Chang Kaishen ordered local warlords to cut down their armies last year, but only Zhang Xueliang was actually doing so. Originally, the Northeastern Army had more than 400,000 people. Zhang Xueliang went on a campaign to streamline troops and streamline administration, and finally reduced the number to only 280,000 regular troops, of which 160,000 were elite, and the rest
120,000 people were local garrison troops, and more than 100,000 people were laid off and all became the reclamation army.
This was a rare feat in the Republic of China. Both the central government and local warlords were trying to expand their armies, but Zhang Xueliang was the only one who was disarmament.
After the disarmament, the Northeast Army was not weakened, and its combat effectiveness was actually improved. Zhang Xueliang also tried every means to train new troops. These new troops, from military quality to weapons and equipment, far exceeded the average warlord troops.
This shows what?
This shows that Zhang Xueliang's control over the Northeastern Army has far exceeded that of Zhang Zuolin. At least on the surface, he can easily command any unit of the Fengjun Army - Zhang Zuolin has to pay a favor to mobilize the troops for war. Some soldier leaders are disobedient.
of.
How to put it, just in terms of military training ability, Zhang Xueliang ranks at the forefront among the many warlords in the Republic of China. It would be even better if he did not personally command the battle.
Zhang Xueliang smoked a cigarette and said: "Chiang Kai-shek still wants to fight and invites me to completely kill Yan Baichuan (Yan Xishan) and Feng Huanzhang (Feng Yuxiang), and then go south with him to deal with Li Delin (Li Zongren), Bai Jiansheng (Bai Chongxi) and Chen Bonan (
Chen Jitang)."
"How did you respond?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
"Of course I refuse. I entered the customs to quell the war and hope that the country will be at peace as soon as possible." Zhang Xueliang shook his head helplessly and said, "Chiang Kai-shek is addicted to fighting. He will not give up until the local forces are wiped out. If according to the
According to his idea, at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers will have to die before peace can be achieved."
Zhou Hexuan nodded and said: "That's true. His desire for control is too strong, but it's a pity that his ability can't keep up."
Zhang Xueliang said: "Lao Jiang is really generous this time. He gave me control of the eight provinces of Hei, Ji, Liao, Shanxi, Cha, Re, Sui, and Hebei, plus the three cities of Peking, Tianjin, and Qingdao. He also gave me
I handle the aftermath of the Central Plains War."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Is there a conspiracy?"
"Of course there is a conspiracy," Zhang Xueliang said with a wry smile. "He asked me to deal with the aftermath, but then ordered me to cut down 60% of the Northwest Army and Shanxi-Sui Army. It was obvious that he wanted to provoke conflicts between me and those warlords and generals. He took advantage of this.
I was so anxious that I couldn't find the right time to take action, so I returned my troops and went south to completely wipe out the Gui army."
Chang Kaishen was really addicted to fighting. It was clear that the Nanjing government's finances had collapsed, and he still wanted to drive out the Guangxi warlords. In order to fight without money and food, he specially allocated various taxes and levies for this purpose, which made people in the south angry. He saw
Don't give up until you really can't defeat it.
After sparing the Guangxi warlords, Chang Kaishen did not stop, and set his sights on the Red Zone, launching multiple encirclement and suppression campaigns against the Red Zone.
However, the drunkard's intention is not to drink. Chang Kaishen's encirclement and suppression of the Red Zone is actually a plan to kill three birds with one stone: first, of course, to eliminate our party; second, to dispatch the newly recruited miscellaneous troops to fight and weaken and control the miscellaneous forces; third,
, Chang Kaishen's military tentacles will extend wherever the encirclement and suppression is carried out, taking the opportunity to expand the actual territory.
Simply summed up in eight words, Chang Kaishen's game is "driving away the wolf and devouring the tiger, and the fisherman will benefit".
