The Anti-Japanese War Begins with the Northeast Army

Seeing that Jiang Cheng did not stop him from talking, Sun Zhengnan continued to describe: "Master Jiang, so Pingchuan and I acted separately. He led the main force out of the city to continue the search, and I led the brothers of the Guard Brigade to check for dead bodies around the Hai Mansion."

"Luckily, we found two survivors under some ruins... After some interrogation, they said they were from inside the pass."

Then he reported a number, and Jiang Cheng's expression immediately darkened: "Damn it, it's actually him!"

Who could it be?
It was his "old friend", Marshal Wu Peifu.

Two years ago, he led Tang Yulin's "legacy" troops to Qinhuangdao to pick up the 4000 million equipment.

When they found out that something that belonged to them had been snatched away, the furious Zhi army immediately set up a dragnet to capture both the people and the property.

However, Jiang Cheng took advantage of the time difference and "special weapons" and not only ran back to Shanhaiguan leisurely with the things, but also posted slogans at the pass to play a trick on Wu Peifu who came to hunt them down.

So, he sent out troops now, intending to counterattack Jiang Cheng?
But it is obvious that the domineering Marshal Yu has a bigger appetite. He even intends to get rid of Jiang Cheng across provinces and deal a fatal blow to the Fengtian Army!
"Oh, it's really amazing that he can take advantage of this opportunity to trick me!"

Jiang Cheng sneered twice, and then said to his chief of staff, "Leave him alive for me - don't let them get rid of him."

Seeing that his boss was clearly angry, Sun Zhengnan quickly stood at attention and saluted: "Yes, Mr. Jiang!"

"But... this matter is always a bit strange:"

"First of all, this mutiny came so suddenly. Even if these stragglers of the Zhi army entered the city in advance, how could they seize the opportunity so cleverly?"

"You led your people to the side that led the mutiny, but you didn't see even one 'outsider' - it was really an outsider trying to trick you, and it would be impossible without a contact person to act as a bridge."

Jiang Cheng also took a deep breath, his face and tone were very solemn: "Yes, there is more to it than that——"

"Think about it. Even if they are not many in number, they still have a hundred or so people. It would be easy to send them in batches while we are migrating north, but what about the weapons?"

"Individual mortars are easy to explain, but how do you explain these machine guns?"

At this point, Jiang Cheng was furious and said, "Look, it's obvious that this matter was definitely helped by an insider in the Northeast."

Sun Zhengnan had a bitter expression: "Master Jiang, this matter... I, I have to take full responsibility. After all, apart from my third brother-in-law and Yucheng, I am the person in charge of immigration..."

"All these strange things happened, I'm afraid it was because Wu Peifu mixed the soldiers with the immigrants,"

Jiang Cheng shook his head and interrupted him: "Impossible... Zhang Fushan doesn't have such an idea, but Huang Yongan is famous for being shrewd and cunning!"

"If he can't tell the difference between soldiers and refugees from a disaster, then he shouldn't be the chief of police in my capital."

Sun Zhengnan gritted his teeth and said, "So, Mr. Jiang, what do you mean?"

Jiang Cheng clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in the room for about half a minute: "In my opinion, he must have come up with this crooked idea after learning about Jilin's immigration policy--"

"Think about it, Japan, or some Western powers, can cooperate with Jiang Cheng and Shuai Ye, but not with Wu Peifu? Only with the support of these people can Wu successfully send troops across provinces to Siping." Sun Zhengnan nodded with admiration, and then said meaningfully: "You are right--"

Jiang Cheng pointed to the map on the sand table and said, "The Japanese cannot do without me, Jiang Cheng, but they also want to continue to gain benefits in the Northeast. Wu Peifu assumed that he would use this excuse to drag the Japanese into cooperating with him, and then cheat them of some equipment and randomly promise some benefits in the territory."

"Anyway, with his revengeful nature, he is capable of doing such a thing."

Sun Zhengnan suddenly understood and clapped his hands, saying, "Yes, Master Jiang, one of them is eager to take revenge, while the other wants to take advantage of the situation and continue to gain some benefits in our Northeast after the European war is over."

"So we hit it off right away and did it this way! But Mr. Jiang, to be honest, Wu Peifu is really too weird... Not only is he weird, but his subordinates are also weird. How could they grasp the opportunity so well and so quickly without informing each other?"

Seeing that he still didn't understand, Jiang Cheng shook his head and laughed, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder: "Old Sun, why are you becoming so naive?"

"Think about it, Wu Peifu sent people to seek revenge - he planted people there, probably with the intention of assassinating them, or to start a rebellion in the resettlement center for immigrants, or to lead people to rebel or something like that,"

"Anyway, it's just to cause trouble for others or something - but think about it, my uncle Hai did this directly, which is like a chance to take action. They got angry and rushed directly to the Hai Mansion, right?"

After Sun Zhengnan figured it out, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "According to what you said, then Master Hai is still helping outsiders?"

You could say that.

Jiang Cheng snorted and laughed, and then said: "But from this point of view, our Yu Marshal has some skills, but his soldiers are so reckless."

At this point, his eyes were fixed on Shanhaiguan on the map. "Based on my understanding of Yu Shuai, it is unlikely that he would give orders to his men to assassinate Jiang Cheng, or to launch a direct attack in this way."

"He probably wants to use the immigrants as a weapon to undermine the stability of Jilin. He might even want to sabotage me by using newspapers inside and outside the country to create momentum and abort my plan."

Sun Zhengnan licked his lips and said, "Master, from this point of view, we can say that it is a blessing in disguise... The mutiny among our subordinates and the chaotic situation have made these guys restless, so they just decided to do something drastic!"

Jiang Cheng glanced at him and said, "You can say that, but you caused such a disaster to my Siping, and caused the death of my brothers and civilians. How can this matter be over like this?"

"I still say the same thing, feed these two survivors well... After we deal with the first batch of immigrants tomorrow, we can use these two survivors to cause trouble for Wu Peifu!"

…………

In the northeast at the end of April, the sun rises at around seven in the morning.

The sealed carriage loaded with the first batch of immigrants from the interior arrived at Siping Station as scheduled.

After a night of rain and snow, white frost was everywhere. The early spring in Northeast China, which was still cool in the early morning, gave a special "welcome" to the victims who were accustomed to warm and humid weather.

"Oh my goodness, I've heard that the Northeast is very cold, but I didn't expect it to be this cold at the end of April!"

"Yes, I've heard from old people who have traveled to Northeast China that it's cold there. It really is cold here!" (End of this chapter)