China and Japan have reached a package of agreements, including more than a dozen major agreements on the construction of railways, Japanese investment, and shipping on the Yangtze River. In addition to the political aspect, militarily Japan can exercise the right to garrison troops in China to protect overseas Chinese, which seems simple, but in fact it implies murderous intentions, that is to say, Japan can send troops to China at will in the name of protecting overseas Chinese.

As for the proposal to deal with the murderers of the Japanese soldiers, the Chinese representatives did not accept them, and the killing of Huang Ke would reduce the prestige of the Nationalist Government among the people to a low point; What's more, if he is in a hurry, maybe he will not even obey the orders of the Guangzhou Nationalist Government, after all, there are countless soldiers loyal to Huang Ke in the Northern Expeditionary Army.

For this, the Japanese did not pursue it too much, it does not matter whether the authorities kill him or not, it is important to remove him from his post, and it is not simple for a person without military power to make him disappear?

The political game has come to an end, and Huang Ke has ostensibly become a victim of the game, but in fact he is retreating as advancing. The great cause of the Northern Expedition has been decided, and the important departments of the army are basically his people, and it can be said unceremoniously that he personally has absolute control over this army, and whether or not to remove the power is not at all a matter of order from Guangzhou.

As for continuing the northern expedition, Huang Ke had already formulated a plan: Batu waved his army eastward, Jiang Xianyun led the army north, and directly drove Zhang Zuolin into the sea. With the army of hundreds of thousands of tigers and wolves of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Huang Ke was full of confidence in eliminating Zhang Zuolin.

On the train to see off Jinan, Jiang Xianyun personally accompanied him, and he sent a section of Huang Ke, but also listened to his orders.

In a carriage that looked like a living room, Huang Ke and Jiang Xianyun had a long talk, the carriage was restructured, with sofas, coffee tables and bookcases, and a few soldiers patrolling back and forth at the door, all the carriages were arranged in the same way, so that people had no way of knowing which section it was.

When Huang Ke set off, there were already two identical trains that took the lead, and there were still two more waiting to depart. This was arranged by Jiang Xianyun, and it is not ruled out that the Japanese will know something about the railway where Huang Ke went back.

There are countless loyal and brave people in the army, and there are many talented generals, but a person like Jiang Xianyun who has the overall situation and advanced vision is probably the only one among the millions of soldiers.

Huang Ke sat on the soft sofa in the carriage, leaning back, and sat there in an extremely comfortable position. Jiang Xianyun stood at first, and then sat on the sofa next to him at Huang Ke's signal, but his waist was straight.

"You were made the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army by Liao Lao and them, do you know your current task?" Huang Ke lit a cigarette and smoked slowly.

Jiang Xianyun thought for a while and said seriously: "Go north and take Beijing; If you meet Batu and take the northeast, the overall situation of the Northern Expedition has been decided, and as for He Yingqin, the central officials will naturally be well entertained."

Huang Ke nodded: "Yes, this time we fought against the Japanese, militarily the Japanese suffered a loss, but in fact, we suffered a loss." War is the continuation of politics, and politics is the purpose of war, so when war cannot solve the problem, politics must be able to solve it; On the contrary, if the problem cannot be solved politically, it only needs to rely on the means of war, so at any time, our army must obey the command and be able to fight. ”

Jiang Xianyun nodded meaningfully: "Commander, I understand!" However, our industrial base is too weak, and it may be difficult to develop into a large-scale system in ten years. ”

Huang Ke shook his head: "We don't even have ten years yet. But you don't have to worry about this, that's why I let go of the military. ”

Jiang Xianyun now understood, Huang Ke's move was to retreat as advance, politically he knew that offending the Japanese would definitely not be able to pass the test, but he couldn't tear his face with the Guangzhou government, so it was better to borrow the slope to get off the donkey, and now he just took time to engage in industry.

In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that Huang Ke has been running the Northern Expeditionary Army for so many years, whether it is a field force or a reserve, he has arranged it like an iron bucket, plus those reserve cadres and armored troops that are directly under his own control, Huang Ke is retiring on the surface, in fact, he just doesn't wear a military uniform, in secret, Huang Ke is still controlling this powerful army machine to operate efficiently.

Jiang Xianyun nodded, meaningful.

At about ten o'clock in the evening, Huang Ke came up tired after reading a volume of "Zeng Wenzheng's Official Documents", and then covered himself with a blanket and fell asleep in the carriage.

Not long after falling asleep, he suddenly heard the crackling gunshots, and Huang Ke was extremely vigilant after many years of military career, so he suddenly woke up and loaded a Browning pistol placed next to his pillow.

Jiang Xianyun had also woken up, he also loaded the pistol in his waist, and slowly moved forward, the two of them held their breath, if this trip was blown up, the Northern Expeditionary Army would lose its backbone and disperse.

When he first arrived at the door, Fourteen Tsai suddenly pushed the door in, and he said in a slightly nervous tone: "Two chiefs, I just encountered an attack by a few people, it is estimated that they came up from Xuzhou Station when they were replenished, and now the situation has been controlled by us, but the two chiefs need to be transferred." ”

"Did anyone get caught? Huang Ke took a calm breath, and the scene of Huanggutun kept appearing in his mind, and he didn't want to be Zhang Zuolin.

