The plane arrived in Jinan in the evening of the third day. With the rumbling sound of artillery fire, Jiang Baili and his entourage went straight to the Shandong Command Headquarters.

Jiang Xiangfang naturally knew the purpose of Jiang Baili and Liu Jian's trip, and at the same time, he also knew that the matter of abandoning the Jiaodong front line in order to preserve his strength was directly related to this matter.

Thinking of this, Han Xiangfang felt a chill down his spine. He had such an idea in his heart, since Jiang Xianyun was here to take him back to Nanjing, why should he sit still, why might he strike first?

This idea flashed in Han Xiangfang's mind for a moment and was immediately denied, not to mention that the 45th Army stationed in northern Henan was daring to come, even the Third Army was not his own iron, not to mention the air force, armed police force and other teams stationed in Jinan City?

If you take a risk, it's hard to say whether you will be infamous or not, but the important thing is that you don't have any chance of winning? What's more, what should I do after taking risks?

Surrender Japan! A thought crossed his mind again, but he quickly dismissed the unrealistic idea. Because at this time, an old friend of his came, and this person was Liang Shuming.

Liang Shuming and Han Xiangfang can be said to be old acquaintances. Although Han Xiangfang was a figure in the era of military law, he was still an intellectual from a scholarly family in the traditional sense, and when he was in charge of Shandong, he implemented many new policies, among which the more effective one was rural education. At this point, he was even earlier than Fu Jin, who implemented rural hope education across the country, but his scale was much smaller than Fu Jin.

When Han Xiangfang was promoting rural education, Liang Shuming met him and asked him about education. Liang Shuming naturally knew everything, and Han Xiangfang also gave Liang Shuming great support. Liang Shuming carried out his own rural education experiment in Zouping, Shandong, and the results were remarkable.

At the same time, these things also made the relationship between the two become intimate, from the previous superiors and subordinates to a kind of friendship.

There is no doubt about this, because Han Xiangfang trusts Liang Shuming.

Therefore, on the eve of Jiang Xianyun's departure to the pre-war command headquarters in Shandong, Han Xiangfang dared to let Liang Shuming come to his home for a long talk, although he knew in his heart that Liang Shuming was a lobbyist in Nanjing, but he still asked people to light up the lamps in the living room and pour water to make tea to welcome Liang Shuming.

Liang Shuming saw that Han Xiangfang didn't have a good face, and Han Xiangfang arched his hand slightly: "Brother Shouming came to visit late at night, why did he come here?" ”

As he spoke, he had the freshly brewed tea served. The tea lid was unscrewed, the fragrance of tea overflowed, and Han Xiangfang picked up a cup and motioned for Liang Shuming to drink tea too.

Liang Shuming didn't move the teacup in front of him, but just sighed and said, "Xiang Fang is confused!" As the commander of a party, how can you abandon the front line of Jiaodong and give it to the Japanese?! ”

After hearing this, Han Xiangfang shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I won't discuss military matters with you, I'm afraid you came here not only for this matter, right?" ”

Liang Shuming nodded, and then said the purpose of his coming without reservation - "I am persuading you to obey the arrangements of the central government, and you can't make mistakes again and again!" ”

Han Xiangfang smiled slightly, it seemed that he guessed correctly, Liang Shuming was indeed a lobbyist, but Liang Shuming said the reason why he couldn't refuse him.

Liang Shuming said: "To tell the truth, Jiang Baili of the Military Staff Department met with me before I came, and he told me that this time I must be dealt with by relevant personnel when I withdraw from the front line of Jiaodong." ”

Han Xiangfang didn't speak, he looked at Liang Shuming silently.

Liang Shuming continued: "Jiang Baili said that Nanjing means to remove you from your post and investigate, and it is precisely for this reason that he came this time. However, Jiang Baili also said that Nanjing knew that you were still meritorious, and he said that you were not suitable to lead troops. ”

After these words, Han Xiangfang knew the general meaning, and he confessed psychologically, it seems that Nanjing will not take drastic measures against him.

However, what really made him give up the idea was Liang Shuming's next words, Liang Shuming told him that the main force of the 45th Army stationed in northern Henan had already left for Dezhou, which meant that if anything happened to Han Xiangfang, this army could also be used to suppress it.

"General Han's situation today reminds me of many generals in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and he will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history.

The two had a long conversation all night, from the initial acquaintance to the later establishment of education, bit by bit seems to be vivid. Now the two of them are talking freely again, but one of them persuades the other to accept the punishment, which seems somewhat funny, but they both know in their hearts that the reason why there is such a conversation today is the same as the goal of the original education.

Undoubtedly, through this conversation, Han Xiangfang believed in Liang Shuming's words, his attitude towards Nanjing, and even he believed in Jiang Baili and others, but he was still not very relieved.

