1928: The rise of giant merchants

"Brother Six, the Japanese Kwantung Army has been eyeing the three eastern provinces for more than a day or two." Ye Luo still couldn't hold it back and gave some advice.

"Okay, okay, okay, I understand your good intentions, but military affairs are different from your business. Even if the Japanese really have this intention, the Northern Army is not as simple as you think." Zhang Hanqing waved his hand and interrupted the topic. .

He was feeling very proud, but Ye Luo dared to pour cold water on him at this time. If it had been anyone else, Zhang Hanqing would have walked away.

This hard-earned meeting and conversation ended with a slightly unpleasant result.

Bai Xiuzhu and the others saw all this in their eyes. Meng Xiaodong and others did not understand politics and were worried about whether Ye Luo would offend the Northern Marshal. However, Bai Xiuzhu and Xiao Aqiao, two women who had been with him for a long time, , then he understands Ye Luo's inner thoughts more and more.

The possible war between the Republic of China and Japan is a major event that Ye Luo has always emphasized to the outside world. He has mentioned it to the principal and others several times, but unfortunately it has not been taken seriously.

But people who are familiar with Ye Luo, such as Bai Xiuzhu and others, already feel a sense of alarm.

He has never been the kind of person to aimlessly, especially since he just went to Tokyo for business in recent days, so he should have a new understanding of the Japanese.

However, the relationship between Zhang Hanqing and Ye Luo is not as plastic as they thought.

The friendship between men is like an iron-blooded relationship, and the conflicts between men also come and go quickly. Within a few days, Zhang Hanqing returned to laughing and joking with Ye Luo. The two of them often went out together without knowing where to go, just like a pair of brothers. .

Not long after Zhang Hanqing left the customs and went south, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and Wang held a meeting in Zhengzhou to discuss a joint announcement of an armistice and power supply, and then they left Zhengzhou and returned to their hometowns.

After the principal led his army to occupy Zhengzhou, he did not continue to pursue it with all his strength. Instead, he used money to bribe enemy generals and handed the north to Zhang Hanqing. At the same time, he mobilized a large army to attack the Gui army in Hunan Province.

Many generals of the Northwest Army hated Yan Xishan and the principal, but they only respected Zhang Hanqing very much. Who let him be the only one to do personnel affairs?

Especially after a hearty chat with Ye Luo, Zhang Hanqing firmed up his approach and bought the hearts and minds of the generals of the Northwest Army. He also defied the principal's disarmament opinions and successfully retained the designation of these Northwest Army.

Without spending much money, he successfully recruited many Northwest Army units, and his military strength expanded rapidly.

Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang saw no way to save themselves, and the principal forced them to resign. They had no choice but to obey, each entrusting their military and political power to their confidants, and prepared to travel abroad to avoid the limelight after resigning. Previously, some people had been forced to resign. Got assassinated.

They knew that the principal wanted to get rid of them quickly, so there was no guarantee that some special agent would not arrange a gorgeous assassination to make them bid farewell to the stage of history.

Feng Yuxiang hasn't really given up yet, and keeps making various small moves in private, but the overall situation has been decided, and his many plans can't make waves at all, and no one pays attention to him, a low-level warlord.

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

These are only official statistics and do not disclose the number of ordinary people who died as a result of the war, as well as those who were injured, robbed, and homeless.

Ye Luo estimates that the actual consumption will at least double, to 1 billion oceans, which is equivalent to starting at 200 million U.S. dollars.

As Ye Luo said, the war was fought in a mess, with no human beings on both sides, and the common people suffered, all because of the selfish desires of the principal and the unquenchable ambitions of a few warlords.

If these human and financial resources were spent on resisting foreign enemies, the soldiers would not have died in vain. But if they fell under the barrel of their own guns, who would they complain to?

The biggest beneficiary is not the principal who clamored for disarmament and finally had the possibility of unification, nor is he Feng Yuxiang who fought recklessly but was held back, nor is he Yan Xishan who is better at calculating than a monkey and is a complete mess in fighting. , but Zhang Hanqing who was waiting for the time to take action.

Zhang Hanqing now nominally owns territory in eight provinces and three cities, has hundreds of thousands of people under his command, has strong troops and horses, and his financial problems have been alleviated. If it were his father, he would probably have already started planning how to dominate the world and unseat the principal. Zhang Hanqing, on the other hand, is a little less ambitious and has such an intention, but has not yet started to implement it, and has no definite plan.

Before leaving, Zhang Hanqing couldn't hold back and still said something to Ye Luo.

Ye Luo poured cold water on his head: "Sixth brother, you have sent all the elites of the Northern Army into the pass. Now that the defense in the north is empty, it is better to send back the Kwantung Army as soon as possible to be wary of the Japanese invaders."

Zhang Hanqing pretended to be embarrassed: "The territory is too big now. I must disperse my troops to guard it. Otherwise, I will not be able to control the warlords, large and small. As you mentioned, I can only advance slowly."

What he said was correct. Although Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and others stepped down, their territory was actually still in the hands of their henchmen. Zhang Hanqing had absolutely no control over these people and could only let them control these areas.

But North China is different. As long as he works hard for a few years, he can turn North China into his stable territory like the north.

Suppressing bandits, quelling chaos, garrisoning, and guarding. There are many things to deal with in the new territory. This is true, but it is also unreasonable to pile all the troops outside the customs.

The reason why Zhang Hanqing was reluctant to go back was because he wanted to compete with the principal. As long as he stayed outside the customs for a day, the principal would not be so bold.

Ye Luo couldn't say these words, and even his friends couldn't do it, so he had to pretend not to understand and try to persuade him.

Zhang Hanqing did not completely ignore Ye Luo's words, but he still took this matter to heart. Therefore, after he returned to the north, he immediately moved his official residence to Peiping, and worked hard to develop military and political affairs.

He left Fengtian and appointed a new mayor of Tianjin.

This person’s name is Zang Qifang. He majored in economics at the University of California and the University of Illinois. After returning to China, he served as the dean of the law school of Northeastern University. He also worked as a tutor for Zhang Hanqing for several years, teaching economics to his children. And he is also one of Zhang Hanqing's confidential secretaries.

On the one hand, Zhang Hanqing respected Zang Qifang's talent and learning ability, but on the other hand, he felt that he was a bit unreliable.

Because students from Northeastern University and Peking University were making troubles and engaging in student unrest before, Zang Qifang did not strictly restrain them, and the student movement grew in scale.

In his original words: "I have great distrust of Zang Qifang and almost shot them (many school leaders)."

Before Northeastern University moved to Sichuan, the local warlord's troops often molested female students, making the students afraid to go out at night. After learning about it, Zang Qifang, the then president, immediately posted a hero post and hosted a banquet for officers above the company level of the local garrison. He told them about the hardships of being displaced from school, and also about the difficulty of students studying diligently, and begged the garrison to strictly restrain the soldiers to ensure that students can study with peace of mind.

He is a true scholar-bureaucrat, a good principal and a good man of letters.

This is why Ye Luoyi strongly recommended Zang Qifang to take up this position when Zhang Hanqing was hesitant.

The two had never met before, but Ye Luo spoke up and let him take the position. After learning about it, Zang Qifang specially sent someone to send a gift to Ye Zhuohua, the third generation young master of the Ye family - a box of books to express his gratitude. (End of chapter)