young marshal spring and autumn

As a branch of the Feng faction in the south, the People's Army has won successive victories, making the strategic situation very favorable to Zhang Zuolin.He also gradually squeezed the Japanese forces in the Northeast in order to solve the cancer on the side of the collapse.The Japanese Kwantung Army and the Consulate General in Fengtian were very sensitive to Zhang Zuolin's attitude, and they tried to clarify their policy towards Japan from time to time, and tried to actively strive for new benefits while maintaining existing interests.

Although Zhang Zuolin came from a reckless background, he had a very sincere patriotism, and he refused to cooperate with various Japanese demands such as mining, setting up factories, emigrating, and building a port in Huludao.Zhang Zuoxiang's Northeast Frontier Army firmly controlled Changchun, the northernmost town of the South-Manchuria Railway, so that the Japanese troops stationed in Harbin could not receive any supplies from the Kanto Prefecture.The elite Jiang Dengxuan Department of the 27th Division is permanently stationed in Fengtian as the General Mobile Force. Li Jinglin's 6th Division has been stationed in Dandong, an important town connecting Kanto Prefecture, Japan, and Sinuiju, North Korea. Once the war breaks out, Japan will cut off the only land transportation from North Korea to China. The task of Dandong Yalu River Bridge.Other places where the other two Yalu River bridges were built in later generations - Linjiang and Ji'an each stationed a regiment.The opening of the Tonghua-Tongliao Railway has greatly enhanced the mobility of Fengjun to support the border between China and North Korea.

The Japanese government felt that the stagnation of the Kwantung Army was a major defeat compared with the massive entry of American forces in the Yangtze River Basin. Prime Minister Kato Yusaburo, who was a soldier, could not bear Zhang Zuolin's arrogance and "rudeness". He instructed Zhang Zuolin's "old friend" Yoshida Consul General Xiang expressed dissatisfaction with the Japanese government, intending to force it to submit.After receiving the instructions, Yoshida Soo arranged for "Nanman Co., Ltd." to hold a reception on the grounds of contract business and finance.

After drinking for three rounds, a celebrity from Japan asked the marshal to appreciate his words. He knew that Zhang Zuolin was born in a green forest and had limited literacy, so he wanted to make him ugly in public.But Zhang Zuolin grabbed the pen and wrote the word "tiger", then inscribed the title, and amidst applause, threw the pen back to the table.The oriental celebrity looked at the words "Zhang Zuolin's hands are black" and laughed out loud.The entourage hurriedly approached the commander-in-chief's ear and reminded, "The character 'ink' written by the commander-in-chief has lost the word 'earth' and has become 'black'." Unexpectedly, Zhang Zuolin stared and scolded: "Mom! That bastard! I still don't know how to write the word 'ink'? Can you deal with the Japanese without black hands? This is called 'Don't give up an inch of land!'”

These words were like a blow to the Japanese.The Chinese people present suddenly realized and smiled knowingly, all elated, while the Japanese were dumbfounded.Since then, "Zhang Zuolin's Black Hand" has become a classic story in the Republic of China.

When the story spread to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, Ono Mishin was very angry. He called the senior generals of the Kwantung Army together, told the story exactly, and finally said: "Everyone, the Great Japanese Empire has suffered the worst insult in history. As warriors of His Majesty the Emperor, I cannot tolerate the disregard and ridicule of the Kwantung Army by the Chinese. Although the Army Headquarters has not issued a clear instruction on this matter, I, Ono Minobu, request you in the name of the commander of the Kwantung Army, Immediately prepare for battle, inflict a heavy blow on the soldiers of the Feng Faction headed by Zhang Zuolin, and safeguard the glory of our soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Empire."

The military meeting decided that Kato Seiji, the head of the Second Brigade, would use his headquarters to enter Fengtian City for defense, and Koizumi Shinya, the head of the brigade, would lead his troops to enrich Changchun and wait for an opportunity to create disputes outside the pass.At the same time, Japan's Tianjin Concession was also in trouble, and the Japanese government intended to express dissatisfaction with the expanded contradictions.

The tense situation in Tianjin stems from the fact that the Japanese imperialists and chief spy leader Doihara Kenji bought local traitors and Qinghong gang leaders Zhang Bi and Li Jichun, and gathered 500 local hooligans (known as 2000 people) to form a "plainclothes team" to attack Tianjin and Japan. The concession was a nest, and they continued to harass and breed troubles, creating an armed riot. This armed riot by the plainclothes team lasted for more than a month, bringing disaster to the citizens of Tianjin.

The plainclothes team often broke out of the Japanese Concession in several groups and carried out disturbances in the urban area by night.There are often sudden gunshots, and the residents wake up from their dreams, not knowing what happened, and terrified.A series of provocations made the atmosphere of Tianjin and Nanman Railway suddenly tense, and rumors of a Sino-Japanese war spread everywhere.Many people in the Fengtian military and government were afraid of the Japanese from the bottom of their hearts. Zhang Zuolin also felt uneasy, fearing that a major change would occur and the hard-won advantages of the Fengtian clan would be wiped out. Tight inside.

