In a blink of an eye, it was New Year's Day in 1931. Xu Zhimo stayed at Zhou Hexuan's house for two days before leaving Tianjin to work as a professor at Peking University and Beijing Women's University. Before leaving, he also went to the Liang family to visit Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. The three of them seemed to have completely forgotten about it.
We talked freely about the original dispute and the current situation, and we had a lot of fun together.
This year's New Year's Day has a particularly festive atmosphere. Government departments have a collective day off, and newspapers and magazines have launched "New Year's special issues" one after another.
The Nanjing government ignored the opposition from the society and officially designated the Western calendar as the "national calendar", the only calendar officially recognized by China. Although the lunar calendar continues to be used, it is no longer recognized by the government and is no longer allowed to appear in official documents.
It is worth celebrating that on New Year's Day, January 1, the Nanjing government began to implement the "Customs Import Tax Code." This move marked China's realization of tariff independence. From a historical perspective, this was a huge progress since the late Qing Dynasty.
Zhang Xueliang held a grand banquet in Peiping. He and his wife Yu Fengzhi invited many celebrities and dignitaries to celebrate his first New Year's Day after taking charge of North China. After the celebration in Peiping, Zhang Xueliang took his "secretary" Miss Zhao Si to Tianjin to hold a dance.
Invite celebrities and gentry in Tianjin.
Although Zhou Hexuan repeatedly urged Zhang Xueliang to send elite troops back to the Northeast to prevent the Japanese from taking advantage of the situation, he only sent back one full division with about 8,000 troops.
"Mingcheng, it's not that I don't care about the safety of Northeast China, but the situation in North China is too complicated." Zhang Xueliang felt embarrassed.
Zhou Hexuan asked: "The situation in North China has not settled down yet?"
Zhang Xueliang shook his head and said: "Old warlords such as Shi Yousan and Sun Dianying have surrendered on the surface, but they keep making small moves secretly. I just received the news a few days ago that Shi Yousan is secretly in contact with the Japanese. I don't know what he is up to."
Zhou Hexuan was silent, not knowing what to say.
From Zhang Xueliang's point of view, what he did was indeed correct. It was impossible to leave the newly occupied territory in North China alone.
Although the War in the Central Plains had ended long ago, all the warlords who had been recruited had different intentions. Zhang Xueliang's blind kindness did win the favor of many warlords, but his methods were obviously not as good as those of Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek was much smarter. He constantly mobilized the troops of miscellaneous warlords and attacked the red zone under the banner of "suppressing bandits", causing both the warlords and our party to suffer losses.
Zhang Xueliang's current situation is quite embarrassing. Although he appears to be prosperous, his territory in North China is extremely unstable. The newly affiliated warlords under his command do not listen to the propaganda, and they have to pay large sums of military expenditures. The warlords use the military expenditures to expand their strength.
Secretly gathering strength and preparing to take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble.
There are more than one or two warlords who want to drive away Zhang Xueliang and become the "King of North China" themselves.
According to the historical trajectory, Mr. Wang Zhaoming, the troublemaker of the Republic of China, will form the Guangzhou National Government in a few months. Wang Zhaoming not only fought with Chang Kaishen in the south, but also secretly contacted the northern warlords and the Japanese, dragging Zhang Xueliang's elite Northeast Army into the
North China.
Among them, the three friends jumped the most fiercely. They were defeated by Zhang Xueliang and Chang Kaishen, and fled to Shandong to join Han Fuju.
When it comes to the famous rebel generals in the Republic of China, Feng Yuxiang is really not as good as Shiyousan who burned down the Shaolin Temple. In his life, Shiyousan defected to Feng Yuxiang three times, Yan Xishan twice, Chang Kaishen twice, Wang Zhaoming once, and Zhang Xueliang once.
times, he took refuge with the Eighth Route Army once, and once with the Japanese. This does not include the times he took refuge with ordinary warlords.
