"You are Lu... Chief Lu..." The moment Dong Bin saw Lu Ming, he understood everything, and an expression of fear and regret immediately appeared on his face.
"Captain Dong, the young marshal treats you well, right? Why did you betray him? Betrayed hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Northeast Army? Where is your conscience, was eaten by a dog?" Lu Ming sneered.
"Sir Lu, you misunderstood. I didn't betray the young marshal. I was loyal to the young marshal. I just didn't want him to get involved with the Communist army. That would bring hundreds of thousands of brothers into the pit of fire." Dong
Bin argued.
"First slap him a few times, then shut his mouth." Lu Ming said forcefully.
Two people came over immediately. One grabbed Dong Bin's collar, and the other raised his arm and slapped him several times. Then he stuffed his mouth with a piece of broken sack and tied him up.
on the chair.
Dong Bin knew that everything was lost and fell into the hands of the young marshal brother. His life could not be saved.
He was still struggling hard, and then his legs were tied tightly. He couldn't move, and he could only stare at Lu Ming with eyes like dead fish.
"You yourself took the wrong path, don't blame others." Lu Ming sighed.
"Have you searched his body?" Lu Ming turned to ask An Gonggen.
"No, I'm just waiting for you to come over." An Gonggen said.
"Take off his clothes." Lu Ming looked down at Dong Bin and said.
An Gonggen's two brothers came over and quickly took off all Dong Bin's clothes, leaving only a pair of underwear for him.
"Master Lu, this is his handbag, none of us have seen it." An Gonggen handed over a leather bag.
Lu Ming opened his wallet and saw that there was only one document inside. He thought about it but did not take it out to read.
Since the young marshal didn't want him to know, and the headquarters didn't tell him the details of the negotiation, maybe he really didn't need to know, and he didn't want to know.
However, he still saw a few words written with a brush on the cover of the document: Draft of "Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Agreement" (Copy)
Lu Ming asked An Gonggen to find some firewood and light it outside. He first threw the documents in the bag into the fire and burned them to ashes, then burned all Dong Bin's clothes and belongings, and finally burned the
The leather bag was also thrown into the blazing fire.
"Let's deal with it. It must be handled cleanly without leaving any trace." Lu Ming said expressionlessly.
After a while, a gunshot rang out in the warehouse.
Lu Ming didn't go back to check. The Cao Gang was the best at destroying corpses and removing traces, so he didn't need to worry too much.
In the next few days, there was no major disturbance that Lu Ming expected. On the next day, the people from the security headquarters received orders to withdraw, and everything remained calm after that.
Lu Ming also asked Zhao Yuanliang, but Zhao Yuanliang just said that he didn't receive anyone that day, and no one from above came to Shanghai Station to ask questions.
Lu Ming paid attention to the movements in all aspects, as if nothing happened, as if this matter did not exist. Although he felt a little strange, he was still secretly happy.
Maybe the higher-ups mistakenly thought that Dong Bin was afraid of death and fled because of the crime. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that several departments were secretly investigating intensively, but he just didn't know about it.
The matter was settled, but there was a noise in Xi'an. On the night of August 29, 1936, something unusual happened.
Because according to the rhyme arrangement, this day is the "Yan Sun", so people often call this incident the "Yan Wan Incident".
That night, the special agents escorted several patriots to the Shaanxi Provincial Party Headquarters. The angry Zhang Xueliang, with the cooperation of Yang Hucheng, sent people to rescue them and raided the Shaanxi Provincial Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang.
Zhang Yang's move dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the spy, but deeply offended Mr. Chiang. The rift between Zhang Yang and the highest authorities of the Kuomintang deepened.
Zhang Yang's policy of allying with the Communists to resist Japan was incompatible with Mr. Chiang's anti-communist policy of settling the country before going abroad. The conflict between the two sides gradually became more intense and became irreconcilable.
A few days later, the young marshal returned to Shanghai. After Lu Ming received his call, he immediately went to the young marshal's residence.
"Brother, has the matter been resolved?" the young marshal asked as soon as he saw him.
"It's solved. He should feed the fish under the Huangpu River. I burned everything on him." Lu Ming said.
"That's good." The young marshal breathed a sigh of relief.
"Have you read that document?" the young marshal asked.
"No, I burned it directly and no one else saw it," Lu Ming said.
"Why don't you take a look? I have made my views public now. The old man can think whatever he likes. I can't ignore the life and death of hundreds of thousands of Northeastern troops." The young marshal said with a relieved attitude.
"If you want me to know, you will tell me personally. Since you haven't told me, you don't want me to know, so why should I bother." Lu Ming smiled.
"Brother, I really don't want to hide it from you, but you really don't know about this matter." The young marshal sighed.
