Lu Ming smiled and said: "Actually, I didn't participate in anything and didn't know anything. I just came here with Han Qing to have fun. He is my eldest brother. I think he looks a little lonely."
"Since you didn't participate and know nothing, you shouldn't have come to Nanjing at this time. If something really happened, you would be blamed for it. Wouldn't that be unfair?" Mr. Wenbai said.
"I came with Han Qing to ask for soldiers and guns. He just told me this. I just went to see Minister He Yingqin of the Ministry of Military Affairs. I think this is nothing." Lu Ming scratched the back of his head and said confusedly.
said.
"If you want people to believe that you have nothing to do with these things, then stay away from Han Qing, don't go to see the chairman with him, and don't follow him to make noises. You have to avoid suspicion, not to mention these are all
Major military and political affairs?”
Mr. Wenbai has never been so serious when talking to Lu Ming. This is the first time.
Lu Ming felt a little uneasy. Could it be that Mr. Wenbai was hinting at something? Was there some inside information? It must be an earth-shattering event.
"General Zhang, will Han Qing be okay?"
Lu Ming asked awkwardly, the question was neither salty nor cool, making it impossible to answer.
"So far, nothing has happened to him, but it will be hard to say in the future. I think it is very suspenseful. As for you, don't worry about Han Qing. Just take care of yourself and make sure you are fine." Wen Bai
The gentleman said sternly.
In Mr. Chiang's office, a dialogue between the highest military levels of the Republic of China was taking place.
Mr. Jiang glared and said angrily: "Han Qing, this is the first time we have a firefight with the Communist army, and you want to wipe out the whole army. Are you collaborating with the Communist army to stage a painful plot?"
"Chairman, how is this possible? I, Zhang Xueliang, am not that kind of person. I really lost the battle and brought disgrace on the Chairman's face." The young marshal lowered his head and said in a very gentle manner.
"Just fool me. The Northeastern Army is famous throughout the country for its ability to fight. I originally expected you to save some face for me. But it turned out to be a joke."
Mr. Chiang's meaning is very clear. It is not the Communist Party that is looking at his joke, but his nominal deployments, those new warlords, who are looking at his joke.
The young marshal smiled bitterly and said, "Committee Chairman, it's not that my subordinates are failing, it's that the Red Army's combat power is too strong. In addition, my subordinates are unwilling to fight with the Red Army from the bottom of their hearts..."
The young marshal did not say all of his words, but he vaguely revealed the underlying meaning. Of course Mr. Jiang knew what he wanted to say and did not answer his words at all.
"Soldiers have a bounden duty to obey orders. They have no right to say they don't want to. Who dares to say that they will be dealt with according to military law? Suppressing the Communist Party is an established national policy. Don't the officers and soldiers of the Northeast Army know this?"
Mr. Jiang spoke decisively and simply, without any hint of tolerance.
"I have given them the Chairman's order to suppress the Communist Party, but they only want to fight the Japanese and go to North China...What do they think? I can't force them. What can I do?" The young marshal retreated.
To advance.
"I think the problem lies with you. You don't want to fight with the Communist Army. For the past six months, you and the Communist Army have been flirting with each other. Don't think that I don't know anything!" Mr. Jiang said simply and openly.
The young marshal straightened his body and said: "I have contact with the Communist Party. That is also a strategy. First, cooperate with them to fight the Japanese and drive the Japanese out of China. Then we can talk about separation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
It’s not too late.”
"I have heard this countless times, that is, you are naive and believe in the lies of the Communist Party. They are forced to use this trick to make us avoid using force against them. Once they get over this,
If the attitude develops and grows, it will not be what it is today." Mr. Jiang said angrily.
"Chairman, how about this? You can transfer other troops to Xi'an to fight the Red Army, and let me go back to North China. If I don't cooperate with the Red Army, I will go alone with the Japanese." The young marshal pleaded.
"Nonsense, now it's a carrot and a pit. Everyone has his own station to guard and his own mission. Which army do you want me to send to Xi'an? Only your army is free. If you don't go to Xi'an, who will?
?”
Mr. Jiang had long expected that the Young Marshal would raise this issue, so he rejected it with just one sentence. To put it bluntly, he just asked you to suppress the Communists without any discussion.
"You can transfer the 85th Division, the 88th Division and nearby troops to Xi'an, and my people can guard their positions." said the young marshal.
Mr. Jiang was silent for a while, and then said: "Han Qing, are you in secret collusion with the Communist Party, or are you afraid of the Communist Party like a tiger? Will a defeat scare you out of courage?"
"I'm not afraid of the Communists, but my people don't want to fight the Red Army. They want to fight the Japanese. I forced them to go to the battlefield, and you can see the result. What can I do?
What should we do?" the young marshal argued.
"Okay, you go back first, and I will consider your proposal and see if I can find a suitable unit to replace you." Mr. Jiang waved his hand.
The young marshal could tell that Mr. Jiang was perfunctory and things would not change, but he had no choice but to retreat.
The young marshal walked out with a sad look on his face, strolled to a stop not far from General Zhang Wenbai's office.
