Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Yong'an City, Linzhou Province.

In the Governor's Mansion, Li Wenqi, Chief of Staff of the Linzhou Army, hurriedly pushed the door open, stood in front of Guo Qicheng, and slowly said, "The Governor Jiangbei Pang family sent a telegram, wanting to cooperate with our Guo faction."

At this time, Guo Qicheng was holding a brush and writing quickly at the desk.

Hearing Li Wenqi's words, Guo Qicheng looked up and said in surprise: "We have never had any contact with the Jiangbei Pang family. How could the Pang family suddenly find us?"

"I heard that Su Zhengyang's people went to Jiangbei and poached many of their officers, which angered the Pang family. The Pang family should want to unite with us to suppress the Northwest Revolutionary Army."

Guo Qicheng put down his brush, his eyes lit up, he slowly walked to the sofa, sat on it and lit a cigar.

"This Pang Jinghong has been trying to please the Fuso people in the past few years and has received a lot of military assistance. The combat effectiveness of the entire Jiangbei Corps is among the best among all the warlords in the northern border. If Pang Jinghong can provide us with military assistance, it will be a great thing for us. After all, the northwest is still too remote and barren. Even those foreign powers will not support warlord forces in the northwest."

Li Wenqi nodded and said, "What the Governor said is true. The combat effectiveness of the Jiangbei Corps has indeed been changing with each passing day in recent years and has become more and more terrifying. With the military assistance of the Fuso Empire, the entire Jiangbei Corps is now fully equipped with Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher M1895 rifles, a large number of Taisho -style light machine guns, and a large number of pheasant necks."

"In terms of artillery, it's even more terrifying. The Jiangbei Army now has two reorganized artillery brigades, 75mm field guns, 88mm field guns, and 105mm field guns, with a total of no less than 600 guns."

"It can be said that in the current Northern Frontier, apart from the direct troops of the President and the Prime Minister, and the Zhang clique warlords in the Northeast, the Jiangbei Army is already the leader among all the warlords."

Guo Qicheng put out his cigar, looked at Li Wenqi and asked, "How much military assistance can the Pang family provide us? Especially large quantities of heavy firepower and artillery, which are too scarce in the northwest."

Li Wenqi hesitated for a moment and slowly said, "It seems that the Pang family intends to introduce people from the Fusang Empire to our Guo faction warlords, and let the Fusang Empire provide us with a large amount of military assistance. Pang Jinghong promised that as long as we can eliminate the Northwest Revolutionary Army, he will let the Fusang Empire fully support us to become the King of the Northwest."

"But in my opinion, we in the Guo Clan can accept the military assistance from the Pang Clan, but if the Fuso people come to provide us with assistance, the meaning will be different. This will be criticized by the people in the northwest."

Guo Qicheng was silent for a moment, with a look of struggle. After a while, Guo Qicheng seemed to have made up his mind. He suddenly stood up, put his hands behind his back and said coldly: "These days, talking about the righteousness of the country is empty talk. Getting the benefits in your hands is real. Now the Northwest Revolutionary Army in the south of Linzhou Province is eyeing our Guo faction and may start a war at any time. The Zhao faction warlords in Ganzhou are also constantly having military frictions with us."

"The pressure on our Guo faction is a bit too great. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. As long as my Guo faction's army can obtain a large amount of military assistance, I, Guo Qicheng, will not hesitate to bear the reputation of being a traitor and a traitor."

Li Wenqi shook his head secretly with a gloomy look on his face.

In fact, Li Wenqi is a man of great character. He really doesn't want the Guo warlords to have any connection with the Japanese.

But looking at Guo Qicheng's attitude, he is obviously inclined to cooperate with the Fuso people. Such behavior and attitude of Guo Qicheng are naturally shameful.

However, the pressure currently faced by the Guo faction warlords has made Guo Qicheng unable to sleep every night.

From Guo Qicheng's perspective, Li Wenqi could understand how much pressure Guo Qicheng was under, but he did not approve of Guo Qicheng having any connection with Fuso.

The only one who could make the final decision on this matter was Guo Qicheng. As Guo Qicheng's subordinate, he could only do his best to complete every task Guo Qicheng assigned to him.

"Send a telegram to the Pang family and ask them to send someone to Linzhou to discuss the details of this cooperation with our Guo warlords."

"Yes, Lord Governor."

Ten days later, Pang Jinghong's eldest son Pang Yunshan, accompanied by Ito Masao, the president of the Fuso Ito Chamber of Commerce, arrived at Yong'an City in Linzhou.

The two sides started negotiations in the Governor's Palace.

"Governor Guo, let me introduce you to this. This is Mr. Masao Ito, the president of the Ito Chamber of Commerce of the Fuso Empire. The status and strength of the Ito Chamber of Commerce in the Fuso Empire are second to none. To some extent, the attitude of President Ito represents the attitude of the Fuso Empire."

Guo Qicheng walked up and shook hands with Ito Masao very politely.

"Welcome President Ito to Yong'an City. You really bring honor to our Linzhou Governor's Office."

Ito Masao spoke fluent Chinese and said respectfully, "Governor Guo is too polite. I have heard that the Guo faction is a powerful warlord in Linzhou, Northwest China. Governor Guo is a great hero. Seeing him today, I can see that he is indeed a man of unparalleled elegance."

Although Ito Masao's attitude seemed very kind and polite, Li Wenqi, who was standing behind Guo Qicheng, still caught a hint of hidden contempt in his eyes.

The Japanese have always had this kind of character. On the surface, they seem to be polite and easy-going to everyone. But in fact, they have wolfish ambitions, which are known to everyone.

Although the Fuso Empire is only a small island country, it has been vigorously developing its industry and is now considered one of the world's most famous powers.

Today, the Fuso Empire's army is still fighting with Tsarist Russia's troops in the six northeastern provinces to seize territory.

The two sides were polite to each other and after some pleasantries, the negotiations got down to business.

"Governor Guo, we in the Fuso Empire can provide you with a large amount of military assistance, which does not include personnel assistance, but we can continuously transport advanced rifles, light and heavy machine guns, artillery, and other military equipment necessary for the army to Linzhou."

"Governor Guo's strength in the northwest is already second to none. If he can get military assistance from the Fusang Empire, he will be able to dominate the northwest in no time."

Guo Qicheng took a sip of tea and said calmly, "I don't know what your conditions are. In a negotiation, both parties should put their conditions on the table and discuss them in detail."

Masao Ito glanced at Pang Yunshan who was sitting next to him.

Pang Yunshan said slowly: "We will certainly not put forward excessive conditions to Governor Guo. First, Governor Guo must take military action against the Northwest Revolutionary Army in Linzhou, reduce their living space or even completely wipe out the Northwest Revolutionary Army."

"Second, the Fuso Empire must obtain the right to establish an embassy in Linzhou, and the Ito Chamber of Commerce must obtain support from the Governor-General's Office to develop business in the northwest."

Guo Qicheng frowned as he listened to the two conditions proposed by Pang Yunshan, not because these two conditions were so difficult to accept.

It’s because these two conditions are too common and simple.

Let’s not talk about the Northwest Revolutionary Army for now. Even if there is no military assistance from the Fuso Empire, a large-scale war will break out between the Guo warlords and the Northwest Revolutionary Army sooner or later.

If the only requirement was for the Fuso Empire to establish an embassy in Linzhou and support the business of the Ito Chamber of Commerce, this condition would be extremely simple in Guo Qicheng's view.