"Brother, it doesn't matter whether I know or not. I just hope you don't do stupid things. I'm really worried about you." Lu Ming also sighed.
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid, but I really want to do something big, something that may change the destiny of our nation." The young marshal said excitedly.
Lu Ming still didn't ask him what he wanted to do, just like he said, unless the young marshal was willing to tell him, he wouldn't ask.
Lu Ming told the young marshal about his own affairs, saying that he was going to visit the United States at the end of the year to help the government open the door to Sino-US relations.
"This is a good thing, is it the end of the year?" After hearing this, the young marshal nodded repeatedly, looking thoughtful.
The young marshal only stayed for two days this time, and then he went back. Before leaving, Lu Ming took him to the station. When the train started, Lu Ming suddenly had an ominous feeling, as if the young marshal came back specifically to follow him.
He said goodbye.
"Maybe I'm just imagining it. Strange things have always appeared in my mind recently." Lu Ming thought in his heart.
In the following days, Lu Ming was very busy. He traveled between Nanjing and Shanghai. On the one hand, he had to deal with the affairs of the Intelligence Department, and he also had to hand over many things to Huang Yanning. After all, he was going to the United States and would not be able to come back in a short time.
But he didn't expect that he would almost not come back.
Lu Ming also needs to discuss some matters regarding the visit to the United States with people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and select his entourage.
He planned to take only Liu Qiwen with him to the United States. The other candidates would be determined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and finally submitted to the committee for approval.
The procedures for traveling to the U.S. were quickly completed, and the next step was to prepare various materials, including various documents for negotiation with the U.S. side.
The situation in Xi'an became increasingly delicate. Amidst calls from all walks of life across the country for the Nanjing government to establish a national anti-Japanese united front as soon as possible, the young commander once again made an astonishing move.
In September 1936, the Communist Party of China and the Northeastern Army formally signed the "Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Agreement". The two sides officially ended the state of hostility. The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, Zhang Xueliang's Northeastern Army, and Yang Hucheng's Northwest Army formed a "national united front" to support
The "Iron Triangle".
At this time, Mr. Chiang was also conducting peace negotiations with the Communist Party, so he ostensibly accepted the young commander's approach of uniting with the Communist Party to resist Japan.
In October, Sheng Youde finally returned from Hong Kong.
After coming back, he immediately called Lu Ming to Liuyuan, and the two had a long talk.
Sheng Youde told Lu Ming that the second KMT-CCP cooperation negotiation initiated by the CCP finally broke down.
Sheng Youde was very frustrated by this. On the eve of the upcoming war between China and Japan, the country once again fell into a state of division. Although the Marshal signed a cooperation agreement with the CCP, Mr. Chiang may not really agree with it.
Sheng Youde also made many suggestions for Lu Ming's visit to the United States, and Lu Ming kept them all in mind.
"Now that you've gone to the United States, there's no need to rush back. Let's repair our relationship with Mingzhu and take advantage of the opportunity to arrange your marriage. I also have several properties in New York, all of which will be given to you and your young couple," Sheng Youde said.
.
Lu Ming nodded and agreed. He had already sent a telegram to Mingzhu about his visit to the United States. Mingzhu was also very happy and looked forward to seeing him in the United States as soon as possible.
After Mingzhu went to the United States, the exchange of letters between the two never stopped. If Mingzhu wanted to tell Lu Ming something urgently, she would just send a telegram. She didn't have to pay for the telegram anyway.
Lu Ming could also feel Mingzhu's regretful mood from these letters. As Ning Xiner's condition fully recovered, Mingzhu also felt that she was too willful and had wrongly blamed Lu Ming. She hoped that Lu Ming could forgive him, and she hoped that the two of them could reunite.
Go back to the original time.
Lu Ming has never blamed Mingzhu. He still thinks that he is mainly responsible for what happened to Ning Xiner. It was reasonable for Mingzhu to blame him in the first place.
During this period of time, Xi'an was still in chaos. The young marshal basically cut off contact with Lu Ming because the changes in the current situation were really unpredictable. Although Mr. Jiang had the intention to resist Japan, he had not yet taken any actual action.
On December 4, 1936, Mr. Jiang, accompanied by the young marshal, took a flight from Luoyang to Xi'an.
Previously, Dai Li, Kong Xiangxi and others believed that Zhang Yang was suspected of collusion and suggested that Mr. Jiang should not risk going to Xi'an. However, Mr. Jiang still showed his trust in the young marshal and decided to go to Xi'an for inspection.
For security reasons, Mr. Jiang did not live in Xi'an City controlled by Yang Hucheng, but lived in Huaqingchi, Lintong, which was stationed by the Northeast Army, twenty miles away from Xi'an.