Zhang Xueliang didn't want to play games with Chang Kaishen. He said: "I am working with Chiang Kai-shek to cut off some miscellaneous brands with weak combat effectiveness, reorganize and merge them into the previous batch, and secretly keep them under different numbers."
"This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people." Zhou Hexuan said.
If the army is forcibly dismantled according to Chang Kaishen's order, those northern generals who have just defected will probably rebel again, and the war will last for who knows how long.
Of course, Zhang Xueliang also took the opportunity to win over people's hearts. By doing this, both the generals of the Northwest Army and the Shanxi-Sui Army would be indebted to Zhang Xueliang. This is also true. From now on, the generals of no matter which faction in the north will be sincerely convinced by Zhang Xueliang.
Take Sun Dianying, the captain of the Mojin Academy, as an example. Later, the central government wanted to send Sun Dianying to Duolun, but he refused to listen to anyone who gave orders. In the end, Zhang Xueliang just said hello and it was done.
A few days ago, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and Wang Zhaoming held a meeting in Zhengzhou to discuss jointly issuing an armistice and telegraphing, and then each left Zhengzhou and returned to their hometowns. After Chang Kaishen led his army to occupy Zhengzhou, he did not continue to pursue it with all his strength, but waved his money.
He bribed enemy generals wantonly and handed the north to Zhang Xueliang. At the same time, he mobilized a large army to fight against the Gui army in Hunan.
Many generals of the Northwest Army hated both Yan Xishan and Chang Kaishen, which gave Zhang Xueliang an advantage in vain. Zhang Xueliang successfully recruited many troops without paying any money, and his military strength quickly grew.
Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang saw no way to save themselves, and Chang Kaishen forced them to resign. They had no choice but to do as they were told - each handed over military and political power to their confidants, and prepared to travel abroad to avoid the limelight after resigning.
In fact, Feng Yuxiang has not given up yet, and has made various small moves in private, but the overall situation has been decided, and many of his plans cannot make waves.
This civil war, which mobilized more than 1.1 million troops, cost 500 million yuan, killed and injured 300,000 people, and spread to more than 20 provinces, has finally come to an end.
The biggest beneficiary was not Chang Kaishen who clamored for disarmament, nor Feng Yuxiang who recklessly wanted to go to war, nor Yan Xishan who was more skillful in calculating than a monkey, but Zhang Xueliang who waited for the time to mature before taking action.
Zhang Xueliang now nominally controls the territory of eight provinces and three cities, and controls hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command. If it were an ambitious man like Zhang Zuolin, he would probably start planning to dominate the world, and even Chang Kaishen would be brought down.
Zhou Hexuan poured cold water on Zhang Xueliang and said: "Brother Hanqing, you have deployed all the elite Northeastern Army into the Pass. The defenses of the three Northeastern provinces are empty. It is better to transfer them back as soon as possible to be wary of the Japanese Kwantung Army."
Zhang Xueliang wondered: "I think so too, but the territory is too big now, and we must disperse our troops to guard it, otherwise we will not be able to control the warlords, large and small."
Zhou Hexuan was speechless because he had no way to refute.
Shanxi, Shaanxi, Suiyuan and other northwestern provinces are definitely beyond Zhang Xueliang's control and can only be managed by Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan's old subordinates. But North China is different. As long as Zhang Xueliang spends two or three years governing, North China can be managed.
Like the Northeast, it became his stable territory.
Suppressing bandits, quelling chaos, garrisoning, and guarding... there are too many things that require the elite Northeast Army. It is impossible for Zhang Xueliang to just sit back and ignore the new territory for the sake of Northeast security.
After all, the invasion of Japan's Kwantung Army was still Zhou Hexuan's guess. Even if Zhang Xueliang believed it, he could not use this to convince his subordinates.
Zhou Hexuan said: "No matter what, at least 30,000 elites must be mobilized back to the Northeast."
Zhang Xueliang nodded and said: "That will have to wait until the aftermath is resolved. We can't take action now."