Zhang Hanqing and Jiang Baili, who were training in the navy at Poyang Lake, were also lost in thought.Under the benefit of unifying the country, these discordant sounds suddenly occurred, which Zhang Hanqing did not expect.But what should come will come after all. There must be a war between China and Japan. It is aimed at Japan’s huge interests in the Northeast and the 3200 square kilometers of "Kantong Prefecture". Japan must also protect it, and China must also fight--- -For China, this is not just a piece of land, but also a symbol of national dignity and national rejuvenation; for Japan, the existence of this piece of land also expresses a signal: in Asia, Japan is still the most powerful !

This conflict also caused the plan to attack Shandong to be postponed indefinitely. At this critical juncture, it is really inappropriate to have a direct conflict with Zhili.

Originally, Zhang Hanqing wanted to attack the southern Jiangsu and northern Shandong provinces at the same time, defeat the weaker branch of the Zhili lineage, Tian Zhongyu and Qi Xieyuan, and then defeat the Zhili lineage in one go, and realize the idea of ​​unifying the country by force. Now it seems that it has been shattered.

However, Zhang Hanqing clearly knew the general direction of history: the 20s was a period of rest for all countries, and the major powers in Asia, Europe, and the United States did not launch any large-scale wars.Japan had just recovered from the Russo-Japanese War, but encountered the economic crisis in 1920. After a year of decline, the economy has gradually improved. According to history, Japan should not dare to launch a big The scale of war, right?From this point of view, isn't Japan's move a kind of temptation and posturing?

In history, the Northeast Army has tolerated step by step in this way, which has led to greater ambitions of the Japanese.Zhang Hanqing is now in power, and he will never allow this to happen again.History cannot be assumed, nor can it be started from scratch.Thank God for giving him a chance to start over, he must seize it.

The Northeast is the traditional core interest of the Feng family. There are China's leading railway transportation, mining, steel manufacturing, coal industry, heavy industry, and cotton and grain production areas as strategic materials.Tianjin is also the core interest of Zhang Hanqing's ideal China. There are not only huge automobile factories, chemical factories, machine tool factories, textile industries, and light industries, but also adjacent to Zhang Hanqing's core military enterprise tank and aircraft research and manufacturing plant in Qinhuangdao.There can be no chaos in the Northeast, and neither can Tianjin.

If you really want to fight the Japanese with real swords and guns, with the strength of Fengjun in Northeast China and North China, you can completely wipe out all the Kwantung Army and North China Garrison Army, even the two divisions of the Japanese Army and the Korean Army.Even if Japan has a new round of troop increase, there will be no major changes in the short term. After several years of military training, he has no doubts about his military industrial layout and Northeast military strength.Concerned about the Anglo-American and direct lineage.

The U.S. strategic core interest line in the Pacific Ocean is from Hawaii to Guam, the Philippines, and then to Malacca.In the Western Pacific region, the key target for the United States to protect is the Strait of Malacca, which is the core interest of the United States that no one else can touch.As for Northeast Asia, mature American politicians—such as the two Roosevelt presidents in the first half of the 20th century—did not devote too many resources to it.

At the beginning of the 20th century, President Taft following Roosevelt launched a financial offensive to Northeast Asia, which aroused his predecessor Theodore & #8226; Roosevelt's uneasiness.Roosevelt sighed "poor Taft" to his son.He wrote to and visited Taft, admonishing him: the limited national power of the United States should be used where it can and has important interests.He believes that the interests of the Asian continent are vital to Japan, while the interests of the United States there, especially in Manchuria, "are really unimportant, and the American people will not be willing to take the minimum risk of conflict for it."Roosevelt poured cold water on Taft's idealistic "New Plan": When a powerful country willfully disregards the "Open Door" policy of the United States and prefers to use force, the "Open Door" policy is useless.At present, apart from oral debate, the United States does not have the strength to conduct a large-scale contest with Japan in Northeast Asia.What Roosevelt meant was that the United States could not use its limited defense resources in areas of non-core interest like Northeast Asia.

Therefore, in the official history, the United States almost let Japan's military dynamics in the Northeast go unchecked, even in September.At 8226:[-], Japan's behavior had seriously impacted the agreement in the "Washington Treaty" on "guaranteeing" respect for China's sovereignty and independence, territorial and administrative integrity.Until the outbreak of the Pacific War in which Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Philippines and other US-owned territories or controlled areas, the United States also designed to attack Japan directly from Alaska through the Soviet Union, so the combat distance was short and the effectiveness was great.But in the end Franklin & #[-]; Roosevelt still chose the southern route from Hawaii to the Philippines, the purpose of which was to use limited resources first to protect the lifeline of the United States at sea; Marshall and others still supported handing it over to the Soviets and Chinese.This is because Northeast Asia is not a key interest of the United States.

Therefore, Fengjun's toughness towards Japan at this time should not be blocked by the Americans. British interests are originally in the Yangtze River Basin, and they will not pay too much attention to the situation in Northeast and North China.Wu Peifu is also a patriotic warlord at a time when China's national interests are at stake. Although he is at odds with the Feng Faction, based on his performance in history, he shouldn't stab him in the back at this time, right?

Based on this judgment, Zhang Hanqing sent a secret telegram to Zhang Zuolin, pointing out that Japan does not currently have the conditions for a major war, and the various departments of the Fengjun should fight head-on.He said sharply: "Japan is in the Northeast, and it is robbery. In Tianjin, it is the means of thieves. On the one hand, it is robbing, and on the other hand, it is sneaking. It hurts, wins, and peace talks are possible."