After Mr. Jiang moved into Huaqingchi, he had private conversations with the young marshal many times, and once again asked the young marshal to give up cooperation with the Red Army. Of course, the young marshal could not accept it, and the two of them broke up on bad terms several times.
On the anniversary of the December 9th Student Movement, students in Xi'an took to the streets for rallies and demonstrations. When the young marshal learned that Mr. Chiang might use force, he immediately rushed to persuade the students to return to school.
It was on that day that Mr. Jiang decided to give up on the Young Marshal. He wrote to Shao Lizi, Chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Government, secretly instructing Ta Kung Pao to publish the news that the two generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng had been deprived of their military power to "suppress communism" and were replaced by Jiang Dingwen.
Once this news was made public by Ta Kung Pao, it became a fait accompli in public opinion. Mr. Chiang used his usual political methods to deal a heavy blow to the Marshal and General Yang Hucheng.
Mr. Jiang was well prepared for his trip to Xi'an this time. He brought Jiang Dingwen, Wei Lihuang, Chen Cheng, Chen Chengyi and other important central officials. Once the young marshal did not implement his plan to suppress the Communists, he would immediately replace the young marshal and create a new one.
This group of people was appointed.
Mr. Jiang has completed his intention to exchange blood for the northwest, and the young marshal and General Yang Hucheng have been forced to go to Liangshan.
At this time, Lu Ming and his teacher Frank finally finalized the departure date and sailing route, and the United States also made corresponding arrangements.
On the morning of December 13, Lu Ming took Liu Qiwen and five people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and quietly arrived at Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport by car. They would board an American plane here and fly to Guam first, and then leave after a short stay.
Guam flies to Hawaii, and then from Hawaii to the mainland United States.
When they arrived at the runway, the crew had finished preparations, and Lu Ming and his party were about to step onto the ramp of the plane.
At this moment, a car suddenly drove directly onto the runway and drove under the plane before stopping.
Everyone looked at the car in surprise, wondering what happened.
Before the car stopped, Huang Yanning jumped out of the car and shouted to Lu Ming, "Sir, something big has happened."
"What's wrong? Speak slowly." Lu Ming suddenly felt that what he was most worried about might have happened.
"The young marshal led the Northeastern Army to launch a mutiny in Xi'an, detained the commissioner and the accompanying military and political officials, and wanted to implement military remonstrance against the commissioner." Huang Yanning said breathlessly.
"What? Is the news accurate?" Lu Ming asked in shock.
"That's right, I just received the telegram from Xi'an, so I rushed to tell you right away." Huang Yanning said, waving a telegram in his hand.
Lu Ming took the telegram and read it. There were very few words in the telegram. Huang Yanning basically recited the complete telegram just now.
Lu Ming thought for a moment, took out a notebook and pen, and quickly wrote two lines on it.
First, never kill anyone.
Second, the personal safety of the delegates must be absolutely guaranteed under any circumstances.
Third, I have gone to the United States to win U.S. support for China, don’t think about it.
Lu Ming signed the letter below and handed it to Huang Yanning: "You should find a place to send the telegram to the young marshal immediately."
"Sir, do you still want to go to the United States? In China..." Huang Yanning's face turned red with anxiety.
Lu Ming looked back at the people coming from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and said, "We have already made an agreement with the United States and cannot change the itinerary. If you don't want to go, you can stay now."
Although the five people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had pale faces and were shocked speechless by the unexpected news, they still nodded.
"Get on the plane and leave as planned. I will keep in touch with you, so take care!" After Lu Ming finished speaking, he stepped forward and hugged Huang Yanning.
A total of seven people got on the plane. About five minutes later, the plane began to taxi and then flew high into the blue sky.
After nearly a month of travel, Lu Ming and his party finally landed at an airport in New York.
When Lu Ming walked down the ramp of the plane, he found Mr. Frank, whom he had not seen for a long time, waiting for him next to a car.
When Lu Ming walked towards Frank quickly, Mr. Frank handed him a newspaper, then shrugged and smiled bitterly.
When Lu Ming saw the title of the newspaper, the hair on his body stood up.
The content of this report was a wanted order, saying that he, Zhang Xueliang, and Yang Hucheng conspired to launch a mutiny, which was a treasonous act. Although he had fled abroad, a wanted order was still issued against him.
Lu Ming became speechless after seeing this. In just one month, he went from being a special envoy of the Republic of China government to an important wanted criminal of the Republic of China government.
This also means: China's national door has been closed to him.
More than half a century later, on his 89th birthday, Zhang Xueliang talked about the background of the Xi'an Incident: "I can't help it today. I tell you that the incident was completely forced out of the way. It was the day of the December 9th student movement.
Mr. Jiang said, when these students came, I used a machine gun to shoot them. This made me angry, and my words came out of my mouth. I want to say, you old man, I will teach you a lesson." (End of Part 1)