The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Last year, Chang Kaishen ordered the local warlords to disarm, but Zhang Xueliang was the only one who actually did so. Originally, the Northeast Army numbered more than 400,000. Zhang Xueliang made great efforts to streamline the army and streamline administration. In the end, there were only 280,000 regular troops left, of which 160,000 belonged to the elite, and the remaining 120,000 were local garrison troops. military.

This is a rare feat in the Republic of China. Both the central government and the local warlords are trying to expand the army, but Zhang Xueliang is the only one who is disarming.

After the disarmament, the Northeast Army has not been weakened, and its combat effectiveness has actually improved. Zhang Xueliang also tried every means to train the new army, which far surpassed the general warlord army in terms of military quality and weapons and equipment.

This shows what?

It shows that Zhang Xueliang's control over the Northeast Army has far surpassed that of Zhang Zuolin. At least on the surface, he can easily command any unit of the Fengjun Army——Zhang Zuolin needs to pay benefits to transfer the army to fight. Some soldiers are disobedient of.

How should I put it, only in terms of military training ability, Zhang Xueliang can be ranked in the forefront among many warlords in the Republic of China. It would be more perfect if he didn't personally command the battle.

Zhang Xueliang smoked a cigarette and said: "Old Jiang still wants to fight, so he invited me to completely kill Yan Baichuan (Yan Xishan) and Feng Huanzhang (Feng Yuxiang), and then go south with him to deal with Li Delin (Li Zongren), Bai Jiansheng (Bai Chongxi) and Chen Bonan ( Chen Jitang)."

"How did you respond?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"Of course I refused. I entered the customs to quell the war and hope that the country will be at peace soon." Zhang Xueliang shook his head helplessly. If he thinks about it, at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers will have to die to be at peace."

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said: "That's true, his desire to control is too strong, but unfortunately his ability has not kept up."

Zhang Xueliang said: "Lao Jiang is really generous this time. He handed over the eight provinces of Hei, Ji, Liao, Shanxi, Cha, Re, Sui, and Hebei provinces, as well as the three cities of Beiping, Tianjin, and Qingdao, to me for control. I deal with the aftermath of the Central Plains War."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "Is there a conspiracy?"

"Of course there is a conspiracy," Zhang Xueliang said with a wry smile, "He asked me to deal with the aftermath, but ordered me to withdraw 60% of the troops of the Northwest Army and the Jinsui Army. Obviously, he wanted to provoke conflicts between me and those warlords and generals. I was so desperate that I couldn't find the right time to attack, so I returned to the south and completely wiped out the Gui army."

Chang Kaishen is really addicted to fighting. The Nanjing government's finances have collapsed, and they still want to drive out the Guangxi warlords. There is no money or food in the fight, and various taxes and levies are specially allocated for this purpose, which makes the people in the south angry and resentful.

After letting go of the warlords of the Guangxi clique, Chang Kaishen continued to turn his attention to the red zone and launched multiple encirclement and suppression campaigns against the red zone.

However, the ulterior motives are not about drinking. Chang Kaishen's encirclement and suppression of the Red Zone is a plan that kills three birds with one stone: first, of course, to eliminate our party; Wherever the encirclement and suppression went, Chang Kaishen's military tentacles would extend there, taking the opportunity to expand the actual territory.

Simply summed up in eight words, Chang Kaishen's play is "to drive away wolves and tigers, and to make money from fisherman".

Zhang Xueliang didn't want to play games with Chang Kaishen, he said: "I'm dealing with Lao Jiang, cutting out some miscellaneous cards with weak combat effectiveness, and then reorganizing and merging the last batch, and secretly keeping them under a different number."

"This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people." Zhou Hexuan said.

If Chang Kaishen's order is followed to forcibly disarm the army, those northern generals who have just defected will probably raise their flags to rebel again, and the war will last for an unknown period of time.

Of course, Zhang Xueliang also took the opportunity to greatly buy people's hearts. If he did this, no matter whether it was the Northwest Army or the generals of the Jinsui Army, they would all owe Zhang Xueliang favors. The fact is also the same. From now on, the generals of any faction in the north will be convinced by Zhang Xueliang.

Take Mojin Xiaowei Sun Dianying as an example. Later, the central government wanted to send Sun Dianying to Duolun.

A few days ago, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Wang Zhaoming held a meeting in Zhengzhou to discuss a joint announcement of a truce, and then they left Zhengzhou and returned to their hometowns. After Chang Kaishen led the army to occupy Zhengzhou, he did not continue to pursue it with all his strength. Instead, he brandished money to bribe the enemy generals, handed over the north to Zhang Xueliang, and at the same time mobilized the army to fight against the Guangxi army in Hunan.

Many generals of the Northwest Army hated both Yan Xishan and Chang Kaishen, which made Zhang Xueliang cheaper in vain. Zhang Xueliang didn't pay any money at all, so he successfully incorporated many troops, and his army grew rapidly.

Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang saw that there was no way to get back to heaven, and Chang Kaishen forced them to go to the field again, so they could only do as they wanted - each handed over the military and political power to his confidantes, and planned to travel abroad to avoid the limelight after leaving the field.

In fact, Feng Yuxiang hasn't given up yet, and he has made various small moves in private, but the overall situation has been settled, and his many schemes can't make waves at all.

This civil war, which mobilized more than 1.1 million troops, cost 500 million yuan, killed and injured 300,000 people, and spread to more than 20 provinces, has finally come to an end.

The biggest beneficiary is not Chang Kaishen who is clamoring for disarmament, nor Feng Yuxiang who is reckless in wanting to fight, nor is it Yan Xishan who is better at calculating than a monkey, but Zhang Xueliang who is waiting for the right time to make a move.

Zhang Xueliang now nominally owns territory in eight provinces and three cities, and controls hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command. If it were an ambitious man like Zhang Zuolin, he would probably start plotting to unify the world and bring down Chang Kaishen.

Zhou Hexuan poured cold water on Zhang Xueliang: "Brother Hanqing, you sent all the elite of the Northeast Army into the pass. The defense of the three eastern provinces is empty. You should send them back as soon as possible to guard against the Japanese Kwantung Army."

Zhang Xueliang wondered: "I think so too, but now the territory is too large, and we must disperse our forces to guard it, otherwise we will not be able to control those big and small warlords at all."

Zhou Hexuan was speechless because he couldn't refute at all.

In Shanxi, Shaanxi, Suiyuan and other northwestern provinces, Zhang Xueliang is definitely out of control, and can only be managed by Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan's old subordinates. But North China is different. As long as Zhang Xueliang spends two or three years governing, North China can become his stable territory just like Northeast China.

Suppressing bandits, calming chaos, garrisoning, guarding... There are too many things that require the elite of the Northeast Army.

After all, the Japanese Kwantung Army's invasion was only Zhou Hexuan's guess. Even if Zhang Xueliang believed it, he couldn't use this to convince his subordinates.

Zhou Hexuan said: "No matter what, at least 30,000 elites must be transferred back to the Northeast."

Zhang Xueliang nodded and said: "That will have to wait until after the aftermath is resolved, and now I can't take action at all."