Chapter 30: The Unexpected Test (4)

  Song Zhe-wu took a sip of water and continued, "The central government has realized this problem, so they want to downsize the military. I think it's mainly aimed at the three factions: Guangxi, Shanxi-Suiyuan, and Northwest." He looked at Wen Qing, who was smiling and listening, and relaxed his tone, continuing in a light tone, "All parties will definitely not willingly downsize their military, to put it bluntly, they are afraid that the central government will only downsize other people's troops, but not their own, or less so, ultimately making the central army obviously stronger than all factions. So, although the various factions don't dare to openly oppose the downsizing on the surface, they won't actually do it. In the end, this issue can only be resolved through armed force."

  "Resolve by force? The combined military strength of all factions is over 20 million, and the three armies of Guangxi, Shanxi-Suiyuan and Northwest alone have more than 8 million people. How can the Central Government resolve it by force?"

  Song Zhiwu did not know that Chiang Kai-shek had already made preparations to take action against the Guangxi clique, but Song Zhiwu still decided to shock Wen Qing, or rather, to shock the chairman of Nanjing, in order to increase his own weight in Chairman Chiang's heart. He continued: "Although the various factional armies are numerous, they are consistent in their treatment of disarmament, but they are like a compound that is not tightly bound between molecules and is very unstable. Once external conditions change, it will easily decompose into individual entities. If the central government responds appropriately, it can easily defeat them one by one."

  Song Zhe-wu's words moved Wen Qing, and he now really felt that Song Zhe-wu's vision was extraordinary. At present, all walks of life in the Nanjing government have doubts about confronting various factions, and the vast majority of people within the military also do not look favorably on the prospects of a central force resolving the issue through armed force. In his opinion, only Chairman Chiang had great determination, and this Song Zhe-wu indeed had the air of the chairman. "What does Commander Song think is the right way for the Central Government to handle things?" Wen Qing asked Song Zhe-wu seriously.

  Song Zhe-wu continued to say calmly, "Any one of the three parties alone will certainly be defeated if they resist the central government. Even if the three parties join forces, as long as the central government does not suffer a great defeat in the initial period, the final victory will definitely belong to the central government."

  Three people looked puzzled, and Song Zhiwu continued: "The central government has the moral high ground and the support of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial group. As long as the war situation is stabilized, it will continue to receive financial and material support, which is something that other factions do not have. In terms of political vision and strategy, neither Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of the Guangxi clique, nor Yan Xishan of the Shanxi-Suiyuan army, nor Feng Yuxiang of the Northwestern Army are a match for Chairman Chiang. Therefore, the central government should not be afraid of resolving the issue through force."

  Wen Qing thought about Song Zhiwu's words and the more he thought, the more reasonable they seemed. Not to mention that Chiang Kai-shek occupied the central government's moral high ground, nor that he had a strong financial backing, but in terms of political skill, there was indeed no one who could compare with him. Not only were Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang not his match, but even looking at the whole of China, he believed that very few people could surpass him. This time, the tactics used to deal with the Guangxi clique had left him both shocked and admiring. Wen Qing's heart skipped a beat as he thought about taking another look at this unusual young man to see how much weight he really carried. He asked: "Wen Ge, if the central government were to take action against all three factions simultaneously, even if they won, it would still greatly damage their vitality. Of course, the central government does not want that to happen and would rather take them down one by one. If you were in charge, who would you choose to attack first?"

  "The Guizhou clique." Song Zhe Wu replied without hesitation.

  Seeing Song Zhe Wu's response was so concise, Wen Qing couldn't help but ask: "Why?"

  To solve the disarmament problem, the key is to solve the three houses of Guangxi, Shanxi and Northwest. Among these three houses, Guangxi is the most important. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of Guangxi are both highly intelligent and wise men. If the central government uses force against Shanxi and Northwest, Guangxi will not sit idly by. And if the central government takes action against Guangxi first, the other two houses may well sit back and watch the fight, waiting for both sides to be weakened so that they can take advantage of the situation without exerting themselves.

  Therefore, it is necessary to solve the problem of Guangxi first. Moreover, among these three houses, Shanxi occupies four provinces: Suiyuan, Shanxi, Hebei, and Chahar. However, if the central government takes action against Shanxi first, Yan Xishan will certainly abandon Hebei and Chahar and retreat to Shanxi and Suiyuan. Shanxi is a province with three sides facing mountains and one side facing rivers, making it a strategic location that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

  The war will not be short-lived, and others will take advantage of the situation to prepare for battle and find opportunities to oppose the central government. The situation will inevitably become chaotic. Northwest is also facing similar problems. Once the war situation becomes unfavorable, Northwest will certainly retreat to Guanzhong. As long as Shanxi and Guangxi are still there, Northwest will feel that as long as they persist, there will be a turning point, and they will fight to the death.

  In contrast, Guangxi appears strong on the surface, with its influence extending across several provinces, like a snake stretching across mountains. However, in reality, Guangxi is divided into two parts: one in Hebei and the other in Hubei and Hunan. The part in Hebei is isolated from the others, separated by the central government's army and Northwest in Henan. Its head and body are not well-coordinated.

  In particular, Bai Chongxi's troops in Hebei, which have over 100,000 soldiers, include Li Puxian and Liao Lei's units, which were originally under Tang Shengzhi's command. They are mostly from the Sanxiang region and have long been unwilling to stay in Hebei for an extended period. As soon as Tang Shengzhi gives the order, Li and Liao will certainly follow.

