Feng Yuxiang skillfully used counter-plots, and Yan Xishan was used to send military salaries
On March 6, 1930, Yan Xishan's newspaper team suddenly intercepted a telegram sent by Chiang Kai-shek. The content of the telegram surprised Yan Xishan:
Han Fuyu was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the rebel army, Shi Yousan was the commander-in-chief of the Pinghan Front, and Ma Hongkui was the commander-in-chief of the Jinpu Front...... The various departments attacked Pingjin.
Seeing this telegram, Yan Xishan couldn't help but believe that what he said in the messages he sent back on the radio in Tianjin and other places was true, after Feng Yuxiang was placed under house arrest, the leaderless Northwest Army was finally going to unite with Chiang Kai-shek against him.
The so-called "can bend and stretch for a big husband". Yan Xishan immediately rushed to the place where Feng Yuxiang was under house arrest, apologized to Feng Yuxiang with tears in his eyes, asked Feng Yuxiang to go back to preside over the overall situation, and assured:
"After the eldest brother goes back, if he leads the troops to beat me, I will never return fire, and give in to Taiyuan. From now on, what the Jin army eats, wears, and uses, the eldest brother's army will be treated the same, and there will be no discrimination. ”
Seeing that Yan Xishan was so sincere, Feng Yuxiang also got off the donkey, and after expressing his trust in Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang proposed that it was okay to go back and preside over the overall situation, but if there is no food and no troops, you Brother Yan had better also express it, otherwise you will not be able to appease your subordinates.
Yan Xishan, who has always been picky, made a bloody investment for the first time, and allocated 500,000 yuan to Feng Yuxiang Dayang, 200 hand-held machine guns, and 2,000 bags of flour, so as to send Feng Yuxiang, the great god, away.
In fact, all this was a counter-plot set up by Feng Yuxiang, he did not unite with Chiang Kai-shek to oppose Yan Xishan's idea at all, and everything he did before was to deceive Yan Xishan.
It turned out that when Feng Yuxiang was under house arrest by Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang's hardcore cadre Lu Zhonglin once went to Taiyuan to meet Feng Yuxiang, and Feng Yuxiang used rice soup to give four orders in a book of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms":
First, integrate the Northwest Army and be ready to advance eastward at any time.
Second, recruit Han Fuyu, Shi Yousan and other rebel generals of the Northwest Army to strengthen the troops.
Third, contact Chiang Kai-shek, make a false impression that he wants to unite with Chiang Kai-shek, and let Yan Xishan know the news.
Fourth, publicly telegraphed Yan Xishan, demanding that he release Feng Yuxiang immediately.
Sure enough, Yan Xishan was fooled, and in the half-truths and half-truths between Lu Zhonglin and Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan thought that the Northwest Army had been leaderless, and if Feng Yuxiang was not put back, the Northwest Army would really take refuge in Chiang Kai-shek. At that point, his hopes of becoming the supreme head of state will be dashed. Therefore, there was a scene of Yan Xishan in tears at the beginning of this article.
Lianyan begged Jiang, Feng Yuxiang made a desperate bet, and 260,000 soldiers and horses went into battle, regardless of his home when attacking
Regarding Feng Yuxiang's desire to join Yan to fight against Chiang, the generals of the Northwest Army actually did not agree.
When it comes to defection, many people think that Feng Yuxiang has done the most of this kind of thing, but in fact, Yan Xishan has done it no less. It's just that Feng Yuxiang's defection is always vigorous, but Yan Xishan's defection is not vigorous enough, and the Northwest Army has been pitted by Yan Xishan several times, and the generals are generally disgusted with it.
Lu Zhonglin, the number one general of the Northwest Army, believed that judging from the strategy of the Northwest Army at this time, the most important thing to unite with was Chiang Kai-shek, and then send troops to Shanxi, and after occupying Shanxi, the Northwest Army could connect Shanxi and the northwest provinces together, and it could be attacked and defended when it retreated, and it would be in an invincible position. Moreover, he was in contact with Chiang Kai-shek on the order of Feng Yuxiang just now, and now he immediately changed his hexagram, and he is unreasonable.
