Total War Predator

On December 12, Song Zheyuan led 11 divisions, 3 brigades and two cavalry regiments, entered Qing County from Dacheng County, and approached Machang.

Machang Town, Qingxian County, Hebei Province is located on the bank of the North Canal about 60 kilometers south of Tianjin and 8 kilometers north of Qingxian County. It has an important geographical location and convenient water and land transportation.

After Li Hongzhang became the governor of Zhili, he asked Emperor Tongzhi to set up defenses in Machang Town on the grounds that "Qingxian County is close to Jifu, and it is a matter of defense".In February of the tenth year of Tongzhi, Zhou Shengchuan (named Xinyu, a native of Hefei, Anhui) led his Huai army to station in the Machang barracks, known as "Shengzi Army". The "Shengzi Army" has 23 battalions of cavalry and infantry, and two battalions of Tang Renlian's infantry, with a total of more than 2.1 people stationed in Machang.Since the barracks were built in Machang, it has always been an important military base to defend Beijing and Tianjin, and has become a well-known strategic location.

The "Tianjin Treaty" after the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty" stipulated that the Qing government should not station more than 20 troops within 300 miles around Pingjin, so Qingxian Machang became more important like other important military locations around Tianjin.

Li Jinglin's Zhili Governor's Office is in Tianjin, so most of the troops defending Tianjin are his direct troops, and the troops in Machang are no exception.Song Zheyuan's troops failed to win with one blow like Lu Zhonglin did, and they encountered stubborn resistance.

The two sides exchanged fierce fire at the horse farm, and the outcome was hard to tell for a while.

After Feng Yuxiang took control of Beijing, Wei Yisan, who had been in control of Shanhaiguan since the Guo Songling uprising, issued a telegram to surrender to Feng Yuxiang on December 12.Feng Yuxiang was overjoyed to appoint Wei Yisan as the commander of the Third Route Army of the National Army of the Republic of China, and attacked Luan County from Shanhaiguan to the south.

The war was urgent, and Li Jinglin asked Zhang Zongchang for help many times, but Zhang Zongchang repeatedly refused on the grounds that the troops had just finished fighting and needed to be reorganized.Li Jinglin's troops, who had been fighting fiercely for several days, faced the enemy three times and knew that the situation was over, so they withdrew from Tianjin and retreated south to Cangzhou and Dezhou. He stayed in Tianjin and hid in the concession.

Li Jinglin knew that he didn't have much hope in the future, so he took the initiative to write a letter of resignation to Zhang Zuolin, saying that he was not capable enough to serve as the commander of the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces.

Zhang Zuolin readily agreed to his request, and he also knew that Zhang Zongchang and Li Jinglin were at odds.In order to appease Zhang Zongchang, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Zhilu coalition army, and his subordinate Zhu Yupu was the deputy commander-in-chief and pre-war commander-in-chief of the Zhilu coalition army.

Zhang Zongchang didn't want to be the commander-in-chief of the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces, he just wanted to be the commander-in-chief of the Lu Army. He asked Zhu Yupu to take an army from his headquarters to Dezhou and Cangzhou to incorporate Li Jinglin's troops.

Seeing this, Li Jinglin knew that there was no hope of recovery, so he sent a telegram to the whole country on December 1925, 12, announcing his resignation. From then on, he ignored military and political affairs and devoted himself to advocating martial arts.

Since then, China has lost a general who fought on the battlefield, and has gained a master of Chinese martial arts who is dedicated to promoting Chinese martial arts.

a family of scholars

Letter from Eight Palm Yan Xishan

"I didn't expect Third Uncle Li to be electrified and go to the field. Pass the update." Zhang Anle shook his head while looking at the newspaper, and said to Yang Du who was sitting opposite him.

"Yeah, at this time last year he was still in high spirits. In just one year, he was defeated and relegated to the field. There is nothing more impermanent than this." Yang Du came back the day before yesterday, and this task was completed very satisfactorily. The people sent by Anle rushed back after a brief handover. Zhang Anle had some important matters to discuss with him.

"Going to the field is also a good thing for him. It is a waste of him as a martial arts master to be a general." Zhang Anle knew that Li Jinglin was a martial arts master, but he didn't know how high he was. He only knew that he had "Wudang Sword Immortal" known as.Although there are elements of compliments from everyone, but his ability is definitely not bad.

Archie Lane hadn't arrived yet, so they chatted about something else.

