There are two buildings in the Marshal's Mansion. One was bought by Zhang Zuolin when he married his fifth concubine and belongs to the main residence; the other was just built this year and is used as a warehouse and to house servants.
"Mr. Zhou, you will live here from now on." The housekeeper led Zhou Hexuan into a room on the ground floor.
"Thank you!" Zhou Hexuan said, cupping his fists.
The servants helped carry the luggage in. Zhou Hexuan glanced at the furnishings in the house and found that they were much more advanced than Chu Yupu's. There was even a special writing desk. He was very satisfied with this.
After waiting for a while, a herald finally led him upstairs.
Zhang Xueliang was reading a book. When he saw Zhou Hexuan come in, he immediately stood up and greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, I have been admiring you for a long time. I finally look forward to coming today."
This attitude is much more enthusiastic than yesterday at Pan's Mansion.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Thanks to the young commander for his wrong love."
"You can't be wrong," Zhang Xueliang took Zhou Hexuan's hand and came to his desk, "Mr. Zhou, look, I must read your "The Rise of Great Powers" every day, and it has already been copied into a book!"
Zhou Hexuan looked down and saw that it was indeed a manuscript of "The Rise of the Great Powers", and there were signs of wear and tear on the corners. It seemed that Zhang Xueliang had indeed read this book frequently.
Acting like this really made people feel like they were in the spring breeze. They were completely different from the gamblers they saw yesterday, and they unknowingly felt a fondness for them.
At least a hundred times better than Chu Yupu! There is no harm if there is no comparison.
There was great controversy about Zhang Xueliang in later generations. Some people said that he was personable and sincere in his treatment of others. Some people said that he had lost all his talents by eating, drinking, prostitution and gambling. Some people said that he served the country passionately and loved the people like a son. Some people said that he lost his master and his land and was a slut.
People are very complicated and it's hard to explain clearly.
Let’s first talk about Zhang Xueliang’s situation at this time——
When he was young, Zhang Xueliang was sincerely patriotic and loved the people, and longed for national reunification. He was one of those passionate young men. He was diligent and studious, recruited talented people, and was enterprising. For this reason, he did not hesitate to argue with his father face to face. He was also enthusiastic about public welfare and participated in disaster relief and fundraising activities.
, Zhang Xueliang personally went to the streets to appeal. He also invited well-educated people to spend two hours a day learning English and familiarizing themselves with the history of Western countries.
With Zhang Xueliang's efforts, Zhang Zuolin agreed to the army reorganization, and the Jiangwutang faction in the Northeast Army rose rapidly and became very powerful in combat.
Then the factional fighting began...
The rise of the Jiangwutang sect seriously threatened the status of the Noncommissioned Officers sect. The Noncommissioned Officers even wanted to use the war to trap and kill Guo Songling, a representative of the Jiangwutang sect. Fortunately, Guo Songling ran quickly when he saw the opportunity and staged a Zhang Xueliang version of "Zhang Liangyue Chases Down"
"Han Xin", the two hugged each other and cried in a thatched hut near the battlefield.
The situation of the Northeastern Army at that time was that the sergeant faction was backed by Zhang Zuolin, while the Jiangwutang faction was close to Zhang Xueliang. The battle between the two factions quickly became intense.
To what extent have the conflicts intensified?
Guo Songling even encouraged Zhang Xueliang to seize power. He simply said: "The general (Zhang Zuolin) is too old-minded and is surrounded by small groups. He may be irredeemable." He proposed "father should let son succeed" to reform the situation in the three eastern provinces.
After hearing this, Zhang Xueliang "could not help but be horrified". Without making any move in front of him, he turned around and quietly ran away on the train.
From here we can see the complexity of Zhang Xueliang's character. He was enterprising, recruited talented people, and reformed and innovated, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army. However, this provoked conflicts between the new and old factions of the Northeast Army. When the contradictions intensified to the point where they could not be reconciled,
At that time, he chose to be a coward, preferring to run away and wait for the situation to worsen, but did not have the courage to deal with it head-on.
Finally, under the pressure of the old faction (the sergeant faction), the new faction (the Jiangwutang faction) had no way to retreat, and Guo Songling finally rebelled.