And the most important thing is that if you unite with Yan Xishan, even if you win, it is unlikely that you will want to cross the Yangtze River and occupy the land south of the Yangtze River. At that time, there will still be contradictions between the two armies of Feng and Yan. Since sooner or later there will be a contradiction, it is better to puncture this pustule as soon as possible to save trouble in the future.
But Feng Yuxiang has a different set of logic. He thought that Chiang Kai-shek was the trouble of his henchmen, and as for Yan Xishan, after defeating Chiang Kai-shek, he would go back and clean up Yan Xishan, which would be a matter of minutes. Moreover, Feng Yuxiang also believed that at this time, whether politically or militarily, the Feng Yan coalition army had an advantage, politically there were Wang Jingwei and the elders of the Xishan Conference faction waving their flags and shouting, and militarily not only had more than 500,000 troops of himself and Yan Xishan, but also Li Zongren in the south echoing each other from afar, which was a great situation that was created with great difficulty. The so-called opportunity is not to be lost and never come again, if you miss this village, there will be no such store.
Before the war began, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan were calculating each other, which shows that the outcome of the Central Plains War had already been decided.
Seeing that the boss spoke, the leaders of the Northwest Army had no choice but to obediently obey orders.
So, didn't any of the dozens of military leaders of the Northwest Army raise objections?
In addition to Lu Zhonglin's objections, Sun Lianzhong, who was stationed in Gansu at that time, bitterly advised Feng Yuxiang to take full control of the northwest before sending troops. The advantage of this is that once defeated, the Northwest Army can still retreat to the northwest and have a place to stay, but it was sternly rejected by Feng Yuxiang, in Feng Yuxiang's view, this alliance with Yan to fight against Jiang can only advance without retreat, that is, "if you win, you will go to Jiangnan to form a government, and if you lose, you will not hesitate to die together." It's a very broken posture.
It was under this guiding ideology that Feng Yuxiang ordered more than 260,000 men and horses from various departments of the Northwest Army to rush to the front line. Seeing Feng Yuxiang working so hard, Yan Xishan had no choice but to take out all his belongings. The Great War is on the verge of breaking out.
On April 1, 1930, Yan Xishan was inaugurated as the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force of the Republic of China in Beiping, and Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren served as deputy commanders-in-chief respectively.
Seeing that the war was inevitable, Chiang Kai-shek was also calculating what his chances of victory were.
In his opinion, Feng Yan's coalition army is not menacing on the map, but in fact, it is not that powerful at all.
Although Li Zongren in the south shouted loud slogans, his strength was very weak. Although the Xingui faction wanted to unite with Chen Jitang of the Cantonese faction to oppose him, Chen Jitang had already been bribed by a large amount of weapons and equipment sent by him; although Wang Jingwei had a certain degree of political influence, he had no soldiers under his command, so could he still scold himself to death by scolding others? As for the elders of the Xishan Conference faction, it was not worth mentioning, and as long as they had the upper hand on the battlefield, they would immediately turn to scolding Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan, and there was nothing to worry about.
What is difficult to do is the more than 500,000 soldiers and horses of Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan, but this is not invulnerable. In particular, Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army seems to have a large number of generals, but in fact, it has gathered a large number of capricious people. As long as his own army withstood the initial offensive of Feng Yan's coalition army, and then divided and collapsed, he would definitely be able to defeat the coalition army. This is exactly what it is: the wider the containment, the more relaxed the unity, and the interests of the small group must be taken into account, and the overall situation will not be taken into account at all.
As it turned out, Chiang Kai-shek was right in his judgment.
First, Han Fuyu refused Feng Yuxiang's invitation to return to the country, on the grounds that he had just joined Chiang Kai-shek and could not go to Qin and Chu; and then Liu Chunrong's troops of the Jin army did not contribute to the work, and the more than 20,000 people in his department not only could not take charge of the situation alone, but had to let the Jin army allocate a part of the troops to guard against their rebellion. As for the capricious Shi Yousan, he performed well this time and did not back. This is not because Shi Yousan found it on his conscience, but that he and Han Fuyu have already colluded, and their eggs cannot be put in the same basket. Since Han Fuyu voted for Jiang, Shi Yousan can only vote for Feng Yuxiang or Yan Xishan, so that there will be no loss at all, and everyone will take care of it at the time of emergency.
