In 1930, the Central Plains War was rekindled, and Chiang Kai-shek was in decline. He originally thought highly of himself, but under the combined offensive of Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and others, the situation plummeted. Feng Yuxiang personally led the main force to fight bravely on the battlefield of the Eastern Front, but on the battlefield of the Western Front, it was a scene of obscenity.
In the camp of the Northwest Army, the sound of guns and cannons was muffled by the sound of grooming, and the officers were holding prostitutes in their arms, drinking and laughing, shaking dice and gambling, as if they were in a paradise, completely ignoring the imminent war. Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army has always been extremely brave, but at this time it was bewitched by beauty and money, and its combat effectiveness was greatly damaged. ”
Back to the Third National Congress of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek unabashedly excluded dissidents and expanded his lineage, which undoubtedly aroused strong dissatisfaction among Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and others. In March 1930, at the instigation of Yan Xishan, more than 50 generals of the former Second, Third, and Fourth Group Armies jointly telegraphed to "crusade against Jiang Thief", and at the same time to elect Yan Xishan as "Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Army, and Air Force of the Republic of China," with Li Zongren, Zhang Xueliang, and Feng Yuxiang as deputy commanders.
However, Chiang Kai-shek had already taken precautions, and he sent a senior staff member to the Third Army Corps as the commander-in-chief, although this senior staff member was not an outstanding general, but he had developed a good skill in the warlord melee - seeing the wind and making the rudder, he defected to the battle, and as soon as he arrived in Luohe, he held a banquet in the name of entertaining military and political leaders from all walks of life.
During the banquet, he was very attentive and set up a table of delicacies and wines brought from Wuhan, which made this group of local emperors who had been in the poor countryside for a long time dumbfounded, and the wife of Gao Shen was even more smiling, obviously premeditated. Then, Gao Shen began to put on a flattering posture, and said softly, earnestly expressing that the central government is considerate of the local plight, and that this crusade does not require everyone to work hard, but only needs to show that it supports the posture of the central government, and there will be a heavy reward at that time.
These miscellaneous troops heard that there was a reward, all of them had suspicions, they had been dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek for a long time, seeing that Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang had won many battles, and secretly wanted to surrender.
After all, this high-ranking staff sent by Chiang Kai-shek himself can be said to have given this group of miscellaneous soldiers enough face - they don't have to contribute, and they are routinely rewarded afterwards, just to stabilize them.
Gao Shen's "float tactics" have worked. He specially invited more than 3,000 prostitutes from Wuhan, as well as delicacies and wines, to form a "soldier's home," where all officers at and above the regimental level could eat, drink, prostitute and gamble to their heart's content, and could also receive a large stack of "Yuan Datou." Gao Shen personally participated in it, sang a small song for the soldiers every day, organized a mahjong gambling game, and praised the "quintessence of the country".
And Gao Shen's next step is to attack Xu Yuanquan, Xu Yuanquan was originally dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang repeatedly provoked, and he already had the idea of surrendering to sincerity in his heart.
After Gao Shen learned of this situation from an informant, he did not rush to report to Chiang Kai-shek, but hired a group of actors and famous prostitutes to go to Xu Yuanquan's military camp to "reward" the soldiers. From then on, whenever the battle ended, Xu Yuanquan's army could drink wine and eat meat, and there were prostitutes to accompany him, and Gao Shen personally played horses and drank small wine with Xu Yuanquan, ostensibly condescending to accompany him, but in fact he closely monitored Xu Yuanquan's every move.
In the face of such a "generous" treatment, the army under Xu Yuanquan was naturally extremely useful. They have never seen a commander care so much about his subordinates, not only is he full of wine and meat, but Gao Shen is also close to them like brothers and sisters, calling them brothers, even if it is a small victory, Gao Shen has to put on a banquet for three days, a big reward every five days, and sometimes he personally sends a large stack of silver dollars for military pay.