Guo Songling was Zhang Xueliang's teacher, his best friend, and his confidant. When Guo Songling changed sides, Zhang Xueliang was instantly confused, and he got addicted to smoking at that time.
Since then, Zhang Xueliang has become depressed.
In the past, his daily life consisted of studying and progressing, and participating in various progressive activities. Now, his daily life consists of playing cards, listening to operas, and eating, drinking, and having fun all day long.
Such a huge change is due to Zhang Xueliang's self-destruction on the one hand, and his desire to keep a low profile and dormant on the other hand. After all, Zhang Xueliang's top general betrayed Zhang Zuolin just last year.
However, in Zhou Hexuan's view, at least 80% of Zhang Xueliang's playthings were made for his father to see.
When we were playing cards last night, Yang Yuting belonged to the old representative of the Northeast Army, and he had a sense of surveillance. Zhang Xueliang then acted like he was addicted to gambling, and he was completely in the style of a swinger. But now that he saw Zhou Hexuan, Zhang Xueliang looked like a polite corporal, which shows that he
The enterprising spirit has not disappeared.
If he hadn't known what kind of person Zhang Xueliang was, maybe Zhou Hexuan would really be willing to assist him.
But this young marshal couldn't hold himself up to the wall. He was fine at ordinary times, but he had no idea when something big happened. Yang Yuting jumped so hard that he even went to the palace. Such a disobedient subordinate, if replaced by the principal, he would be killed with one knife.
Killed.
But how did Zhang Xueliang make the decision?
Guessing coins...oh no, it's guessing silver dollars. Heads will happen, tails will die, buy it and leave!
Yang Yuting was executed for not reciting the words.
Of course, this is a joke, and killing is definitely necessary. But Zhang Xueliang guessed the coins, and he was probably trying to embolden himself and find a reason to kill.
The Young Marshal is soft-hearted and is generally unwilling to kill people, even those who betray him.
With such a boss, there is absolutely no need to worry about life-threatening danger. Even if you make a big mistake, he will try his best to save you. But it will definitely not work, because Zhang Xueliang's character can be summarized in eight words: indecisive and womanly.
.
Zhang Xueliang took Zhou Hexuan to sit side by side on the sofa, opened the handwritten copy of "The Rise of the Great Powers" and said, "Mr. Zhou, I read the American article serialized today. Why is your article so different from what the previous English teacher said?"
"What's the difference?" Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile.
Zhang Xueliang pointed to a text and said: "The Boston Tea Party was not about the American people's resistance to British tyranny?"
"Haha, if the people resist tyranny, someone must organize it," Zhou Hexuan explained. "Who will organize it? Businessmen! At that time, the tea trade was a hugely profitable industry. In order to monopolize the trade, the British government imposed heavy taxes on tea re-exported to the United States.
Later, the Tea Act was simply enacted to prohibit the sale of private tea in the colonies. The tea that North Americans drank could only be provided by the British East India Company. What do you think this means?"
Zhang Xueliang thought for a while and said: "It means that the tea merchants in the United States have suffered heavy losses."
"Yes," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "this move has produced two results. First, local coffee merchants have taken advantage of the opportunity to rise, taking advantage of the people's dissatisfaction, calling on everyone not to drink British tea, but only coffee. This is similar to China's current boycott
Foreign products are the same as supporting domestic products.”
Zhang Xueliang nodded and smiled.
Zhou Hexuan added: "There are also tea merchants in North America who have all turned into smugglers because it is illegal for them to sell tea."
Zhang Xueliang asked: "What does the Boston Tea Party have to do with it?"
"Of course it is related," Zhou Hexuan explained. "The so-called tea party was caused by local coffee merchants and tea smugglers in North America who instigated and bribed ordinary people for their own interests."
"Isn't it because of the riots caused by Britain's taxation of North America?" Zhang Xueliang asked.
Zhou Hexuan laughed and said: "After the founding of the United States, the government's taxation was much heavier than that of the British colonists. Why didn't the people revolt?"
Zhang Xueliang was silent, seeming to think of the dispute between the new faction and the old faction in the Northeastern Army, and murmured: "It's all driven by interests."