"Feng Yuxiang is capricious and ungrateful for profit. From the day he decided to cooperate, he decided the failure of Li Sanshu. The failure of Guo Ershu lies in his business spirit. Although he considered the Japanese, he thought of the Japanese. It’s too noble. Taking advantage of the fire to rob and throw stones at others is their specialty. Japan originally wanted to benefit from both sides this time, to see who would give more. But Uncle Guo didn’t want to give any more, thinking that what he gave now was not much. The commander wanted to keep Dare to agree to any conditions in the territory, and the Japanese will help the general." Zhang Anle simply commented on his second uncle Guo and third uncle Li.

Zhang Anle had always been opposed to cooperating with Japan, but Zhang Zuolin had no choice but to make that choice.If I remember correctly, it was because Zhang Zuolin was unwilling to fulfill the conditions he promised.He died in Huanggutun, and history has undergone tremendous changes since his arrival. If he hadn't been an undercover agent at the Kwantung Army headquarters, Zhang Zuolin would have been very dangerous on the train for the first time.

"Speaking of the Japanese, recently there have been rumors in the south that the Japanese directly participated in the fighting in the Northeast battlefield, especially in Guangdong and Guangxi. Many students and citizens took to the streets to protest Japan's intervention in China's civil war. They criticized the president as a traitor." Yang Du continued following Zhang Anle's topic.

"The KMT's ability to propagandize and agitate cannot be underestimated. Not only in the south, but even in Beiping, there were student demonstrations two days ago. Feng Yuxiang and the others are trying to win the support of public opinion. But without military victory, what use is the support of public opinion alone?" , The right to speak is always in the hands of the victor. He doesn't take these things seriously, so what if you protest. What about demonstrations, it's useless if you can't win the war.

"I don't know when this gust of wind will blow, and I don't know how long this ship can last. It seems that we have to be ready to dive at any time."

Zhang Anle understands Yang Du's words, he is actually an independent force now.On the surface, he is a general of the Feng family, but in reality he has long since ceased to be.The reason why he is still so connected is because of his friendship with Zhang Xueliang; second, his father Zhang Zongchang is still a military officer in the Feng Faction. Loyalty runs counter to it.

"Bang bang bang." There was a knock on the door.

"Report to the commander, Mr. Ryan has arrived." Wang Xiaozhu knocked on the door outside and announced.

"Please invite him in." Zhang Anle was very happy when he heard that Archie Ryan had arrived.I don't know how he did this time.

Archie Ryan still combed his hair meticulously.The body is always a clean suit.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ryan." Zhang Anle stood up and went to meet him, giving him a hug.

"Haha, it's not hard work at all. You know, Your Excellency, every time I negotiate successfully, I feel very excited. Those hard work are nothing." Archie Ryan said with a smile.

"So this negotiation was very successful?" Hearing what Archie Ryan said, Zhang Anle knew that the matter was settled.But I still couldn't help asking.

"Of course, Belgium has agreed to give up the road construction rights of the Longhai Railway." Archie Ryan replied affirmatively.

"They didn't put forward any other conditions?" Zhang Anle didn't believe that Belgium would be a living Lei Feng.It's too early to be unprofitable these days.

"Hehe, they raised conditions, but they are all within the scope of your permission. And they are the conditions you most hope for." Archie Ryan's brows were full of pride and excitement.

"Don't hold back, just tell us the conditions." Zhang Anle disliked him the most.

"As you might expect, they don't agree to repay now. I propose a loan, and they agree to the offer, and it's higher than you'd expect. It's not $1 million, it's $2 million. Calculated in the loan, the previous 2 million francs are counted as 5 million U.S. dollars. By the way, the settlement currency of this loan is U.S. dollars." Archie Ryan laughed.

"Haha, the Belgians have gained wisdom through experience." Zhang Anle was very happy, but he was still too kind.

"What's going on, why is 2 million francs counted as 5 million U.S. dollars?" Yang Du was confused.

"The thing is like this. In order to build the Longhai Railway, the government borrowed a sum of money from Belgium. A total of 2 million francs were borrowed, and the Belgians had to pay in French francs. At that time, the exchange rate between the franc and the US dollar was about, One dollar is exchanged for 5 francs. Now that the franc has depreciated, one dollar can be exchanged for 5 francs. There is an agreement in the contract that the loan can be repaid in advance, so I asked Archie Ryan to repay the loan. At that time, the loan was 50 million francs It is equivalent to 2 million U.S. dollars, and now it is only 5 million U.S. dollars. Of course the Belgians will not do it, so we propose to take back the right to build roads. They still don’t want to agree, and they will suffer more, so we propose to borrow from their banks. Count that loan as part of the loan, so they can agree." Zhang Anle explained the ins and outs of it happily.

