The progress of the Northern Expedition was very fast, and in less than half a year, almost all of the south of the Yangtze River was under the control of the Northern Expeditionary Army; The agrarian revolution was also in full swing at this time, and the peasants who had land had the enthusiasm to participate in the revolution, which greatly promoted the progress of the Northern Expedition.

In addition to carrying out land reform, Huang Ke also vigorously supported the development of heavy industry, and successively opened technician schools in Zhejiang, Hunan and other places, and introduced machinery and teacher resources from abroad.

Seeing the continuous burning of war in the south also made the originally peaceful city of Beijing less peaceful. Under the influence of the war in the south, Beijing's political situation has also become stormy, and Du Xijun, the acting premier of the cabinet, resigned on his own initiative, unwilling to wade into troubled waters, and Gu Weijun, the chief financial officer, only has a concurrent deputy.

Gu Weijun is an expert in diplomacy, but it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, the political situation at that time was turbulent and diplomacy was tricky, so in the time of Gu Weijun's agency, he did not make any achievements in either diplomacy or domestic affairs.

Seeing that the Northern Expeditionary Army was about to fight, and the Beijing government was about to be replaced, the Beijing government had no choice but to send a telegram to Zhang Zuolin, Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang, Yan Xishan, Zhang Zongchang, and other warlord giants to come to Beijing to settle the country. Gu Weijun was put on the table to preside over this meeting, and he was willing to resign earlier and leave this chaotic political arena.

Although the giants are fighting hotly on weekdays, the Northern Expeditionary Army is now in full swing, and under the common interests, they have to think about how to make the next choice; Undoubtedly, this is the time when the union becomes the best choice.

With the mediation of the Beijing government, the meeting of the warlords in Beijing was held as scheduled. Wu Peifu personally rushed to Beijing from the front line, and when he came, he was still covered with the smell of gunsmoke; For this meeting, he did not have high expectations, he knew very well in his heart, the warlords are all ghosts, who is willing to really organize the army to resist the Northern Expedition?

There are countless striking parallels in the history of the current situation, the Warring States Period, the Eighteenth Route Princes' Alliance in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and the "Thirty-six Battalions" of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty...... What are the results of these alliances? Wu Peifu is clear in his heart, but for now, he can only grasp this last straw.

Sun Chuanfang was even more embarrassed when he went, the speed of the Northern Expeditionary Army had already made him have less than one-third of the territory in his hands, and now he couldn't even organize a decent big battle, so when he came to this meeting, to put it bluntly, he wanted a gun.

Although warlords such as Yan Xishan and Zhang Zongchang did not have personal experience of the Northern Expedition, they still understood the truth of cold lips and teeth; The Southern Army is now engaged in the same way as the agrarian revolutionary red party, and it will be defeated in a year and a half before it can be maintained, and then there will be no way at all.

Unlike others, Zhang Zuolin, the king of the Northeast, was unexpectedly happy to come this time. After all, he is not alone in this visit, behind him, more than 30,000 people of the Northeast Army have already left the customs, and just when he landed in Beijing City, such a mixed army has already set up camp in the north of Beijing City, ready to take Beijing City into his hands at any time.

The most powerful force north of the Yangtze River was the warlord-based Northeast Army, an all-northerner force that was not only well-equipped, but also brave and good at fighting. Relying on the abundant supply of troops and equipment in the three northeastern provinces, this army can be proud of other warlords.

This is why Zhang Zuolin dared to bring a force to Beijing when discussing state affairs.

The streets of Beijing are still lively, with long red lanterns hanging on the ancient city walls, and two rows of green brick courtyards with old men in horse coats; On the street in front of the house, vendors in short coats carry all kinds of gadgets sold along the street with flat shoulders; The bursts of heat coming out of the teahouse, the old men from the south and the north are here to discuss trivial matters, domestic and foreign affairs; In large and small parks, old men walking with birdcages; There is also an endless stream of people shaking bamboos and flying kites......

Zhang Zuolin is not as low-key as other warlords, when he entered the city of Beijing, he sat in a Dodge car imported from the United States, and there were guards carrying guns and horses in front and behind, and his momentum was evident. There are also patrols with whistles and batons on the street to clear the traffic for him, this posture is difficult for Yuan Datou to catch up with, along the way, Zhang Dashuai attracted the attention of many people, and even the foreigners in Dongjiaomin Lane also poked their heads out to see.

Zhang Zuolin came with troops, which naturally made the other warlords unhappy, and as soon as they arrived at the cabinet conference room on the first day, the warlords did not arrive.

Wu Peifu did not arrive at the venue, and his reason was that he was tired from the journey and was not suitable for the meeting; This sentence is just a pretext, everyone knows that Wu Peifu is a straight man, and Zhang Zuolin is also an old enemy, I heard that Zhang Zuolin came with troops, and when he entered the city, he made such a momentum, which really made him look down on it, so he simply didn't go to the meeting on the first day.

Without an important figure like Wu Peifu, there is naturally no way to discuss the establishment of an alliance between warlords, but fortunately, Gu Weijun is good at playing a round game, and arranged for the giants to listen to Peking Opera that day, so the first day's meeting will be dispersed.

