Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan's compromise

In the conference room of Feng Yuxiang's camp command center, all his senior generals were gathered to discuss the latest strategic deployment of the Northwest Army against the Northern Route Army under Li Guosheng's troops.

In the silent conference room, the commander-in-chief Feng Yuxiang looked at the letter in his hand with a serious expression, over and over again. The increasingly solemn shock and astonishment on his face seemed to tell everyone that Feng Yuxiang expressed doubts about the authenticity of the content in the letter.

One minute, two minutes, the huge command center was finally broken by the voice of a division commander under Feng Yuxiang.

"Commander-in-Chief, I absolutely don't believe the content of this letter. Commander Sun, Commander Gao, Commander Zhang... are all life and death brothers that we are very familiar with. It is certain that the three of them are all heroes in my Northwest Army. And Li Guosheng of the Ninth Army did not promise them too many practical benefits. It is good to be the commander of the main division of my Northwest Army. Why did he surrender to Li Guosheng and betray my Northwest Army? This must be Li Guosheng's plan to sow discord, yes, it must be like this..."

A stone caused a thousand waves. As soon as the division commander's voice fell, dozens of senior generals of the Northwest Army in the conference room were immediately divided into two factions. Some supported what Commander Wang had just said, and some supported the true content of the letter in Feng Yuxiang's hand... In short, the small conference room began to become noisy just like a vegetable market.

"Enough! Shut up all of them. Noisy, what's the point of making a noise..."

In the Northwest Army, the parent style is undoubtedly the most serious army among the major warlord forces. Feng Yuxiang shouted loudly, and the conference room, which was still noisy just now, suddenly became quiet. After all the officers' attention was gathered on Feng Yuxiang, Commander-in-Chief Feng Yuxiang asked back.

"Secretary Wang, do you think this letter was used by Li Guosheng to sow discord. But have you ever thought that it is an indisputable fact that the three main divisions of my Northwest Army were wiped out and all senior officers were captured. As a victorious army, Li Guosheng has any reason to do this in one go. Is it just to disturb the morale of our army?"

"But, in the letter, Li Guosheng had already told us bluntly: As long as we no longer send troops and soldiers to Shandong, Li Guosheng will put some pressure on him. The battle between us and Li Guosheng will end here. Do you think that under such circumstances, Li Guosheng's extravagance will make sense?"

"Commander-in-Chief, what do you mean? All the contents of this letter are true?" The chief of staff, who was sitting at Feng Yuxiang's first head, asked back with a serious expression.

"Is it true? After we ask the person who sent the letter, we will know clearly. I wonder if you know a situation: the person who came back to deliver the letter to us was a distant relative of Feng Yuxiang. His loyalty to my Northwest Army is definitely no worse than that of anyone. So, I believe in his words very much. Chief of Staff. Please call Commander Feng, who is responsible for delivering the letter, in. We need to know some questions from him."

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief..." the Chief of Staff affirmed.

In less than a minute, Captain Feng, who was nervous and expectant, walked in.

After some inquiries and explanations, the basic situation of the Ninth Army was slowly presented to a group of senior officers of the Northwest Army.

"Light machine guns are equipped to infantry squads, heavy machine guns are equipped to infantry platoons, mortars are also equipped to infantry platoons, and mountain cannons are equipped to regiments. And it is also a large-scale mountain cannon battalion... In this way, the firepower configuration of a regiment of the Ninth Army is more than that of our army?" Feng Yuxiang, with a shocked expression, directly interrupted the regiment commander Feng who was introducing, and asked incredible words.

"Yes, the Commander-in-Chief... besides these, there are more situations that are unimaginable to even the Huyi Army. They happen on the battlefield of fighting with the Ninth Army..." Facing the shocked expressions of a group of senior officers, Commander Feng, who was staring at everyone, mustered up the courage and continued to speak.