At dawn, Han Xiangfang said goodbye to Liang Shuming. The two of them said goodbye like all scholars when they first met, both of them were tired, but there was a smile on their tired faces, after all, they had achieved the intended effect for both parties.

After sending Liang Shuming away, Jiang Xiangfang changed into a straight military uniform and went to the pre-war headquarters in Shandong after a simple wash. But he didn't go alone, he also brought with him the only cronies he had run for so many years - the hand-held machine-gun guard battalion.

After Huang Ke carried out military and political reform and the localization of weapons, hand-held machine guns began to be widely equipped, but they still could not reach one per person in ordinary troops, after all, the rate of fire of several hundred rounds per minute was not a joke.

However, the guard units of many units basically have an anti-Thomson hand-held machine gun made in Hanyang, and the tongue-of-fire shooting can form a large fire suppression, which is very suitable for guards. When Huang Ke encountered Zhang Xuecheng's rebellion in the northeast, he relied on his men to resist the attack with machine guns.

The huge advantage of hand-held machine guns has also made many army commanders see the advantages, so in units at the army level, the basic equipment of the guard battalion is hand-held machine guns, and Han Xiangfang is naturally no exception. The difference is that he has selected all his cronies for this guard unit, so this unit is his hardcore.

Hearing that Nanjing was coming to investigate and punish him, Han Xiangfang took this army with him, and he had to accompany this group of soldiers not far away to eat, drink, and sleep.

This time he went to Qianzhi naturally no exception, but Han Xiangfang was worried that Jiang Baili and the others would be suspicious when they saw it, so he only brought a few personal guards, and the other officers and soldiers of the battalion with machine guns followed not far away, and if there was an accident, they would be in case of emergency.

After arranging everything, Han Xiangfang set off. As he walked to the door, the phone in his office rang. However, Han Xiangfang didn't hear it, he had already gotten into the car and went to the front point.

The Austin sedan he was riding in drove for more than half an hour and arrived at the gate of Shandong Qianzhi. Unlike usual, the gate of the front finger was fully armed, and sandbag fortifications were piled up at the doorway, and the snake-bellied barbed wire and horses stood at the gate, and a dozen or so guards wearing steel helmets and swarthy faces stood as if they were cast of steel.

"Huh? Who's doing all this stuff? Sun Tongxuan, the chief of the guard sitting in the co-pilot, was still wondering, but a guard stopped him. Han Xiangfang noticed that the guards at the door had some faces, he felt a little uneasy in his heart, and he glanced at Sun Tongxuan, the chief of the guard, and Sun Tongxuan immediately understood what he meant.

"What part are you from? This is Commander Han's special car, do you still need to check this? Sun Tongxuan rolled down the window and scolded loudly.

The chief guard standing at the door said with a serious expression: "I'm sorry sir, there is an order to go to the peak today, and any vehicle must be inspected!" Please get off the bus. ”

"......" Before Sun Tongxuan could scold, Han Xiangfang, who was sitting in the back seat, said lightly: "Let's get out of the car." ”

Sun Tongxuan and Han Xiangfang got out of the car in turn, and several guards stepped forward to check politely, and then saluted, "Let go." ”

Sun Tongxuan felt a little unbalanced in his heart, he slammed the door shut after getting into the car, and the driver stepped on the accelerator and drove straight forward.

After a while, he turned his head to Han Xiangfang and said, "Commander, I think we should prepare in advance." I just paid attention to it, those people are all from the 45th Army, it seems that the 45th Army entered the city last night, you see......"

Han Xiangfang showed unexpectedly calm, he leaned on the sofa with his eyes closed, and said with his mouth closed: "Don't be anxious, the central dignitaries come here during the war, and inspections are inevitable, and it is normal to bring a little guard troops." ”

Sun Tongxuan naturally understood what Han Xiangfang meant, he didn't speak, and motioned for the driver to continue driving.

When they arrived at the office, the staff officer on duty walked in and told Han Xiangfang that Jiang Baili was not in the front office that day, and they went to the front line.

"When did the chiefs leave? Why don't you tell me? Han Xiangfang asked his subordinates with some anger.

A lieutenant colonel in charge of reception scratched his scalp and said helplessly: "Commander, we can't help it. Early this morning, the commanders heard the sound of artillery on the front line, and we didn't even eat breakfast so they asked us to arrange a vehicle to go to the front line. I'm going to report back to you, but your phone has not been answered. ”

Han Xiangfang frowned and said, "Let's go, go to the front line." ”

The chief of staff looked at Han Xiangfang with some embarrassment, and stopped talking.

Han Xiangfang realized that something was wrong, and he stepped forward and asked, "What exactly do you want to say?" ”

The chief of staff said embarrassedly: "Commander Han, Liu Jian has taken over your position as commander-in-chief before the war in Shandong, and now you are no longer the commander-in-chief." ”