That night, Gu Weijun arrived at the hotel where Wu Peifu was staying. When I met Wu Peifu, Wu Peifu was fiddling with calligraphy at the table, and this "Xiucai General" picked up the pen and felt a little like holding a gun.

"Great rivers and mountains!" Gu Weijun smiled and entered the room, and when he saw Wu Peifu writing, he couldn't help but read it out.

"Mr. Gu, don't come unharmed!" Wu Peifu and he have known each other for a long time, and the title when they meet is more commonplace; After seeing him coming, Wu hurriedly put down the pen and paper in his hand, gave up his seat, and motioned for someone to serve tea.

"I'm sorry for you today! Now that the government has no one in charge, you must have a lot of grievances when you come to shoulder this burden. Wu Peifu also sat down and said to Gu Weijun with a melancholy face.

"Brother Ziyu is right, I just want to resign from this position as soon as possible and go home as soon as possible to enjoy happiness, but President Cao is urging me to be anxious, and I can't shirk it."

When he said this, Gu Weijun looked relaxed, but he knew that he couldn't resign at this time, and if he resigned, it would be difficult for Cao Kun to explain it, and it would be difficult for him to say it himself.

"Mr. Gu is the mediator among these people, if you don't ask, how can we, the 'Eighteenth Route' military horses, be able to gather? I didn't go to the meeting today, in fact, it wasn't aimed at Mr., but I couldn't get used to Zhang Lao's arrogance. ”

Wu Peifu's tone couldn't help but become a little heavier when he spoke, and the inner struggle and anger towards Zhang Zuolin were difficult to resolve at this time.

Gu Weijun naturally understood the hatred between them, but at this time, he finally wanted to persuade everyone to the conference table; In any case, they have to give up all kinds of previous suspicions, and Gu Weijun also believes that everyone rushed to Beijing City at this time, and they must also have this sincerity.

"Brother Ziyu, although Zhang Zuolin was a little arrogant in this matter, he didn't make excessive moves after all. Besides, we are here to discuss how to deal with the Southern Army; Discarding previous suspicions should be the basis of this meeting, General Wu, as a key member of this meeting, you are also familiar with the reasoning of this matter, and if the talks fail, all of us will suffer. I also ask Brother Ziyu to make the right choice in the face of righteousness. ”

Gu Weijun really deserves to be a diplomat, although his few words seem to be plain, but they are on point, so at the same time, he also leaves enough name for Wu Peifu, find a step for him, he naturally can't help but come down.

Wu Peifu sighed: "A little Huang Ke made us like this, hey......"

The meeting to discuss the alliance was held as scheduled, this time Wu Peifu arrived at the venue early, but Zhang Zuolin was late; I don't know if he was intentional or unintentional, nearly half an hour after the start of the meeting, Zhang Zuolin walked in with the guards, and near the door, he also made a loud noise with a Northeast dialect, and his voice spread far away.

After everyone arrived, Gu Weijun led the meeting to begin; Needless to say, the procedure of the meeting was that some officers and staff officers first briefed the Northern Expeditionary Army on its march, then discussed the military strength of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and finally discussed the alliance and established a joint command of the navy, army, and air force.

At the beginning of the meeting, Gu Weijun had already asked people to make the conference materials into documents and send them to each participant, and Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin, who were sitting in the front row, looked at them a few times, and almost threw the documents on the table.

Wu Peifu has long known all about this, but it is difficult to understand that Zhang Zuolin is still there when he opens his eyes.

"Momfuck! Huang Ke, the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, turned out to be a hairy boy, and the people of the former Qing Dynasty dared to lead troops to fight? Isn't there a decent person in Sun Dagun's hands? ”

What Zhang Zuolin said is indeed true, Huang Ke advertised that he was born in the year of Gengzi, and he was less than thirty years old by this time.

Zhou Yu is young and vigorous and still in his thirties, but Huang Ke led the Northern Expedition before he was thirty, and he was simply a better person than Zhou Yu, no wonder Zhang Zuolin looked down on him.

Zhang Zuolin is not the only one who looks down on him, Zhang Zongchang and Yan Xishan all came out of the rain of bullets, and in their eyes, people who are less than 30 years old can't even command a regiment, let alone the Northern Expedition army of more than 100,000.

"What Zhang Dashuai said is extremely true, I don't believe that a hairy boy can have any ability?" Zhang Zongchang also spoke extremely contemptuously.

But Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang, who had fought with the Northern Expeditionary Army, knew deeply that this kind of blind arrogance was not advisable.

Sun Chuanfang shook his head: "You all don't know, although Huang Ke is not very old, he is very good at managing and using soldiers; I won't talk about it with Commander Wu. Back then, he led a group of merchant groups of civilian armed forces to beat Chen Jiongming's troops to the ground, and Chen Jiongming is still in Hong Kong and dare not go back; Wasn't the Eastern Crusade organized by Lu Rongting defeated by this person? Don't make up your mind so early if you haven't fought him. ”

After Sun Chuanfang finished speaking, he knocked on the table, and Zhang Zuolin smiled: "The hairy boy is the hairy boy after all, and he was still nursing when Lao Tzu carried the gun!" Haha"