"What? Also, where did Li Guosheng get so much heavy equipment? According to such equipment, how many light and heavy machine guns and artillery do he have in his army?" A division commander, following the commander-in-chief Feng Yuxiang, asked incredible face.

"Shut up and listen to Commander Feng finish his words. Let you, those who claim to be invincible in the world, see what changes have happened to the troops other than my Northwest Army in the past few years. Should we continue to look at others with the eyes of a frog in the well and fight with others?" Feng Yuxiang roared with a blue face and full of anger.

"Commander-in-Chief, dear officials. What Bei Zhi just said is just the regiment-level firepower configuration of the Ninth Army. In addition to appealing three infantry regiments with strong firepower, its division-level troops are also equipped with an artillery regiment, totaling 36 75mm field guns. As for the firepower configuration of troops above the division level, Bei Zhi is still unclear."

Speaking of this, he quickly glanced at the commander in front of him, with a more and more serious expression, and continued to speak.

"However, there is a certain thing about Huzhi. The Ninth Army is definitely equipped with a certain number of large-caliber howitzers and armored combat vehicles. Not only that, it is also equipped with air combat aircraft. The heavy equipment that Huzhi just mentioned has appeared on the battlefield in the battle with the Ninth Army." Captain Feng, who breathed a sigh of relief, explained as clearly as possible what he knew in his heart and perfectly.

After taking a breath of cold air, the entire conference room fell into silence again. Everyone was opening their mouths, not knowing what language to use to express the shock in their hearts at this moment.

Commander-in-chief Feng Yuxiang, after all, was a person who had experienced strong storms. After being shocked, a deep sense of fear appeared directly on his face.

Can a unit with such strong combat power and firepower be defeated by his Northwest Army? Fortunately, in order to deal with the Ninth Army, he only sent out three main divisions. Otherwise, at this moment, he would lose more than three main divisions, but three confidant generals as simple as this.

Thinking of this, I had more than 50% credibility in my heart about the news that Sun Lianzhong and others betrayed themselves and completely joined the Ninth Army on the battlefield.

With Feng Yuxiang's understanding of the three confidant generals, he would never use the lives of the soldiers as a joke and achieve his fame when he knew it was impossible. Feng Yuxiang could be sure that as long as the true strength of the Ninth Army was completely placed in front of the three confidant generals, for the lives of the soldiers, the possibility of the three confidant generals surrendering on the battlefield would definitely exceed 80%.

The combat power of a unit with such strong combat power is definitely more powerful than the existing army of the Northwest Army. It gave up its position as the division commander of the Northwest Army, joined the Ninth Army, and served as the commander of the main division of the Ninth Army, which is equivalent to an army of the Northwest Army. On the surface, the position has not changed. However, from the actual combat power, the position of the division commander of the Ninth Army is definitely more popular than the position of the commander of the Northwest Army. Faced with such huge power and temptations of the troops, as long as the three division commanders are not fools, they will agree to Li Guosheng's conditions.

Besides, judging from the current situation in China, the reputation and future development prospects of the Ninth Army in China are definitely not comparable to those of the Northwest Army with backward equipment.

After sighing a long sigh, Feng Yuxiang slowly accepted the cruel facts that Li Guosheng wanted to tell him from his own letter. He spoke to himself in a tomb: "As the saying goes, 'A man will not punish him for himself,' for his military career and for his future, he chose the Ninth Army. Sun Lianzhong and others did nothing wrong..."

"For this matter, if you want to blame me, Feng Yuxiang. When I didn't recognize the actual situation on the battlefield, I took the initiative to attack the Ninth Army and hit the stone with an egg. In the end, it caused the embarrassing and dangerous situation in front of me... Well, since the matter has become a certain fact, what we need to think about now is not to hold accountable. But how to solve the current dilemma of our Northwest Army."

Speaking of this, Feng Yuxiang's eyes immediately turned on the Chief of Staff beside him and said, "Chief of Staff, please introduce to you the bad situation currently facing our Northwest Army..."

