1928: The rise of giant merchants

Regarding the feud between the principal and Yan Laoxi, Zhang Hanqing watched the whole show and had no intention of getting involved. Although he promised verbally that he would come in to help at critical moments, he only hoped in his heart that everyone would not start a fight.

In the warlords' melee in the past few years, it was not only the common people who suffered, but the warlord leaders also complained endlessly and were extremely aggrieved.

After the auction of the Steamship Merchants Bureau, Zhang Hanqing spent a lot of money to help Ye Luo with 8 million yuan, and won 15% of the shares, plus the 20% of the shares that Ye Luo had previously bought himself, and the 35% signed by Li Guojie. By the time Kong Xiangxi reacted, Ye Luo already held 70% of the shares and had absolute say.

The 30% that Sassoon took became a joke. He could only watch Ye Luo acquire the Steamship Merchants Company and was helpless.

Kong Xiangxi left Shanghai overnight and reportedly broke up with Song Ziwen on bad terms.

The next day, Zhang Hanqing was preparing to return to Fengtian with Zhao Yidi when he suddenly received an urgent call from his wife Yu Fengzhi - their youngest son was seriously ill and died.

To be precise, he didn't die from illness, but from being cheated to death.

After Mr. Zhang became seriously ill, a Western doctor performed an X-ray examination on him. Unexpectedly, the machine suddenly exploded. He was hit by broken glass fragments and died on the spot.

This is the one who looks most like Zhang Hanqing among the three sons born to Yu Fengzhi, and is also the most favored by the Zhang family.

Suddenly hearing the bad news, Zhang Hanqing became in a daze and even forgot to say goodbye to Ye Luo, so he rushed back to Fengtian with Zhao Yidi overnight.

On the train, adjutants Hu Ruoyu, Zhu Guangmu and others discussed that it was not appropriate for Zhang Hanqing to go home at this time, lest he get emotional and make the situation worse.

Since the death of Yang Yuting, Zhang Hanqing has been the number one person in the northern political power. If he has any shortcomings, the entire north will be in chaos.

Therefore, several people suggested that Zhang Hanqing and Zhao Yidi go to Beidaihe to recuperate for a while, and then return to Fengtian after their mood recovered.

Zhang Hanqing was in a trance and agreed to this arrangement. Then he got off the train in Tianjin and went to the Marshal's Mansion in the concession to rest for a while. Then he ordered his adjutant Zhu Haibei to go ahead and rush to Beidaihe to prepare the food and accommodation for the large group of people.

Three days later.

"Commander, we're calling from Fengtian. The cause of the explosion of the X-ray machine has been found out." Adjutant Hu Ruoyu hurriedly walked into the bedroom and handed the confidential documents to Zhang Hanqing, who was still resting on the couch. "Due to the aging of the machine, the wires were short-circuited, which led to this." In this tragedy, we have thoroughly investigated the situation of the hospital leaders, doctors and nurses, and there is no sign of being bribed. This should be an accident. Commander, how should we deal with these people?"

"How is eldest sister doing now?" Zhang Hanqing sighed, and first asked about Yu Fengzhi's situation.

Hu Ruoyu shook his head: "I heard that he had to stay behind closed doors for a period of time, but he has sent a telegram, saying that the commander should not be too distressed. Madam will make appropriate arrangements for the funeral of the young master. Please make arrangements for the commander before returning to Fengtian. In military matters, don’t follow the facts.”

"Okay, I understand." Zhang Hanqing sighed repeatedly. Zhao Yidi, who was standing beside him, also sat over and held his hand with a lonely expression. "Since it was an accident, let's let everyone go. We are not Manchu bannermen, nor are we An unscrupulous warlord cannot kill people at will just to vent his personal anger."

Hu Ruoyu accepted the order but did not leave immediately, his expression was hesitant to speak.

"Is there anything else?" Zhang Hanqing asked.

Hu Ruoyu said: "The second young master sent several telegrams overnight. Considering your mood, Commander, so..."

"Ah, I... come on, come on, what did A Luo say? It's really inappropriate to leave without saying goodbye." Zhang Hanqing came back to his senses and quickly asked Hu Ruoyu to bring Ye Luo's telegrams and read them carefully one by one. .

After learning about Zhang Hanqing's youngest son, Ye Luo naturally stopped disturbing him. The telegram simply expressed his condolences and asked with concern whether he had returned to Fengtian.

There were countless such telegrams, from celebrities from all walks of life, but only Ye Luo's telegram touched Zhang Hanqing, because there was no personal relationship in it at all, and he just treated him as an elder brother.

At this time, Ye Luo, who was in Ye Mansion, was in a very uncomfortable mood.

The incident of Zhang Hanqing's young son made it impossible for him to continue to admonish Zhang Hanqing about the incident on the Middle Road.

Mentioning this kind of military at this time will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire.

On July 10, 1929, the northern authorities deployed troops in various places along the Eastern Railway, forcibly took over the Eastern Railway by force, and removed all senior Soviet officials such as Yemusanov and Deputy Director Esmont of the Eastern Railway Administration from their posts and deported them out of the country. , arrested more than 200 Soviet people.

On July 13, 1929, the Soviet government issued an ultimatum to the Jinling Nationalist Government, giving it three days to reply. "If a satisfactory reply is not obtained, the Soviet government will be forced to resort to other means to defend all Soviet rights."

July 17 was the day Zhang Hanqing left Shanghai.

The Soviet government decided to recall the envoys, commercial representatives and Soviet personnel of the China Eastern Railway, cut off railway traffic between China and the Soviet Union, order the Chinese envoys in the Soviet Union to leave the country, cut off diplomatic relations with China, and threaten the northern authorities and the Jinling National Government. The Middle East If the road is not restored to its original state, China will be in great danger.

Tomorrow, the Soviet consuls and customs staff stationed in Qiqihar, Harbin, Hailar, Manzhouli, Heihe, Suifenhe and other places will return home via Manzhouli along with a large number of expatriates.

At this point war is inevitable.

Today is the last deadline for admonishment, but unfortunately there is no way to save it.

This war lasted for more than four months, and the result was that the Northern Army was completely defeated. As a result, the Soviet army occupied my country's Heixiazi Island, which became the most difficult issue to solve in future territorial disputes between China and Russia.

What's more terrible is that Zhang Hanqing lost confidence in this battle. He went from a high-spirited young man when facing the Soviet army to a cowardly and mediocre general when facing the Japanese Kwantung Army, and made huge mistakes.

In fact, the best time to take back the Eastern Railway was in 1919, when Soviet Russia was first established.

At that time, in order to gain recognition and support from China, the Soviet Union expressed its willingness to give up all the rights and interests it had gained in my country during the Tsarist Russia period.

By 1920, the Soviet Union issued its second declaration to China, reaffirming the principles of the first declaration and actively proposing the intention to co-manage the Eastern Route.

However, the Beiyang government at that time was afraid that it would offend the British and American powers after establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, so it ignored both good intentions and missed the best opportunity to take back the China Eastern Railway.

Now Zhang Hanqing is trying to take it back by force, which is quite funny when you think about it carefully.

"Now that the matter has come to this, we can only quickly evacuate Ye's investment personnel operating at the border." Ye Luo made a prompt decision and called Chen Zhen in the north, asking him to arrange a convoy of charity foundations to bring those doing business at the border. All the employees were recalled and the younger sister was told to go north to stabilize the situation immediately after Ye Zhuohua's full moon drink.

A border war must not affect your own business.

As for Han Qing, we can only give him a hand after the incident. (End of chapter)