On the other hand, Chiang Kai-shek's camp, in addition to the Central Army of the lineage, is also a large number of miscellaneous armies. But the Jiang army camp has advantages that Feng Yan's coalition army does not have, one is willing to spend money to buy, and the other is He Chengjun, a black-and-white tycoon, is appeased later, and these miscellaneous armies are fighting well.
But even so, at the beginning of the outbreak of the Central Plains War, Jiang Jun still suffered some losses. Even when Chiang Kai-shek personally went to the front line of Guide (Shangqiu) to inspect, he was almost captured by Feng Yuxiang's cavalry Zheng Dazhang.
Just when Jiang Fengyan was fighting inextricably and no one could defeat the other in a short period of time, the importance of Zhang Xueliang, who was in the northeast, was evident at this time.
The entry of the Northeast Army into the customs was not bought by Chiang Kai-shek's high-ranking official Houlu, but Zhang Xueliang's strategy of taking advantage of the situation
After the outbreak of the Central Plains War, Zhang Xueliang was faced with 3 choices. One is to support Chiang, the second is to oppose Chiang, and the third is to be neutral.
If you want to talk about Zhang Xueliang's original intention, Jiang Fengyan and the three of them don't want to help. Not to mention the capriciousness of Feng Yan and the others, even Chiang Kai-shek, who is known as the orthodox revolutionary leader, Zhang Xueliang did not have the slightest good impression.
In his opinion, in the Middle East Road incident that occurred with Soviet Russia in July 1929, Chiang Kai-shek's means of turning his hands into clouds and turning his hands into rain had already exposed Chiang Kai-shek's true nature. At the beginning of the incident, Chiang Kai-shek tried his best to push Zhang Xueliang behind his back, and swore that once the Northeast Army encountered an unfavorable situation in the war, he would definitely support it vigorously:
We will do our best to supply our Northeast Army with troops and financial resources from the southeast. Support full recovery, and if necessary, break off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
But when the matter came to an end, the Northeast Army suffered heavy losses, and Chiang Kai-shek scolded Zhang Xueliang again:
Without experience and courage, they cannot follow through.
He also ruled that the conditions signed by the Northeast deputies seriously exceeded their authority and should be dealt with strictly. Therefore, Zhang Xueliang was extremely wary of Chiang Kai-shek, and he was deeply afraid of falling for Chiang Kai-shek again.
However, if Zhang Xueliang wanted to ignore the affairs in the Guan, how could Jiang Fengyan and the others let him go? A large number of lobbyists came one after another, wanting to persuade Zhang Xueliang to defect to his side.
Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan believed that at this time, they had the upper hand militarily, and they didn't care too much about winning over Zhang Xueliang, even if they couldn't pull Zhang Xueliang to join them, as long as Zhang Xueliang could maintain neutrality. This can be seen from the activity funds of the lobbyists sent by Yan Xishan, Xue Dubi and Jia Jingde. Xue Dubi was Feng Yuxiang's subordinate, Yan Xishan was embarrassed to give too little, so he gave 1,000 oceans, and Jia Jingde was his secretary general, his own person, and only gave 500 oceans, which was pitiful compared with Chiang Kai-shek's representative Wu Tiecheng, who threw hundreds of thousands of oceans at every turn.
Compared with Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan, who didn't care much about wooing Zhang Xueliang, Chiang Kai-shek was bound to win Zhang Xueliang from the beginning.
In his opinion, what is money?
Even if Wu Tiecheng bought 50,000 guns at a price of 50 yuan a gun (25 yuan a Japanese gun) in Shenyang, Chiang Kai-shek did not say anything. Although this price is super high, what is it compared to the military expenditure consumed every day during the Central Plains War?
Compared to defeating Feng Yan's coalition army, what is an official?
