Army began to converge on this side, surrounding hundreds of thousands of Anguo troops in the Hanzhong Plain.

The fierce battle lasted for more than ten days, the Northern Expeditionary Army first bombed it with heavy artillery in turns, and then the large army was constantly narrowing the encirclement, and the Anguo Army, which was in a hurry to respond to the battle, had no combat effectiveness in the face of the Northern Expeditionary Army like a tiger and wolf, and the Anguo Army was unstable, and many soldiers defected or fled not long after the war began, and sometimes even the entire battalion defected or fled together.

The army's sluggishness can be seen, so when the Northern Expeditionary Army attacked, Huang Ke deliberately let go of an opening, and most of the officers and soldiers ran along the opening, and the Battle of Wuhan finally ended with the victory of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Wu Peifu finally retreated across the river with an Anguo army of less than 50,000 men, and retreated all the way to Zhengzhou. After this battle, Wu Peifu's vitality was greatly damaged, and at this time he only had the troops in Xinyang and Kaifeng in his hands, and it was impossible to put together a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army.

A little sympathetic to Wu Peifu is Sun Chuanfang, since the rebellion of his subordinate Chen Tiaoyuan, Anhui has all been surrendered to the Northern Expeditionary Army, and the west gate of Nanjing has been opened at once.

"Nanjing is a piece of meat in the mouths of these southern troops after all, and Lao Tzu is not bothered." Sun Chuanfang also knew that he could not fight at this time, his forces were all in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, and now all places were almost lost, and he didn't know what capital he had to continue fighting.

The defeat of the Anguo army on all fronts was even more annoying to the politicians of the warlord alliance in Beijing, and Cao Kun and others could not help but sigh and be annoyed when they learned that almost all of the south of the Yangtze River had fallen into the hands of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

None of the allied forces on multiple fronts could stop the march of the Northern Expeditionary Army, so what are the plans now?

Except for Zhang Zuolin, the other warlords are all alone, and now they can only defeat each other by uniting them again and consolidating this warlord alliance again.

This mess fell on Gu Weijun's head again, and in his heart, he really didn't want to do such a thankless drudgery anymore.

All warlords are masters, and no one can afford to offend, and they have to coordinate their contradictions in the middle, and they must obey them in everything.

"There is no diplomacy for a weak country!" Gu Weijun has obtained the diplomatic truth over the years, and in his heart he longs for the motherland to be strong, but how can a country that is in civil war all day long be able to achieve it.

"Shengjing Zhang Yushuai, Zhengzhou Wu Yushuai, Nanjing Sun Xinshuai, Taiyuan Yan Baishuai, Jinan Zhang Xiaoshuai Xunjian: Gu Weijun cried blood, now the army has crossed the Yangtze River, although the Anguo army has experienced a temporary defeat, but it can continue to unite ......"

The letters were sent to the various warlords in the name of the collective, but the warlords were no longer interested. Zhang Zuolin, the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Army, who was firmly seated in Beijing, also felt that it was not interesting, so he simply took the time to go back to Fengtian.

Cao Kun said that he should wait for all the warlords to come to the meeting, and he said angrily that as long as Wu Yushuai from Zhengzhou came, he would immediately come to preside over the meeting.

In fact, Zhang Zuolin was deliberately making excuses, he knew that Wu Peifu would not come to the meeting again, Wu Peifu was a backbone warlord, he used to be a sworn enemy with himself, and now he has no capital to fight, he will not grovel to himself, so he is the commander of the Anguo Army.

Cao Kun had no choice but to write to Wu Peifu in person and hang up the phone, but no matter what he said, Wu Peifu was two words and didn't go.

Cao Kun and Wu Peifu have a good relationship, usually they are brothers, seeing that Wu Peifu was unwilling to cooperate, he had to come to Zhengzhou to negotiate with Wu Peifu in person, what he didn't expect was that Wu Peifu didn't even give him face.

On the same day, Cao Kun and Zhang Tingye came to Zhengzhou and stayed at the Zhongzhou Hotel in Zhengzhou. Wu Peifu knew his intention, but he was unwilling to bow to Zhang Zuolin, and because he was busy with military transfers, he didn't find time to see Cao Kun for several days.

After three days, Wu Peifu took time to come out, and was accompanied by Zhang Tingye to the Zhongzhou Hotel. At this time, Cao Kun was talking happily with the others, and Wu Peifu came in and bowed and said, "Has the president recovered from his cold?" ”

Cao Kun's originally joyful expression suddenly became serious. The air in the room seemed to freeze all at once, and everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"How used to living lately? In the blink of an eye, the weather in Zhengzhou is about to be hot. Wu Peifu asked with a smile.

Cao Kun stretched his waist and deliberately said in a lazy tone: "Yes, it's so windy outside!" ”

Zhang Tingye smiled and said, "Just kidding, the weather is so good today, how can there be strong winds?" ”

Cao Kun asked with a look of disdain, "Isn't it windy?" Why did you blow Wu Dashuai here without wind? It's weird. ”

Wu Peifu knew that Cao Kun had opinions about him, and thought that the two were called brothers before, and now Cao Kun came to ask him to negotiate with Zhang Zuolin, which was really wronged.