"Three were killed, and one was locked up in the staff compartment," Fourteen said, holding a shell gun and opening the nose of the machine.

"Xianyun, do you want to see who attacked us?" Huang Ke put away the pistol and said to Jiang Xianyun, Jiang Xianyun also turned off the pistol and smiled, go and have a look.

Escorted by Fourteen Tsai and a group of guards, Huang Ke and Jiang Xianyun walked towards the carriage in front. When passing by the battlefield that had just been fiercely fought, the cleaners were sweeping up the blood stains on the ground, and the smell of blood suddenly hit their faces, Huang Ke and they were all experienced in the battlefield, so they naturally would not be disgusted by this smell of blood.

In the carriage, a thin young man with a small head was clasped by his hands, and next to him stood several soldiers with loaded guns.

Huang Ke walked up to him and looked this person up and down: "Who sent you?" ”

The young man turned his head away, a look of disdain.

Huang Ke smiled lightly: "Aren't you going to kill Huang Ke?" Now that Huang Ke is standing in front of you, tell me who sent you, and I may be able to spare your life. ”

The young man was silent, and suddenly the corners of his mouth rose to reveal a hint of joy, and Fourteen Tsai frowned and exclaimed, "Not good! He's going to kill himself. ”

After a while, the young man vomited blood from his mouth, fell to the ground, and within three minutes he was dead. Fourteen glanced at the man's pupils, then shook his head to indicate that he was dead.

"Commander, it's me who is not doing well, please punish me" After a while, Fourteen Tsai walked up to Huang Ke and took the initiative to ask for guilt, Huang Ke shook his head and said, "These are just reminders to me, it seems that the situation is still very serious." You inform Yang Yibing and let him quickly find out the identities of these people, but I want to see who is behind the scenes? I thought that being unofficial was light, but it seems that I am still unofficial and heavy. ”

After dozens of hours of traveling, the train finally arrived at its destination, Pukou, Nanjing. This is the terminus of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and Huang Ke had to get off here. Jiang Xianyun also prepared to return to Jinan after getting out of the car, after all, he was now the nominal commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and if nothing else, He Yingqin would report on his work in a few days.

Huang Ke did not stay, and Jiang Xianyun took the train back to Jinan on the same day. After arriving in Nanjing, Yang Yibing led the officers of the Reserve Cadre Bureau to meet him. As soon as he got out of the car, Yang Yibing put a prepared windbreaker on Huang Ke's body.

"Comrade Xinghua, we can be miserable, the cold air by the river is heavy, you put on your clothes" Yang Yibing said, the Reserve Cadre Department called Huang Ke not his position, no matter how high the official rank is, he is also a comrade.

Huang Ke looked at these soldiers, the Reserve Cadres Bureau is an intelligence agency, although many of them are active soldiers, but they are uniformly wearing black lapel national uniforms, and they are all holding black umbrellas in their hands, and each of them has a national emblem pinned to their chests.

To these soldiers, Huang Ke nodded slightly, he knew that the purpose of his training for many years had been achieved, and such an intelligence agency had begun to take shape.

Four jet-black Austin sedans and military trucks were ready, Yang Yibing opened the door for Huang Ke, and rode in the same car with him, with Fourteen Tsai sitting in front.

Yang Yibing knew about the attack on the train, so he specially increased security. The four identical Austin sedans all had the same number plate, and they were constantly changing positions as they went, with officers and soldiers on motorcycles holding * in front and behind, and a large number of secret sentry posts were lurking along the road.

"Comrade volunteers, you bothered" In the car, Huang Ke smiled and said to Yang Yibing.

Yang Yibing sat on the side, his waist straight: "These are all things I should do, by the way, Comrade Xinghua, I have taken proper measures for the protection list you arranged, and I have arranged an informal meeting tomorrow." ”

Huang Ke nodded with satisfaction, without the slightest tiredness along the way, listening to Yang Yibing's previous talent placement plan.

A good industrial base is a prerequisite for the production of sufficient weapons in wartime. Huang Ke deeply understood this, so while carrying out the Northern Expedition, he paid the most attention to the cultivation of scientific and technological talents and the introduction of industrial technology.

Technician schools in several places in Nanjing, steel mills in Wuhan, textile industry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, foreign trade economy in Guangzhou, wheat in North China, and potatoes in Northeast China...... These are all important supports for Huang Ke's industrial development. Of course, in addition to resources, what Huang Ke values most is talents and technical equipment.

In terms of the development of the army, Huang Ke decided to give priority to the development of artillery. He knew that artillery was the god of war and the core part of the combat effectiveness of the modern army. Field artillery can carry out fire strikes on the enemy's depth, such as bombarding the enemy's large-scale impact assembly area, blocking the enemy's breakthrough, preventing the enemy's surprise attack, suppressing the enemy's artillery firepower, and even protecting his own troops from the battle transfer.