Chiang Kai-shek first sent Zhang Qun to Shenyang to grant Zhang Xueliang the letter of appointment and seal of the deputy commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force of the Republic of China, and then ceded the power of Pingjin and Hebei to the Northeast Army, and finally, even handed over all the military and political powers north of the Yellow River to Zhang Xueliang. As for Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan, Zhang Xueliang was only given the title of deputy commander-in-chief, and nothing else.
Chiang Kai-shek thought very clearly that if he was defeated, there would be nothing left, let alone the territory north of the Yellow River. In this case, why don't you give these benefits to Zhang Xueliang? Anyway, these things are not your own, so let's just write a blank check!
So, was Zhang Xueliang lost under the repeated bombardment of Chiang Kai-shek's official position, power and money?
This is too much to underestimate Zhang Xueliang's wisdom.
When the Central Plains War broke out, Zhang Xueliang would not have participated in the war no matter what.
At the beginning of the tripartite war, the combat power was not damaged, and at this time to participate was to make wedding clothes for others. Even if some benefits are obtained, it is in exchange for the flesh and blood of the Northeast Army, which is not cost-effective. But Zhang Xueliang also had a headache, Chiang Kai-shek had already taken out the greatest benefits and gave everything he could to Zhang Xueliang, if he didn't express his position at all, I am afraid he would not be able to say anything. For this reason, Zhang Xueliang said that as long as Chiang Kai-shek took Jinan, he would send troops.
During the Great War of the Central Plains, the Battle of Jinan was indeed a turning point.
Originally, Jinan had been taken by Fu Zuoyi, the general of the Jin army, but Yan Xishan made a big mistake at this time, that is, he listened to Zhang Yinwu's slander, changed generals in battle, and replaced Fu Zuoyi with Zhang Yinwu, which eventually caused the Jin army to be defeated and lost Jinan.
After Jinan was occupied by Chiang's army, the situation in the Central Plains War changed greatly, and the initiative on the three fronts of Pinghan, Longhai, and Jinpu had begun to tilt in favor of Chiang Kai-shek, and the situation of the war had begun to change from the stalemate stage to the trend of launching a counteroffensive by Chiang's army. For this reason, Zhang Xueliang believed that if he waited until Chiang Kai-shek's counteroffensive was successful before joining the war, not only would the profits be small and the value would not be great, but he would also be hated by Chiang Kai-shek. To this end, on September 10, 1930, Zhang Xueliang convened a high-level meeting of the Northeast Army and decided to go out of the customs to participate in the war.
On the surface, the Northeast Army was bribed by Chiang Kai-shek's high-ranking official Houlu, but in fact, this was a serious underestimation of Zhang Xueliang's wisdom, which was all a strategy to take advantage of the situation after he weighed the situation.
Although the Northeast Army was out of the customs, Zhang Xueliang's wariness of Chiang Kai-shek was still not lifted. He first sent his two powerful generals, Xuezhong and Wang Shuchang, to lead the 1st Army and the 2nd Army of the Northeast Army out of the customs respectively, and granted a secret plan before sending troops, that is, not to fire a single shot, and to focus on peaceful integration.
In Zhang Xueliang's view, even if Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan were defeated, it would be a hundred-legged insect that died but did not stiffen, so why did he have to fight and die with these two people for Chiang Kai-shek?
Feng Yuxiang did not guard his home when he was defeated, and finally lost a fine light
After Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan received the news of Zhang Xueliang's troops, they had mixed reactions.
Yan Xishan believes that the general trend has gone, and instead of fighting desperately with the Northeast Army and losing again, it is better to reach a consensus with the Northeast Army as soon as possible and end the battle with dignity.
Feng Yuxiang believes that although the Northeast Army has sent troops, its main force still exists, and it still has the strength to fight with the Northeast Army. Therefore, Feng Yuxiang ordered to shorten the battle lines of the Pinghan Line and the Longhai Line, and concentrate his forces to fight the Northeast Army. In his opinion, as long as Yan Xishan does not give up, there is still something to be done.
So, doesn't Feng Yuxiang have any arrangements to collect troops to defend the back road at this time?