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief..." The chief of staff, with a serious expression, quickly stood up from his seat. He pointed to the huge map hanging on the wall behind him and spoke.

"Commander-in-Chief, our Northwest Army is currently under military pressure and attack from three directions: First, the Ninth Army of Shandong Province... Second, the Northeast Army of the Three East Provinces... Third, our mortal enemy, Lao Chiang's Central Army..."

"The three armies are supporting each other and constantly erode the territory of our Northwest Army through military attacks. Our Northwest Army, according to the pre-war deployment, was divided into four. In addition to three parts of the troops, they were targeted to be deployed directly opposite the enemy's three armies to defend the enemy. There are three main divisions left, with a total of 50,000 troops, as reserves, stationed in Shijiazhuang and responded in the middle on the battlefield."

"Now, the 60,000 troops deployed in Shandong Province have been destroyed. If we do not follow Li Guosheng's request and allow the unstoppable army of the Ninth Army to point directly to Shijiazhuang, then the only mobile unit we are in the center to support, that is, the 50,000 elite troops stored in Shijiazhuang, will follow Sun Lianzhong and others."

"Did you lose the 50,000 elite troops hoarded in Shijiazhuang? Everyone thinks: Can the remaining six main divisions block the attacks of the Northeast Army and the Central Army two major military groups?"

The Chief of Staff’s unexpected remarks made everyone’s face suddenly look ugly.

Can the six main divisions without any support block the attack from both directions without any advantage in military strength and equipment? This answer is not only Feng Yuxiang, but also all the senior officers under Feng Yuxiang, who are very clear about this answer.

After a brief silence, Feng Yuxiang said, "Everyone, everyone has already understood the situation. Let's talk about how our Northwest Army should continue to address the current dilemma..."

"Commander-in-Chief, let me talk first. If there is something wrong, I hope everyone will correct me..." The first commander who was sitting in Feng Yuxiang's attack stood up from his seat and spoke.

With Commander-in-Chief Feng Yuxiang nodding in agreement, the division commander quickly walked to the map, picked up the baton, pointed at the map and analyzed.

"Commander-in-Chief, colleagues. I think that our urgent need to delay should immediately resolve the misunderstanding between the Northwest Army and the Ninth Army... With the strength shown by the Ninth Army on the battlefield, I say a disheartening sentence: Just one Ninth Army can destroy our Northwest Army. What's more, the Ninth Army helped by the Central Army and the Northeast Army..."

"If the battle with the Ninth Army continues, there is only one result for me in the Northwest Army: that is, the entire army is destroyed. Shake hands with the Ninth Army to make peace. With the strength of the Central Army and the Northeast Army, our Northwest Army will not win the entire battle, but at least we can ensure that our Northwest Army’s existing territory will not be lost..."

"So, I beg the Commander-in-Chief to immediately send negotiators as stated in Li Guosheng's letter, negotiate and compromise with the Ninth Army, and end the combat state with the Ninth Army as soon as possible. Shake hands and make peace, concentrate all the elite troops of our Northwest Army to specifically deal with the Northeast Army and Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army..."

A loud discussion suddenly sounded in the conference room. Most of the participants agreed with what the division commander said. Of course, there were a few angry people who shouted and opposed it. However, there was one thing that everyone in the conference room knew. The battle with the brigade of the Ninth Army must end immediately...

"Quiet. All are quiet..." After stopping his subordinates who wanted to continue talking, Feng Yuxiang quickly swept all his subordinates with his sharp pairs and asked in a deep voice.

"Brothers, as several brothers said, for the future of our Northwest Army and the current crisis situation, we must resolve it immediately. Therefore, the negotiations with the Ninth Army are bound to be won. Therefore, I decided to agree to the suggestion of Commander Zhang to shake hands with the Ninth Army and make peace with the Ninth Army, even if we pay a certain price, we will do whatever we can..."