"In this way, the Belgians are really cheap." Yang Du understood what was going on as soon as he heard it.

"In any case, we not only borrowed money, but also took back the right to build roads, which is a good thing." Zhang Anle is very satisfied with the current situation, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

"I came here for another matter. This is a letter sent by Yan Xishan. Please take a look." Zhang Anle pointed to the letter on the coffee table and said.

Yang Du saw the letter as soon as he came in, but Zhang Anle didn't open his mouth, so it was inconvenient for him to ask.Now that Zhang Anle agreed, he quickly picked up the letter and read it.

"This, I read it right." Yang Du quickly read the content of the letter and felt a little inconceivable.

"Of course I read it right. When I first received this letter, I couldn't believe it." Zhang Anle naturally knew why Yang Du was surprised. To be honest, he felt the same way when he first received this letter. First of all They all doubted whether the letter was true.

The main contents of this letter, which both of them could not believe, are as follows:

1. The Jin army is willing to disarm and accept the reorganization of the Northwest Army, and obey the dispatch of the Northwest Army Command.

2. The Northwest Army can be stationed anywhere in Shanxi.

3. He himself agreed to step down from the field and never asked about political affairs.

4. All personnel arrangements in Shanxi can follow orders from the Northwest District.

Yan Xishan's sincerity is simply too much, making people think that there is something wrong with him.

Yan Xishan is from Shanxi. He has been operating in Shanxi for nearly 20 years. He thinks he has done a lot of good things for Shanxi people, and his reputation is also very good.

Shanxi has undergone great changes over the past few years of development.This made him a little complacent, but at the same time, he also felt that the time to try his best was over, and he should be a blockbuster.When Feng Yuxiang sent people to form an alliance with him, he made a calculation in his mind whether to oppose Feng or unite Feng, and the final conclusion was that opposing Feng would benefit the most.Although there are certain risks in rebellion, there is no way to make a profit without losing money in business.

Only after he actually made the deal did he realize that fighting a war is not simply a comparison of numbers.Although he thought that he had overestimated the combat effectiveness of the Northwest Army before, he realized that he still underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Northwest Army after the actual battle.But as far as the firepower advantage of the artillery is concerned, nothing can make up for it. He never thought that there would be troops with so many artillery.

He has been completely defeated in this war so far, although now including the reinforcements of the National Army, he still has nearly 20 troops.Relying on these troops, he could fight Zhang Anle without hesitation, but this was the last result Yan Xishan wanted.This month's battle made Yan Xishan lose his confidence in defeating the Northwest Army, and he could not see any hope of winning.He also didn't want to start a war with Zhang Anle on Jining Road, and he didn't want the place he had been running for [-] years to be destroyed in the flames of war, so he sent Zhang Anle a very sincere letter of peace with the last hope.

"It seems that Yan Xishan was really convinced this time, and this letter is regarded as a complete surrender." Yang Du put the letter back on the coffee table and said with emotion.

"Shanxi is the place where he has been operating for many years. His strength in Shanxi is deeply rooted. I think he dared to hand over Shanxi so suddenly. I think he still has some support. What's more, although he voluntarily surrendered, it cannot be said that he has the same autonomy as Yang Zengxin. , and can’t take away all his rights at once, or let him continue to be his governor of Shanxi Province. As for the army, leave him with the establishment of three divisions.” Zhang Anle doesn’t quite believe Yan Xishan. There is no second hand, after all, he let go all at once, no one would believe anyone he told.

"That's good. Once the war in Shanxi is over, we can focus on the southwest." Yang Du has no opinion on Zhang Anle's handling. After all, this is a relatively good ending, both for the Northwest Army and for Yan Xishan.Yan Xishan doesn't want to have nothing, and Zhang Anle doesn't want a devastated Shanxi either.

"However, I am still a little unwilling to let him go like this. If I remember correctly, besides our Northwest Army and his Jin Army, there are now two divisions under Feng Yuxiang in Shanxi. How about letting him present a certificate?" Zhang Anle got the idea of ​​Feng Yuxiang's two divisions.To be continued. .