Yes, there is, but the troops are too thin. Just when Feng Yuxiang was shrinking the battle line and gathering troops to prepare for a decisive battle with the Northeast Army on the second line of Pinghan and Longhai, he ordered Song Zheyuan to lead two divisions to retreat to Luoyang and prepare to guard the retreat. But because the troops were too small, Song Zheyuan couldn't hold it at all. The large army sent by Chiang Kai-shek advanced by separate routes, cutting off the communication links between Luoyang, Tongguan, Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, and Yang Hucheng's troops had already occupied Longmen in Luoyang, so that the passage for the Northwest Army to retreat to the northwest was completely blocked, and it could only concentrate in northern Henan.
If at this time, Feng Yuxiang can be in the same boat with Yan Xishan. However, firstly, Yan Xishan had no intention of fighting, and secondly, after the road to the northwest was blocked, Feng Yuxiang secretly ordered his chief of general staff, Liu Ji:
In the rich area of southern Jin, there is no shortage of food and salary, and the troops withdrawn from Longhai Road should also march into southern Jinnan.
Unfortunately, Feng Yuxiang's secret message was intercepted by Yan Xishan again.
After receiving the secret telegram, Yan Xishan was shocked and angry, Feng Yuxiang didn't come to grab my territory? While shouting that he would fight to the death with Chiang Kai-shek, he came to grab the territory of his own allies, which is simply not a son of man.
Fortunately, Yan Xishan still had some city governments, and he did not point out Feng Yuxiang's intentions to his face, but opposed continuing to fight Chiang Kai-shek. Seeing that Yan Xishan retreated, Feng Yuxiang was helpless.
Just when Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan were entangled in the issue of war peace, the Northwest Army was already in chaos. The military leaders of all walks of life, who were already at both ends of the first rat, began to look for a home. First, Pang Bingxun and Sun Dianying did not obey the command and went their own way; then Shi Yousan telegraphed to support Zhang Xueliang, and with the help of Han Fuyu, he regained Chiang Kai-shek's appointment; although Deng Baoshan supported Feng Yuxiang, he was placed under house arrest by the generals of the 8th Front Army, which was organized by the Henan People's Army; Liu Yufen, the only unit left by Feng Yuxiang in the rear, was also scattered because of mutual suspicion with Song Zheyuan, who had returned to the defense. Song Zheyuan fled to Shanxi, Liu Yufen was disarmed by Yang Hucheng, and Tongguan was lost. Since then, the rear bases of the Northwest Army have been completely lost.
On November 4, 1930, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan went into the field.
Unlike Yan Xishan's strength after the defeat, Feng Yuxiang had already lost all his territory and army at this time, and he was extremely embarrassed. He first hid in Taiyuan, and then was forced to leave, but he had nowhere to go, so he had to sneak back to Shanxi secretly.
The reason why Feng Yuxiang was defeated so badly in the Central Plains War was that in addition to the two reasons for the mistake in command and the Northeast Army's entry into the battle, there are two key points:
First, Feng Yuxiang pressed all his troops on the front line without completely stabilizing the rear, which seemed to be a broken boat, but in fact it was a desperate gamble. This is the attack when not caring for the home.
Second, after the Northeast Army entered the customs, the defeat of the Feng Yan coalition army was decided. Feng Yuxiang should transfer the main force back to the front line of Luoyang and Tongguan as soon as possible to keep the retreat channel of the Northwest Army. But he did not admit defeat and still fantasized about defeating the Northeast Army, so he only sent Song Zheyuan to lead 2 divisions to complete this arduous task, which eventually caused the back road to be cut off. This is not keeping home when defeated.
In this protracted war in the Central Plains, Chiang Kai-shek was undoubtedly the one who benefited the most; Zhang Xueliang also gained great benefits because he seized the opportunity and took advantage of the convenience; Yan Xishan saw the opportunity early and withdrew in time; although he was forced to leave Shanxi, his strength still existed, and he laid the groundwork for his comeback in the future; only Feng Yuxiang was the only one who "fell to the ground and scattered" after the defeat and lost a fine light.