Cao Kun stood up and scolded Wu Peifu: "Wu Peifu, you are a handsome, and I have also been a handsome." When I was a handsome, all the credit was yours, if I didn't give you the credit, how would you be handsome now? Do I have a request for you now? Am I not for you? The southern barbarians are coming, and we can only resist if we work together, but what about you? ”

The more Cao Kun spoke, the more excited he became, and finally his voice was violent, Wu Peifu saw it, picked up the teapot in front of him, and then poured him a cup of tea and brought it to Cao Kun, Cao Kun neither took it nor did not not take it. Wu Peifu put down the cup of tea.

"It's my fault for neglecting the president, and this cup of tea is my apology. But as for the joint fight against the Southern Barbarians you mentioned, I don't think it's necessary. ”

"You ......" Cao Kun wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Wu Peifu.

"Not to mention what I think of that Zhang Zuolin, I can't get used to his face, what if we all go together? Huang Ke's troops from Guangdong were no more than 100,000 troops, but now there are no less than 500,000. The three-way army plus the army that has been operating in the Yellow River all day long, Sun Chuanfang and I have fought against them, in order to fight them, I bought all the money to buy British-made cannons to form an artillery unit, but what is the result? It's not that I'm saying a word of discouragement, we can't resist even if we are united, China will be theirs sooner or later! ”

Although what Wu Peifu said was ugly, there was some truth in it, and Cao Kun also knew that the Northern Expeditionary Army's implementation of land reform, economic control and other measures had revitalized the economy of southern China, and now the Northern Expeditionary Army was supported by the people, and the stones of the march were very fierce, which they could not defeat at all.

But you can't let them go down like this, can you just watch them come over? Cao Kun was angry, but the words were still ugly.

"The times make heroes! I don't have the power to return to heaven, you Cao Kun doesn't have it, and neither does he Zhang Zuolin. Wu Peifu told Cao Kun that it was not that he didn't listen to the advice, but that he had already seen the situation, and there was no need to fight again.

Cao Kun sighed when he heard this, and a few days later, they left Zhengzhou.

Sure enough, as Wu Peifu expected, soon, the Northern Expeditionary Army defeated the direct army in Xinyang, and surrounded it from Fuyang, Anhui Province, and the Northern Expeditionary Army basically controlled the area south of the Huai River.

Wu Peifu had no intention of fighting again, so he had to evacuate from Zhengzhou and went directly to the White Emperor City along the Yangtze River. Cui Wu wanted to send someone to chase and kill, Huang Ke said let him go, this person is not very harmful.

But after turning his head and thinking about it, Huang Ke said, just let Yang Yibing send someone to keep an eye on it.

Wu Peifu, who is in the White Emperor City, is ready to live in seclusion here and live some quiet days, but his identity can't afford such a life after all.

Less than a week after Wu Peifu arrived in the White Emperor City, Rear Admiral Jiro Arashiro, commander-in-chief of the Japanese First Foreign Fleet, and Hideosa Sato, chief of the navy's special service in Shanghai, led more than a dozen adjutants from Yichang to the White Emperor City on a small ship to visit Wu Peifu.

I wanted to close the door, but the Japanese entered early. Wu Peifu was lying on a wicker chair at the time, and when he heard the barking of dogs outside, he asked in a lengthened tone: "Old Hu (housekeeper), why are a group of dogs barking outside?" ”

The translator understood the meaning of Wu Peifu's words, but he frowned and did not translate the irony of this sentence to the Japanese next to him.

After seeing Wu Peifu, Erlang of Arajo bowed and said, "How is Wu Dashuai lately?" ”

Wu Peifu's eyes were half-open and half-open: "Okay, who are you?" ”

The translator proudly said the rank and position of Erlang in Arajo, and Wu Peifu still asked angrily after hearing it: "What's the matter?" ”

After the translator glanced at Jiro Akishiro, he took out a list and said, General Jiro Arajo and the Japanese are very sympathetic and look up to the general, and now that the general is in crisis, we are willing to provide a private loan of 1 million, a gift of 100,000 rifles, 500 mountain guns of various kinds, 2,000 machine guns and ammunition, and transport them to the White Emperor City by small ships for the general's use. ”

To be honest, these things are naturally a big temptation for those who are interested in making a comeback. But for Wu Peifu, a tough guy, it has no effect, he himself would rather not have a penny, and he is not willing to accept Japanese things.

He knows very well in his heart that what the Japanese give you, they will ask for more from you when they come back.

Wu Peifu smiled and said, "What are you giving me these things for?" In the past, Lao Tzu had more than 100,000 guns and more than 1 million riches, but he was still a failure. It can be seen from this that the success or failure of a war does not depend on the amount of guns and money, and your understanding is too shallow. ”

"If Lao Tzu is willing to borrow foreign debts and bring in foreign aid, why should he stay until today? Which country didn't come to me a long time ago? The affairs of the Chinese should be solved by the Chinese themselves. The grand intentions of your nobles and nobles Lao Tzu have grasped it, if there is nothing to do, just play chess here, otherwise send it off."

After speaking, Wu Peifu waved his hand and motioned to the housekeeper to send off the guests. Arashiro Erlang's face turned green angrily, he turned around angrily and left, and scolded "I don't know how to lift"! 、

Wu Peifu scolded back after hearing this: "Dog thing! ”

After hearing this, a group of generals wanted to come back to fight for a level, but Wu Peifu's guards were blocked at the door, so that they did not dare to move. In desperation, the Japanese had to return the way they came.