The Northwest Army, which was backwardly equipped, occupied the backward territory occupied by the Northwest Army. There was really nothing that Li Guosheng could like. In addition, Li Guosheng himself, for the sake of the entire Bohai Sea and the Liaodong Peninsula, wanted to quickly end the battle with the Northwest Army and absorb and digest the large number of prisoners of war captured in the battlefield.

Li Guosheng only proposed a slim condition for Feng Yuxiang: "The families of all prisoners of war in this battle will be sent to Shandong Province unconditionally...

When Feng Yuxiang, the Northwest Army faced the Ninth Group Army's military front, was forced to compromise and shake hands and make peace. Yan Xishan, the commander-in-chief of the Jinsui Army located in Taiyuan City, was also making a difficult choice.

The 40,000 army is one-sixth of the total military force of the entire Jinsui Army. More importantly, these 40,000 army are one of the few elite infantry troops in the entire Jinsui Army.

Such heavy losses have not reached the point of being hurtful for Yan Xishan, who is rich and powerful. However, the strong combat power and equipment advantages shown by the two main divisions of the Ninth Army on the battlefield... are all feared by Yan Xishan.

The two main divisions can easily annihilate their 40,000 elite troops in a few days. If this battle continues, how many troops will be invested into the battlefield to block the two main divisions of the Ninth Army.

More importantly, according to the organization of the Ninth Army, there are at least seven such main divisions. Not to mention that, as long as the Ninth Army uses more than half of its troops, the entire Jinsui Army will be unable to resist due to insufficient troops...

Yan Xishan, commander-in-chief of the Shanxi Sui Army, was in a difficult decision. The news that the Northwest Army and the Ninth Army stopped fighting and began to retreat from each other was directly like a gust of wind, which reached Yan Xishan's ears.

"Northwest Army, the Ninth Army, are you really just shaking hands and making peace... You know, that is a total of 60,000 troops, and one-quarter of the entire Northwest Army's strength, Feng Yuxiang gave up..." Looking at the information in his hand, Yan Xishan asked incredible.

"What can I do if I don't give up? Could it be that the Ninth Army will destroy several main divisions of the Northwest Army... Commander-in-chief cannot hesitate. Without the Northwest Army's restraint, the Ninth Army will have a chance to concentrate its forces and specifically target our Jinsui Army. At that time, even if we fight all our Jinsui Army's assets, we will not be able to stop the Ninth Army's military."

"Please make a decision for the future of our Jinsui Army?" The Chief of Staff of the Jinsui Army, who was guarding Yan Xishan, spoke nervously and suggested.

"With that being said, the Ninth Army has too much appetite. A large coal mine, all the families of all the captured prisoners of war, a thousand technicians, including all their families... Why didn't he, Li Guosheng, go and rob him!" Yan Xishan suppressed the anger in his heart and shouted in a bad tone.

"Chief of the Chief of Staff calmed down!" The Chief of Staff spoke very promptly.

"Compared with the future of my Jinsui Army and your reputation as Commander-in-Chief, these costs are not worth mentioning at all. Besides, I lack everything in Shanxi Province, but I don't have a coal mine. Giving him a coal mine is nothing big."

"As for all the prisoners of war, even if we don't agree, in order for these prisoners to stay in the Ninth Army and in Shandong Province with peace of mind, Li Guosheng will try his best to get these people to Shandong Province. Instead of risking the two armies completely turning into enemies, it is better to be a good person and agree to the other party..."

"Although a thousand technicians, including their families, are important to our Shanxi Province. However, they have not reached the point of being hurt. With the continuous development of industries in various places, the number of technicians in our hands has increased exponentially. A thousand technicians can be fully trained in at most two years."

"So, for the future of our Shanxi Sui Army and for the reputation of the Commander-in-Chief's love for soldiers as much as his son, I beg the Commander-in-Chief to immediately agree to Li Guosheng's conditions and agree to shake hands with the Ninth Army..." The Chief of Staff affirmed.
Chapter completed!