Precisely because the newly attached warlords were ready to move, the elite Northeastern Army deployed in North China could not move at all. It would take Zhang Xueliang at least one or two years to completely digest the newly occupied territory.
The dance music started, and men and women walked onto the dance floor one after another.
Zhang Xueliang smiled and said: "I won't worry about it in advance, let's dance, dance!"
Zhou Hexuan frowned and drank red wine without speaking.
Zhang Xueliang, who originally wanted to dance with Miss Zhao Si, saw this and let go of Zhao Yidi's hand, drank red wine and said: "Mingcheng, don't think too much. With the current strength of the Kwantung Army, even if we want to stir up trouble in the Northeast, I
It’s not too late to temporarily transfer the troops back.”
"I hope so." Zhou Hexuan said.
Zhang Xueliang pointed to Liao Yaquan, who was dancing with Zhang Xueming on the dance floor, and said with a smile: "Your confidante is very active. I heard that she is already well-known in Tianjin's social circle. Even the British and French consuls general in Tianjin praised her greatly.
.Sister Yu (Fengzhi) also told me that Liao Yaquan invited her to participate in a radio program and conduct some charity promotion activities."
Mentioning Liao Yaquan, Zhou Hexuan had a headache and whispered: "Sixth Commander, that woman is a Japanese spy."
"What?" Zhang Xueliang's face changed drastically and he asked in surprise, "Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent sure," Zhou Hexuan nodded, "I already knew that woman when she first approached me."
Zhang Xueliang asked: "Do you want me to arrest her?"
"Is it useful?" Zhou Hexuan asked with a wry smile, "Sixth Commander, if you arrest her today, the Japanese may send a new spy here tomorrow. It is even more dangerous not to know the details."
"The Japanese are so pervasive!" Zhang Xueliang said angrily.
Since the Japanese investigation in the United States has made no progress and consumed too much manpower and material resources, Liao Yaquan's espionage mission has begun to change. From investigating the secret forces behind Zhou Hexuan, to relying on Zhou Hexuan's fame and influence to travel among the upper echelons of Tianjin's political and business circles
Circles to obtain various business and political intelligence.
Not long after today's dance party started, Liao Yaquan took the initiative to approach Zhang Xueming. Obviously Zhang Xueming was her new target.
Zhang Xueming is Zhang Xueliang's younger brother, and he also serves as the chief of police in Tianjin (he will also serve as mayor of Tianjin in three months). With such a pivotal position, he will naturally be closely watched by Japanese spy agencies.
The song ends.
Zhang Xueming and Liao Yaquan came back from dancing and greeted with a smile: "Brother, Mr. Zhou, why don't you dance tonight?"
"I'm a little tired, let's take a rest first," Zhou Hexuan smiled slightly and said to Liao Yaquan, "Yaquan's dancing skills have improved very quickly."
Liao Yaquan looked shy and said: "I've made a little progress."
Zhang Xueming asked the waiter for a glass of red wine and praised: "Miss Liao's dance is very elegant. She is indeed Mr. Zhou's confidante."
Zhang Zuolin's sons each have their own characteristics. The second son, Zhang Xueming, is very smart, but does not have the backbone and heroism of Zhang Xueliang. He even served in the Wang Puppet regime for a time. The third son, Zhang Xuezeng, was very protective of himself and was not interested in power and wealth. He went to the West to live a happy life. The fourth son, Zhang Xuesi,
He was a patriot with integrity. After the Xi'an Incident, he wholeheartedly followed our Party. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was appointed as the Chief of Staff of Major General.
After Zhou Hexuan left with Liao Yaquan, Zhang Xueliang said to his younger brother: "Xue Ming, be careful about Miss Liao. She has connections with the Japanese. If she comes to approach you again in the future, try to be as coy as possible and never leak any important information!"
Zhang Xueming was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "It's interesting. Mr. Zhou is very courageous. He can remain calm even if the person next to him has ulterior motives. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't be able to sleep."