In the Liangguang region, Li Zongren, an upstart who was originally aggressive on the battlefield, also stopped the pace of war. Lu Rongting of the Gui Department was overjoyed and used this rare time to restore his strength. During this period, Li Zongren, who occupied Guangzhou, continued to raise troops to fight, and united with the Kuomintang party army to continuously attack the Gui system, and the Gui department was counterattacked by several organized troops, but suffered heavy losses, and now the land of the Gui system in Guangdong has been occupied by Li Zongren. The two sides are still deployed to confront each other with large armies.

Guangzhou City. Li Zongren's mansion.

This was originally Lu Rongting's mansion, and after Li Zongren captured the city of Guangzhou, he changed it into his mansion. as the ruling center of his power. Of course, Li Zongren lived here for only a handful of years, and most of his time he led troops to fight on the front line. Today, the renovated Lee Mansion is bustling with activity. Because Li Zongren, who was fighting on the front line, is back. At the same time, the leader of the Kuomintang and the world-famous Sun Wen also came to Guangzhou.

In the Liangguang battlefield, because of the alliance between the Kuomintang party army and Li Zongren's independent brigade of the National Defense Force, the Gui faction suffered frequent losses, and in just half a month, the Gui faction almost completely lost its land in Guangdong, and its forces retreated back to Guangxi. At present, the entire territory of Guangdong can be said to be the world of Li Zongren and the Kuomintang, of which Li Zongren's troops are more than 20,000 and the party army is more than 10,000. As the saying goes, one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, the Gui system was okay when it was in Guangdong, and the two sides could also form an alliance with the same enemy to deal with the Gui family, and now the Gui system has almost completely defeated Guangdong. Li Zongren's new army was in full contact with the Kuomintang party army. Friction between the two sides is inevitable. This time, Kuomintang leader Sun Wen returned from the north and first came to Guangdong to meet with Li Zongren, and people in the outside world naturally believed that Sun Wen wanted to strengthen the ties between the party army and the independent brigade of Li Zongren's national defense army and avoid the escalation of military frictions.

Li Zongren was very excited about Sun Wen's visit, after all, although Sun Wen is now only the leader of the Kuomintang and currently controls one-third of Guangdong, his reputation is unmatched. If Sun Wen can come back to preside over the overall situation when the situation in the two Guangxi provinces changes abruptly, with his influence, the development of the party and the army will definitely be much faster than now.

Compared with Sun Wen, who is old and serious, the current Li Zongren is full of sharpness. A straight military uniform made him look extremely energetic.

"Mr. Sun, you are a guest from afar, Delin was on the front line before, and he was negligent, please forgive me." Li Zongren gave a military salute to Sun Wen.

Sun Wen didn't dare. After going through so many things, Sun Wen has already understood that in the current China, only a strong army is the basis of power. In terms of prestige, he Sun Wen is famous all over the world, and there are countless people who support him openly or implicitly, but the only result of his revolution for decades is the overthrow of the Manchu rule, and the country has not become prosperous and powerful in his hands. Instead, it fell into a warlord melee. These made Sun Wen constantly reflect on the gains and losses. Later, he stayed in Tohoku for a long time and single-handedly facilitated negotiations between Tohoku and Japan. This touched Sun Wen a lot. He Sun Wen has gone to Japan many times for the revolution over the years, and he has some connections in the Japanese high-level, but only this time, he Sun Wen was treated ceremoniously, because the Northeast has achieved a victory on the battlefield that Japan does not dare to ignore. This made Sun Wen realize that his actions had always failed over the years.

"The general is polite. Now in these two broad regions, who does not know the prestige of the general. I think that the general's ability is enough to be compared with Young Marshal Feng in the Northeast. Sun Wen said with a smile.

"Sir, seriously. What kind of people are still self-aware. How can it be compared with Feng Shaoshuai. These achievements of Delin are not worth mentioning at all for Feng Shaoshuai. Li Zongren said modestly.

"The general doesn't have to be too humble, you started with a few hundred troops, and within a few months, you swept the entire Guangdong Province, so you are not weaker than the Northeast Feng Shaomaro back then, as long as you are given time, the general's achievements must not be weaker than Feng Shaoshuai." Sun Wen is not lying. Judging from his achievements, Li Zongren's achievements are very similar to Feng Yong's back then. Moreover, Li Zongren's ability to command troops in combat has been recognized by famous generals from all sides. This is something that Feng Shaoshuai did not have. There are only a handful of battles in which Northeast Marshal Feng personally led his troops to fight. Especially after the training of the generals in their hands, they generally sit in the central government and rarely interfere in the situation on the battlefield ahead. As a result, no one knows what extent Feng Shaoshuai's ability to lead troops into battle has reached. Therefore, Sun Wen said that Li Zongren's military ability was better than Feng Yong's.

"Sir, I don't think you're here to tease your neighbors. Delin is a soldier, if Mr. Sun has anything, please get straight to the point! Li Zongren said. For Sun Wen, he still respects him in his heart.