  The only question now is who the central government will support. If the central government supports Guangxi, Li and Liao will not dare to act rashly; otherwise, they will face the combined forces of the central government, Shanxi, and Guangxi, and will be annihilated. If the central government supports Tang Shengzhi, Shanxi will certainly not dare to assist Bai Chongxi; otherwise, it will face the combined forces of the central government and Tang Shengzhi, which Yan Xishan will not dare to do.

  Therefore, as long as the central government supports Tang Shengzhi's uprising, Bai Chongxi will be immediately driven out, and Guangxi's influence in North China will disappear. Then, with Tang Shengzhi leading his troops to cooperate with the central government in attacking Hubei and Hunan, Guangxi's influence there will also quickly dissipate. The only remaining province is Guangxi, which the central government can easily solve if it wants to.

  Wen Qing's face remained calm, smiling as he listened to Song Zhiwu's talkative speech. However, in his heart, he was extremely shocked. The method that Chiang Kai-shek used to deal with the Guangxi clique had actually been spoken by this 26- or 27-year-old young man, which couldn't help but surprise him! Chiang Kai-shek's method of dealing with the Guangxi clique was something Wen Qing deeply admired and revered - Chiang's accurate judgment of the situation and his daring plan to release Tang Shengzhi, a hungry wolf, to drive out Bai Chongxi, a fierce tiger. It was indeed an extraordinary move. However, Chiang Kai-shek had been in politics for decades, so it wasn't surprising that he had such high political acumen. But the fact that this young man had a similar understanding and judgment of the situation as Chiang Kai-shek did surprise him greatly.

  These days, he ran through almost all the military camps of the Security Brigade, and had a real understanding of the high morale, rigorous training, and excellent equipment of the Security Brigade. Every day's observation was sent to Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing by telegram. In the telegram, he expressed to Chiang Kai-shek: "With his many years of military experience, this unit, except for slightly lacking in actual combat experience, is comparable to the Central Army in all other aspects, and even surpasses the Central Army in many ways. Not only should this unit not be reduced, but it should also be expanded. Before Yan Xishan makes up his mind to take control of this unit, we should immediately take the initiative to incorporate it into the Central Army sequence." Chiang Kai-shek still trusted this long-time follower and confidant, and last night sent a telegram agreeing to promote Song Zhiwu to Major General, Xiao Guodong and Wang Xu to Lieutenant General, and expand the Security Brigade into three infantry divisions, one cavalry division, and three additional brigades. The officers of each unit would be appointed by Song Zhiwu and reported to the Military Affairs Department for filing. In order to win over Shang Zhen, the Security Command was still under his command, but the military salary was allocated by the Central Government, and the Security Command was incorporated into the unified sequence of the Military Affairs Department. Although it continued to be commanded by Shang Zhen, in reality, the command had been taken over.

  Wen Qing felt that it was time to reveal his identity, so he took out a document and handed it to Song Zhe Wu. Song Zhe Wu looked at Wen Qing with a smile and said: "This should be the true identity of the military instructor, right?" Wen Qing knew that Song Zhe Wu must have known that his identity as an instructor was fake, so he just smiled and didn't respond. Song Zhe Wu opened the document and saw that it clearly stated: "Republic of China Army Officer School Education Director: Lieutenant General Zhang Zhizhong."

  This time, Song Zhe Wu was shocked. Zhang Zhizhong was a very famous person and one of the big names he respected. Song Zhe Wu immediately stood up and gave Zhang Zhizhong a standard military salute. "I didn't know that Director Zhang had arrived, I apologize for my negligence."

  At this time, Xiao Guodong and Chu Feng also came back to their senses from the shocking words of Song Zhiwu, and the two who reacted also stood up and saluted Zhang Zhizhong.

  Zhang Zhizhong smiled and said, "There's no slackness, this isn't your fault. If you had known my identity earlier, I would have discounted everything I saw, only then could I see the real Security Guard Regiment and the real Song Wenge."

  "Director of Education, please evaluate the Security Regiment." Zhe Wu thought that the Security Regiment had already become a strong army. However, he was also afraid that because it was an army established by his own hands, there would be a misconception of being overly proud of one's own work. Therefore, he very much wanted to hear Zhang Zhongzhong, who had been in the military for many years and had trained troops for many years, give a fair evaluation of this army.

  "Well-equipped, well-trained, high morale, and mighty. This is my evaluation of the Security Regiment. I can also tell you that this is exactly what I said in my telegram to Chairman Chiang in Nanjing. Brother Wen-ge, you are good at commanding troops, and Chairman Chiang is very pleased!" After a brief pause, Zhang Zhongzhong's expression turned serious, and he stood up straight and said: "The Chairman has ordered that the Hebei Security Commander Song Zhiwu's unit be expanded into the 4th Division and 3rd Brigade, with Commander Song promoted to Lieutenant General. This is to encourage him." Being a Lieutenant General was one thing, but having his unit expanded into a division and brigade was equivalent to being a warlord, and what's more, a warlord recognized by Chairman Chiang! Song Zhiwu was momentarily stunned with excitement.

  Zhang Zhizhong smiled understandingly and patted Song Zhiwu's shoulder: "Wen Ge, old brother, the candidates for division and regiment commanders, you need to give me a list immediately, so I can report it to the Chairman. I think this way, one hour later you hand it over to me. Also, that party on New Year's Eve was very interesting, the Chairman also attaches great importance to it, has already instructed the Central Propaganda Department to arrange for the Central Daily and other major newspapers in Nanjing to come to Laiyuan, at the latest by New Year's Eve you need to make arrangements. In addition, I won't leave either, just spend the Spring Festival in Laiyuan and then return to Nanjing."

  Sorry! Two days without updates, feeling a bit discouraged, too few collections, although not recommended, but now there are only 1483 collections!