Seeing the frustrated expression on the young marshal's face, Lu Ming went up to him and said with a smile, "Brother, what's wrong with you? Haven't we reached an agreement?"
The young marshal shook his head, sighed, raised his neck and looked at the sky, and then closed his eyes slightly.
"Then what should we do? Are we going back to Shanghai now?" Lu Ming asked.
"Now that I'm here, I'll stay in Nanjing for two days and see what happens." The young marshal still refused to give up his idea.
The young marshal led a group of people to Qinhuai Restaurant to drink, and they booked the whole first floor of the second floor.
"What did Mr. Wenbai talk to you about?" the young marshal asked while drinking.
"It's nothing, just let me protect myself wisely." Lu Ming said with a smile.
"Wen Bai is right. You should really stay away from this mess. I shouldn't have dragged you into it in the first place. After you go back this time, you should stop getting involved." The young marshal said depressedly.
"Nonsense, we are brothers. We share blessings and share hardships. I have already joined in, how can I withdraw?" Lu Ming said.
"Brother, what you said is wrong. Isn't the chairman of the committee also my big brother? I don't enjoy the blessings. I'm the one who takes the trouble. It's okay, but he shouldn't force me to do something.
Whatever you are willing to do, the cow will not drink water but will be forced to have its head pressed."
The young marshal sneered, his eyes filled with worry, as if it was about to rain.
"Brother, I'm not talking about you. Sometimes you are too kind. When it comes to the exchange of fire with the Red Army, both sides can tacitly pretend to fight, and there is no need to do it for real. Didn't all the major warlords do this in the early years of the Republic of China?
Who asked you to fight with real swords and guns?" Lu Ming offered his advice.
"I also want to take this opportunity to test what the brothers think. After this battle, I completely understand that the brothers are not willing to go to war with the Red Army at all. It cannot be said that they are in the Cao camp and their hearts are with the Han. Anyway, they are single-minded.
I want to fight the Japanese." The young commander said helplessly.
"Brother, since the committee continues to ask you to go to war with the Red Army, you must communicate with the Red Army in advance. In addition, you must try to keep the people who are watching you under surveillance and prevent them from moving around."
All Lu Ming can think about now is to keep the Northeast Army and the Red Army in a state of confrontation, but both sides will pay the minimum price, thereby consuming Mr. Chiang's strategy of suppressing communism.
"Well, I really have no choice but to do this." The young marshal sighed.
The next day, the young marshal went to see Mr. Jiang again, but was rejected. Angrily, he led his troops back to Shanghai and stayed in Shanghai for two days without seeing anyone.
Under Mr. Jiang's desperate urging, the young marshal had to return to Xi'an and was in a confrontation with the Red Army.
After Lu Ming saw off the young marshal, he reported the young marshal's situation to the headquarters. He hoped that the headquarters could communicate well with the young marshal and that the two sides should not really fight, but just show off.
"I think it is difficult to form an alliance with the Northeastern Army. No matter what, the Northeastern Army still has to obey the orders of the Kuomintang reactionaries, and it is impossible to truly form an alliance with the Red Army." Mr. Dong said a little pessimistically.
"It depends on people. Since Han Qing is sincere in doing this, he will definitely find a way." Lu Ming was confident and unwilling to give up.
Lu Ming did not come up with the idea for the young marshal to fight a fake war with the Red Army casually. When the Red Army moved to fight in various provinces, the warlords in each province also did the same thing. No one was willing to risk their family wealth to fight the Red Army.
When the Red Army entered Guangxi, Li Zongren did this kind of thing. He let the passing Red Army go, and then disarmed and detained a battalion of the Central Army that was chasing them. He said that the Central Army had invaded his territory, and that in his territory
There is no Communist Party.
After receiving the news, Mr. Jiang had no choice but to send a commissioner to contact Li Zongren to bring back the captured Central Army troops.
Warlords in other provinces also followed suit. Of course, they did not have any friendship with the Red Army, but they wanted to preserve their own strength and did not want to lose their own troops in the battle with the Red Army.
In this day and age, only with soldiers and guns can you have territory. Once the troops are gone, the territory will naturally not be preserved. The remaining stragglers will be annexed by the Central Army at any time.
The Northeast Army suffered a loss because it did not have its own territory. Otherwise, it could have been like Li Zongren, guarding one-third of an acre of land, disobeying the central government's orders, or even completely ignoring them.
This is also the fundamental reason why the young marshal and the Northeast Army are trying their best to fight back to the Northeast. They have had enough of having no land, no home, wandering around, and being discriminated against everywhere.
"By the way, Lu Ming, we want to open a bank in Xi'an. The matter is stuck with the Ministry of Finance. We haven't received approval for a long time. Can you think of a way to solve it?" Mr. Dong said suddenly.
"Stuck in the Ministry of Finance? Do you know the reason?" Lu Ming asked.
"I don't know. Anyi has sent people there many times, but they were always turned away. They didn't even tell the visitors why they didn't approve, and just told them to go back and wait," said Mr. Dong.