"Since the general said so. Sun said it bluntly. Now that the Beijing government is mobilizing troops on a large scale, it seems that it is going to start a national war, I wonder what the general thinks about this matter? Sun Wen looked at Li Zongren with burning eyes and said.

"Beijing is the central government, and how to mobilize troops is up to Major Marshal Feng, and this kind of big matter is not something that I, Li Zongren, can interfere in. Mr. Sun, you're not here to invite me to form an alliance against the central government, are you? Li Zongren said with a strange face. You must know that Sun Wen has been staying in the north during this time, and he has had many contacts with the Beijing government, and even when the Beijing government and Japan were at war, Sun Wen also acted as a mediator. No matter how you look at these things, the relationship between Sun Wen and the Beijing government is not ordinary. It was precisely because of this understanding that after receiving the news of Sun Wen's coming, Li Zongren would come back to meet him in his busy schedule.

The general laughed. The current situation in China is that of the central government and Beiyang. To tell the truth, other forces can only wave their flags and shout, and they are not able to participate in it at all. I think the general is also clear about this, and I came here to discuss with the general whether I can ensure the stability of the Liangguang region and wait for the results of the Central Plains War. Sun Wen said with a serious face.

"Sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight?" Li Zongren said in a deep voice.

"Yes, the Northeast is a tiger, and the current Beiyang is not a sick cat, and both sides have a chance to win. We, the forces, are not able to participate in it, but we might as well sit on the sidelines. Wait for the results. Once the results of the Central Plains War appear, we will have a decision on whether to fight or surrender. Sun Wen said.

"Mr. Sun, although your idea is sound, you are too careful. Yes, once the Central Plains War is successful, with the strength in our hands, Toucheng can get a good future, but what I want to say is that if that happens, I, Li Zongren, will be able to ensure wealth and nobility for a lifetime, but if I want to achieve something, it will really be impossible. I'm a soldier, not a politician. Soldiers have their own judgment about war. Therefore, Mr. Sun's opinion was not approved by Shu Delin. Li Zongren waved his hand and said. If it was before contacting the Beijing government, he Li Zongren might have been so peaceful as Sun Wen said, waiting for the opportunity. Although Li Zongren is conceited, he is not arrogant, and the current form of the Beijing government is clearly not a posture of protracted war. Moreover, he has already defected to the Beijing government, and with the means of employing troops at the top level of the National Defense Forces, he will not be allowed to remain indifferent. Therefore, Li Zongren was destined to participate, and it was naturally difficult to agree to Sun Wen's proposal.

"General, you mean to join one of the sides?" Sun Wen asked in a deep voice.

"It's not certain yet, maybe it will, maybe it won't!" Li Zongren said ambiguously. His defection to the Wehrmacht was kept in the dark. The people from the north in his army were also fresh faces and unobtrusive. As for the Beijing government's support for Li Zongren on the surface, it is also limited, as if the Beijing government wants to support agents in Guangzhou. Therefore, although everyone knew that Li Zongren was close to Beijing, no one thought that Li Zongren had joined the National Defense Forces and became an official general of the National Defense Forces.

"General, please think again!" Sun Wen said.

"Mr. Sun, I think the party and the army should have made a decision earlier. Otherwise, once the Central Plains War comes to an end, Mr. Sun's party army will face much more serious trouble than our independent brigade. Li Zongren said with a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Sun Wen said with a surprised expression.

"Mr. Sun, although your party claims to be the largest party in the country, it is only an opposition party and has no political rights. Now the two major forces in the north, Beiyang is extremely jealous of your party, and internal suppression still exists, not to mention allowing your party to have an independent army. The Beijing government now has its own independent party, the National Independence Party. Once one of them wins over the other, there is no force in the country that can prevent them from unifying the country. Under these circumstances, the existence of the party army is bound to be dangerous. Li Zongren did not continue, he believed that these things, as long as they were clicked, they could be understood with Sun Wen's old scheming.

"The general's words are reasonable." Sun Wen's face became solemn, as if he was surprised by Li Zongren's words. To tell the truth, Sun Wen was indeed considering Li Zongren's words, and based on his many years of experience, he calculated that no matter who succeeded in the future, the party army could not exist, but the weight of surrender at that time was very small, and the strength of the Kuomintang could not be completely preserved. After all, the Kuomintang is known as the largest party in the country. Beiyang suppressed the Kuomintang because it was afraid that it would seize power. However, the Beijing government has the National Independence Party (NDP) created by Feng Shaoshuai, and the influence of the military and the government in Beijing is becoming more and more serious, and under such circumstances, it is even more unlikely that they will tolerate the KMT's involvement in power.

Thinking of this, Sun Wen was still a little cold sweating. Looking at Li Zongren's vision is becoming more and more difficult.

"Mr. Sun, just like you said, we are weak now and cannot afford to participate in the national hegemony. But I, Li Zongren, will not be intimidated by the situation in front of me. I can't afford to provoke Beiyang and the central government, but I am really not afraid of him, Guangxi is my hometown, and I will not let him suffer under Lu Rongting's rule. Li Zongren said with a firm face.

(To be continued)