Gao Shen's approach was right in the middle, Xu Yuanquan's army was not only brave in battle, but also loyal to him, Feng Yuxiang repeatedly sent people to provoke, but they were all beaten back by Xu Yuanquan's subordinates.
The news soon spread throughout the battlefield on the Western Front, and Gao Shen said that as long as he was an officer above the platoon commander of Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, he could also come to "have fun." When the time comes, eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, everything he needs, and he can also take a large handful of "Yuan Datou" with him when he leaves.
Such sugar-coated shells caused Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army to gradually lose its combat effectiveness under the temptation of wine and wealth, while Chiang Kai-shek's troops, under the operation of Gao Shen's "float tactics", their combat effectiveness rose day by day.
The entire battlefield on the Western Front was a peaceful scene, as if it had forgotten that the war had raged here. In the military tent, the singing of prostitutes was endless, and the wine and money were flying, and for a time there was a bit of boudoir fun, but outside the camp, the sound of guns and cannons came and went, and the life and death of the two sides were still very different.
After Chiang Kai-shek learned of Gao Shen's "float tactics", although he complained a lot about his methods, he saw that the effect was remarkable, so he turned a blind eye and let him go. What's more, Gao Shen's approach was exactly in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, and he knew that most of these miscellaneous officers were born in the army, and they had been yearning for eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling for a long time.
In order to completely buy Xu Yuanquan's heart, he spared no expense to invite thousands of prostitutes and brought a large amount of wine and food from Wuhan.
Many officers were completely seduced by money and beauty, and began to bend the law for bribes, squandering their already scarce military salaries. What's more, they even began to exploit the people and rob their daughters, which caused great dissatisfaction and panic among the local people.
Although Gao Shen's "float tactics" achieved great results on the battlefield, their negative impact was also increasing day by day, and there were more and more incidents of lax military discipline and plundering of the people, which made Chiang Kai-shek very worried, and he secretly wondered how to bring these corrupt and unbridled officers back into military discipline after the end of the war.
What Chiang Kai-shek did not expect was that Gao Shen's "float tactics" also aroused Feng Yuxiang's dissatisfaction. As the commander of the Northwest Army, Feng Yuxiang naturally felt angry and ashamed that his officers were deceived by money and beauty and collapsed into an army.
Therefore, at a banquet in the army, Feng Yuxiang severely reprimanded several officers who were indulging in wine and wealth and dereliction of duty, corrected the law on the spot, and imposed heavy penalties on military discipline, and he vowed to completely correct military discipline and never let his Northwest Army be confused by Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy again.
From then on, Feng Yuxiang issued a strict order in the army, once any officer was found to have misbehaved or exceeded, he would be severely punished. At the same time, he personally led an elite army to keep an eye on Chiang Kai-shek's "float" troops at all times, and never let them take advantage of it again.
As a result, the two sides once again fell into a fierce confrontation and fighting, and the flames of war were rekindled, and the smoke of gunfire broke out everywhere. Although Gao Shen's "float tactics" once gave Chiang Kai-shek the upper hand, Feng Yuxiang's counterattack also cost them a heavy price, countless soldiers were killed in the rain of bullets, and there was little wine and food left in the army.
At this juncture, an unexpected change happened, Xu Yuanquan, who was originally completely bought by Gao Shen, was shot by random arrows in a fierce battle and died heroically, and the army under his command suddenly lost its cohesion and began to flee in all directions.
In the end, in a decisive battle, Gao Shen's "float army" was completely defeated by Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, Gao Shen himself was captured alive and severely punished by Feng Yuxiang, and those officers who were confused by money and beauty were severely punished and eliminated by Chiang Kai-shek.
Although this "beauty trick" gave Chiang Kai-shek the upper hand for a time, it also laid the foundation for his army, which eventually led to his defeat on the Western Front. Since then, Chiang Kai-shek has learned from the pain and made up his mind to be strict and strict and completely eliminate the ills in the army, and the "beauty plan" that once gave him the upper hand was also nailed to the pillar of shame in history forever.