1928: The rise of giant merchants

On the ninth day after Yan Xishan founded the Peking National Government and became its chairman, Zhang Hanqing suddenly called the whole country and led the Northern Army to enter the country in large numbers!

Faced with this situation, Yan Xishan had no choice but to run away and go to the wild.

When Zhang Hanqing electrified all the warlords to enter the customs, Yan Xishan was still commanding operations in the capital of Hebei Province. After receiving the telegram, he paced back and forth and complained to his staff: "This Hanqing has not entered the customs in the morning and will not enter the customs in the evening. It must be stuck." Entering the border at this time is deliberately trying to make it difficult for me! What should I do?”

The Jin army was frightened and panicked. Because its main forces were deployed in Henan and Lu provinces, the Zhili area was extremely empty. After the northern army entered the pass, they encountered no decent resistance along the way. On the 18th, all warlords were telegraphed. On the 19th, After entering the customs, they occupied Tianjin City on the 21st, Peiping on the 23rd, and occupied the entire North China region in half a month!

The Northwest Army on the front line had long been unstable. Upon hearing the news of the Northern Army's entry into the customs, more than 100,000 troops immediately defected. Many of the generals had been bribed by the principals. Now that the time was ripe, they all turned their guns. People from the Central Army.

Yan Xishan quickly called the whole country and announced his resignation as chairman of the new National Government. He also wanted to continue to be the emperor of Shanxi Province.

Wang also fled Peiping in a hurry, and even called to express his helplessness: Now that Fengtian has resorted to force and is wearing a pair of trousers with the rebellion in the south, we, isolated and helpless, can only retreat temporarily and return to Jiangcheng.

The Northern Army and the Central Army were still attacking the anti-Chiang coalition forces in the war zone, but as the commander Zhang Hanqing came to Shanghai to chat with Ye Luo.

As soon as they met, he laughed at Ye Luo and looked very happy: "A Luo, I heard that you helped Zhang Qun and Bai Xiongqi come up with the plan. Now you have helped me a lot."

"It's not me, it's not me." Ye Luo waved his hands, trying to get away cleanly.

Zhang Hanqing was so happy this time because the principal sent at least more than 100 million yuan and a large amount of military supplies in order to invite him to leave the country. This suddenly solved the financial problem in the north and allowed Fengjun to take advantage of the opportunity to increase his strength.

Now that he defeated the Jin Army and the Northwest Army, Zhang Hanqing successfully occupied North China and became the most powerful local warlord. He indeed had the confidence to share the world with the principal.

The Northern Army's momentum was sluggish due to the previous incident on the Middle Road, and Zhang Hanqing's ability to lead troops in war was also questioned. Even if rebels like Yang Yuting were eliminated internally, there were still many old people who were not optimistic about his military abilities.

In this battle, all problems were solved. Zhang Hanqing was naturally proud of his horse and was the first to show off to his good brother.

It was this mentality and the sweetness he experienced this time that prevented him from returning to the north to defend in time, which caused a catastrophe a year later.

The disaster was definitely unavoidable, and Zhang Hanqing had to rely on Zhang Hanqing to launch an incident to clean him up a little bit. Anyway, Ye Luo didn't want to be stained with shame and completely denied his so-called suggestions.

Zhang Hanqing felt that Ye Luo was still like that and did not want to get involved in military politics, so he pretended to agree with him and never mentioned the matter again.

Anyway, in his heart, he had attributed the credit for Fengjun's benefits to Ye Luo, and he was very grateful.

This kid always tried to persuade him verbally not to do this or that, but unfortunately he got his words right every time. Zhang Hanqing was both impressed and unhappy. Finally, the two of them came to the same point of view and achieved great success.

He felt a lot more comfortable.

"Last time when the army was dismantled, I followed the principal's orders and severely damaged the Northern Army. Thanks to the supplies for this war, it recovered." Zhang Hanqing spoke with great pride, obviously having ideas about taking over the south and striving for world hegemony.

The principal ordered local warlords to disarm last year, but he was the only one who really listened. Originally, the number of northern troops was more than 400,000. After the disarmament, only 280,000 were left, including 160,000 elites and 120,000 local garrison troops. Many of them were consumed on the China Eastern Railway. During the incident, this greatly reduced his strength for a time.

Complying with the act of disarmament was a great feat in the Republic of China. Other warlords were eager to expand and expand, but he was the only one who really put the country first, disarmed first, and cut off his own arms.

Turning Fengjun, who could originally compete in the Central Plains, into a garrison force that could only stick to its hometown, this was also the source of conflicts within Fengjun.

After taking a deep breath, Zhang Hanqing hugged his godson Ye Zhuohua and smoked a cigarette: "The principal wants to continue the fight and invites me to drive out Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, and then go south with him to deal with Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and Chen Jitang."

"What do you think?" Ye Luo asked.

"Of course I refused. I entered the customs to quell the war and hope that the country can be at peace as soon as possible." He shook his head and said, "The principal has ulterior motives and wants to kill people with a borrowed knife. He wants to completely eradicate the local warlords. If he is really allowed to kill all these people If it is destroyed, I will be next.”

"And if a fight breaks out, hundreds of thousands of soldiers will die tragically." Ye Luo despises civil war and does not want these soldiers to die under the guns of his own people.

"The principal wants me to carry out a new round of disarmament after collecting their troops! This is absolutely impossible." Zhang Hanqing said with a wry smile, "I am going to cut down some of the weak combatants, and then reorganize and merge their troops and replace them. I kept the number secretly and cut it off, so what else should I use?”

If we really follow the principal's wishes, those defecting troops who were reduced as soon as they surrendered will definitely rebel wildly, and then the target will be Zhang Hanqing, who recruited them and then reduced their troops.

This move is really vicious.

Fortunately, Zhang Hanqing is not stupid. He sees through it at a glance. There are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. He retains these troops, can win over people's hearts, make the generals owe favors, and can also silence the principal.

"This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people, so feel free to do it." Ye Luo nodded, "I have the energy to spare and will support you."

"Haha, I feel relieved when you say that." Zhang Hanqing patted him on the shoulder, "This time I mainly came to say thank you and congratulate you. I heard that you just celebrated your birthday, but you didn't ask me to come. You, you."

"It's your birthday, it's just a matter of grandstanding. You are busy with military affairs, so you don't have to worry about such trivial matters." Ye Luo smiled and said, "If there is any big event, I will definitely call you."

"Okay, I remember what you said." Zhang Hanqing took a sip of tea, teased Ye Zhuohua again, and then handed his godson back to Xiao Aqiao, then approached him and whispered, "A Luo, Principal Xinxin No, now there are more and more complaints about him from all over the country, why don’t you really consider coming to the north to work with me?”

He would routinely ask questions every time they met, but this time, probably because of his victory, his tone was particularly formal and serious.

Ye Luo also put away his smile and said solemnly: "Brother Six, it's not that I don't want to come, or that I'm greedy for these things in the south, but I have my own reasons."

"Are they still the same as the Japanese?" Zhang Hanqing said displeased, "Do you really think I can't defeat the Japanese?" (End of Chapter)